PAX 2009

I managed to attend PAX 2009 this year for the first time.   I say managed because it actually sold out completely, the first time it has ever happened too.   Luckily someone at work was selling a three day pass and I got lucky enough to get it.  score.

I really had no idea what to expect.  I knew it was somehow based around Penny Arcade, and had "video game stuff", some presenters, and other "stuff".   It seemed likely to at least be an interesting experience so I wasn't much worried, and it was only $50.

I won't boringly enumerate everything here, but I will say the main stay is the expo.  I'm kind of quite surprised it actually fit in the convention center, it is simply massive.   I didn't actually play many games due to lines and well nothing really grabbed me, but it was quite amazing to see all the different set ups as well simply the number of people.

So instead of being boring I'll just point out some specific things I learned about attending PAX:

Pax is mostly about video games

I know Penny Arcade is a lot about games too, but I really was expecting it all to me somehow mostly about the comic, but it is not.   The main focus is video games, console and computer alike, including even hardware vendors showing up.   There was actually a stand in the expo just pushing 3D setups, which apparently will work with any 120Hz display.   It makes HUDs a little more life like.

It wasn't just video games though.  There were table top vendors and CCG vendors in the expo area too, as well a whole floor was just for pick up board gaming.

Pax is for and by gamers

Pax is pretty much made by gamers for gamers and not by the gaming industry for better or wose.  I don't think there'll be a ton of surprise announcements like E3.

Pax is pretty cool

During the 3 days the Omegathon occures.  This is a 5-6 stage elimination gaming competition.   The games however are quite random, and the final game is secret and done during the final closing show of PAX.  This year it was Skee ball :o)

Also, they even Pax 10 awesome small games and both feature them in the printed program, but also let them demo.   One of GAMBIT's games, CarnieVale, was there and I got to meet some of the Singapore co-workers of Marleigh's.   As well there was a new game called Machinarium from the makers of Samorost.  If you haven't played Samorost you should go now.

Wil Wheaton gets to do whatever he wants

Wil Wheaton isn't known for gaming, but he is a gamer and therefor I think he gets to do whatever he wants.   He was on the Pitch Your Game panel, he got his own Talk, and was just in general wandering around on stages and with other guests doing stuff.

There are smarts at Pax

Pax isn't just about playing games, there are also several rooms in which talks, movies, etc are going on.   There were a few on interesting subjects like: Female gamers; sex, drugs, murder in games; designing for failure, etc.   You can still see the schedule online with descriptions.

Seattle is a good place to be for such geeky things

I learned there are a lot of geeky things in the area I didn't know about.  First, Penny Arcade is homed up in Capitol Hill ( Mike and Jerry live here ).   I hear Scott Kurtz of PvP is thinking of moving here, I can only imagine Wil is next.   Bungie is in Kirkland, Valve is in Bellevue, and apparantly 5th Cell, the makers of Scribblenauts, are in Bellevue too, who knew.

The Seattle Convention Center is huge

PAX had complete use of the convention center from what I saw, well floors 2-6.  The convention center looks big from the outside, I mean it's a convention center, but it doesn't feel like the insides should fit.   The expo and main hall areas were simply massive and I think they were on the same floors.

Games

Since there are games at PAX so here's some I ran across that caught me.

Uncharted 2:  Looks neat, nothing special but that should be quite fine.

BioShock 2:  Only a teaser walk through but pretty awesome, can't wait.

Scribblenauts: This personally isn't doing a lot for me, but I like the idea and I'm glad everyone else is jazzed.

Dante's Inferno:  Looked pretty cool and the game play with fighting big monsters was somewhat Prince of Persia like which is good.  I'm told it looks pretty much like God of War, so I'll have to check that out too.

WET: At first it looked a bit typical but I think some of the game play will be pretty neat.  The parts where you were riding a moving vehicle down a highway and attacking others looked well done.

Diablo 2/Star Craft 2:  More of the same with somewhat newer graphics.

Batman Arkham Asylum: I saw this in the free play room since it's already out, but it made me want to give it a try.  After playing the demo today it's on my gamefly queue.

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I'm glad I went to PAX, and more so I could go for the three days.   I'll likely go next year and make sure I go to the Saturday night stuff which I skipped this year ( no Jonathan Coulton for me ).