I have not given up on blogging, despite all appearances to the contrary. It’s just that, well, I’ve been busy.

Lots of great stuff going on at work. As you may have heard, we announced our first product and have been talking about it at various shows. I know many of you are anxious for more news on the MMO, but our promotional efforts are focused on the RPG right now. All good things to those who wait.

If it counts for anything, I have started (or thought about starting) several articles over the past few months, but never finished writing them for one reason or another. So for your own amusement, please pretend that you read timely, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining posts on the following topics:

• Are used video game sales a blight upon the industry?
• The subscription MMO isn’t going anywhere
• “Truth, Lies, and Frogloks: A Cautionary Tale”
• Please buy me an iPad

That last one isn’t really an article; I’d just love for someone to buy me an iPad.

But honestly, you should really be grateful that you’re getting a break from my ramblings. You’ll probably be sick of me again soon enough.

Speaking of which, I’ll be on a panel at GDC Online next month talking about transmedia stories. Looking forward to it!

Today I, as well as a throng of coworkers, descended upon the first incarnation of PAX East. Though there wasn’t an official 38 Studios presence (no booth or big announcements this year–sorry!), our execs were nice enough to give the team the day off to attend opening day of the festivities.

First off, it’s great to have a major fan-centric gaming event in Boston. The fact that the show sold out for all three days is a testament to how many rabid gamers we have on this side of the country. No question that a show like this was long overdue.

The organizers certainly seemed to have learned a lot from the original PAX in terms of keeping things running smoothly. Though the entrance was a massive choke point (more about this later), once inside things ran like clockwork. It was fast and easy to pick up my badge, and grabbing goodie bags and program guides was a snap. Most of the lower level is a maze-like queue that winds its way toward the second floor, but despite a crowd the line was flowing briskly.

There are some weak points I hope improve next time around:

• Need a better facility – The Hynes Convention Center is not a great venue. The entryway was a massive bottleneck compared to more modern facilities. The cement floors and drab walls gave off a prison vibe. It just wasn’t a pleasant place (although easy access to a decent food court is a plus).
• Industry support felt tentative – The expo floor wasn’t exactly brimming with exciting booths. Local studio Turbine had a nice area, and a few others (like Realtime Worlds, who showed off APB) did as well. But overall it felt like many big-name publishers had little more than a token presence.

Perhaps the show’s proximity to E3 precluded many companies from committing resources, or maybe they just wanted to see how the first year of the show went. Either way, I hope there is more of a big-name presence next year–and I hope it takes place in a location that better shows all that Boston has to offer.

Overall the arrival of PAX East is a huge boon to gamers and developers alike. I’m confident the show will be a huge success and will only get better in the years to come.

On Tuesday, March 23, I’ll be speaking at the IEEE Virtual Reality 2010 Conference, taking place in nearby Waltham, MA. The panel is titled “Design for Experience?!” and if you look at the list of speakers, I am clearly the dumbest guy in the room. I can only assume they had some quota of locals that needed to be filled.

My contribution has the uncharacteristically academic title “Memorable Experiences in Virtual Worlds.” Don’t worry–I’m not going all Raphtastic on ya. I’m building upon the basic premise of my talk with Owlchick last year at GDC Austin, where we asserted that the player’s stories are more compelling than those made by game designers.

Why does this fit a virtual reality conference? The panel is all about designing user experiences, and I submit that currently the most accessible form of virtual reality is found in massively multiplayer online games. Now I just have to convince the audience of that fact.

The inaugural GameX Industry Summit last weekend was a great time. Naturally there were a few hiccups–being the first time the show was held–but the content of the event was terrific.

A few of my favorite bits were the Saturday afternoon keynote by Chris Foster of Harmonix, a post mortem on cinematics work by Coray Seifert of Kaos Studios, and a talk on the motivations behind acquiring virtual goods by Bernard Yee of CaféMom.com.

Needless to say, the best talk was the panel I was on, moderated by Alexander Macris of  Themis Group and featuring Damon Alberts of  Burst Online Entertainment and Lee Hammock of Fallen Earth. In all seriousness, our varied backgrounds made for a very diverse panel. The similarities in our answers were as interesting as the different perspectives each of us brought to the table. Alexander did a great job moderating and taking input from the audience. The crowd was really engaged and asking some great questions.

I enjoy shows that include a mix of industry and fans, and this summit had a nice balance. I got to meet some cool industry types but also got to hang out with some students and others who’d like to get into the industry. Hopefully I had some worthwhile advice for a few of them.

I was also surprised by how much activity there was on the expo floor. There were some honest-to-goodness game show booths there for titles like Dante’s Inferno, as well as online celebrities such as several members of the Guild. There were a lot of people who came just to hang out and play games, which is always neat to see.

The facility and surrounding area were a bit on the dismal side (no places that sold a real cheesesteak close by), so hopefully if the show is a success they can move to a better spot next year. But even as if it stays in the same location, I recommend the event highly. With PAX East debuting next year, the east coast is gaining ground as a major center of gaming.

Friday I head down to Philadelphia to attend the GameX Industry Summit. I’ll be on a panel Saturday at 4pm titled “Beyond Raids and Ganks: Exploring Next-Gen MMOs in a non WoW-Killer Context.”

What will I be talking about? How to build a WoW killer, of course!

Okay, not really. Here is the panel description:

The MMO is here to stay! Having said that, there is an industry push to introduce new paradigms that take the genre beyond the status quo. In what ways can we create MMOs that innovate within the genre, create new player experiences, and develop deeper, more impacting stories, narrations, and character development? This panel brings together developers working on three new MMOs that are pushing boundaries and innovating beyond established concepts. The panelists will discuss the strengths of the MMO format and then break into how they view the MMO developing, through player experiences, new “success” metrics, hybridization of genres, targeted gameplay approaches and developments in story and character.

Dang. Hopefully they invited me along to lighten things up with my razor-sharp wit.

Anyway, it should be a fun time and I look forward to meeting my fellow panelists. I won’t know many folks there, so if you happen to be attending please flag me down and say hello. I’m usually in a much better mood than I appear, so don’t be afraid!

From my 10th floor hotel room, it seems like I can see about a thousand miles. Austin is flatter and greener than I expected. Also more humid, which may explain the green.

Our AGDC presentation is at 1:30pm Tuesday. Owlchick and I spent the afternoon polishing the slides (yeah yeah, we were supposed to have the final version done a couple weeks ago) so I think it will go well.

I’m looking forward to lunch with Hartsman and hope to see other old friends from SOE. Should be a good time.

If the presentation tanks, at least there will be BBQ. Oh yes, there will be BBQ.

The post on my site that gets the most spam is titled “Minnesota MMO Blog Explosion!” so I figured I’d make another post with a spammer-friendly title and give the bots a new target.

Anyway, I spent part of my weekend on a panel at the inaugural GameUnicon here in Massachusetts. I was joined by my cohort Shwayder and Justin Webb from Tencent Boston. We had an excellent discussion with the seven people in the audience (only one of which was a spouse!).

As proof of our awesomeness at the event, here is a video that Justin and Angela put together.

Not that the onus for pimping your product ever went away, but it is both terrifying and oddly comforting that the industry is back in “OMG we must suspend actual development to make our bitchin’ E3 demo!” mode.

I can say that now from the safety of Maynard, but the dark shadow over my heart tells me that I am destined to one day be a part of it again.

And then there will be screaming. Lots of screaming.