GameX Day One: Of Robots and Jedi

No-one ever really knows what to expect the first year of a show. Will it be chaos? (Yes, probably.) Will it be good enough to make people want to come back again next year? (Fifty-fifty on that one.) Is it something I’ll be telling my friends about afterwards? (Hopefully.) We’re one day into GameX, and things are looking awfully good. And I’m not just saying that because I got to play with a robot.

Actually, according to my personal definitions, it wasn’t a robot, but rather a mechanized drone, but whatever – the point is, I got to play with something that shot balls across the room and drove around on treads. It was made by kids from Wissahickon High School, was called Miss Daisy, and was just one of the weird and wonderful things I discovered at GameX today.

Tucked away in the back of the expo center, Artist’s Alley was home to some remarkable work – much of it, oddly enough, fixated on bunnies: bunnies with Uzis, bunnies on fire, anime bunnies with large, wet eyes. Bunny appreciation aside, the artists’ styles and subjects varied wildly from classic comic book style to heroines of which Boris Vallejo would undoubtedly approve.

I was fascinated to discover not one, but two sets of Jedi in attendance at the show. I have been promised a lesson in sabre combat; I’m also hoping to pick up a few tips on lightsabre construction. The Jedi I’ve seen strolling through the show are sporting some pretty sweet weaponry, much of which they customize themselves.

I’ll be honest – right about when the third bad singer took a whack at doing “You Oughta Know” on Rock Band, I was really questioning the wisdom of having a musical stage, but immediately changed my mind when the actual bands began to play. There’s just something about hearing the music from Sonic’s Green Hill Zone that can get me grooving, even after a long and tiring day.

I haven’t even mentioned all the cool stuff that happened at The Escapist booth. Live Unskippable, bloopers from The Escapist Show, an unaired episode of Projekt, a live chat with Graham and Paul, pillow fights, cherry Bawls, and girls too shy to say hello to Yahtzee. Pretty badass first day, all things considered. Tomorrow, I’m going to check out the guy selling the handmade steam punk gear, play some of the old school arcade games, and maybe take on the NES challenge.

If you’re in the area, stop in and say hi. We have some pretty cool events scheduled for tomorrow. Make sure you look for me – I’ll be the JedI in the Escapist t-shirt.