PixlBit

I went to PAX East over the weekend, I went very early Saturday morning and attended the whole day and night, slept at a hotel, then up early again to spend all day Sunday. I have to say PAX is definitely my #1 thing I look forward to every year. Its such a fun and refreshing experience. Everyone is so amazing from the other attendees, to the presenters, to the enforces, and Mike and Jerry. Everyone is just being themselves and having a great time and wants everyone else to do the same. I'd say the feeling of community, fandom and comraderie is unmatched in anything else I've even been a part of.

Being a big video gamer I'm easily dazzled by the expo floor like everyone else,  but I've also played table top RPG's from D&D to Cthulhu to Shadowrun, plus dabbled in Magic and other CCG's. One thing I never played much is the dedicated board/card fantasy games like the D&D board games. At PAX I decided to say late into the night and get some tabletop gaming done. While strolling the aisles this dude came up to me and asked if I've ever played Ascension. I never heard of it but said i"d be happy to learn. We grabbed a couple more wanderers and started the game.

About half way though the demo I know this game rocked. If you never played it, its a "deck building" game. I guess its similar to the Penny Arcade card game and another similar game I never played.

Each player starts with the same starter deck, more like a "hand". You use your cards to buy or kill other cards on the board. Cards you buy get added to your deck and cards you "kill" give you points. This game gives you get the feeling of playing magic but its a fair shake for everyone since you all start with the same hand and all the cards are fair play for everyone. I like the fact it cuts out the card buying rat-race you fall into with Magic. Its also a lot faster to get started than an RPG like Dungeons & Dragons.

This game seemed to be one of the most talked about around the tables at the con. They had a new expansion not available in stores yet in playable form and everyone had very positive things to say about it. I usually don't buy anything at a con but I went home with the core set and an expansion.

I usually have something to say about a new video game I saw but I feel Ascension took the prize for me this year.

check out www.ascensiongame.com if you want to know more!

 

I also have to give a shout-out to my favorite indie game I saw. "Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby" is by the creators of AAAAaaaaAAAaaA!!!!, its similar to that game except it adds a musical element to the gameplay by using any songs in your own MP3 collection to create a virtual pattern for you to fly though. Taking risks opens more tracks and increases/decreases the speed.