DTJAAAAMJSLM Blog

PAX 2010 - Part 4

DTJAAAAM — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 07:25:00 GMT

Okay... time to bring this year's Penny Arcade Expo saga to a close with one final photo blog! Along with the usual costume and exhibit hall photos, I made sure to try and document a few other sights from PAX in this update, such as the console freeplay room.

Once more into the breach, my friends

Almost there

The Ghostbusters sent new recruits to PAX in order to investigate the paranormal activity

PAX Enforcers wrangled attendees into several herds for entrance to the exhibit hall

I wonder if that marriage proposal on the Messy Board is real...

Early previews had convinced me to check out Hunted: The Demon's Forge at Bethesda. After playing the demo, I don't think it is the kind of game I'm looking for. I played as Caddoc the warrior and partnered up with a random attendee. I was hoping for fast paced hacking and slashing like in Dynasty Warriors, but the overall feel seemed like Gears of War with more of an emphasis on melee attacks.

In End of Nations, my army was obliterated in a matter of minutes since I suck at RTS games

Players could keep in Hudson's Bomberman tourney to win 4,000 Microsoft Points

For some reason, the demo stations at PAX had an older build of Marvel VS Capcom 3 that lacked Amaterasu and the mighty Thor. I haven't played it since E3, so my goal was to try out the characters I didn't get a chance to use. Super Skrull and Trish were my first picks. I was unable to select Deadpool since my competitor chose him, so I randomly added Dante because I forgot about Chun-Li. I didn't learn too much during the match since I received quite a beating from my foe, who constantly jumped around as Deadpool while spamming bolas, leaving me little time to react or see.

A lot of the popular attractions had their lines capped since everyone wanted to squeeze them in

A t-shirt giveaway at the Tera exhibit, where anxious fans had to perform an emote for the crowd

Jon St. John, the man behind Duke Nukem's voice, at an autograph session

These folks wandered in from Silent Hill

MSI drafted men to do 25 push-ups in order to receive a free shirt

If this Akuma cosplayer ain't at your convention, you're doing something wrong!

Security guards performing age checks in the Duke Nukem Forever line

People playing a tabletop game to speed up the excruciating wait

After a speech and a video of highlights, we were given 15 minutes to play Duke Nukem Forever

Once again, please note that I'm not a huge fan of the FPS genre. With that in mind, I appreciated some of DNF's humor and the variety of things you could interact with, but can't say that I was impressed with the overall package. I battled the giant Cycloid Emperor, played through a driving sequence, and shot a few more enemies in a wasteland. The game wasn't boring, but the action felt like a lot of other games on the market. I would have rather seen Gearbox put their efforts toward a Borderlands sequel, even though I considered that game to be good, but not great.

Eric Maruscak rests on a table now that his work is done

One last picture of the completed Metroid masterpiece

A blurry look at the room devoted to a Steel Battalion PAX campaign

A red shirt from Star Trek was offering free cookies for all

This year, the retro gaming zone was directly connected to the console freeplay area

R2-D2 was a project capable of playing video games from several classic consoles

Console freeplay seemed busier last year, but then again, it was Sunday

Besides the model, Blade Kitten's PAX presence was limited to this sign and demo

The library of Xbox 360 games available for gamers to check out

IDs served as collateral and were mounted on this wall

A group is called together to learn the rules of a Mario Kart Wii tourney

Plants VS Zombies characters

In this room, you could sign up for a zombie makeover

Tazti used an elf to promote their iPod giveaway

Tazti also had some sort of contest for skilled hackers

A barker encourages people to take the time to play historic older video games

A Team Rocket member chooses Plusle and Minun

If the Swag Monster acquired even one of my bags, the world would be DOOMED by his power!

A Spartan by the Halo: Reach exhibit

Bungie team members signing fancy posters for fans

In order to get a free chicken, you had to spend at least $50 at the Behemoth's store

A ball game broke out while Nolan and I waited for the Gearbox panel

This happy fellow hosted an easy trivia challenge for decks of Magic cards

Gearbox was kind enough to purchase Papa John's pizza for the attendees of their panel

Gearbox staff members take the stage, including the men who voiced the Claptraps and Scooter

As a special treat, we saw an early showing of the fourth Claptrap webisode

We were initially limited to two slices, but feasted on more since plenty was available when we left

Wakfu's imagery always caught my eye, so now was a perfect time to try it since I could possibly win another shirt. The game's visuals continues to impress me due to the fantastic character designs. The combat system used fairly simple turn-based actions and a grid, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I can't see myself actively playing the game, but if I'm ever in the market for a free MMORPG, it is one of the few that I would consider joining.

The grand prizes on the Wakfu prize wheel

Players competing in a League of Legends competition organized by Riot

Torchlight 2 proudly toted the addition of multiplayer to the game

The Helghast trooper ditched his arsenal of lethal weapons for something more playful

That ain't no Dragonlance

The deliquent known as Raspberyl

Miniatures based on Voltron, which were seen at Privateer Press

Towards the end of Sunday, Sonic Free Riders invaded Sonic the Hedgehog 4's personal space

Tougher versions of Rock Man and Blues

Shank memorabilia

Mad Dog and Scorpion (or Bill and Lance... psh) head to the next level

Ada Wong has found someone better than that loser Leon

Masses of people take the escalator down as they bid farewell to another PAX

Closing Time played over the speakers as the Enforcers dismantled the console freeplay room

American hero Guile charged his card for two seconds at the US Bank ATM before moving forward

A gnome warlock with her voidwalker

The last thing I saw at PAX 2010 was this crowd of attendees swapping buttons

Duke picked up two *** trannies who will love him long time

The majority of Sunday's swag

Several posters, Jon St. John's autograph, and my badge

Excluding duplicates, I acquired 30 shirts over the course of the expo

That concludes another fun year at PAX Prime! As always, thanks for taking the time to read about my convention exploits. Sadly, this will most likely also be the last major convention that I attend in 2010. As much as I'd love to visit the Tokyo Game Show or any other big events, I can't afford trips that extravagant. Oh well, time to start saving up for next year. Perhaps I'll upgrade my camera yet again...

PAX 2010 - Part 3

DTJAAAAM — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:53:00 GMT

The second official day of Penny Arcade Expo 2010 was arguably my favorite of the convention. While swag hunting took a bit of a dive, I managed to see a bunch of cool costumes. I also had the opportunity to attend both the Sega and Splatterhouse parties during the evening.

Two zombies waiting for the Halo: Reach panel

A cool Tokidoki backpack

Prinny, dood...ette!

The Rock Band stage on the second floor

Portal and Katamari cosplayers puzzling attendees

The MMORPG Lego Universe

I'll just say that I sucked at F1 2010

Lord of the Rings: Viggo Mortensen's Quest was fairly average for a Wii action game. Beside the tutorials, each level is presented as a story told by Sam Gamgee to some hobbit children. During training sequences, you play as a young hobbit. A second player can join in during these sequences as a little hobbit girl pretending to be Gandalf. My biggest complaint was the inability to skip CG cutscenes. That would have really sped up the demo line.

Residents of Rapture

Lord of the Rings: War in the North really surprised me, and I'd even say that it was the best non-playable demo that I saw at PAX. It's basically a three player version of loot-focused hack-and-slash titles like Champions of Norrath and Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom. The story expands on the lore of Middle-earth, with grittier violence like in the books. Hopefully the next convention I attend will have a version that's playable by attendees.

A Black Mage was put into a trance while watching the War in the North presentation

I unfortunately never got a chance to try F3AR, which looked interesting when I glimpsed at it

My second game of Mortal Kombat ended with me performing a Fatality on Sub-Zero

I lost interest in Sonic's video games ever since Sonic Adventure. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 brought back fond memories of the Genesis days. I have no huge complaints after running through the first level. Actually, the targetting system that allows Sonic to home in on enemies was kind of unnecessary, but I don't see it as anything that would ruin the game.

EA pasted photos of the best Medal of Honor players on this wall

Sketch artists crank out illustrations underneat an Epic Mickey video presentation

Lilith couldn't Phasewalk past my camera lens

Instructors who taught attendees the rules of the collectible card game based on World of Warcraft

Sora's grown while waiting to star in Kingdom Hearts 3

A nice assortment of Super Mario Bros. cosplayers

Frank West woke up, put on his mask, and headed to PAX

A Daft Punk cosplayer

Peter Pan samples Deca Sports Freedom at Hudson's booth

A woman at D3 handing out free candy

This 8-bit Link was a female fan

Tuyen was drafted by Mega 64 in their quest to win the Super Scribblenauts DSi systems

Ryu (who is apparently a cosplayer named Ken) and Juri posing by Capcom's exhibit

Morgan Webb taking a break from filming at Bethesda

The hidden level of PAX was devoted to tabletop, miniature, and card-based gaming

Trying to start a career as a dragon slayer

One of Jabba's Twi'lek dancers

A Moogle girl

The Spy from Team Fortress 2

Who doesn't love bacon?

Roll kept Udon's booth nice and tidy

Lightning is about to strike

Psylocke of the X-Men

If you were one of the first 20 people to post a picture of Kit online, you'd win Blade Kitten

Another shot showing the progress on the Metroid drawing

The Intel prize patrol spotted me, and my redemption card won me a free pen

I liked Little Big Planet 2 better when it was called Mario... and when it was good

Zombie Smurfette

Kasumi finds solace at PAX after being kicked out of her village

The Machinima booth

A pixelated dude

Three Mad Catz employees pose for a photo

The Mafia 2 exhibit at 2K Games

Two characters promoting Wakfu

Lightning strikes twice

A large 3D TV at NVIDIA's booth

An orange Spartan

Ulala towered over most of the people at PAX

One of the characters at the Flying Frog Productions booth

And another

An Ace Attorney cosplay group

Ruto and Harley Quinn

Shogun 2: Total War decorations at Sega

Captain Falcon assumes his most famous pose

Meru from Legend of Dragoon

I missed out on a chance to join the Archon Classic tournament

Monday Night Combat statues were nice, but expensive

A group of Starcaft cosplayers

The musical acts from the nightly concerts meeting and greeting fans

The table ran by The Minibosses

A shot of the Bill Amend autograph session

A substitution was made in the Starcraft cosplay lineup

Lara Croft dual-wielding pistols

The Protoss known as Zeratul

A cool squid dress

Crimson Viper and Juri

Chun-Li and Rose soon arrived to join them

A BlazBlue cosplay group

Sybil Pandemik and her lover, Lincoln's head (Identified by Cary Woodham)

Gazillion made the crowd go wild when they were throwing out free mouse pads

A fellow with the Rat City Rollergirls strikes a provocative pose

A toned Tifa

People who always bet on Duke

All of these people bet on him, too

The exhibit for PSN title Kung-Fu Live

The display case of figures over at Fangamer

Half-human, half-Tauren

A cool guy in armor

A patriotic zombie hungers for brains

A public Mortal Kombat match

Ikkau from Bleach and his killer blades

The Power Gig staff rocks out on the stage

Fallen Earth's humble booth

Rock of the Dead now has competition in the form of Drumskulls

OpenChord.org

Neat animal stickers that were lying on their table

A few more Team Fortress 2 costumes

I enjoyed Archon back in the day when I played the NES version. Archon Classic is a great successor! It captures the fun of the original, but adds some nice new twists like special powers and an optional leveling system. The powers include a radial blast by the Golem and the Basilisk's ability to spawn miniature assistants, which made the reptile quite an annoying adversary. If only I had arrived at the booth sooner so I could have received one of the shirts...

Albert Wesker has reassumed control over Jill Valentine

A Duke Nukem Forever booth babe protects his swag

Alienware had their usual PAX setup

Isaac, as seen in Dead Space 2

Triton girls convincing fans to sign up for one of their offers

Nolan and Emerson decide to take one them up on their offer

Hakumen learns how to play cards

Saki and Aya from the Onechanbara series

Nolan trying out SOCOM 4 at Sony's lounge

One of Wakfu's artists draws a character sketch

I didn't try Front Mission Evolved, but was pleased to see it running at 60 FPS

Noooooo, get away...

Emerson relaxed and Nolan tried Hydrophobia when we waited for a raffle to begin

During that break in the action, I found another Headcrab victim

The Zalman/ZOTAC raffle had prizes like a power supply that's currently unavailable on the market

Square Enix raffled off several prize packages, toys, and shirts

Miranda from Mass Effect 2 hanging out with Arkham Asylum Harley Quinn

Once the expo hall closed on Saturday, I made my way to GameWorks to join the Sega party line

A Guild Wars 2 truck circled the perimeter

After waiting for two hours, we were welcomed to the next level

A large Valkyria Chronicles troop that came from Canada

Sega generously gave everyone at the party a two hour freeplay card

They also had lots of great food for free, including Caesar salad and several kinds of pasta

Delicious meatballs, potato skins, and spicy chicken made me break my convention diet

Party-goers relax in the restaurant section, including Ed Boon, who has his back turned

Prizes for the night's raffle were stored in this room

A look at the party from the upper level

I hated to leave GameWorks, but headed out to the Splatterhouse party since I'd won VIP access

After a 20 minute walk to Neumos, I spotted this Splatterhouse truck outside of the club

VIPs had access to these desserts shaped like bloody body parts

I'm gonna barf... those cookies are grossing me out

VIPs also had access to the only demo station at the event, which was busy throughout the night

A bad shot of the VIP balcony

My view of the rock show, which also had several go-go dancers for eye candy

The band performed in front of a screen showing clips of the original and modern Splatterhouse

One of the go-go dancers does her thing

Another sporting many tattoos

Another shot of the band

Go-go dancer #3

These shirts were available for party guests, so I made sure to snag a few for my friends

Dancers were switched out as the night went on

A male model playing the role of Rick

Shirts were also being tossed from the stage

Rick posed with the the game's logos and any fan brave enough to approach him

Since the Sega raffle was going to begin, I left before the next act started up their setlist

When I returned to GameWorks, the place was busier than before and most of the food was gone

The raffle crowd, where I didn't win the Bayonetta guns or the cool Sega sweatshirts

Desserts were readily available to anyone present

I got one last complimentary Pepsi at the busy bar before taking the light rail back to my house

My Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit photo op experience

The majority of Saturday's swag

I was disappointed by this small amount of shirts and made sure to increase my efforts on Sunday

PAX 2010 - Part 2

DTJAAAAM — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:36:00 GMT

The first official day of Penny Arcade Expo 2010 came and went on Friday. I meant to have my photo post completed sooner, but all these late night video game company parties take their toll. Still, better late than never!

Friday morning began with the familiar sight of gamers roaming the streets of Seattle

As promised, the DeLorean from Back to the Future made an appearance at PAX

The interior of Doc Brown's creation

This year, the chalk artist was going to recreate artwork from Metroid: Other M

The Dead Rising 2 motorcycle photo op continues to make the rounds

Believe it or not, this was actually a good spot in line since many were forced to stand outside

The white Magic: The Gathering puzzle challenge, involving strips of cloth with words on them

The swag bag line

A random poll that could be answered by the audience via text messages

The crowd was huge as the clock moved closer to the grand opening

All the poor folks in line got Rick Rolled!

