*****EDIT*****

Sorry folks, but we won’t be able to giveaway the ticket for the Forward Unto Dawn event on Monday… The event was oversold and the ticket we bought to giveaway has been refunded to us.

Looking for a Halo 4 launch event in Chicago? What better way to get ready to get ready for launch time then watching the prequel downtown on the big screen!

Watch all (5) episodes of Forward Unto Dawn back to back in 1080p.

The event is being organized by Chi-Fi.com. “Get together with dozens of other Halo fans and get ready for the return of the Master Chief and Cortana in style! Tickets are $10 (to cover the cost of the theater). GET TICKETS HERE On eBay to ensure you get a seat! If you want to buy your ticket with cash at the theater, make sure to let us know ahead of time by emailing info@chi-fi.com.”

CONTEST:

Want to win a ticket and go for free!? Just follow @pixnpop and tweet: “RT and follow @pixnpop to enter 2 win a ticket to see #ForwardUntoDawn on the big screen in #Chicago for #Halo4 launch! http://ow.ly/eYvWt”

You have until 1:00am CST on Monday, Nov 5th, 2012 to enter. One winner will be chosen Monday at 10am CST. Prize is an admit one ticket to the Chi-Fi.com Event: Chicago Halo 4 Unofficial Launch Party, AMC River East Nov 5th 6:30. You must be 18 or older to enter. This prize has no cash value. Pixeldom is not responsible for this event, and will not be held accountable if the event is canceled or changed.

Schedule For November 5th:

6:30 PM – 5-Minute Halo Retrospective, Geek Level Check & Stump The Experts
7:00 PM – See Forward Unto Dawn on the Big Screen
8:20 PM – Thank You’s & Closing Remarks
8:30 PM – Theater closed: You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

Complete Details at Chi-Fi.com

I’m very thankful to have gotten the chance to play through a bit of Assassin’s Creed 3 last week. Art of the Assassin, the traveling art gallery of original Assassin’s Creed 3 art, stopped by Chicago’s upcoming art neighborhood, Pilsen, right near Chinatown. The real estate is less expensive and there are a lot of old warehouse like buildings that have been converted to galleries/living spaces. I’ve walked through Pilsen during the middle of the day during the week once on a random adventure, but other then that this was my first intentional stop there.

We knew parking was cheap or free since I figured it would be similar to Chinatown. We drove in a few circles before finding the address, but it was clear we made it when we saw security hanging outside of a lit door on one of the dark shadowy  old industrial buildings that bared the Assassin’s Creed emblem in crisp clean cut vinyl on the window. Pilsen, like all other neighborhoods in Chicago has it’s own unique feel and culture where you can learn a bit about the history of Chicago through the group that settled there. The gallery was a beautiful space with warm toned lighting on the brick walls, creaky hardwood floors and exposed beams of Art Revolution.

The atmosphere of the event was laid back and friendly with enthusiastic Rock the Vote volunteers signing people up to vote (General Election Mail-In Voter Registration Deadline: October 9, 2012) at the door and  handing out election swag. There was a Revolutionary War themed photo booth with props that came with an Instagram-ish filter printout and the ability to share on Facebook or Twitter right from their equiped ipads runing custom software, which I would like to say worked seamlessly, that sent out a tweet with the correct #hashtag that was being pull to the tweetshare monitor. Free drinks were provided by Hennessey. A projector displayed live gameplay of Assassin’s Creed 3 showcasing the navel ship war play and general city gameplay.

THE GAME!
I’ve been trying to  avoid engrossing myself too much with AC3 videos, reviews, news, etc. I get my fair share, but I had been trying to not hype myself up too much. The new game is created on Anvil Next, a brand new engine created exclusively for Assassin’s Creed 3. And after playing the demo, I can say that I am really excited now to play this game. Loving the series to begin with I am anxiously awaiting more of the story to unveil, but the game flows so seamlessly with the new tech and feels so good. Hard to explain in words, but the familiar acrobatics and combat that I love from the previous games now preforms how I always dreamed it would. The graphics are rich with Earth tone colors and the movement is lifelike. The navel battle gameplay is intense while driving these massive  ships that felt hefty and required finesse to pilot. I only wonder what the multiplayer will be like.

I express my gratitude to Ubisoft for bringing this event to Chicago, as I think it was a big hit with our gaming/art community.

See some of our photos on the Pixeldom Facebook page.

We also talk about the event on Pixels and Popcorn this past week on Ep 129: Looper.

Register to Vote!

Thank you, Ubisoft, for not seeing Chicago as another flyover city and bringing this great game and art event to this great city.  We Chicagoans are always looking to blend our game interest with other culture rich events. Take advantage of this unique event Thursday Sept 27th, 2012, that showcases the “Art of the Assassin.”

