Indiana Comic Con: Preview

Good Evening Indy,

With the convention beginning this Friday, I wanted to do a preview of the convention. Let’s begin with the concerns I have seen so far!

Ticketing: Cost for one day and three day passes are relatively cheap for a convention, unfortunately with Ticketmaster Fees and other processing fees, a one day ticket will cost you almost 32 dollars instead of the 20! The convention organizers have already admitted that this is a fault and plans on going with another ticket provider in 2015.

Considering the issue with fees, I thought I might just want to purchase at box office to bypass the fees, unfortunately the convention organizers posted that only a finite amount of tickets would be available at the box office each day. Saturday they will open at 8:15 AM, almost two hours before doors will open, to begin box office sales. This means you better show up early. With this happening I feel like I’m being forced to purchase my tickets ahead of time and get stuck with the fees. 

Social Media: To me this was a huge miss on the convention’s part. All year long you might have noticed that Fackbook is starting to lose followers (according to News Agencies)….so please tell me why your biggest means of spreading information is on Facebook? Twitter is being extremely underutilized for announcements, and I have to say the webpage is a bit cheesy! 

Spider Man dancing with the Colt’s Cheerleaders? That’s all I can say.

PLEASE NOTE:

Even though Facebook is the main media for information, they are using right. Constantly updating the page with new guests and events that are planned.

Time Event: This is one that could go either way. The Big Ten tournament (A Indiana Classic) will be taking place this weekend as well. This causes a large shortage of hotel rooms for out of state guests and a lack of parking (with higher prices). At the same time, interested fans could boost sales and increase audience size!

Now lets talk about those positives!

Excitement Factor: This is Indiana’s first Comic Con. They are setting the bar for all other conventions that are comic/entertainment based here in Indy. This brings a sense of excitement that is just to hard to crush. Seriously, I have been waiting for this weekend for some time (Pretty sure my wife is ready for it to be over). 

 

Lineup: This is a new Con, and for being a new con the lineup is impressive.  With Evan Peters,  Caity Lotz, Maisie Williams, Daniel Cudmore and tons of great artists I can easily say that this lineup proves credibility of the Con. What is great about growing conventions is that every year more guests will come and more fun for all! And I think Indiana Comic Con is on the right track.

Panels: At most large Cons across the Midwest, panels are usually celebrities talking about the tv shows/ movies they have appeared in or are currently working on. Besides this, you get a hit or miss scenario of panels. Indiana Comic Con though has a wide array of panels with many interesting topics that I am extremely excited for.  Two to really keep your on eyes on for Saturday are Superhero Story Time and Indy Podcasting!

What are your concerns about the Con this weekend? Please share thoughts in the Comment section or @Shwoodylove

Look forward to a full review of the Con on Sunday after I attend where I will update what I find about my concerns and positives!

Until next time Indy!

Kyle @Shwoodylove

Irrational Fears?

 Good Evening Everyone!

I posted through Twitter a few weeks ago about completing the newest BioShock in less than 24 hours, something I haven't honestly done since college! I enjoyed the game through the entirety and cannot wait to download episode one of the DLC and for episode two to be released soon!

But.......

As many avid fans have heard, as of last week Irrational Studious laid off roughly 75 employees to create a new,  smaller, more entrepreneurial studio under Take-Two. A new studio where creator Ken Levine can focus on smaller, narrative work that will be released digitally.

Now thankfully this studio is not a Indie firm, otherwise we could have kissed goodbye any chance of a new Bioshock in the near future.......it's just that Ken's team put the time and effort in creating a well made game....most likely Take-Two will not take that much time........which brings us full circle.

The real reason why Irrational Studios "closed".




 I honestly do believe Ken's team wants to focus on creative and well designed games, although they may be smaller projects. It's simple, a game was made over a seven year span and did not sell enough copies to keep the big producer happy.

Obviously this is the right choice financially, considering the Video Game industry is a business.

Is it is the right choice for the gamers though?

We as gamers are living in an age of fantastic, cutting edge technology, and creative gaming development....but there is clear shift from innovative gaming to producing agencies and studios that pump out big name titles(Usually Sequels) either yearly or bi-annually. I honestly feel that this has crippled the aspect of gaming.