Get in Line game, which had the audience sway left or right to play a simple platformer

I never played Scribblenauts, but I found the sequel's quick puzzle challenges to be amusing

As soon as I finished with that game, I moved over to the Mortal Kombat line

Artwork from the Marvel Super Hero Squad MMORPG

The Super Scribblenauts DSi contest required you to find a total of 10 people with matching pins

Sylvia Christel and Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes

A kloser look at one of the kustom arcade kabinets that hosted the demos

I played as Mileena and lost to a Reptile player. I forgot how to shoot her sai projectiles! The game itself was pretty *** good, especially if you have fond memories of the classic MK games. However, I must admit that it still has a way to go before competing against Super Street Fighter 4.

The legendary Ed Boon, who said that we have the same kind of camera

The Square Enix exhibit, which prominently featured Final Fantasy XIV

The reps informed me about how the game won't be as brutal as Final Fantasy XI

A shot of the limited edition packaging

Gragas from League of Legends

The presentation of Lord of the Rings: War in the North drew in a nice audience

Rewards for sampling 5 of the 8 WB games at PAX

My friends Nolan and Anderson face off in a Mortal Kombat tag team bout

F3AR once again used the creepy house motif to decorate their booth

I liked the art on the signs for an MMORPG called Wakfu

They also had a prize wheel for people who sampled the game

A random shot from one of the exhibit halls

Two gals promoting the new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Rydia and Lenne were waiting in line for something

My Abel put down two Akuma players at the Mad Catz booth

I have to admit, the stick looks real nice in person, but I still don't think I'll replace my regular TE

MarkMan, creator of these fine arcade sticks, poses with his latest masterpiece

A small Rock Band 3 stage

A special Castle Crashers arcade cabinet, which housed the PS3 version of the brawler

Several random attendees trying out Just Dance 2

Canned plushies were being given away at the Aion booth

At Kingston, the infamous Justin Wong was facing challengers in vanilla Street Fighter 4 matches

The Dragon Quest IX booth gave me a free drawstring bag that later ripped due to excessive swag

Black and white robot man, who was at Calibur11

Unlike at E3, Power Gig's stage was out in the open

If you sampled the Okamiden demo, you would receive bracelets and stickers

Foot and paw prints pasted to the floor lead you to the Okamiden demo station

At the time of this photo, Justin Wong lost to at least one opponent

Marvel VS Capcom 3 was obviously popular, but the crowd seemed smaller than Comic-Con and E3

I had to defeat 200 zombies in Dead Rising 2 within a time limit to earn a Chuck bobblehead

I guess the new Dragon Age DLC will reveal that Morrigan ran off to PAX

A fearsome beast prepares to skewer a helpless victim

A dark custom Aion PC case

A light custom Aion PC case

Guile told me to go home and be a family man

The booth babe at the Rift exhibit

A shot of the actual exhibit

A porcine murderer

Jessica Albert and the hero of Dragon Quest VIII

I remember this cosplay group from Fanime

Sander Cohen

Microsoft's Kinect demo area

Dance Central was at PAX... which I played and ended up making myself look stooooooopid! Still, I found the game to be pretty *** good in that humiliating way that also makes karaoke enjoyable. I still won't go out and buy myself Kinect at launch, but Dance Central is a game that I would one day like to own.

The new Bangai-O game was on demo at D3's booth

Sakura and Chun-Li

The actual costumes and props used in the Metroid: Other M commercial

My group kind of hogged the Metroid: Other M demo station so we could all get free shirts

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 artwork

Right next door was The Old Republic

I'm contractually obligated to include a photo of Pink Gorilla whenever they're at a con... J/K!

A member of the staff sporting a wild outfit

Vanille is proud of her weaponry

The Epic Mickey exhibit had a rotating art showcase

A portion of Sony's exhibit, where the Move was being used with Heavy Rain

Infamous 2 (I refuse to use the dumb stylized name) was a fairly interesting demo. Please keep in mind that I haven't tried the first game! Based on the portion that I played, I found the game to be more enjoyable than Crackdown 2 due to the super powers at your disposal. My biggest complaint would be the animation, which as I always say, should run at 60 FPS!

Little Big Planet 2 isn't my kind of game, so I passed on trying it

Sackboy dolls were available for purchase

CONDOR SPIRE!

My friends loved Killzone 3, but I thought it was just another FPS in the crowd

Scarecrow plays PS3 when he's not committing crimes or institutionalized

Geoff Keighley materialized and tried out some multiplayer Killzone 3

My friend Emerson sneaks up on Mr. Keighley

The Afro Samurai tries a retro game compilation

A couple posing at the Dragon Age 2 photo op

GameCrush girls handing out advertisements

The Behemoth's trademark booth

I figured I might as well get a shot of the Ewok

Monday Night Combat gear was available for purchase

One of several handheld lounges

Staring down at the people going up and down the escalators

Subway continues to receive a lot of income from PAX attendees

Signs promoting Poker Night at the Inventory

After a few hours, the chalk artist has made some progress

You'd receive a 3D image of yourself if you participated in the Dead Rising 2 photo op

Geralt from The Witcher

The Dragon Quest IX meet-up was here

I had a good time sharing my rare convention maps and finally got the Simon Mall DLC

A Mass Effect cosplayer

The Army of Two cast has doubled

Tom Clancy fans

The Tron exhibit

The Helghast shall spare no one!

OH MY GOD...

I tried Two Worlds 2 once again in order to receive a free shirt. I was also shown several of the new minigames, like lockpicking, which give the game a little more variety. Strangely, the demo lacked audio. After I asked the rep about this, he revealed that the new build will be up tomorrow and feature the new and improved voice actors. Perhaps I'll play it one more time before PAX is over.

Battle VS Chess was another game that I tried for a shirt. It ended up being fairly amusing chess variant, featuring hack-and-slash combat, kind of like a blend of Archon and Gauntlet. Several other modes were available that made the game play more like a puzzle title. TopWare will release this as a budget priced disc, which pleases me since I'd prefer that over an XBLA debut.

Wil Wheaton mingles with his followers

The Aion exhibit

Stuff from the upcoming Mega Man Universe game

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 was tougher than I expected. I got cocky based on my experience with the NES game, but had to read several tutorials after failing to bypass a few obstacles. It's so nice to finally be able to jump!

Vega graces PAX with his beautiful face

Statues depicting the leads from Hunted: The Demon's Forge

Decorations at the Fallout: New Vegas portion of Bethesda

Somewhat creepy wall art from Rage

Bethesda workers passing out free t-shirts

Final Fantasy VII's Tifa

I guess I'll give the presentation a shot on Sunday since I can score a free shirt

The live action Dungeons & Dragons game that was also at PAX East

Dragon Age 2's line kept me away from the demonstration

Halo: Reach is rated M for mature

Ramona Flowers

A woman working out at the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved station

Lots of PAX attendees wanted to try the multiplayer in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

If you're interested in Brotherhood, pay attention to the upper left of the banner

Artwork of a Viggo Mortensen clone

Since I disliked the Fable 3 demo at E3, I refused to try the demo at PAX

The Monsterpocalypse mascot continues his worldly travels

Numerous security guards monitored the Duke Nukem Forever exhibit

I love my photo ops, but I will not be doing this one!

Civilization 5 was only being shown behind closed doors

The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 exhibit at Sega

Who needs Shenmue 3 when you have Yakuza 4?

A character from Valkyria Chronicles with Hans the flying pig

Fangamer continues to sell their cool gamer gear

Mr. Saturn rested on a corner of their booth

Taokaka UNMASKED!

Harmonix gave free copies of Rock Band 3 and Dance Central to fans who decorated the booth

I earned a free OnLive swag bag since I'm a founding member

EA's exhibit

The Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit photo op

Gun Club members could bypass the line to play Dead Space 2

Dead Space shirts were available for purchase

A look at the booths on the skybridge connecting the two exhibit halls

Fantasy characters

Check out his spine!

Mul-ti-pass

A Comic Jumper standee

I still need to try SpyParty before PAX concludes

Retro City Rampage has a cool faux Master System box

Hegemony: Philip of Macedon

The workers at the Hegemony table

In Hoard, you play the role of an evil dragon causing trouble for the kingdom

A princess promoting Hoard

Dead Space 2 artwork

Reset Games was selling pricey vintage titles

Soap shaped like various video game artifacts

A terrible picture of the Monday Night Combat announcer

The booth showcasing the surprise sequel to DeathSpank

End of Nations models

These Mass Effect cosplayers were rather popular with photographers

A trio of Pokemon characters

Gordon Freeman fulfilling his duties as a scientist

Hey Bob... Outland was playable, but I didn't try it

During wait for the 1UP meet-up, someone mentioned that the Tera demo was 40 minutes long

Red VS Blue and Mega 64 are always crowd pleasers

The Sweet Kitty anime store continues to sell merchandise to otaku

A company known as Halfbrick

I loved the art on their game posters

Hudson showed off their usual fare

Models from Soda Pop Miniatures

Art on the Swarm exhibit

A cop handing out free badges in order to deputize PAX attendees

I tried the new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit once again and still hate it. This time around, I started to notice flaws in the 60 FPS animation. I still don't like how my vehicle handles, either. But just like I said before, don't take my words too seriously since I'm not a hardcore fan of the genre.

Another shot of the Need for Speed ladies

As the exhibit hall closed for the day, the chalk artist had reached this level of completion

Intel's prize booth

Fans descend the escalators

Attendees start to part ways as they go off to rest or party

I took a long walk to Capcom's Dead Rising 2 party at "Greene's Hardware"

One of Capcom's staff members showing off the artillery

I didn't stay for too long since the party mainly consisted of demo stations

By the time I got to the pizza table, all of it was gone

I at least received a water bottle and some Coke as complimentary refreshments

Ooooooo, Freedom Bears!

I eventually departed Capcom's party to line up for the 1UP meet-up at Tap House Grill

Unlike the PAX East event, we had two nice private rooms

Here's one of 'em

Another one that had plenty of pool tables

The first 150 people received their free beers at the bar

Free Deux Ex: Human Revolution shirts made us all happy

You know... it would be great if Game Informer did something like this at the next PAX

The first pile of swag from Friday

Here's the second

Now for a third photo, which consists of all my new t-shirts

Items I picked up for relatives, which were Servbot bobbleheads and a Castle Crashers charm

PAX 2010 - Part 1

DTJAAAAM — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Alright, you got me. The 2010 Penny Arcade Expo doesn't start until tomorrow, but that doesn't mean that there was nothing to do in downtown Seattle on Thursday. Here's a quick recap of what I managed to see today while picking up some extra PAX passes.

After providing the proper papers, the will call booth provided me with passes for my friends

Guild Wars 2 crew members lurked outside, handing out paper tokens

You could trade the tokens at the Seattle Shirt Company for a GW2 shirt

Three different designs were available

A closer look at the Guild Wars 2 artwork decorating the walls

If you don't have a badge by now, you might as well go home

On the upper levels, PAX Enforcers and exhibitors were busy setting everything up

The popular Halo: Reach statues seen at PAX East and E3 have made the trip to PAX Prime

PAX crew members lugging Sumo bean bags down to the handheld lounges

It's rare to see the Sumo bags not being used by tired gamers

Sneaking a glance at the exhibit hall

Unfortunately, that's as close as I managed to get

One of several Magic: The Gathering challenges that can be completed to access a special party

Hey, the DeLorean is going to be at PAX!

I managed to canvass a few guests in Dragon Quest IX while exploring

A crowd of fans waiting for the PlayStation gathering at Top Pot Doughnuts

The view as soon as you stepped through the doors

Autographed Kevin Butler posters were handed out for a limited time

The second floor was packed

Complimentary doughnuts and Coca-Cola bottles served as refreshments

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was present, but unfortunately I did not try it

The party advertised free vouchers for the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo, but I never got one

Two men on the lower level stripped off their shirts to prove their might

A fierce arm wrestling match broke out, and the dude on the left was victorious

Some of the prizes awarded to guests during the Rock Band 3 party at Jillian's Billiards Club

Based on a quick round with the bass, Rock Band 3 is more of the same

That didn't stop a swarm of people from lining up to give the new game a try

Not a bad haul for an unofficial day at PAX

That concludes my Thursday pre-PAX adventure. In a few hours, I'll return to the convention center as PAX officially begins! Stay tuned for a much lengthier update documenting my Friday antics!

It's Over 150,000!

DTJAAAAM — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:49:00 GMT

About an hour ago, I completed a game of Scene It? Box Office Smash with my cousins. Upon reaching the conclusion of the movie trivia challenge, I heard the familiar sound of an Xbox 360 achievement unlocking. Thanks to the 30 point Upper Echelon achievement, I have finally surpassed the 150,000 mark!

Reaching this goal took longer than I anticipated, but I guess that's because I haven't been using my Xbox 360 consoles as much as I used to. I still do find amusement in unlocking achievements and seeing how high I can go, but the thrill of the hunt isn't as exciting as it once was. I certainly won't be in any hurry to reach 200,000 points. Besides, if anything, I should take some time to focus on improving my puny PlayStation 3 trophy count...

Five-Sentence Game Impressions #2

DTJAAAAM — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:45:00 GMT

I finally felt the motivation to continue with the second installment of my blog series containing five-sentence thoughts on several video games I have recently played. Just like before, these remarks will range from nerdy complaints to fairly serious critiques. The assortment of games covered in this entry shall be Dragon Quest IX, Toy Story 3, Ninety-Nine Nights 2, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.

Dragon Quest IX

Gamers obsessed with old school turn-based RPGs can spend hundreds of hours plowing through the randomized grottos and completing the weekly downloadable sidequests.
Dressing up your team is a neat touch and actually kept me from gearing up with all of the best equipment since I wanted each person to have a ragtag look.
Since the game lacks Wi-Fi multiplayer and the insane popularity of Pokemon, sharing maps can be difficult outside of the gaming convention circuit or a circle of close friends.
A few other nitpicks would be the inability to increase the text speed and the potentially hazardous way that priests will ask if you would like to quit the game even if you haven't saved.
Despite those complaints, I'd say that I've found my new favorite DS title, and most likely my Game of the Year.

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 doesn't match the quality of Capcom's Disney classics, but it's one of the better licensed video games on the market.
Although they can be a bit short and gloss over some major scenes, the levels based on the movie storyline are mildly entertaining.
The real fun comes in the game's sandbox mode, featuring dozens of collectibles and missions.
Glitches may ruin the fun for completionists since they can prevent players from completing everything in sandbox mode, or simply do strange things like make Stinky Pete the Prospector resemble a Terminator with gray skin and evil red eyes.
If you were disappointed in the lack of Bo Peep and Wheezy in the movie, you'll be happy to know that both characters make an appearance in the video game adaptation.

Ninety-Nine Night 2

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 feels vastly superior to the original, but it won't sway anyone who is already sick of the hack-and-slash genre.
Thankfully, the developers allow you to select your own difficulty this time around, plus showed mercy by providing checkpoints.
The game supports online multiplayer during special missions, but unfortunately not offline or through the campaign.
Compared to the first N3, a few notable flaws would be the decrease in playable characters, combos, weapons, and enemy variety.
Despite Tak Fujii's infamous quote, I never encountered anything close to one million troops while offline or on Xbox Live.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

Fans expecting a lengthy Metroidvania will be disappointed, but you'll dig the game if you enjoy loot hunting.
Harmony of Despair's online multiplayer mode is amazing compared to the single player game, and is very entertaining when played with a group of friends.
It would have been nice to see even one new enemy or boss among the army of recycled sprites from previous Castlevania games.
At least the soundtrack is a fresh remix of classic audio tracks, which turned out very well.
The demo doesn't do the game justice, so I'd recommend trying the full version if you know a friend who has downloaded it.

