This year saw my return to Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and despite the usual glory that comes from carrying a media badge, this year I was also invited to spend the day at Microsoft’s head office. Yes, I know what you are thinking, I am indeed lucky. The Community day saw 30 or so people picked up from the convention centre around 1pm and not returned until 8pm.

After a quick introduction to the event by Major Nelson and the handing out of wireless codes to avoid people getting withdrawal and the shakes, we were treated to a tour of the Microsoft campus; this included the new dedicated XBL building that only went up this past spring. The tour showed everything from Microsoft’s football fields and basket ball courts, to offices, play test labs and of course a quick stop at the company store.Once the tour was over the real fun was about to stat. Microsoft had set up some of the top games, like Left 4 Dead 2, for us all to get hands on with, included some pretty amazing panels and Q&A’s.

So here are my top 3 hands on/panels from the day….

Left 4 Dead 2 and panel with Valve.

Now I loved Left 4 Dead and since Valve don’t normally f**k up games I have to admit I was damn excited to A) not only play this game but B) not have to queue up to play it. Now if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, and this is exactly what Valve has done. Valve has kept the true essence of the original game but has added enough new content to stop it feeling like overpriced downloadable content.

The demo saw me playing as Rochelle, the Zoe counter part, in the Carnival of Doom. Now not only is ripping the horde apart with a shot gun as fun as you remember but now you get to rip them apart with melee weapons too. I assure you, there is nothing more satisfying that picking up a katana, slicing off some zombie horde head and watching the blood splatter across your screen as there body and head end up in two separate directions. Besides the katana, the baseball bat and electric guitar also prove to be just as fun. 

The three new special zombies really do change the way you play. Myself and my team mates kept close to avoid being picked off, yet before I knew it something had slammed into me knocking me off the balcony and separating me from my team. This was the Charger. Then something had jumped on my shoulders and was driving me around and straight into a group of infected, this was the Jockey. The three remaining survivors were currently pinned down dealing with the horde only to be covered in acid by the Spitter, before the Tank was there demise.

At the panel with one of the lead writers from Valve, I couldn’t help but ask what was his favourite of the new additions in Left 4 Dead 2. He replied that ‘the jockey’ was his favourite ‘because listening to your friends cackling in Vs mode as they jump on you and drive you off a cliff is priceless’. You know what? That is completely true.

Alan Wake Panel.

Now I love it when a game slips under your radar and you discover it and it leaves you with your mouth on the floor. Alan Wake did exactly this, in-fact if a friend hadn’t dragged me to the panel I still wouldn’t know of its existence.

Alan wake is a writer whose wife disappears and the only clues to her whereabouts and the strange going ons are the torn pages from the book that he doesn’t remember writing. The game is a physiological thriller and beyond atmospheric. The enemies appear to be poltergeists that can only be killed with light either from the use of the torch in you hand or from using the environment around you.

The panel saw one of the writers playing through the demo while providing running commentary. Graphically this game was superb with unbelievable detail paid to lighting and building atmosphere, which are of course this games life line. The game, while not technically a horror is defiantly scary. I have to also admit that the game did actually look quite difficult which isn’t always a bad thing. However, if you team that up with the fact you will be shit-your-pants scared I don’t think someone like me would get very far. This doesn’t stop me though because I really do want to get hands on with this game as quickly as possible to see how it feels and plays for myself.

Alan Wake is still yet to receive a launch date but the ambiguous1^st Quarter of 2010 is currently on the table.

Borderlands

Right, I am going to go out there and say my time spent playing Borderlands can only be described as a cluster f**k. I was thrown straight in with no actual explanation and I thank God that shooter controls are all roughly the same on the 360 or I would have been really screwed. Borderlands is a highly anticipated Role-playing FPS with heavy emphasis placed on co-op. Basically you run around shooting everything that moves in an attempt to search for some mysterious alien vault, with a near endless arsenal of weapons at your disposal (and it really is a near endless arsenal).

While the game can be played alone, it’s pretty obvious that the real fun is only to be had playing co-op, and like all good co-op games it is at the mercy of human stupidity. So here’s hoping you have actually friends on your friends list.

I was left feeling a bit ‘meh’ after my time with the game. Admittedly I only played for roughly 30minuites and was thrown straight in, probably not the best way to go, yet considering the amount of hype surrounding this game I can’t help but feel that I must have missed the point.Yet I am sure when this game launches and all my friends are playing it, I will defiantly be joining in. I can’t say no to some good co-op with friends.

To wrap all this up, I am going to go out there and say that Microsoft provided the best chocolate brownies ever. EVER.