Positron is coming to Chicago!

[Surelle]

That was a nice column, Matt!

It's somewhat of an industry twist to have an insider's view of games on a review site instead of the usual outsider's/end-user's reviews.  You probably already know who they are, but have you approached Gamasutra about writing for them as well?

I reviewed for Computer Gaming World magazine for the final four years they were in print, and became their de facto MMORPG reviewer after Mark Asher left.  I reviewed CoV for them in fact!      Writing doesn't pay anything near what game development does of course, but hey, it could always be something you could do from home beyond any other job you get.  And it keeps you out in the public eye so to speak if you're still looking for game development work.

Good luck on your panel!  And it's nice to see you on the boards here.

[Hyperstrike]

I shot him a message via this board and also via Twitter.

Trying to see if we can get CoH Expats dinner going or something.

[Botzo]

Man I loved CGW. One of a few magazines I kept after reading.

While I do live in Illinois, sorta near Chicago I don't think I could get the time to come and visit due to having a new job and starting probation. Time off doesn't look too good for that period of time.

I wish all who do make it to have a good time and enjoy yourselves! I still remember putting together a cosplay for it once but wussed out when the Lady who was supposed to cosplay with me bailed due to illness.

[QuantumHero]

I have decided to attend c2e2 this year.  I'm debating whether to take the day off work (not ideal) or just cut out a little early on Friday, which is my short day anyway.  The timing is going to be very tight to get there but I think I could be inside McCormick place by 3 pm, hopefully the room is close to the enterence otherwise I will have to run...lol.

Apparently there is a group rate if there are ten or more of us, are there?

If we are planning a coh alumni gathering my husband and I would like to attend and look forward to meeting all of you.

QuantumHero (Formerly known as Bloodstryke)
Research and Game Architecture/Game Play - The Phoenix Project
Never give up, never surrender
AP33 forever, from your ashes, the phoenix rises

[dwturducken]

My wife was enthusiastic, except that anyone she "knows" (read: has heard of) is appearing on Saturday or Sunday, Saturday is our anniversary, and my older boy has a school concert that night, besides, so I'm basically screwed.

[Hyperstrike]

Guys.  We're probably looking at either a Thursday or Friday evening for a dinner/entertainment type gig.

Matt has been toying with the idea of going to the Kingston Mines.

This way it doesn't conflict with anyone's weekend plans (seeing as this is last-minute-ish).

[QuantumHero]

I'm going to be completely honest here and admit I do *not* like the majority of blues music...that said we need to stick together as a community and it would be a pleasure to meet everyone including the man behind Positron (nice blog btw...for some reason the registration link is hiding from my phone or I'd respond like many others have <sigh>.)

Apparently the club, has two seperate stages, requires tickets which range between 12-15 dollars and can be pre-purchased or at the door. 

If this is our definative destination (personally a karaoke fiend, but that's me ) then we need to decide on day, time, & location...realizing that there are comic con events going on friday , including an 8pm  panel on the future of console and online gaming that people may wish to attend timing may be a challenge.

Thursday has its own problems, namely that it is a work night for local Chicagoans and harder for anyone who may be traveling.  Are any non-local folks comming in? 

The other option might be to hold an event of sorts at comic con?  Btw if anyone is comming in Chicago has some very nice museums fairly close to McCormick place.  Sadly its been years since I've actually been inside McCormick so I honestly don't remember any on-site or nearby dining options.

QuantumHero

AP33 Forever
The Phoenix Project

[Kaos Arcanna]

So I bought a ticket for Friday. 

I was thinking of staying overnight and catching Julie Newmar on Saturday, but the price for overnight parking at most Chicago Hotels I looked at just seemed too steep, so I'll be there on Friday to catch Matt, and possibly see how long a wait it'd be to get an autograph from Adam West and Burt Ward.

[downix]

I arrive Thursday, have NO PLANS before or after the panel, but leave early on Saturday (Dr. Aeon's wedding is Saturday afternoon).

I'd love to hang out with anyone who plans to be there. Ping me on twitter @MMODesigner or here.

Oh hey, congrats to Dr Aeon!

[eabrace]

Per his twitter feed, Matt has been asked to join a second panel at C2E2.

http://c2e213.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1BA0

[MMODesigner]

Yeah, ping my Twitter (@MMODesigner) if anyone wants to do a haphazard meet & greet.

I'll try to remember to bring some costume codes I have from older conventions.

