So, in a few short weeks it’ll be 2010.  It’s hard to believe that another whole year has almost passed.  I mean, yeah there have been times where it may have felt like time has slowed to a crawl, where I wish the day would just end (oddly, today was one such day), but overall the year has seemed to pass rather quickly.  I think back on the time that has gone by, and events that have taken place during that time, and its a blur.

I went from being a yard dawg (a position that I have known since I was 11) to being a Dispatcher, and a shipper for a major retail and distribution outlet for the Fraser Valley…  a bit of a major change in my life, but one I hope I can say I am adapting well to.  It also allows me time to focus some energy on projects outside of the Lumber Yard…  though admittedly, Tami is the one who does most of the work.

For the first time in 9 years, I got to see my best friend Tanis… someone who more often than not was reduced to being a voice on the phone, as distance made actual visits nearly impossible.  That voice on the phone was, for many years, my one voice of reason… a focus point to keep me sane on my little Island.  Well, as sane as one can remain when growing up over there.

A very good friend at work, who was also my then-primary means of travel to and from the store each day, instilled a small bit of fear on myself and the rest of my co-workers, when he was rushed into a triple heart bypass just over 3 weeks ago.  He’s pulled through fine though, and while he has not yet returned to work, I am certain that when he does, we’ll all be in trouble.

My young little cousin Stacia went and got herself married.  Mind you, I guess she’s not all that young anymore (none of us are), but since there were people at the wedding that I had not seen since my teen years (the bride and her sister included), she’ll always be the little kid at Christmas.

Gaming and animation recognition in Vancouver took another hit this past week… well, it’s taken several over the last year-ish, but this one is going to be the one that finishes off the year.

The Elans Awards, a scam awards show founded originally by Holly Carinci and Jack Weatherell, that Vancouver was subjected to for the past 3 years, decided that it was done with Vancouver (and Canada) and moved off to San Diego.  Good riddance as far as I’m (and many others are) concerned.  She is more than free to take her scamshow and go home.  We have dealt with Holly and her antics for some time now (much of it is available here on the site, and more yet will likely be made available soon), and the best thing that can happen to Vancouver and it’s Studios is for The Elans Awards to move as far away as possible, and never come back.  The antics of the producer (and her former “partner”) have polluted the industry for years… from bounced cheques, scamming webhosts and site designers, using show funding (provided by local businesses for the purpose of actually helping pay for a show) to pay for their own vices (bikes and partying come to mind), to general lying and badmouthing of companies in the Country that have worked hard to be where they are, only to be slandered for not jumping through hoops for the producers on a whim and bottle of wine.  The very idea that she has decided to move the show to another city in a different country shows that she has tapped the resources of this one dry, burning every bridge she has crossed along the way.  I sympathize to all the companies that are going to get tied up in this down in the States, but I congratulate Vancouver for managing to survive the worst thing to come to the industry in our Great City.  Better things are definitely coming… and none of them will have the name “The Elans” attached to them.  Do I sound resentful of this farce of an awards show? You’re damn right I do. I refuse to stand and support any group or event that is only out there to rape the industry in hopes of making a quick buck off the hard work of others.  To make a claim of being the elite in gaming awards shows is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to steal hard-earned money from game companies… many of which are struggling right now as it is… all so they can try to win a cheap pewter statue worth less than they had to pay out in order to be “nominated”… all the while stomping on the backs of those with talent and skill to recognize, all because they couldn’t afford to pay the entry fees (and then badmouthing those people behind their backs, calling them cheap and unprofessional).  The Spike Awards takes the time to notice what the industry has to provide, and recognizes them for it yearly.  Why support a second-rate awards show created by the same people who were busted for illegal trading and fined over $80,000, when you can support a real professional awards show like the one put on by Spike TV?  The Spike Awards is everything that The Elans wishes it could be but fails at, as well as everything that The Elans claims to be but lies about.

Things like not paying for the venue until the day of the show (and then badmouthing the venue for not letting people use it anyway) is bad form.  Bouncing cheques used to pay for services while badmouthing that same provider behind their backs is bad form.  Showing up to a show drunk, and continuing on from there is bad form (especially when it’s supposedly your show).  Using money that is supposed to be for a show to buy a motorcycle is not only bad form, its outright stupidity.  Mind you, stupidity seems to run rampant with the show and it’s producer anyway (its REAL producer, that is… personally, I don’t see how someone can be named as a founder of a show already in it’s 4th year, but whatever), so no real surprise there.  I also think it’s kind of stupid to badmouth someone really harshly behind their backs, using an email account on that person’s own server, then not bothering to delete those emails when you pack up and move during the cover of darkness while leaving bills outstanding with several companies.  Not that anyone would do that last thing, but if they did, I wonder if those other companies would like copies…

At any rate, do us a favour, Holly… don’t dent Vancouver’s door with your ass on the way out.  It might cause you some brain damage… and we don’t want to give any indication to Vancouver’s talent that you were ever even here.

