We are in high gear as PAX East 2012 kicks off and we want to give you a heads up on what we're looking forward to checking out during the annual convention.

Technically, I suppose GDC 2012 was the start of show season, but as sort of exclusive club GDC is more about the developers than the fans and the games they want to see and play.  That’s what PAX East is all about.  The second largest gaming convention on the east coast, PAX East is shaping up to be an awesome time this year, with a little something for everyone planned.  As you read this, I’ll be dozing on a plane to Beantown, Suzie will be running the show, and Garrett will be wishing he was in Boston with Mike and I to see all these awesome games.  Let’s give you a rundown of what we’ll be seeing this weekend when it comes to MMOs, and then we’ll touch on the weekends biggest event for online gamers… The Future of Online Games Panel at 6pm on Friday in the Main Theatre.  I mean, I may be biased, but you’ll see why.  Scan down to read about that.

Read more Bill Murphy's What to Expect from PAX East 2012.

I'm really not sure you should be inviting people to slap you in the face. lol.

Can't wait to hear about the Expo. Have fun!

from what ive read in the forums, a lot of people may take the chance to slap Pokket. She gets so much hate on some of the threads lol

• Secret World: Some details on the actual combat/skills would be illuminating.
• Firefall: Conversely combat looks awesome here, but how much "mmo" will the open world /combination of ships/infantry/guns actualize as?
• Planetside 2: This looks too FPS for my preferences, wheres Firefall looks about right, What's the difference? Both look promising but in different ways? Albeit PS2 looks more like a giant (3 faction) player-driven warzone. : )

For the panel:

Q1: Will we see more changeable environments in future mmorpgs?

Q2: Any lessons to learn from "social gaming genre" large growth?

Q's are a bit random... but danger of pontification turning into the "history of philosophy lecture" ; some themes/structure helps.

Also checkout Kickstarter's booth for mmo news: Kickstarter Heads to PAX East 2012 - Room 103 of the Boston Convention Center

My hopes of hearing a Rift expansion are dashed. Maybe some news about Defiance from Trion

 What to Expect from PAX East 2012

Tycho and Gabe to have MASSIVE errections/egos!

Originally posted by angerbeaver

from what ive read in the forums, a lot of people may take the chance to slap Pokket. She gets so much hate on some of the threads lol

Hell yea. Might have to take the hand sanitiser with me, to wipe off the excess Testosterone afterwards.

Originally posted by Puremallace

My hopes of hearing a Rift expansion are dashed. Maybe some news about Defiance from Trion

 

Rift goes through very large patches, so they don't need an expansion really. I like how they are doing it right now.

• Curt Schilling – 38 Studios (Copernicus)
• Matt Higby – SOE (Planetside 2)
• Craig Morrison – Funcom (Age of Conan)
• Jon Peters – ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2)
• James Ohlen – BioWare (SWTOR)
• Brian Knox – En Masse Entertainment (TERA)
• Rob Hill – Trion (Defiance)

Originally posted by grimfall

• Curt Schilling – 38 Studios (Copernicus)
• Matt Higby – SOE (Planetside 2)
• Craig Morrison – Funcom (Age of Conan)
• Jon Peters – ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2)
• James Ohlen – BioWare (SWTOR)
• Brian Knox – En Masse Entertainment (TERA)
• Rob Hill – Trion (Defiance)

 

Not sure you could find a list of people more clueless about the future of MMO's.  It's like asking seven buggy whip makers about their opinions on fuel injection.

I say there's at least one of them that knows much more about it than the others do, IMHO.

Originally posted by Morcotulcon

Originally posted by grimfall

• 
  Curt Schilling – 38 Studios (Copernicus)


• 
  Matt Higby – SOE (Planetside 2)


• 
  Craig Morrison – Funcom (Age of Conan)


• 
  Jon Peters – ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2)


• 
  James Ohlen – BioWare (SWTOR)


• 
  Brian Knox – En Masse Entertainment (TERA)


• 
  Rob Hill – Trion (Defiance)

 

Not sure you could find a list of people more clueless about the future of MMO's.  It's like asking seven buggy whip makers about their opinions on fuel injection.

I say there's at least one of them that knows much more about it than the others do, IMHO.

 

So because he works for a company that produced a cult favorite MMO, and is working on a ridiculously overhyped sequel. That means he's better than the other panelists? 

If you want to talk about experience, SOE has been making MMOs longer than all the other companies combined. But no one is jumping up to say that Matt Higby knows more about them than anyone else does. 

Please try to be realistic.

Tbh, I'm hoping the panel attempts a more near-future discussion that threads in their own current work, assumptions and directions and angles..

eg John Peters: Balance and traits for combat in GW2

eg Matt Higby: Creative Director of PS2

I'm sure they'll have VERY different ANGLES on the same genre!

Each person is best set to talk about their own work, let's hope they do that in the context of other work, before, current (esp other panelists!) and maybe future?

Give us some Hawken's info from pax pls.