Hey folks, I was at the New York Comic Con last weekend. The convention was huge and I had a blast :). Lots to see, lots to buy and the cosplayers make the trip all the more fun.
Notably more present at this con were videogame companies. I got to try out some Warhammer Online by Mythic. I found the graphics to be fantastic. Way better than World of Warcraft. The only problem is the combat seemed dull and boring. Konami had Metal Gear Online available to play in linked multi-player. For a game of this type, it seemed very slow and unrealistic. After Call of Duty 4, the bar has been set very high for these types of games, and I might just have to skip this one. Bandai Namco was showing off the latest Naruto game. Looks very fun as usual, though I'm still waiting for a PS3 version. The people at the booth were nice enough to give me a Naruto Trading Figure pack which contained a Kakashi figure. Thanks :). Square Enix was also present, but did not have Final Fantasy XIII or any of their new games on display :(. Mostly they were there to sell some merch, of which I bought the Aerith Gainsborough figure, and a Shinra Electric Power Company business card holder :). New figures to be released soon are the original FFVII versions of Yuffie, Vincent and Red XIII with Cait Sith.
Notably absent from the con were anime companies ADV, Viz, and Central Park Media. In fact, anime seemed to be very underrepresented at the show, even with the small dealers. This might be due to the fact that New York now has the New York Anime Festival. Manga on the other hand seems to be in a boom. Several mainstream publishers now have manga offerings, including Tor. Even Stan Lee has a manga project in the works. These mainstream publishers really have to do their research and study how to sell to their audience. Most of their booths were quite dull. Tokyopop always gets it right though, since they've been in the game the longest, and Del Rey Manga has a fun group and a really good list of titles.
Table-top gaming has very much been in a decline. Absent this year were Rackham, Privateer Press, WizKids and Games Workshop. The Fantasy Flight Games booth did have the Rackham AT-43 Operation Damocles set, but nothing else in the series. The Wizards of the Coast gaming area had a very weak turnout compared to past years. The booth itself had demos for Star Wars and D&D miniatures, the Magic the Gathering and Maple Story CCGs, and the new Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edtion RPG. I demo'd the new 4th Edition rules and found them to have a radially different feel. Things seem more like videogame or anime powers. Especially the new Adrenaline Rush way of self healing. Too early to tell if this is a good or bad thing. In Star Wars gaming, it is confirmed that there will be miniatures based on the upcoming Clone Wars animation series :).
Gaia Online was there at the con. DJ Helsing ran into me on the show floor and remembered me from last years Today Show meetup :). Went to their panel and seems the MMO is soon to be a reality. Looks very interesting. Also, got to meet Lanzer and get his autograph.
The dealers area was greatly expanded from last year. Though I do wish they would have widened the aisles in some areas. The crowding at some points was unbearable :(. Lots of cool deals and oddities were to be found. I was able to get several Star Wars comics trade paperbacks at $5 each. Not bad since they are normally $18. I found three more Star Wars astromech droids for my collection :).
In other news, there seems to be an Andromeda Strain TV series coming to A&E. Zuda comics looks like the place to be for new artists. Iron Man is going to be awesome. Upper Deck has a Call of Duty CCG coming out. The TMR concert was loud and not really my thing. The Unicorn Table concert at the New York Anime Festival was much better. Though it is really good to see the NYCC doing concerts like other conventions. Makes for a very fun atmosphere. I'm sure there is a lot more I'm forgetting but there was so much to see over three days of the con :).
Well, thus concludes another New York Comic Con and I hope to see everyone at the New York Anime Festival in September :).