NeoGeo Battle Coliseum

The Xbox Live Arcade port of NeoGeo Battle Coliseum features revamped sprites optimized for HD, which turned out fairly nice.
They also added 3D backgrounds, but unfortunately these replaced the 2D stages that featured cameos from other SNK stars.
SNK implemented a better online mode compared to their previous XBLA releases, but it still pales in comparison to BlazBlue and Street Fighter 4.
I know tier lists go against me, but I don't like how the unlockable bosses can be used in ranked online bouts, especially with the cheesy powers they possess in this game.
Overall, I found NGBC to be moderately amusing for a downloadable fighter, but it doesn't have the lasting appeal of similar titles in the genre that have hit retail shelves.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Saturday Photos

DTJAAAAM — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:23:00 GMT

Saturday ended up being my final day at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. It was a highly enjoyable experience, but also quite exhausting! Now that I've had a moment to recover, I'm delivering my final Comic-Con photo blog.

Boba Fett will display feminine characteristics in George Lucas's latest revision of Star Wars

Ghosts chase Pac-Man around the exhibit hall, possibly leading to the demise of the guy in red

Gears of War toys

Predator and Terminator action figures

Monster High, which is a line of dolls from Mattel

I wonder if he can talk as fast as the movie version of J. Jonah Jameson

If you posed here, Konami would put you on a custom Yu-Gi-Oh card

Here's my card

A GI Joe play set

Kermit and Rizzo props

Steve Rogers

Hush schemes with the Joker and Harley Quinn

DC's free comics, pins, and rings were very popular with attendees

The mysterious Red X from the Teen Titans cartoon

Zatanna Zatara

This was Jonah Hex's first trip to Comic-Con

Official Comic-Con shirts

A display featuring the animals of The Wind in the Willows

Gandalf ditched the white outfit

A character known as Ms. Monster

Large inflatables shaped like the starters from Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver

The game testing stage at Mattel

An oversized Undertaker action figure

Gilligan, The Skipper, too

Darth Vader turned Jar Jar Binks in to a nutritious meal

Ladies promoting the new Green Hornet movie

Another one who was handing out free stuff

There must have been some sort of movie villian culinary competition at the con

Characters from a Japanese action movie

Final Fantasy XII's Fran

The Comic-Con-exclusive Blaster action figure came with several cassettes

Titans together!

Crossing the street was troublesome due to the crowds and trains

Tons of street teams were outside handing out flyers and swag to anyone who walked by

Heroic cows

Even more Green Hornet girls

War Machine sports a new look while Iron Man dons his silver armor

The Red Faction: Armageddon girls take a break from working in the heat

Another one of Fandango's bags

Harry Potter used a spell to make his scar disappear

A costumed performer dressed as SpongeBob

A sinister astronaut

Dunununununununu Batgirl

Another great costume from the Fang cosplayer

In the future, humans have more abdominal muscles

Mad Moxxi and Dr. Ned

Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, and Captain America

Characters from The Guild

The masked dandy was a Clockwork Robot from Dr. Who

Gothic girls

The original Captain America, Isaiah Bradley

An Alien VS Predator hunting party

Female Link

The Big Daddy from BioShock 2

Move over, Nicholas Cage

I think she was a druid, nymph, or dryad

Green Lantern and Star Sapphire

Wonder Woman

The Birds of Prey were on a mission

Brainiac 5 returned to the past to see Poison Ivy

A poor soul frozen in carbonite

Wrestler Mick Foley meets a fan

Natalie Portman made stopped by Comic-Con, but you had to win a trivia challenge to see her

Spartacus booth hunks

Secret agents

The cybernetic incarnation of Raiden

The Walking Dead roamed the sidewalks

A chopper promoting the movie Battle: Los Angeles

Another novelty photo op for the collection

A female version of The World's Finest

A Scott Pilgrim lunch truck that handed out free food

Dragon Age 2 street team members announcing an inflatable sword fight in a nearby park

Men in black handing out classified documents regarding The Event

Fans lining up for a Scott Pilgrim panel, featuring several of the actors

Free cardboard boxes were passed out for use at a nearby shipping station

I'd say she was the best Chun-Li at Comic-Con

Members of the various Lantern factons

The unusual group of Bruce Lee, Deadpool, and Skull Man

The Joker and Two-Face

Steampunk twins

Pin-up models doing their thing at a signing

He-Man's old friend, Man-At-Arms

Poison would probably look like this in real life

Jigsaw's latest victims

Black Widow felt that using a gun with be quicker than martial arts

Comic-Con is a game preserve... and we're the game

Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Batgirl, and a tiny Link

Don't piss off Hawkman when he's carrying mace

Jason Mewes of Jay and Silent Bob fame poses with a fan

Fake food, some of which could be used for fashionable accessories

Model Chelsea Co

An ant man

Waldo and Carmen Sandiego found each other

This Snow White is rated PG-13

Bayonetta

Bob's Burgers gave out 200 burgers and sodas every hour and hosted an eating competition

Cammy and Poison Ivy share a laugh during an interview

The skating Volcom logo gave me a coupon after I took his picture

A reporter in a Hello Kitty hat

One of the characters from the Witchblade anime

Ladies dressed as Flash and Green Lantern near Mattel's booth

In our world, Cry for Justice thankfully hasn't happened

WHOA... Taylor Lautner!

This woman did another wardrobe change and became slave Leia

A shiny Black Widow

Mr. Game & Watch pals around with Kirby

Vanille

An Ugnaught from Star Wars

Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor, businessman Tony Stark, and an Ironette

Leeloo and a maskless Silent Hill nurse

Who needs Rocksteady when you can be friends with Luigi?

A mascot from an iPhone game called Battle Bears

A quartet of DC's supernatural heroes

The Joker has charmed Wonder Woman and Supergirl

A blurry shot of Predobear, who had the mouth of a Predator

A different kind of cat woman

This one's closer to the traditional Catwoman

I never saw any Wonder Woman cosplayers sporting her recently redesigned outfit

The only cosplayer brave enough to attempt Emma Frost's diamond form

Vile dons his green suit from Mega Man X8

If my convention eating and drinking habits weren't so bizarre, I would have loved to help out

Red Bull gave him wings

Ali Larter of Heroes and Final Destination was escorted through the hall by security

HR Pufnstuf

Doug Heffernan's neighbor visits Ubisoft

Cammy switched back to the classic costume

Brothers Thor and Loki

A Cylon from Battlestar Galactica

Two new slave Leias

Director Guillermo del Toro autographs a Pan's Labyrinth statue

What a deal... four Cobra toys on a single blister card!

Loki when he became a she and the Asgardian Valkyrie

Spider-Man and Black Cat arrived quicker than Kevin Smith's miniseries

A silly golden Buddha

Andre the Giant LIVES... but shrunk in height

Dhalsim, Cammy, El Fuerte, and Zangief pose with a female fan

A scene from a Human Target autograph session

The "comic" was actually just a small pin-up poster

Scantily-clad school girls

A solo shot of Arkham Asylum's Harley Quinn

Cloud somehow used his Materia to summon Final Fantasy X's Shiva

Batman and Robin sure have changed

He wants to be the War Machine

The fearsome Sinestro

BroadSword Comics, creators of Tarot:Witch of the Black Rose

Meeting Jessica Nigri was definitely one of my Saturday highlights

A meeting of masked mystery men

A Pikachu girl

The Red Queen and Alice

Luke Cage was available for hire

Jack didn't bring any of his company's food to the convention center

Therefore, we had these burgers and fries

Members of the Good Times cast popped in for appearances

The Behemoth had these neat items on display

Awwwww, Ruffy!

The costume was composed of flyers and swag discarded by Comic-Con attendees

One of the few Sailor Moons at Comic-Con

Hudson's booth... zzzzzzzzzzz

A variety of Capcom books

A shot of Udon's exhibit

Adopt a Poogie today!

Ibuki prepares to do a Kazegiri

Juri beckons for an opponent

Puppets from Full Moon's horror flicks

Tifa and Rikku

Leeloo and another Rikku

Who you gonna call? HE-MAN!

A Gundam model surrounded by Tranzor Z figures

Tifa Lockhart sporting her most iconic costume

Pigeons apparently love comics too since several flew in through the blue pipes

Troma carried an assortment of their cult movies

Nightmare Before Christmas plushies

I'd imagine the USA being quite different if Native Americans had access to lightsabers

Posters available for purchase

Shy Guy and Toad zoomed around in their karts

A life-sized Iron Man statue

The statue was in Tony Stark's price range

Not just regular cheerleaders... EVIL cheerleaders!

The Arkham Asylum versions of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn

A woman handing out fake wanted posters to secretly promote an autograph signing

They remembered me as "The Rose Guy", hahaha

A character from the upcoming Sucker Punch movie

A Tron cosplayer

I hope this isn't Chris's blood

A booth babe promoting several Lionsgate films

Other military gals handed out free swag

Another Cobra unit

The winnder of the best Supergirl at Comic-Con award is... her!

A pink monster looking for love

Leonidas from 300

The mad scientist from Robot Chicken plans to show his subject live horrors at the convention

A dude with a cat head

Asian Link and furry Fox McCloud

Bloo from Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends

Red Skull didn't start any fights with Winter Soldier or Captain America

Oh no, they got Kane!

Misa Amane

Mega Man Universe figures seen at the Capcom booth

This one turned out much better than the last one

A Flash t-shirt won't help you outrun a Xenomorph

*** it, they got me

The BP oil spill has even effected Aquaman

An angel/demon hybrid?

My last cosplayer I photographed was this nice Captain EO

If only I had one more day in San Diego...

Today, I had enough swag to justify two photos

Here's the second shot

As always, thank you for taking the time to look through my latest batch of convention photographs! If you weren't able to attend the actual event, I hope that they kind of made you feel like you were there. I unfortunately didn't get to take pictures of everything I wanted to see. A few examples being Darkseid and Power Girl cosplayers that I've seen on various sites, and Sylvester Stallone. Oh well, there's always next year. I'll make sure to order my 2011 passes as soon as possible and try to make better lodging arrangements so I can enjoy all 4 days.

After some deep thought, I do believe I actually prefer Comic-Con ever so slightly to E3. It may not have as much stuff in the gaming department, but it trounced E3 in the swag and cosplay categories, which are usually more important to me. I won't be attending any conventions in August, so stay tuned for my next photo extravaganza covering PAX in September.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Thursday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Friday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Saturday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Friday Photos

DTJAAAAM — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:06:00 GMT

Friday ended up being another busy but fun day at the San Diego Convention Center. I now present to you my latest batch of photos from the event! Here's what I saw today...

Jason was reluctant to kill due to the high population of virgins at the con

Lucy was a little too early to go trick-or-treating

Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, and Plastic Man were waiting for autographs

A puppet resembling Heath Ledger's Joker

In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran...

This Tusken Raider was far far away from Tatooine

Emma Frost

He vants to suck your blood

Skull Kid was one of the few Zelda characters I saw at the convention

A statue of a clone trooper

A horrifying mannequin

Capcom gave away free foam Mega Busters every hour

This is what Freddy looks like in the nightmares of Star Wars fans

A booth selling tiny monkey masks

He could use a chiropractor

I'm surprised that I still see this Monsterpocalypse monster after all these years of conventioning

You could board replica escape pods at the Alien Anthology exhibit

I was next on the Resident Evil 5 executioner's list, ahhhhh!

Dark Horse provided free yellow swag bags

Lego Master Chief

I am Lego Man

Unusual comics starring politicians like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin

Imagery of some of Vertigo's most famous characters, like Constantine

Compared to Thursday, the exhibit hall received quite a boost in traffic

I did notice that the sections with actual comic dealers tended to be more spacious

Dean Yeagle's booth

A Konami worker walked around holding this sign, advertising a Hideo Kojima autograph session

One of two extremely tall Vaders I saw at Comic-Con

The Freebie Table was mostly filled with advertisements

I'm not sure what they were, but the outfits were cool and somewhat creepy

Nemesis tracked Jill down to San Diego

Star Sapphire roamed the convention with fellow villain Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

While heading to the Kojima signing, I made sure to get a closer shot of Optimus

I was expecting a lot more people at the autograph session

Hideo arrived late, and had his men move the table to his liking

I made sure to remove my Scarecrow mask and noose for this photo op

A live game show involving mystery doors

A bad shot of the Robot Chicken creators, Seth Green and Matthew Senreich

Yesterday's Supergirl was now Silk Spectre

I believe I've seen this member of the Sith before, but I don't recall his name

Jon Cryer from Two and a Half Men was in attendance

The Green Hornet and Kato

Jeice and Ginyu, who was inhabiting Goku's body

Felicia Hardy

I'll assume that he was Conan

Shrek and Fiona

I became an honorary Master of the Universe

A Bionicle at the Lego booth

Bloodrayne decided to leave her blades at home and enjoy the convention

DC VS SNK

Aphrodite IX and Black Widow are armed and dangerous

Mary and Captain Marvel

The Sith's Darth Nihilus

A giant advertisement for a horrible film

Ariel forks her hair

A young fan poses with penguins

A pumpkin man from Monster Commute

Vampirella bares more than her fangs

I missed out on my chance to get a free autographed Marvel VS Capcom 3 comic

A monitor showing the Batman: The Brave & the Bold signing

Whiplash and Storm

Hawkwoman

What big eyes you have, Mystique!

A set of booth babes at the Spike TV station

These Venture Bros. characters caused a bit of a traffic jam in the hall

Another Uglydoll lurched through the convention center

Oh no, I've been ambushed by vampires

Members of the Hellfire Club

Sideshow's Alien and Terminator products

A neat little dude called Bumperboy

Pixel art comes in many forms

Nemu Nemu Nemu Nemu Nemu Nemu Nemu

Domo-Kun has made a new friend

Another Red Sonja

This R2 droid was very popular among photographers

A look at the section primarily filled with toy dealers

No matter your interest, Comic-Con has a shirt for you

Novelty hats

A silent Dead Space 2 Isaac

Black Widow is in cahoots with the evil Baron Strucker

The immortal Iron Fist

Poison Ivy and Supergirl

Elektra's finally gotten over Matt Murdock

See... booth babes do eat food!

Rogue and her adoptive mother Mystique

Witchblade

A small squad of Mandalorians

A troupe of Futurama characters

Mr. T pities the Mandalorian who messes with him

These portraits would morph as you moved closer to them

Thanks to the cast of The Big Bang Theory, I was trapped in this horde for way too long

Cammy and Zangief show their Capcom pride

I pre-ordered Spider-Man's new game to enter a raffle to meet Stan Lee

Models depicting a scene from Enslaved

Splatterhouse's concept artist, Dave Wilkins, signs free posters for fans

Spider-Men

I lost the raffle, but at least I got a picture of the legend

Jack Sparrow better watch out or he may get another slap

The Sith have many followers, including these cheerleaders

A group of Iron Man cosplayers

Darth Vader in puppet form

Trickster and Pied Piper were handcuffed together, just like in DC's Countdown

Several members of DC's Shadowpact

The Akatsuki meet Team Fortress 2

Stan Lee's Stripperella was handing out flyers

Even Skeletor and Beastman need to keep up with their nutrition

Thing From Another World, one of my favorite places at Universal Studios

I remember this Fang from Sakura-Con

One-eyed Morrigan

A slightly better shot of Voltron

Peter Griffin... hehehehe

A glimpse of The Big Bang Theory's autograph session

He'll cut your *** head off

Scarlet Witch and Captain America pose while Thor takes a phone call

Cats... MEOW!

