Geek vs Life

Yes, it’s time for Sakura-Con. And this year’s Sakura-Con is looking to be huge, in multiple ways.

First off, we’ve got more space this year. In previous years, we’ve had function space in the rooms around the escalators on floors 2 and 3, and then the area just before the skybridge and inside the big glass doors at the top of the escalators on level 4, and then level 6. This year we’re adding the skybridge itself, one of the rooms on the other side of the skybridge, as well as the “north” rooms on levels 2-4.

Secondly, attendance. In 2007, we had roughly 5400 preregistered attendees, and around 10,500 attendees total. As a general figure, half of our total attendees preregister. There are over 7000 preregistrations this year.

Programming, on the other hand, is subjective on if it’s bigger or not. For me, it is. Here’s a heads-up of the guests and major events coming March 28-30:

Ever have the urge to rock out while on the bus? Feel the need to string the perfect solo while on a plane? Does your ever moving from one place to another lifestyle prevent you from being the best damn console air-guitarist ever? Your prayers have been answered: Guitar Hero: On Tour for Nintendo DS will hit the streets this summer.

Using the GBA slot to connect to the DS using the “Guitar Hero Guitar Grip”, the game promises to allow you to “Rock out, Anytime, Anywhere.” Also included with the game is a new Guitar Hero type stylus shaped like a pick that will allow you to strum on the touch screen.

On Tour will feature the ability to play head to head with your favorite strummers in local area network game play. Either Face Off, Pro Face Off or Co-op play to your cramped fingers content. Alone? No problem, the game also has career mode and quick play for those rides from Shoreline to Downtown Seattle.

It’s no surprise to most that when Rock Band ships for the Wii on June 22, it will have no downloadable content. The Wii just isn’t really built for that type of integrated content it seems. The game will be similar in functionality to that which is currently available for the PS2, with the exception of five additional songs.

Wii owners can expect the same “Special Edition” version of Rock Band as all the other consoles that will include the game, microphone, drums and one wireless guitar at an MSRP of 169.99 USD, BYOB (Bring Your Own Bass).

With the other consoles already having entered the “Rock Band Arena”, the Wii version has only one thing really going for it: Wii sales. You own the console, might as well own one of the most talked about games in the past year.

Is it too early to start talking about PAX 08?

It has been confirmed in his blog that keynote speaker and fan favorite from last years PAX, Wil Wheaton will be back. This time not to deliver the keynote address, but he is coming in more as a fan. There will be book signings and maybe a lecture form one o his books, the the focus this time around will be gaming.

PAX 08 will be held in the Washington State Convention Center from Aug. 29 to 31. Early birds 3 day passes are on sale now for $40 until March 31.

As you can see, GvL looks a little differently now. It’s no longer the offspring of another php designer’s whim and fancy. Instead, it is the offspring of a sick and twisted mind. As usual with a new design, some kinks need to be worked out, so if you run into a bug, or notice something that could and should be fixed, let us know via comments or via email.

Peace.

EDIT:

FIXED! Yay, Dan!
Apparently I busted the comments

EDIT 2:

And apparently it won’t work in IE 5/6. Craptastic! (Use a standards compliant browser!) I thought I had fixed the problem with the Google ie7-js javascript fix, but I guess not. Anyone care to help? Email me at dangayle [at] gmail [dot] com.

There are many of us who celebrate math, all in our own ways. Some of us spread the word of numbers, confusing all in their wake. Some of us simply spread numbers.

Some of us create permanent marks of them on our bodies.

Others decorate cars.

And some of us, well, eat a lot of pie. However you do it, enjoy today, Pi day, and celebrate the birth of a strange little man with a funny accent with big ideas.

To help with the St-Patrick’s Day celebration, Activision announced the arrival of Dropkick Murphys downloadable content… for free. Problem is, with Rock Band instruments in hand, will most gamers care?

What it often comes down to is a question of price. Would you rather pay approximately $170 for Rock Band or $70 for Guitar Hero III?

