Epic Mickey has yet to prove that it lives up to Warren Spector’s curriculum vita of games with meaningful choice, but that may miss the point. It’s shaping up to be a solid 3D mascot platformer, a genre nearly forgotten by everyone but Mario. The game also delivers a fascinating history of the mouse who changed the face of animation.

NCSoft’s PAX presence was devoted to showing off three major features in Guild Wars 2: the dynamic event system, personal story, and action-oriented combat. However, you can reduce these things still further to two guiding principles: keep the game moving and keep it personal. From these simple premises, NCsoft has made some staggering inferences.

If you’ve stood in line for PAX during the last couple of years, you already know Evil Genius Designs, though you may not know their name. They develop the line games and write the terminal monologues that amuse PAXgoers during the 2-4 hour wait each day. Without them, nobody could vote to kill Aeris in a public forum or play a platformer with their 5000 closest friends. We happened to stumble across programmer Erica Sandbothe, literally the woman behind the curtain, preparing for the next performance. She was kind enough to walk us through the company’s backstory, a survey of the technology involved, and the principles of designing games for crowds.

You may have noticed a shameful dearth of in situ photography on our PAX 10 interviews this year, and our memory card has been executed for its treachery. Nowhere is the loss felt more acutely than here, because the entire the entire development staff at Hegemony‘s booth was dressed in togas. Until we can find a replacement, you’ll just have to imagine lead programmer Rob McConnell delivering information on the game’s catchy zooming mechanic, its strides making strategy more accessible, and historical wargaming. You know, in a toga, which was awesome.

Alititude	Bastion	Fowl Space	Hegemony	Plane Weaver
Puzzle Bots	Retro City Rampage	Shibuya	Solace	Super Meat Boy

Updates M-F

When you approach the PAX 10, it’s a melange of televisions and Xbox controllers. However, in the middle of it all, the Shibuya booth stood out with two iPads and an iPhone. Between the bright colors, the falling blocks, and the shiny hardware, the booth was brilliantly salient. John Plewe, the game and software creator for Nevercenter, was onhand to help explain why.