Derek Kraneveldt | Geekscape

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 174 – “This Is Probably Our Last Episode Because Stardew Valley Is On Phones Now”

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 17, 2018

Join Derek and Jake as they discuss the last week in video games!

THIS WEEK:

Jake’s into Spider-Man and Derek still won’t shut up about Spider-Man. Derek talks Elder Scrolls Legends bugs and annoyances. Stardew Valley is coming to phones and the world is going to end. Metal Gear Solid 2/3 hit Xbox One and Jake says V isn’t worth finishing. Red Dead Redemption 2 is huge Geebee wise.

All this and more ONLY! on the Geekscape Games Podcast!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/174-this-is-probably-our-last-episode-because-stardew-valley-is-on-phones-now/s-PMxfC

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 173 – “Apparently We Can Only Manage Two Hosts These Days”

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 14, 2018

Join Derek, Josh and Josh’s Smoke Detector as they discuss the last week in video games!

THIS WEEK:

The boys are banging with Bang Dream. Telltale is still falling apart. Overwatch Halloween costumes are ready to go. Project xCloud brings your Xbox games anywhere.

Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/level-173-apparently-we-can-only-manage-two-hosts-these-days

Geekscape Games Podcast: Bonus Stage – PAX 2018 Developer Interviews (Finally)

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 1, 2018

It’s finally here!

We know that it took way too long (and we’re not proud of it), but we ran into some (many) audio issues and day jobs and stuff. This was really our first time managing live audio, so apologies in advance for the worse than usual audio quality – we already have plans in place to make things sound way better next time around!

In any case, this episode is nearly TWO HOURS of PAX developer interviews. Learn all about a ton of neat looking games that you’ve never heard of (but should be on the lookout for).

A big thanks for Shane O’Hare for making the audio somewhat audible!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/bonus-stage-pax-2018-developer-interviews

Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 171 – “Just What The Doctor Ordered”

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 19, 2018

Join Derek and Shane as they discuss this week in video games!

THIS WEEK:

We talk all about the Nintendo Direct (for way, way too long), wax poetic on nostalgic childhood moments, discuss how lacking the United States Dental System is, and why on earth would we pay more for Final Fantasy XV Pocket?

Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/level-171-just-what-the-doctor-ordered

Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

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PAX West 2018: Valve’s Upcoming ‘Artifact’ Made Me Feel Like A Kid Again

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 8, 2018

I entered PAX West 2018 incredibly excited to demo an upcoming Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield-designed card game.

Keyforge: Call of the Archons is an upcoming physical card game from Fantasy Flight Games that does away with booster packs and deckbuilding, instead relying on the principle that every single pre-built deck for the game is unique (they actually note more than 104,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible decks). This mechanic still feels impossible to me, but as the last time I played Magic: The Gathering a few years back it largely felt like a game of “I spent more money than you, so I win,” I’m incredibly excited to experience the no secondary market necessary, unwrap and figure things out world of Keyforge.

The other Richard Garfield designed game at PAX (how can this guy have two totally different unreleased card games on display at the same show?), Valve’s Artifact was not even on my radar.

After spending nearly 90 minutes with the game this past Monday, you can bet that it’s on my radar now.

Artifact had possibly the largest booth of the entire convention. Huge, high resolution displays floated above the crowd (and the never-ending line for the booth), showcasing some of the exciting action happening across the dozens and dozens (and dozens) of desktops set up in the Artifact area. As I walked the show floor looking for new games to play, the flashing giganticism of Valve’s booth continued to catch my eye – sometimes I’d find myself stopping for minutes at a time, staring at cards and at plays and at mechanics that I simply did not understand.

By day two of PAX I’d decided that I needed to experience Artifact for myself. This proved tougher than anticipated, as based on the threads in the r/PAX subreddit, people had been lining up for the game as early as 6AM, and would spend hours and hours in line without making much progress at all. The line was apparently being capped for the entire day early in the afternoon. These lines were understandable based on the massive following for Valve’s own DOTA, which the cards and characters of Artifact are based on, and because PAX West was set to be the very first place where Artifact would be playable to the public. I wouldn’t find out until much later, but I imagine part of that line was also because of the insane swag that Valve was giving away to those that waited in line for play the title.

Eventually, after watching and watching and not quite understanding, I approached an Artifact staff member and asked for them to explain some of the basic mechanics. I’ve played a lot of trading or collectible card games in my years – I was in elementary school and obsessed with the Pokémon Trading card games for several years after it came out (though I had a NeoGeo Pocket Color instead of Game Boy, so I wouldn’t play a Pokémon video game until much later); I also retired in my (albeit small) town undefeated in Yu-Gi-Oh, my final exhibition coming down to an eleventh hour win that had my opponent throwing his discard pile across the room in frustration; I played Magic: The Gathering casually for years; and have also dabbled in the likes of Hearthstone and The Elder Scrolls: Legends among others. The super-friendly Artifact employee explained just some of the ways that Artifact is different, in some ways simpler than typical card games, and in some ways much, much more complicated.

Artifact is in many ways simpler in that you’re not typically managing as many things as a typical card game. There’s no land or energy cards here – your mana simply refreshes in full and grows by one each round. You can have as many cards in your hand as you want, and never need to worry about discarding down to a certain hand size. There’s also no limit to how many cards you can have in play at one time (the board often gets pretty full) or how many cards you can play in a single turn – play will pass between you and your opponent until you both pass without playing a card, and you can continue to play cards as long as you have the mana to do so. This stuff is pretty easy to follow, and not needing to manage or worry about things like a hand getting too large means that you can take your time and slowly build up to some pretty insane combos – during my time with the game I found that I would often hold cards for some time as Artifact lets you play cards when the timing is right, rather than forcing you to play things just because.

Artifact is also very different in that at all times it’s kind of like you’re in three games at once. Each game of Artifact is played across three ‘lanes’, each of which basically being its own match (though certain cards and effects can trigger actions or damage in other lanes or across the entire board, for instance). Your goal in each lane is to destroy your opponent’s ‘Tower’, which can take 40 points of damage. Destroy two towers across any lane (or the same tower twice, though after a tower is destroyed it regenerates with twice as much health) and you win the game.

Each Artifact deck has 40 cards, and will contain five heroes of four different card colors (red, green, black, or blue) – most of the cards that you’ll play are associated with a color too, but you can only play a card in a lane if you have a hero of a corresponding color in that lane as well. This means that destroying your opponent’s heroes becomes a major factor of the game as well, as destroying the last hero in a lane will (at least temporarily) significantly limit what your opponent can do there. Heroes also have equipment slots, allowing you to equip a weapon, some armor, and an accessory, all of which can add effects to the hero, or increase its health or attack power. Heroes die, of course, but after a time will respawn randomly in another lane, complete with any equipment that they had when they were previously destroyed.

As I mentioned above, you and your opponent will take turns playing cards in a lane until you both choose not to (or can’t because mana). Your heroes and creatures will then attack each other (typically straight ahead, but there’s also a 25% chance that an opponent’s card will ‘pull aggro’ and draw attacks towards it as well, which can really screw things up. If a card isn’t blocked by an opposing creature, that card’s attack power will be deducted from the opposing tower’s hit points. Some cards also have abilities that can pass remaining damage to a tower after being blocked by a creature (think Trample in Magic: The Gathering), or a myriad of other effects that can cause damage, help you ramp your mana faster, and the like.

Destroying enemy creatures earns you gold which you’ll spend between rounds on equipment like weapons, consumables like potions, or even a ‘secret shop’ which often has very expensive, but very powerful, random equipment up for grabs. The ‘Shopping Phase’ is actually a huge factor in the game that I didn’t see as overly important at first, but became a game-changer once I’d actually begun to embrace it.

I think that describing Artifact makes the game sound markedly more complicated and harder to understand than it actually is – it truly feels like one of those “minutes to learn, forever to master” type of titles, and this was made clear when I finally sat down to play the game (the Artifact employee that I’d initially spoken to noticed my badge, and passed me to another employee who set me up with a specific time to demo the game, and I’m so freaking thankful for this). The setup here was pretty cool – the decks you’d play with were pre-built, and you’d have an employee with you to guide you through your first match against an AI opponent. Once you beat the AI, the game went into a matchmaking mode that would pair you with another player at PAX. If you lost, you were done, but if you won, you’d move on to the next round. Once you beat five opponents you’d go to another on-stage area where you’d compete more competitively to win some cool prizes.

My employee, who reminded me of a younger Clark Duke spent my first match over my shoulder telling me which moves to make and sharing some of the game’s basic controls. Certain things were explained more thoroughly than others, and while we made fairly short order of the AI opponent, going into my human vs. human match I felt as though I had absolutely 0 clue what I was doing. My employee left me (though he’d check on my periodically for the remainder of my Artifact playtime) and I legitimately wondered just how quickly I’d fail my first real match.

My opponent absolutely murdered me… for awhile. At this point, mechanics didn’t feel super clear to me, I didn’t take advantage of the shop phase, and I simply made many poor decisions in terms of card usage and placement. Each time my tower was hit or my creature was lost, however, I learned something. Eventually things began to click, I began to defend more efficiently, and then I began a goosebump-inducing comeback that elicited feelings that I haven’t felt towards a card game since my very first Friday Night Magic. I won my first match by one turn, and following the appalling way that I began the game, I wish that I could have seen my opponents face the moment that the ‘Loss’ screen popped up on their display.

I moved on to another match, surprisingly with a new deck built of colors that I’d not played yet. Rather than the mana-ramping that I’d experienced with my predominantly green deck previously, this deck felt predominantly red, and was filled with cards that would buff up my heroes (sometimes just temporarily), and cards that would do instant damage to my opponents creatures. This second match was neck and neck for its entirety, with my opponent taking out my second tower just a single turn before I’d be able to do the same to them. I lost, but I had a smile on my face the entire freaking time that I was doing it.

I stood up just as the employee that’d set me up came back over (I’d seen him just a few minutes before when the match was moving in my favour, and he’d seemed pretty excited that I was doing so well). He asked me what I thought of my time with the game and gave me a handshake before pointing me towards the swag / exit area. To this point I’d seen plenty of people walking around PAX with cool looking Artifact-branded reusable bags, but holy crap were there some amazing goodies inside. Anyone who’d waited in line for the game, after first getting a chance to play the game at its first public appearance, would receive two autographed, high quality art prints of the game’s characters (I’m still not even sure who these characters are but I can’t wait to frame them), and a branded bag that included a wonderfully soft t-shirt, an exclusive set of pins, a lanyard, and two copies of the game itself (the game won’t fully launch until November, but the provided codes also include beta access). This seems like an incredibly valuable package to give away to fans, and for those that waited hours upon hours in line, it must feel like a neat “thank you,” from the Artifact team.

I still have a number of questions about the game – like just how the game’s store, trading, and deck sharing systems will work – the $20 base game includes 10 booster packs and two pre-made decks with additional booster packs being a fair $2 a pop; players will also have the ability to sell or trade unneeded or unwanted cards; and Valve has also mentioned that they’re exploring the ability to ‘share’ decks with friends, just like players often do when casually playing physical card games. The game’s mechanics feel super solid, but I think that it’s systems like these that will make or break a digital card game without any free-to-play component for many players. Valve has also noted that they’re developing systems to see the game from becoming pay-to-win, and from Gabe Newell’s Artifact press conference from a few months back (see the full shaky video below) there are already big plans for Artifact from an eSports perspective.

Artifact simply made me feel like a kid again. It’s been a long, long time since a card game (physically or digitally) has had my heart racing, but drawing and playing just the right card at just the right time in Artifact did just that multiple times. I played a lot of phenomenal games at PAX this year, but in my many, many gaming conversations since the expo ended, Artifact is the game that keeps coming up again and again. Artifact was my #1 game of PAX West.

I freaking loved my time with Artifact, and I simply cannot wait to jump back into this world. Artifact launches on Windows, MacOS, and Linux on November 28th (with iOS and Android versions coming next year) for $20.

PAX West 2018: Bloober Team’s ‘Observer’ Brings Cyberpunk Horror To Nintendo Switch

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 7, 2018

I have no idea how Observer slipped under my radar for so long.

The game launched on PS4, Xbox One, PC, MacOS, and Linux last year, and I’d honestly never heard of it until an invitation to demo the just-announced Switch version of the game landed in my inbox just prior to PAX.

Observer is a beautiful first-person cyberpunk horror title that simply oozes atmosphere. In the game, you’ll play as Dan Lazarski (voiced by Rutger Hauer himself), “an elite neural detective known as an Observer, and part of a corporate-funded police unit whose purpose is to hack and invade suspects’ minds. In this future, anything you think, feel, or remember can be used against you in a court of law.” The game is set in 2084 after a deadly pandemic called the Nanophage, and a massive war following that. Basically, everything (everything) is horrible, and in this future society will do whatever it can to escape from itself, from drugs, to VR, to neural implants, and more.

As I began the demo, a Bloober team employee filled me in on just where I was in the game’s story. I’d received a call from my estranged son, asking for me to come to a giant apartment building (think a smaller version of one of Dredd‘s megacities) as he was in some sort of trouble. You arrive, the building is locked down, there are dead and dying people everywhere, and it’s up to you to piece things together.

I take control of Lazarski and quickly begin soaking in my surroundings. I’m playing Observer on a Nintendo Switch in docked mode with separated Joy-Cons, and it’s immediately striking to me just how good this game looks. There are many, many beautiful Switch titles, but typically when I think of the console’s best looking games I think of things like Mario or Zelda or some insanely beautiful side-scrolling indie title – games that are undoubtedly breathtaking, but that use clever, often simpler artstyles as to not draw attention to the platform’s lack of power. In Observer, while certain items or objects in the environment can look a little low resolution, the dark, realistic looking title awed me with its use of particles, smooth performance, and uncomfortably claustrophobic atmosphere. I walked through the halls of the apartment building slowly, not because I was scared, but because I wanted to take in as much of this surprising, amazing world as I possibly could. Well, and because I was a little scared.

I came across a dying man, who either refuses or simply can’t tell me what’s going on or what happened to him. Lazarski says something along the lines of “Don’t worry, I have other ways to find out what’s happening here,” as he takes out a cable and literally plugs himself into the dying man. I mutter a “Holy shit,” under my breath because this game is fucking awesome.

