Cliff Bleszinski from Epic Games

X08 is pretty different for me than it is for most.  Typically, attendees fall into two different groups; people who are showing off their games and the people who are there to play them.  Myself? I’m there pretty much to meet people and network.  Yes it’s true, for me the games are secondary.

In fact, X08 marks the first X0 event where I’ve even picked up a controller.  I made it a point to get there early enough that I’d have time to play games in between conversations and I’m very glad I did because X08 was, by far, the best in the entire series.  No contest.  I guess the high-lights would be:

• Meeting everyone that I met! Fans, friends, gamers… they were all awesome.
• Meeting Cliff from Epic Games
  
• Meeting Donna from Electric Playground
  (I still feel bad because our camera was a little screwy and we had to take three pictures before it worked right!)
• Getting interviewed by Jake for I.X.
• Going to dinner afterward with the community

Of course, an X0 wouldn’t be complete without a few games. Read on, my friends.  Read on.

A Small Section of the X08 Show Floor

Guitar Hero World Tour
I was never really intent on buying this one but I figured I might was well check it out since it was there.  Unfortunately they weren’t showing off the music creation part, only the standard multiplayer part.  Even more unfortunate was everyone’s inability to hear the music making the game very hard to play.

You know what, this would be a good time to explain something that a lot of people don’t know.  It is very hard to get a good impression of a game when seeing it for the first time on the show floor.  The background noise is insanely loud, you can’t hear the game audio, and usually the demo is pretty rough around the edges and specifically designed to be viewed in under five minutes.  RPGs, for example, such as  Fallout 3 really don’t show well.  With Fallout you need to be getting yourself involved in the story and deep RPG mechanics before you can appreciate the game.  What Bethesda showed at X08 looked like a boring shooter.  Is that a problem with their game? Absolutely not.  It’s just the reality of displaying a game on the show room floor.

Viva Pinata 2
Take the original Viva and tweak the hell out of it to make it easier and more fun to play.  That’s pretty much VP2.  In other words: awesome.  As a man who sunk a lot of time into the original I really appreciate how they’ve made it faster to get things like seeds and special items from the store (it’s actually more of a quick-menu now than a store).  Now with four player co-op, too!  At a budget price of $39 you can’t loose.

Banjo Kazooie
Speaking of budget pricing, Banjoe Kazooie will also be following that trend.  What I played was pretty good, and the nice girl demoing it showed me the construction aspect but to be honest I’d want to play it again before committing and dollars towards it.  It was fun, of that I can’t argue.  But we can’t buy everything.

HorrorHippo and Greenskull playing Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 (Multiplayer)
It’s hard to talk about the new gears.  At a quick glance it looks a lot like the original classic.  When you sit down and play it the differences slowly start to show themselves.  I tried taking a downed guy for cover and snapping his neck though… and it was awesome.  I can’t wait to break the necks of my online friends!  Only one mode was shown (Assassination) and I only got to play one quick round (I needed to do some stuff for Inside Xbox), but what I played was pure gold.

Maranda’s Tip: If you’re going to the Gears of War 2 signing session at PAX, don’t expect Cliff to be there.  Direct from the man himself, “I’ll be at the office finishing the game.”

Fable 2
I have to say it, this was my Game of Show.  Sure, the demo level was pretty boring but the new combat mechanic was really, really solid.  I’ve heard it called “one button combat” and that actually isn’t true.  It’s “three button, with directional modifiers”. I guess that probably doesn’t sound as good during the presentation.  X is melee, Y is rifle/pistols, and B is magic.  As a magic user in Fable 1 I really love the new controls.  Set your school of magic and then press B for an area of effect spell.  But, if you need to take out a specific enemy pressing a direction and then tapping B rill result in a ranged spell.  You can also change it up by holding the button down longer.  Not only does this increase the power of the attack but it can cast completely different spells from your selected school of magic.  It’s wonderfully simple and it works really well.

I also had the chance to play the demo level co-op with Maranda.  The booth man even showed us the single-screen co-op and I’m happy to report that it worked really well.  The camera was intelligent enough to zoom out when we got far away from each other but also kept us confined enough that we were always moving together.

I think that’s about all I can say for X08.  I mean, I could probably go on but this article is about four times as long as my average reader is willing to read!  I did play quite a few more games, but they’ll have to wait for another time.  I’ll finish off by saying that the organizers put on an amazing event and I’ve never had as much fun at a game show as I had at X08.

KowZ Um… sorry to say it but your a little wrong on the Gears part… More than one mode was shown. Wingman was also shown – and Maranda can attest to this – it is a great way for you and a buddy to play. Especially if you’re against Cliff and even more so if you beat him at his own game. (I’m not entirely sure that he liked getting curb stomped as the final death in the round) It was nice seeing you there, and, I’m surprised you don’t have your Scene It! review in there. You know that game will end up in your house in one way or another, so you should embrace the fact and start watching more movies. Aug 28

Sinnix I didn’t actually play Scene It. Also, I suck at it. Oct 2

DjDATZ It was great to finally meet you Sinnix!! Oct 15

Sinnix @Kowz Kowz… we both know I’m never wrong. You must be making stuff up again. @DjDATZ It was nice to meet you too! I’m sorry we didn’t have more time to chat after we ran into each other… that event was crazy busy for me!! Next year I’m going to try and set aside more time just for friggin’ TALKING to people!! Oct 15

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