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On This Day In Gaming History...
| 1999, Carnage becomes name of past as Wolfpack announces development of Shadowbane. |
| 2003, Mutable Realms and Themis Group announce partnership for "Wish" beta, where Dave "Mahrin Skel" Rickey formerly of Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot is spotted as the Lead Designer. |
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Special Sections: Gen Con '02
The second part of our GenCon journal that took place August 8th to the 11th in Milwaukee Wisconsin. After the events which took place on our Road Trip we are set and ready to game! Not only are there over 3000 events going on, but the major players of the MMO industry are going to be showing off their games. We are ready!
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Hittin' "TheCon!" - Div Devlin (08-11-02)
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| Rolling out the red welcome sign! |
After a really cool Road Trip where anything that could of gone wrong before hitting the road, went wrong; all of us hooked up. It's a cakewalk now, right? Right. We checked into the hotel, we've dropped off our bags. We have eaten. Now all that's left to do is hit "TheCon" and check in. Maestro, J, Rokin and myself arrive at the Midwest Convention Center where 25,000 gaming fanatics are going to spend the next four days of hard-core gaming.
Sleep? Who needs it? Food? Who needs it? All a gamer needs is Mountain Dew, Twinkies, bathrooms and a floor to sleep on! We head in to register under the welcoming signs that were put out just for me. Everyone knows that this trip is, "All about me!" I even have proof! Zalaster who is going to join us Friday is bringing Mrs. Zal with who is baking brownies for me. The real ones, with chocolate frosting and powdered sugar on top!
The GenCon Game Fair used to be owned by Wizards of the Coast until Peter Adkinson the former CEO of Wizards purchased it in May of this year. A lot of rules have changed that we did not know about. Maestro took care of registration for us and signed us all in, thanks to the help of the PR Manager Jenny. She is a great gal, and was all ready for the convention!
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| Jenny Rocks! |
Thinking I'd corner the network sites as they always get the good interviews, I ask the PR Manager to let the major sites know that they don't have registrations and will be unable to attend. Who likes the networks anyways? It's all about the 'indie' sites as they are the most read. We don't sugar coat our views. Did she give me the smack down as she knows someone who write's for GameSpy making me insert my foot into my mouth!
Everyone know's someone!
If you have never made it to GenCon, you have no idea what you are missing. You need to attend, as you will become a regular. The Midwest Convention Center is broken into three floors. The main floor consists of registration (always pre-register before the convention), the Artist's Gallery where the greats that we know from books, and gaming are all showcasing their works. You can even purchase the original artwork, if you have the cash. If not, go for the prints. If you are looking for hard to find out-of-print game books or items there is the Auction store that can be a great bargain for the conscientious shopper. Then there is the Tournament room that this year was taken over by the Mage Knight World Championship's sponsored by WizKids.
Players from across the world gathered together to prove they were the best. Sponsored by their region's distributor where the players started the competition with a sealed booster draft on Thursday and a Mage Knight Conquest battle on Friday. The final 8 then competed in a single elimination constructed event Saturday. Donelle our official site model was curious about the language barriers with so many different players gathered from around the world.
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| Phat L33t! |
Speaking with the MageKnight Rep, we were told that, "Sometimes there are language barriers. But, fortunately most players who play Mage Knight enthusiastically know a little English because the game is first printed in English and translated into other languages. WizKids website has information for our international competitors and our translation into each language is handled by the individual distributor.
Each of these competitors here are present courtesy of one of those distributors who helped them prepare for the event, so language isn't nearly as much of a barrier as you would think it is." Joshua Hennig from the land down under (Australia) won the event defeating Jason Tan (Singapore). We didn't make it back for the final round, but heard it was intense and a good game. Congrats to Joshua! If anyone knows him give him a tall glass of "Queen's Own" for us!
The second floor of the Con hosted the Lan Set-ups where one person we over heard made the best comment that we just had to quote:"You buy the game and bring it home, where you pay to play on your ISP. Why come to the Con and pay to play a game that you already paid to play for at home." Makes sense to us, so we just blew past the second floor all together. We think the card games were here also as well as seminars but we didn't make it. Exploring the Con can take a lot out of a person and we decided to call it a day. Fortunately for us on the first day of the Con, they take care of everyone by throwing a block party!
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| What! No Ear biting! |
Blocking off a stretch of the street in an underpass next to the Convention Center, they offer drinks and food for free to show their appreciation for everyone that attends as well as entertainment. Well, almost for free. For the first hour of the party it's an open bar. After that expect to pay big bucks for beers or coolers. Hint:During the first hour, go up there with your group and ask for three different drinks. Example being, ask for an MGD, a Lite, and a cooler for your lightweight. Have everyone repeat this in a different line. Tip a dollar for each drink. You don't run out of drinks and don't pay big bucks after the first hour! Wish we would of known that sooner. Food though is free all night. It's mostly gamer munchies and after the first hour, I doubt you would want to have any. This year's entertainment was sponsored by WhiteWolf and was a version of celebrity boxing. The company president got into the ring for a few rounds with his rival for a below the belt fight. No ear biting was allowed though! Real announcers, real judges, real fans, and a real ring grrl (who tripped on the ropes getting into the ring), it was a good way to kill the night. Now, if we could see MMO folks doing this, it would be a huge draw.
Next up: Invading the Gaming Hall!
Discuss: Boxing, Drinks, Food, and Games!
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