Note: This post was originally up at my personal site, Highmoon’s Ponderings, but it has now been moved here.

Gen Con is next week and as I’ve said here and on Twitter before, I won’t be attending. It’s by choice (even though by now finances also play a deciding role), though that doesn’t mean I’m not sad I won’t be going; trust me when I tell you that I could use those four days of non-stop gaming awesomeness like a desert nomad needs water.

All that said, just because I’m not going to Gen Con doesn’t mean I am not excited as hell that is almost here. Thanks to the wonders of social and new media, I am fairly sure I will be able to get a really good virtual experience of the beautiful madness that overtakes Downtown Indy when Gen Con is in town. For this vicarious 4-day event, I have two main weapons in my arsenal.

Twitter

It would be hard to beat the amount of information flying about Gen Con on Twitter, and that’s just the week before the con! Though there is an official @Gen_Con Twitter account, the main channel is the hashtag #gencon (as you can see in the title of this post, done that way so that when this posts to my Twitter accounts, it registers as part of that search string), where folks have been chatting up a storm, tweeting about everything from their pre-con plans, what they’re most looking forward to, arranging games and generally hyping themselves up for their time in Indy.

I have the #gencon tag set up as a search column on TweetDeck so I get auto updates of every tweet with that tag (most Twitter clients that support search or groups should be able to be set up in a similar fashion). Even if you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along at the Twitter Search page for #gencon, though if you want to join the conversation you’ll need an account.

I set up yesterday a Twibbon (a Twitter ribbon, a small graphic that overlays on top of your avatar) for “Going to #GenCon Indy!” and in the last 24 hours it has gathered 175 followers (and it keeps growing), making it one of the front-page trending groups. Yes, it is kind of sad that I cannot use the Twibbon I created, but it’s all just part of my general excitement about the con. If you’re on Twitter and going to Gen Con, why not add it to your profile as well? Click on the widget below and voilà!

Even more interesting, there’s been some instances of using Twitter and the #gencon tag for promotional purposes: @Gen_Con has given away free generic event tickets to followers using the “Going to #GenCon Indy!” twibbon and Design Matters (@DMbooth1834), an indie/small press boutique is doing daily PDF giveaways combining it with their own #designmatters tag (see below). This is fantastic use of the features of this social medium, and I want to see more like this done by other gaming companies.

Yeah, Twitter is the epicenter of Gen Con info this year, straight from the folks at the con, right from the middle of the action, with peanut-gallery comments from all those of us not there.

This Just In… from Gen Con! Podcast

My second source of information comes thanks to the podcasting stylings of Master Plan’s Ryan Macklin, who is bring back for a second year the one and only right-from-the-con podcast, This Just In… from Gen Con! Twice daily on each of the four days of the con (with pre-con preview shows as well), Ryan brings the con right into your MP3 player of choice, with commentary, news, interviews and general shenanigans.

The podcast debuted last year at Gen Con 2008, hosted by Ryan and Paul Tevis (of the 2007 Best Podcast ENnie Award Winner show Have Games, Will Travel), and it was an instant success. Not only were people not attending the con downloading it every day, people at the con were listening in as well! The hosts heard from quite a few people that they would download the show, drop it into their digital players and listen as they walked from their hotels to the convention center and back. I know I listened to a couple of episodes right from my laptop in the hotel room, even finding out about things I had missed while on the exhibition floor.

Doing a twice-daily show, even if they are 15-to-20-minute episodes, takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment. Ryan and Paul sacrificed a good chunk of their time and energy at Gen Con for the show, and I thank them for that. This year Ryan is doing hosting duties by himself, though he’ll be roping in fellow podcasters for each show in addition to any interviews he may do, so up front I want to say to him, thanks for taking on this madness again and allowing us not-attendees a chance to share in the magic.

You can subscribe to This Just In… from Gen Con! at their website or find it in iTunes. Remember you can also listen to the shows right from the website as well. If you do subscribe, let other people know about the show and help spread the word! You can already listen to two preview shows to whet your appetite:

1. This Just In…From GenCon 2009! Pre-show #1
2. This Just In…From GenCon 2009! Pre-show #2

So there you have it, my two main sources through which I will live vicariously next weekend. I cannot wait! And if you have another way through which you plan to experience the con from afar, let me know in the comments.

This is a special episode of The Gamer Traveler. Recorded while I visited Puerto Rico this past February, it is all in Spanish and deals with the gaming scene in Puerto Rico. If you’re not a Spanish-speaker, stay tuned for more regular episodes, in English, coming in the near future. If you do speak Spanish, read on!

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Este es un episodio especial de The Gamer Traveler (El Jugador Viajero), en el cual tome la oportunidad de sentarme con mi amigo Braulio Rivera para hablar de la escena de juegos en Puerto Rico.

