PAX East, Boston's annual gaming celebration, is almost here. Lots of industry types will be mingling with fans at the convention. The weekend of March 22 to 24 should be a busy one, and we don't want you to get overwhelmed with all the options. Instead, we took a peek at the PAX East schedule and picked out five of the biggest names you're going to want to go see. We've put together a summary of the talk in question, a little tidbit from the PAX website and our boldest predictions about what might happen. We've also got the PAX East Live stream schedule here. Maybe we'll have a better track record than Micheal Pachter. Here's the list:
Cliff Bleszinski, Unemployed Twitter User
Epic's former public frontman and "Gears of War" lead designer, "Cliffy B," as we liked to call him once, hasn't officially returned to making games quite yet. He says he's on a break, but that won't stop him from being PAX East's first main event at "Storytime With Cliff Blezinski": He may be using this oppourtunity to let us know what he's up to.
"You probably know Bleszinski from his work on the Jazz Jackrabbit games (and in particular, Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare), but those hardcore Cliff fans may also recognize his name from the obscure indie darlings, "Gears of War" and Unreal. Currently unemployed and struggling off welfare, Cliff lives out of his Lamborghini in North Carolina bumming for keynote gigs."
Our Bold Prediction: "Jazz Jackrabbit" sequel announced for mobile platforms, Sega Dreamcast.
Ken Levine, Irrational Games, Raconteur
Exactly one day before "Bioshock Infinite" releases, the game's creator and Irrational Entertainments man-in-charge leads a talk about the new game. That's it, nothing other than "Bioshock Infinite," because he know you want to hear about it.
"If there's a question you want answered, head over to IGN.com or Irrational Games' Facebook page and submit your question for the team. Panel attendees can expect unique insights into Irrational's creative process straight from the development team."
Our Bold Prediction: Irrational announces their next game will tackle the French Renaissance and famed hero Ezio will make an appearance in-game." .
Ted Price, Insomniac Games, Fantasy Weapons Promoter
"Join Insomniac CEO Ted Price, Lead Gameplay Programmer Doug Sheahan and Lead Designer Mark Stuart to learn about the game's four elite agents, epic locations, secret alien tech and state-of-the-art weapons that help mold the story that is Fuse."
Our Bold Prediction: Price and Insomniac show off some weapons.
Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions, User of Kickstarter/ Paul Levering, 2 Player Productions, Documentarian
Remember when Double Fine put Kickstarter on the map? Tim Schafer has spoken on it a couple times, but he returns to PAX East with a friend, Paul Levering, who also played a pretty important part in the Kickstarter success of "Double Fine Adventure." Levering is producing the documentary promised in the campaign, meant to give players an inside look at the games development. 2 Player Productions is also known for the documentary "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang."
" Backers of the project have been given incredible insight into the game's development, but little of this information has been shown to the general public. Join us for a screening of new highlights from the "Double Fine Adventure" documentary, immediately followed by a Q & A with Double Fine and 2 Player Productions."
Our Bold Prediction: Schafer yells at the documentarian for the duration of the talk.
Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software, Dispenser of Codes
This looks like it's going to be a pretty general talk, but Randy Pitchford has a lot to answer for with the mess that was "Aliens: Colonial Marines." It's doubtful he'll go into great detail on the subject, but somebody's bound to bring it up, right?
"This is your opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at Gearbox Software and all your favorite Gearbox games including "Borderlands 2," and other amazing Gearbox franchises."
Our Bold Prediction: Pitchford lets us know what these "other" franchises actually are.