Lazarski, being the neural detective that he is, has the ability to ‘mindjack’ into various characters throughout the game. In the demo, mindjacking the fallen apartment dweller took me back into the character’s memories, helping me learn that he wasn’t a great person (though in this timeline, I’d imagine that there aren’t many of those around), and showing me a little of how things in the building began to fall apart. I’m not sure if it was because of the dying character in front of me, or just the limitations of the mindjacking technology, but things here were ‘glitchy’ as hell, and this led to some of the demo’s freakiest moments. Objects in the environment would suddenly have a ‘snowy’ overlay (think an old TV when tuned to a channel that doesn’t exist) or disappear entirely, suddenly Lazarski would teleport to a completely different location, or a pathway would go on seemingly forever until I turned around to reveal a new location entirely. When mindjacking, the game feels ‘unstable’, and the effect of not knowing what’s real, what’s not, and just when everything in front of you may change without warning is oddly unsettling. A section of the demo also had me stuck in a ‘loop’ – the hallway I was in would reset whenever I went through to the next room, and I eventually figured out that the televisions in the area would show me the next, correct door that I needed to walk through in order to continue. The game’s official website notes that ” As you hack into the unstable minds of criminals and victims to look for clues, you will relive their darkest fears, forcing you to question your own reality — and your sanity,” I can’t even imagine what I’d be in for if the demo continued beyond where it did.

The Switch version of the game isn’t just a straight port either, as Bloober Team notes that they’ve also taken advantage of some of the console’s unique properties. In the demo, I could open and close doors with just the flick of a Joy-Con, and I was also told that the Switch version is being developed with HD Rumble in mind. When playing in portable mode, you’ll also be able to use the console’s touchscreen to help some some of the game’s puzzles.

Overall, I was super impressed with what I saw of Observer on Nintendo Switch. The Switch Version of the game is currently in active development, and while I’ll be excited to see this version of the game when it releases, Observer was simply so cool and so fresh that there’s no way that I can wait that long.

Observer is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, MacOS, and Linux. For expanded thoughts, be sure to listen to they PAX West Day 2 episode of Geekscape Games (here). I also had an opportunity to interview a Bloober Team member about the game and the development of the Switch version, so be sure to look for that on the Geekscape Games feed in the coming days.

PAX West 2018: I Can’t Wait To Abandon My Friends In ‘The Blackout Club’

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 4, 2018

PAX West was filled with so many incredible, unforgettable games, coming from giant AAA developers with singular booths that were visible from across the show floor, to a dude and his wife showing off their wacky, unique cooperative game from a single corner table.

I played so many titles, and wrote down so many more that I simply cannot wait to check out (I’m allergic to cats, but Meow Wars looked hilarious, for one), but one of the most memorable, unique experiences that I had this year was playing (and observing) the co-operative magic that was The Blackout Club, from Question Games.

Question Games is a tiny developer with some not-so-tiny talent. The company was founded a few years back by Bioshock series veterans Stephen Alexander and Jordan Thomas and has since grown to six developers. The company released their first game, The Magic Circle, a hilarious-sounding dark comedy about game development, back in 2015, and earlier this year announced the multiplayer, tense, atmospheric The Blackout Club.

Mikaela and I had an opportunity to chat with company cofounder Stephen Alexander, which will be released in audio form on the Geekscape Games feed in the coming days (I also gushed about the game during our Day 3 coverage of PAX here), but I simply couldn’t wait to share how excited I am for this game.

Here’s the synopsis to get you started:

The game feels realistic in that the kids (you and your group play as 14-17 year olds) are observant, know that something seriously wrong is happening in town, and the adults just don’t believe them. For some reason the town is an internet dead zone, so the kids make a plan to capture undeniable evidence, commandeer a vehicle, and bring it somewhere they can share it with the world.

Prior to jumping into the game’s multiplayer, I had an opportunity to play through a short single player introduction / tutorial that introduced you to the world, and the unseen, horrific creature that lives within it. The game launches in 2019 and is currently testing in beta, but artistically the game already looks and feels extremely stylized and impressive. The introduction had my character at home awaiting their parents return, and as I explored the house, the game’s impressive lighting system, and the detail put into often throwaway objects like furniture or even the texture of the spackling on the wall became immediately obvious.

In the introduction, the sun begins to set and then things begin to get weird. Objects flash and words show up where they weren’t before, and shortly thereafter it’s time to find a place to hide from ‘The Shape’, a physical creature that you can only see when your eyes are closed. Yep, the controller has a dedicated, easy to reach button that exists only to close your character’s eyes, because The Shape is a huge (and hugely unsettling) part of The Blackout Club. More on that later.

Once introduced to the world and some basic mechanics, I spent some time observing multiplayer matches before joining one of my own. In the world of The Blackout Club, the adults not only don’t believe you that something is wrong with the town, they also literally become your enemy after the sun sets. Once they go to sleep, the adults become ‘Sleepers’, enemies that can’t see (except in certain cases), but can hear very well (be conscious of where you’re walking, as different ground materials make different amounts of sounds), and basically exist to try to take you down, and once weak enough, drag you to where The Shape can get you.

This mechanic is super interesting to me, and almost gives certain elements of the game an I Am Legend feel. Some of these enemies are literally your parents, or your neighbours – people that you wave to as you walk by, people whose BBQ’s you’d attend in the Summertime. You don’t want to hurt them, and you absolutely can’t kill them. Stealth and avoidance are your best weapons, but you’ll also don items meant to distract, like firecrackers, which when thrown will attract Sleepers to wherever they land, or tranquilizer darts (which I’m not sure how these kids are finding) which will put a sleeper to… sleep, meaning one less enemy to worry about. A friend can also pin a Sleeper down in order to allow others to escape, but that same Sleeper will get up just a few seconds after being let go. Before rolling out on a mission, each player can also choose a ‘hero’ item, like a grappling hook to make climbing easier, a crossbow to shoot tranquilizer darts from afar, or a taser to easily incapacitate a Sleeper who may grab them.

In the PAX demo, players saw one section of the neighbourhood (where the missions happen), which is a set locale that has procedurally generated elements like enemy or consumables, or even open gates, garages, or windows. The demo gave two objectives, which were also procedurally generated, but from what I saw/played consisted of either collecting evidence or cleaning up after a previous botched mission, and then heading into the spooky underground mazes (think the sewers in Derry from IT) to find a missing member of the club.

In the matches that I saw, things seemed to go decently well. Most of the people in the room didn’t know each other, and started off a little uncomfortable, but it became pretty clear pretty early that things would be rough unless they communicated. People snuck around, revealing positions of Sleepers or which house the group needed to enter, or keeping watch while someone closed their eyes to locate The Shape, which is attracted to mischief or sin, or the player who was causing the most ruckus. If the shape gets you, you become an AI controlled Sleeper yourself. Other players can go up to you to snap you out of it, but if you’re put under three times, it’s game over for you, and the mission is failed if all players are put under at the same time. You also probably don’t want to stray too far from your group for a couple of reasons – if something finds you, you’re pretty much screwed if you’re alone, and if the group stays together you get a ‘circle of friendship’ buff which makes your stamina regenerate faster. Stamina, which is used for things like sprinting and climbing, is pretty important, so the more of it you can retain, the easier a time you’ll have. Both groups I watched mostly stayed together, and one group even made it through the missions with all of its members still awake.

The game gets very tense very quickly, and one thing that was hilarious and terrifying is just how much teamwork goes out the window when the players are surprised by The Shape, or overrun with Sleepers. In both missions that I watched, The Shape didn’t seem to pop up until about halfway through – during one session, nobody knew until one player screamed out “HOLY SHIT THE SHAPE IS FUCKING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME EVERYBODY RUN.” As instructed, everyone ran, loudly and in different directions, and in a Live together, Die alone moment, once everyone was split up The Shape made fairly easy work picking players off. It seemed to disappear for a time before popping up at another opportune moment, and because teamwork had been all but abandoned by that point, it wasn’t too long before each player had been put to sleep.

Both missions that I observed were about 20-30 minutes long, and when I finally sat down to try the multiplayer mode (as opposed to the single player introduction that I’d played earlier) things went much, much worse. My team did not accept my attempts to communicate, was totally silent the entire match, and things ended about seven minutes after we’d started as The Shape already had us all (and probably caused each of us to nearly jump out of our seats more than once). It was an embarrassing attempt, and I’m pretty sure I saw the employee explaining the demo chuckling at our deserved misfortune.

Of course, through multiplayer you’ll be able to customize your kid (there were a bunch of clothing and colour options, even in this early demo), and missions will give you experience that you’ll be able to use to make your kid better at stuff like cardio and technology (a certain perk tree gives you access to things like drones, meaning you can scope out an area from afar), among other things. Perks are in the form of a card system, and you can swap out your load before attempting each mission.

I was so, so into The Blackout Club. The game looks beautiful, and the world feels as though there are so many interesting stories that could be told here. It feels like a crazy mix of Left 4 Dead and Stranger Things and IT and I Am Legend (novella) all in one, and I simply can’t wait to learn more about The Shape and the mythos of the world, while probably failing miserably and having fun (and being terrified) doing it.

The Blackout Club is one to watch, and it releases in 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 169 – PAX West Day 3

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 3, 2018

Courtney, Mikaela, Derek, and Jake break down what they saw and played during the third day of PAX West!

THIS EPISODE:

Mikaela pretends to be a bee (and makes everyone cry). Derek goes crazy over horror titles Observer, The Padre, and The Blackout Club, Jake talks about Pizza Titan and compares it to Crazy Taxi, while Courtney digs deep into Felix The Reaper and the Xbox Adaptive controller.

The group chats about these games, topics, and more:

Bee Simulator
Party Golf
Party Crashers
Observer Switch
The Padre
Felix The Reaper
Able Gamers
Xbox Adaptive Controller
Pizza Titan
The Blackout Club
Balanced Media Technologies
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry
Broadcaster Royale

ONLY! On the Geekscape Games Podcast!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/169-pax-west-2018-day-3

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

Outro – The Offspring – All I Want

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PAX West 2018: Bethesda Gameplay Days Was #AlmostHeaven

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 2, 2018

Yeah… the Copilot Music + Sound rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads from the Fallout 76 trailer is still stuck in my head.

https://youtu.be/FRPeYP6gS-s

The song opens with the line ‘Almost heaven,’ which is exactly what Bethesda Gameplay Days just a few blocks away from PAX West 2018 felt like.

If you’ve been listening to Geekscape Games for any amount of time, I’m regularly gushing about one Bethesda release or another (Prey remains one of, if not my favourite games of 2017, and I truly believe it to be an overlooked gem), so putting a bunch of new Bethesda releases under one roof, giving attendees Vault-Tec party hats and noise makers, and offering up Bethesda game themed adult beverages (and bottles of Nuka Cola Quantum for the kiddies… and for me) made Bethesda Gameplay Days my #1 must attend event of PAX Weekend. The company was showing off a ton of stuff, including Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online: Murkmire, Quake Champions, Prey: Mooncrash, and The Elder Scrolls: Legends.

Apparently the event was must attend for a lot of people, as before long the lineup stretched all the way down an alleyway and around the next block. The Hard Rock Cafe that the event was hosted in was big, but not huge, so these fans must have been truly dedicated – I simply can’t imaging that the alley smelled very good, and I absolutely can’t imagine that the line went very quickly.

Jake, Courtney, Mikaela, and I were among the first people inside (a huge thanks to one of the community managers who put us on the VIP list), so I immediately grabbed a Fallout 76 themed Quantum Quocktail (a neon-blue, sweet as hell drink that was super freaking delicious), and then saw a giant Vault Boy approaching the tricentennial photo booth. Each of us were handed a cool (and creepy) Vault Boy mask, a Vault-Tec noisemaker, and a Vault-Tec party hat, and then we were able to pose with the Vault Boy in a cool GIF-oriented photo opportunity. It was super cool.

We collected our soft and subtle Gameplay Days t-shirts, and then Jake and Courtney decided to sit down for a bit (and then Jake immediately changed his mind when he saw an empty seat at the Rage 2 demo – listen to his thoughts on this episode of Geekscape Games), while Mikaela, who hadn’t eaten anything yet the entire day understandably wanted to check out the food situation… so I ditched them all and ran up to the rooftop bar to play The Elder Scrolls: Blades before there was much of a wait. Turns out that there was no wait, and I immediately sat down and jumped into the demo.

The demo (which was the same build offered at E3 where the game was announced) gives you an example of two ‘dungeon’ sections of the game, but of course the staff was quick to note that this was just a tiny snippet, and that you could expect to see so much more in the full game. I played through a forest section, and a traditional dungeon area, and regardless of the setting it’s clear that this game is freaking gorgeous. I’ve played some great-looking mobile games before, but the graphics in The Elder Scrolls: Blades felt like they were on another level. Amazing light streaming in through windows, particle effects in the air, detail on the weapons. It looked unreal. Hell, I wish that Skyrim (vanilla) could looks closer to Blades.

The controls were unreal. Bethesda noted that they built the game with gamers of all skill levels in mind, so to move you can either simply tap where you want your character to go, or you can use traditional first person two virtual analog stick controls. Both felt great, and you can switch back and forth between them at any point, without actually doing anything. Multiple points throughout the demo I went to take a sip of my drink, and naturally started just tapping on where I wanted my character to go instead of using the two analog sticks that I had just been using. Combat is just as fluid – you’ll hold either side of the screen, and let go at the appropriate time, to use your sword attack. Alternating between holding the left or the right side of the screen with build up combos for additional damage, and there are several magic options and a block button on the bottom. You can also, again at any point, switch orientation of the device to portrait. The controls will reorient automatically, and it’s just as freaking comfortable to play this way with one hand. This looked cool in Bethesda’s initial E3 demo for the game, but being able to actually try it solidified my need for this game to release as soon as possible. I’m naturally still very curious about the town mechanics, or the story for the game itself, but mechanic, gameplay, presentation, and control wise, it still feels crazy to me that this is playing on a freaking cell phone. You can hear me gush about the game even more on this episode of Geekscape Games.

