PAX 2012 Was Amaz-O-Matic! Part 2: Everything!

Welcome to the second part of my attempt to sum up PAX Prime 2012. On Wednesday I told you all about the games I was able to play, and today I will attempt to portray Enforcing, my experience with tabletop games, and my run-in with The Doctor (spoiler alert: it was a little embarrassing and awesome).

My very special Enforcer shirt for PAX. 

I worked the afternoon shift in the handheld lounge, so for six hours each day I was surrounded by calm and happy DS gamers (very few PSP/Vita peoples) and incredibly comfortable bean bag chairs. Nintendo's addition of the Mii Street Pass for the 3DS created a sort of mega meta game at PAX: how many other opportunities does one have to collect over four hundred new Miis in a weekend? The handheld lounge is next to two sets of escalators, so I essentially had a conveyor belt of Street Passes to collect as fellow 3DS owners streamed past me all through the weekend.

 Some shots from my Enforcer shift in the handheld lounge at PAX.

Last year was the first time that I spent any significant time in the tabletop area of PAX. I had such an incredible time that I was determined to do so again. Sadly I was only able to play games on Saturday night, but at least I made the most of it and stayed at the convention until two a.m.! I had high hopes for games of Catan, Carcassonne, Cards Against Humanity, and new titles that I hadn't yet heard of. Catan was a no go, but I did end up playing Carcassonne for the first time. It was so much fun that I almost became angry that I hadn't ever played it before.

The large city that you see forming ended up taking over almost half the board!!

The rest of my tabletop time was all Cards Against Humanity. Originally it was going to be myself and two friends, then they invited two friends, then those two invited some more, and eventually total strangers approached us asking if we had room for more people to join. It was simultaneously very fun and the most horrible, awful thing I've ever participated in. The card options are truly despicable, just downright atrocious. The right combination will most likely be hilarious, and I find an outright shame in winning a hand and having to identify the combo as mine. Seeing as I'm so easily offended I'm really not sure why I bought the game; I think it'll be worth it to have around in the future though.

Cards Against Humanity spawns gems such as these.

The convention center was ripe with brilliant cosplay this year, and I am retroactively kicking myself for not taking enough pictures. Again. I walked around a lot of Saturday with my camera out but somehow failed to take lots of photos! After seeing so many cool costumes last year I promised myself that I would stop people for pictures this year. I failed miserably. Even though I know that costumed attendees expect to be stopped for photos, I still feel bad preventing them from being on their merry way! I choose to look from and admire from afar. But all of that changed when I saw The Doctor.

On Saturday evening I was leaving my Enforcer post to go and find friends. As I prepared to round a corner, a guy dressed as the tenth Doctor appeared in front of me. I was very excited and attempted to gather my wits to say something along the lines of "Hey you're The Doctor! Awesome!" but instead, I gawked at him while walking backwards. My brain just couldn't string to words together! I started to feel very ridiculous, when suddenly he stopped walking, struck a dramatic pose, and pointed his sonic screwdriver at me. This broke the gawking spell, and instead I smiled hugely, and ran to give him a full body slam hug.

My buttoneering collection from PAX! I will definitely participate again next year.

It's important to note that I've never done that before! I always, as previously stated, admire from afar and go on my way. But for some reason seeing this guy dressed as the tenth Doctor just blew my mind and I was so happy and I had to hug him. As soon as I realized I was hugging a total stranger, I pulled away from him feeling highly embarrassed. He looked frightened, but it turns out he was concerned about smelling bad since it had been a long day, but he smelled of delicious Subway sandwiches, so all was well.

I ended up chatting with The Doctor through the weekend, and I played Dragon Dice with him on Sunday afternoon. For those that don't know, Dragon Dice is a dice game sort of styled after Magic: The Gathering. I'm under the impression that initially the game wasn't very fun. However, the company changed hands and it has been revitalized into a VERY fun roll-of-the-dice strategy game. I ended up buying a copy for myself.

The Doctor and me!

What about you, fellow PAX goers? What was your favorite piece of cosplay? How about the best tabletop game you played all weekend? How many people did you add to your street pass log? And while we're on the subject, does anyone want to be 3DS friends? I'll gladly post my friend number if anyone is interested! I'll be needing folk to play with once Animal Crossing 3DS comes out next year :D

-MJ

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Animal Crossing 3DS speculation and excitement!

Lately I've been playing Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii again. I stopped playing about two years ago because I felt pretty bored. Initially, Animal Crossing has tons of things to do. The player must clean up the town, plant flowers and trees, get to know the neighbors, repay home loan debt, and fill up the local museum with fish, bugs, fossils and famous paintings. Because the game moves in real Earth time, this all takes about a year.

What to do once that is done, though? That has become my dilemma. I still have paintings and bugs to find, but overall the game has lost a lot of its appeal. I've been popping into Kakariko for about twenty minutes every day and doing this: hunt for weeds, water flowers, plant new flowers, talk to everyone, sell some fish. The game is overflowing with content and potential, but has very finite goals considering that it literally goes on forever.

Animal Crossing 3DS has so much potential. What is that shrub on the left!? Source.

With E3 come and gone, and no mention of Animal Crossing 3DS whatsoever, the community of AC lovers at large is in overdrive wondering what kinds of features will be in the newest game. My focus isn't necessarily what the new features will be (although of course I'm curious!), but it is more on what will be added that will keep the game interesting even after the museum is full. Let's take a look at what we already know!

-players will be able to swim in the ocean bordering their town
-lamp posts and benches can be purchased and placed around the town for further beautification and customization

Lamp posts in Animal Crossing 3DS! It looks so cozy. Source.

-items can be hung on the walls of player's houses
-character customization has been boosted in the form of altering both pants and shoes (in previous versions girls only wore dresses and guy's shorts were unalterable. In City Folk, shoes could be changed to match clothing, but only by visiting the shoe shine guy in the city.)
-players will have the option to become mayor of their town
-streetpass will be incorporated as a way to visit towns, as well as a venue for neighbor swapping
-it appears that players will start life in their new town by living in a tent
-hangouts can be arranged with your in-town neighbors

I have really high hopes for what a lot of these facts could mean for gameplay! First, if we start off living in tents, that could mean that it will take even longer to get a real house. This automatically extends gameplay by creating a longer loan repayment period. That could seem cheap at first glance, but previous versions haven't incorporated tents, so I'm all for it!

Swimming time in Animal Crossing 3DS! Source.

Swimming has been sorely lacking from every iteration, so it is a huge relief to finally see it in the 3DS version! It would be really great if Nintendo added a secret island or cove that could be swum to on certain days or at certain times. Also, what if the ocean had a tide? That'd be so cool!

The potential to become mayor of your town is by far the most exciting piece here. To me, it's the longevity piece that I'm looking for. In one segment of video from Nintendo Direct last month, we see the player sitting at an important looking desk with a computer, and a villager is talking them up. Will players be dealing with town issues and helping citizens? I certainly hope so!

Animal Crossing 3DS, mayor problems. Source.

Animal Crossing 3DS is set to release in Japan this fall, and for the U.S., we simply have "2012" as a release date. I have my fingers crossed for something around Christmas, and a little prayer that it doesn't get pushed to 2013! Are there any other AC fans out there? Would you like to exchange Friend Codes for City Folk? :D Also, what are you hoping for in the 3DS version?

-MJ

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