Episode 31 - Slashers on the Street Transcript
Slashers on the Street Transcript
Host: Reddwarfer
Recorded by: wook77
Welcome to the Slashers on the Street Report. This month, we're trying something new for Slashcast. We have a written report submitted to us from Reddwarfer on LJ about the Pax East convention that she recently attended. So, whenever I say "I", I actually mean Reddwarfer. Without further ado, this is what she wrote:
I only managed to go on Friday, but it was a three-day event.
The atmosphere was really exciting and also very crowded. There were lines, lines, and more lines. And people dressed up as characters from Plants vs Zombies dancing to music in the foyer.
There were so many options for programming like Transgendered People in Gaming and How To Create Your Own RPG, that I had to pick and choose what things I wanted to attend as a lot of the programming happened at the same time.
I spent most of my time in line.
The first thing I did was go to the BioWare Base where I met David Gaider while waiting in line, the lead writer of the Dragon Age series, et al, and talked to him about the way he writes women characters. He said to me he goes into process with the intent to never make a woman character an extension of some man.
After being allowed into the actual BioWare Base, we got to see the lovely Rana McAnear--who is Samara the Justicar from the Mass Effect series - her face model. She was completely decked out in Samara cosplay. There were people on hand who took photos of any of the cosplayers in the room, who were all fabulous.
Then we were treated to a demo of the then newest Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer DLC, the Resurrection Pack, which is available for free.
After that, we learned that the Mass Effect team had plans for more single player and multiplayer downloadable content in the future edition in addition to the Extended Ending downloadable content coming out later this year.
I had a chance to speak one-on-one with Mark Darrah and we spoke of the inclusiveness of the series and the BioWare company itself. He told me that it was an intended goal of the company to make inclusive games. It was important to them to include LGBT content and important to have well-written women characters.
After that, I went for a lunch break and met a developer, whose name I didn't catch, who worked for Pop Games while waiting for my over-priced cheeseburger. We discussed the importance of supporting gaming companies so they can continue to make more games. We discussed how precarious gaming companies are---one mediocre game can bankrupt a publisher out of business. We discussed the downloadable content business model and the sketchiness of FTP gaming with microtransactions. He understood the issue from both sides, as person in gaming and a fan of gaming.
More Lines. The actual first panel that I went to was the Dragon Age Panel. In it, they discussed the many complaints Dragon Age 2 had and how they planned to counteract some of them. It was impressed upon the audience many times that they didn't want to simply make a bunch of half-assed promises...they wanted to back it up. They then stated they'll only discuss what they can show. To much amusement, one of the first things they promised was not to recycle maps so glaringly.
Second was the companion armour. They showed the new system which balances customization with signature looks for companions. The did a bit of mix and match on a male warden and a female seeker character and showed how each chestplate or gauntlets would change the look of the armour, but specifically to that character's class.
The last part of the presentation was on choice. They discussed how they're wanting to make more impactful choices in future games. They discussed that past choices will still matter in future games, but they're still working out on how to do that. Given that we're likely a year or so away from the next generation of consoles, importing saves will be more complicated.
The rest of the session was questions from the audience. There were a lot and I can't actually remember all of them, but the main things were: The Old God Baby plot will be resolved, some how. The next game will feature a new protagonist and Hawke and the Warden won't likely make an inter-actable comeback in future games. We will see more of Thedas. There are no current plans to make a Dragon Age MMO. Multiplayer, however, might happen one day if they can make it work.
They are no longer supporting Dragon Age 2, but part of what was going to be in an expansion pack will now be in the new game. (Which they haven't officially announced yet)
It is possible that characters from the books (especially Asunder) will make an appearance in future games.
And it was heavily hinted at that the next game will take place in Orlais.
I actually got to ask two questions: One, I asked if we could have a party-camp once more. And suggested maybe a central location where all the characters meet-like a Tavern-if they wanted to give the companions their own places again. David Gaider commented that he liked the idea of companions having their own lives, but he did like the idea of the party camp again.
The second question that I got to ask was: If they're going to have a set race protagonist again, could there be more exclusive content for class? Like a quest for rogues only? They all said they definitely want to include more exclusive content for the characters. Whether it be by race, by class, or origin...they also discussed the possibility of making a specialization a quest instead of a choice at level x.
Lastly, they said Dragon Age was never meant to be a trilogy. They intend for it to extend way beyond that.
I was disappointed to find the line for the Mass Effect panel, which was directly after the Dragon Age panel, was maxed out while I was in the DA panel.
I went back down to BioWare Base where I waited in line until the Dragon Age folks came back down and they reopened for signings. I, again, had another chance to talk with David Gaider. He told me that he has no current plans to write another Dragon Age book, but it's not out of the question. We also discussed Asunder for a few moments. We talked about Rhys and Cole and how much he enjoyed writing them.
I went back out in line and waited for the Mass Effect people to come down. They signed my stuff, too. I got to meet the people who wrote Garrus and they understood my love for him.
There was a break where I just tried to not die and relaxed for a while before I went to see Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. The Enforcers of Pax did a great job entertaining us with quizzes and singing and making us laugh.
Before Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, there was a short Q and A session about the movie. They're open to doing more movies if this one is successful.
To avoid spoilers, I'll just say it's about how Cassandra got to be in Kirkwall, interrogating Varric in Dragon Age 2. I thought the movie was campy fun.
After that, people were invited to film their reactions to the movie and I wisely exited stage left and went home. (After getting lost and driving to Springfield first).
And that is our first written, submitted, uh, Slashers on the Street segment. If you go to a convention and you're not comfortable recording your own, please feel free to send us a written report and one of the Slashcast folks will record it for you!