What games are you excited about this year? A typical question right? It seems the answer is almost identical between the years. A Halo (Type) Game, Call of Duty, Batman (Even though I like the series), any sports or racing. Those are the big games, the games everyone looks forward to. I can't blame the hype, all of these titles or genres produce decent games with additive multiplayer. Just like you might always order the General Tso's chicken at your favorite Chinese restaurant, why try something new when you know the General Tso’s is delicious. And the producers and studious (not all) see this and continue to pump new titles with the tweaks to the system so that we will continue to stuff our faces…..figuratively.

My fear is not a financially strapped video game industry due to long, drawn out production, my fear is the material and development of games being produced by big market gaming. I fear a gaming console that controls all aspect of entertainment, games that are continuously built off their predecessor, a game that relies on multiplayer and not narrative. I fear the current path the industry is heading on.

Now I would be a complete liar and ass if I would sit here and type all this without saying that I  have played these games too. Everyone does! That does not mean that when I get that one rare gem, that one game that changes the boundaries of gaming that I wouldn't prefer that over anything else on market.

Luckily, I know that I am not the only video gamer who has these fears. Look at steam, a whole community that encourages the creation of creative and innovative gaming......and it's wonderfully cheap

And I can't forget Kickstarter; several groups daily are presenting their ideas and dreams of producing their first title.(Although a whole other story could be said about Kickstarter!)

At the end though, the big titles are needed. They are the games that bring in the money. They keep the industry floating and are the only reason small studious even begin, but if creativity of a game is capped at seven years, we may be in trouble.




What games do you believe were a rare gem of creativity? What direction do you wish to see the video game to go in?

Please share your thoughts below in the comments or of course tweet over @Shwoodylove

Until next time!

Kyle

@ShwoodyLove

And the Countdown Begins!

Can you believe it? Almost three weeks away until the Con season begins in the Circle City!

And first up........

Wooooohooooo!


I always am super excited when it gets down to the wire, not just because the event is almost here but for the convention updates! What a feeling when you check the webpage to find events instead of a "Coming Soon" text. Finally, you can begin to plan the days and get amped about the exciting times ahead!

Originally, I planned to attend the First day of the Con (Friday), but I have changed my initial mindset  and believe I'm going to attended Saturday solely on the lineup and opportunities that will be available that day!

I have three panesl I definitely plan on attending:

1. Masie Williams: I can not wait to attended this panel. We not only get to see a star of the show, but to see a character that hopefully can answer questions so close to the new season!

2.Super Hero Story Time: This looks to be a very cool panel. Especially after reading a story earlier this year about Marvel. http://marvel.com/news/comics/2012/5/30/18801/meet_the_blue_ear

3.Indy Podcasting Panel: This is one I will not miss! As a new comer to blogging and hopes to move to podcasting/youtube, I want to gain any knowledge and tips on sharing to the masses!

And of course, I will be busy visiting awesome vendors, playing games, and meeting artists to fill in the day!

What is everyone else looking forward to? Let me know what you are most excited about through comments or even tweeting @ShwoodyLove

Until Next time Indy!

Kyle
@ShwoodyLove

This is not the Blog you are looking for........unless it's a interview with Shawn Smith "Indy Pop Con"

Good evening everyone and "Warm" Greetings!

This is the second addition of "This is not the Blog you are looking for" interview session and today's interview is truly exciting!

Indy PopCon is Indianapolis second major Con of the year that will not just be a comic con, but in their words "One Con to Rule them All!". A Con that will focus of Internet, Cos-Play events, gaming, comics, entertainment, and sooooo much more.

I was fortunate enough to have an interview with communications director Shawn Smith!

So, without further delay.....THE INTERVIEW!

1. Was it a sole member of the event coordination team that came up with the idea of Pop Con in Indy or was it a collaboration of minds.....like during a night of gaming where everyone was like "Pshhhh we could do that!"

It's something a few of us have been dreaming about for years.  We've all been big fans of conventions, and some of us have organized and participated in them as volunteers.  Eventually, we got tired of dreaming and did some research as to what it would take to do a convention, and we saw that there was a date open at the convention center.  That got us excited and before we knew it, we'd booked the date!

2. With Popconuary shelling out some amazing talent, do you have other announcement plans to bridge the gap between the remaining months?

Oh, yeah.  We really haven't even scratched the surface yet.  Popconuary wasn't about giving everyone all of our announcements all at once, it was actually about us catching up!  We have more guests and artists lining up every week, so expect to see news all the way up to the convention.  We haven't even begun talking about panels and workshops yet.
 

