Poor Point Man. He can't catch a break.  First of all, he's got one of the most forgettable names in the history of gaming. Maybe he can get together with Jump Man and Pac-Man and form a band.   He also has some serious sibling rivalry issues with his brother, Paxton Fettel.  I can just see Thanksgiving dinner now. Paxton roughly passes the mashed potatoes.  Point Man's all like, "What's you problem?"  Paxton squints and rubs his forehead.  Pointman has had just enough to drink, so he calls Paxton out on his passive aggressive attitude; "Really? You're still pissed about that? I said I was sorry.  Man, you can hold a grudge." Then Paxton telepathically throws the cranberries on the floor, and that's not going to come out of the carpet.

Something we missed in the whole PAX East shuffle is a PlayStation 3 update that included a brand new feature for PlayStation Plus subscribers.  The feature is cloud storage and what it does is adds the ability for members to store and backup saved games and data to Sony's servers much like PC users can do with Valve's free Steam Cloud service.  Why would you want to do this?  The answer is two fold really.

This year's PAX East 2011 show floor was jam packed full of gamers and gaming goodness.  The show saw a record breaking 69,500 atendees - the biggest PAX convention on any coast to date.  Despite that many people the new convention center was wide open with plenty of space.  With that many people and that many things to see we don't always get a lot of in depth time with soemthing.  Still, there were plenty of things we saw that we want to share with you.  

Tim Schafer’s Double Fine studio has been coming on strong recently. After putting out Brutal Legend a few years back they’ve come right back with Costume Quest and Stacking. With a Sesame Street game for Kinect on the horizon its hard to believe the studio has time for another title - but they do - and that game is a downloadable title for Xbox Live Arcade called Trenched. We got some hands on time with the game at PAX East and came away pretty impressed with another take on the tower defense genre.

Print out this screenshot and stick it to your forehead for an authentic 3D experience

One downloadable game that may have snuck past everyone late last year in the holiday rush was Hoard.  The PSN "dragons are the good guys" title was quite good, though the co-op was so limited as to be very disappointing, as you can read about in our review.  It turns out slaying knights, kidnapping princesses, and burning down buildings with a co-op buddy gets a bit old when there's only a couple maps.  

F.E.A.R. is a series of horror shooter games that I had an interest in to begin with, then it waned with time. I primarily blame the fact that I don’t normally enjoy shooters that leave me on my own. In the case of F.E.A.R. 3 that loneliness is not only gone, but you’ll end up terrified together quite effectively. Tally and I played through a bit of the F.E.A.R. demo at PAX East in a mode very fittingly titled “F**king Run!”

It was a few months back that Atom Zombie Smasher caught our attention with its three player co-op tower defense like gameplay.  Players take control of a section of a city and use various methods to rescue as many citizens as they can.  While we enjoyed the title it did have two downsides in our opinion - 

PAX East 2011 is over, but the fun is heating up at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston, MA. Mike, Nick and Kat strip down to their skivvies and record a special edition of our podcast bringing you gameplay impressions straight from the show floor. We've got Guild Wars 2, Duke Nukem Forever, Firefall, and many many others on tap. So sit back, crack open a beer, and enjoy the show.

Hit the Podcast Page to Listen or Download

I know what you’re thinking: “didn’t you guys just preview Section 8: Prejudice last month?” Why yes, yes we did. However, Nick hadn’t played the original for a solid comparison preview. The PAX East preview of Section 8 Prejudice is for both the experienced Section 8 players, and the people who just want to get into a game that offers some pretty hardcore strategy and shooter elements.

Get out your nickles and dimes, it's that time again.  Konami has announced new DLC for the Contra-rific Hard Corps: Uprising.  Now you can pick up Leviathan, armed with a Moonsault Grenade Throw and a Slide Attack. This is the third downloadable character for Hard Corps: Uprising.  Sayuri the samurai (go figure!) and Harley the biker (you're not even trying now, Konami) were available as extra DLC characters on the game's release day, February 16th.  If you love you some Hard Corps: Uprising, leveling up these characters will add some re-playability. They'll also cost you 200 MSP apiece.  Anyone have the number to Shenaningans?  I'd like to call them. 

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.  Yup, I said it.  Its a game that is often referenced but rarely replicated in the console world.  Now it seems only fitting that the inspiration for the Baldur's Gate series has become the basis for the game that's going to replicate Dark Alliance's gameplay style.  Understand the paradox?  After getting some hands on time with Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale at PAX East, I can confidently say this game feels perfect for fans of the Dark Alliance series, action RPG fans, and people with only $10.