PAX PAX PAX PAX
All of our PAX merch and promo item ordering is complete! There’s still a lot left to do (including PAX itself) before we can breathe again and focus just on game making but at least the merch part is checked off and we will have plenty of awesome things to hand out. Four different kinds of things, one of them with variations, in fact. How many booths hand out that many awesome things? That just means we are four to eight times as awesome as everyone else, right? I also made a Facebook Event page just for the occasion.

Yet Another Merchy Reminder
It occurred to me, perhaps a little late, that our new shirts didn’t have descriptions. Well they do now! So, if a witty word or two prevented you from buying a shirt before, now is your chance. We’ll also have shirts for sale at PAX so feel free to stop by, say “hi” and pick up one or fifty.

A Harridan’s Guide
As I mentioned before, a group of awesome ladies and I will be on a panel at PAX called “A Harridan’s Guide to the Game Industry”. It’ll be Friday, August 26th at 12pm! If there is a question burning in your mind you want answered on the panel, please shoot me a tweet @shelldragon or an email to michelle (at) ska-studios.com.

Check out some more images of our current shirts in this fine gallery. You can also see some finer detail for the VS Clean and VS Rock on their respective wallpapers at the Vampire Smile website.

Contest Time!
If you didn’t get a chance to pick up one of our shirts yet, you could win one from We Got This Covered. You can find more information on how to win on their post here! We’re supplying The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, Charlie Murder and I PLAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!! shirts of your size choice. The contest ends July 7th at 11:59pm EST. For those of you wondering why our store doesn’t have sizes of your choice, we’re currently trying to work with the merch guys to get it restocked. We’ll let you know as soon as you can spend your hard-earned dollars!

PAX Panel
This year not only will Ska Studios be exhibiting at PAX but we just got word that a panel I (Michelle) will be on has been approved! It’ll be called “The Harridan’s Guide to the Game Industry”. The panel organized by ArenaNet and DoubleBear’s Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda is described as “From macro to micro, more of a case study than a topical discussion, this panel focuses on the careers of a handful of women in the game industry – detailing how they got into the industry (and how they’d recommend others do it today), how they stayed in the industry (economy = FAIL), what drives them the most crazy about working in games, and why they fight to stay there.” So if any of that interests you or if for some reason you just want to hear me talk, give our panel a visit! We’ll let you know when we have specific date and time information!

Adorable factor aside, this is the last Good Morning Gato blog before all of Ska Studios packs up and travels to Boston for PAX East. That also means I have a lot of news and (gamer) pictures to launch into your eyeball holes.

PAX East Is Where All The Cool Kids Hang Out
By now you probably fall into one of two categories: Those who are attending PAX East or those who are not. And even if you wanted to go from the “are not” to the “are” crowd, the show is basically sold out unless you were to win a badge from, say a contest like this one (plug, plug). For those not attending, I’m sorry. I truly am. But I must talk about all the awesome that we’ll be bringing to the show and all the awesome that you’ll be missing out on. For those attending, this is what we have in store for you:

As is obvious by the wall of text you just read, we’re prepared and excited for PAX East. All that is left to do is figure out a way to pack up and transport the life-sized Violence Hammer without injuring ourselves or innocent bystanders.

Yes, There Is A Third Dimension
In non-PAX related news, last week, a bunch of news outlets wrote about Vampire Smile after getting some hands on time with Yuki and the gang during Microsoft’s February Showcase event. You may have read about the game’s just announced 3D support, the all-new, crazy colorful Pretty Princess difficulty or just how bloody-good the experience is. Well, it’s all true! 3D, blood, crazy combos, insane weapons, a rainbow-filled Pretty Princess difficulty and a whole lot more are part of the gaming experience that is The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile. Hopefully, you’re getting properly excited

Gato, like many cats, furiously investigates any new thing that enters her home. A recent sharp influx of PAX shwag from FedEx has led to a serious upswing in Gato-conducted detective work.  She likes roses too!

Good morning Gato and blog readers! Your usual Good Morning Gato will be presented to you by the newest Ska Studio-er, Michelle. Wednesday evening, Dustin ventured across the country to represent Ska Studios and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile at Microsoft’s Xbox February Showcase in slightly-warmer-than-here San Francisco. Try not to be too upset by the change today; take a deep breath and everything will be just fine.

Convention Comprehensive
With Dustin giving a series of indubitably outstanding presentations of Vampire Smile at the Xbox February Showcase, we got some rad pickup! Joystiq touched on the stereoscopic 3D support and Game Informer gave us a sparkling preview of story and gameplay. While I won’t get into the decision in Good Morning Gato, you can expect a blurb later on the 3D feature of Vampire Smile.

PAX East is 14 days away! We’re waiting on the last few pieces of PAX East supplies for Gato to rub against before we pack them in the van and begin the journey to Boston. I assure that you will not be disappointed by our display and fervor. But don’t take my word for it, visit our booth # 607 and see for yourself! We’ll have a fully playable Vampire Smile, prizes, freebies and good things to buy including a few new shirt designs (created by yours truly).

Local Indie Flavor
This week, all three members of Ska Studios braved the cold tundra of upstate New York to attend a local game industry meetup in Troy. Though the meetup was billed as an impromptu job fair to deal with some pretty unfortunate circumstances, it was pretty cool to see upstate New York’s games industry come out of the woodwork to help out some extremely talented people.

Extra Space for Activities
It’s no secret that Ska Studios is always eyeball deep in projects even though the topics themselves may be a secret. With people happily murdering in ZP2KX and Vampire Smile coming up, we can’t forget about the other work in the pipeline. As well as the games themselves, we have other less digital projects to put the finishing touches on such as the life-size Violence Hammer. At the moment, I’m adding a lot more spiky bits to really make it violent. Here is a sneak preview below but you’ll have to come to the show floor to see it in its full glory. See you there!