Quakecon, Blizzcon and PAX - Oh My!

posted by Regina Wu on August 24, 2009

The busy gaming season is upon us, and I've found myself flying around the country and living out of a suitcase once again.  Thus far I have been to both Quakecon and Blizzcon, with PAX approaching soon.

Quakecon has always been one of my favorite events to attend.  Located in Dallas, TX, having an event in the middle of the country is a great location for a gathering.  I don't really play Quake that much, but that hasn't stopped me from having fun at the event.  This year, a huge crew of my friends and fellow gamers all decided to meet at Quakecon so that we could see each other face to face for a change.  Since the majority of us are really big fans of Rock Band, we had a huge Rock Band set up in the middle of the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) section alongside our PCs.  One of our guys was a Quakecon volunteer, and he got permission to get a projector and speakers set up for us to play on.  I ended up playing Rock Band until the wee hours of the morning the night I arrived, despite having spent most of the day travelling!

At Quakecon with my friend "PMS Elfi"

The night before I left for Quakecon, I had made sure to have Steam update all of my games.  Unfortunately, Valve had launched a Team Fortress 2 update that very day that Quakecon started, and everyone's versions were mismatched.  So, my careful planning still didn't help!  The internet was bogged down with people trying to update their TF2 games, so I ended up abandoning my hopes of playing TF2 that weekend and instead focused on some of the other games I love - Counter-Strike Source and Call of Duty 4.  I also managed to get some people hooked on Plants vs Zombies, too.

The closing ceremony of Quakecon is always one of the best parts of the event - the gamers who have entered the official Quakecon tournaments always play their final matches on the main stage in front of a huge crowd.  These guys' skill level is amazing to watch.  This year, Intel sponsored both a pro tournament and an open tournament - this had never been done before.  The pro players were all in their own bracket that they had to qualify for, and the open tournament was there for anyone to participate.   I loved the idea of having both tournaments available, and it gave everyone more Quake matches to watch, too.  In addition to the tournament finals, the closing ceremony also had a giveaway for a car - a 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Coupe.  Gamers who had won the Bawls chugging contest, or the dodge ball tournament won entries into this raffle, as well as many folks that were randomly selected.  There were only 100 tickets total, so having even one meant you had a good chance of winning.  I unfortunately did not win any tickets, but hopefully they will have something like this again next year. 

Just a few days after Quakecon I flew to Anaheim, CA to attend Blizzcon.  I have been a huge fan of Blizzard games for a long time.  Blizzcon is a fantastic event for those who are fans of all things Blizzard - and there are quite a few of us!  It took me almost an hour and a half to get into the convention because there were so many people who lined up early.

The sea of Blizzcon attendees

Like many others, I have been sucked into the world of Azeroth (I have a level 80 undead warlock), and hearing about all of the gameplay changes as well as the new playable races in the expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was incredibly exciting.  I'm a little surprised at how much of the game mechanics are changing, but it seems as if everything is getting streamlined - I hope it all works out.  I have said for at least the past 3 years that I wish that the Goblins were a playable race, and it looks like my wish is finally coming true!  Better yet, despite the fact that they were always in neutral territory, the Goblins are now part of the Horde.  (Sorry Alliance fans!)  Their racial bonuses are great - I played around with the rocket jump quite a bit when I got the chance... though I did rocket jump myself off a cliff more than once.  Oops!  Besides the new playable classes, they are also changing the original lands (Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor).  If this means that I can use my flying mount in the original lands, I'm all for it.  It will be really interesting to see how everything has changed, and better yet why - the lore of WoW has always been a strong point, especially with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion delving into the story of Arthas.  I'm also pretty excited to hear about the class updates - since I play a Warlock, I was really excited to hear that I no longer have to carry around a whole bag of soul shards.  I mean, I'm an engineer/miner too so I already have my bank and my bags full of stuff - losing a bag to soul shards was always a pain, so I'm really ecstatic that they're doing away with it. 

World of Warcraft talk aside (I could probably go on for days), I really cannot wait for Starcraft II to release.  I never thought that they could improve upon the original Starcraft formula, but it seems that there have been some great improvements made while maintaining the original feel of the game.  This time around I played as the Zerg, and one of the best things to note is that when you select the hatchery larvae, you can assign what they morph into one by one, rather than the entire group being changed with a hotkey.  It seems like a minor detail, but as someone who likes to play multiplayer a lot this really helps me streamline my build process with the race - usually I play as Terran but there's a good chance I may switch to Zerg because of these improvements.  The first match I played I tied because both my opponent and I didn't realize we were on a timer, but the second match I was a little more aggressive and I managed to win.

Victory always tastes so sweet!

Last, but certainly not least, I got to spend quite a bit of time with Diablo 3.  In fact, it was the first thing I did when I got into Blizzcon.  I was playing the game during the opening ceremony, so I actually only had 3 classes to choose from at the start (Wizard, Witch Doctor, and Barbarian) - during the opening ceremony the Monk class was announced and when my play session ended, he was available to use.  I did get to go back to play again and my friend tried the Monk out (I used the Wizard) and the monk looks like an amazing class to play. 

In my natural element - playing games!

It was a great trip, and I've only covered the tip of the iceberg in terms of all the things to do at both of these events.  For those of you who play WoW, you can find me on Skullcrusher under the name "Wedgieroo".  I'll be the one with Grunty the Murloc Marine following me around.  ;)

Better watch out for Grunty!!

PAX is my next event, and I hope to see you there!

 

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tagged: blizzcon, diablo3, gaming, quakecon2009, starcraft, worldofwarcraft