PAX East 2010 tickets on sale now

PAX will hit the East Coast in 2010 and you can buy tickets to take part in it right now. Tickets are on sale for PAX East 2010, with the show taking place Friday, March 26 – Sunday, March 28 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston Mass. The three-day pre-registration cost is $45 - a $10 discount from the at-the-door price. This is all-access for all events, concerts, parties, panels and free-play areas. Only “sealed deck” tournaments have an additional fee.

PAX East promises to accomdate thousands of atendees in the North East and bring pen-and-paper, tabletop, CCG, PC and video gamer related activties to create several days of madness. To show will offer tournaments, free-play areas, concerts, panel discussions and an exhibitor hall filled with the latest new games. Given that companies like 2K Boston, Harmonix, GamerDNA, 38 Studios, Blu Fnag and many other game developennt studios are in the Boton area one would suspect that these companies will take part. More details about the event after the break:

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University of Queensland lecture: are shooters to blame?

Video game enthusiasts - particularly in the general vicinity of St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia - may want to take note of an interesting public lecture from the University of Queensland’s School of Political Science and International Studies on first-person shooter games. The lecture will ask, and one would assume, attempt to answer the question: do these kinds of games by their very nature desensitize young adult males and teens to violence, conflict and war and ignore conflict resolution?

On Oct. 5. Academic Peter Mantello will head deliver the lecture (Are violent computer games to blame?), which aims to discern if FPS games teach youngsters that military warfare is the most effective foreign policy tool. By the way this public lecture is being framed at QU, one would think that Mantello (a self professed gamer) thinks it is a foregone conclusion, but it is an interesting topic that deserves more attention and thoughtful discussion.

It’s an interesting question but the answer will probably get lost on gamers who will find the way the question has been framed as slightly offensive. Does a person that plays a first-person shooter like Call of Duty or Counter-Strike truly believe that military action in tense global and political situations is always the first option, or better still, for the youth of the world - do they even care - are they even paying attention to the things going on in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Dufar, etc.?

First-Person Shooters are by their very nature about conflict, obviously - if they were not they’d be called Flower; but it is probably fair to say that they seldom offer any option but to kill, blow up and destroy. But to say they teach a certain behavior is a bit of an insult to the intelligence of most players who can separate game from reality.

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Demon’s Souls web site launches

Atlus U.S.A. has launched the full official web site for Demon’s Souls, the company’s upcoming action RPG experience for the PS3. The new site offers new content and game information, with updates planned from now until the game launches. Atlus promises that, over time, new details will be revealed about the various characters and demons players will encounter and weapons and spells at their disposal, as well as tips on character growth to aid players in quests.

Atlus also promises in-depth explanations on the groundbreaking online gameplay system, content from the official Demon’s Souls blog and Wiki pages, up-to-date news and coverage, and much more. Fans can also use a special banner code to let them “Drop a Soul Sign” on social networking sites they frequent, like Facebook.

Find the site at http://www.demons-souls.com. the game is set for launch on Oct. 6, 2009.

Scott Jones GDC Panel Video, Audio

Our own Scott Jones served as Roastmaster General for the GDC panel “But What I Really Want to do is Make Games,” and it was good. And he rested. Selah. The panel featured some notable former journalists turned game developers talking about the transition from people that write about games for a living to people that make games.

The clips show some of the highlights of this panel, including some of the best advice I’ve heard from a game developer in my 11 years covering the business: “Don’t Be a Dick.” Of course one panelist didn’t agree with this advice. Check them out below, and if you want more check out the entire session in audio format at the very bottom of this story - after the break. Video provided the irrepressible Evan Narcisse.

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OnLive: Embracing Cloud Computing

While there was a ton of talk about cloud computing at GamesBeat, OnLive is probably the first company to talk about in a tangible way. Today at the Game Developers Conference, the company founded by WebTV’s  Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey revealed some of the details for this streaming game service that will deliver games to users in the blink of an eye.

The plan is to deliver AAA game titles from a variety of publishers including, Codemasters, Ubisoft, Take-Two, Warner Bros. Interactive, THQ, Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and others.

Users with a minimum broadband capability and an XP or Vista-capable PC or Mac can stream on-demand games right when they are released without too much lag depending on what their broadband connection is capable of. For example, a 1.5Mbps connection will be just fine for standard definition play, while 5Mbps will be best for high definition games.

Another interesting way in which users will be able to use the service is via TV - no great shock when you consider who the founder of the company is.. Users will be able to stream games directly to television using a small device you can easily plug in to your TV. To play these games, you’ll use a custom wireless controller and a voice-over-IP enabled headset. The service will launch with 16 games. That is expected to happen this winter.

The great thing about this service - at least according to its creators — is that the upgrades will take place on the service’s end and not on the player’s box or device. The only thing the user has to worry about on a PC or Mac is a small one time download to get things started.

It sounds fascinating and is probably the first example of how cloud computing will work. OnLive is in closed beta right now and will be open to the public in a beta test run this summer. Look for it to be ready for consumption this winter if all goes well.

KMIZ News Director Responds to Wii Story Criticism

Sometimes, even those with the best of intentions can get things wrong. Case in point? Missouri television station KMIZ ABC-17. Last week, the station ran a news piece warning parents about the dangers of sexual predators targeting children through online games. The focal point of the piece? Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii. Wait, what?

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G4 Scales Back Shows, Cuts Staff

G4’s X-Play and Attack of the Show are being scaled back, and some staff from both television programs have been let go according to a report on Joystiq. Citing an earlier conversations with “reliable sources” close to the company and a confirmation from G4, Joystiq reports that both shows will be scaled back to three original episodes a week beginning March 3.

The company confirmed that both shows had been scaled back and that some staff were let go, but didn’t comment on actual numbers. A company spokesmen said that the saving will be used for more “original programming.” The company also said that these were not budget cuts, but more of a roll-back to the old number of new episodes per week.

G4, much like MTV, VHI and even TV Land are suffering from an overabundance of unoriginal bullshit programming like Star Trek and a multitude of Japanese game shows and anime. It’s a shame because they were at one time the best game related network on television. Now, not so much.