Top 10 Reasons Why I’m Psyched to Frolic with My Fellow Game Dorks

Posted at 5:00 AM Aug 26, 2008

By Bonnie Ruberg

2008 Penny Arcade Expo, this year's Mecca for video game fanboys and girls. I'm super excited, and it's not just for the crappy, overpriced airplane food. I'll actually be reporting for Heartless Doll from Seattle this Friday and next Monday and Tuesday. The event will feature game tournaments, tons of booths from big game companies, and lots of cool panels. But before I launch into a total dork-out, here are 10 reasons I'm psyched to go – why you, Heartless Doll readers, should be psyched to get the inside story.

10. All the other gamers are doing it, or at least they want to be. According to Forbes.com (and yours truly), the Penny Arcade Expo is the number one dream travel destination for video game fans across America. I'm going so that means I'm one of the cool kids now, right? Right?

9. I get to test out cool games. For the last week my inbox has been flooded with PR invites to play various new releases on the show floor. In particular, I'm looking forward to Rock Band 2, the sequel to that amazing party game that will surely get you laid. What will this version get you, I wonder? Maybe it'll earn you money, or somehow just make you really hot.

8. One word: swag. All conferences come with hand-outs and various merchandise you get to carry around in an awkward tote with the name of the event emblazoned on the side, but the Penny Arcade Expo promises goodies beyond compare. Because it's a consumer event and not one for industry folk, there will be a lot of over-sugared gamers to please, and nothing makes us happier than free stuff. Gimme!

7. The Penny Arcade Expo isn't so much an expo as a big party. That means there will be lots of live music for us dorks to attempt to rock out to in the nerdiest possible fashion – with head bopping, of course. Expect 8-bit music (tunes that sound like they came from the days of the NES) and a performance by Jonathan Coulton, the singer/song writer with hits like Skullcrusher Mountain and Re: Your Brains. Needless to say, we fan-people adore him.

6. What would any game event be without panels and keynotes? More fun, maybe. Anyways, this year, attendants get Ken Levine, the brains behind awesome game Bioshock, and a panel on the place of women in gaming. That one should be good, and by good I mean frustrating and definitely worthy of a snarky post.

5. The cosplay. Cosplay is when fans dress up as their favorite characters – from video games, anime, whatevs. When it's done poorly, it's hilarious. When it's done well, it's hot. Either way, it's sure to make for excellent photo ops.

4. I get to see Seattle – when I'm not obsessing over games, that is. I've never been before, and while I'm bummed to not be headed somewhere sunny (the one thing that makes me sad about living in San Francisco is my lack of a tan) the traveler in me is doing a little dance and chanting, “Let’s plan!”

3. The awkwardness will abound, but in that good way. Events like this are always full of strange moments where you meet someone in real-life you’ve been talking to or working with online for years. You stare at each and think, "This was easier in cyberspace." I'm actually staying for the long weekend with friends I've never met, so the awkwardness should be intense. Sure I've talked to them. Sure I've seen pictures. Still, fingers crossed they're actually real.

2. It will make the Penny Arcade Expo PR mail stop coming. Twenty-five press releases in one day? Yuck. I look forward to sweet, sweet email peace for this video game journalist.

1. I get to be a girl reporting from a land of boys. Not that there won't be other women at the expo, but the numbers are so skewed that gaming events are the only places in the world where there are lines for the men's rooms and not the women's. It's always fun to feel like a female spy in the boy's club of gaming. I'll be sure to keep you all posted with their manly secrets!