One of the Dranei

Disney princesses

Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas

This Black Cat was packing weapons

Scurvy undead pirates, arrrrrrrr

They said that they were school girls who are going to Hell

A shop dedicated to The Tick

A vendor selling very old and expensive comics

Posing with a waffle

One of several stops for the Comic-Con shuttle

The stairs gave many a place to rest, and lead up to the registration area

A "beggar" informed me about 2nd Mass and a contest to be in the movie

One of the Fandango bags

Rise the demon Etrigan!

Dawn creator Joseph Michael Linsner's table

The RosenQueen Company carried quite a selection of Prinny memorabilia

Their glass case housed other NIS America products

GameFan had some booth presence at Comic-Con

A SpongeBob statue at Nickelodeon's exhibit

Square Enix once again displayed their library of fancy figures and models

I believe she was a hatless Zatana

Oh man, I gotta collect 'em all

A wall advertising the live action Tekken movie

Metroid: Other M actually wasn't playable like I thought

You can take home the evil Lotso for only $20

I like this classic Justice League set, but I wouldn't spend $50 on it

I can market my own Popeye merchandise since he's in public domain

The Avengers will assemble for a new animated series

Prism Comics carried titles that were friendly towards gay, bi, or transgendered readers

Batgirl and Batman

I can usually survive on one meal a day while conventioning, but needed this snack for a quick boost

Chun-Li proves her strength to two of Mario's foes

The outer courtyard, where several photo shoots were taking place

A view of the exhibit hall from the cafeteria on the second floor

He wasn't voiced by James Avery

Other conventions had booths at Comic-Con, including Seattle's Sakura-Con

You know what happens when you utter Candlejack's na-

I thought the plushies were kind of neat

Shadowcat with Lockheed and Psylocke

Super Chicken Nugget Boy

He's back

The Too Much Coffee Man booth closed down temporarily due to the Eisner Awards

I could have met one of the stars of The Devil's Rejects... ugh

Incredible Disney artwork at Acme's shop

A nicer shot of Hoops and Yoyo

Harry Potter dolls, including that long-haired gentelman played by Jason Isaacs

Poison Ivy

Sports Champions was another Move title on demo at Sony's exhibit

Mickey learned that violence is the answer

After the exhibits closed, I attended part of a TV Guide panel featuring celebrities like Zachary Levi

Folks like Elizabeth Mitchel and Chi McBride were also in attendance

Same with Summer Glau and Keith David

I then stayed for the Batman: Under the Red Hood premiere... which I didn't really like

The convention grows barren as the night goes on

My riches from Friday

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Thursday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Friday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Saturday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Thursday Photos

DTJAAAAM — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:40:00 GMT

I should probably be resting in preparation for my next day at the San Diego Comic-Con, but I'll continue to be a machine and work on the first of three photo blogs covering my time at the event. I'm finding this convention to be a bit overwhelming, but I'm still loving every minute of it! I hope you have as much fun looking at my first set of pictures as I did taking them.

My first glimpse of the San Diego convention center

A gigantic Optimus Prime statue guarded the outside

Despite the crowd, I only ended up waiting in line for about 20 minutes

Out of the 11 possible swag bags, I got one featuring Chuck... bleh

A bad shot of one of the Brightest Day bags that I'm hoping to get on Friday or Saturday

The first cosplayer I photographed was a scout trooper from Star Wars

True Blood banners decorated the upper floor

The dealer room was packed, and basically felt as if the two E3 halls were connected together

A statue of the Franken Berry cereal mascot at Funko's booth

My first actual stop was the Capcom booth since they were giving out quite a few freebies

Capcom merchandise for sale, including Servbot bobbleheads

The majority of the store's inventory

Poogies and Felynes

Mega Man Volnutt

After playing the Okamiden demo, I earned a special stylus, trinket, and a raffle ticket to win a rare shirt

Ghost Trick was enjoyable, and reminded me of a more humorous version of The Incredible Machine

The Marvel VS Capcom 3 arena

MVC3 tournaments are held every day, with prizes like shirts and arcade sticks

Dead Rising 2's photo op from E3 was also present at Comic-Con

The Justice Society of America's Sandman and Dr. Mid-Nite

The Square Enix booth, where I received a free Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light fan

A replica of Alphonse Elric

The Hasbro exhibit

A closer look at Shia's favorite Autobot

Baroness waits for her turn to be sealed in a blister pack

BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!

Statues from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series

Well, what would you prefer... yellow spandex?

This Iron Man outfit was only $1,100

If only I had an extra grand to spare...

Giveaways at the Diamond Select Toys booth, which I totally forgot about

Do the Bartman

Some sort of giant golden throne that I do not recognize

Horrifying heads

Another sinister-looking creature

Disney models

Papa Smurf was actually a woman... SCANDALOUS!

An arcade cabinet sporting fake art for Abobo's Big Adventure

Rockin' Android promoted their line of Japanese indie games

Voltron defended the universe by wandering around Comic-Con

Cute merchandise at Bored Inc.

A large mech

I would have tried to get in closer, but these Iron Man suits were swarmed by fans

Models from the Stan Winston Creatures line

Mile High Comics should have put their mascot on the sign

The DC Universe's legendary trinity

Artwork from the final issue of Blackest Night decorated DC's walls

World of Warcraft memorabilia, including coins and a statue

Starcraft 2 statues

Busts of Harvey Dent and Hal Jordan

Action figures sporting Bruce Wayne's various looks as he travels through time

DC action figures exclusive to the convention

An assortment of Blackest Night toys

I'm tempted to buy one of the miniature Green Lantern sets

Entertainment Earth carried exclusive Lost and Halo: Reach toys

They also were hosting several celebrity appearances

The Avengers assembled on Marvel's exterior

The Tofu Girls exhibit

Down on Fraggle Rock!

Dozers

The Image Comics booth

Two of the numerous Ghostbusters at Comic-Con

Daft Punk cosplayers

Lego C-3PO and R2-D2

I couldn't get a good shot of ECTO-1 since the hallway was cramped

Perhaps I'll try Metroid: Other M on Friday or Saturday

I got a free Slime shirt and special map thanks to Nintendo's Dragon Quest IX section

Cute bean-like creatures

The Uglydoll line of toys

A kid befriends an Uglydoll

The Green Hornet teams up with Supergirl

Me with G4's girls

GameStop TV was on the scene

Posing with Motohide Eshiro during his autograph session

Those furry hats continue to spread around California

People relaxing while munching on expensive convention cuisine

The Sideshow Collectibles exhibit

A creepy zombie bust

One of the props from Gremlins 2

Another Capcom signing, this time with Hiroyuki Kobayashi of Sengoku Basara and Devil May Cry fame

Special Spider-Man Xbox 360 systems at the Activision booth

The Red Faction: Armageddon mech from E3

Marvel's famous incarnation of Red Sonja

A woman at the City of Heroes booth

The Rock Band 3 stage

They used too much flash!

A view from the escalator

Up on the second floor, hundreds of people waited to meet actors from shows like Dexter

Citizen V of the V-Battalion

Chun-Li finally faces Kitana after all these years

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

No-Face from Spirited Away

Tuxedo Mask meets Wonder Woman

Ms. Marvel tagged along with Deadpool in hopes of appearing in Marvel VS Capcom 3

Street Fighter's Cammy

Of course, protesters stopped by to try and ruin the fun

Another group of "protesters" appeared in retaliation

He tricked out his scooter to resemble a white dragon

The Punisher and Flash are Gaga fans

This Red Hood wasn't Jason Todd, but a female

The Jedi master known as Ki-Adi-Mundi

Beam them up, Scotty

A trio of characters from Tim Burton's interpretation of Alice in Wonderland

Wonder Woman wields a powerful blade

The misguided Jinx from the Teen Titans animated series

Amusing puppets

The Peanuts booth

Snoopy waves at the camera

Sideshow Collectibles had some nice pieces on display, like this Thanos with Death

A statue of Psylocke

Another statue featuring Scarlet Witch and a miniature Vision

Busts of Wolverine, Thor, and Carnage

Optimus Prime was trapped while looking for his bigger twin brother

A prototype of a Lion-O statue

Replicas of famous props from the Indiana Jones films

Rogue and Gambit of the X-Men

A difficult UFO catcher game, which featured neat Bleach and Naruto items

There were people inside of the giant bunnies

Black Panther didn't want to wait for the Wakanda Comic-Con

A set of slave Leias

Captain America's mighty shield

The invincible Iron Man armor

Thor's hammer completes the trinity of Avengers weapons

A bike from Tron

I believe the demo was actually Otomedius-Gorgeous

A dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh

The top half of The Walking Dead's exhibit

The lower portion, including the fake corpse

Silk Spectres

If you participated in a fake horror movie scene like this person, you'd get a free calendar

Poison Ivy and a female version of The Comedian

An android busts a move on the Just Dance 2 stage

Some of Gotham City's greatest villains

War Machine was on active duty

The Behemoth's exhibit, where I don't recall seeing anything new

The *** Batman

A child tries out the Move

The WB lounge

The state of Rick also made the trip from LA to San Diego

I missed Thursday's signing, but I'll make sure to stop by on Friday

Statues of the Enslaved stars guarded the demo units

Microsoft's exhibit was tiny in comparison to E3 and PAX

Geoff Keighley samples Halo: Reach

EA had several of their upcoming titles at the show

Aion fans could get their wings at this photo op

I don't think the DC Universe Online team would be happy to see Catwoman near City of Heroes

Cammy sporting more of a proper military outfit

Kitana had many fans

Ahhhhh... Carlos Blanka

Hellboy and the bride of Hellboy

Several DC heroes and villains formed a line

The Rabbids were promoting their latest and greatest adventure

Supergirl

Several DC women receive an anime-style makeover

A few of Marvel's ladies also received the same treatment

Hee hee

Tai from Digimon

You'd find most of the autograph sessions in this portion of the event

Seconds later, the Flash donned his actual costume at super speed

I took a break in a panel about The Force Unleashed 2, which is something I probably won't play

I was so disappointed when the rumored Namco VS Capcom wasn't revealed at the Capcom panel

An attractive Baroness

The power of Buddy Christ compels you!

Gabe and Tycho strike one of their usual serious poses

The White Queen, Emma Frost

These folks were promoting a calendar aimed at nerds, featuring cosplay girls and convention dates

SHAZAM!

Death Eaters from the Harry Potter universe

X-23 was apparently quite a fan of Tuxedo Mask

I let 'em borrow some roses

Jango Fett traveled through time and space to be with Leia

Posing with another Emma Frost cosplayer

Vanille and Lenne

The crew at Spike & Mike's

The stars of The World Ends With You

The works of painter Alex Ross

Tinkerbell may be taller than she appears in the movies

I liked the outfits

Official photos, which could be purchased for autograph sessions

Kenner mislabeled this Indiana Jones action figure

The Punisher and an associate

A trio of Indiana Jones characters

Black Canary

Wolverine wants to play a game with Jigsaw

Some sort of lizard man

An Asian version of Jean Grey

Meeting Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man

"This is for Falcon! This is for me! This is for Duke! And this... is for the US of A!"

I liked the bear/mouse thingies at the Toy Tokyo setup

Even Duffman is feeling the impact of the economy

Voldemort casts a wicked spell on the convention center

Hands off the pony!

A female Flash arrived from the DC multiverse

Free swag bags were given away by the good folks at Shonen Jump

Lego land

Hmmm... a Lego Toy Story game could be neat

I wonder if these were the same ones I saw at Pixar

They were handing out free inflatable Pokeballs

Pikachu didn't shock Starfire or Robin

Hanging with some booth babes

Japanese toys

Hasbro sold a massive Galactus action figure, which looked like a pain to lug around the convention center

Cobra Commander is playing favorites by hanging out with one of the grunts outside of work

I pretty much always photograph one Pyramid Head at each convention

Pachirisu

Oooooooo, The Expendables

A steampunk version of Rogue

Fox's booth babes

Another attendee with a cool look

PikMEN

Wildstorm's greatest hero, Grifter

I believe the statue was of Aspen Matthews from Fathom

The original Silk Spectre

A scene of the masses departing the convention center for the day

Several roads were closed off due to the sheer masses of people at Comic-Con

An outdoor Scott Pilgrim exhibit, which I'll investigate later

Subway hopes to appeal to the cosplayer community

Thursday's swag pile

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Thursday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Friday Photos

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Saturday Photos

DTJAAAAM's E3 Hijinks: Image Gallery

DTJAAAAM — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:40:00 GMT

As promised in my detailed recap of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, here is the extensive gallery of random photos I took at this year's E3. Be prepared to see photos containing games, art, booths, cars, celebrities, models, and a whole lot more!

Various ads outside of the convention center

A Marvel VS Capcom 3 ad by the curb

A DC Universe Online banner decorated the southern entrance

A vehicle from APB

The view once you enter the southern doors

A fully-loaded booth promoting EA's new Gun Club

Can you spot that evil toon known as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit?

FINISH HIM!

FATALITY!

These Halo Reach statues were a popular subject among convention photographers

A Sims 3 car

Final Fantasy continues to dominate the E3 steps

People kept trying to touch the car, and were scolded by a staff member keeping guard

Free video game-related magazines were up for the taking

The armored lunch car promoting Bulletstorm

War Machine doesn't have an E3 badge, but he came all the way here just for the experience

Virgin Gaming's large cash prize

It's the Rebel Billionaire, Sir Richard Branson!