Reposted From Village Gamer

Now, from the headline there, you are probably expecting me to go into some rant about how it should be okay to tamper with Apple’s software because you are paying for the phone anyway.  Nope, not gonna go there.  So what’s the point in starting with such a controversial topic?  Well, hopefully over the next few paragraphs, I can explain further.

Apple is claiming that jailbreaking an iPhone will allow the user unlimited uncontrolled access to the cell towers, essentially giving them the ability to make free phone calls.  Yes, this is somewhat true, but HIGHLY misconstrued.  With a jailbroken phone, you COULD make free phone calls, and this has some cell providers very nervous.  Google is working hard to bring their new service, Google Voice, to cell phones everywhere.  And why shouldn’t they?  It’s a great service that allows you to be reachable on a single phone number, no matter where in the World you might be.  It’s like Skype times 2.  Cell phone services like AT&T are worried about this, thinking that it will pull their customers away.  What AT&T are not realizing is that yes, while a user can have Google Voice for making phone calls, they are still going to require some sort of data service to make it usable in non-WiFi locations.  So yeah, WiFi seems to be everywhere these days.  Have you tried to actually connect to any available City-wide WiFi services and use a streaming service like Skype Voice?  You may as well be using 2 cans and some string… work out the math when you have a thousand or so people on wireless… you might rank just slightly better than dial-up… if you’re lucky.  Don’t worry yourselves AT&T, people are still going to need your service… though I’m starting to wonder why.

Apple claims that jailbreaking their phones will give users unrestricted access to the insides of the phone’s Operating System.  Yep, that is actually true, and likely results in a lot of hard resets.  But only the dumbest of the dumb would actually go in there and screw around with something they don’t understand.  Okay, yeah, that sums up a good 80% of the population it seems (with a +/- of 15%, but those are the same people who take the cover off their electrical outlets so they can find out where the electricity comes from, and wake up an hour later in an ambulance commenting on how they didn’t think it would hurt to use a screwdriver on the screw with a wire attached.  Only the more educated and understanding of users would actually even know how to get into the operating system (here’s a hint for the lower-evolved… it doesn’t require opening the phone case), and what to do once they were in there.

Yes, Apple has every right to say to the user that jailbreaking is not allowed.  Heck, they’re right now trying to get the DMCA ammended to include jailbreaking as a form of copyright infringement (huh?).  But what harm is coming from the end user getting all the use out of their phone as they can?  The iPhone and iPod Touch have the opportunity to be the elite in PDA’s… what they don’t have is the functionality to be as big as they could be.  For everything you want the phone to do, you need to track down an App for it.  Can’t find one in iTunes because Apple already has a program that does something a little simular (I’m looking in your direction, Firefox)?  Tough luck then.  Maybe you have the coding skills to make an App that does exactly what you want… you’ll need to pay Apple for the right to make it, then the right to install it on your own phone… all this being based on whether Apple even approves the App in the first place.  Windows Mobile and RIM allow any user to install any program they want… yet Apple is locked right down.

When a user wants to jailbreak their phone, it’s not so they can screw over Apple, or pull one over on their cell service provider… it’s so that they can receive the functionality that the iPhone is capable of providing but that Apple has decided you don’t deserve.  It’s so users can install the Apps that THEY need, and not the Apps that Apple has told them they want.  If a user wants to install a program on the phone so that they can receive greater functionality from it, why not let them?  They know the BS about taking chances on it not working… let them make their own decisions.

While I would not go so far as some by comparing Apple to Hitler and the SS Army, I will go far enough to compare them to Microsoft (*shock* *gasp* *oh, the horror!*).  While Apple as long claimed to be the representation of all that is cool and hip with the computing world, they have begun to slip and fall from grace.  I guess things get lonely at the top.  While Microsoft is working to escape their Monopoly claims and work with the users to bring them what they want and need, Apple is moving in the opposite direction.  Prime example, the OS that the iPhone and iPod Touch run on is a trimmed down version of Unix, which in itself began as open source programming.  Now, you can’t even look at your own folders on it without jailbreaking the phone/iPod and using a third party program to browse the system.

