Nintendo to attend Penny Arcade Expo

[ShadowMarth]

Strangely enough, Nintendo has decided to attend the Penny Arcade Expo. I'm lazy, so here's the story from gamespot. Oh, and Microsoft is appearing as well.

Microsoft, Nintendo to show at Penny Arcade Expo
Seattle-based Web comic's neighbors on the exhibitor list for this year's three-day event.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Jun 22, 2006 4:47 pm PT

Popular gamer-centric Web comic Penny Arcade is holding its third annual Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in August, and the group says the three-day shindig is shaping up to be the largest yet. Attendees will get the chance to go hands-on with unreleased games; sit in on a number of conference sessions; witness the Omegathon game contest; and hit parties, concerts, and other activities around the clock.

Today it was announced that exhibitor space for the show has been sold out, with heavyweights Nintendo and Microsoft headlining the list of participating companies. Also set for the show are Nvidia, ArenaNet, America's Army, Turbine, NCsoft, Ubisoft, Rockstar, Mythic, Foundation 9, Red Octane, Flying Lab, Creative Labs, The Behemoth, Sabretooth Games, and Garage Games.

Another addition to the program is a keynote address by former Microsoft employee Alex St. John on "The Prehistory of the Xbox." Now the CEO and founder of WildTangent, St. John's involvement in Microsoft's DirectX technology and the creation of the Xbox has been chronicled in a number of books, including Opening the Xbox by Dean Takahashi and Masters of Doom by David Kushner.

Previously announced attractions include concert performances by Mike Relm, The Minibosses, MC Frontalot, Optimus Rhyme, The Video Game Pianist, and the Neskimos. PAX 2006 will be held August 25 to 27 in Bellevue, Washington. For more information, visit the official Web site.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153082.html

So, the obvious question is... Wtf? My guess is that Nintendo is looking for another venue to show off its new Wii and DS games. Hopefully this will bring plenty of new gameplay footage, and maybe even some new announcements, though I doubt they'd announce anything major here.

[Mr.Cool]

Lol I thought it was going to be a venue for Nintendo to show off their Mario Kart GP Arcade machine, and premote the DS at the same time. Now that doesn't look like being the case after reading what the venue is about.

[Neumie]

well the more media attention, and attention from the public, nintendo get the better.
is this open to the public?

[bignds]

I guess so. Thats what it seems, lol 'heavywieghts Nintendo and Microsoft set to headline', they make it sound like a festival lmao.

[ShadowMarth]

Penny-Arcade talks about the expo and their expo.

The announcement was felt in the gut, viscerally, at first. Other sensations would follow, but the body remembers.

I felt confident that news like E3 Being Cancelled would be appropriate grist for the sort of mill we operate, even if (as Gabriel suggested) it is a subset slash secret order of gamers that actually gets to attend it. Even then, E3 remains - remained - our people's most raucous holiday, because that information is not reserved: how each of the "big three" countered the opposition, hidden gems of the show, surprise imports, direct-feed footage, the naked lies and raw spectacle. It's a lot of fun to watch, but then, I've never had to pay for EA's ten million dollar HD surround theater and then tried with furrowed brow to determine the return on that investment.

As soon as we engaged our minds it made a lot of sense. It's a big move, but that Goddamn thing essentially arrests the entire industry for months. For that reason alone I'd be glad to see it gone, as much as I've enjoyed the annual bacchanal. Each of the next-(or "new") generation systems has increased the cost of development at the same time they have become tightly controlled content distribution channels. GDC is getting larger by the year. At first I thought it was some hardball to obtain concessions of some kind, but the event probably stopped making a sense on a spreadsheet several years ago.

Acting as their own outlets, publishers get much more reliable data about the efficacy of their marketing payload. Trying to project their unsullied, carefully manicured marketing message at E3 is essentially like putting a choice morsel in the bottom of a burlap sack, and then filling the bag with cats. You swing the bag around and around, at which point dizzy felines emerge. Did it work? Hard to say. Oh! Also, the sack costs forty million dollars. There are more intimate spaces that can be created, but this is cost heaped upon cost. And this ransom is being paid to secure fickle enthusiast media! Converting your budget entirely into chips and then putting the whole pile on Red Seven might be a better use. I'm not surprised they want a greater level of control over the venue, and even the attendees themselves.

All it really means for gamers in general is more news more often, outside of arbitrary dates. I knew a Jehovah's Witness named Hannah in gradeschool, and after learning that she didn't celebrate birthdays or Christmas as the rest of the class did I imagined her life a miserable parched desert, barren of gifts. She looked at me like I was an idiot and informed me that she got presents all throughout the year.

If you thought I couldn't tie Jehovah's Witnesses into this ****, well, you were wrong.

There must have been a time before there was an E3, but that's not really a part of my experience. Hearing that it's cancelled, or at any rate will be altered in "format and scale" (read: cancelled) is like hearing that Australia has been cancelled, or that the weak gravitational force is being temporarily suspended. It's not an event anymore, I don't even remember how many I've been to. It's like something that cracks through the asphalt and then grows upward. I make it a point to avoid Los Angeles the rest of the year, so it's always been my presumption that the entire Staples Center recedes below the Earth's mantle, there to sleep until the warm pavement buckles again in early May.

[ShadowMarth]

Guess what. I won the xfire drawing for the chat with Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade. It happens in two days. I was considering asking something about Nintendo attending PAX. Anyone got any ideas?

Hehe... ask them to send you a drawing of Miyamoto in a bathtub (ala Chudds).

Other than that, I really don't know what to ask them.

[Pilot_51]

Oh hey look at that, I won the chat too! This means there's room for 2 questions and twice the chances that one of us will win something.
Cya there, Shadow... hopefully.

[ShadowMarth]

Well apparently Pilot missed out, but Namster made a suprise visit! He got his big question answered, and so did I! I'll leave it to Namster to post his, but here's my question and responses! I was lucky enough to get responses from both Gabe and Tycho, and it's conveniently topical.

shadowmarth:
I heard that Nintendo is attending PAX. Can you give us any information on what they'll bring to the show, or your own opinion on it?

cwgabriel:
It will be a bunch of new DS stuff from what I am told. Beyond that I am not sure. Last year they had a pretty amazing booth.
Tycho:
All we know is that they have a bunch of space. I can only hope.

[nmaster64]

hehe, yeah I didn't know Shadow was gonna pop up on me. I was really there just to win something...but it was cool to get a question in...

Originally Posted by nmaster64

What is your guys take on the next-gen systems? Is $600 too much for the PS3? Is the 360 at a good middle ground? What do you think of the Wii?

Originally Posted by One of the PA Guys (I forgot which one, lol)

PS3: Savage Joke At Consumer Expense,
Wii: Beautiful But Challenging Media Experiment,
360: Hey Guys, Wait Up, I Can Play Games Too