I know PAX has been over for over a week but a couple of things I noticed about Square-Enix's first PAX booth has spurred me to post this thread.
Now, the big thing they were advertising was Final Fantasy XIV, though Front Mission Evolved had a decent setup as well. Kane and Lynch 2, the new DS Kingdom Hearts and a new Final Fantasy for the DS were also given play stations (really couldn't think of a better term), while Deus Ex Human Revolution, one of the most impressive games that was being shown off at the show in my opinion, was just looping a trailer on a lone, not very big, monitor. While I suppose I can understand the set up for the rest of the games, Front Mission Evolved getting multiple stations specifically because they were showing off the multiplayer, Deus Ex on its own with little hype really bugs me. To better explain, Duke Nukem Forever, one of the most long-awaited games of all time, had advertised front and center, granted it was Gearbox's major game. Final Fantasy XIV likewise will always have a nostalgia draw due to the sheer number of games the series has produced. But Deus Ex 3, Deus Ex 1 being one of possibly the most revolutionary games of all time, seemed to more or less get the shaft. The only saving grace here was there was a live demo at the Square Enix panel. I can get how they may not want to make the game playable for Expo hall wanderers due to the game's complexity but again, outside of the panel it felt pretty much underplayed to the point of trying to bury it.
Now, the Deus Ex complaint is not my main reason for starting this thread. No no, the real reason is this little anecdote I've decided to share because, really, it still pisses me off. So Square-Enix has been advertising you can create a character for XIV at their booth and they'll give you a custom USB drive to save the character on to take home and use in the beta. I haven't really been checking out XIV so I figured this would be my chance to judge it. I didn't have high hopes for it since it was an MMO and I tend to dislike those (just the kind of gamer I am) but I figured what the hell, I can get a free USB drive. So I wait in a one man line for about eight minutes and then get ready to make my character. I'm about halfway through the process and then a SE booth worker (I'll just call him an employee from now on) comes up to me with two people in street clothes in tow and asks me to get off so he can show the game to them. I'm puzzled but I figure he's media and since I had over an hour to kill, which still wasn't enough to stand in line for Dragon Age II or Duke Nukem Forever, I figured I could wait ten minutes, maybe even get the guy the employee was showing the game to to quote me for an article or whatever. I then quickly realized that the guy the employee had given priority to over me was, in fact, just another generic expo hall wanderer. Yes, I'd been bumped from waiting in line to play so another guy with no apparent reason to go ahead of me could play instead. I ended up standing there for five minutes and even tweeted about it a couple of times until finally the two people the emlpoyee had favored over me left and actually engaged me in conversation. He didn't explain why he'd bumped me for the two other people, but I shrugged it off and commented that it was fine, I was just looking to make a character to take home. Then the guy dropped the bombshell that he'd just given away the last USB drive to the two people that had just left. Amazingly I didn't snap at the guy, because I really don't like getting uppidy when people have the power to call over enforcers and get you kicked out. So given my mood I'm sure you're not surprised I was really unimpressed with the game, demanding nearly half an hour of my life back.
So I thought I'd get some thoughts here. Anyone have a theory on why I was bumped, if it made sense for them to do that, or was it just a dick move?
Now, the big thing they were advertising was Final Fantasy XIV, though Front Mission Evolved had a decent setup as well. Kane and Lynch 2, the new DS Kingdom Hearts and a new Final Fantasy for the DS were also given play stations (really couldn't think of a better term), while Deus Ex Human Revolution, one of the most impressive games that was being shown off at the show in my opinion, was just looping a trailer on a lone, not very big, monitor. While I suppose I can understand the set up for the rest of the games, Front Mission Evolved getting multiple stations specifically because they were showing off the multiplayer, Deus Ex on its own with little hype really bugs me. To better explain, Duke Nukem Forever, one of the most long-awaited games of all time, had advertised front and center, granted it was Gearbox's major game. Final Fantasy XIV likewise will always have a nostalgia draw due to the sheer number of games the series has produced. But Deus Ex 3, Deus Ex 1 being one of possibly the most revolutionary games of all time, seemed to more or less get the shaft. The only saving grace here was there was a live demo at the Square Enix panel. I can get how they may not want to make the game playable for Expo hall wanderers due to the game's complexity but again, outside of the panel it felt pretty much underplayed to the point of trying to bury it.
Now, the Deus Ex complaint is not my main reason for starting this thread. No no, the real reason is this little anecdote I've decided to share because, really, it still pisses me off. So Square-Enix has been advertising you can create a character for XIV at their booth and they'll give you a custom USB drive to save the character on to take home and use in the beta. I haven't really been checking out XIV so I figured this would be my chance to judge it. I didn't have high hopes for it since it was an MMO and I tend to dislike those (just the kind of gamer I am) but I figured what the hell, I can get a free USB drive. So I wait in a one man line for about eight minutes and then get ready to make my character. I'm about halfway through the process and then a SE booth worker (I'll just call him an employee from now on) comes up to me with two people in street clothes in tow and asks me to get off so he can show the game to them. I'm puzzled but I figure he's media and since I had over an hour to kill, which still wasn't enough to stand in line for Dragon Age II or Duke Nukem Forever, I figured I could wait ten minutes, maybe even get the guy the employee was showing the game to to quote me for an article or whatever. I then quickly realized that the guy the employee had given priority to over me was, in fact, just another generic expo hall wanderer. Yes, I'd been bumped from waiting in line to play so another guy with no apparent reason to go ahead of me could play instead. I ended up standing there for five minutes and even tweeted about it a couple of times until finally the two people the emlpoyee had favored over me left and actually engaged me in conversation. He didn't explain why he'd bumped me for the two other people, but I shrugged it off and commented that it was fine, I was just looking to make a character to take home. Then the guy dropped the bombshell that he'd just given away the last USB drive to the two people that had just left. Amazingly I didn't snap at the guy, because I really don't like getting uppidy when people have the power to call over enforcers and get you kicked out. So given my mood I'm sure you're not surprised I was really unimpressed with the game, demanding nearly half an hour of my life back.
So I thought I'd get some thoughts here. Anyone have a theory on why I was bumped, if it made sense for them to do that, or was it just a dick move?