[Tubbius]

Cool.  Didn't know he posted here. 

[Kaos Arcanna]

So I just got home from C2E2.

I was pleasantly surprised by it. There was a pretty huge artist section, and a fair number of goodies at prices that seemed pretty reasonable to me.  I didn't buy a lot because I'm trying to downsize on stuff.

I would say that probably less than 10 percent of the people dressed up (I sure didn't as I didn't want to hurt anyone's eyes) but there were some amazing outfits. One guy had a battle-scarred suit of Iron Man Armor that looked nearly professional grade, and I saw someone dressed up as a Big Daddy from Bioshock ... and a Godzilla that was just flat out awesome.

I didn't take pictures of the people who were dressed up

Thing that was not so awesome: finding the right building if you didn't park in Lot A. I had problems, and nearly everyone else I saw seemed to have an issue as well. I think I saw pretty much all of McCormick Place ...

Other thing that was not so awesome: access to the parking lots involved walking through some pretty dark places that kind of reminded me of Underground Praetoria.

Matt's talk was pretty interesting. He's a good speaker, and if he keeps on losing weight he's going to be able to fit into a suit of Positron Armor for a future convention appearance.

I found it particularly interesting to find out the developer side regarding teaming and the value of such in player retention. I can't say that I necessarily agree with everything that Matt said (which is one of the reasons that I think COH would be so hard to replicate; it's going to be hard to recreate so many of the individual things that made the game that what it was when even the Devs may not have the same opinion of what those things are as some of the players.)

I would have stayed for his second panel but I was feeling pretty wiped and I already had a nearly three hour drive home so I called it a night early.

[Shenku]

I think I saw the same Iron Man costume you mentioned, and I must agree, it was pretty decent looking. The number of people in costume seemed about the same as the last two years, which means there'll probably be more people dressed up tomorrow for the Saturday show(especially for the costume contests).

Anyways, loved the panels Matt did, they were very informative(he mentioned at one point that they were in fact working on City of Heroes 2 prior to the shut down notice, was this confirmed elsewhere already? I don't remember seeing anything but rumors about it...), and I definitely hope he can get the chance to swing through Chicago again for future conventions, or some of the other former devs for that matter. Would love to meet the man formerly known as Sexy Jay(I hear rumors that he's still sexy though...), or David Nakayama, or any of the other former devs for that matter. I was always sad that they'd never hit up the Chicago area during all the years the game was still running...

Regardless, I'm just glad I had a chance to shake Matt's hand after the second panel and thank him for all the wonderful years in City of Heroes. (Matt, if you're reading this, I was the guy with the red and black Pokemon hat... Anyways, apologies if I seemed awkward and a bit nervous when I spoke with you, but thanks again for your advice. )

[dwturducken]

I suppose the facility had a strict "no video recording" policy, huh.

[QuantumHero]

I'm sorry to hear that some of you folks will not be returning to comic con today. I also saw the same iron man.   Unfortunately I wasn't able to get out of the office early enough to catch the first speech with Matt Miller but did catch the tail end of the second one (due to traffic and having no idea where the panel rooms were) and stayed for a very interesting panel on the future of gaming.  I will be back at comic con today dressed as hitgirl with an ap33 cape.  You can also tweet me @ap33phoenix.  Warning, I got dragged onto twitter all of two days ago and am sad I have not found any of the local CoH alumni.....my husband and I did have the pleasure of meeting Matt Miller and speaking with some other industry professionals.

If any one is still around today it would be very nice to arrange an informal gathering

Quantumhero
AP33 4 Ever
The Phoenix Project

[Shenku]

I suppose the facility had a strict "no video recording" policy, huh.

As I understood it, yeah... Was looking through info on thursday night while prepping for the show that basically said that they didn't allow filming or picture taking during the panels or screenings. There were a few folks who ignored this during the "developing your first game" panel that was done in between Matt's two panels, but I don't think I saw anyone recording stuff during Matt's unfortunately.

Anyways, I have a 3-day pass, so I'll be floating around a little bit today and tomorrow, most likely checking out some more panels or screenings, since I've never done that before for previous conventions and wanted to try something different this year than just slumming it on the show floor and buying loot...

[Hyperstrike]

Need to apologize to everyone here for falling down on the job trying to get something organized.

Unfortunately Real Life kinda snuck up and landed a kick between the goalposts on me.

[Ashen Fury]

I wish I could have made it to this event. Boo.