Zaxy Girls play ‘Just Dance’!

Hello lovely Zaxy audience!

Before you throw tomatoes at me for not posting nearly all summer, I want you to know that… I’m now going to make a bunch of excuses about how I was traveling every week, went to three different web-related conferences, spent some time with my elderly grandparents, and in general didn’t have enough time for the Internet. So, okay. Throw tomatoes. But at least I’m back now!

My first order of business upon re-rentering the world of regular Zaxy posting is to bestow upon you a gift from the mystical world of Zaxy Sleepovers. And to embarrass myself and fellow bloggers.

Here is a video of the three of us playing ‘Just Dance’ earlier this year – the footage was sitting on my hard drive all this time, just asking to be posted online for the public to see. I personally have no shame, but the other girls had no idea this existed until recently. *evil grin*

As you can see, dancing may not exactly be our forte when it comes to video games. But at least none of us straight up fell over, or pulled a muscle, or exploded from exhaustion am I right? AM I RIGHT? I heard that’s a thing. Exploding. From exhaustion.

It’s nice to be back, Zaxy crew. I’ll see you again soon, I promise.

(Secret note from Tara: Want to see more of us dancing ridiculously? Then donate to Extra Life and tune in to our livestream on October 15th!)

I need this in my life. Like, right now.

So, I have this room dedicated to all of my videogame stuffs. I, personally, call it my “woman cave” despite the fact that that name disgusts people. Anyway, the point is that I have a ROOM DEDICATED TO VIDEOGAMES. So, wouldn’t it be fitting if I had a videogame couch in said room? 

Behold. 

I don’t know how much this is, or how it would get to my apartment, but the point is that I want this so hard. 

…oh. I just noticed that these guys are based out of Los Angeles and the shipping is $300 alone. Oh. Ooooh. Well, damn. It was fun to fantasize for a while, anyway!

If you think you can afford this bad boy, head over here for more info!

CONTEST: PAX Swag!

I picked up TONS of swag at PAX, just for all of you. You’re welcome! Take a look at the video to see what kind of swag you can win!

Leave a comment below letting me know if you want the Large or XL prize pack, and what Britt should do if she wants my Skyrim beanie!

Those who comment with a “Large” or “XL” request by noon Wednesday, September 7th, will be entered in the random drawing for prizes!
(US only, because these packages may end up being pretty costly to ship. Sorry!)

Good luck!

EDIT: Courtesy of Random.org, we have our winners! Congratulations to Rachel B. for winning the Large Pack, and Boots_33 for winning the XL Pack! Winners, please send me an email at tara at zaxy.com with your full name and address so I can get those sent out!

We have another SUPER awesome contest coming next week, so stay tuned!

(Thank you, also, for all of the amazing suggestions on what I should make Britt do. I’ll try to come up with an appropriate challenge for her soon!)

Playable Portal/Mario Game? YES YES YES PLEASE.

Developers at Stabyourself.net are making an actual, playable game starring Mario with a Portal gun. OMG. AND there will be a potentially very confusing co-op mode.

They’re not sure when it’ll be coming out, but there’s a good chance I may be calling sick into work that day.

Britt’s PAX Show Floor Recap!

Ahhhh. Another PAX has come and gone.

And as I sit here and type this epic blog post* I feel like a braindead zombie; a zombie that cannot think clearly nor talk coherently as this zombie has been on the go since Thursday; a zombie whose only opportunity to sit on her ass for an extended period of time will come only come at work.

Ew, work.

*I cannot confirm nor deny this will be an epic blog post, for I haven’t finished it as of the time of this writing.

Now, PAX and I have a strange relationship–and I’ve talked to my buddy Beez about this--it seems like the more PAX conventions I attend, the less games I play at them. I tend to find myself wandering the show floor, meeting up with friends and searching for amazing buffalo wings. But this time around, PAX and I took our relationship to the extreme; I didn’t play ONE game at PAX Prime. NOT. ONE. Like, I can’t tell you how amazing Skyrim was. Or how hot Garrus looked in Mass Effect 3 (interspecies sex FTW!). But you know what? I don’t regret the lack of button mashing. After all, the lines were absolutely ridiculous. Three hours to play Skyrim? No thank you kind sir. I’ll stand from afar and watch the demo half a dozen times and call it good.

I mean, I heart video games as much as the next gamer, but if I were to stand in line for three hours…sheeeyt, that’s three hours I could have spent meeting new people. And for me—and I know I sound like a broken record—meeting fellow gamers is the best part about PAX. (The people watching is pretty amazing, too.) But if you think all I did was walk around and gawk at the pretty lights and game displays, you are… mostly correct. HA. Like I said above, I did a lot of wandering with Beez. But some pretty awesome stuff happened on the show floor.

Okay, this is Jennifer Hale. She is my hero, and if you find yourself scratching your head then you clearly aren’t worthy of being on this website. I KID. Come back. Thanks. Anyway, she’s VERY well known for being an amazing video game voice actress. Like, uh she’s the voice FemShep. Yeah. You may also know her as Naomi Hunter from the MGS games. She was simply lovely to meet. In Britt terms – “I want her babies.”

