(no subject)

My Ranking of the PAX Omegathon Finales, From Best to Worst (based on a combination of game selection and how fun it was to watch):

1. 2005 (Atari Combat)
2. 2004 (Pong)
3. 2008 (Japanese import Famicom ExciteBike thing)
4. 2009 (Skee-Ball)
5. 2007 (Halo 3)
6. 2006 (Tetris)

And now, conversely, where I rank this year's PAX experience against the other years;

1. 2006
2. 2007
3. 2004
4. 2009
5. 2005
6. 2008

2009 was disappointing in some ways but awesome in others, and I've basically had to adjust to the fact that it's just not going to be the same convention it was for me in '06/'07 when it was a huge social function for me and now not so much (the only people from the old group I ran into this weekend was Joah for about fifteen minutes at the Rock Band section of the exhibitors' hall and Feather for five minutes or so at the start of Saturday, so yeah). 2008 basically came off like a massive disappointment for that reason because it just couldn't match up to the prior two years at all. 2009, conversely, despite what I consider a huge failure in the G-Man thing, did feel productive. I went to panels and played some awesome games I've been wanting to play, and that's alright with me. I'm looking forward to 2010, anyway, and after last year's utter ambivalence towards PAX once it was finished I'm happy for some manner of improvement on that front.

(no subject)

... okay, this merits its own post. So Guitar Hero 5, much like its predecessor, Guitar Hero: World Tour, features celebrity guest avatars who come out and play with you and in some cases become playable characters. This already had sort of bizarre overtones; the boss battles against established guitarists for songs they penned specifically for the game is a decent idea but on the other hand I don't particularly see why anyone should be clamoring to play as an avatar of Hayley Williams.

They also included Jimi Hendrix in World Tour but opted to not make him a playable character, which would perhaps be disappointing to some but strikes me as kind of a classy move. And I didn't really come to that conclusion until today, when I learned that Kurt Cobain is in Guitar Hero 5 and is a playable character. This, of course, means you can play him in any game you want, and that... gets hilariously awkward to watch at points. If only "Gimme Some Money" by Spinal Tap were on Guitar Hero's DLC like it is on Rock Band's, because I can't think of a better song for the Cybertronic Ghost of Kurt Cobain of the Future to sing than that.