So now I come back to the beginning… why you should jailbreak the iPhone.  Up to this point, I imagine that you were thinking I was talking to the average reader through the article.  Only partially… it’s primarily a direct address to Apple.  Why should you break the iPhone?  Well, because you should have already had it jailbroken when you gave it to us.  Bring back the rights for the user to install what they need, and reclaim your position at the top.  The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be to dust off all the footprints from being trampled by all the others who have passed you by.

So Apple, Google Android has what it takes… do you?

(Are you confused, what with this article taking place after the last one?  I still really enjoy my iPhone… I just feel that it has the potential to be so much more, if only Apple were to allow it to reach it’s full potential.  Besides, you know how my mind works by now, I should hope.  )

Wow, quite a few weeks of events taking place… I’m not really sure where to start.

So lets just jump right into it with the major highlights, shall we?

Last week (it was Wednesday that everything went down), everyone at my job was called into a meeting with our store manager, human resources person, and all the floor managers.  Not exactly the sort of meeting I wanted to take part in, but it was something that I think most of us predicted coming along.  The first thing I noticed, was that two people were not present at the meeting.  The yard manager, and our store shipper/dispatcher.  While the Yard Manager being missing wasn’t a massive impact, I am torn on the other.  Greg (the shipper) was someone that I and Tami considered a friend.  Sure, I didn’t really see him outside of work, and the only time that she really saw him was when she was dropping off invoices… but he still brightened the day a little bit.  It was fun to come to work in the morning and just chat with him for the 5 or 10 minutes before starting my day, hearing about how his weekend was, or his trips into the interior, or the cabin he and Debbi planned on building for weekend getaways.  Just in general, he was a nice part to my job.  On Wednesday, his employment at Curtis Lumber was terminated, and he wasn’t there anymore.  Instead, I was moved into his office, and essentially given his job.  Not exactly the way I wanted to get a promotion…. but things have happened that I do not have the power to change, so I have to simply accept it and move forward.  At least one of the perks is that I am now off work at 2:30… or supposed to be, anyway.  I’m finding that its usually closer to 3:30 before I actually book off… but at least I’m showing dedication to learning the job and trying to make sure that everything is ready to go for the afternoon and following morning.  But just the same… Greg, I don’t know if you will ever actually see this, but you are missed by the staff at Curtis Lumber… don’t loose touch.

I see that The ELANS have yet again changed their date for the show.  No shock there, as that gives them a few more weeks to try and take people for… I mean, to bring in additional funding for their show.  It actually makes me sick to my stomach to think about what these two “people” are doing… in a time when there are layoffs all over the industry, and companies all over the Lower Mainland and the rest of the country are struggling just to keep their heads above the water, that these two come along and take them for more money under the cover of “buy your way into an awards show”… something that these companies shouldn’t even have to do.  Their work speaks for itself, and they shouldn’t be having to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars just for a little statue.  Try helping the industry, instead of leaching off it, like you did to people with Tech Investments Inc.  Looking at it logically, how many real award shows change their date so often, all so close to the “actual” date, all the while claiming that it’s to help people get submissions in easier?  The reality is likely closer to their funding not being available for the show due to it being spent on other things.  Wonder how much that new Harley of Jack’s cost…?

We finally got most of the garage cleaned out… okay, thats exagerating a bit.  We cleared a path from one end to the other.  But this is a huge step towards the possibility of converting it into a soundproof games room.  Either that, or we leave it as a storage garage and instead work on building a nice new sunroom off the kitchen.  Either way, I predict a LOOOONG summer ahead.

Vancouver recently hosted a visit from some executives for WCG Worldwide.  Why were they here?  To summarize it, there are some people working real hard to bring WCG’s attention to Vancouver as a possible host city.  Unfortunately, the reputation of two previously mentioned people caused some damage to the reputation for the City, and by the time that it was pointed out that those two are most definitely not associated with the city or it’s Industries (and most definitely not Tami or I or our company), the damage had already been done.  We only hope that they open their eyes to what Vancouver really is, and that the actions and scams of a few do not represent the city as a whole.  Vancouver is an amazing city full of some of the World’s most talented people.  To have the actions of two scammers destroy what all those other people have put their lives towards working on is just… sickening.  Especially when they are doing it under the guise of running an awards show claimed to showcase that very same talent.

