5 posts tagged “fanime”
With less than a week to go until Fanime, I've had to sacrifice some of my Halo 3 time in order to get things done. I still have two panels to finish planning (Damn You Internets!) and of course, there is a matter of cosplay. As usual, Shelby is in charge of all of that while I sit here, recoloring my wig for Roku. We're doing three different costumes for Fanime this year and for Shelby, that would mean a lot of luggage. So, she decided to bite the bullet and ship everything up here ahead of time.
Nothing has changed from our original plans, so it'll still be Death Note, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Pop'n Music cosplay throughout the weekend. Shelby is already past all this and working on stuff for Anime Expo in July. This is as good as a time as any to mention that we'll be going on a road trip back down to her home in Bakersfield where I'll be staying for a week to help out on Project: Unicorn Giggles.
Expect a lot of video blogging and to still not know what it is. Oh, and from Fanime as well. I hope to get at least one blog up per day while I'm there.
It figures. The day that the cat is let out of the bag, my Xbox 360 finally craps out. While friends of mine have had PlayStation 2's and original Xbox's fail time and time again, but I've always been the bastion of good fortune. Even with the notoriously fail prone Xbox 360, my launch unit has been without fault. That is, of course, the day we get our Halo 3 press invite.
And so, I had to perform the dreaded double-dip and repurchase the new Halo 2 maps for my original Xbox. Unlike most people, I didn't freak out over $4 bucks for two maps, so I didn't really flinch the second time around. This is possibly a testament as to how by the balls they've got me. It was a bit strange to be back on the Xbox after having not used it since the 360 launched. Even donning the ol' Rainbow Six 3 headset was an awkward experience. Did it really never fit or did I somehow lose about 10 pounds in my head? Don't answer that.
The switch back to the original controller wasn't as jarring as I imagined. I had some amazing games with the folks over at EGM and 1UP, as usual. Including one incredibly brief match on Warlock where I picked up a Battle Rifle and proceeded to flip out towards a running riot. It felt great to be going up against high level players and just trampling them. Jared is officially back in the saddle.
Having the ol' Xbox hooked up isn't all that bad. I've been meaning to start playing some sort of arrow-smashing game in order to get some more exercise in me and I never did get to really appreciate that copy of Pump it Up I got for it. I'm still in great shape (for a skinny white boy) but it's con season. No, not Con Season, but the actual convention season. Fanime is less than 30 days away now and Shelby and I have plenty to prepare for. I was interviewed by Mike Antonucci from the San Jose Mercury News recently about Fanime, so those who are local can expect to hear about my absurd nerdiness sometime soon.
If you reside in the Bay Area and don't have anything planned for Memorial Day weekend, why not come join us at an anime convention for some serious game discussion? By us I mean myself, Chris Kohler from Wired and Jennifer Tsao from Electronic Gaming Monthly as we host "Cynicism in Games - Where the Hardcore Went Wrong." I'll let the semi-official description speak for the panel-
"In an industry controlled by publishers, the tactics of video game marketing has convinced a generation of players that if you're not hating, you're not gaming. It's a notion that has stuck for more than a decade now and it only seems to have gotten worse with gamers treating their favorite medium more like a disposable play thing than a legitimate form of entertainment and media."
I've touched on this topic in the past and at Fanime I'll finally be able to present, what I believe, one of the largest problems facing modern gaming culture: ourselves. Though retail and marketing tactics are strong, our own inherent need to be "more hardcore" than the last has turned what is the ultimate in escapist media into a dick waving contest of embarrassing proportions.
The session will introduce our audience to the concept with a brief history on the subject, focusing in on the key moments in time such as early video game advertising, the rise of GameFan and more. From there we'll be taking an open-floor approach as we discuss the topic and generally poke and prod the average gamer to get their take on the subject while fielding any question that pops up.
In all honesty, the session is for my own personal research, but it's also about getting gamers to look at the decisions and actions they're taking when it comes to video games and saying, "Is this really what I think or am I just easily influenced?"
Fanime is about a month away so it's probably a wee bit early to be discussing this now, but I wanted to bring it up in the event that folks wanted to travel for what is easily California's best anime convention. I'll be sure to touch on this again when the details are finalized.
[Update] This session has since been canceled due to far too many conflicting schedules. Sorry!
In roughly three hours I have to be up and out of bed in order to catch a ride to the airport. For the next week (Sept.25-Oct.2) I'll be down in Bakersfield, California, hanging out with the girlfriend in preparation for Ani-Magic 06. Honestly, I'm not actually looking forward to the latter, but the former will be fun. I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case I don't actually manage to update my Vox sometime between here and there. There will be photo shoots, there will be Animal Crossing and yes, there will be cosplay.
Speaking of which, I won't be doing anything new aside from Tezuka Kunimitsu from Prince of Tennis. Does that even count? My Seigaku uniform has been sitting in my closet untouched since October of last year. No, wait. I did wear the shirt while on the "Damn You Internets!" panel at Fanime back in May in which during a drunken swing, I spilt a drink on it.
Shelby and I will be pairing up again for Eureka Seven cosplay which, funny enough, she recently won a contest for. Aside from that she'll be doing a lot of Pop'n Music (Which I'll be joining next time). This week she also plans on making little matching outfits for her dog, Momo, to join in on both the Eureka Seven and Pop'n Music groups. This is, hilariously enough, not the first time she has done this.
Maybe I am looking forward to that more than I thought. . not that anime conventions in the middle of nowhere actually do make me excited. Well, Bakersfield is a horrible place and if I don't get to sleep I won't be awake enough to experience it. See you all later!
