CleverNickName (129189) To Keynote PAX

Joystiq mentioned earlier this week that two-time Slashdot interview subject Wil Wheaton, world-famous blogger and writer, is scheduled to keynote this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Other headlining elements of this year's geekstravaganza include a Tokyo Games Show trip for the Omegathon winner, and another year of the 'face-melting' Minibosses as the big musical act of the event. From Gabe's Post: "We'll actually be taking a lot of steps this year to make the Omegathon a more important and interactive part of the show experience. I can't say much more about those ideas right now but I can tell you what this year's Omegathon prize will be. I think each year we've been able to out do the previous year's prize and this year is no exception. The winner of the 2007 Omegathon will receive a trip for two to the Tokyo Game Show along with $5,000 in spending money. We'll be taking care of everything for you from airfare to hotel and giving you some cash to spread around once you get there."

Comments

cool

[stoolpigeon]

i'm not really much of a gamer by most standards - but this event gets bigger and better every year. i'd love to go if i could.

Re:cool

[arbitraryaardvark]

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/
here's wil geeking out about being the headnoter,and getting a swag wii out of it.

so i'm going to be the keynote speaker at PAX . . .

Back in February, I recounted the first time I met Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade at Comicon:

I have always enjoyed Penny Arcade, because -- like pVp and Dork Tower -- it has characters I can care about and relate to while I'm laughing at myself, or them, or (usually) both.

I talked to Gabe and Tycho for a few minutes that year, did the obligatory geek out, and then got out of the way, because there were literally hundreds of fans who wanted to meet them and give them money. I guess I made an impression on them, because they featured me in one of their comics, which Gabe or Tycho drew on the plane home, and sent me via e-mail (I can't remember who and it's not really important enough to unpack e-mail archives from that long ago to find out. Also if I'm vague enough about it, maybe one of them will ping me and put me in a new comic. How's that for attention whoring?! Very nice.)

Well, they didn't put me in a new cartoon (though I'll always have this one, sniff, sniff, wipe solitary tear off cheek) but they did something that's a little bit cooler and invited me to be the keynote speaker at the 2007 Penny Arcade Expo.

"You know this is Wil Wheaton the writer and occasional actor, and not the guy from Brother Bear," I said, certain that they'd asked the wrong guy.

They assured me, via their official organizer Robert, that it wasn't a mistake. They wanted me to come speak, play games, and listen to MC Frontalot and Jonathan Coulton, and OMFG THE MINIBOSSES.

So I picked myself up off the floor, and tried to talk them out of it.

"If you make this about me being on Star Trek," I said, "it's going to piss everyone off, and we'll get the obligatory flood of 'who is that?' and 'why does Star Trek matter to a game convention?' and 'I love bacon!'"

They assured me that their demographic is older than the typical bacon-loving, Wheaton-hating 20 year-old. This wasn't about Star Trek as much as it was about my very public love of gaming, and that I shouldn't be so goddamn insecure.

I actually had to think about it for a few days. I love Penny Arcade, and I wanted to be absolutely certain that I would entertain the people who were there with something that would be relevant to their lives.

A weekend passed, and I called Robert back.

"So here's the thing: Seattle is really close for me, so I can come up and back without missing anything important at home. I also know that there's a little over one hundred people who want me to come to Seattle, according to Eventful.

"I really want to do this, but I want to be absolutely sure that I'm going to be a good match for PAX. I don't play anything like World of Warcraft, and I haven't played anything like Halo since Half Life was new. What I know and love are classic arcade and console games." I said. "In fact, other than the GTA games and Guitar Hero, I really don't play anything you'd consider 'new.' Hell, I don't even have a next-generation console . . . though I've been trying to buy a Wii since they came out, because the Virtual Console is the most awesome th-"

"I can get you a Wii," Robert said.

I dropped the phone.

I picked up the phone.

"Sorry, I dropped the phone. Are you serious?"

"It's the least we can do."

"So you're telling me that, not only will I get a Wii, but . . . I'll get a Wii from Penny fucking Arcade?!"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Dude. Uh, yeah. That'll be awesome."

After a moment's silence, he said, "so do you want to come do PAX? We'll hook you up with the Wii either way."

"I'm really nervous about appealing to the audience," I said, "but I know that I can write something entertaining about classic arcades and the significance of consol

In addition...

[E-Sabbath]

He's going to be appearing in http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/index.htm PS238 as well, as a Hollywood superhero. Issue 23. Which amuses me horribly, in a Discordian way.

How's it feel to be a superhero, Wil?

This is totally unrelated...

[StarKruzr]

... but I heard rumors of an Avengers movie at some point in the near future.

You know who would make a great Hawkeye?

Wil Wheaton.

Re:This is totally unrelated...

[j0nkatz]

I was thinking he'd make a better Ace in the upcoming Gary and Ace movie.

Minibosses are overrated.

[Night Goat]

The Minibosses are O.K., but they sound a bit too much like studio musicians. No soul, no zest in the songs. Give me The Advantage any day. They add more pizazz to the NES songs, rather than go through them relatively straight forward. Check out their second CD "Elf-Titled", it's a fun listen.