Overall, its been a pretty interesting few weeks.  I can hardly wait to see what gets thrown in my direction next.  Expect many rants when such things do take place.  Other than that…

Later.

So, how much do you know about the people you send your money to? I thought that we knew the producers of The ELANS Awards (formerly The Elan Awards) well enough to trust them to their word.

Wow, was I mistaken. From having to wait for months to get a payment, to lies about the delays, to cancelled meetings at the last minute, to actual insulting emails and threats being sent to us because we do not and have never provided the service they are suddenly demanding from us. Well, I’m sorry to the producers, but I’m not a psychiatrist, so I can’t help you with your problems, any more than I can provide free website management to you, all because you think you’re more important than the rest of the planet.

I had not heard of a boiler room until recently. It’s enlightening that my first experience with the term was when someone else in the local Industry sent me a link to The ELANS own Jack Weatherell being found guilty of operating a Boiler room by the BC Securities Commission, and charged $25,000 ($33,219 total, after including legal fees) in 2000 (links further down). Is this someone we want to be associated with? I am left wondering how much of their thousands and thousands of dollars in sponsorship money is actually being invested into the show, and how much is being skimmed off the top by the producers. It supports that theory when hearing from some of the people involved in last year’s show, who have pointed out that some are still owed money. Let’s not forget the day of the show, when we were told by the Center that we could not even enter the venue to set up for the show, because the Producers had not yet even paid for it’s usage. And, while at a recent networking event in Vancouver (one of many that we attend, as we are friends with most of the people there), we took some time to chat with a friend at another company, only to be notified by Holly later that we had no right to speak with him and that we are not to do so again. That one really bothered me… that they feel that because they pay us for webspace and bandwidth, they also have the right to dictate who we can talk to, and what we can talk about. Sorry your highness, but you do not own us, and we will associate with whomever we so choose… which is likely not going to be either of you.

I sympathize with those whose email addresses were farmed by these two, and added to a non-opt-in emailing list. I apologize especially to Andy Dunn (zman), whose name and address was farmed from linkedin, resulting in spammage from Holly and Jack, and his having to “lock down” his profile on there, potentially blocking out possible legitimate contacts (see below for the link).

To be warned in advance to not work with these two people is one thing, but we made a choice not to listen to those warnings, and now we are stuck with the headache of having these leeches attached to our company. I can only feel relief that all they screwed us out of was $150 contract payment, and our time maintaining a site that they either could not figure out for themselves, or could not be bothered to take the time and learn (yes, we offered on several occasions to show them how to manage their site, only to have them cancel at the last minute every time, yet constantly send us “updates” that they demanded be posted right away… something they could have done for themselves, but decided that it should be a service we provide to them, even though it was never a part of the agreement).

The truth of the matter, plain and simple… these two are scam artists to the core, sucking whatever they can from those who mistakenly get close enough, then throwing them to the side once they are done with them. Jack’s history with the Securities Commission is warning light number one to avoid them… if he was so quick to take thousands and thousands of dollars from innocent people then, how is what he is doing now any different? Simple answer, it’s not. It’s truly a reality check when people you thought that you could trust turn out to be nothing more than manipulative liars. I don’t want anyone else to find out about Jack and Holly the same way we have. Take this advice, do your research, and draw your own conclusions. But let me tell you, it doesn’t take $250 to send a game to 5 people… especially when you have to supply them with a copy of the game in advance. Where is all of this money going, if not to actually pay the people they owe it to for their show? Once you factor in that they also are charging an additional $250 just for a ticket to the show… well, the math doesn’t add up (what one person would go through 350 dollars in seafood and champagne, just to find out if they won a $100 pewter trophy?). Lets not even begin to mention (okay, let’s) the fact that in order to submit your game for “nomination” (seems more like having to buy your way into the awards), you MUST send the producers 7 copies of the game for each category you buy into, so that they can be sent to the 5 judges. Wait a minute, there’s that math again. Where do the other 2 copies go? And do the nominators get their games back when it’s all done? So, lets work some numbers. $250 to enter, plus lets say $45 per game (oh, how I wish new games only cost $45) times the 7 copies you must provide. So right now, we’re at 565 just to enter into a category. Want to watch your game win? That’ll cost you an additional $350… that’s right people, the right to attend the show you just sent your 7 games to in hopes of winning a pewter statue is going to cost you another $350. So, we’re now up to $915 just to win an award. They call this an appreciation towards the gaming industry. To me, it looks more like a financial raping. I haven’t even bothered to factor in the hundreds or thousands of dollars that would have to be spent on airfare/travel fees and hotel rooms, for those who don’t have the convenience of living in the host city of Vancouver.

