[Pictured: a poor soul who barely made it out alive, holding the avatars of those who couldn't make it at all.]
PAX is wonderful. But it's also a downright daunting experience for newcomers and veterans alike. I don't know a single person who just "goes to PAX." It requires planning. It causes stress. For example, I got my haircut last week, and the haircut lady told me I should look into special shampoo for thinning hair. Because of PAX!
OK, so maybe that's just because I'm 31 and almost dead, but still. This shit is stressful. Luckily, I've been through this a couple times now, and I've got a couple quick tips for getting the most bang for your buck.
It appears as if the Xbox One will be getting a major upgrade in voice chat quality, and you can see the difference right here, or on Major Nelson's blog. Due to the integration of Skype's audio codec and a better controller (with an improved wireless data transfer rate), a higher quality voice output is achieved. Major Nelson notes that this will not only work with Skype, but multiplayer as well.
After a bit of flip-flopping, it's nice to know that the headset will now be bundled with every Xbox One. Whether it will actually sound like this consistently is up in the air, but on paper and in a closed environment, it's sounding pretty damn good.
Xbox Live [Major Nelson]
It took me quite a while to come around to SMITE . Despite the fact that it was getting rave reviews from some of my Twitter followers, I was already knee-deep in a number of MOBAs, keeping up with Dota 2 and League of Legends most of all.
But once I actually sat down and spent an afternoon with Hi-Rez Studios' latest, I couldn't put it down. SMITE not only bucks a few MOBA trends in a unique way, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun to play.
That's Francis up there. Yeah. At one point in time, he and the other three survivors of Left for Dead looked ... how do I put this politely? Iteration is important, let's just say. Valve has graciously released the original character models for use in Left 4 Dead 2.
"It was an interesting walk back through our content tree to find all the various pieces and versions," writes Valve. "Depending on your definition of the old models, some of these may vary in some slight detail as we work in an iterative process and never internally defined a version of these models. They have always just been Zoey, Louis, Bill, and Francis to us."
You can find Zoey, Bill, Louis, and yes, bearded Francis, over on the Steam Workshop.
The Gang is Getting Back Together [Left 4 Dead]
There isn't a whole lot today in this week's Nintendo Download, but there are a few heavy-hitters. Pokemon Rumble U makes its debut on the Wii U eShop for $17.99, and it features real-life toys as a companion to its gameplay.
Rayman Legends is also available on September 3rd, and the original Legend of Zelda drops today on the Wii U Virtual Console for $4.99. If you want an opinion on Rayman Legends you can check out Jim's review, and if you're thinking about picking up Zelda you can see how it holds up in my Zelda retrospective.
On the 3DS side, Wario Land 3 finally comes to the Virtual Console, alongside of a Bit. Trip Saga discount ($4.99 until September 15th). Should you want to see how Wario Land 3 fares, check out my Wario retrospective.
