h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Day 2 of PAX was just as good, if not better than the first. Straight after going in the door I headed up to the Satellite Theatre for a compilation of video game speed runs. Compared with how they look on a computer's monitor, they looked even more jaw-dropping on the giant screen with the theatre packed wall to wall with gamers cheering and applauding as the runs went on.

To get myself nicely warmed up and in-the-zone for the Tetris DS tournament I'd signed up for the previous day, I had a quick blast of Super Mario Bros on the NES down in the wireless lounge next to the Bawls stand. Surprised myself by finishing it with no lives lost, something I've not done for a long while. Not the fastest run through, but I was pleased nonetheless.

As expected though, I got well and truly trounced at Tetris. Did better than I expected to though, the top 3 players from each group were to go on to the next round, that third place spot I just narrowly missed out on. There's always next year, hopefully.

That afternoon Gabe and Tycho (the creators of Penny Arcade) did a Q&A session whilst creating this comic http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/08/30 about their proposed video game they're involved in, as well as making a few phonecalls to Scott Kurtz of PvP webcomic http://www.pvponline.com/images/news/pax_message.mp3 and to Florida "attourney" and imbecile Jack Thompson.

On the exhibition floor I was a little disappointed by the non-appearance of Nintendo's new flagship console, the Wii, that they intend to launch globally by November. They did make up for the lack of console action with an all-out bombardment of DS material that will be out by Christmas. Managed to play Starfox Command, Mario Vs DK 2, Yoshi's Island 2, Elite Beat Agents, remakes of Final Fantasy III and V, Mario Hoops 3 on 3, and others. It's also quite an odd feeling when you're trying to play Mario Vs DK2 with Princess Zelda on your left and Link on your right also playing the same game. Wish I'd got someone to get a photo of that happening. I did get a few photos (and video clips) of these and other games, but at the moment I can't upload them. Will explain why later.

Oh yeah, I may be in some videos somewhere online. A few web journos spotted my black DS lite that I had out most of the time and wanted me to demo it for them. They're not out in Japan until this weekend and not in the States until mid October, so in that respects myself and a hot Japanese girl with a pink DS lite were very minor celebrities for about 2 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't get her number.

That evening was round 4 of the Omegathon, a 1 on one rock-off between the 8 remaining entrants at a randomly chosen song in a demo version of Guitar Hero II. To open the round and the concert that followed, Tycho and Khoo of Penny Arcade shredded out to Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart by Stone Temple Pilots, twice (the first time the PS2 crashed half way through). The concerts finished off the night superbly, nerdcore rapping courtesy of MC Frontalot and video game cover group The Minibosses rocking the Meydenbauer to its foundations.