Two soldiers near the Virgin booth

I got a sneaky shot of Newsweek's N'Gai Croal hopping into a cab for parts unknown

IGN's War for Cybertron setup

The NOS girls need their Starbucks

This group loved to give bunny ears to people

They insisted that I open the can right away and tell them what it smells like

*GULP*

A Capcom booth babe handing out fliers

This zombie was caught wandering around the Dead Rising 2 demos

Metroid: Other M packed in quite an audience

On the opposite side were these Nintendo titles aimed at a more casual audience

If you braved the 3DS line, you'd eventually end up playing the system in this lounge

The Sony exhibit was BALLIN' and had all the games

One of Arcania's models

A Helghast trooper on patrol near the Killzone 3 demo

A wider shot of Ignition's booth

A character from Blacklight: Tango Down and a booth girl

A woman handing out shirts at the Power Gig booth and one of the bouncers

The Power Booth stage

A recreation of an area in Fallout: New Vegas

Two of Ignition's ladies

A nerdy, but cute model

Terrain from Rage

Gamespot was giving away free packs of AA batteries

The Agency's booth babe

Catwoman sinks her claws into me

A random rep handing out fliers

Gran Turismo 5 is still here after all these years

If you waited in line to try out Killzone 3, you'd get interviewed like the dude in the corner

Afterflow models brighten up the room

Man, he looks like one depressed soccer fan

Parts of this sign would move, including the Rock's eyebrow

Mortal Kombat

A Nazgul statue decorated the War in the North exhibit

Yer a Lego, Harry

THQ's live Jeopardy game, where you could compete for prizes

THQ's model

I didn't try de Blob: The Underground, but this art looked nice

A look at the Konami exhibit

Hard Corps: Uprising artwork at the booth

Two Sonics are faster than one

A maiden at the Shogun: Total War exhibit

The Vanquish demo

Phantasy Star Portable 2's E3 presence

Since Kenshiro's a statue, I guess HE'S already dead

The small portion of Tecmo Koei devoted to NIS America and their RPGs

One of Koei's booth babes

And another

I don't know who these guys are, but they were signing autographs and handing out posters

The wrestling ring when it wasn't being used

That looks like Lady Gaga on Dance Masters

Gotta love that Castlevania: Lord of Shadow artwork

One of the ladies endorsing Def Jam Rapstar relaxing by the stage

Microsoft's Xbox 360 exhibit

This structure housed Kane & Lynch 2 demo units

The Square Enix booth looked just like last year's

Square Enix's DS offerings

You need an appointment if you want a proper tour of Final Fantasy XIV

A Forza Ferrari

People in a room testing out Kinect

The redesigned 360 was used to demo quite a few games

A live demonstration of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

If you wanted to play Brotherhood, the wait was significantly longer

Me and two of the girls from GameCrush

A bike from the new Tron

The exterior of the Epic Mickey demo zone

A glance at the interior

The Toy Story 3 video game could be sampled in there

A statue of Gabrielle

Bloody Splatterhouse art

A cool statue of Rick was by the demo stations

A monument of Mr. Uzumaki

Booth girls playing We Sing with an attendee

A model showing off Grip It accessories

A fur-wearing woman at the Nexon booth

I wonder if that's the final Okamiden artwork

Another one of my targets

Nyko's booth continues to feature redheads

Accessory makers R.D.S. Industries

A closer shot of their giant Hello Kitty

I'd totally buy this fabulous purple 3DS

Two of the other colors on display

The weather in the morning wasn't too warm, but these gals still felt like sunbathing

The AR Drone booth showcased a flying device, which is below the TV on the right

Artifacts worn by wrestling superstars

They sure don't look like the referees from when I watched pro wrestling

I'm uncertain about whether this Ultramarine was a person in costume or a robot

The girls of Red Faction: Armageddon

A prop from the new Tron movie

An armored soldier from Global Agenda

The booth for Rift was stunning

A defender of the Rift

Rock Band accessories

Oh no, a man is trapped in a bubble with Kinect Sports!

Hori's accessory emporium

Hori even had their new DSi dock that's shaped like a Dragon Quest Slime

Everyone is hopping on the fitness bandwagon

I wonder if this will sell out at Christmas like the previous games

BioShock statues

They aren't dolls, they're models!

The next Karaoke Revolution will be based on the hit show Glee

A trio of Glee cheerleaders

.Love that bee!

Jo Garcia, the special guest of the Mafia 2 booth

Impersonating a mobster

One more for the road alongside two Playmates

Booth babes from GamersFirst

If you watched the F3ar presentation in this house, you'd get a snazzy water bottle

Demo stations showing the Last Airbender video game

A soldier of the Fire Nation

This dead guy was a decoration at the Mortal Kombat exhibit

Another of Koei Tecmo's lovely models

A booth babe from the Lucha Libre exhibit

Several luchadores signing things for fans

Super Scribblenauts

I watched these performers play Lady Gaga's Poker Face on Dance Central

HotForWords from YouTube was signing autographs

A closer look at her adorable dog

OnLive's booth was very orange

Peter Moore during a stage presentation at EA's booth

Phony protesters complaining about Judo Baby

The Children's Miracle Network was at E3, and there booth featured a somewhat creepy fake baby

People were getting wild makeovers at this booth

SOCOM 4 was very popular among the Sony crowd

Two characters from Forsaken World

A female zombie was now being held in captivity by Capcom

A friendly creature hanging out by the SOE booth

A Cylon replica

I have no real interest in Little Big Planet 2, but I dig that backpack

Two of the Nyko girls

A pair of UFC booth babes

Fable 3 is on my list of things I've been asked to play on the final day of E3

A woman promoting Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Samurai gear at the Koei Tecmo exhibit

I liked the wall art

No one was nearby, so I couldn't take advantage of this photo op

A close-up of the arsenal at EA's Gun Club

While the game wasn't playable, E3 was filled with columns showcasing El Shaddai characters

Kinect slogans were plastered on the bathroom mirrors

Black lights were used to thwart people trying to sneak in with fake badges

The Scarecrow walks at midnight

AR Drone models meet before setting up shop

Of course, I get a free green iPhone skin when I no longer own one

Rock the Dead's legion of the unliving

The final seconds of a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier presentation

The woman on the right apparently really likes tattoos

Game Outlet sells European video games

Some of their bloody swell offers at E3

I liked Tera's art, but didn't feel the need to play it

The G4 stage

The G4 stage from a better perspective

A prominent X-Play logo

Triton's models putting their products to good use

I think her booth was promoting batteries

MMA star Jens Pulver was accepting challenges at the Alienware booth

Hey Xcite79, here's a shot showing you how popular OnLive was

You think this letter on my head stands for France?

Leon Works featured lots of fine fantasy art

Two members of the Lion Works staff

If you befriended the company on Facebook, you'd get some free swag

Nox headsets were being sold, and you could get them engraved with your Gamertag

A Honda from the new Hot Pursuit

Watching the console version of The Sims 3 netted you a shirt and possibly a headband

I wonder if I was allowed to sit in this Monopoly car

A booth babe crossover

Faux stained glass featuring the Ultramarines

The cathedral that housed them

Both Ted DiBiases were going to be at E3

Two Playboy Playmates have turned on each other

Fun with booth babes

A wider shot of the space shared by Deep Silver and SoutPeak Games

The NOS booth, where I stopped for my daily cherry drink

Hurray for crazy Asian artwork

The merchandise shop was located in the west hall

A man demonstrating the ForceTek gauntlet

Write your name on the bag and get your own for free

Gamigo girls

Someone was inside the giant sphere

Great booth art at the Magic World 2 exhibit

The s'mores-flavored Gamer Grub was decent

I think this was some sort of Judo Baby photo op

The Get-Well Gamers Foundation works to give games to hospitals

An Arcania model passing out free temporary tattoos

Sadly, I wasn't patient enough to try the new Twisted Metal

I wonder if any EGM staffers were inside

You could pre-order games at the Game Informer/GameStop cubicle

Crave promotes their line of games based on reality TV shows

The Nyko girls hang with Jessica Chobot

FIFA girls

The Target lounge provided complimentary Wi-Fi and a table to get your electronics cleaned

The Into the Pixel art exhibit

Little Big Planet artwork

At first I thought this was some funky Unicron, but it's just Cybertron

A picture of Mr. P.B. Winterbottom

I liked this portrait, but forgot where it was from

The art of The Conduit

Guild Wars 2 artwork

Bringing up the rear is ModNation Racers

Stormtroopers made sure the Force wasn't unleashed too early

Posing with Suicide Girls

Typing your info on an iPad got you a free shirt from Virgin Gaming

The two Teds, son and father

The Conduit 2 wall

A large banner showing the new Deux Ex

Just like last year, Square Enix showcased cool models and action figures

Square Enix is even doing figures of third-party characters like Dante and Nero

Bayonetta and Jeanne in plastic form

An assortment of Metal Gear Solid toys

The Final Fantasy XIII collection

Whoops... that little sign says no photography

Japanese fishy thingies above the Tecmo Koei exhibit

G4's quartet of booth babes, including the winner of their contest on the far right

Destructoid's mascot would make a fine luchador

Zooming in on the Tournament of Legends wall art

I wonder if Kudo Tsunoda was up in that lounge...

I didn't see if this Rock Band 3 station was equipped with the new guitars

A woman demonstrating Your Shape using Kinect

Another Kinect demonstration, featuring a Dance Central dancer

Yet another Red Faction: Armageddon beauty

Girls helping another good cause

Support your troops

Despite the positive buzz, I didn't get around to trying Lost in Shadow

Two models for End of Nations

Atlus will be bringing out this photo booth game to the DSi

Testing out the booth

An Epic Mickey painting

More Mickey Mouse art

You could wait in line and get a professional sketch of Mickey

No idea what this is about, but I'll buy it if it ain't WiiWare

The new Pirates of the Caribbean game wasn't playable

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

A statue of a horror from Vindictus

Apotheosis models

One of the two Photo World booth babes

One last photo with all the Nexon girls

DTJAAAAM's E3 Hijinks: My Recap

DTJAAAAM — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:44:00 GMT

A lot of people don't know about it, but a relatively obscure video game convention known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo happened last week. Since I was fortunate enough to attend E3, I thought I'd share another one of my convention reports with the Game Informer community! I'll begin with a lengthy recap of some of the notable things I did on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

TUESDAY

Waking up at 6 AM, I prepared for a long day at E3. Traffic was pretty bad, so my uncle dropped me off at the convention around 8 AM. Since my standard attendee badge only grants me access to the exhibits at noon, I was in for a long wait. At least those extra hours gave me plenty of time to take shots of the scenery!

I was soon greeted by this massive Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood advertisement. Yeah, I know you've probably seen this banner a bajillion times by now on various game sites. Well, here there it is one more time!

I soon entered the building and began looking for the place where I'd pick up my badge holder. Snapping photos along the way, I eventually learned that it was back outside. Oops! Just like last year, all they needed to check was my driver's license to verify that it was truly me. Hint hint to those who are willing to pay money to get in E3...

With my badge around my neck, I headed further into the convention. I confiscated a few of these free swag bags for future use. I definitely need all the storage space as can get since my friends know that I *LOVE* hoarding freebies! As I was moving away from the pile, a voice called out my name. I turned around and it was Mr PMS and his friend, who were looking for the Nintendo conference. I stopped and said hello for a moment. Nice seeing you there, guys!

Returning to the southern entrance, I took some time to check out the Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2 CG trailer. Since I'm not really a fan of the franchise, I don't think I'll try the game. I did think that some of the action was kind of cool to watch, but that's about it.

Since I still had a few hours to kill at this point, I stepped back outside to see what else was in downtown. These Kane & Lynch 2 bicyclists were offering free rides. I don't think I ever saw anyone accept the offer, which I'm sure was a relief for the poor drivers.

Walking along, I came upon this building with a large ad for the next Ghost Recon. Once again, I'm sure you've probably seen it already.

You probably haven't seen this, though! A Plants VS Zombies tour bus drove by the convention center. It eventually came to a stop.

Costumed performers dressed up as plants and zombies poured out of the bus! They got into a scuffle before a man with a boombox arrived on the scene. He initiated a dance battle between the two rival factions!

Only at E3 would something like this happen! I made sure to record a small video clip, which you can see by clicking on the photo.

After that excitement, I decided to head back to the west hall and join the line of non-media attendees who were camped out by the entrance. Nope, that wasn't it! This large group of people lurked at the bottom of the escalator mysteriously. Anxious to see what would happen, I waited nearby.

They soon started marching around the convention center. A few lead the march by beating drums. When questioned by attendees about what they were doing, they only answered by saying that they're marching. Once again, I made a quick video that can be seen by clicking the image. At the time of this writing, I still have no idea what the heck they were representing!

I eventually became a part of this merry band of people patiently waiting for the doors to open to the general population. I chatted with two dudes while waiting about various things, like which games we were hoping to see. One as granted access since he owns a production company, the other attended thanks to ITT. Since they were both new to E3, I did my best to help them out with some tips I learned from my last visit.

As the clock grew closer and closer to noon, the large mob of E3 attendees was asked to stand up by the convention center staff. They announced that hopefully we'd be allowed entry at noon on the dot. We pretty much were. You can see what it was like to storm the gates of E3 by clicking the picture. Unfortunately, that was my last video clip. I'll try to make more tomorrow!

Capcom was one of the first exhibits I saw as I entered the western exhibit hall. I pretty much immediately rushed to the nearest open station so that I could try out Marvel VS Capcom 3! Sadly, I didn't get the chance to pick my characters during my first fight since someone had already done so. I actually didn't realize that the game was still 3-on-3 either, so that was a bit of a surprise for me. My team of Ryu, Morrigan, and Wolverine achieved a victory against my opponent, even though I couldn't figure out how to tag out at the time!

I eventually played a few more rounds, and learned that tagging is done the same was as in Tatsunoko VS Capcom, which I barely touched. At the end of the day, I'd had a chance to sample Ryu, Morrigan, Wolverine, Felicia, Chris, Dante, and Captain America. I'd somehow forgotten to select Deadpool. Pretty much all of the returning fighters felt the same to me, but then again I was more focused on the new guys. Chris wasn't really what I was hoping for. I couldn't really figure out any good combos with him from my limited time. I still hate Dante's character, but I thought he was fun to use. His sword attacks make him somewhat of a slow powerhouse, which is the kind of character I enjoy using as of late. He did have some speedy gun attacks, and an attack that was similar to Wolverine's Berserker Barrage. Overall, if you were a fan of Marvel VS Capcom 2, you'll be eager to get your hands on this and shouldn't have much of a learning curve!

Nearby, I spotted the Dead Rising 2 demos. I held off on playing it for right now, but made sure to take advantage of the nearby photo op where guests could pose on Chuck's bike while wearing his jacket. I've covered wars, you know.

Since the Nintendo conference happened while I was wandering around in the morning, I had to catch up with the news while waiting to get in. Now that I've had a little fun, I figured I'd join the queue to try out the new 3DS. This is the sight that awaited me when I got there. I decided to hold off on seeing the system until later.

Heading towards Sony's booth, I witnessed a few people trying out the Move. They were testing it out on the new SingStar game. I unfortunately never had time to go back and see how it plays, since I do enjoy karaoke and dance titles.

Making my way to Ignition's exhibit, I lined up to play Arc Rise Fantasia once I saw that they were handing out free pins to people who tried the game. You may know that I'm a stickler for 60 FPS animation in gaming, so I was saddened to see it running at only 30 FPS for most of the game. The frame rate would shoot up to 60 during victory scenes at the end of battle. As for the gameplay, it kind of reminded me of Chrono Cross due to the encounter system and overall look during the fight. You basically get a certain amount of points during battle to decide each characters actions. Instead of forcing each character to do something, you could use all your points to make your warrior attack several times while having your healer just stand around. I can't comment on the story, though the game did seem to have a feature like the skits scene in the Tales series.

The next game that I ended up sampling was Power Gig: Rise of the SixString. I'd describe it as an interesting alternative to titles like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Once I got a wristband, the burly fellow opened the gate so that his female companion could lead me to my instrument of choice.

I tried out the guitar first. Unfortunately, the rep had me place the headset on first before giving me instructions. Since I could barely hear him, I fumbled through the majority of the song. The guitar uses strings instead of buttons. There are colors on the guitar corresponding to the icons on the screen, so you hold down the string atop the matching shade. Using a pick or finger, you then strum further down the body of the guitar. I ended up preferring my finger since I wasn't used to using a pick.