Following the demo, I grabbed some food (super tasty buffet style, including salads, dips, vegetables, sliders, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken wings, the best strudels that I’ve ever tasted in my entire life, and much more), and then decided to head back downstairs to meet up with the others.

I had so much fun here. It was cool and casual – we were able to just sit in our booth to eat, drink, and chat, and would go off at random times to check out another game peek at one of the panels on the second floor. There were a ton of giveaways over the two days as well, including themed consoles, tables, a Blades themed iPhone X, and more.

A cool souvenir opportunity that I’d never actually seen anything like before was a custom penny press for Fallout 76. You put in three quarters and one penny, and could choose from four designs – after cranking a ton the penny was pressed into whatever design you chose (which apparently was harder to line up than anticipated, as more than one person in our group ended up doubling up). I, of course, needed a set of all four designs, and we also grabbed an extra set to give away on a future podcast, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Also, I thought that it was pretty cool that all of the proceeds from the penny press were donated to Habitat For Humanity.

We all had a blast at Bethesda Gameplay Days. It was unreal to jump into this cool, casual environment, be able to catch up with Jake and Courtney (I feel like this was the first real quality time I’d been able to spend with the group, as Friday I felt like death and we all instantly split up when we arrived at PAX), have a few drinks and some good food, and be surrounded by some fantastic games from my favourite publisher. My hype for The Elder Scrolls: Blades has skyrocketed even higher, I’ve now pre-ordered Rage 2, and I walked away with some neat, original feeling swag, and one of the ever elusive photos where I look genuinely happy.

A huge thanks to Bethesda for hosting the Geekscape team at Bethesda Gameplay Days – our experience was truly #AlmostHeaven.

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 168 – PAX West Day 2

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 2, 2018

Courtney, Mikaela, Derek, and Jake break down what they saw and played during the second day of PAX West!

THIS EPISODE:

Derek was in awe of Bless Unleashed, Courtney died of Dysentery (or at least learned about it), Mikaela fell in love with Damnview: Built From Nothing, while Jake fought Nazis in Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics. Plus, we all had a blast at Bethesda Gameplay Days.

The group chats about these games, topics, and more:

Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics
You Have Dysentery – Meaningful Gaming in Education
Bless Unleashed
Damnview: Built From Nothing
Makeup Talk Forever
Bethesda Gameplay Days
Rage 2
The Elder Scrolls: Blades
Cantankerous Cats
Chessex
Gris

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/168-pax-west-2018-day-2

ONLY! On the Geekscape Games Podcast!

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

Outro – Everything Is Going To Be Okay

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 167 – PAX West Day 1

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 31, 2018

Courtney, Mikaela, Derek, and Jake break down what they saw and played during the first day of PAX West!

THIS EPISODE:

Derek is sick, but LOVES With Friends Like These. Jake plays Ace Combat and won’t let Courtney talk. Mikaela plays some AMAZING VR on Oculus Rift and gets FOMO because there are so many games at PAX West!

The group chats about these games and more:

The Gardens Between
Soundfall
Stormland
Battletech Panel
Marvel Battle Lines
Driftland
Aground
With Friends Like These
Fortnite Offsite

We’ll be posting two addition PAX West episodes while we’re here, so stay tuned tomorrow night, and Monday!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/167-pax-west-2018-day-1

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

Outro – The Safety Dance

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PAX West 2018: ‘With Friends Like These’ Is Weird, Adorable, and Super Cooperative

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 31, 2018

I’ve just barely begun to walk the expansive show floor at this year’s PAX West (my first time at the expo, aside from that time I borrowed a badge for like 30 minutes), and it’s freaking tough not to be immediately overwhelmed.

There are incredible, unreleased games everywhere. As far as the eye can see, in absolutely any direction, you’ll see a myriad of titles that you’ve never heard of that look like the coolest things that have ever existed in your entire freaking life.

Seriously, this place is amazing, and I’m so excited to peruse the floor, to play more games, and to buy buy buy buy buy (or pre-order).

But today, I fell in love with a beautiful, simple, weird co-op game called With Friends Like These.

The game comes from Shy Kids Club (which I accidentally labelled as simply Shy Kids Games in my still to come audio interview, so apologies for that), the husband and wife duo of Nicole Lawson and Craig Brown from Canberra, Australia. With Friends Like These is set to be their first retail release after finding some success with game jams in the past, and I think that it’s pretty clear that they’ve come across something special with the mechanics at work here.

See, With Friends Like These is a co-op title (there is also single player, so if you’re all alone, don’t worry) where two players control parts of the same ship. One player can move the ship, while the other controls the ship’s single gun. It sounds really simple, but can get complicated really quickly, as who is doing what changes depending on whether the ship is in the air, or in the water.

To start, it’s pretty hard to get used to. In many instances I had just been controlling the ship, and it took way too freaking long for me to figure out that this was no longer the case. As time goes on, however, your brain gets used to it, and you begin to better anticipate and prepare for just when these switches will happen. The game does a phenomenal job of forcing verbal communication between you and your gaming partner, as timing is crucial – near the end of our demo, a giant, angry monster was chasing us and frequently shooting different coloured projectiles (one player is blue, one is pink, and each can only destroy enemies or projectiles of their respective colour), we had to time just when our controls would switch (again, the players have no control over this, it happens automatically when you switch between moving through water and air) so that we could keep our momentum, and so that the player who would become the gun could immediately shoot the already incoming projectiles.

I just made it sound way more complicated than it is. As I said, after a few minutes of play, you’ll get used to the mechanics, and it becomes all about timing, teamwork, and communication, and it’s so much fun.

Naturally, it’s beautiful too. Nicole does all of the gorgeous art for the title, and Craig says that she’s pretty weird, so, for instance, in an area that needed a gate, she added a slug that was vomiting rainbows instead. Even during the short demo, there were a lot of interesting, hilarious moments that you could easily miss if you weren’t paying attention.

Also, that story tho. Here’s the synopsis:

Yeah. I love it (and you can hear me gushing over it on today’s Geekscape Games episode).

With Friends Like These will launch in 2019 for PC and Switch. Take a look at the trailer below, and be sure to let us know what you think! Look for my audio interview with Craig on Geekscape Games later this week!

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 166 – New Challenger Approaching!

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 29, 2018

Join Derek and NEW CHALLENGER Jake as they break down this week in gaming.

THIS WEEK:

Derek is still addicted to Graveyard Keeper and won’t shut up about it. Jake soft-mods his PS3 and it sounds cool and easy. The pair gushes over new Cyberpunk 2077 screenshots and talks about what they’re most excited to see at PAX West.

All this, and much more ONLY! On the Geekscape Games Podcast.

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/166-new-challenger-approaching

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

Outro – Time to put away Fortnite – The Holderness Family

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 165 – “Apparently This Show Is Just About Makeup Now”

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 22, 2018

Join Mikaela, Josh, Courtney, and Derek as they break down this week in video games!

THIS WEEK:

Courtney is DEAD wrong about Sea of Thieves and Derek is still offended about it. Josh plays creepy sounding games that are really just about anime music. Derek finally buys Monster Hunter World… and doesn’t like it. Mikaela finds tennis confusing and is about to break down and play Graveyard Keeper. All this and more, ONLY on the Geekscape Games Podcast!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/165-apparently-this-show-is-just-about-makeup-now

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 164 – “Courtney Please Watch IT With Me”

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 15, 2018

Join Derek and Courtney as they break down this week in video games!

THIS WEEK:

Derek dishes (for way too long) on all of the Fallout 76 news out of QuakeCon, Courtney thinks Skyrim on Switch is too dark. Derek tries to get Courtney to agree to watch IT, while Courtney has already used a lot of sick days at work – ONLY on the Geekscape Games Podcast!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/level-164-courtney-please-watch-it-with-me

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

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SDCC 2018: I Lost My Mind At The Amazing ‘Mr. Mercedes’ Offsite!

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 1, 2018

Before last year’s SDCC, I had never heard of Mr. Mercedes.

The property is a trilogy of novels written by Stephen King, and last year a ten-episode TV series premiered on the America-only Audience Network. The series had a big presence at last year’s Wired Cafe, and the premise intrigued me immediately, but I somehow forgot all about the series once I returned to Canada.

Last month I finally decided to give the series a shot (the only place that you can see it in Canada is through iTunes), and I quickly became obsessed. I binged all ten episodes in just a few days, and have been talking about it constantly to pretty much anyone that will listen to me every since. The series is an incredibly dark and horrifically disturbing look into the mind of the insane (yet very human) villain that is Brady Hartsfelt, and a depressed, retired detective named Bill Hodges who simply seems to be trying to find his place in a world that doesn’t need him anymore. Every episode of the series impressed the hell out of me, and many featured scenes so disturbing that they stuck with me for days. My fiancé even began watching the show while I was away in San Diego this week, and this was her initial response when I ask her how it was going:

I was beyond excited to see that Mr. Mercedes would be returning to San Diego for this year’s Comic-Con. Not only was the series again a sponsor of the always-appreciated Wired Cafe (and was plastered in giant form across the face and elevators of the Omni hotel), but there was also an amazing offsite even being hosted just a few blocks away.

I was lucky enough to attend the offsite on Friday morning, and now that the convention is over I can absolutely say that it was a highlight of this year’s trip. Everything present was an absolute dream for fans of the show, whether it was the augmented reality game played on your own (or supplied) phone, the scavenger hunt that would net you swag ranging from Mr. Mercedes pins to unique San Diego themed t-shirts, the lithograph photo booth that morphs your face into the show’s logo, the multiple sets built up with screen-used props from the show, the screening room, or the VR escape room – every piece of this event felt fully realized, and as soon as it came to an end, all that I wanted to do was go through it all again.

I started with the VR escape room. Essentially, you’re locked in Brady’s lair with a bomb and a countdown timer, and have a few moments (I’m not sure exactly how long, but it all went pretty quickly) to explore the area in order to find clues to disarm it. The entire time, Brady is mocking you (using that creepy, computery voice used in the show), telling you that you’re going to fail, and the like. You’ll move around the lair looking for things that stand out (happy face tennis ball, Brady’s brother’s fire truck, etc) and slowly figure out the eight character password). I ran out of time just as I figured out what the word was (and kind of felt a dummy for not realizing it sooner), the bomb went off, and I lost. If you managed to beat escape the room, you’d earn a t-shirt that states “I Escaped Brady’s Lair” before moving on to the next section.

There were several sets from the series that were rebuilt for the convention, including Finder’s Keepers Investigative Services, Brady’s hospital room, Supreme Electronics, and fittingly in the basement of the offsite’s location, Brady’s lair. The coolest part of all of these sets were that they were dressed using actual props from the show – the gravestones in Brady’s lair are his family’s actual gravestones, the rock memorializing the victim’s of the Mercedes attack is the actual rock from the show, the desk in Finder’s Keepers is Holly’s actual desk, and the journal in Brady’s lair is the actual on-camera journal from the show as well. I was simply enthralled with all of this, and spent so much time in every room just exploring everything that I could.

Speaking of exploring, the Mr. Mercedes offsite also offered a pretty cool augmented reality game (as mentioned above). Outside of the building a QR code was posted that linked you to the app, and once inside there are 10 ‘tags’ hidden throughout the location. Point your phone’s camera at these tags, and augmented reality images of other significant items or props will pop up on your display, and you’ll even see bits of dialogue between Brady and Hodges. Pretty neat, and pretty different from anything I’d seen at one of these events before.

Inside of Finder’s Keepers, there was also a cool photo booth that ‘morphed’ your face with that of the Mr. Mercedes logo. You could email this to yourself, but it was also printed off on a neat 3D lenticular that changes the image depending on the angle you’re looking at it from. This quickly became one of my favourite pieces of swag from the entire convention.

After flowing through the basement and gawking at Brady’s lair for what felt like forever, we were taken into a connected screening room. Here we were shown a lengthy featurette showing us where the characters are as we come into season two, and it also discussed how the stakes will be set now that Brady is apparently brain-dead in a hospital bed. We were then treated to a striking scene that takes place in episode three of the upcoming season. Luckily I’d watched episodes one and two just a few days prior, because I’d have been left scratching my head otherwise, but with the context of the previous episodes I cannot freaking wait to see more.

Following the screening room, we were treated to some swag on our way to the exit (including an awesome SDCC-focussed t-shirt that says “I Lost My Mind In San Diego”). I had taken so long looking at all of the set pieces that there were only a few of us left at this point, and as we approached the exit doors our PR host kindly let us know that some of the cast was coming through the experience, and that we could come back around and check things out. Much of the cast had already made their way to the next section at this point, and I didn’t want to intrude (especially as this was likely one of their few times of mostly peace this entire week), but Justine Lupe (Holly) and director Jack Bender were hanging out in Finder’s Keepers, and when the super-nice PR guide asked if I wanted a photo with them I absolutely had to say yes. Jack’s episodes of Lost are pretty much my favourite episodes of TV ever, and to speak with him for a couple of minutes, and to get to tell him that (that same thing that he’s probably heard over, and over, and over again) felt important to me.

In any case, 1200 words later, you better believe that I had an amazing time at this offsite. The design and care that the team put into building this event was truly spectacular, and for a show that’s only available on one network they are pushing this thing hard. I think that Mr. Mercedes is one of the most criminally underrated shows currently on television, and I believed that this offsite must have put some eyes on the series.

Mr. Mercedes returns on August. 22 on the Audience Network.

https://youtu.be/79Px8KWEdMM

SDCC 2018: Visiting ‘Purge City’ Made Me Want To Hunt For A Green Card!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 24, 2018

Briefly: 2018 was far and away the year of standout offsites events.

I spent some time detailing Purge City in my Friday recap, but this offsite was so impressive that it deserved some space on its own.

The event was put together to advertise and celebrate USA Network’s upcoming The Purge 10-episode TV series, which “follows several seemingly unrelated characters living in a small city. Tying them all together is a mysterious savior who’s impeccably equipped for everything the night throws at them. As the clock winds down with their fates hanging in the balance, each character is forced to reckon with their pasts as they discover how far they will go to survive the night.”

While the film series has been fairly hit or miss for me (an amazing concept that isn’t always that well executed), I was already invested in the idea of a TV series, even before I visited Purge City.

