PAX
First, I'd like to apologize for my last post. Things seem a lot funnier at midnight after you've been drinking and strung out on Bawls.
Second, thanks to incyr, rangerd, ikkarus, jphotog, fastb, Jeremy, Other Jeremy, phaedra_amunet, and Other Jeremy's Other Friend for the great times. The best thing about pax is getting together to play games with people I hardly ever get to see.
Third, thanks to hmrpita for finding a couple of addresses for me for postcards. They should be on the way as of yesterday (Monday).
Thursday night was the night incyr and ikkarus and I went to see Freezepop at Chop Suey. Ian's already mentioned the DJs, the artists, but he forgot one critical detail. michelf take note!
Behind the stage, there was a screen. On the screen, they were showing...odd...movies. During Dandi Wind's and Freeze Pop's sets, they were showing Godspell (with Jack Bristow as Jesus -reference from pita-). BEFORE that, during the DJ sets, they were showing Pippi Longstocking! It was very surreal, and therefore awesome.
Friday was the first day of PAX. We got up a little late, headed to the Expo, and played Zombies!! in line. I took photos of the progression of the game, which should be viewable from that link. I've had the game over a year and this was my first time to actually play it. It was a ton of fun, but unfortunately we had to cut it short, as it was about time to head in.
Since I'd brought my laptop and signed up for BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer: a LAN party connected up with about a hundred other people who were BYOC, and hundreds of others on donated computers), I was allowed to head up immediately to check in. I could have gone earlier, but then I would have had to stay at the BYOC area. I got my badge, and since the Exhibition Hall was just opening, I ran in and filled my bags with swag before checking in my computer.
Not long after, I returned to BYOC to actually check in. I got my laptop set up, and started figuring out the setup. Getting my Nostromo working. Trying to get some practice in on HalfLife 2: Deathmatch for the tournament on Saturday afternoon. Suddenly, I am aware of a cute but blonde girl wandering around. She looks like she has a question. So I look up, and she starts asking me if I build my own computers, and if I'd like to see something new. That she works for HP and would I come with her to see something I've never seen before. I agree. What the hell, right? When will I get a chance like this again?
She has to get a few more people for the focus group, so I wait a minute while she rounds up a grand total of 5 geeks. On our way, following her, we of course assume that she is probably leading us to our deaths. Food for the vampires or werewolves or somesuch. I am hoping for vampires, of course. She asks, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
Once inside the room, we find what one of our group coins "Black Bear." It is a giant black computer case, with modular design by HP. It appears to be about 80% customizable. Mobo can be switched out, hard drives are SATA, there's a spare CD-size drive bay. There are very few screws. Most hardware, including cards, have simple latches to secure them. The proprietary bits are the front loading CD/DVD slots with lightscribe, and the fully contained liquid cooling system for the CPU. They lifted the whole thing up on a pedestal to make it look like it was floating and mounted the power supply on the bottom. The elevation allows airflow from the bottom, and they had a divider inside the unit to keep the power supply heat from the CPU.
The whole thing was at least as big as a large Alienware case. Probably larger, due to lifting it off the ground. I liked it, of course, I'd prefer it without the HP proprietary stuff, but what can you do? I'm to the point where the crapshoot of putting the whole kit'n'caboodle together and trying to get it to work is more of a pain than getting an assembled machine.
They said the price point would be in the 2K-3K range. I find that very hard to believe. But I hope they do it.
Later, we all went to the amazing keynote by Wil Wheaton, and then stayed for the first Penny Arcade panel. The creators of the strip just get on stage and answer questions from the audience. Questions this year were infinitely better than last year's. There was one very disturbing moment when someone who seemed disturbed got up and rambled for a few minutes. Mike and Jerry did an admirable job of not dismissing or mocking the poor fellow, and talking him away from the microphone.
Friday night I ended up having dinner with rangerd and Jeremy and later incyr at PF Changs. We had a lot of sake and other drinks before heading to the concert, where we were once again rocked by Freeze Pop.
