The Last of Us at Pax Prime 2013

There is no doubt we look forward to attending PAX Prime and PAX East every year - either just to show up, or showing off our game at the PlayStation booth, or with panels and signings. With PAX Prime coming up fast, we wanted to make sure you got time blocked away on your PAX schedule to attend our panels and make it to one of our signings. All the info you need is listed below. We hope to see you there!

Pitching The Last of Us
Date: Friday, August 30
Time: 2:00 – 3:00pm
Location: Pegasus Theatre (Sheraton Hotel - 2nd floor)

Join Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley as they tell you how they successfully pitched Naughty Dog and PlayStation to develop and publish The Last of Us. From this pitch, Neil and Bruce convinced a bunch of folks to go off on their own to explore game ideas, build a whole separate team inside a formerly one-team only studio, and develop Naughty Dog’s first Mature rated title – all leading to a release this year amidst eventual critical and commercial success. But really, Neil and Bruce will pull back the curtain to show you their original pitch for The Last of Us… and giving everyone at this panel a look at how close or far the final game ended up from the original pitch.

Panelists
Neil Druckmann [Creative Director, Naughty Dog]
Bruce Straley [Game Director, Naughty Dog]
Arne Meyer [Community Strategist, Naughty Dog]

Gender Diversity in Games: Where Are All The Believable Female Characters?
Date: Monday, September 2
Time: 2:00 – 3:00pm
Location: Pegasus Theatre (Sheraton Hotel - 2nd floor)

As the videogame entertainment medium matures, why hasn’t its depiction of women matured with it? Graphics, game mechanics, animation, sound, and countless other technical achievements have given game developers the tools to deliver innovative games and incredibly realistic, moving character performances. Despite this, many videogames portray their characters within established, and stereotypical, tropes. In particular, most female characters continue to be portrayed in notoriously unrealistic terms both in their appearance and personality, progressing at a slower pace than their male videogame counterparts. Our panel of esteemed developers, writers, and journalists will examine why this continues to be the case, and the challenges facing developers and the videogame market in developing and marketing realistic female characters.

Panel
Neil Druckmann [Creative Director, Naughty Dog]
Susan O’Connor [Writer, Susan O’Connor Writing Studio]
Carolyn Petit [Editor, GameSpot]
Danielle Riendeau [Reviews Editor, Polygon]

While they were up at PAX, Neil and Bruce were gracious enough to let us schedule some time for signings. We're giving away two different posters for the signing.

The first is in anticipation of the upcoming trade paperback version of The Last of Us: American Dreams comic book, Dark Horse had these great posters of the cover art made for us for Neil to sign.

For the other poster, we've got a great little surprise for you -- we've printed a run of double sided, Blu-ray sized mini-posters (hint hint). One side features super exclusive artwork by Naughty Dog John Sweeney - this artwork is particularly special to us as it was originally created as a commerative launch poster for The Last of Us team at Naughty Dog. The other side of the mini-poster features some remixed artwork by Corey Schmitz.

The Last of Us signings
Date: Friday, August 30, 4:00 – 5:00pm and Saturday, August 31, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Location: PlayStation Booth (#212)

This is a ticketed signing. Wristbands for each signing will be distributed at the opening of the expo hall (10:00am) on the day of each signing. Come to the PlayStation booth early for your best chance to get a wristband. Signing lines will be closed as needed.

Not related to either of our games, but if you're interested a job within the videogame industry, I'm sitting on a panel featuring a diverse group of folks within the industry sharing how we got started in the industry and providing helpful - I hope - advice to our audience.

From Obsession to Profession: How to Forge the Career You Want in the Videogame Industry
Date: Friday, August 30,
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Location: Unicorn Theatre (Grand Hyatt - 1st Floor)

Video games are big business, but how easy is it to get started working on the inside? Luckily for many of us, you don’t necessarily have to have artistic or programming skills to land a rewarding job in the videogame industry. Career opportunities in videogame journalism, marketing, public relations, community management, business development and even running your own game studio are all available to those with the passion, preparation and perseverance. During this panel, you’ll hear from industry pros on how they got their start in the biz, and what you can do to forge your own career out of your favorite hobby. These veterans (who hail from publishers, game studios both large and small as well as media and entertainment networks) will cover topics such as what courses you should take in school, what types of experience and internships will set you up for success, and how to go about landing your first industry gig. The panel will be fun, personal and insightful, with an emphasis on audience Q&A.

Panelists:
Mark Van Lommel [Director, Brand Communications, PMK*BNC]
Vince Vanasin [Head of Marketing, Mobile, Majesco Entertainment]
Arne Meyer [Community Strategist, Naughty Dog]
Matthew Cohen [Director, Business Development, Machinima]
Charley Price [Co-founder and Creative Director, Hidden Variable Studios]
Erin Reynolds [Creative Director, Nevermind]
Nikole Zivalich [Writer, Host, Producer, Freelance Game Journalist]