If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it billions of times. Whenever someone mentions Dragon*Con in a public forum, the crowd invariably mentions PAX or Gen Con or Comic Con or any one of 1000 other conventions/media events out there.
First, watch this video…
Now, here are some major differences between Dragon*Con and “everybody else”…
GenCon is gaming, only gaming, nothing but gaming. They are the Mac-Daddy gaming convention, and they do gaming very well. They do not, however, have concerts, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Costuming, or any of the other “3 hotels worth of stuff” that Dragon*Con does.
Penny Arcade Expo, is run for gaming companies, by gaming companies, and caters to an established audience. If you are a computer or console gamer, this is a great convention. If, however, you want to have drinks with celebrities, or are not a hardcore gamer. PAX isn’t for you.
Comic-Con focuses on Sci-Fi and (duh) Comics. You’ll have a pretty good chance of seeing celebrities there (since it’s located near Los Angeles and New York) and there is a correspondingly large media presence there.
There is only one convention that does “all of the above”. There’s only one convention that isn’t so hip-deep in advertising and sponsorship dollars that you can save yourself the trouble and just download press-releases all day. There’s only one convention that boasts 24-hour, round-the-clock, non-stop “stuff to do”. There’s only one convention that is run by fans, for fans.
Yeah, I realize that I’m going to run out of sequel titles to use in these posts and that I’ll be repeating myself soon. I’ll deal with that problem when I get there.
It’s been a crazy week in the land of SnarkCast, and Krys and Grim have already been overtaken by events given that we recorded this podcast before:
The Dragon*Con Staff Meeting last weekend.
Blizzard was allowed to partially re-launch WoW in China.
Oh well, them’s the breaks. In any event, enjoy the podcast (show notes are included after the jump). Thanks for listening, and we’ll be recording a new podcast very soon.
After a month off to tend to various injuries (Krys hurt her wrist, and Grim busted up his knee), Krys and Grim are back with another SnarkCast. Everyone and everything is fair game for our snarktastic duo this time around. If you, or the game you love, find yourselves in our cross-hairs, take solace in the fact that you aren’t alone. We snark because we love. (Except Gold Farmers, nobody likes those little idiots.)
To be honest, the D*C MMO title wasn’t working for us. Well, that and can you imagine what it’s like trying to edit out at least half of what we’re saying? Brutal – especially when you’re dealing with a messed-up hand.
Thus, we opted to reimagine the entire podcast, and have rebranded it SnarkCast. In this, our official first edition of SnarkCast, we discuss D*C MMO bidness, sure – but we also wander across the landscape from MMO drama to just what the heck is wrong with FreeRealms. Add in a healthy dose of Hentai, and you have the first-ever SnarkCast.
Admittedly, the engineering on this one is a bit rough, but we’re still working that out. As always feedback, suggestions, or gifts of chocolate-covered espresso beans are welcome!
There hasn’t been a whole lot of DC*MMO activity this week. Our second podcast is in the can and will be posted any day now. We have started talking with Reakktor about having them present their upcoming game Black Prophecy, and we hope to have them on-board soon.
This week, we’ll be talking with Blizzard, 38 Studios, and Netdevil again in attempts to get them on board. We are also working on some events with our friends at Battle & Brew, a local gaming pub in Atlanta. We’ll be providing additional details on that in upcoming weeks.
Finally, we spoke with Funcom last week, and they have got a lot of plans for Dragon*Con this year. We are adding a Friday Night Party to the schedule, and they’ll be presenting panels on Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and possibly a panel on their upcoming title as well. They will also be providing some prizes for our contests and live-action quest as well.
Now that Dragon*Con is only a couple more months away, we’ll be updating the site more frequently. Stay tuned.
Those of you who were fortunate to listen to Kevin and Krystalle’s first Dragon*Con MMORPGpodcast a few weeks ago might have caught the fact that Felicia Day, creator and star of The Guild, was looking to attend our little corner of the geek universe this year (you might also know her from a few of her “side projects” – Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog and the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer). Well it looks we’re one step closer to seeing Kevin’s prediction become a reality. While she hasn’t appeared on the main page of the Dragon*Con site as of this writing, her bio is now showing up on the current guest list.
Ms. Day is a self-professed avid gamer and wrote The Guild based on her own experiences playing World of Warcraft. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend checking the series out. Chances are you’ll be reminded of someone you know…maybe even yourself (the first one of you that compares me to Vork is totally getting a 50 DKP minus).
Those of you who are fans of Ms. Day should also keep an eye out on the Whedon Track site to see what they have planned for her there as well!
Hi guys, sorry I missed last week, but life has been a bit chaotic at Casa de Grim.
Our schedule is starting to come together. NetDevil, makers of the upcoming release Jumpgate: Evolution, is very interested in attending Dragon*Con and we are working to confirm their participation for this year.
We have also received favorable response from 38 Studios, and they are looking to send some heavy hitters to Dragon*Con this year. I would say who, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise just yet.
We are also working on putting together our prize packages for all of our various contests and games. I don’t think you guys will be disappointed.
The podcast will be out later this week. Krystalle has one hell of an editing job ahead of her if she plans on making me sound halfway decent.
For the latest and greatest information, check the podcast as we have scattered all kinds of interesting tidbits for your enjoyment.
Yeah, I know we were supposed to have a new podcast up today. We’re going to be running a bit late because Krys is under the weather and I’m knee-deep in day job.
Hopefully, we’ll be recording tonight and able to get the finished product up for you on Monday.
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