What side are you on?

Here’s a cool video comparing Mississippi Queen in both games.

Find more info on the free download at Destructoid

A few friends of ours, specifically the cool guys over at Obscura Labs, are throwing an impromptu handheld/portable gaming event on the 15th at Cafe Metropolitan, which you can drop your address in here here, and Google will tell you how to get there. I do believe they’re starting around 7pm, and I’ll change this if I’m told I’m wrong. See you there!

Phoenix Wright, my old friend. You may be…not available at the moment, and you have been succeeded by a small boy with a vest and funky hair, but you’ll always be first with me. But, alas! I don’t feel that I can exist without creating my own adventures within the confines of the courtroom.So, I’m going to go finish myself off. Good bye cruel…wait…what’s this? Capcom has put together a flash based level editor for Phoenix Wright? You’re kidding me! And it can be found here?? But it’s in Japanese! Ack! Foiled again! Where did I put that razor…babelfish? No, those things aren’t real! A digital babelfish you say? And they’re over there?

I can go on living! Thank you Capcom!

So you’ve spent most of your conscious life finding music, and the past decade or so compiling it into a huge collection on your computer (legally, of course, at least that’s what you thought when you and everyone’s dog was dinking around with Napster) that you brag to your friends about with phrases like “I need a few 80 gig iPods to hold my music” while sounding like a self important prick. No longer do you need to be an elitist connoisseur to enjoy the thousands of songs, most of which were listened to once, and left to roll around in the defragmenter.

I present for your approval, Audiosurf, a rhythm pseudo-racer casual game which uses procedurally generated tracks and obstacles based on beat, tempo, vocals and instrumentals of various formats of music files you jam through the engines to create curving tracks and other blocks deemed “traffic” that you either avoid or crash into with all the might your holy keys can muster…as if how hard you hit the keys actually makes a difference.

Typically I want to do a really refined review of a game, with an anecdotal first person view of the game as one of the main characters. That’s what’s gotten me recognized in the past, but well, that requires creativity, and when you have a case of writers block the size of the Chrysler building it doesn’t quite work out that way. I made the mistake of falling asleep while watching, well, I don’t even know what I was watching, and can’t sleep any more. So, for your consideration I’m going to simply do what everyone else does in the case of talking about games, i.e. talk about games.

Seattle PI

It’s scary, especially given how local this is (a few miles from where I live), and how close it is to Sakura-Con (end of the month).

There are a lot of horrible jokes one could make about this situation, but I can’t think of any that would be in good taste.

Gary Gygax died yesterday, at the age of 69. Gygax was the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. Let us all set our dice down and raise a glass to this great man who has brought us far too many hours of enjoyment, and gently sweep THAC0 under the rug. Through a strange set of circumstances, D&D is actually what brought most of my group of friends together. It seems a little hollow, and if nothing else, late, to try to thank him for his work. The simple sentiment of having fun and playing a game remained close to his heart. To be social and enjoy each other as well.

Ok, maybe a few jokes. Go ahead and leave your thoughts.

Got the following sent to me over the ElfQuest mailing list, and I thought I’d pass it on:

Elfquest’s 30th Anniversary Gift: Everything

Thirty years after its first appearance in early 1978, Elfquest is poised to make its biggest online splash ever. Beginning March 14, and every Friday throughout 2008, Warp Graphics presents every Elfquest comic book story from the Original Quest all the way up to 2006’s “The Discovery.”

With over 6000 pages of material to prepare and upload, the project will easily take the remainder of this 30th anniversary year. The initial offering will start off with an explosion of firsts: There will be the entire first graphic novel, to introduce new readers to
the characters and world of Elfquest, plus the first issues of all the spinoff titles produced during the 1990s. Each week will see several more issues added to the collection. Eventually, every published page will make its way to the online archive. A timeline and a catalog of all Elfquest appearances are part of the package, so all readers will be able to experience the complete saga from start to present-day.