3. What should an attendee be most excited about? What most excites you about the Con?

We genuinely hope that our fans embrace the idea of discovering something new.  Most cons are very focused one one thing, whether it be comic books, video gaming, podcasting, or tabletop.  Sure, you might discover a random booth or two with something outside of the genre, but 90% of the experience will all be around the central theme.  Well our convention will have very large areas dedicated to podcasting, gaming, comic books, filmmaking, publishing, and more.  So if you've never heard a podcast, we hope you go to the alley and see what it's about, and discover some awesome new content to listen to at work.  Or if you've only ever played console games, you'll discover dozens of indie game makers like Gyrocopter Studios who are making amazing free to play games purely for the love of game making.

That's what excites us the most.  We hope no fan comes to the convention and leaves without finding something new, or learning something about the geeky industries we all know and love!

4. What makes this Con different than others in Indiana, why should someone choose Pop Con over another?

We love all cons, so if you're able to.... Attend them all!  You'll find us at most of them.  Choose PopCon if you're genuinely looking to enjoy a wide variety of cool content, or if you want to learn about creating content yourself.  That's our other big theme: content publishing.  Many of our guests and artists are podcasting, doing YouTube channels, creating art, and developing games full time, without a second job.  It is very possible to start your own geeky business, and we hope to help inspire and educate you on just how to do that.

We hope someone comes to the convention this year as a fan, then returns next year as an exhibitor!
 

5. Have any arrangements been made with other businesses (MicroBrews, local restaurants) in Indianapolis to make deals for Con guests?

Yes, we have a number of local partners we are talking to.  If you're from Indy, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much involvement we'll have from the local community.  If you're not from Indy, you'll get a great showcase of the city.

6. Can you explain in more detail about Street Team?

The street team is meant to be a way to help people get access to PopCon while helping to grow our convention.  If we could, we'd make all tickets free so everyone could come, but there are a lot of bills associated with running a convention!  But we understand money can be tight, so our proposition is simple.  Help us spread the word, and we'll get you into PopCon to say thanks.  We figure if you tell people to come when they normally wouldn't have heard of us, that's well worth covering your ticket entry, upgrade fees, and maybe even travel costs.  The more you promote, the more we're happy to do to make your PopCon experience even better.

7. How can someone become a part of Street Team?

Visit our website (www.indypopcon.com) and click the Get Involved tab, and select Street Team Registration.

8. Anything else you would like to share?

So far, fans have been directly responsible for us getting a 24-hour gaming hall, increasing our total space, and even us booking awesome guests like Joel Hodgson.  We didn't even think to make the call until dozens of fans voted MST3K as one of their favorite shows.  That opened our eyes!  We want your feedback, and we're listening.  If you have something you want to see, don't be shy about sharing it.  If we can we will.

Wow, I just can not express how excited I am about Pop Con! Not only are they going to bring in amazing talent and guests you want to see, but they are doing it right. Pop Con's promotion of the Con and interactions with Fans on social media makes this Con feel like a "Game night with friends" and not a business.

If you missed the live stream of Shawn being interviewed with Nigel and Hammer tonight, just copy and paste the link and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oS8QYJGNtjg

Hope you all enjoyed the interview and hope to see everyone at Pop Con in May!

Kyle

@ShwoodyLove 

Twitching

Good Evening Everyone!

I have recently just stumbled upon Twitch.TV

Now it may seem to probably many out their that I must have been under a rock for years.
 
Let me tell you, if  you think playing a game by yourself is fun. Then you haven't experienced the excitement and overwhelming joy you will get when you watch someone else play a game...that you may own already.

As you watch someone play a RTS match or walk through the world of Day Z (With almost 3000 overs watching with you). You area able to chat amongst each other and "donate" money to support their lively hood. Occasionally some streamers will welcome and chat, but most are too focus on the game at hand (who isn't though).

Now granted, many of these streamers use this as a main "job". Usually playing for 7-8 hours straight.

But Seriously,

What the Hell.

Why are we actually paying to subscribe to a channel? Why are we donating money?  Why?

What happened to the LAN parties where you would lug the computer/console into the car. Set up the card tables and bring out the Chips and Soda. Then tell crude jokes at each others expense.

Look at local comic stores.

Friday Night Magic, 40K War Hammer, open tables whenever. These stores promote human contact, because those experiences are the best!

So let's promote these stores! Go visit and play! And hell let's LAN!

#SupportLC
#LetsLAN


Until next time Indy,

Kyle

@ShwoodyLove

  2005-----Way To Long!