Updates tomorrow...
Second, thanks to incyr, rangerd, ikkarus, jphotog, fastb, Jeremy, Other Jeremy, phaedra_amunet, and Other Jeremy's Other Friend for the great times. The best thing about pax is getting together to play games with people I hardly ever get to see.
Third, thanks to hmrpita for finding a couple of addresses for me for postcards. They should be on the way as of yesterday (Monday).
Thursday night was the night incyr and ikkarus and I went to see Freezepop at Chop Suey. Ian's already mentioned the DJs, the artists, but he forgot one critical detail. michelf take note!
Behind the stage, there was a screen. On the screen, they were showing...odd...movies. During Dandi Wind's and Freeze Pop's sets, they were showing Godspell (with Jack Bristow as Jesus -reference from pita-). BEFORE that, during the DJ sets, they were showing Pippi Longstocking! It was very surreal, and therefore awesome.
Friday was the first day of PAX. We got up a little late, headed to the Expo, and played Zombies!! in line. I took photos of the progression of the game, which should be viewable from that link. I've had the game over a year and this was my first time to actually play it. It was a ton of fun, but unfortunately we had to cut it short, as it was about time to head in.
Since I'd brought my laptop and signed up for BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer: a LAN party connected up with about a hundred other people who were BYOC, and hundreds of others on donated computers), I was allowed to head up immediately to check in. I could have gone earlier, but then I would have had to stay at the BYOC area. I got my badge, and since the Exhibition Hall was just opening, I ran in and filled my bags with swag before checking in my computer.
Not long after, I returned to BYOC to actually check in. I got my laptop set up, and started figuring out the setup. Getting my Nostromo working. Trying to get some practice in on HalfLife 2: Deathmatch for the tournament on Saturday afternoon. Suddenly, I am aware of a cute but blonde girl wandering around. She looks like she has a question. So I look up, and she starts asking me if I build my own computers, and if I'd like to see something new. That she works for HP and would I come with her to see something I've never seen before. I agree. What the hell, right? When will I get a chance like this again?
She has to get a few more people for the focus group, so I wait a minute while she rounds up a grand total of 5 geeks. On our way, following her, we of course assume that she is probably leading us to our deaths. Food for the vampires or werewolves or somesuch. I am hoping for vampires, of course. She asks, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
Once inside the room, we find what one of our group coins "Black Bear." It is a giant black computer case, with modular design by HP. It appears to be about 80% customizable. Mobo can be switched out, hard drives are SATA, there's a spare CD-size drive bay. There are very few screws. Most hardware, including cards, have simple latches to secure them. The proprietary bits are the front loading CD/DVD slots with lightscribe, and the fully contained liquid cooling system for the CPU. They lifted the whole thing up on a pedestal to make it look like it was floating and mounted the power supply on the bottom. The elevation allows airflow from the bottom, and they had a divider inside the unit to keep the power supply heat from the CPU.
The whole thing was at least as big as a large Alienware case. Probably larger, due to lifting it off the ground. I liked it, of course, I'd prefer it without the HP proprietary stuff, but what can you do? I'm to the point where the crapshoot of putting the whole kit'n'caboodle together and trying to get it to work is more of a pain than getting an assembled machine.
They said the price point would be in the 2K-3K range. I find that very hard to believe. But I hope they do it.
Later, we all went to the amazing keynote by Wil Wheaton, and then stayed for the first Penny Arcade panel. The creators of the strip just get on stage and answer questions from the audience. Questions this year were infinitely better than last year's. There was one very disturbing moment when someone who seemed disturbed got up and rambled for a few minutes. Mike and Jerry did an admirable job of not dismissing or mocking the poor fellow, and talking him away from the microphone.
Friday night I ended up having dinner with rangerd and Jeremy and later incyr at PF Changs. We had a lot of sake and other drinks before heading to the concert, where we were once again rocked by Freeze Pop.
Updates tomorrow...