Re:Minibosses are overrated.

[elysiuan]

I liked the Minibosses alot more 5-6 years ago, I just don't think they've updated their sound very much. One band I am really excited about being at PAX is The Oneups. They are probably not to everyone's taste (their sound is a bit loungy except for certain songs) but they really rock.

I live in Olympia, already bought my PAX tickets. Going to be doing the 1-2 hour drive there and back for three days this August. Seems silly to pay for a hotel room being so close ;)

OK who all here knew

[flydpnkrtn]

OK who all here knew right off the bat just from the article name that CleverNickname was Wil Wheaton (I have my prefs set so gaming articles are oneliners)

Maybe I should get out more...

Re:OK who all here knew

[Tibor the Hun]

He used to be a regular back in the day. I haven't seen him post lately. Nor have I seen Carmack around here for a while. They probably have better things to do nowdays.

Re:OK who all here knew

[flydpnkrtn]

Bruce Perens still posts here regularly it looks like... that's the only other "old timer" type that comes to mind :/

Re:OK who all here knew

[cliveholloway]

I think you just failed Nerd 101. Better luck next semester.

Hint for the next time around: the answer to the big question rhymes with "cleric paymond". And for the tiebreaker, the answer is, "vi" (but you knew that already, I know :)

Re:OK who all here knew

[Anonymous Coward]

http://shotgun.shacknet.nu:81/slash/

Re:OK who all here knew

[Puff of Logic]

Most of us who have been around for a while (high UIDs due to constantly forgetting log-ins notwithstanding) know him. He responded quite pleasantly to a couple of inquiries I had concerning his writing (i.e. Just a Geek). As other posters have noted, however, I haven't seen him around lately.

I rather suspect that we have quite a few "big names" lurking on Slashdot who, for various reasons, choose not to reveal themselves. I can definitely understand it, but it'd be fantastic to have a forum where game devs for major companies can speak their minds without screaming hordes of fanbois/haters clogging the place. Hell, let's get a Relic, Blizzard, or Maxis forum up on the Opinion Center! I'd love to hear some straight talk from the game industry big names in a forum where the morons can be modded into oblivion.

Re:OK who all here knew

[flydpnkrtn]

I was pointing out folks that I have personally seen comment as I was browsing articles. I've seen ESR comment here maybe once or twice...

Re:OK who all here knew

[PopeRatzo]

Wait, there's a setting for that? I HATE that my game articles are oneliners. I haven't been to that settings page since the day I started here.

Thanks for the tip, flydpnkrtn.

Re:OK who all here knew

[lmnfrs]

I found his second /. interview last week, which was a good read.. So as soon as I saw the article name.. yeah, I said "Damn, shoulda bought my pass already."

Somebody in this thread wondered who else might lurk here. I'm sure there are many who use aliases, many more than the ones who are known. Slashdotters are a special breed.. There are many sites with interesting articles and smart, nerdy communities but none of them have the inherently nerdy style of Slashdot (I'm serious, I really think /. speaks to our subconscious minds in nerd).
And that green glow might have something to do with it too.

Re:OK who all here knew

[flydpnkrtn]

well at least something came out of this thread lol

Re:OK who all here knew

[Merusdraconis]

"I can definitely understand it, but it'd be fantastic to have a forum where game devs for major companies can speak their minds without screaming hordes of fanbois/haters clogging the place."

I suspect that a forum full of everyone's favourite developers would attract the screaming hordes of fanbois/haters.

And they couldn't speak their mind because as soon they do, Joystiq would cross-post it and add a snarky comment.

Re:OK who all here knew

[SighKoPath]

I'd love to hear some straight talk from the game industry big names in a forum where the morons can be modded into oblivion.

Great idea! It would be so much fun to bash on the trolls with my daedric weapons.

Aww great...

[Non-CleverNickName]

I guess I wasn't as clever as I thought I'd be when I made my screenname... :( Good thing that guy doesn't own the rights to it... ....right?

Okay?

[Cheezymadman]

And this is news why?

Good for him, I guess, but for those of us who have never even seen anything he posted, let alone actually know who he is, who cares?

Re:Okay?

[KevinKnSC]

Good for him, I guess, but for those of us who have never even seen anything he posted, let alone actually know who he is, who cares?

d- s+ ... t- ... h-- h!

Apparently that should be t---

stupidnickname

[stupidnickname]

Oh, how I wish I were clever . . .

Re:stupidnickname

[JFMulder]

What's makes this even funnier is that since your slashdot ID is in the 6 digits, it means you didn't register the name just to make an obvious joke. :)

Wil Wheaton = Wesley Crusher

[Anonymous Coward]

For those who haven't yet earned their Geek Card, Wil Wheaton is the actor who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Re:Wil Wheaton = Wesley Crusher

[Anonymous Coward]

he also played Lenny in Baby Geniuses, and Ron in Saved by the Bell: The New Class

How wonderful!

[Rob T Firefly]

It's always nice to see a fellow Slashdotter move on to find success. And to think, we all knew him when he was just... oh, wait, he was already famous? Never mind.