Ugh. I’m going to kill Beez for taking a picture of my derp face. Anyway, despite the unattractiveness of my expression, these are two big wigs that worked on Dragon Age. Dude on the left is Mike Laidlaw, Dragon Age LEAD FUCKIN’ DESIGNER. The guy to the right…I can’t remember who he is. But I’m sure he does awesome and important things.

How this picture came to be is by Beez and I aimlessly walking around (like a boss) when we came across the Bioware booth. Mike Laidlaw and aforementioned anonymous do-er of awesome, important things were discussing Dragon Age 2 and taking fan questions from Twitter. I SQUEE’D so hard, and needless to say, I just stood there with my mouth agape for a loooong while. After they finished talking about the awesomesauceality that is Dragon Age, I stalked them and demanded a photo. Beez told them to kiss me but they didn’t. WHATEVER BIOWARE.

Beez and I also scored a free OnLive console, or a “MicroConsole TV Adapater“ if you want to get fancy. All we had to do was stand in a line for about 30 minutes (that was moderated by nazi Enforcers, I might add), give our name and email address and VOILA!

Dear: Skyrim. I really, REALLY wanted one of the epic beanies that were being handed out for playing you. I waited in line for over 30 minutes. In fact, you were the only game I waited in line for. But one of your employees approached me and said I wouldn’t get the chance to play with you, so I bailed, and I never found a Skyrim beanie. I am forever a sad panda over this.

That being said, I guess one could say I at least put forth an effort to play a game. That has to count as something, right?

…OH! Oh snap. I forgot that I played about 15 seconds of Ocarina of Time 3D. But then I realized I was in the Water Temple, so I quickly said “eff that noise” and that was the end of it.

OH! OH SNAP TIMES TWO! I also played a few rounds of Super Smash Brothers Brawl in the console free play area. That also counts as something, right?

Riiiiiight.

But anyway, I had an absolute blast on the show floor. No complaints here. :)

World Champion Magic Player? We’d Date You.

A Gizmodo author wrote an article about an OkCupid date she went on with a World Champion Magic player. The article is currently being bashed EVERYWHERE. Why? Because she warns people of being “tricked” into going on a date with a guy like this. She calls the fact that he still plays Magic and has friends that play Magic strikes against him.

I’m sorry hun. It’s not like he’s a criminal out on parole or anything else that would potentially warrant a warning. The man has a Wikipedia page, his own Magic card, and is currently doing an AMA on Reddit. And he seems like a perfectly nice guy.

All I have to say is: Jon, if you’re ever in Seattle, you’ve got a few ladies here that would love to buy you a drink.

Tara’s PAX Plans

Battling a dragon at PAX last year

Eee! PAX is upon us, and I’m so excited! For those who know me, I’m a HUGE overplanner, and I planned out my entire PAX schedule last year: press appointments, parties, events, etc. And it stressed me out. So this year I’m taking things a bit easier. I have a couple specific things on my calendar, but for the most part I just want to enjoy. I’ll spend time at the booths I want to, and put a huge focus on partying and networking.

Want to find me at PAX? Here are a few places and events where you’ll be able to find me:

The Expo Hall
I’ll be spending most of my time hanging around the expo hall. I’ll tweet out a pic and clues as to where I am, and may even be giving away some swag, so keep an eye on @Zaxydotcom and @ZaxyTara! (I’ll also be tweeting from the @paxparties and @geekyhostess twitter handles, so I’ll be giving my phone a workout!)

NerdProv
Saturday, 10:30pm
I’ll be judging NerdProv at the Intiman Theater (right near the Space Needle) with special guests Loading Ready Run and Mikey Neumann!

Geeky Hostess/Parenting Geekly Meet Up
Sunday, 9:30am-10:30am
I’ll be repping my other blog (Geeky Hostess) by providing coffee, donuts, and water bottles to folks entering PAX on Sunday. Look for me and Sharon (from Parenting Geekly) in aprons on the main floor of the convention center!

I’ll be at other parties and places throughout: keeping an eye on the twitter handles will be your easiest way of finding me. I really want to meet you all, so please come up and say “Hi” if you see me!

Can’t make PAX this year? Never fear! By request of you guys, I’ll be rounding up some of the best swag I can find, and putting together a PAX Swag contest later next week. Keep an eye out for that!

Live Action Portal Video

The short film Portal: No Escape is freaking amazing. See for yourself:

I loved some of her uses for the Portals- that’s some quick, smart thinking!

Who would want to see a full-length version of this? (Raises hand)

Thanks to Jorge and David for showing me the film!

Extra Life 2: Extra Life-ier

Britt, Kristina, and I are pleased to announce that we will be participating in Extra Life again this year!

Extra Life is a 24 hour video game marathon to raise money for children’s hospitals.

Check out more info here! It takes place on October 15th, and like last year, we’ll be on Ustream the whole time so you can check up on us. Take a look at the adventures that came of it last year. Highlights included special guests, a fire alarm, and a dancing penguin.

Want to join our team and help raise money for kids by gaming? Join here! If you’re not able to play along but can donate, you’re welcome to do so as well.

We can’t wait to do this again and we’re hoping to make it even bigger and more awesome than last year. Who knows, if we’re lucky we may have TWO fire alarms go off!

Adorable D&D Song

I posted this over on Geeky Hostess a couple days ago, but couldn’t resist posting it here as well. Such a sweet song!

Ahh. Such a nice, mellow way to end the day.