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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Confirmed H1N1 case at PAX, say organizers

Were you at the Penny Arcade Expo over the weekend in Seattle? Feeling a bit rundown, tired or feverish? Well it might not be jet lag your suffering from. According to a recent update on Twitter from the official PAX feed the organizers of the event revealed that they have had one confirmed case of the H1N1 virus during the show.

“Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the show. PLEASE if you feel symptoms (fever, etc) go to the doctor” reads the latest update on the PAX Twitter.

Update: There’s another confirmation on this story, if you need it, from Robert Khoo on the official PAX forums:

Giving everyone a heads up - we just received our first test-confirmed case of the the H1N1 swine flu virus at PAX. If you have any of the symptoms, please go see a doctor asap.

Thanks!

-Robert

I enjoy the way the organizers deliver the news like they just got a fresh shipment of new t-shirts. All kidding aside, if you feel a bit off it might not hurt to visit your doctor.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu as it is commonly called) is spread “from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something – such as a surface or object – with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.”

The symptoms include (again from the CDC’s site on the virus) include “fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting.”

For more information on Swine Flu, visit the CDC’s section entitled 2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and You. Thanks to the irrepressible Scott Jones for the tip.

- original image source: NY Magazine

Scott Kurtz, Rooster Tooth dabble in City of Heroes

NCsoft and Paragon Studios today announced a new Guest Author program for the Mission Architect user-generated content system in City of Heroes. This program invites influential writers and aspiring game or story designers to collaborate with the team behind the City of Heroes MMORPG and publish custom missions directly into the City of Heroes game using the Mission Architect system. Participants in the Guest Author program will be announced on a regular basis. The first participants of this program will be Red vs. Blue series creators Rooster Teeth and PVP creator Scott Kurtz

Rooster Teeth plans to bring Captain Dynamic and his nemesis, The Great Face, from YouTube to City of Heroes, while Kurtz plans to bring character LolBat to life within Mission Architect.

Those attending the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle this week should make time for the City of Heroes panel discussion entitled “Mission Architect: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Story.” Both Scott Kurtz and Rooster Teeth’s Joel Heyman will be on hand with City of Heroes developers to talk about their experiences creating their own unique, personalized missions for the game. The panel will be Saturday, Sept. 5th, 2:30pm - 3:30pm Raven Theatre at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Dead Space Extraction gold, in stores Sept. 29

EA’s Visceral Games studio passed along word that its latest game, Dead Space Extraction has gone gold and will be in stores nationwide on September 29. Dead Space Extraction, the prequel to last year’s Dead Space, has been designed from the ground up for the Wii to bring the same kind of visceral horror survival experience that its namesake delivered on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Those attending the Penny Arcade Expo that are old enough to play it can check out the game at the EA booth (#432) first hand.

Pre-orders for the game are still available. Participating retailers are offering a special code that unlocks four of the game’s 10 challenge modes that Visceral Games promises will deliver difficult challenges that players can face alone or co-operatively with a friend against the Necromorph horde, competing for high scores and stylish kills. Players who do not pre-order the game must play through each chapter to earn and unlock the challenge modes.

Dead Space Extraction is rated M for Mature by ESRB. For more information about Dead Space Extraction.

DC Comics, NCsoft team up for limited edition Aion comic

NCsoft’s Aion, the next original massively multiplayer online game from the company responsible for Lineage, will come alive in a comic book being created by DC Comics. NCsoft and DC Comics announced “Aiva’s Story,” a limited edition comic book based on the world of Aion from renowned artist Neil Googe and writers David Noonan and Ricardo Sanchez. This one-time collectible will be made available free with purchase of Aion exclusively at GameStop stores in the United States, as well as Electronic Boutiques in Canada. Additionally, in celebration of this week’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, a limited number of copies will be made available free for show attendees in NCsoft’s Aion booth.

The comic tells the story of Aiva, a young Asmodian warrior who vows vengeance against the Elyos who killed her family during a raid. Aiva trains ceaselessly, hoping to become a Daeva and someday find her nemesis on the battlefields of the Abyss (where only Daevas can go). Her story unfolds in the limited run comic by NCsoft and DC’s Wildstorm Studios.

If you’ll be at PAX this week, stop by NCsoft’s Aion booth to learn more about the game and the comic.

League of Legends coming to PAX

Riot Games will be bringing its online multiplayer session-based game League of Legends to the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) September 4-6 in Seattle, Washington. The game will be shown and playable for the first time to the general public at booth #442.

Riot also announced that it is providing the first 20,000 PAX attendees with an exclusive in-game reward: a redeemable code for a limited edition champion skin designed by the makers of Penny Arcade. All attendees that play League of Legends or visit the booth will receive a beta key. Top PAX attendee players will be invited for exhibition matches versus the Riot Games development team for a chance to win a selection of exclusive prizes.

League of Legends combines elements of the role-playing and strategy genres with addictive battle action. Built by a veteran development team and the original creators of DotA Allstars, one of the world’s most popular player-made mods, League of Legends will be released October 6, 2009 for Windows PC via digital download and at retail outlets nationwide as well as in Europe.

For more information on League of Legends and to sign up for the closed beta, visit www.leagueoflegends.com.

NCsoft goes all out at PAX

NCsoft promises to “hold nothing back” at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle - mostly because the company’s NCSoft West offices are nearby. The company will host three booths featuring playable content from the launch update of Aion; various activities surrounding the recent reveal of the Guild Wars 2 teaser trailer, including a Guild Wars 2 art book giveaway; and the playable City of Heroes Issue 16 Power Spectrum and Mission Architect build, featuring powers customization and Mission Architect enhancements on the show floor.

The Aion booth will feature 20 gaming stations with the new playable content from the update 1.5, playable for the first time in North America. The launch update introduces many enhancements including improvements to Aion’s character customization now featuring Western styles, as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests, game balancing and other improvements. Aion spokespeople, including Brian Knox and Lani “Liv” Blazier, will also be available for one-on-one interviews in the booth (#642).

Following the world premiere of the teaser trailer in Cologne, Guild Wars 2 will be at PAX in spirit: A drawing at the Guild Wars II booth will see lucky winners score a copy of The Art of Guild Wars 2 – a hardbound 128 page book of art by Guild War 2’s artists. Those artists will be on site signing the book throughout the show. In addition, NCsoft will hosting talks covering the upcoming novel The Fall of Ascalon and Q&A sessions with the Guild Wars Live Team in the booth (#842).

Finally, The City of Heroes booth (#542) will lets players check out the powers customization update featured in the game’s 16th free expansion, “Power Spectrum,” before its public release. City of Heroes’ developers will be available to give hands-on tips for using the game’s Mission Architect user-generated content system, answer questions and discuss the future of the super hero MMO genre. In addition to booth activities which include giveaways and a PAX exclusive Costume Power code, the City of Heroes team will host a panel discussion entitled “Mission Architect: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Story,” and will host a player Meet and Greet on Saturday evening.