Host: Reddwarfer
Recorded by: wook77
Welcome to the Slashers on the Street Report. This month, we're trying something new for Slashcast. We have a written report submitted to us from Reddwarfer on LJ about the Pax East convention that she recently attended. So, whenever I say "I", I actually mean Reddwarfer. Without further ado, this is what she wrote:
I only managed to go on Friday, but it was a three-day event.
The atmosphere was really exciting and also very crowded. There were lines, lines, and more lines. And people dressed up as characters from Plants vs Zombies dancing to music in the foyer.
There were so many options for programming like Transgendered People in Gaming and How To Create Your Own RPG, that I had to pick and choose what things I wanted to attend as a lot of the programming happened at the same time.
I spent most of my time in line.
The first thing I did was go to the BioWare Base where I met David Gaider while waiting in line, the lead writer of the Dragon Age series, et al, and talked to him about the way he writes women characters. He said to me he goes into process with the intent to never make a woman character an extension of some man.
After being allowed into the actual BioWare Base, we got to see the lovely Rana McAnear--who is Samara the Justicar from the Mass Effect series - her face model. She was completely decked out in Samara cosplay. There were people on hand who took photos of any of the cosplayers in the room, who were all fabulous.
Then we were treated to a demo of the then newest Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer DLC, the Resurrection Pack, which is available for free.
After that, we learned that the Mass Effect team had plans for more single player and multiplayer downloadable content in the future edition in addition to the Extended Ending downloadable content coming out later this year.
I had a chance to speak one-on-one with Mark Darrah and we spoke of the inclusiveness of the series and the BioWare company itself. He told me that it was an intended goal of the company to make inclusive games. It was important to them to include LGBT content and important to have well-written women characters.
After that, I went for a lunch break and met a developer, whose name I didn't catch, who worked for Pop Games while waiting for my over-priced cheeseburger. We discussed the importance of supporting gaming companies so they can continue to make more games. We discussed how precarious gaming companies are---one mediocre game can bankrupt a publisher out of business. We discussed the downloadable content business model and the sketchiness of FTP gaming with microtransactions. He understood the issue from both sides, as person in gaming and a fan of gaming.
More Lines. The actual first panel that I went to was the Dragon Age Panel. In it, they discussed the many complaints Dragon Age 2 had and how they planned to counteract some of them. It was impressed upon the audience many times that they didn't want to simply make a bunch of half-assed promises...they wanted to back it up. They then stated they'll only discuss what they can show. To much amusement, one of the first things they promised was not to recycle maps so glaringly.
Second was the companion armour. They showed the new system which balances customization with signature looks for companions. The did a bit of mix and match on a male warden and a female seeker character and showed how each chestplate or gauntlets would change the look of the armour, but specifically to that character's class.
The last part of the presentation was on choice. They discussed how they're wanting to make more impactful choices in future games. They discussed that past choices will still matter in future games, but they're still working out on how to do that. Given that we're likely a year or so away from the next generation of consoles, importing saves will be more complicated.
The rest of the session was questions from the audience. There were a lot and I can't actually remember all of them, but the main things were: The Old God Baby plot will be resolved, some how. The next game will feature a new protagonist and Hawke and the Warden won't likely make an inter-actable comeback in future games. We will see more of Thedas. There are no current plans to make a Dragon Age MMO. Multiplayer, however, might happen one day if they can make it work.
They are no longer supporting Dragon Age 2, but part of what was going to be in an expansion pack will now be in the new game. (Which they haven't officially announced yet)
It is possible that characters from the books (especially Asunder) will make an appearance in future games.
And it was heavily hinted at that the next game will take place in Orlais.
I actually got to ask two questions: One, I asked if we could have a party-camp once more. And suggested maybe a central location where all the characters meet-like a Tavern-if they wanted to give the companions their own places again. David Gaider commented that he liked the idea of companions having their own lives, but he did like the idea of the party camp again.
The second question that I got to ask was: If they're going to have a set race protagonist again, could there be more exclusive content for class? Like a quest for rogues only? They all said they definitely want to include more exclusive content for the characters. Whether it be by race, by class, or origin...they also discussed the possibility of making a specialization a quest instead of a choice at level x.
Lastly, they said Dragon Age was never meant to be a trilogy. They intend for it to extend way beyond that.
I was disappointed to find the line for the Mass Effect panel, which was directly after the Dragon Age panel, was maxed out while I was in the DA panel.
I went back down to BioWare Base where I waited in line until the Dragon Age folks came back down and they reopened for signings. I, again, had another chance to talk with David Gaider. He told me that he has no current plans to write another Dragon Age book, but it's not out of the question. We also discussed Asunder for a few moments. We talked about Rhys and Cole and how much he enjoyed writing them.
I went back out in line and waited for the Mass Effect people to come down. They signed my stuff, too. I got to meet the people who wrote Garrus and they understood my love for him.
There was a break where I just tried to not die and relaxed for a while before I went to see Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. The Enforcers of Pax did a great job entertaining us with quizzes and singing and making us laugh.
Before Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, there was a short Q and A session about the movie. They're open to doing more movies if this one is successful.
To avoid spoilers, I'll just say it's about how Cassandra got to be in Kirkwall, interrogating Varric in Dragon Age 2. I thought the movie was campy fun.
After that, people were invited to film their reactions to the movie and I wisely exited stage left and went home. (After getting lost and driving to Springfield first).
And that is our first written, submitted, uh, Slashers on the Street segment. If you go to a convention and you're not comfortable recording your own, please feel free to send us a written report and one of the Slashcast folks will record it for you!