Purge City was a parody of the Party City brand of party preparation stores (couldn’t figure that out from the title, could you?), and the event has to be the most immersive offsite that I’ve been to in years, as every single actor in the venue was in full character 100% of the time. They often had creepy smiles, and were constantly asking patrons what they were doing for the Purge. When asked, I noted that I was from Canada so I wasn’t used to purging, and the employees were happy to offer suggestions. Suggestions ranged from hiding or staying in, to taking me through some of their most popular weapon choices for first-time Purgers – one of the employees even said they were sorry that those in Canada didn’t have the opportunity to Purge, noting just how prosperous things have been since the 28th amendment came to pass.

The store (which I impressively saw being built just a couple of days before) was filled with amazing merchandise, some available for fans, while other (larger or more violent-looking items) were set for display only.

Upon entry, patrons received 20 ‘Purge Bucks’ to spend on whatever they wanted. You could grab a basket, and choose from t-shirts for 15 Purge Bucks, hats for 12, temporary tattoos, candles, energy drinks, greeting cards, stain ‘depurgent’, and even more. Alongside the phenomenal greeting cards, there was also a tablet that Purgers could use to send equally hilarious e-cards to friends, some of which even allowed you to upload your own photos. I picked up a t-shirt, a wonderful replica of the 28th amendment to the constitution (which is when the Purge was added), and a greeting card that said ‘Live, Laugh, Purge’ on it. This totalled 20 Purge Bucks, and I also received a helium balloon and a reusable ‘Purge City’ bag upon checkout (the latter I cannot wait to use back home, regardless of all of the weird looks I’ll receive).

The merchendise was fantastic, and I absolutely loved the ability to tailor your swag to your own preferences – that said, the very best part of the event had to be the actors/employees. The week must have been incredibly busy and inexplicably stressful, but they just seemed so thrilled and excited to help patrons ensure that their Purge would be a good one. In the ‘demo’ are, the actors really had an opportunity to shine, as every half hour or so they would show off some of the fun new products that Purge City had available for this year’s Purge, including a ‘Purge Night Cake Cutter’, which was a cake baking kit and knife that would cut your Purge night celebration cake into 6 or 12 identical pieces. One of the pieces had a special, limited edition ‘New Founding Father’ figure inside, and whomever’s piece contained the figure would have to do a dare at the discretion of the host. I captured this demonstration on video, and it was so hilarious that I had a huge grin on my face the entire time.

The other demo that I was present for had the employees showing off a new stain ‘depurgent’ (see what they did there?), which had volunteers from the crowd splattering liquid (blue liquid like the classic paper towel or sanitary pad commercials, but they definitely hinted that it would also work on blood) on some white shirts, and showing just how much better their formula was than ‘the other guys’ at removing said stains.

The setup really felt just like a real store, and I spent the better part of an hour absorbing absolutely everything that I could. Every aspect of this setup was impressive, from the swag you could take home, to the security system demonstration (catch a quick video below of the system being demoed to The Purge cast member Fiona Dourif), to the weapon setups or the silly signage that was all around the store – it really made preparing for the Purge feel like preparing for a party… instead of the absolute most terrifying thing in that could ever possibly exist.

I was obsessed with this offsite, and as such, I took a myriad of photos to remember it by. Be sure to take a close look at all of the hilarious greeting cards, shirts, and other items,and be sure to let us know what you think!

The Purge commences (the TV series, not the real thing, obviously) on September 4th, and you better believe I’ll be watching!

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long- Winded SDCC Recap – Saturday

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 21, 2018

Well, today was far, far more relaxed than any other day of this year’s convention. We all turned in fairly early last night after laughing our asses off at Shane’s lack of ABBA knowledge and a myriad of other things (though by ‘early’, I mean that I finally stopped writing after midnight long after everyone else was asleep).

I woke up today just after 7 (to an empty hotel room, aside from Shane who was still fast asleep on the floor) feeling well rested and energetic. I wanted to be on the floor at show-open as a must-have Mondo print (Boris Pelcer’s Drive poster) was set to drop right away.

After the rough entry that I experienced on Thursday, things seemed to go far more smoothly this morning. When I arrived at the convention centre, there was already a door letting people in (to the centre, not to the exhibit hall floor) so I jumped in so that I could feel that sweet, sweet air conditioning. It didn’t really seem like anyone knew where to send me (as a press member, rather than an attendee or professional), so they just sent me through to the professional entrance… which worked out really well as I ended up on the show floor 15 minutes early.

Mondo somehow already had a huge line, and it was pretty clear that a lot of these people were working in groups to simply buy these super-limited edition screen prints in order to resell them.

I bought the Drive print, but there was something else that I wasn’t expecting. Mondo released another, surprise Jurassic Park print by an artist that Mikaela really loves (and so do I) named Daniel Danger. Daniel did the Crimson Peak piece that I picked up a couple of years ago, as well as The Shape of Water print that I’d be trying to pick up later in the day. This Jurassic Park print was just as gorgeous, was super limited to 125 pieces, and was signed as well. I wasn’t going to buy it, until the employee at Mondo confirmed that it was in fact Daniel Danger, and was so freaking limited. Mikaela was at work, so she was unable to talk me out of it, so I picked that one up as well.

Every time I buy something, I freak out about spending money irresponsibly and Mikaela has to talk me off a ledge, and this time was no different. She’s really a saint for putting up with my bullshit for this long.

Following my purchase, I carefully returned the prints to the Geekscape booth, which was terrifying as the show floor opened, was flooded, and the prints were loose and would have been so easy to damage. Matt put them aside, and I went on a hunt to find some appropriate poster tubes and after what seemed like forever I managed to find some. I returned to the Geekscape booth, rolled the prints, and set off again. During my travels, I found the creepy as fuck tooth kid from the criminally underrated Channel Zero, Deadpool’s hilarious animatronic band, some classic protesters (and hilarious parody protesters), and more!

While I was on the floor, Shane attended an Aquabats concert (and band that I’d never heard of until I met him, and a band that I’m pretty sure nobody in Canada knows about), and he looked so incredibly happy it the photos that he shared. Seeing a smile that big, and the genuine on his face absolutely warmed my heart. After missing last year’s event, I’m glad he looks like he’s having such a great time.

Courtney and I grabbed a quick bite (and a couple of beverages) at the Wired Cafe before I returned to the convention centre for the Expanding Sea of Thieves panel. There was a huge line for this, far longer than I would have anticipated, and I was pretty worried that I wasn’t going to get in. I actually think the line was cut off just a few people after me, so I really lucked out, as the panel was interesting as hell for fans of the game. The panel opened with an epic new video of the upcoming skeleton crews, which showed them preparing for battle, and showed the ship diving under the ocean before the Cursed Sails splash appears. The crew then celebrated the myriad of Pirate Legends that were present in the room (a lot of them somehow had t-shirts with their GamerTags on their backs), before diving into the comic book and novel that are in the works. The novel is called Athena’s Fortune, and will be about some of the first pirates’ journey to the Sea of Thieves. The team noted that there are also references to some real players in the book, and that this is really the start of an expanded universe that will soon be referenced in the game.

I’ll hopefully have a dedicated article up about this panel in the next few days, but watching this team so passionately talk about the game and their plans for its future made me so excited to be a player. I’ve loved this world since the very first time that I played the beta, and I cannot wait to see what it evolves into. The crew even gave out some time-limited Perfect Dark inspired DLC, which I was not expecting, but which I cannot wait to see in game. Amazing.

Following this panel, I essentially ran back to Mondo to join the giant line for Daniel Danger’s The Shape of Water print that was set to drop at 3PM. The line was pretty long (and was capped immediately after I got in it), but after about an hour it was my turn to pick up the print. Mikaela talked me off the ledge again, and I simply cannot wait to put this beautiful art up on our walls.

I brought the prints back to the hotel, and then it was time for another amazing event. I’d been invited to a wine-tasting event in celebration of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Emmy-nominated series StarTalk. Shane and Courtney were coming with me, and Shane decided that as it was a ‘wine tasting’, people would be dressed up, and that we should do the same. Shane put on the second bold suit that I’d seen him wear this week, and I brought nothing like that, but put on jeans and a button-up. We very warmly walked the numerous blocks to the event’s location, took the elevator up to the rooftop bar, and very quickly realized that everyone else was wearing shorts and t-shirts. Damnit, Shane.

The event itself was awesome. There was delicious food, bourbon, wine, and beer available. Once the sun dropped below some nearby buildings things cooled off immensely, and it was also one of the only parties that I’d been to this week that was not PACKED (the invitation said intimate, and I really appreciate how chill it was), and the only event where the music was at a volume appropriate enough to still have a conversation. It was great to be at an event with these friends that I don’t see very often and actually be able to speak, instead of just look at each other (or nod like you heard what they said). Neal seemed like a super nice guy, and was happy to chat with attendees and to take photos. There was an adorable lady there that looked as though she was going to cry the entire time that she was in Neal’s presence, and I’m super glad they were able to spend some time together. I also saw WWE’s Cathy Kelly there, which was pretty rad as I’m a big fan of her onscreen presence. We watched Neal play a giant game of Jenga with a Nat Geo (which airs StarTalk) exec, which was pretty impressive as the game went on as long as it possibly could, with Neal finally losing in the end. A huge thanks to National Geographic for hosting this super memorable event!

Following the wine tasting, Courtney, Shane, Matt, and I went to Panda Express at the Horton Plaza. We made it just in time to order before they closed, and while it was slim pickins’ in terms of food choices, they still had their to die for orange chicken. I was so wonderful that Matt had two orders of it.

There was a memorial toast planned for Jon Schnepp at the Grand Hyatt, so we all made a stop there to check things out. Shortly after, video came from Hall H showing Kevin Smith’s moment of silence / tribute to Jon, which was super touching. Schnepp was always a huge part of Comic-Con (I feel like especially for Geekscape, as Jon’s booth has been right beside ours for years), and its awesome for someone like Smith to use their limited panel time to remember that he’s been lost.

Gui has been trying to get me to go to some country music bar for what seems like hours at this point, so I’m not sure if I’ll end up there, or end up just falling asleep, but it’s absolutely crazy to think that when I wake up tomorrow, this will essentially be over for another year.

Tomorrow is likely to be a very relaxed day of walking the floor before packing up after the show closes, so I’m not completely sure if another recap will be necessary. In any case, if you’ve come this far, I truly thank you for reading along. I began writing these pieces as a means to remember what I’d seen, heard, attended, and accomplished at these events, and it turns out that some people like reading what I’ve been up to as well!

So, if tomorrow is interesting, I’ll see you then, and if not… we’ll see you at PAX West next month!

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long-Winded SDCC Recap – Friday

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 20, 2018

Read pre-convention and preview night here.
Read my Thursday recap here.

What a freaking day.

Just when I thought I that things could not possibly be as cool today as they were yesterday (I’m still reeling about the WWE stuff at PetCo Park), this morning began with three awesome back to back offsite events.

The day began fairly early, as I had to be at the Amazon Fire TV to the Future offsite event for an 8AM start time. The event showed off all of the neat things that you could do with the FireTV product line (including the new FireTV Cube, which also acts as a smart-home hub). A lot of people seemed super impressed with the smart-home stuff, but as someone who has been using Philips Hue lights and an Alexa-enabled TV for some time, the Cube seemed a little slow to respond at times (I think it’s likely due to networking issues more than anything, seeings as this was as temporary building.

Employees demonstrated Dolby Atmos via a Vizio sound bar (Mikaela, I’m sorry but we need a new soundbar), showing off the newest trailer for Jack Ryan which premieres on Amazon Prime on August 31st and looks freaking awesome. I also feel like this thing has been in the works for freaking ever, as I’m pretty sure that there were buildings covered in Jack Ryan shit last year.

There were a number of photo ops throughout the exhibit as well, including Game of Thrones (the iron throne, of course), The Good Place, Westworld, Jack Ryan, and more, as well as a few neat installations like a ‘Backyard Cinema Club’, a giant overgrown remote that looked like something out of The Last of Us, and an area with themed cocktails.

It was fun, and it was air conditioned (which is pretty rare for some of these offsite events, and it was much. It’s also a little off the beaten path, so from what I’ve seen the line hasn’t even been that crazy. It’s open through Sunday, so you should probably check it out.

Next up was one of the events that I was most excited for coming into this week. Last year’s Mr. Mercedes sponsored Wired Cafe was the first I’d heard of the title (in book or television form), and I absolutely loved the series when I eventually watched it (and by watched I mean binged super quickly). I was lucky enough to see the fantastic first two episodes of the second season before I left for California last week, and I was beyond ready to see what AT&T and the Audience Network had in store for attendees.

The entire offsite was fantastic. There were rebuilds of some of the sets (including Brady’s coma room, Brady’s lair, Supreme Electronics, and more), a VR escape room that had you locked in Brady’s lair searching for clues before a bomb goes off (with Brady’s creepy, computerize voice talking in your ear the whole time and creeping the shit out of you). There was also a neat augmented reality application that you could download in order to partake in a scavenger hunt around the exhibit. You could find clues that would unlock dialog between Bill and Brady, and it was a super fun way to make the offsite more interactive. There was even a cool photo op that morphed you into the show’s poster – they even print it into one of those cool 3D lenticular things that were popular in the 90’s.

Attendees could also find physical clues throughout the exhibit that would earn them stamps, and at the end of the event you’d get some swag based on how many stamps you earned, ranging from pins to bags to some sweet San Diego exclusive t-shirts.

I was also there at the perfect time. As I was coming back up from Brady’s lair, the PR organizer let me know that some of the cast and crew was coming through if I wanted to check things out. I ended up grabbing a photo with Justine Lupe and director Jack Bender, and even had a (very brief) change to chat with Bender about Lost (which was mostly me telling him that his episodes are my very favourite episodes of TV).

https://instagram.com/p/Ble4–uh7WQ/

Look for my dedicated article about the in the next couple of days, but you should definitely be getting in line for this one (and yes, I realize that I’m just telling you to get in line for everything – it turns out that shit is cool at Comic-Con, okay?)