Looping around, I went to a drum station. The rep here explained a bit more about the game, like how the main campaign focuses on specific characters and has an actual plot. He then showed me how Power Gig's drums worked. They are pretty much noiseless besides the bass pedal since you aren't actually hitting anything. You just hit your drumsticks over the corresponding sensor and a light will indicate if it was detected. He also made sure to point out that it's quite compact in size and can be taken apart for storage very easily. I had a much better experience drumming than playing the guitar, but I can see hardcore rhythm game drummers not liking this set.

Before I left the exhibit, I returned to the entrance. They were having a contest that would result in a drawing for complete Power Gig band kit. Since I've basically had my fill of the instrument-related side of the rhythm genre, I doubt I'll buy it, but wouldn't mind a free set!

Right before taking a break from the west side of E3, I stopped by the SOE exhibit once I saw a digital photo op! I opted for one of the Star Wars Galaxies backdrops. I make quite a dour Sith Lord.

Once I took my leave of the western hall, I headed to the southern exhibits for a brief moment. I saw this cool mech from Red Faction: Armageddon and had to get a photo.

One of the models noticed me taking a picture. She then asked if I'd like to have her take one of me inside of it. Sure! The faceplate closed down for a brief moment, which kind of surprised me, but it eventually flew back up.

I soon rushed out of the southern hall and had to track down the Black Bean Games booth. Why? It's always been a guiilty pleasure, but will admit that I do enjoy the Spice Girls and their music! Former Scary Spice, Mel B., was going to be at their booth to promote her new fitness game for the PS3. She was running late and had to do a couple interviews, but I ended up being the first of the few lucky people that had a chance to get a photo op with her. Sadly, the photo turned out *HORRIBLE*, so I will not be posting that online, haha!

Once that little celebrity encounter was put to rest, I returned to the southern hall. My next destination was the Tecmo Koei exhibit. Since I'm such a huge Dynasty Warriors fan, I was eager to test out any of the company's latest offerings.

Warriors: Legends of Troy wasn't a total disappointment like Hokuto Musou, but I wouldn't call it great either. The animation runs at 30 FPS just like Hokuto, but the combat system was more entertaining and not as sluggish. Achilles, the character I was using, even had moves that looked like they came straight out of the movie Troy. I killed one of Apollo's champions and his many minions. This angered the god, who animated a giant statue that I was forced to battle. I managed to cripple the abomination, but couldn't figure out what to do during the QTE sequence needed to finish the job and died. I'll still pick this up at launch, but it has certainly fallen in favor on my list of anticipated games.

Next up was Samurai Warriors 3. The TVs used to demo the game made the graphics look terrible, but I'm sure that can be remedied with the proper equipment and setup. Playing as Kenshin and Nobunaga, I mowed down a a bunch of enemies in random missions. The gameplay is still just as addictive as the previous Samurai Warriors games, but my fanboy complaint comes from the new voice actors. A lot of my favorite lines from the recent games are missing or replaced with inferior quotes. It's not the same when Nobunaga doesn't declare his victory over an officer by saying, "It's just that simple."

I'll make this experience from the Sega booth short. I decided to give Valkyira Chronicles 2 a whirl. Bad idea since I'd missed most of the tutorial and had no idea what to do. This most likely wouldn't have happened if I'd dug up my copy of the original and started it.

Moving on a bit further, I was invited by one of the booth babes at the Lucha Libre booth to try out the demo. She escorted me to the demo station and we began to battle. No offense to her, as she was nice, but it didn't really seem like she knew how to play. Combine that with the fact that I didn't know what the hell I was doing made the match excrutiatingly long. We battered each other back and forth for way too long, and I luckily figured out how to pin her. I was so thankful when the demo was over, as this is unfortunately my least favorite title from Tuesday. At least I got a luchador mask for my trouble!

Up next was Konami's exhibit. Even though it's almost out, I really wanted to try Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Since the game can be played by 6 players and the demo only featured 5 characters, I made sure to ask the rep if that was going to be the final roster. He said quite a few other playable characters would be in the final version, though he didn't provide any names. I selected Shanoa since someone in front of me had already played as Alucard. The game defaults to a zoomed out view, but this can be toggled by pressing the right analog stick. As I journeyed through the map, I found various pieces of equipment, which I was unable to use until I reached certain checkpoints on the field. After a few minutes, I made my way to the boss of the demo, who was Gergoth from Dawn of Sorrow. The rep informed me that so far, no one has managed to beat him. Add me to that list.

While I didn't try the video game based on Toy Story 3, I did drop by the booth since they had a photo op setup. Nearby was this adorable alien from the series.

Donning a cowboy hat and vest, I was soon handed a small toy revolver. YEEHAW! Haha, I guess that's another ridiculous photo for the collection.

The last games that I actually had time to play were over at Natsume's booth. Some of their decorations included this neat Harvest Moon setup. Once I found out I could get a miniature plush horse by trying any of their demos, I wandered over to Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove since it was on my list of things to play.

Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove does play like Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents, so if you're a fan of those kinds of rhythm games, you should feel right at home. There does seem to be more of an emphasis on notes that needed to be traced. Well, at least on the song I tried! The difficulty was quite easy, and the Natsume rep couldn't really say for sure how challenging the final product will be. He did say that he at least failed the the Impossible difficulty setting several times. The rep also noted that the game contains several entertaining mini games.

Since the remake of the second Lufia was also on my list of things to try, I went right behind Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove so that I could play it. Since the previous players had explored most of the map and I couldn't find any enemies to fight, I gave up very quickly due to boredom, but said I'd try again another day so that I could experience the new battle system.

I soon made a slight detour to Nexon's booth. I'd seen quite a few attendees parading around E3 with massive swag bags bearing excellent Dungeon Fighter art. I had to have one!

Too bad they ran out of bags for the day! One of the booth workers even had this lovely lady pose next to their empty rack. They did assure me that more would be available tomorrow, so I'll make this one of my first stops!

I noticed a crowd at a nearby booth and went to investigate. These three female performers were doing some kind of show with weapons. I'm still not entirely sure which game they were promoting.

Right behind them, *ANOTHER* mob was forming. That was due to Attack of the Show's Olivia Munn, who took some time to chat and pose for photos with fans. I don't really watch G4, but I figured I'd get a photo for the collection. Didn't get it since she had to leave when I was about six people away. Oh well!

I returned to the western hall for the last 15 minutes of Tuesday's E3 show. I learned that you could win a shirt by being victorious in Marvel VS Capcom 3's multiplayer mode. I assumed that only one win would be necessary, but I was wrong! You needed to get five in a row. Since I wasn't even close to the front of the line, I left to shoot a few more random photos before the hall closed.

While snooping around Nintendo's exhibit, the call went out announcing that E3 was done for the day! I took this photo as the demos for the new Zelda game were turned off for the evening.

Now that the show was over, I stepped outside. My uncle met up with me and drove me back to his place. See you tomorrow, E3!

There's my current inventory of swag at the end of Tuesday. I wouldn't say that anything too great is in there, but it could have been worse. Now that I had most of the exhibit halls mapped out in my head, I planned on concentrating on stuffing my bag with even more goodies on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY

While waiting for the western exhibit hall to open, I chatted with another attendee, who was only spending one day at E3. He convinced me to take a shot at lining up for the 3DS trial as soon as the gates opened. The two of us rushed towards the end of the line, which kept wrapping around the Nintendo booth. The end was waaaaaaaay past the actual booth, requiring about a three hour wait. I wished my fellow E3 colleague good luck and parted ways with him.

Before leaving Nintendo's section, I saw the nice Zelda shirts shown above. To get one, you had to try the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword game, which had a line roughly the same size as the 3DS. I now had a new target to focus on when the doors opened on Thursday!

I soon headed over to the southern hall, I began to look around. I noticed this giant statue of Pac-Man commemorating his 30th anniversary. Coming up with an idea for a pose, I asked a nearby woman to take my photo. Here I am as Pac-Man's latest victim!

Crossing over to the other side of the room, I found one of the games that I've been dying to try for a long time. Two Worlds 2! The staff member who helped explain the game's features to me seemed a bit shocked that I actually liked the original. They pointed out that the current build has horrible voice acting that doesn't match the actual text in the game, which is due to the fact that the dialogue is going to be rerecorded. A certain NPC in the game will even speak using the style of the first Two Worlds as a bit of a joke. Other than that, the graphics have improved nicely, and there is a marginal upgrade to the quality of the animation. The combat also feels a bit more refined. I think it's time to pre-order once I return to Seattle!

When I moved near the GamersFirst exhibit, I was coerced by the staff to try one of their many free-to-play online games. I selected a game called Swords 2. It's currently in beta and combines aspects of RPGs and RTS titles. Maybe it was the enemies I was facing, but I found it to be rather difficult. The evil creatures would brutally mow down my party of three, and proved to be menacing even after I used several revival items. I'll at least say that the graphics were nice when you zoomed in.

My next distraction was sampling the new Mortal Kombat. Unfortunately, I soon found out that it wasn't playable, but being shown in a live demonstration that ran throughout the day. The wait in line was quite agonizing, but time flew by since I talked about the convention with a guest of Capcom's. Once we were finally granted access, we received a free Mortal Kombat shirt. I have to say that the new game looks great!

Lots of references that hardcore MK fans will enjoy have been placed in the background. Examples include Kenshi fighting an opponent in the background and Shao Kahn's new hostages on his stage, who happen to be Kira and Kitana. The new "X-Ray Attacks" and Fatalities are quite brutal and just what the series needs! One of the more memorable finishing moves had Reptile forcing his opponent's mouth open as he spewed acid into it. Before I left, I asked one of the producers about whether or not the game has a story. He told me it takes place after Armageddon, and has Raiden trying to alter events in the past to prevent some of Shao Kahn's evil deeds. That's why most of the classic stages are making a comeback. I need this game ASAP!

The next game I had a chance to demo was the new Bonk game for Xbox Live Arcade. Bonk: Brink of Extinction was okay. Our prehistoric hero now has special hairstyles that give him access to elemental abilities. You'll need them to bypass various obstacles throughout the game. Other than that, the gameplay pretty much feels the same as the old TurboGrafx-16 titles. One other exception would be the fact that Bonk can no longer climb up walls.

After I saw more attendees walking around with the gigantic Nexon swag bags, I remembered to pay them another visit. Their new shipment had arrived! After scanning my badge, the lovely lady in the fur hood gave me one of the large bags. I soon stuffed my smaller ones into it to make 'em even easier to carry.

While there, I also tried out Dungeon Fighter. Since the artwork looks cool, I've been meaning to give it a test run. It plays like Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, but with a heavier emphasis on the RPG mechanics. Playing as a Slayer, I hacked away at undead monsters and fiddled around with his blood-related magic. I'd say it's worth a try, plus it's free, so no huge loss if you hate it.

Splatterhouse was up next on the chopping block. I'd have to say I was kind of disappointed. The game really reminds me of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I wouldn't say that's a terrible thing since I enjoyed Wolverine, but that's not really the direction I want for Splatterhouse. I didn't get too far in the demo since I believe I accidentally killed myself by activating the Terror Mask's power. It seemed to drain his life, and I couldn't figure out how to deactive it.

I returned to Natsume's booth so that I could get a plush horse for one of my cousins. I also replayed the demo of Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals. This time, I battled a few enemies and tested out the battle engine. It wasn't my cup of tea. You don't transition to a separate screen when enemies appear. You remain on the map, and strike out with skills or weapons, kind of like the old school overhead Zelda titles. I like those games, but I was hoping for something like Star Ocean when it came to combat.

I decided to step out for some fresh air. This Bulletstorm vehicle was parked outside and open for business, serving burgers and bottled water to E3 attendees. Best of all, it was free! Six styles were available for E3 attendees.

I considered ordering a Gang Bang Burger, which had three beef patties. Since I had planned on eating dinner with a few friends from 1UP.com, I downgraded to the Afterburner Burger. It was the closest thing they had to a traditional cheeseburger.

Going back inside the convention center, I stopped by the western exhibit hall. I thought I'd take a peek in the small Atlus conference room. I asked if regular attendees were allowed inside since I was looking forward to trying Etrian Odyssey 3. Nope, I had to be a member of the media. Call me bitter, but I'd like to thank Atlus for showing your dedicated fans that you care.

Going back near the entrance, I figured I'd cross a few Capcom games off of my list of things to play. I never played Okami, but some friends wanted me to give Okamiden a trial run. While I have heard that Okami plays like the 3D Zelda games, this version resembled Link's overhead adventures. A little bit of jumping was also thrown in. I enjoyed my brief moment with the demo, but don't think I'll get it right at launch. However, if the nice styluses shown on the left were given away as a pre-order incentive, I may reconsider.

Now that I've tried Sengoku Basara, I'll admit that I am impressed. Playing as the mighty Tadakatsu Honda, I plowed through a large portion of the Mori clan army using his spear and missiles. The controls themselves were comparable to Samurai Warriors 2. Characters also have the ability to slow down time, which can be useful for increasing the length of combos. I'll give it a more indepth analysis when I have my own copy for the PS3.

Dead Rising 2 was available for demo on the PS3 and 360. I waited and eventually had access to the 360 version. In all honesty, besides the weapon combination system, it felt a lot like the original Dead Rising. Since I enjoyed DR, I don't have a problem with that. A few other minor tweaks include text messages replacing the calls informing you about new missions. Keep in mind that you can still be attacked while looking at the texts.

I didn't intend on trying Transformers: War for Cybertron, but was drawn to the booth when I heard familiar music being played. The background track from when Galvatron attacks Autobot City in the animated Transformers movie was playing. I wondered if it was featured in the actual game since I think that would make a great choice for deathmatch music. Sadly, it wasn't from the game. Still, I enjoyed the multiplayer mode, which was compared to a third-person Modern Warfare with transforming robots.

My cousin Andrew was at home on his computer and insisted that I attempt to make an appearance on IGN's live broadcast. While I failed to do that since they kept switching their broadcast to different booths, I did manage to get a photo op with Jessica Chobot! Also please note that my camera died around this point since I forgot to recharge it, like an idiot. I ended up using my EVO's camera for the duration of Wednesday, so please excuse the change in quality on some of the photos.

Since the end of the day was drawing near, I decided I'd take one more shot at playing with the 3DS. This time, the line only lasted half an hour, so I made it to the fancy lounge! I approached this fellow and was shown a Pong-like game. I thought the 3D visuals were fairly nice for what they were. The system is also roughly the size of a DS Lite, so people who hate the size of the DSi and XL can rejoice. No photos were allowed when a system was turned on, but I was free to take as many as I wanted when they were powered off.

I messed around with the 3DS version of Nintendogs for a moment. While the dogs are cute, the gameplay still bores me. Hollywood 61 also didn't hold my attention for long since I wasn't in the mood for puzzle solving. These ladies soon showed me a trailer for the new Kid Icarus game. It looked awesome. To describe it, I'd say imagine Pit as the hero of Sin & Punishment. I soon saw a few other videos that looked great, like the Resident Evil and Mario Kart games.

Making one last lap around the south hall, I ended up being coaxed by a booth babe to try out the latest UFC video game. I'll make this quick and simply say that I thought it felt like Fight Night with the addition of kicks and grappling.