I wish I could tell the World what these two people have to say about those who do NOT “donate” thousands of dollars to buy a sponsorship package… if only there was a way to do so without revealing sources.

But do your own investigating.

How they build their “Opt-In” list (by the way, Opt-In lists are supposed to be built based on people requesting to be placed on it, and not by farming addresses from webpages… Jack and Holly are building their list using the same tactics that are used to send 90% of the spam you receive in your email accounts):

• http://www.indiegameguy.com/blogs/zman/archive/2008/08/15/using-linkedin-as-an-email-collection-tool.aspx

And here’s some great reading on Jack’s history with stealing money from people (Anyone who talks with Jack Weatherell, ask him to explain Tech Investments Inc, and who Ross Kain and Rodney Degroot are):

• http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=1c2313a7-4534-4ba4-93b8-a149afd32fd5
• http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/comdoc.nsf/comdoc.nsf/webpolicies/994CEBD38425C40188256A5000686E86?OpenDocument
• http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/comdoc.nsf/AllByUNID/B2193EE581FD9CED8825698F00625471?opendocument
• http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.asp?id=803

The above links simply show that Jack Weatherell doesn’t care about the people he works with… he only cares about the money they have, and what he has to do in order to get to it from them, even if that risks leaving them with nothing. A true user and manipulator.

So what do I want? I’ve certainly given up on the money they agreed to pay, especially after sending us an NSF cheque, then telling us that we should be happy to have even gotten that (provided a picture for your viewing pleasure, just to show that they were happy enough with the product to send a cheque, but for some reason the thousands that they are bringing in for submissions and sponsorships just doesn’t seem to stay in their account long enough to cover the expenses they are ringing up). Do I want them off our servers? Yes, but they made the choice to pay for the full year (albeit at a VERY discounted rate, and 4 months late), so I will continue to give them the service that they pay for. What I really want, is for the rest of the World to know just who Jack Weatherell and Holly Carinci really are. I hope that soon, they all do… before it ends up costing them thousands of dollars, lost to 2 people well on their way to becoming among Vancouver’s worst scam-artists. In the unstable economy of today, people’s money should go towards legitimate purposes, and not have to be invested in buying your own award when you fully deserve to be given one (its called an award for a reason, after all).

I wonder how much the SpikeTV Video Game Awards cost to enter…? Or The Grammys. Or The Junos. Or The Oscars. The list goes on, but I imagine the result is the same… no matter what you invest into entering, you at least come out with something much better than these two are providing.

Recently, there was a video game tournament held in Vancouver called Vanlan. The ELANS reminds me more and more of that tournament every time I think about it. Even the people that run both events are the same. Take the money and run.

I know that our other customers have not seen what Jack most recently said to us in regards to them, but just the same I apologize for his statements. If it ever comes down to it, you all will of course come first, and he can take his illegal stock selling, email spamming, and bad attitude and find another host who will provide him with the space, bandwidth, and 4000+ outgoing messages per email spam blitz and find another host to take for a ride.

And, for your viewing pleasure, I give you my $150 custom coding payment:

