The madness that is PAX Prime continued on into Saturday, with thousands of attendees roaming the halls and taking in all its geeky glory. And, as expected, we were there to join in the fun.
First up, we checked out Nintendo, who have kiosks scattered across the second and third floor, as well as a booth on the show floor that focuses on their Wii U games. The booths outside the hall were packed with plenty of games, with one floor displaying 3DS games like the forthcoming Adventure Time and Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and another with kiosks featuring Kirby’s 20th Anniversary Collection. That game is coming along rather well, and we’ll have a preview for you soon. If you have a chance, stop by and check it out. You’ll get a poster and a cute little Kirby stress ball for your trouble.
From there, we actually stepped away from the convention hall to stop by Konami’s press suite. They didn’t display as many games as they did back at Comic-Con, but they brought some of the major titles in their line-up, including Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate for the 3DS, as well as Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and Zone of the Enders HD Collection. They also brought a new game called Karaoke Joysound for the Wii, though we didn’t get a chance to go hands-on with it. We’ll have previews for some of these games soon.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to check out the Hideo Kojima panel that followed, as there was simply too much to do on the show floor. From what we heard, though, fans had a great time with it.
Afterwards, we headed back to the show floor, where we got a chance to check out some co-op action for Borderlands 2. The team did a video presentation first, showing off a huge boss battle with a large “invincible” snake creature. The co-op continues to be one of the shining examples for this game, and a whole lot of fun. We then went hands on with a new survival stage in the game, where we had to wipe out a fleet of rampaging robots and soldiers before checking back in with a “reward bot” of sorts. It was definitely a thrill ride, so you’re sure to enjoy it when it releases later this month.
After stopping by the BioWare Base and talking with a few friends there (it’s not really a fully blown base, just a room where BioWare holds panels and chats with its fans), we headed over to the Tekken Tag Tournament bus, where the team was showing off some new online features. Producer Katsuhiro Harada made the trip, and community dude Rich “Filthierich” Bantegui provided a hands-on opportunity with it. We can’t talk about these features until early next week, so be sure to check back for a full report.
We also got a chance to check out a new Medal of Honor Warfighter single player stage, but we’re saving those impressions for a later article. They’ll be up soon, though. Meanwhile, the multiplayer, which is located on the show floor, is much more balanced this time around, with multiple Tier 1 teams from around the world taking on each other in battle. We’ll have an article on that as well.
Microsoft had plenty of multiplayer shenanigans as well, with lines forming for both its Gears of War: Judgment Free-For-All mode (every man for himself) and Halo 4’s new Exile map. We got to check both out, and our impressions should be up now if you want to check them out. You can still check out both games today, and get some posters for good measure.
After playing a few indie games and picking up an inflatable Portal 2 turret (yes, we needed one), it was party time, and we headed over to the Hard Rock Café for the 25th Anniversary Metal Gear party. Folks came out in droves to play some Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and Peace Walker HD, while enjoying drinks and a flip-book photo booth, complete with crazy props. (And of course, there were cardboard boxes, which some fans got to take home.)
The real highlight, though, was Hideo Kojima, who stopped by for a few drinks and to cut a special Metal Gear Anniversary cake, even doing a Raiden-like swipe in doing so. Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games also stopped by, talking about how Kojima inspired him in game design. Overall, it was a great party. Kudos to Konami for throwing it.
That about sums up our second day in a nutshell. We’re going in for the third and final day, and we’ll have full impressions for you right here at Prima Games. It’s the next best thing to being there!