Con la ayuda de varias botellas de cerveza Medalla, Braulio y yo hablamos sobre nuestro inicio en los juegos de hobby en los 80’s, la trayectoria de nuestro grupo, y como vemos el estado de la escena de juegos en Puerto Rico hoy en día.

Es gracias a esta conversación que decidimos crear www.GamersPR.com y podrán escuchar el génesis de esa idea en el audio. Esto también sirve de lanzamiento oficial de ese website y comunidad!

Sigue el enlace al foro provisto aqui abajo para dejarnos comentarios sobre como tu comenzaste a jugar y como ves tu la escena de juegos hoy en la isla. Tu contribucion es valiosa!

Join the forum discussion at GamersPR.com on this post.

In The Gamer Traveler – Episode 12 I bring you a soundseeing tour of the famous Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, recorded April, 2008 while I attened the GAMA Trade Show. Join me as I set out of my hotel, the Ballys, and head up the Strip to walk the sidewalks, visit The Venetian, Wynn, Treasure Island and Caesar’s Palace hotels. Check out the quirky things that make up Vegas I encounter along the way (including provocative postcards and Halo’s Master Chief) as I ponder the kitsch of it all.

If you are heading to GAMA Trade Show 2009, check out also my GTS 2008 Special Episode for an idea of what you’ll encounter at the show.

Check out some photos of Las Vegas in the slideshow below or at Flickr: The Gamer Traveler – Las Vegas

In The Gamer Traveler – Episode 11 I sit down with my friend of a lifetime, Braulio Rivera, to talk about his visit to Kobe, Japan to play in a Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour tournament. We chat about visiting a country and a culture so different from our western one, wandering Kobe at night, the “little” differences one notices, and being saved from going where one perhaps should better not (a funny story).

Port of Kobe, Japan

I also took the opportunity to update listeners on the changes to The Gamer Traveler, since this is the first episode since the transition.

This episode was recorded in Puerto Rico, so you’ll hear lots of coquis in the background!

Find inspirational photos of Kobe, Japan at Wikimedia Commons and Flickr.

This episode is going out on both The Gamer Traveler and The Digital Front feeds; my apologies if you get them both.

I had the opportunity and fortune to fly out to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the GAMA Trade Show 2008, April 20-24 (though I was there April 22-24). There I was able to see a lot of the new games coming out this year, demo some of them, and talk to a lot of industry folks about the current state of gaming and the future of our hobby and industry. I hope you enjoy the report.

For more GTS audio reports, check out Pulp Gamer: Out of Character, Pulp Gamer: Inside Track with Anthony Gallela, the OgreCave Audio Report, and the combined episode of 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction and That’s How We Roll.

Check out photos of GTS and Las Vegas on Flickr.

Download TGT-TDF Special Episode 04.

In The Gamer Traveler – Episode 10 I chat with Dan Repperger of the Fear the Boot Podcast about his one-week cruise. We talk about their itinerary, the art of doing nothing on a cruise, the LARP cruise and how to draw inspiration from cruises for your games (two words: capital starships!).

Links:

• Dan & Karla’s pics from the trip
• Fear the Boot
• The LARP Cruise from Gamer Adventures
• Carnival Cruise Lines

This episode is going out on both The Gamer Traveler and The Digital Front feeds; my apologies if you get them both.

On March 4, 2008 – GM’s Day – Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax passed away. These are just some quick thoughts about the man, and what he, and his creation, meant to me. Godspeed, Gary. So long and thank you for the games.

In The Gamer Traveler – Episode 09 I talk with Kim Maita of Gamer Adventures, a travel agency dedicated to offering vacations for gamers! Kim and I talk about the history of her company, what vacations for gamers are like, and the packages she currently offers to her clients, as well as some ideas for what’s coming in the future, especially the packages to Gen Con Australia. There is also information on a new contest sponsored by WizKids Games where you can win packs of Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars PocketModel games.

Links:

• Gamer Adventures
• Gen Con Australia
• WizKids Games

We kick off Season 2 with The Gamer Traveler - Episode 08, where we explore Gen Con and Indianapolis, Indiana. This episode contains “live” segments recorded en route to the con, three interviews from Gen Con with reps from Your Move Games, White Wolf and Wizkids Games, companies that will feature prominently in the podcast later this season, and a soundseeing mini-tour of downtown Indianapolis as morning breaks on the last day of the convention.

See the full show notes and links here.

Download TGT-08

Fresh from the awesomeness that is Gen Con, Daniel sits down with his friend Josh Hoade to record their impressions of the convention, talk about the great time each had in Indy, and the games they played and brought back to Miami.

Check out the Gen Con 2007 photos at Flickr.