The last game I tried was requested by several people on Twitter. The game was the new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. I sampled the PS3 version, and loved the 60 FPS animation. All racing games should strive for that! Perhaps it was the car that I was driving, but I kept sliding around all over the place when attempting to steer. That never happend to me in Most Wanted! I quickly collided with a portion of the road that was sectioned off and busted by the police. I'd say that my experience was average, but please keep in mind that I'm not a fan of the genre.

The expo soon came to a close. After dinner with friends, it was back to my uncle's apartment to rest and empty my bags. That pile up there is all the free crap I picked up today at the show. I'd still say nothing was too grand compared to some of the other game conventions I've visited. My favorite items would have to be the Nexon bag and Mortal Kombat shirt.

THURSDAY

My last day at E3 started at 8 AM. I arrived bright and early once again and started working on fattening up the day's photo count since I was disappointed by Wednesday's results. I wasn't the only person getting ready for one more day, as the Spike and GameTrailers crews were prepping their exhibit.

The corridor connecting the two exhibit halls was generally quiet during the mornings. I figured that this was the perfect time to make a video of all the signage displayed in that area of the expo. If you want to see the movie clip, click the image up above. It also gives you an idea of the length of the walk one needs to take in order to travel between the main exhibits.

I had plenty of time to kill, and come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been up these stairs that were outside of the western exhibits. Might as well go up and see what awaits me!

I guess that there was a reason why I never felt inclined to ascend to this area. All that was there were a few small offices. Boring stuff, but at least my curiosity was satisfied.

Who is in that unfortunately blurry photo? None other than Shigeru Miyamoto himself! I was walking around when I saw his unmistakeable face heading in the opposite direction. I asked if I could get a picture, and his companion in the background said that he was late for a meeting, so was unable to stop. At least Miyamoto was kind enough to slow down his pace for a few seconds and waved at me!

After that brief celebrity encounter, I took a look at the E3 media lounge. Media badge holders could come in here to get some work done. According to a reporter that chatted with me while waiting for the exhibits to open, you needed to be very fast if you wanted the free lunches provided in the room. I should start brainstorming early for methods of upgrading my badge in 2011...

The reporter planned on heading straight to the 3DS since he had to photograph it for his sole assignment. I told him I was going to rush towards the line for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and would try to show him a bit of a shortcut I noticed on the second day. During the opening dash, I headed to the right of Capcom's booth and took a left to get exactly where I needed to be instead of going straight and taking a right like just about everyone else. I only had to wait about 10 minutes to play one of Nintendo's hottest games!

As for Skyward Sword, it's time to share my thoughts. I have a strong bias against most of the 3D Zelda games since I feel that nothing will ever top A Link to the Past. The time I spent playing the new game showed me that my opinion probably won't be swayed, but I still had fun trying it out and learning the new controls. Starting with the graphics, I prefer the imagery I've seen in Twilight Princess, but they were still adequate and seemed more colorful. As you know, there is more of a focus on the precision of your slashes, as each enemy I fought was generally guarded against all but one form of attack. Perhaps my memory is hazy, but I think Red Steel 2 did a better job of sword combat. Messing around with Link's accessories, his flying bug gadget was and easy to steer with the remote, and I'm sure you'll need it to solve some puzzles in the full game. I was fighting the giant scorpion boss when my turn ended.

After stuffing my snazzy new ZeldaI shirt into my bag, I left the west hall. I took a shot of this display containing a flying AR Drone that I briefly mentioned in one of my other posts. Since I headed outside and was near their booth, I made a video of these things in action, which can be seen by clicking the photo.

On Wednesday, I added Rock of the Dead to my list of things I needed to try, so I figured I might as well get it out of the way now since it was near the AR Drone exhibit. While I do prefer the artistic style of House/Typing of the Dead and the Rob Zombie soundtrack isn't style of music, I enjoyed the game and should pick it up once it hits retailers. Using either a guitar or drums, players take down zombies and other creatures of the night by playing the correct notes on screen before the enemy or projectile hits them. You also have a meter that gradually fills up, allowing you to perform a bomb attack to clear the screen of foes. The stage I sampled had me traveling through a graveyard while Zombie's Superbeast played in the background. At least I got to hear the one song of his that I actually kind of like!

I could have lived without trying a demo of Peter Molyneux's Fable 3, but a few friends from Seattle have expressed interest in learning more about the title. I tried out a demo that was on display at Microsoft's booth in the southern hall. The segment I tried didn't actually show me any of new ruler features. If I didn't know any better and the logos were absent, I could have been sampling new DLC for Fable 2 since to me, it looked and played just about identically to the predecessor.

Remaining in the southern hall, I moved over to the WB's booth. It wasn't a huge priority on my list, but I wanted to try the new game based on Batman: The Brave & The Bold since I found the show to be an amusing distraction. If you're a fan of the Lego series of cooperative platformers, keep an eye on this game! It's basically a 2D version of those titles. The graphics and animation are excellent and look just live the TV show. Several stages were available on the demo, and I spent time trying out two alongside a partner. The other player selected Batman, so I acted as Robin on the first stage. We battled the duo of Catwoman and Catman. On the second stage, I played as Guy Gardner and battled Starro in space. The gameplay in this section was similar to a horizontal space shooter.

Moving towards the Konami booth, I got in the very short line to play Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. This may disappoint some people, but I didn't play the game for longer than four minutes. It wasn't because the game was bad. From what I saw, the opening menu looked really cool and the basics of combat were fun in that hack-and-slash kind of way. My only complaint is the usual one, which is 30 FPS animation.

The reason why I suddenly stopped playing Lord of Shadows was because the crew at the nearby Def Jam Rapstar stage announced that George Lopez was going to make an appearance in about a minute! He was filming a segment for his talk show, so he got up on stage and sang part of the song Just a Friend. Of course, I made sure to take a video, so click the photo to view it!

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 was the next game I sampled at Konami. The rep warned me that the demo showcased the game's cooperative mode, which made the difficulty extremely brutal. He wasn't lying when he said that we needed to stick together in order to survive. If only he had helped me out instead of rushing off at the speed of light! He played as a character that I'm pretty sure was Dwingvatt from the first N3, while I used the guy shown in the artwork. Some armored centaurs decimated my life bar before I was killed by other giant creatures. From what I played, the game still has the kind of Dynasty Warriors-style gameplay that I like, so I'll eventually purchase it.

In my humble opinion, the best non-retail game at E3 award should go to Hard Corps: Uprising! The spiritual successor to Contra did not disappoint. Playing with another attendee, we blasted through most of the demo. It combines the timeless gameplay of Contra with the animation quality of Metal Slug. A mid-boss resembled the tower from the first stage of the original NES game. Going through a desert filled with quicksand death traps, we eventually made it to a speeder bike segment before being kicked off due to a media demonstration.

On Wednesday, my buddy Bob mentioned that Hudson was giving out free inflatable bombs to people who played the Bomberman Live Battlefest demo. I tried it out in order to get one. The game didn't shake up the classic formula, which I guess is fine. There were a few new skins for the characters, but that's the only difference I noticed. I think I'll be fine with the version of Bomberman Live that I already downloaded.

If you took advantage of the booth babe photo op at the Arcania: Gothic 4 booth, you'd score a free shirt! I did that and also gave the demo a brief trial. Arcania was on my list of things that may interest me since it resembled Two Worlds, but gradually fell somewhat off the radar. I blame that on Divinity 2, which one of the reps said is vastly inferior to this game since it didn't feature an open world. That was one of my big complaints about D2, so should I end up putting it back on my shopping list at some point. However, please note that if you're looking for incredible graphics and animation, this game didn't have that. I'd compare it to the likes of other European RPGs.

Returning to the west hall, I visited the Sony booth since my cousin Austin wanted me to check out hte 3D TVs. I noticed an unused pair of glasses near some dude who was talking to one of the reps. Putting them on, I can't say that I was amazed by the technology, but I'm sure people who are willing to pay extra for it in theatres will get a kick out of it. By the way, the person I was standing next to ended up being...

...Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan! He really seemed to enjoy the 3D TVs from what I overhead. He soon left, but a few fans stopped him for photos. He gave me this quick pose before the next attendee had their turn.

Making the trek back to the west side, I spotted another new zombie being locked up at the Dead Rising 2 exhibit. I finally took the time to capture a video of the pro and anti-zombie protesters that were in the area. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of the hilarious moments when the pro-zombie supporters were tackled and "arrested" by the Capcom staff. To see the clip, click the zombie girl.

M friend Wayne sent me a text to let me know that Nintendo was giving away Pokeman Ranger: Guardian Signs mini notepads if you sampled their demo. Going over there, I played it and can't say that I was impressed. I'm a fan of the mainstream Pokemon titles, but not the derivatives like the Ranger series. Constantly drawing circles around monsters got boring fairly quickly, even when you mix in the strategic elements about summoning your own Pokemon to help out.

Here's a fun fact for you! After I took my first picture, the Nintendo rep standing nearby politely informed me that the company would like the stylus to be featured in any photo featuring one of their DS games. She then posed with the stylus so I could take a "corrected" picture.

Dragon Quest IX was on demo nearby, so I took a few minutes to see what it was like. From the brief moments I had with the game, it felt kind of like a portable version of VIII, but with an encounter system like Chrono Cross. I didn't know what my current mission was in the game, so I wandered around fighting a few groups of enemies and browsed through the compendiums before setting the DSi XL down.

Returning to the other exhibit hall, I noticed a large audience forming at the Lucha Libre exhibit. The luchadores had finally stepped into the ring! Four of the masked wrestlers were competing for the right to be the game's cover athlete. I was going to make a video, but the lighting was way too bright. I'm not sure who won either since I left a few moments after the match began.

I've had a tiny portion of interest in Tournament of Legends, so I checked it out at Sega's exhibit. It's a fairly mediocre 3D fighting game featuring a cast of mythological characters from around the world. I used Jupiter and picked the club and shield from his list of available weaponry. I fought against a medusa, batting away at her using the Wii's motion controls. I never actually played War Gods, but I could imagine this game being quite similar. Thank you, but I'll stick with my traditional fighting game controls.

Since the clock was ticking down to the end of the day, I decided to try out the motion controller doodads put out by Sony and Microsoft. Time Crisis: Razing Storm had a short line, so I made that my first Move experience. Just like the arcade game, everything animates at 30 FPS. It plays like a sequel to Crisis Zone since you use a machine gun instead of a traditional pistol like most shooters. The rep also mentioned that the arcade version of Time Crisis 4 will be included as a bonus on the disc. As for the Move itself, I don't see how attaching a ball to a Wii remote is changing everything.

Now that I tried Move, it was time to use Kinect! I bumped into Bob when I came to the south hall and talked for a moment. As I was saying bye, I saw Ice-T walk by with his entourage. I started to follow them in hopes of getting a photo, but they were too quick and found sanctuary in this WB Games room.

Since the line to play with Kinect at the Microsoft booth was outrageous, I opted to try it out on the third-party Konami game Adrenalin Misfits. I'm not surprised that I HATED IT! I thought it was kind of weird how I had to take off my badge since it apparently was going to interfere with the camera. The race I played involved surfing as some anthropomorphic creature. To accelerate, I would have to turn my body sideways and lean forward. Jumps were performed by actually jumping, whle flips were done by doing jump kicks. Note that I was wearing a black t-shirt, but nothing seemed to work like it should. I could have just sucked at the game, which isn't an unlikely possibility, but for now I'll continue to be a Kinect hater.

Sadly, Adrenalin Misfits was the last game I actually played at E3. Like I mentioned in my post about games I wanted to try at the expo, Epic Mickey was something I attempted to see. All the demo stations were still busy by the end of the day. The reps spent a great deal of time telling players about the game and its controls before they actually handed over the Wii remote and nunchuck. I was getting impatient, so just took a picture of the new art direction and left.

I proceeded to wander around for a few more last-minute shenanigans. Wayne had mentioned the F3ar photo op to me, but I kept on forgetting to do it. You know I love taking absurd pictures like this, so I think this one would have been right up my alley. Unfortunately, by the time these photos jogged my memory, the photographers and their gear were all gone.

A mob of people surrounded the Vindictus booth. I asked a nearby dude about what was going on, and he told me that they were going to be throwing out prizes. Sounds good to me!

After showing us the trailers for Vindictus and Dungeon Fighter, the Nexon staff started to throw shirts and the extremely popular fur hats into the crowd. The girl in the white wanted one so badly and seemed quite willing to shout about flashing her boobs to get a hat. She wasn't one of the lucky winners, as the crowd seemed to literally fight each other for a chance to own of those *** furry hats.

On Wednesday, I saw one of the infamous bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors doing business in this corner on the outside of the convention center. I'd heard that they were no longer allowed at E3, so it was a slightly exciting moment since my coworkers raved about how good they tasted. I heading to dinner with Bob and Wayne when I saw the vendor, so didn't get a chance to stop. I hoped he would be back on E3's final day, but alas, the corner was empty.

That brings another year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo to a close. Once again, I had a blast attending the event and hope to be in LA next year from June 7th to the 9th. I'll never understand why people will say that E3 is not all that, or that you'll only enjoy yourself if you have a media pass. To me, this place is like paradise, and all the haters need to turn in their gamer jackets.

As you can see, my giant bag was full of freebies, and the straps started to rip! Also, my lack of sleep and regular meals caught up to me, so I'm still feeling kind of sick. At least I have plenty of time to rest between now and my next convention, which is the San Diego Comic-Con. I'll also be at PAX in my hometown of Seattle. Of course, I'll continue my fine tradition of convention coverage to help give the Game Informer online crew a look at what they're missing.

All that's left from my E3 coverage is the massive photo gallery of miscellaneous shots taken from the show. You can expect dozens of images, including the various booths and decorations in the exhibit hall. Yes, there will be plenty of booth babe pictures, too! Follow this link to continue to the end.

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 4

DTJAAAAM — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:16:00 GMT

My final visit to the convention center ended up being fairly short. Monday's attendance had decreased exponentially, but that is generally expected due to the holiday. At least I still had the opportunity to snap a few more pictures for the Game Informer crew to see!

When asked about his favorite part of FanimeCon, War Machine answered, "All of it."

A fan donning a Pedobear mask

Oh no, the free food has been ransacked!

Death, as seen in the Discworld series of books and games

The number of Blair cosplayers has dropped since last year

Using Ken, Reuben Langdon fought a line of Super Street Fighter 4 players to help a charity

No evil shall escape his sight

A Korok and San

A Skull/Mage from the Disgaea games

I wonder if Tai was secretly playing Pokemon on her DS

The lion Kon from Bleach

FanimeCon... serious business

Maya Fey and Miles Edgeworth from the Ace Attorney franchise

Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl

Peter Pan needed time away from Never Never Land

The Spy was late for our business meeting

A catgirl and Pika-Girl

A trio of Tales of Symphonia cosplayers

Last but not least, a maid

That concludes my trip to FanimeCon 2010! I really hope that you enjoyed seeing these photos as much as I did taking them. Hopefully I'll be back for more in 2011. I'll definitely share more pictures if I can make it!

