A Lil About Me

Ash is the name! I'm an aspiring Designer who works part-time at ITT as a Multimedia & Visual Communications Instructor and part-time as a Freelance Graphics Artist for a small Seattle-based company.

If you'd like to see my PORTFOLIO, click on the cute illustration of me!

More to come...right now I'm simply trying to get all the do-dads up and whats-its in order. Work, work, work!

PAX Highlights

PAX, also known as the Penny-Arcade Expo, is the largest gaming convention in the Pacific Northwest. While it's biggest attractions are video game companies, it has participants that specialize in table-top games, miniatures, collectible card games, etc.

Memorial Day weekend for any gamer in the region meant going to PAX 2008 this year, and I was no exception.

As a stereotypical female gamer, I am automatically turned off by any serious fighting or shooting games. This of course leaves me with few things to really get excited over. However, I wasn't without satisfaction.

I will detail specific games separately, but I will add a few personal experiences first. The most unique touch was a Rock Band stage set up in a lounge/dining area for participants to take turns performing for the lunching crowd. Very fun, and it gave you something to watch while eating.

Other than my lunchtime fun, the Exposition Hall is where most of the action was for me. Most of the games I'm interested in are less popular, so I had only wait a short time for everything except for the World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King and EA's Spore.

However, I endured multiple encounters of swarming media agents. It was really quite frustrating. Three times I forced to move or discontinue playing a game because of media.

Twice while at the EA booth for Spore, the booth boy spent 100% of his attention on the media representative which left the consumer at the second kiosk utterly clueless. One of those times that consumer was a friend of mine, the second time I was cut in front of by the media rep.

Another incident by the Spore kiosks developed shortly after one of my friends discovered that his badge had falled off its lanyard. This haughty, imposing woman snapped at us to clear the way for a media shooting, to which I calmly explained my friend's mishap.

Rather than offering any semblance of sympathy, she shot some snotty remark back my way, to which I replied, "If you help us look for it, we can leave faster." Ah, humanity. She was far more keen on giving us a hard time than offering a small gesture of kindness.

At the Atari booth, I experienced a situation similar to one of the others I have previously mentioned where a media agent forced me out of line after waiting for 15 minutes, which was nothing in comparison to the 45 I had wasted waiting to play Spore!

You may think that I am inappropriately complaining about media, especially if you would be interested in reading about PAX in your favorite gaming magazine. If this is the case, please allow me to explain my frustrations.

PAX was originally created as an alternative for E3 for people who were not qualified entry. E3 is a similar convention in which industry specialists and media representatives are exclusively allowed to attend. Essentially, the media could theoretically have E3 and us consumers could have PAX all to ourselves.

Regrettably, theory and reality seldom coincide. My only wish is someone will be able to communicate these frustrations to our boys Gabe and Tycho, and by some chance of luck they will acquiesce.

Regardless of these incidences, the panels were what I came to PAX for. The first panel, "Girls and Games: Women in the Industry", was not very insightful. Mostly the panelists expressed opinions similar to mine and every other girls' in the audience. The panelists were female, after all, so nothing controversial came up.

Afterwards, I decided that the panel, "How to Get Your Girlfriend to Play" would be utterly boring. After all, I was looking for controversy!

The panel entitled "The Art of the Dungeon Master" was well worth standing in line for. Although I didn't get to sit, I learned a TON about the dynamics between a DM and his players. I was also able to ask a few questions to James Wyatt, and of course I got to peek at Chris Perkins!

For those of you that don't know, I found Chris rather attractive last year at the launch of 4th Edition. Dreamy! Although, after listening to the Penny Arcade D&D broadcast, I have to say that I don't think I would enjoy running a campaign with him as my DM.

The last panel I was able to attend was the "Art and Design" panel on Sunday. This was the entire justification for me attending on Sunday. Its panelists were exclusively working in the 3D realm, which was a bit of a let-down. I'm extremely interested in art production for the 2D game arena, but my interest in 3D is very small.