Thought officially sanctioned tournaments for Fortnite Battle Royale were just invite events for well known streamers and top level players? Epic Games will be holding an open registration tournament for Battle Royale at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington from Friday the 31st of August until Monday September 3rd.
Attendees with a Penny Arcade Expo badge will be able to register for the first three days open qualifier rounds in-person. Each day will feature three open rounds with a final round open to only the best of those. Players who place in the top 33 of each day’s final qualifier will move onto the final round which will take place on Monday the 3rd of September.
If you want to watch all of the action Epic Games will be streaming the tournament from 6PM PST until 11PM PST on all days. Whether you’re going to be watching on Twitch or Youtube they’ve got you covered. They’re offering up $1.5 Million in prizes and will have activities available across Solo, Squads and Duos team compositions.
[Head Image Source: Me! taking silly pictures of the Durr Burger]
[News Source: Dexerto]
Are you going to be part of the lucky few who score tickets to PAX West 2017? Today the convention announced that passes for all four days of the show are now available online. Single day passes start at $48 USD per day, unlike other years a weekend pass is not available. Instead, attendees will have to purchase tickets on a per day basis.
Official PAX West 2017 merchandise was also confirmed today via press release including: a PAX Scarf ($28 USD) and a PAX Blanket ($38 USD). These might come in useful, especially given the fact that Seattle weather can be fickle – will it shine? Will it rain? WHO KNOWS!
PAX West 2017 runs from September 1st thru 4th. If you want more PAX and can’t wait until September, why not check out our coverage of last year’s event right here. I’m planning on attending this year’s show as well, so please look forward to more coverage in the future.
Every year PAX is the host for many indie developers. These developers are some of the most diverse voices in the industry. They come from all over the United States and even all over the globe to show their creation to a passionate crowd of gamers who are itching for innovation and fun and a unique experience that the indie game community brings. I had the good fortune to try out some of these games and even talk to some of the indie developers at PAX. I enjoyed a great sampling of the dozens of games set up to demo. From the selection that were available to buy and play now, my favorites were “Inversus”, “Tooth and Tail”, “Keen” and “Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?”.
Inversus, developed by Hypersect, is a strategic geometric shooter game. The idea appears so simple, you control the color black or white and you can turn squares black or white by shooting them. If you get hit by the opponent’s color, you die. You want to defeat your opponent by shooting them. It’s fast paced, simplistic game play charmed me and I solidly recommend trying it. You can buy it on Steam today.
Tooth and Tail, developed by Pocketwatch Games, is another strategic game that involves outsmarting and defeating your opponent. This arcade style strategy game has you taking the role of the leader of an animal revolution! With an army of squirrels, boars, pigeons, ferrets, moles and other WWI era styled beasts, there are plenty of options to choose from and a lot to play around with as far as ways to wipe out your opponent and their base in the skirmish. Matches are short and the maps are small and it is not mouse based, unlike many RTS games. Tooth and Tail has an alpha available, but only available to Discord users who regularly interact with the community and show interest in experiencing this unique game.
There were quite a numerous amount of puzzle games at the indie booth this year. One that particularly caught my attention was an adorable game titled “Keen’, developed by CatNigiri. In this game, you are guiding Kim “on a journey to stop an evil corporation from destroying her village”. I had the honor of talking to some of the team that was there representing this game and got to know a little more about this hidden gem. The game has been in development for 3 years as of the date of this article. It was inspired by both Zelda and 2048 to create a hybrid of RPG and sliding puzzle game. They were looking for something “deep and entertaining like Zelda with simple commands”. They started it with a tabletop origin to test how the mechanics would work, and since that went well, they took to developing it as a video game. After changing some gameplay and features, they polished the gameplay idea by creating another swiping puzzle game called Kitty Kitchen and then moving back to Keen to make their project a reality. The aesthetic of Keen was inspired by baby metal and megaman. A demo is currently available on Steam and on the Cat Nigiri website, and is definitely worth the time to play.
“Holy Potatoes! We’re In space?” also got my attention. Published by daylight studios, this game has you exploring the “vastness of space” in a spaceship you manage while crafting weapons. The combat is the tactical, turn based variety ad with hundreds of weapons to craft, the possibilities are extremely varied, leaving for much replayability. This game is available to purchase on Steam right now and I look forward to playing this soon, especially after talking to some of the team. The main inspiration was pop culture and punny humor for the story, characters and dialogue. After Holy Potatoes! A weapons shop! The creators wanted to expand the idea and gameplay and with their 7 person development team, they have made it a reality.
Overall, the indie gaming scene as always is thriving and booming with positivity and creativity. With so much diversity, passion and imagination, it’s easy to see why indie gaming is only becoming more popular and it was amazing to see everyone gathered together, sharing their projects and seeing others enjoying them and getting excited for what’s new and what’s to come.
Do you enjoy table top gaming? How about vividly imagining you are a stealthy rogue or a super strong barbarian? Then you are going to love attending the brand new PAX spin-off event that was recently announced. PAX Unplugged. Taking place between November 17th and 19th this new convention focuses exclusively on tabletop roleplaying games and other offline entertainment activities. All of this sword wielding, arrow slinging and backstabbing action will take place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center!
Unlike the gaming focused PAX East, PAX West (formally PAX Prime), PAX Australia and PAX South events PAX Unplugged focuses primarily on tabletop roleplaying, collectable card games, board games and other non-electronic / online entertainment activities. Attendees will also have the chance to check out concerts, panels with industry professionals and themed tournaments.
The official PAX Unplugged site has recommendations for hotels in Philadelphia that are close to the convention center. Tickets are currently no available for PAX Unplugged but they do offer an email blast to potential attendees as well as information for perspective exhibitors.
Nintendo held an hour long presentation for their upcoming open world RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X at PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend and they’ve posted the entire presentation on YouTube for all to Enjoy.
The majority of this presentation focused on the evolution of the game’s art style over the course of development. Members of the North American localization team were on hand to walk us through early character designs all the way through to the final versions seen in the game. We also got an early look at New Los Angeles, the main hub world of Xenoblade Chronicles X from conception through implementation. For those unfamiliar with the game watching this panel is a great way to get to know some of the alien races you’ll encounter.
A special edition of Xenoblade Chornicles X was teased through the entire presentation and then finally revealed at the panel. It will include a full 7 inch x 11 inch artbook featuring over 100 pieces of concept art, a 10 track soundtrack loaded onto a custom USB drive and a postcard featuring Xenoblade artwork done in the style of 1970s and 1980s sci-fi.
No price for the special edition has been announced and a quick check on a few Canadian retailers does not show any listings for it yet. The standard edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released on Wii U on December 4th for $69.99.