Art of the Assassin is a traveling exhibit that showcases original Assassin’s Creed^® III-inspired works from some of today’s most distinguished contemporary artists. The nationwide tour premiered in Los Angeles in August with works by Ariel Erestingcol, Artek, DualForces, Justin Bartlett, Mark Dean Veca, Racecar 13, Dora Drimalas, Thank You X, and Brian Flynn. The tour concludes at the end of October with an auction that gives consumers a chance to bid on these exclusive works, with proceeds going directly to Rock the Vote.

The “Art of the Assassin” will be shown in the Pilsen district, one of Chicago’s emerging art neighborhoods, at the ARTrevolution gallery (artrevolution600.com) from 4:30–7:00 pm.

Rock the Vote! What a great pairing. The most highly anticipated game coming out this year, Assassin’s Creed 3, which focuses on a portion of the American history where our political system really first developed. It was the founding principle of this great democracy that a government should be of the people, by the people, and for the people and the only way to ensure that you’re represented is by casting your vote.  If you haven’t register to vote, you really should. It’s fast and easy and you can do it by clicking the link below! You don’t want election day to roll around and then be upset you can’t participate because you didn’t register, set an example.

The general election mail-in voter registration deadline for Illinois is Oct 9th, 2012.

Follow @RockTheVote and help support their cause.

If you’re already register to vote, great! Why not share your pride, you may be surprised at how many of your peers have not registered themselves.

The Comic Con of Chicago went for a solid 4 days this past weekend. The convention boasted an enormous list of celebrity appearances and tons of photo ops. There were comic book and novelty retail popup shops a plenty that spanned the convention floor. Cosplay enthusiasts showed up with their hair dyed, bodies covered in latex, and just enough practice to strike that perfect pose every time. If you’ve been to one comic book convention, you’ve been to them all, right? Well, not so much.

I will first inform you of my background of comparison. I live in Chicago and have been to both C2E2 and Wizard World twice now in the last two years. This past April, Pixeldom attended C2E2 as an exhibitor on top of covering as press in the podcast alley. That is the extent of my convention experience. So without having much to compare to, I assume that Wizard World is closer to what the bulk of most peoples comic book convention experiences are like (with the exception of Comic Con San Diego).

The structure of Wizard World is crammed and feels disorienting. Held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, it’s near nothing of interest other then the airport, so if you’re coming from the city it’s not convenient and if you’re coming from out of town, well you’re far away from anything that makes this city worth visiting.

Inside you’ll find lots of great vendors, even more ho hum vendors and a pretty healthy artist alley. There are no huge names here like Marvel and DC to set a tone, or a standard, but even if they were, the floor just isn’t set up in a way that works for anyone.

There are also a ton of celebs here. If that’s your thing, then by all means, this may be the con for you. They had some pretty big names including Stan Lee, William Shatner, and James Marsters. Also some pretty obscure celebs that I’ll not name. Also, to find all this information in one well thought-out spot. Don’t go to their website because it’s hard to navigate and seems pieced together as they happen to make new relationships and secure new appearances.

Panels, they’ve got em. But not a ton, that’s not really what this show is focused on. There are no new announcements being made here. I did attend the Bruce Campbell panel and I must say it had to be the highlight of the show. The guy is hilarious and raunchy. We’ll post the shaky video on our YouTube page soon.

So in all, the artist alley and the Bruce Campbell panel were very enjoyable, but I don’t know if they were worth the cost of admission, plus gas, plus parking, plus crappy overpriced convention food (at it’s worst).

Next year I don’t think we’ll ask to attend this con unless they do a complete overhaul.

Pixels and Popcorn is back for the 87th week in a row. This week we introduce you to the new format of the show. Over the last 20+ months we have been reviewing a movie, a video game and snack on one show that’s posted on Monday. We’re trying to make things a little more streamline for your consumption.

Shorter Episodes. We’ll have two episodes that come out each week. On Tuesdays you can expect to see our movie review and on Thursdays you’ll get our game review. This also means that if we make that sweet spot of a 15 minute or less, we can easily get our shows on YouTube for those of you who like to hang out and share videos through that medium.

The Snack. Hence the name Pixels and Popcorn, popcorn is going to be our main game from now on. We’ll still bring you other snacks when we’ve got something worthy of your time, but we just have to face it, there isn’t an awesome snack coming out every week. So if you see us drinking beer and eating popcorn, just know that it’s our snack of choice for the week.

So if you missed us yesterday on our normal release day. You can catch up with us today.

Here is our movie review for week 87: Marvel’s The Avengers.

Check out some of the making of videos from Aardman Animations