Following Mr. Mercedes, I walked just down the block again to the Purge City offsite (super convenient placement). I was inexpressibly excited to see this activation, simply because it looked fucking hilarious, and the premise is amazing. There’s a ten-episode The Purge TV series set to hit USA Network in September, and this was a fantastic way to advertise. Purge City has to be the most immersive offsite that I’ve been to in years, as every single actor in the venue was in full character 100% of the time. They often had creepy smiles, and were constantly asking patrons what they were doing for the Purge. When asked, I noted that I was from Canada so I wasn’t used to purging, and the employees were happy to offer suggestions.

Upon entry, you’re given 20 ‘Purge Bucks’ to spend on whatever you want. There are shirts available for 15 Purge Bucks, hats for 12, temporary tattoos, candles, energy drinks, and even more. You can grab a basket and fill up! I picked up a t-shirt, a replica of the 28th amendment to the constitution (which is when the purge was added), and a greeting card that said ‘Live, Laugh, Purge’ on it. This totalled 20 Purge Bucks, and I also received a helium balloon and a reusable ‘Purge City’ bag upon checkout.

I spent a long time in Purge City absorbing as much as I possibly could. Every single piece of merchendise (whether actually for sale or for display only) was totally believable, and so freaking well done. I also had a chance to spend some time in the Purge City ‘demo’ area, which had employees demoing some new products coming out for this year’s Purge.

Be sure to watch this demo of the ‘Purge Day Precision Cake Cutter’:

Take a look at some photos from Purge City below, and be on the lookout for even more in the next day or two. For SDCC attendees, Purge City is open tomorrow from 11AM to 7PM, and on Sunday from 11AM-4PM.

I packed a lot into my morning, and decided to keep things mostly relaxed for the rest of the day. I met up with Courtney and Shane at the Wired Cafe for a quick drink (thanks again, Wired) and to watch the rest of the vultures scramble for the donuts, sandwiches, and sliders that were coming out regularly.

We also saw our first protesters today, and Courtney got really mad at the one that said “Vaccines Cause Autism”. There are always some parody protesters as well though, which is always pretty hilarious.

Finally, I hit the show floor. Naturally, I b-lined it directly to the Mondo booth. Matt asked me to grab the Die Hard print for a friend of his (and then somehow did not know how big or expensive prints can be), and the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom prints were also still in stock. I wandered around for a bit and tried to call Mikaela multiple times so that she could talk me out of buying things, but she didn’t pick up… so I bought the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Mondo print. I also scoped out a sweet Sea of Thieves shirt and replica coin that I haven’t bit the bullet on quite yet (but there are still two more days to do so). Next up, I went to the ABC booth to look for some Golden Girls items for Mikaela, and then I doubled back to Factory Entertainment to pick up the exclusive die-cast S.S. Georgie replica and an exclusive Goonies bottle opener (which was my second choice after seeing that the Jurassic Park raptor claw bottle opener was sold out). At checkout, when asked if I needed anything else, I joked “Not unless you have any more of those Jurassic Park bottle openers left,” to which they said “Actually we just found one.”

Safe to say, I bought it. I actually meant to grab it instead of the Goonies one, but there was a bit of a misunderstanding and somehow I ended up with both. Then Mikaela had to talk me off the ledge because I was freaking out about how much money I’d spent. She’s lovely and I don’t know what I would do without her.

I took a quick walk over to the Castle Rock exhibit, which had about a 120 minute line that I didn’t feel like standing in. I’m still super impressed with that house they built, and the car (and creepy kid) in the water make more some great photo ops. There were some Hulu representatives in the area giving out neat lightning/micro-USB powered fans (it’s hot out) in exchange for doing a survey about how you used Hulu. I said “I’m from Canada,” and they just said “Sorry,” and handed me the fan.

Shane, Courtney, and I grabbed some food – this was at like 5:30, and I’d intended to grab something small so I could eat with Matt at 8:30, but by the time we’d found something that didn’t have a super long wait it was after 7:00. I had delicious nachos.

At this point in the day, I’d been out and about for its entirety and I needed to get to work. We made a quick stop at the PetCo Interactive Zone to see Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar, and friends ‘Band From TV’ play a few songs, and then we returned the hotel in order to get writing.

Writing was tough, but for good reasons. The room was full of dudes – Jonathan, Gui, Shane, and Matt were all in the room, and over the course of the night I learned that there were like 15 Puppet Master movies, that Shane didn’t know that Mamma Mia was based on the music of Abba, and a bunch of other shit.

But here we are. Today was a fun as hell, and then very odd day – of course I knew that things with Jon Schnepp were bad, but I hadn’t been online in hours and I only learned of his death from Geekscape Alumni Eric Diaz. I’d only met Jon a few times, but I truly enjoyed the conversations that we’d had over the years, and watching him and Jonathan talk about things at a way deeper level than I could ever hope to understand was always fascinating. Schnepp had the SDCC booth next to ours for the past few years, and it’s super weird and very sad to look at that booth and not see him. I cannot imagine the heartbreak that his partner Holly and his family are feeling right now. A ‘Get Better Jon Schnepp’ fund was set up last week, and is still ongoing at this time to help cover his medical expenses.

That’s Friday. Thanks so much for reading this far, and look for more tomorrow.

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long-Winded SDCC Recap – Thursday

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

Read pre-convention and preview night here.

Today started off a bit rough.

Naturally, it’s the first full day of the convention, there are new volunteers all over the place, and it’s one of the busiest events in North America, let alone San Diego.

This morning I was in a bit of a rush, as the panel that I’d wanted to see more than any other (the WWE/Mattel fan panel, naturally) was set to begin at 11:15am. Last year there were several panels prior to this one, so after each panel a myriad of people would leave, and I would creep up to get a better seat. This year there was just one panel before, so I needed to get there quickly.

But that didn’t exactly work out.

The San Diego Convention Centre is huge There are doorways (8 doors wide) marked A-G, and then a separate entrance for the ~6000+ seat Hall H (which holds the biggest announcements, and which people began lining up for on Tuesday). The auditorium was set to open at 9am (though was always advertised for 9:30), and in trying to find where to line up at 8:45, I started at G, was told to go to A, who told me to go to C, who told me to go to F, who told me to go back to G where I (and eventually thousands upon thousands of other people) gathered (likely after going through the same runaround that I did.

Then 9AM came and went. Then 9:30 came and went and it was hot as hell and there was absolutely no shade and everyone was shoulder to shoulder so it felt like forever. At 9:40 an employee came out and told us that the doors next to the ones we were gathered at would be the ones to open first and people started freaking out. Screaming, yelling, swearing around little kids, probably some crying, wailing out “You’re killing us,” the works, really. Sure, it was annoying (and warm… so warm), but turning into a freaking baby was not at all appropriate.

Eventually I made it into the convention centre, and still made it into the room where the WWE panel would be held with time to spare. I grabbed a single seat in the front row, albeit at a super extreme angle, hoping that after the first panel finished I’d be able to move in a bit more central.

The first panel was about kids who do voiceover work, and included talent such as Zach Gallison, Kristen Li, Layla Hayes, Justin Felbinger, and Sean-Ryan Petersen reading scripts in character, chatting about who they’d like to work with, and a bunch more.

The panel ended, almost nobody left (I managed to move two seats closer to the centre) and after a short time the panel began. Cathy Kelly came out first, followed by two dudes from Mattel (sorry, I don’t remember their names), Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Becky Lynch (who was a surprise), AJ Styles (who was a huge surprise), and Matt Hardy (who was announced for the panel, but who I’d forgotten would be there. The crowd went freaking crazy for nearly everyone.

The panel started with some Mattel announcements, including some amazing new additions to the Elite series of figures and a technology called True FX which is a new inkjet printing process that will launch in 2019, and will add even more detail to the already impressive figures.

they showed off a bunch of new figures (including a Vanguard 1 and Mower of Lawns figure in the Elite series) before taking audience questions. Many of the questions felt similar to those asked at last year’s panel, and the guy who yelled at the Mattel lady last year about missing figures was back again to yell about the lack of B-Team figures even though the B-Team has only been a thing for like five seconds.

One fan asked the superstars to choose someone who no longer wrestles for WWE that they would fight if they could. One crowd member yelled out “BROCK LESNAR” and all of the superstars laughed really hard. It was a freaking hilarious moment.

After the panel ended, I made a quick pit stop at the Wired Cafe for a bite to eat and something to drink (a huge thanks to Wired for hosting us again this year, and be sure to look for some expanded thoughts on this year’s cafe from Shane in the next day or two) before meeting up with Shane and Courtney for the Shadow of the Tomb Raider offsite event at the Moonshine Flats (344 7th Ave).

This place was bonkers. The bar had been completely transformed into a jungle-like setting, complete with real snakes, tons of foliage, pieces of ancient (I assume) temples, and way way more – there was even a pit of skulls that made for a cool photo op. The most unique part of this offsite however, was the eating challenge. Three volunteers would go to a table that had three covered plates on it, and at the count of three they’d reveal the “exotic” food underneath. On the plate could be a Black Forest Scorpion, a Manchuria Scorpion, a Superworm, a Giant Water Bug (which was regarded as the short straw in this challenge), a Grasshopper, or some Silkworms. If you could eat the entire insect(s) you were able to spin a prize wheel, which could net you a shirt, a year of Xbox Game Pass, a copy of the game when it releases, or raffle tickets that could win you an Xbox One X.

I did the challenge.

I didn’t want to do the challenge, but Shane and Courtney were being little babies, and if we were going to cover this offsite someone had to do it.

Naturally, I drew the short straw, and had to eat a giant water bug. It was freaking disgusting. Super salty. Super dry (though I think I felt a couple of weirdly moist bits in there too). The other two people finished eating their bugs (I’m not even sure what they had) and then they watched me continue chewing for what felt like forever.

Naturally, we got this on video, so look for that in the coming days. For now, these photos will have to do.

I also had an opportunity to play a new demo for Shadow of the Tomb Raider which felt fantastic, and would have had me pre-ordering the game if I hadn’t already done that months ago. Naturally, the mechanics in Tomb Raider are already rock solid, so it’s the plot and atmosphere that are really going to make or break this one – we didn’t see too much story in the demo, but of course the game has an incredible team behind it, so I’m not worried at all.

Once we finished up at the Shadow of the Tomb Raider offsite, it was time to get back to work. We went back to the hotel (I wanted to scoot there but nobody else did), and Shane, Courtney, and I all published some articles before heading out again. You can read about my experience at the DC Universe offsite that I mentioned yesterday right here, and additional thoughts on the LAIKA Live experience right here, and you should probably check out this amazing transit station themed after Stranger Things.

Once we split up, Shane and Courtney went back to the floor to check out the Star Wars: Heroes and Villains clothing line, while I went over to PetCo park to check out the Rocket League third birthday party. Somehow the line was tiny (it didn’t stay like this for long), and I was pretty much able to walk right in. I received a cool (and understated) t-shirt, along with a coupon for a free Salty Shores popcorn and drink. The party was actually right on the field, which was pretty cool and made for a few neat photos. The field had some fantastic real-life licensed cars that have in-game counterparts like Batmobiles, the Jurassic Park Jeep, and the DeLorean. There was a gaming area where you could play Rocket League on Switch or PC against other attendees, and a stage with live DJ (and sometimes Greg Miller). There was an awesome looking weird inflatable soccer game that had quite a lineup, and a ton of people were just chilling on the field absorbing everything that was going on around them.

I knew that WWE Superstar and UpUpDownDown creator Xavier Woods was set to be present at the party, but the event had already been on for an 90 minutes or so when I arrived. It turns out that he and Becky Lynch (who is my favourite female WWE Superstar) were filming an episode of UpUpDownDown on the field. Xavier saw my shirt and called me over (I was wearing my UpUpDownDown shirt) and I made some sort of awkward fool out of myself while he tried to talk to me on camera (sorry Xavier). I was even almost on Xavier and Becky’s team for the inflatable ball soccer thing, but just before this would have happened the WWE decided that they just wanted Becky vs. Xavier. I hung around for a bit longer (which included seeing Xavier face off agains a little kid in Rocket League, and seeing Xavier and Becky dance away at what would be the end of the episode) before heading out to meet up with Shane and Courtney. It was freaking amazing, and it made my convention.

The rest of the night was pretty relaxed. Shane, Courtney, and I decided to hit up a party sponsored by Lions Gate Games for the Power Rangers Legacy Wars. We didn’t end up making it inside however, as the building was at capacity when we arrived and as we didn’t really feel like waiting (though we were pretty close to the front), so we just grabbed some shitty sandwiches at the first place that didn’t have a line, and returned to the hotel to finish up our articles for the day.

Today was great. It’s now been a full day of San Diego Comic-Con… and I still haven’t even hit the show floor yet. Tomorrow I’ll be busy checking out activations for Amazon Fire TV, Mr. Mercedes, The Purge, and more… plus I need to get my hands on some Mondo prints (which I’ve missed out on so far).

Thanks for reading this far, and I hope that you come back for more!

Note – sorry about the weird images. Geekscape is having major issues uploading images currently, so I’m making it work any way that I can!

SDCC 2018: Head To The Upside Down At The Coolest Transit Station Ever

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

Briefly: I love Stranger Things.

Every year at San Diego Comic-Con there’s a ton of cool art, merchandise, cosplay, and more, but I definitely didn’t expect to see this while walking by San Diego’s Convention Centre train/trolley stop.

The entire stop has been converted into a small Stranger Things activation, including the typeface on the signs in the area, and complete with Mind Flayer, missing kid signs, Christmas light alphabet, Dragon’s Lair signage, and more.

Take a look at a few photos from the stop below, and if you want to see things for yourself, just head over to the San Diego Convention Centre train stop!

Sorry again for the imgur links, Geekscape is having some issues uploading images!

SDCC 2018: The DC Universe Offsite Event Turns The Upcoming App Into A Physical Wonder!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

I’ve been waiting for DC Universe for years.

I absolutely fell in love with Marvel Unlimited when it launched all those years ago. The app quickly a one-stop shop for essentially every Marvel book that’s more than six months old, and for someone who is almost always behind on comics, the service itself was also an unbeatable value.

Because of my Marvel-focussed childhood and my early acceptance of Marvel Unlimited, I’m way more familiar with Marvel properties than I am of DC. I dabbled in New 52 for a year or so after it started, but as with most things, I fell behind.

That’s why I was so excited when DC revealed their upcoming DC Universe service, which sounds like it will quickly leapfrog Marvel Unlimited in terms of content, as it will include not only comics, but movies, tv series, and even a myriad of original content – like the upcoming live action series Titans, which had costumes on display, and even has a trailer out now.

I had an opportunity to check out the DC Universe offsite activation last night before it opened to the public, and it’s an absolutely spectacular event. The staff (and Jim Lee) noted that the event is meant to be a physical representation of what the service will offer, and I think that this is a brilliant way to kick off this service.

The event had a variety of different experiences available, including the “Harley Quinn Chaos Room” which had you suited up in protective gear and smashing stuff in an Arkham Asylum cell (so much fun), a small and creepy “Swamp Thing” walkthrough (I heard a lot of screams from the end of this one), a Doom Patrol lab that gave you “test tube cocktails” and neat, smoking popcorn, along with superhero photo ops and more.

Here’s the Arkham Asylum guard yelling before we went into the Chaos Room:

And another attendee in the Chaos Room:

And a very very dark run through the Swamp thing walkabout:

And some shots of Chief’s Lab:

Some of the coolest things around though, were the amazing props and concept art that DC had on display – this included the Batmissile, Mr. Freeze’ Freeze Ray, the Penguin’s Rubber Duck, and way way more.

Naturally, the app itself was also available in beta form. It felt smooth as hell, the comics were high res, and it was as snappy as you’d expect the finished product to be. The app is expected to launch in beta form in just a few weeks, with a wide release to come this fall. Sadly, no representative could tell me when the service might hit Canada, and I expect that it could be some time with TV and movie rights in play.

I had an amazing time at the event, and it’s another one of those offsite that should be more than worth your wait in line. Take a look at a few more of my photos from the event below, and let us know what you think! The DC Universe event is open through Sunday at the Hilton Gaslamp!

SDCC 2018: The LAIKA Live Offsite Event Is Literally Heaven

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

While I touched on it during my Preview Night recap, LAIKA Live was way, waaaaaay too cool of an event not to dedicate its own post to.

Seriously, this is one of the best offsite events that I’ve been to in years, if not ever, so if you find yourself in the Gaslamp area of San Diego this week, the event is more than worth the likely multi-hour wait time.

LAIKA Live is at 350 5th Ave, with hours as follows:

Friday, 7/13: 2-10pm
Saturday, 7/14: 2-10pm
Sunday, 7/15: 11am-5pm
Monday, 7/16: 12-5pm
Tuesday, 7/17: 12-5pm
Wednesday, 7/18: 12-5pm
Thursday, 7/19: 10am-10pm
Friday, 7/20: 10am-11pm
Saturday, 7/21: LAIKA store opens at 10am; exhibit: 2:00pm-11pm
Sunday, 7/22: 10am-6pm

Natalie wrote about her experience at the event last year, and this year the offsite is over three times the size – this means that even if you went last year, there’s a bunch of new stuff to see, including a giant, huggable Mr. Link from Laika’s upcoming, adorable feature Missing Link.

LAIKA also has a ton of awesome new merchandise available, and will even have a merchandise-only line in case you just want to pick up some sweet wares.

Shane, Courtney, and I were all lucky enough to attend a private showcase of the exhibit which included some nice drinks and tasty treats (many of which were themed after LAIKA properties, and there were even cupcakes that had the silhouettes of LAIKA character hair on top, which amazed me for some reason).

LAIKA employees were present to chat about the almost lost art of stop motion animation, and to show off just how some of the character animations work. One of the employees sounded super excited about the advancements that things like 3D printing bring to the art of stop-motion, and noted that they’ve made some huge developments with the character models of Missing Link. There’s some new technology that allows the characters to actually breathe, which I cannot wait to see in action.

The event featured sets from films like Coraline and The Boxtrolls, had a life-sized Other Mother’s living room that made for a wonderful photo-op, a “puppet-hospital”, amazing concept art, and so freaking much more. Teri Hatcher, the Other Mother herself, even showed up to kick-off the event, and to help celebrate the upcoming 10th anniversary of Coraline (has it been that long already?).

I love LAIKA films, and I was in absolute heaven at this event. Both Courtney and Shane commented on the look of child-like wonder that was on my face the entire time we were there, and it was so hard not to buy up every amazing item in the store. After seeing just how incredible Mr. Link looked in person, I don’t know that there’s a film that I’m looking forward to more than Missing Link at this point.

Take a look at a few of the (unedited, SDCC is busy, okay) photos that I took at the event, and if you’re in San Diego, I implore you to head over to LAIKA Live.

A huge thanks to LAIKA for hosting us!

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long-Winded SDCC Recap – Pre Convention And Preview Night

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

…And we’re back.

How has it been a year already since SDCC 2017? It’s absolutely flown by – and speaking of flying, I’m currently sitting at gate E90 at the Vancouver International Airport awaiting my slightly delayed 6AM flight to Los Angeles.

I’m super excited.

Last year I had only been at my current vocation for half a year or so, and as such I hadn’t actually earned enough vacation time to take as long a trip to California as I typically do. If you read last year’s recaps (check them out here if you haven’t and if you want to read a lot of words) you may remember that I arrived at the San Diego airport just before midnight on the Tuesday night, and had to leave the convention on the Sunday morning, long before it was over. Everything happened at what felt like the speed of light, and before I knew it I was taking a Lyft back to the airport.

I had a great time last year, but I’m super happy to be getting a couple of convention-less days with some of my Geekscape family this time around.

Last year I wrote a lot. Before finally turning in each night I published a huge recap of everything that I did, saw, ate, drank, thought, and avoided every day of my visit. I wasn’t sure if I’d do something similar this year, as those pieces were a lot of work, and I didn’t know how interesting they actually were.

In retrospect, I think that people were actually into them. I received a bunch of feedback from friends, family, and people I didn’t know telling me just how much they enjoyed reading each piece, and the interesting perspective that the journals gave to a non-attendee (or even the different perspective that they gave to a standard attendee). I’ve actually had more people come up and talk to me about these pieces than any interview, video, or review that I’ve posted over my near seven years with Geekscape.

A few days ago, in preparation for this trip and to help to try to figure out just what the hell I wanted to put together this year, I read through all of last year’s journals. I really enjoyed reading back on last year’s experiences (and imagine I will be especially grateful that I wrote them when I try to look back even a few years from now), and reading back on the convention made me realize a few important things:

A). Grammar disappears and writing becomes nonsensical when you’re trying to finish a piece at 1AM.
B). Even just a year later, an event like SDCC is such a sensory overload that you pretty much forget everything. I’m super happy that I wrote out my experience – in reading back I had more than a few “oh, right” moments that made me smile and reminisce. I appreciated seeing everything put together in a sort of timeline, rather than just a mass jumble of photos.
C). Remembering the way that I felt last year, I feel like I’m mentally in a better place today than I was then. That’s not to say that I’m in a great (or even good) place today, but I feel at least slightly better than I did then. Phew.
D). I am stagnant. I mean, I was stagnant this time last year, but at this point if I were water, I think I’d be water that has been standing so long that it basically kills you if you go near it. Last year, I wrote of goals and ways that I thought I could better myself, or things that I’d wanted to try based on my experience in San Diego, and… I’ve done none of it. I didn’t start meditating, I didn’t lose weight, I didn’t get a cool new job. Nothing. Reading back made me feel full of shit and, and it really opened my eyes (they really should have been open already) – I need to stop talking about being better, and simply start being better.

In saying that, I want to set a public goal (making it public will make it happen, that’s how this works, right?). I’m going to lose 70 pounds by next SDCC.

But first I’m going to land in California, eat In N’ Out, Panda Express, alternate varieties of Doritos Locos Tacos (we only have the standard in Canada), and simply burn the candle at both ends for ten days or so (a candle burned at both ends burns twice as bright, right?).

Matt and I have been waiting for Panda Express for some time now.

So, here we go again. Based on feedback, reflection, and… a lack of creativity (?), just like last year I’ll be posting a daily recap/journal of my experience at San Diego Comic-Con. The piece you’re reading now will be a recap of my time in California before heading to San Diego, but after this you can expect a daily write up full of convention goodness. I’m hoping to keep the pieces a little shorter and a lot more concise than they were last year, but based on the current word count of this very first recap, I’m not promising anything.

I really don’t get the hot towel benefit that first class gets on flights. It’s not even 7AM and it’s like 25 degrees (Celcius) outside. It’s warm in this cabin, so please put a hot towel on my face that’ll definitely help. I have no idea why this happens. But then again I’ve never been a first-class citizen, so maybe I just don’t have the brain capacity to understand.

Continuing the trend (second year in a row now) of heading down to California with some sort of ailment, I was an absolute idiot and didn’t apply an appropriate amount of sunscreen (or remember to re-apply it) when two days ago I spent several hours in the sun watching the Vans Park Series (skateboarding competition) preliminaries at Hastings Skatepark in Vancouver (man, do I want to start skating again each time I see events like this). My forehead is red (and hurts), my knees hurt (and hurt really badly when I towelled them off this morning), and my arms are pretty red as well. That said, I would take this any day (or every day) over last year’s infected tooth debacle. I’m getting chills just thinking about that one. I even felt a tiny bit of pain in my mouth as I woke up this morning, which reminds me that I’m due for another cleaning and checkup when I get back to Vancouver.

Flight wise, I lucked out (aside from that slight delay) and had nobody beside me on my YVR to LAX journey. Security was painless to get through (you pretty much just tell the TSA agent that you’re going to a comic book convention, they look at you in disgust (fuckin’ nerd), and let you through without another question. Instead of napping, I used my time in the air to start writing this recap, read a few comics (x, x, and x) , watched a little Netflix (x), and before I knew it the plane was landing. After stuffing my carry-on to the verge of explosion last year (even after leaving a few unneeded items with others in San Diego), I decided it best to check a larger bag this year, so I waited around for that before reuniting with Jonathan.

What was the first thing we did? Chiller Club reunion, obviously.

Following Chiller Club, we dropped our things off at Jonathan’s, caught up a bit, and drove to a nearby AC-equipped bougie as shit Starbucks to drink more coffee and get a little bit of work done.

Then it was ‘wrasslin time. WWE’s Extreme Rules PPV started at 4PM, so Matt Kelly found his way back to Jonathan’s place and we sat in the heat for hours to watch the whole thing. Old friend Zack Haddad joined, and aside from a few shitty, why-did-this-happen matches, and the whole thing not being that extreme aside from its title, the PPV overall was an enjoyable one (also I hope Kevin Owens is okay). Also, I think that time moves more slowly in heat like this as, while it wasn’t that long, Extreme Rules felt like it took absolutely forever.

Before turning in for the night, it was time for some food. At this point in my journey, I hadn’t had any In-N-Out yet, so we drove to a nearby location and quickly realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. The drive-thru line was nearly a block long, and the small parking lot was completely full.

Instead, we ended up at some “world famous” place that I’d never heard of until this trip: Tommy’s World Famous Hamburgers. It was a burger place (naturally) that has a love for chilli, which it puts on almost everything, I had a burger with chilli on it (for the first time ever) and some chilli cheese fries (also for the first time ever), and it was fucking delicious. Why have I never thought to put chilli on shit before? Seriously.

That was it for the night! We turned in pretty quickly so we could get an early start on Monday morning.

Monday

I don’t know if its the sunburn or what, but while the temperature in Los Angeles right now is similar to that of Vancouver, it feels fucking hot, and as such the cold shower that I had this morning felt like it might just be the best part of this entire trip (not really).

Matt and I went for breakfast at Cafe 101, which is apparently super famous and has been in a ton of movies. The locale definitely looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out just where I’d seen it before. The conversation was good, the bacon was super tasty, and the coffee woke me the hell up. Thank goodness.

A ton of exclusives news has been dropping this morning. I always get really excited for what Mondo has to show off at their booth because each and every piece that they do is incredibly beautiful, and being able to pick pieces up at the convention saves me a ton of money on shipping and duty. Prior to my flight to Los Angeles, the only revealed piece that I was really hankering for was the Daniel Danger piece for The Shape Of Water. I loved the film, and have the convention exclusive Daniel Danger Crimson Peak piece from a couple of years back, and I think they would look gorgeous beside each other.

Today, the company revealed some incredible art for Drive, Jurassic Park, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I’m going to lose any self control I thought that I had…

Yep. I’m screwed.

After breakfast we went back to Jon’s for a bit before Matt took off to meet up with some old friends. I had some emails to respond to, and Jon was still working on the Geekscape / Dweeb Darlings press release to announce our upcoming SDCC ConQuest Scavenger hunt. We did some running around (I even met a new canine friend at Lodger) before finally sending out the release (after learning that our standard Geekscape email accounts could not be used to send mass emails, of course).

Things were pretty relaxed here for the rest of the day. We went to a giant theatre to see the BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER OF THE SUMMER, Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper. The first thing that I noticed is that the actual auditorium for this screening was tiny compared to what I’m used to in Vancouver – maybe 60 or so seats. Also, Movie Pass is fucking insane, and people who complain about it are just freaking wrong. Give me that shit at whatever price you want and I will pay it happily.

The movie itself was fucking awesome. It was dumb as hell, with some fantastic action, some terrible villains, tons of quotable one-liners, and an amputee The Rock who is somehow still more bad-ass than anyone with all of their limbs. It was a fabulous time, and I’m super glad that we’d decided to see something like that instead of something more serious. It was really a perfect way to kick-off what’s about to be an insane and exhausting week.

Following the movie, we walked over to a nearby In-N-Out burger so that I could finally fill myself with that sweet, fattening, never-frozen never-microwaved burger goodness. Before we ordered, Matt said “Ah man, you better go first. I don’t know what I want,” and I replied by noting “What the hell are you talking about, they have like three options!?” Matt went first, and it wasn’t that hard.

We returned to Jonathan’s, and spent the rest of the night recording a pre-SDCC episode of Geekscape that largely turned into a roast of Matt Kelly and a chat about just how awesome Skyscraper was. You can listen to the episode below, but be warned that there are some spoilers on the ROCK-solid plot of the film.

Following the recording, we crashed hard and turned in just before midnight…

Tuesday

Matt and I left Jon’s apartment at 8am as Matt had to return his rental car before we hopped on an AMTRAK to San Diego. The drop-off was right at the station, which was nice (although it ended up being confusing as hell and we had to drive around the station several times before we found an employee that could actually give us directions to a completely un-signed area underground where the car could actually be returned), and Matt handed his keys to some dude without a uniform who just said “Yo you can give those keys to me.” I was pretty sure that this guy just stole the car, but Matt received a “Thank you for returning your rental” email a half-hour or so later.

We grabbed a quick Starbucks coffee and breakfast sandwich (thank Xenu for cheap food) before jumping on the train. Matt immediately started talking up everyone around us, and I was again envious of his crazy ability to find common ground with everyone. Within three minutes of sitting down he was telling people about the SDCC booth, the Geekscape Podcast Network, and had a business card from some local stand up comedian.

The ride itself was pretty chill and was my first time on a several-hour train ride that wasn’t bursting-at-the-seams crowded (which was just taking me to work, as well). It featured seats, wifi (which actually works pretty well, unlike the wifi on BC Ferries), air conditioning, and a table that I could put my iPad on so I could keep working. 10/10 would train again.

It wasn’t the prettiest view, but it was still a cool time.

From the San Diego station, we walked over to our hotel at the Hilton Bayfront (right beside the convention centre, aw yiss), checked in (where Matt Kelly got some weird story from a girl named Kelli that used to be Kelly), turned the air conditioning to the lowest that it could possibly go to, and then went to meet Jonathan and Heidi at ROCKIN’ FUCKING BAHA.

I had mango salsa, it was phenomenal. I also ordered a beer and didn’t realize that it would be massive (25oz), and instead of eating the tacos that I normally get a spent like $4 more and had a weird bucket that included lobster, steak, shrimp, chicken, and corn on the cob. Fucking delicious.

I can’t wait for more mango salsa.

We all made our way back to the hotel, and Jonathan quickly passed out for a super loud nap. By this time, Courtney had arrived at the airport, dropped her stuff off at her home for the week, and was waiting in the lobby of the Hilton Bayfront. I went down to the lobby instead of subjecting her to Jonathan’s snoring, and we caught up for a bit before deciding to grab a drink.

Courtney had a Maple Old Fashioned, and I grabbed some sort of Amber Ale that I can’t remember the name of (the waitress even upgraded me to a larger size for free because she couldn’t remember what I ordered). Of course, the very second that Courtney’s tiny drink and my Dwayne-Johnson-in-SKYSCRAPER sized beer arrived, Jonathan texted me to let me know that it was time to set up the booth.

We went into the Convention Centre (it’s pretty freaking cool getting early access to the show floor in order to see everything being built) and put the booth together before shooting a small El Chucho short to kick off the Seed and Spark Crowdfunding Campaign for the Stalking LeVar short film that is about to launch.

Following the booth build, we took things pretty easy for the rest of the night. Jonathan, Heidi, Courtney, Gui, Matt, and I went to Lolita’s Mexican Restaurant near PetCo Park for some food (I was still pretty full, so I just had a couple of small Taquitos and a bunch of water), and following that Matt, Courtney and I decided to go to a grocery store to grab some hotel room supplies before turning in for the night. I grabbed a case of 24 bottles of water (for like $2, instead of the $3.50 the hotel wanted for a single one), some coconut water for when I wake up each morning (to keep me hydrated, obviously), and a few granola bars to throw in my bag so that I eat those instead of spending like $40US on a pretzel.

The day felt so relaxed. The Gaslamp district was empty, we didn’t have to wait for what felt like hours to get food, and nearly all of the incredible-looking offsite events were still being built. Wednesday brings preview night, and press previews for a bunch of events that I’m beyond excited for (like LAIKA Live, which remains one of my most anticipated events of the entire week).

Wednesday

After fighting to fall asleep for what felt like hours (until I finally hopped out of bed to grab some earplugs), I eventually passed out and slept in until about 8am. When I woke up everyone else had already left the room aside from Matt, who had already showered and was watching this week’s RAW beside me.

I showered, had a quick chat with Mikaela, and Matt and I made our way to breakfast. We both had some eggs, bacon, and pancakes before walking over to the FYE Pop-Up at the Horton Plaza (look for photos from the shop right here). I found a rad GLOW shirt that I had every intention of buying, but there was only an L (which was too short) and an XXL (which was far too wide). I asked an employee if they had more in the back, and the guy said that everything they had was on the shelf. I said “So it’s only Wednesday and you have like four Glow shirts left?” and the guy kind of just shrugged and walked away. This was definitely a little disappointing, but the place was filled with cool stuff, and was packed with people to the point where it was hard to take photos of some of the offerings.

Side note – sorry about the IMGUR banners from here on out. Geekscape is having major issues uploading images at this time.

Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to walk a few more blocks to the Castle Rock installation that was still being set up at the Children’s Museum park. The area was pretty fenced off and was still mostly being built, but what we saw at this point was freaking awesome – they build a fucking house first of all, there was a car in the fountain, a creepy figure (Georgie?) and a memorial to Georgie (that was too fenced off to get a good photo of at this point). Amazing. We also saw a Stranger Things train station, but we couldn’t get too close at this point as a local news station had taken over the area.

Somehow I convinced Matt to get on one of these rental motorized scooters that are everywhere in San Diego at this point. I don’t think that these existed at last year’s convention, but it was pretty hard to walk 30 feet without seeing one. We used Lime, and it was so convenient and inexpensive. The scooters are $1 to unlock, and then $.15 per minute after that. You push off to start, and then the handlebars show have a ‘Go’ and ‘Stop’ switch to accelerate or brake. The scooters travel way faster than I expected them to, and they were a fun and fast way to get back to our hotel. I even managed a selfie while riding, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matt look so excited in my life.

After arriving back at the hotel, I wrote up my FYE piece before meeting up with Courtney. We chatted for awhile before heading back to the convention centre to pick up my badge (which took a total of like four seconds somehow), and then decided that it was time for lunch at… Rockin’ Baha of course! At this point, I wondered just how many times we would hit up the same restaurant before the week was over.

Next up was the first official event of the week, FutureTechLive! This event is open through Sunday, and is located on the second floor of the Omni Hotel. Here, there were a bunch of VR experiences to try, a neat Overwatch photo op (I definitely lost my balance on this one, as the platform we stood on spun around) that netted you an exclusive Overwatch pin once you completed it, and some Bitcoin and other coin vendors. We played a game called Star Wars Jedi Challenge which was a stand-alone headset, lightsaber, and tracking ball thing, where you fight different Star Wars villains with your lightsaber. It was kind of fun, but felt pretty janky, and the field of view on the headset (which was powered by your phone) was quite poor – you would turn your head naturally in order to see where Darth Maul (or whatever villain you were fighting) was, and all of a sudden everything would go blank. It’s also $200 which feels like a lot for what it is. It felt a little bit like Wii launch title Red Steel, but that game is like ten years old and the Wii did way more for your money. We also played a pretty cool four-player cooperative title that was demonstrating a technology called HoloGate. The game we played was a simple first-person shooter that has the four players shooting easy drones and robots, followed by some larger robots and dragons and stuff. The round lasted about five minutes, and while it was simple I probably had a smile on my face the whole time. The setup was pretty neat, and it was really cool having a system to hold the VR wiring (and to keep it safe) while you moved around in the virtual space. We checked out a couple of other things before it was time for me to head to the Hilton Gaslamp for a preview of the DC Universe offsite event.

There is a lot of incredible stuff at San Diego Comic-Con. The offsite events get more and more elaborate every year, and up to today the coolest activation ever remained the Godzilla Encounter from 2013 (read my coverage of that event right here). It’s freaking Preview Night 2018, and tonight I attended not one, but two events that may have surpassed it.

The first was the aforementioned DC Universe offsite. It’s here to represent the aptly titled DC Universe app and subscription service, which should launch in beta in the next few weeks, and in full this Fall. The service is kind of like Marvel’s long running Marvel Unlimited service for digital comics, except that DC Universe includes not only comics, but DC films, television series, animated features, and even some original content like the upcoming live-action Titans series (the costumes from which were on display at the exhibit) and way way more. DC Legend Jim Lee said that the event itself was meant to act as a sort of physical representation of the DC Universe app, and the location was filled with concept art, real props from the Batman movies (like a giant rubber duck, Mr. Freeze’ freeze ray, and the freakin Batmissile), stations where you could try the app out, food, and way more. Inside the building you could find things like “Harley Quinn’s Chaos Room”, in which you suited up in protective gear, donned a baseball bat, and smashed things for 45 seconds, and there was even a small Swamp Thing activation in which an actor took you through the “swamp” while things jumped out at you. You’ll tap into each experience using an RFID bracelet, and a link will be texted to you so you can see photos, videos, and more of you in each piece of the experience. Pretty cool, and pretty seamless.

The DC Universe offsite is open through Sunday, and is an amazing time. You can look for my full write-up on the event on the site sometime tomorrow, but for now you’ll have to settle for just a few photos that are posted above.

The last stop of the evening was an invitational preview to the LAIKA Live offsite that I first wrote about a few days ago. This event was literally heaven. Life-sized versions of Coraline, the Other Mother, Kubo, Sparky, and Norman wandered around the event taking photos with patrons as they chatted and consumed the wonderful food and drink provided. The food really amazed the hell out of me, as it was all themed after different LAIKA properties, and the cupcakes were even decorated with artwork of the distinct hair of numerous LAIKA characters. This, by the way, was only the entrance of the experience. Once inside, you could stare in absolute amazement at actual sets from Coraline and The Boxtrolls, sit in a life-sized version of the Other Mother’s living room, chat with actual LAIKA animators (where I learned that the now rarely used art of stop motion is still evolving, and in the upcoming LAIKA feature Missing Link, they’ve actually added the ability for the puppets to breathe. The whole thing sounds incredible.

Teri Hatcher, the Other Mother herself even showed up in order to help kick off the event and to help celebrate Coraline‘s tenth anniversary. She even saw a little girl out on the street selling giant suckers for a charity called Child Hunger Sucks, brought the girl inside, and let her tell everyone about what the organization does. Pretty freaking amazing. LAIKA Live is in the old Dick’s Last Resort locale, and is also open through Sunday at 6PM. The offsite even has a ton of amazing merchandise for sale (I need more money), and will even have the store open separately so that you don’t have to wait in line for hours and hours if you just want to buy things. That said, LAIKA Live is worth waiting hours and hours for.

Just like with DC Universe, you can look for more from LAIKA Live right here on Geekscape tomorrow!

Now, however, it’s midnight and I need to crash! Tomorrow kicks off with the Mattel / WWE Panel to mark the first full day of SDCC 2018!

Thanks for reading!

SDCC 2018: Go Broke At The Horton Plaza FYE Pop-Up Shop!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 18, 2018

Last year I had an incredible time at Horton Plaza during San Diego Comic-Con.

First up, I had my first taste of Panda Express there. The orange chicken made my life complete, and I can’t wait to head back for another round this year.

FYE had not one, but TWO pop-up shops last year. One had a variety of FYE offerings, including soundtracks, shirts, exclusive Funko Pop figures, and so much more, while the other was a WWE exclusive store, featuring toys, title belts, cereal, Money In The Bank briefcases, and pretty much every WWE product under the sun.

FYE has returned to Horton Plaza for another pop-up shop this year. This one isn’t WWE specific (though it still has WWE items), but the convention hasn’t even started yet and I’m already about to go broke by shopping at this store.

Seriously, this place is amazing.

It’s also packed. Matt and I visited after breakfast this morning at 11am or so, and the store had a massive line. The Freddy Krueger Funko Pop cereal was flying off the shelves, and apparently they only had four Glow shirts left because the guy working there couldn’t find my size (though I don’t think he really looked, either).

The pop-up even has some artist signings during SDCC:

Thursday, July 19:
Jason Freeny: 6pm – 7pm
Ron English: 7pm – 8pm

Friday, July 20:
Allison Cimino (Rock Love Jewelry): All Day
Jason Freeny: 6pm – 7pm
LIGHTS: 8pm – TBD

Dave Porter From Breaking Bad: 12:00 – 1:00pm

Saturday, July 21:
Andrew Bell: 5pm – 6pm
Jason Freeny: 6pm – 7pm

Sunday, July 22:
Jason Freeny: 6pm – 7pm

Take a look at some of what’s up for sale via my photos below, and be sure to let us know if you plan to attend! The pop-up is open until 9PM on July 22nd!

Man, that Glow shirt (and maybe lipstick for Mikaela), and those Transformers / Ready Player One records really spoke to me.

PS – Sorry for the Imgur links. Geekscape is having major issues uploading images currently!

SDCC 2018: LAIKA Live Returns To San Diego With (Possibly) Derek’s Most Anticipated Event!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 10, 2018

Briefly: I cannot freaking wait.

Last year, Natalie was completely enthralled by what LAIKA had to show off at their Comic-Con offsite. Seeing her photos and hearing her talk of the event made me super excited to catch it myself… unfortunately, I never made it through the doors.

But that’s okay! LAIKA is back in the Gaslamp this year (in fact, even before SDCC begins) with another offsite installation, this time in a new location that’s THREE TIMES the size of last years phenomenal offering.

The exhibit will show off props, puppets, and sets from award winning LAIKA films like Coraline, The Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and (my favorite) Kubo and the Two Strings.

Naturally, there’ll also be giveaways, a LAIKA store (including some limited edition merch), and Coraline and the Other Mother will also be wandering around the Gaslamp Quarter, posing for photos in celebration of Coraline‘s tenth anniversary (it’s hard to believe that it’s already been that long).

If you’re headed to San Diego early, you’ll watch to check out this sure-to-be-a-highlight event before the crowds arrive. LAIKA Live is at 350 5th Ave, with hours as follows:

You can bet that I’ll be at LAIKA Live as soon as I possibly can be, camera in hand. Look for photos and impressions next week, and read of for some of the event’s upcoming highlights, straight from LAIKA!

Saturday, July 21st:
11am: LAIKA President & CEO Travis Knight (director of Kubo and the Two Strings) will take Facebook Live guests on a tour of the exhibit. (Details tba)

12:30 to 2:00pm: Autograph signing session with Travis Knight. Autographs of merchandise (available at the store at LAIKA LIVE) will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, time permitting.

WHAT TO SEE at LAIKA LIVE:

– Sets, puppets, props and technology demonstrations from all four LAIKA films as well as our hero puppet and a set from the studio’s upcoming Missing Link.
– LAIKA merchandise available for purchase.
– Daily drawing for one pair of collectible Coraline Dunks from Nike.
– Photo ops with LAIKA costume characters, including, Coraline and Other Mother from Coraline, Norman and Zombie Judge from ParaNorman, Boxtrolls Fish and Sparky from The Boxtrolls, Kubo, Monkey and Beetle from Kubo and the Two Strings, and Mister Link from Missing Link

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 159 – “You Look Like A Really Out Of Shape Ryan Reynolds”

by Derek KraneveldtJune 29, 2018

The dynamic duo of Josh and Derek return this week for a sultry conversation about video games!

THIS WEEK:

Josh finally had some time off so he played A LOT of video games. He even finished Shadow of the Colossus and ranks all of the Team ICO titles.

Derek is… getting kind of bored of God of War? He also talks about his experience at the Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo, and playing the only known Nintendo / PlayStation Prototype! ONLY on the Geekscape Games Podcast!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/geekscape-games-level-159-you-look-like-a-really-out-of-shape-ryan-reynolds

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

Outro: Country Roads – ???

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 157.5 – “Believe It Or Not, We’re Watching E3 – Part 2”

by Derek KraneveldtJune 15, 2018

Join Derek, Josh, and SPECIAL GUEST Shane as they discuss this week in video games.

THIS WEEK (again):

The E3 press conferences are in full swing! Derek, Josh, and Shane discuss what worked and what didn’t across the Square-Enix (yawn), Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo press conferences!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/level-1575-believe-it-or-not-were-watching-e3-2018-part-2

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 157 – “Believe It Or Not, We’re Watching E3 – Part 1”

by Derek KraneveldtJune 11, 2018

Join Derek, Josh, and SPECIAL GUEST (and previous contest winner) Jake as they discuss this week in video games.

THIS WEEK:

The E3 press conferences are in full swing! Derek, Josh, and Jake discuss what worked and what didn’t across the EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, and Devolver conferences!

https://soundcloud.com/geekscape-games/level-157-believe-it-or-not-were-watching-e3-2018

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Geekscape Games Theme Song: Winter Frosts – MmcM

This week’s outro: SpongeBob Closing Theme – Steve Belfer

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Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘State Of Decay 2’

by Derek KraneveldtMay 17, 2018

I’m not big on open world games.

I’ve said it many, many times on the Geekscape Games Podcast (as well as in my written work over the past six years), but it takes a truly special open world experience to hold my interest and to keep me motivated through the vast quantity of hours required to realize all that these gigantic worlds have to offer.

Very few games in the genre have gripped me over the years; Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto 5, The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are the only really memorable titles that come to mind (and it’s a little tough to compare a series like State of Decay to some of the games in that list). Typically I’ll play through the opening missions or until the game really opens up before I get bored or overwhelmed, and simply… never play the game again.

I had a brief affair with the first State of Decay shortly after the Year One Survival Edition released for Xbox One. I played the game for somewhere between seven and ten hours, and thoroughly enjoyed much of my (albeit short) time with it. I quickly became invested in the storyline for Marcus, who returned from a weekend fishing trip to find out that the world had ended and that the undead had taken over. I jumped in and out of State of Decay here and there, and while I enjoyed the aspect of needing to ensure that your small (but growing) community had the resources that it needed to be successful, it absolutely infuriated me that those necessary resources continued to deplete (at a slower rate) while you weren’t even playing. I typically play games in fairly short sessions, and I simply felt like each and every time I tried to jump into State of Decay, I’d have just enough time to stop my settlement from imploding before I’d need to stop again — I rarely felt a sense of progress, and eventually lost my motivation to continue altogether.

Last week I began playing State of Decay 2, and holy hell am I motivated to keep playing in this world (even if I’m not always exactly sure why).

‘State of Decay 2’ has some TENSE interactions.

The basic mechanics in State of Decay 2 are fairly simple. You take control of a group of survivors (a group which will grow or shrink as time goes on, as death is permanent), simply trying to make the most out of what’s left. You’ll quickly fill your extremely limited inventory as you search the world for weapons, food, home improvements, and other supplies (you’ll need to collect these things to keep your settlement running as efficiently as possible, and to help with the morale of your community), and will meet other groups that may help or hinder you along the way. Each character has their own backstory, personal journey, and set of missions to keep you motivated (this mostly works, as certain storylines can feel like a bit of a chore to get through) and as it turns out, you’ll also need to switch characters often: play as the same survivor for too long and fatigue will set in, severely limiting your ability to run, fight, or do much of anything until that survivor has had an appropriate amount of rest. The game frequently feels like a balancing act, and in perfect fashion every choice you make will positively affect your life in some way, while being debilitating in another — these tough moments of choice and consequence are the times that State of Decay 2 shines the brightest, and some of the choices I’ve made have stuck with me long after I shut the game off for the day.

Unlike in the first game (which was set near the beginning of the zombie apocalypse), you begin State of Decay 2 by choosing a duo of survivors who are picking for scraps at an abandoned military encampment some eighteen months after the fall of humanity. While scavenging for supplies, you meet a few other like-minded survivors, and with that, your ragtag community is born. Your group chooses to migrate to one of three towns (each map is approximately the size of the first game, and at some point in your journey you may even want to move on to the next map as you strip the world of resources), and here your adventure begins.

Naturally, it doesn’t take long before a member of the community is bitten and infected, and here we’re introduced to one of the coolest (and most stressful) new mechanics in State of Decay 2 – the ‘Blood Plague’. Sure, there are a lot (a lot) of undead in this world, but there are also a myriad of even creepier, bloodier zombies that can wreak absolute havoc on your survivors if you’re not careful. Blood Plague zombies have glowing red eyes and are fittingly drenched in blood, and if they successfully attack you, a meter will begin to fill with each subsequent strike. Once the meter is full, that survivor contracts the Blood Plague, and is pretty much dead meat unless you can quickly find a cure (created from blood samples from numerous Blood Plague zombies).

Along with Blood Plague zombies, you’ll also encounter a number of ‘Plague Hearts’ while you’re out scavenging the world. These are gross looking, apparently smelly (based on your survivor’s observations), gory, stationary objects that spew poison, and that need to be destroyed in order to keep the Blood Plague at bay. Taking down a Plague Heart marks quite the challenge, as they can take some time to destroy (fire and explosives work better than regular attacks), and a huge quantity of Blood Plague zombies will spawn as you begin to attack it. Somehow, all of the Plague Hearts on the map are connected, and destroying one will make every Plague Heart that still exists even stronger, meaning you’ll need to bring along better skills, stronger weapons, and likely help for each subsequent Heart that you try to destroy.

As for that aforementioned help, State of Decay 2 brings an exciting new option for taking on this tough, tough world. Sure, you can enlist survivors from your group or spend your precious Influence (the game’s currency, which can be used to trade with other survivors you find in the world, to move to a bigger, better home base, or to help find resources in a pinch, for example) to hire help from neighbouring NPC groups, but this time around you’ll also be able to enlist up to three real world friends (or random people that you find on the internet) to join your game. This co-op mode sounds fun as hell (the game hasn’t launched yet, so I haven’t actually been able to give co-op a shot), but is also fairly limited. Join a friend’s game and you’ll be able to progress your survivor’s stats (shoot to get better at shooting, sprint to get better at cardio, etc), earn Influence, and collect consumables, but you won’t be able to interact with NPC’s or collect more substantial resources like rucksacks or modifications for your home base. Still, the ability to drop in and drop out without much consequence should make for some fun evenings, and it encourages you to play together regardless of your current progress in your own game. I’m in.

Surviving is more fun with friends (I hope).

I mentioned earlier that I hated managing community resources (food, medicine, ammo, etc) in the first game, almost exclusively because they continued to deplete even when you weren’t playing, and I was beyond relieved to learn that this wasn’t the case in State of Decay 2. There’s no Animal Crossing shit here – when you’re not playing, neither is the game, and you’ll return to your world in the exact state that you left it, and can get right back to whatever you were doing when you stopped playing, saving you a ton of time, a ton of resources, and a ton of frustration.

Speaking of frustration, State of Decay 2 in its current form may mark one of the most outwardly buggy experiences that I’ve ever had playing a video game. From odd white flickering lines when driving at night, to zombies frequently falling right out of the sky, to open doors that don’t register that they’re open, to being unable to clear an infestation as a zombie is stuck in a wall, you’ll likely encounter all of these within your first few hours of playing the game. On one instance, my mission was to help another survivor (and potential recruit) clear the zombies from a gas station – those zombies simply never spawned until I quit and reloaded the game. In another instance, I was completing a tougher mission in a far corner of the map, ‘Freaks’ (special, more powerful zombies like Bloaters, Screamers, Juggernauts, and Ferals) were all over the place, and a Plague Heart was just next door. I found the person (a fugitive) that I was looking for, helped him find an item that they needed to find to prove their innocence (all of this being far harder than expected due to my survivor being absolutely exhausted), and all that was left was to help them get back to their community for a fair trial. We snuck back to my vehicle, and when I tried to get in I realized that my character could no longer stand up from his crouching position or interact with anything in the environment. I tried everything that I could (slowly scrambling to a nearby ladder, performing emotes that required standing), but eventually had to quit and reload the game. Once the game loaded again, I was in the same location, but the mission was no longer active and I haven’t seen it since. Super frustrating.

I never did get to kill him (or several others like him that I’ve encountered since).

Aside from these occasional frustrations, I’m having a total blast with State of Decay 2. The game is addicting as hell, and while playing I’ll constantly think to myself “just one more supply run,” over and over and over again – you can pretty much never stop playing until you’re about to pass out from exhaustion (mirroring just how tough things can get in the game if you don’t let your survivors rest).

At times it can be unclear just what you should be focussing on next, but I suppose that’s just in the true open world nature of the game – focus on what you think is important, the supplies you need the most, or the thing that will make the biggest difference in your group. Early on in the game I came across a huge potential home base that would cost quite a bit of influence to obtain, so I spent the next few hours barely getting by, constantly running low on ammo, and breaking a ton of weapons (I didn’t spend the influence to build a workshop, which can help you repair damaged weapons and craft additional ammunition). Eventually I had the resources to make the move, and it was quickly clear that the few hours of struggle was more than worth the wait. I also had an instance early in the game where I’d received word of a group of traders with some powerful weapons who were charging far more for them than was fair. I tried to get them to make their prices more reasonable (because everyone left alive in this world deserves to feel at least somewhat safe), and they simply told me to screw off. Here, I had the choice to leave them be, continuing to gouge prices for their weapons, or to threaten to take matters into my own hands if they weren’t more fair going forward. I began to leave the establishment before thinking “I don’t think that they’ll actually attack me this early on in the game,” and turned around to persist in my demands. The group became hostile and began to open fire, and I was forced to kill the group in order to survive myself. The missions in State of Decay 2 can occasionally feel like they exist simply to give you tasks to fill your day, but there’s also the inverse, where missions like I’ve just described and the choices that you’ve made within them, will stick with you long after they’ve been completed.

The game looks and sounds fine, but it’d be hard to call it very pretty after so recently experiencing titles like Sea of Thieves (read my review here) or God of War. State of Decay 2 is a budget-priced title from a small developer, and while every aspect of its presentation has improved significantly from the first game (and its Xbox One / PC special edition), it’s simply not going to win any awards for its looks. That said, I’ve been playing on an Xbox One X, and have definitely appreciated the game’s 4K resolution and HDR support, The lighting can often be fairly striking, and as the sun sets each day it’s tough not to look at the horizon or up at the gorgeous starscape. Sound wise, the zombies sound gross, the guns sound loud (sometimes teeth-clenchingly so, like when you know you’ve just summoned a nearby horde), and the soundtrack is tense and not overused. Voice acting is another story, and while much of the game is not voice acted due to the procedural generation of many characters, when it is present you… well, pretty much just wish it wasn’t. It’s not good.

Overall, for all of the small (and occasionally larger) issues that I’ve had so far, many of which I’d imagine we’ll see taken care of in patches after launch, I am unbelievably addicted to State of Decay 2. I’m beyond excited to jump into a friend’s world once the game launches next week in order to learn just how much we can help (or hinder) one another, and with so much still to explore in this expansive world, I know there are still a myriad of memories to be made. Undead Labs has crafted a smart action survival game with a lot to love – I just hope that sooner or later the technical issues can be resolved so that the only reason you’re swearing at State of Decay 2 is because of tough zombies or your poor decisions.

State of Decay 2 shambles its way to a 3.75/5.

tl;dr

+Expansive, interesting world
+Massive improvements to the first game’s mechanics, did away with some systems that were poorly received.
+Fatigue system can make things very tense (good tense)
+Your actions (or lack of) actually feel important

-So. Many. Bugs.
-Not very pretty
-Poor voice acting
-Tutorial doesn’t provide enough explanation for some mechanics, leaving you feeling like an idiot when you realize them hours later (here’s looking at you, transferring contents from your vehicle to your supply locker)

Side note: Back in January, Microsoft noted that all future Microsoft Studios published titles would hit their inexpensive Game Pass service on the day they release. This, of course, includes future games in the Halo, Gears of War, and Crackdown series’, and it also included Sea of Thieves (review here) day and date with its launch back in March. As I mentioned above, I’ve (mostly) been having a blast with State of Decay 2 so far, but if you didn’t enjoy the first game, or you’re just not sure if an open world zombie survival title is the game for you, you can simply sign up for a free Game Pass trial and make up your own damned mind!

State of Decay 2 is also an Xbox Play Anywhere title, which means your digital purchase (or Game Pass subscription) lets you play the game across your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC. My fiancé and I have been using this feature to play Sea of Thieves together, and if my computer will run it, we might do the same thing here!