Amongst the chaos of the past few weeks, we (Tami and I) were given a chance this week to escape for a few hours as we travelled South to Seattle to attend Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (henceforth to be referred to as PAX, because my typing sucks and 3 letters is harder to screw up than 19).
My overall impressions on PAX this year was somewhat of a letdown. Having attended last years event, where the panels included discussions on Penny Arcade’s debut game (which was set to come out on xBox Live) held by Hothead Games, a discussion on the History Of Guild Wars, The Future Of MMOs (which covered a lot of what Guild Wars 2 would be about), and ArenaNet Culture And Origins, I was left with a feeling that something good had happened… I had learned a lot about the gaming industry, and felt confident in it’s future.
This year… where do I start? The PAX staff were, for the most part, a letdown. While some managed to remain civil and polite (even funny in a few cases), the bad seeds ruined the entire event for me. Some of them were rude, obnoxious, and in one case, an outright bitch. “Line up here! No, you can’t line up here, you’re blocking the lane… line up there! NO! DON’T LINE UP WHERE I JUST TOLD YOU TO LINE UP, THERE ARE PEOPLE WALKING NEAR BY! GO THERE INSTEAD!!” Not to mention getting pissed at attendees for, gods forbid, sitting on the beanbag chairs where the staff had put them, only to be told that you can’t sit there, you need to move somewhere else. Hmm… it was fine last year, and I don’t really know why someone coming down an escalator would need a full 40 feet of lane space in order to be herded down the next escalator (there was actually a woman at the event who’s job was to yell at people that the down escalator was the only way down, so that was where you had to go… you know, unless you wanted to attend a panel, or get in line, or go to the OTHER down escalator on the other side of the center…). The general feeling of the panel discussions was that I was being herded like a sheep to slaughter. We had to go and sit exactly where we were told to, no exceptions… if your husband, wife, or partner was in front of you and got told to sit at the end of a chair lane, tough luck for you sitting with them… you’re in the lane behind them now, at the far end of the lane. Argue or question? Get kicked out of the panel discussion. Even the ArenaNet staff were rolling their eyes at the “Enforcers”.
The panel discussions themselves, as well as the booth occupiers, were the only saving grace for this years event. Even some of the people were a prime example of what is wrong with the World (although that is to be expected… rude staff is unacceptable). Attending the panel discussion “Female Gamer Community” this year with Tami, I found myself disgusted with what I was exposed to. Hold on, don’t read into that wrong. I am one of those types that supports girls in gaming, and believes that yep, they are quite capable of kicking the ass of anyone else that faces them in-game, irregardless of gender. What disgusted me was not what was being said on stage or in the general audience… it was what was being said at the back of the group by a few guys who felt it necessary to fall into a typical chauvinistic elitist asshole stereotype… commenting on who in the panel was, and was not “hot”, among other comments best left unpublished. Apparently there are even some on the PAX discussion forum commenting on how they had to get away from the panel quickly, lest they loose their testicles. Idiots like that are a good enough reason for me to not want to visit that community, thanks. I would think those guys would be more concerned with getting their asses kicked repeatedly in-game by these girls, since that is the threat they face. In regards to the actual Panel Discussion, I think I’ll leave Tami to write about that on her site… I unfortunately came into the discussion 15 minutes late due to my need for Tylenol and food).
The Guild Wars panel was umm… short. It was 90% a question/answer session, and didn’t touch GW2 very much due to the “secrecy” they are now operating under. While I focused on what was being said by the Panel, Tami was unfortunately forced to listen to some guy sitting on the sidelines (apparently another wonderfully trained Monkey brought on to be PAX staff) openly commenting on the responses and criticizing the panel as well as how they spoke. Nothing better to do with his time, other than bang on that keyboard hoping for Shakespeare, I guess. Chris (the Marketing Head) mentioned that they have entered into a 3 book deal for Guild Wars, which is set to focus firstly on what takes place immediately after GW1 (basically, the books are meant to fill the void of 250 years between GW1 and GW2). We got to hear a bit about the original concept art for GW (yep, every single thing we see in Guild Wars is started off as concept art), and how ArenaNet supports in-game Guild-hosted events and actually does follow them.
Wandering the floor, I was absolutely blown away by 1 game at the NCSoft booth. This game was phenomenal. Much like Guild Wars in the concept sense (although one of the staff did point out that this game is more story-driven than quest-driven), the graphics were amazing. Initial features of the game that jumped out was, of course, the graphics, but also the ability to customize your character completely. Every single facial and body detail was editable, allowing for you to finally create a full physical avatar of yourself for in game. Now, I must simply wait for release… which can’t happen until they decide HOW they plan to release it, and what sort of subscription system they plan to use, if any. So yeah, the game is amazing, but it could be a long time before we get to actually see it. What’s it called? Aion. Watch for it.
Overall, if not for the PAX staff and long lines for little fulfillment, PAX 2008 could count as a decent event. Unfortunately, those two things really ruined it for me.
And besides, why hold a panel discussion for Hothead Games (the developers of the Penny Arcade video game) 2 hours after all the exhibit booths have closed up and people have been told to get out? Where’s the logic in that?
I started this post by saying we were given the chance to escape. Unfortunately, the only escape we got on this trip was when we got out of Washington and back into our own Country.

On a side-note, I finally started to process some of the video that was shot while the Mendella crew were here visiting… with that, I give you a small sample… Mendella Invades the 2008 Abbotsford International Airshow.