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 1

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 2

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 3

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 4

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 3

DTJAAAAM — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:40:00 GMT

I completed my third day at the 2010 FanimeCon anime convention during the afternoon. While the show floor wasn't as bustling as Saturday, there were still many costumes and characters worth photographing. Now, Game Informer, I present to you today's batch...

Mojo Jojo stood by the entrance, looking at the opposition

Several Sailor Scouts stopped me for a photo

It took longer than I thought, but I finally got a photo with a Sailor Moon

Toshimichi Mori of BlazBlue fame signs Hakumen's sword

He then poses for a photo with the cosplayer

Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari recognized me as "Tuxedo Kamen"

Sol Badguy and Valentine from Guilty Gear 2: Overture

Coach Is a proud sponsor of Gatorade

Dohko and Athena from Saint Seiya (Identified by Saboten55)

Cammy strikes her most famous pose

Big Boss during his Naked Snake years

More of Arkham's inmates have descended upon Fanime

Rozalin, or Over- oops, that would be a spoiler

Jeane from No More Heroes (Identified by DarkRadiance)

The corn is in the field

An unfortunately blurry shot of a bear from Afro Samurai

Nouhime and Nobunaga rule the Sengoku era

UNKNOWN #2

Zoey is hopelessly surrounded

It's been a year, but Kain and Golbez still look great

Another Mai Shiranui cosplayer

Vanille and Hope stick together

Bass heard that Tina was wandering around Fanime

Peach and Daisy

No Cheese-Kun cosplayers this year, but these goods captured his likeness

Suika Ibuki thirsts for sake (Identified by Saboten55)

Lara Croft takes aim

The movie version of Mortal Kombat's Kitana

Since this is an anime convention, I'll assume that he's from Jin Roh, not Killzone

Aang better watch out... Gumby is watching!

Soul Calibur's Talim, Tira, Sophitia, and Taki

Posing with another Sailor Scout troope

Shiki from Black Cat, who I believe was also at Sakura-Con

A different Rydia cosplayer

UNKNOWN #4

Pyramid Head and a nurse claim another innocent life

Miime and the notorious space pirate Captain Harlock

Cobra has risen

An excellent Ryu Hayabusa cosplayer

Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass

Hidan from Naruto

I'd hate to be in the Sackboy costume while dealing with California's heat

Ganondorf has kidnapped Zelda yet again

Seven minutes...

Many attendees posed for photos with Yoshi instead of riding him

I can't believe that people thought that David the Gnome was a simple garden gnome

Oh no... they got Chris!

Misa Amane and a horned demon

An attendee ready to rave

Rest in peace, Bill

Syaoran Li from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Identified by Mehdia)

Saturday's Alice looked even better when wearing her blond wig

HOW DO I SHOT WEB

Remember that time Peter Griffin was at Fanime?

Maxwell Lord of Earth... RI- oh wait, he's Captain Hammer

The Doctor is in

Nappa arrived earlier than Vegeta in order to secure the facility

Lilith and Mordecai were resting in the dealer hall

The Galaxy Express 999 will take you on a journey...

UNKNOWN #6

Doll from Kuroshitsuji (Identified by Mehdia)

The Warrior of Light was participating in a photo shoot

Freddie!

Kinnikuman flexes for the camera

The horses are slowly taking over the world

A catgirl and her friend show off their plushies

Technika looked neat, but I didn't get a chance to try it

A silly moment from the Resident Evil photo shoot

You should't have a problem identifying this Calintz as a male

Tony Stark still wears uses the old arc reactor from time to time

Jill tries to fend off her former partner

Tomax or Xamot, who said his twin was busy looking around in the Fanime Artist Alley

A female Gaara

Terry Bogard and B. Jenet

A scene from the Sailor Moon photo shoot

Tuxedo Masks... ASSEMBLE!

You've finally reached the conclusion of my Sunday image gallery! Tomorrow is the final day of FanimeCon 2010, but I'll be sure to post any notable costumes that I see at the convention center.

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 1

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 2

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 3

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 4

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 2

DTJAAAAM — Sun, 30 May 2010 08:07:00 GMT

The busiest day at FanimeCon has come to a close. Quite a few new cosplayers showed up, and I hope the same thing happens on Sunday! I've uploaded my latest batch of photo from the convention so that Game Informer's online readers can get a closer look at the con.

Giant plush Jigglypuff and Kirby dolls were displayed in the courtyard

Tifa stretches after another easy win

HADOU- oops, wrong Ryu

I remember these excellent Tifa and Zack cosplayers from last year

A shot of the poor folks who had to wait in the lengthy registration line

A Moogle appeared and warmed the hearts of the crowd

Soul Eater's Tsubaki and Kasumi from Dead Or Alive (Identified by Phalanx541)

Lady Gaga sporting her look from Telephone

This is what you get when you fuse a Mawile with a human female

Fairies from Odin Sphere

Tatsunoko's Casshern

A petite Rikku cosplayer

A strong samurai warrior

As usual, ladies love the mask

An impressive crimson Zaku that needed an escort to get out the front doors

A rather round Totoro

The best Vanille at Fanime

Pika pika!

Yuffie chose the Attack command

One of the Heartless

Take a wild ride on the infamous Catbus

Another character from Lady Gaga's Telephone music video

Ryuk needs some apples

Shouldn't these Shy Guys be playing Super Smash Bros.?

Marechiyo Omaeda from Bleach (Identified by overcast_kid911)

Two dudes doing some sort of martial arts demonstration

Reimagined versions of the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit

Two of the leads from Kick-Ass

Happy birthday, paper thingie!

Two Moogles put up their dukes

She did a good job of bringing Kefka's crazy clothing to life

The Sengoku Basara version of Yukimura Sanada

Molotov Cocktease from the Venture Bros. (Identified by maguti)

One of the stars of Princess Tutu

Barry's still secretly in cahoots with Wesker

BeKyoot's Happi Paper mascot was dancing to amuse shoppers

Han'nya from Rurouni Kenshin (Identified by YaMissed2)

The Rookie and Master Chief are ready to do some co-op

A second Lady Gaga

New fighter Juri

Ion Fortuna from Trinity Blood

Queen Frostine from Candy Land

Potter Puppet Pals

Videl and her Great Saiyman

Finally, a Kuja cosplayer that's the accurate gender

Snacks for the otaku

Hands off the panda

A rousing game of Cosplay Chess

UNKNOWN #6

A Viera serves as a bodyguard for Vivi

A female Mew

DRAGON ZORD!

MASTADON!

Maids performing a dance on stage

Max is ready for all sorts of comic mischief

Macross Frontier's Ranka Lee (Identified by maguti)

Russell brought some balloons and drew in quite a crowd

A large crew of pirates from One Piece

The wise Zhuge Liang

Zalera from Final Fantasy XIII (Identified by radiantdreamer)

Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins

Calvin glomps a plush Hobbes

Shunya Yamashita's CoCoNa and Wild Flower (Identified by radiantdreamer)

Dude... it's Raph!

Fran doesn't need Balthier when she has Basch

Epona and Malon

Another Princess Tutu cosplayer

UNKNOWN #10

I don't see anything in the photo, just some bushes

I made it to the right castle!

Toad and Peach

The Qiao sisters from Dynasty Warriors

Rakushun and Taiki from The Twelve Kingdoms

Old and new Tifas

Transformers may be the talk of the town, but Medabots still has fans

A Black Dynamite cosplayer (Identified by TheWalleh)

Anya Alstreim from Code Geass (Identified by Mehdia)

A nice group of Odin Sphere cosplayers

Litchi and Tager have reunited

The power of Christ compelled me to take this photo

Silk Spectre was the only Watchmen being watched at Fanime

Those pesky protesters were scolded by some Rikku cosplayers

UNKNOWN #14

A great Black Rock Shooter

Skull Kid

A duo from Valkyria Chronicles

A cute girl in pink

People are already making costumes from Pokemon Black/White

I'm still surprised that there was only one Bayonetta at Fanime

One of the Na'vi from Avatar

UNKNOWN #15

Another Black Rock Shooter

Ulala seeking that latest news at Fanime

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Bridget and Dizzy try on some of their alternate colors

Tonight, he dines at Fanime!

Morrigan and Donovan from the Darkstalkers series

I wonder if this is one of the Cobra Commanders I've seen at other events

A clawed Storm Shadow

"You know what happens when a toad gets struck by lightning?"

A girl with a neat horned headpiece

The star of Robot Unicorn Attack

Zelgadis psyches himself up

Her colleagues requested the pose

Kratos decided that he no longer likes the bald look

A Blood Angel from Warhammer 40K

Ichigo gets socked by Kukaku

Cammy and Lara Croft

Lulu and I enjoy the shadows

Sailor Mars substitutes for Sailor Moon

Another version of Alice

A catgirl

Me posing with another Tuxedo Mask fan

Make mine Marvel!

The World Warriors have gathered together for a photo shoot

I was graciously asked to make a quick appearance on a Japanese webcam show

Robin Hood surveys the area with his eagle eyes

Morrigan taunted the Marvel heroes

Awwwww, the protesters decided to call it quits

That wraps up Saturday at FanimeCon! If you can identify any of the characters I didn't know, let me know and I'll be sure to give you credit. I hope you enjoyed the photos, and if you did, be sure to drop by tomorrow so you can check out my Sunday photos.

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 1

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 2

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 3

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 4

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 1

DTJAAAAM — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:37:00 GMT

I'm visiting California once again so that I can attend the FanimeCon anime convention in San Jose. Just like with the previous conventions I have attended, I'll share my photo gallery from the event with Game Informer's community! I'll skip a detailed recap since the photos do a better job of showing you what Friday at Fanime was like.

It's far from perfect, but my Scarecrow costume will serve as an alternative to Tuxedo Mask

Dhalsim teaches me one of his yoga techniques

The line was fairly tame compared to Sakura-Con

Scorpion went with a chain-link spear instead of the reptilian creature in his hand

Mai Shiranui had many fans

Masamune Date from Sengoku Basara

Asuka Kazama shows off her Para Para Paradise skills

X-23 and Domino need to work on their teamwork

Lilith from Borderlands

A view of the pay-to-play arcade

Jin Kisaragi was usually hanging around at Aksys Games

Gumby was once a little green slab of clay

Sol Badguy and I-No both love to match

Vega UNMASKED!

UNKNOWN #1

Great, someone messed up and left an empty spot

K' kept his shades on, like in King of Fighters XIII

Russell has grew up after Up was filmed

A lolita version of Alice

"I'll get you next time, Gadget... next time!"

Skullomania was the only Street Fighter EX character brave enough to show up to Fanime

Akuma battles Crimson Viper

Abel prepares to unleash his Ultra

Makoto took some time away from fixing up her dojo

Ryu, Cammy in her new alternate costume, and Ibuki

CRIMINAL UPPER!

JCVD takes up the role of Colonel Guile once again

A nurse from Silent Hill lurches towards the camera

The legendary hero Hakumen from BlazBlue

Taokaka is ready to toss a Kaka kid

Hamburglar better stay away from my 4X4s

Reuben Langdon, the voice of Ken and Dante, was once again a special guest of Fanime

Pedobear has found some older prey

Japanese performer Halko Momoi

Hugo and a manly Poison

I think he was Domon Kasshu, but could use some clarification

Neat hats sold by Boshi Basiik

The Aksys Games booth

The BlazBlue bag on the right sure is tempting...

Gambit's card would light up with kinetic energy

Two dudes who follow the Creed

Joe Musashi from the modern Shinobi games

More lolita fashionistas

Stitch is well-armed

Celty from Durarara (Identified by maguti)

A guy cosplaying as the strongest woman in the world

A Lancer has landed

Kairi and Sora pose with a young fan

One of the boys from Daft Punk

Lucario, I choose you

Will Eisner's creation, the Spirit

Sailor V (identified by FooFoo)

UNKNOWN #3

Sister from Arakawa Under the Bridge (Identified by Penpen2crayon)

A female Naruto and her friends

Two of the stars of Prince of Tennis

Principal Kuno believes in peace, man!

The non-Johnny Depp Mad Hatter

Luckily, Adon lacked the whiny voice found in Super Street Fighter 4

Momoi seemed to find my mask amusing

Another attendee sporting lolita clothing

The protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Litchi Faye Ling decided to go without her staff

Cloud Strife and Princess Zelda

Amber Sweet from Repo! The Genetic Opera (Identified by Areusuffering90)

The first protester of the day

Sudowoodo said I looked scary

Rydia summons some photographers to take her picture

A catgirl and her friend

UNKNOWN #6

Mercedes from Odin Sphere

Our hero was missing the Dagger of Time

Dragunov plots his next move

A gathering of Vocaloid cosplayers

Several obscure SNK characters, including Brian Battler and Washizuka

We make a good pair, haha

I still love that backpack

Sagat gets ready to knee the competition

Batman wasn't here to hunt me down, so it was up to Black Canary and Green Arrow

A female Masamune Date

Gilgamesh from Fate/stay night (Identified by dbull620)

Dissidia's Jecht

Ward, sans Kiros

Snake and Raiden

A second Hakumen cosplayer

A fierce hunter from Capcom's Monster Hunter series

Yugi would rather dance than play cards

This Terminator: Salvation arcade game looks much more entertaining than the console title

Remy tries to unlock himself in Street Fighter 4

A few more fashionable attendees

The artist formerly known as Puck Man

I still prefer Tifa's classic look

UNKNOWN #8

The Queen of Hearts

Morrigan stretches to warm up for Marvel VS Capcom 3

I unleash the fearful contents of my briefcase on an unfortunate victim

A Rubik's Cube wandered through the halls

I loved this ABA's key

UTSUI... or whatever the heck E. Honda says when you set his voice to Japanese

Ranma-chan munches on a snack

Hector from Fire Emblem and his huge axe

Beast Boy would be happy to know that Terra's alive and well

I'll hopefully see Ike on Monday since he's going as Arkham Asylum Scarecrow

Dead or Alive's Kasumi

Alan from the Hangover

The Brain Age guy is back at Fanime

Jill Valentine has what it takes to tackle the Left 4 Dead crew solo

Happy from Fairy Tail (Identified by ezdude)

Kazuya Mishima prepares to fight his half-brother Lee Chaolan

Poison Ivy

An Ewok

The King stayed in character and silently nodded when I asked for a photo

The red Gyarados escaped from the Lake of Rage and plans on terrorizing Fanime

The Midna puppet was really cool

Got miruku-desu ka?

A breakdance competition suddenly happened in the lobby

The lone protester converted two people to his cause

I was snared by Catwoman's whip

B.B. Hood does her Crocodile Dundee impression

A brainwashed Cammy serves the evil M. Bison

OH YEAAHH!

Beatmania IIDX 17: SIRIUS was available for free play in the game room

Vampire hunters D and Leila

He's the Juggernaut, b*tch

The Tetris blocks ganged up and attacked the poor Rubik's Cube

Several ravers were being interviewed about the protesters

Data observes the lifeforms seen at Fanime

The Fanime swap meet had great video game deals, like 32 Famicom games for a buck a piece

Super Buu was playing games and looking rather angry

That's the end of Friday's FanimeCon update! There's still three more days to go, so you'd better believe that I'll be back with more photos very soon.

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 1

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 2

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 3

A Weekend at the FanimeCon Anime Convention - Part 4