If you’re like me and have failed to keep up with the Buffy Season Eight comics, neglected to buy the trade paperbacks, and know who Twilight is but still want to experience his unveiling, here’s your (third) chance: Buffy is now animated.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic is available on iTunes and Amazon, and a $15 ($30 for HD) season pass ensures you’ll never miss an issue/episode. Just like in the good old days, a new issuesode will come out every Tuesday. Part two of Joss Whedon’s initial arc, “The Long Way Home,” was released this week, and judging by the first two epissues, Buffy fans are in for a treat. Although not voiced by any of the TV actors, the audio adds a lot, and it’s fantastically animated.

Fans of Whedon’s work should check out the Astonishing X-Men: Gifted motion comic, also available on iTunes. As great as the comic book versions are, it’s nice to see them brought to life like one of those newfangled talkies.

• Today’s real people: Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb and Jeremy Parish.
• Community management is equal parts marketing and ombudsmanship, and it sounds equally fun and horrifying.
• Limbo is amaaaaaaaaazing and you should buuuuuuuuuuy it.
• Getting hit in the face with a free copy of Dragon Age thrown by Jeff Green hurts a little more when you don’t actually end up with that free copy of Dragon Age.
• Hydro Thunder hasn’t changed significantly in ten years.
• Hydrophobia is just a little too similar to Bioshock.
• Having $4,000 in prizes on the line will really fuck with some people’s Tetris skills.

The final day of PAX East was all about seeing/meeting cool people and seeing/playing cool games.

In the morning, I got autographs from Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm and I saw Wil Wheaton signing autographs.

Continue reading PAX East, Day 3: The games we play

The people at PAX are a friendly crew. Perhaps everyone took Wil Wheaton’s keynote advice of “Don’t be a dick” to heart. (Also being taken to heart by most so far: “For the love of God, shower. EVERY DAY.”) Perhaps it’s because we know we all share a common love of video games, making it easier to strike up conversations. All the people we’ve met have been fun and not your stereotypically nerdy gamer types. But that’s not to say there aren’t those guys. (And girls — I’d say the mix is about 70 percent guys, 30 percent girls; and they range from totally nerdy to clearly dragged here by their boyfriends/husbands.)

Continue reading PAX East, Day 2: PAX populi

• Also real people? N’Gai Croal, John Davison, Anthony Gallegos, Arthur Gies, Tyler Barber, Francisco “Kiko” Villasenor and Robert Khoo.
• Split/Second feels like Burnout, but heavier. It’s possible my demo controller was just worn out.
• I probably don’t need to waste my time on the forthcoming Skate 3 demo, or any other Skate game.
• Crackdown 2 has a “rocket tag” multiplayer mode that’s moderately fun. It didn’t look or feel much different than the first game.
• At least four people came down from Canada to attend PAX East. Two from Toronto, one from Ottawa and one from Montreal.
• Davison’s GamePro may not be long for this world. I think he said something about being hired to make sure it dies a dignified death, but I may not have heard him correctly.
• Your best friend at PAX is your handheld. If you don’t have something to do while you’re waiting in line, the whole experience is significantly less pleasant. ‘Cause there’s a lot of waiting in line.
• It’s not that there’s so much to see, but that there’s so little time to see it.

• Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, Wil Wheaton, Jeff Green and Ryan Scott are actual, real people who breathe air and walk down hallways.
• Marketing is kind of bullshit, but working in Malt-O-Meal’s marketing department will sometimes get you sent to PAX, and that is awesome.
• It’s surprisingly easy to get mistaken for press. Real press, that is. Gig Matrix doesn’t count.
• There’s not going to be a third episode of Penny Arcade Adventures.
• I probably won’t need to buy Monday Night Combat.
• There’s a board game called War On Terror. It was banned in the UK.
• No one thought Jacob was a compelling love interest in Mass Effect 2.
• I don’t much like caraway seeds.

Reuben and I began our foray into PAX East with a lot of waiting. We spent a little more than two hours sitting around before the convention doors opened.

Continue reading PAX East, Day 1: Boston invasion

Well, not my hands, but Leona Lewis’ hands are all over Final Fantasy XIII, which is out Tuesday. Her hands are prettier anyway. “My Hands,” from Lewis’ latest album Echo, is the theme song to FFXIII, so you can be sure the long-awaited RPG will feature some sappy love story between some pointy-haired, zipper-bedecked, wide-eyed protagonists. And judging by watching her awkwardly play the game, you can bet Leona Lewis will never beat the game. But she could just run around the world all day!

Lewis isn’t the first pop starlet to pimp video games she has clearly never played, as Nintendo tapped Beyonce and Carrie Underwood to promote the DS. It’s just too bad they didn’t come up with theme songs for any of the games. If you like Rhythm Heaven then you shoulda put a ring on it. Am I right, ladies?

… and to all a Christmas Nights!

Given that Captain Lou Albano was not just a wrestler but, more importantly, the live-action Mario on TV, it seems only fitting that Gig Matrix take note of his passing … by getting “hooked on the brothers”: