What are you playing: PAX Prep

GDC is over, but PAX East is on the way. Luckily, the Shack staff know how to organize their time to include at least 12 straight hours of hardcore gaming per day. Here's what the staff is up to this weekend...

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GDC 2011 has come and gone and I've made my way back home to Canada (hence the lateness of this week's WRUP). But even though the event is over, that doesn't mean the coverage has ended. There is still a ton of content you can look forward to next week from the San Fran show.

Now we set our sights on PAX East 2011. What mysteries will it bring? We'll soon see! (Though we can confirm plenty of long lines for everything.)

You'd think we'd be stressed but we're too busy playing games.

In the meantime: What are you playing? (Click any editor's name to visit their Twitter page. Follow Shacknews on Twitter for regular updates and contests.)

  • Garnett Lee: [Confirming weekends in San Francsico.]

  • Alice O'Connor: I shall purge the heretics and bring the dakka in Dawn of War 2 - Retribution.

  • Xav de Matos: Torchlight on XBLA is my go-to when I get some free time. With the amount of writing I have in my future, I'm not sure when that will be. And I'll need to re-pack my "go bag" for PAX East.

  • Jeff Mattas: [Soaking up the indie scene.]

  • Steve Watts: When I'm not trying to recover from this killer cold, I think I'll hit up Pixeljunk Shooter 2 and Beyond Good & Evil HD. It's a downloadable kind of weekend.

  • Ozzie Mejia: It's a great weekend for games: Dawn of War II - Retribution, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and (oh yeah) Pac Man Championship Edition DX.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 5, 2011 1:10 PM

    Comment on What are you playing: PAX Prep, by Xav de Matos.

    • reply
      March 5, 2011 1:10 PM

      It's a little on the late side today (sorry, travel!) but WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING?

      • reply
        March 5, 2011 5:31 PM

        I am dying to start Amnesia but I keep getting distracted by other stuff.

    • reply
      March 5, 2011 1:26 PM

      Preorder Retribution CE in January
      advicekabal.jpg
      Arrives after Dark Eldar codex update

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      March 5, 2011 1:33 PM

      I've started Alpha Protocol, but I think I may switch to something else. Just finished Mass Effect 2.

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      March 5, 2011 1:37 PM

      I gotta finish up Mass Effect 2. I'm also taking some time to look into Homefront. I know that BF3 is coming out but this game looks like it could be quite the sleeper, so I may jump into this.

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      March 5, 2011 1:39 PM

      Retribution. I just got the craziest sniper rifle. 2.7 damage at lvl 10!

      http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/540636042835417248/0A63E148B819DCF93877E443CA33907764E95366/

      Final Gift of the Artificer my ass! Also WTF is with these 16-bit-ish backgrounds in the menus? You can notice the same behind Adastria at the main menu and I've seen forum threads about it but Relic forum mods claim it is as designed.

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        March 5, 2011 2:00 PM

        Oh yeah, massive spoilers for Space Marine campaign in that shot btw... :(

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      March 5, 2011 2:05 PM

      Play more Brink and report back!

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      March 5, 2011 2:05 PM

      Crysis 2 MP Demo on the PC

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        March 5, 2011 5:03 PM

        I don't know what others are thinking, but I'm really surprised at how good the multiplayer of this game is. I'm genuinely impressed by it and am having fun :)

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          March 5, 2011 5:04 PM

          I played a few hours and am now on a blackout until the 22nd. So excited!

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          March 6, 2011 1:31 AM

          yeah it's surprisingly fun, much better than Crysis 1/warhead, im going to buy just for the MP

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        March 6, 2011 7:15 AM

        Same here, really having a great time with it.
        Can`t wait to play the campaign

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      March 5, 2011 3:23 PM

      [deleted]

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        March 5, 2011 5:05 PM

        Just finished Space Marines and am now doing IG on Very Hard. Makes a big difference from Normal.

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      March 5, 2011 5:03 PM

      Rift. Surprisingly amazing game. Beautiful visuals, detailed dungeons, solid quests, no grinding, and a lot of PVP. :)

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      March 5, 2011 5:18 PM

      Playing the Witcher. I love this game, the world feels so alive. Also playing boggle. Because that's how I roll.

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      March 5, 2011 6:26 PM

      AssCreed. Bought the Ubisoft 4 pack and I'm giving those games a try. Started with Farcry2. Didn't like it right off the bat so I'm giving AssCreed a go.

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        March 5, 2011 6:30 PM

        quick tip: just do enough small missions to unlock the assassination missions, don't try to do every small mission and collect everything or you will hate AssCreed and yourself...but it's worth it all once you move on to AssCreed2

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          March 5, 2011 6:53 PM

          ^^^ nicca knows what's up

          IIRC the Director's Cut (PC version) added the ability to fast travel between locations. USE IT. THANK ME LATER. Traveling around the world is pretty awesome at first, but by the midway point in the game you're going to fucking hate how it kills the pace.

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      March 5, 2011 6:28 PM

      playin' AssBro and the Claptrap DLC for Borderlands, just waitin' for Dragon Age 2

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      March 5, 2011 6:37 PM

      Still playing Split/Second on PS3. Made it up through Episode 6, though I've still got some work to do as far as getting 1st place in all of the races in Episodes 4-6. Going to just focus on getting 3rd or better for now and going back to clean up later; I really don't want to get burned out (there's not a whole lot of tracks and I'd like to try to revisit some of these tracks later down the line after I've unlocked more vehicles in each racing class).

      Really awesome game and I'm liking the way that the rubber band AI forces you to race a bit more strategically than I normally would. Typically I like to just run the fucking pack into the dirt, but in this one I try to keep myself in the mix, racking up my meter on drafts and drifts, trying to plan out which power plays to trigger and when. It's an interesting new way for me to play a racing game and it's so much more interesting than the classic Mario Kart "hang in second place so you don't get blue shell'd" tactic. Well that and it's more balanced than the traditional random powerup system of kart/battle racers.

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      March 6, 2011 5:35 AM

      Just beat Plants vs Zombies on the DS. What a great game that is.

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      March 6, 2011 5:38 AM

      Started Stacking! Some of the extra solutions to puzzles are hard! D:

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      March 6, 2011 5:52 AM

      Dragon Quest IX on my DS and Beyond Good & Evil HD on my 360.

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      March 6, 2011 7:51 AM

      Anyone think about revisiting games when a sequel is announced?

      I wonder if anyone is now replaying The Darkness, for example.

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        March 6, 2011 8:09 AM

        I'm currently playing Crysis 1 because Crysis 2 is around the corner!

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          March 6, 2011 8:09 AM

          Also, thinking about finishing up TorchLight today too!

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        March 6, 2011 8:10 AM

        Mass Effect I is the best example I could think of. Even more daunting though... I'm re-reading all the Song of Ice and Fire books in preparation for Dance with Dragons... and those are freaking huge books. I'm still deep into the third one right now.

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        March 6, 2011 8:11 AM

        in a similar vein I finally started DA: Awakening last night and am trying to get through it before Tuesday (which I probably won't be able to do but I think I'll be close)

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        March 6, 2011 8:12 AM

        [deleted]

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          March 6, 2011 8:15 AM

          Oblivion would be a good go-to right now. I'll probably have it all done by the time the new games rolls around!

          God, I put so much time into Oblivion.

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