PAX East 2010 Impressions

The Inaugural PAX East took place in Boston a week or so ago, and NYCGI was on-hand to cover the highly-anticipated event. From board games to video games, we give you the complete rundown of the largest video game centric conference on the East Coast.

It is 10:30am and I am standing in front of the Heinz Convention Center located in Boston, Massachusetts. I can see the PAX East 2010 sign fluttering in the wind above the main entrance to the building. The temperature is brisk, the wind is steady and I can hardly contain my excitement. There are people from all over the country at this event as well as people from all walks of life.

You have your hardcore gamers who will be here all weekend kicking butts and taking names within the confines of the tournament section of the convention center. You also have families here to spend the day just excited to see some of the new games that are due for release. And finally, you have my favorite kind of conference goers, the COSPlay (Short for Costume Play) troops. In a nutshell, these die-hard fans come dressed from head to toe in the apparel of their favorite video game character. Even Chewbacca from Star Wars made and appearance.

As I enter the convention center, I can almost see the energy of the people here at PAX East. I turn to my cohorts and pull out my map. We head to get lanyards and programs for the weekend of insanity. Once our credentials are in place, we proceed to get in line for the grand opening of the event. The room in which they have everyone waiting is huge and it is packed from wall to wall with ecstatic conference goers.

People are sitting on the floor going through the bag-o-schwag that was provided by the conference hosts. Needless to say, there was some time to kill so I joined the smart crowd by taking a load of and parking my butt right in place. After all, there would be a considerable amount of walking this weekend and I did not want to burn out early.

The announcement is made and the crowd starts to filter in to the convention. The ushers remind me of sheep herders tending to their flock and guiding them in the right direction. We are at the back of the line and it takes us almost 20 minutes to actually get into the main hall.  Finally, we are in. The lights and the sound are not for the faint of heart.

Gunshots, explosion, screams of excitement and screeching tires are just some of the sounds you hear throughout the main hall. The NYCGI crew's eyes were akin to a child on Christmas morning, racing downstairs to see the Christmas tree full of presents. We look at each other, confirm that everyone's phones are on so we can communicate then we disperse like autumn leaves on a fall breeze. 

There is so much to see, yet so little time...

The first booth we hit is Realtime Worlds, creators of the much awaited "A.P.B. - All Points Bulletin." There are a few stations setup around the stage, because it is more like a stage than a booth, and one of the NYCGI editors grabs an empty spot. We proceed to watch but as my attention span grows short, I decide to grab a quick snapshot of the booth and I scamper off to the sounds of screeching tires.

Behold! Split Second in all its glory and wonder, I have been following this game and I anxiously wait for a turn at the controller. As I pan the room while I am waiting, I see the Rockstar station setup with Grand Theft Auto: Tales from Liberty City. Then right across the way there are some indie booths that I recognize, Dejobaan Games, independent development studio who are the creators of "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity". But wait, it is my turn to play Split Second...

Ok, my thirst is quenched and I head over to the other side of the main hall. As I turn the corner there is this gigantic wall of red; Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games has a booth that dwarfs everything in the convention. This space is massive and unfortunately, so is the line to get some playtime. Impressive digs but it is time to move onto something else.

There are a few Xbox Live indie games sprinkled alongside the outskirts of the main hall. Such games as Shank, Scrapmetal and even Charlie Murder were just a few amongst the masses. It is now getting late and the texts start flowing about where we are going to eat for dinner.

As we step outside, we notice that it is a bit colder than before and decide to head back to the hotel for dinner and a cordial.  When we get back we find that the hotel bar is jumping, so we finagle our way through the crowd to the restaurant in the back. Nice, some peace and quiet...

We settle in and begin to order our food. As we dine, we discuss some of our favorite parts of the conference this far. While we all have different tastes for video games and there is a plethora of discussion on which part was better. One thing that we were all in agreement on was the lines throughout the conference. If you wanted to play something popular, you had to wait on line for at least 45 minutes. It felt like we were at an amusement park waiting to ride a popular rollercoaster.

In the middle of dinner we get a visit from a Gamedev.net buddy . He tells us that there is a G4 party going on at a pub really close to the convention center. It's a no-brainer; we call for the dinner bill and head off to T.C's Lounge right on Haviland St., which is about a block and a half away from the convention center. We see Adam Sessler from Xplay but that's about it. We toast a few pints to good times, and then we head back to the convention center for some late night free-play action.

Classic consoles are the choice, and there are plenty. They had everything from the original NES to Sega Saturn and even some N64 action. I tried to grab Goldeneye for the N64 but surprise, surprise; someone had beaten me to the jump. We settle for Perfect Dark instead. What a throw-back is what I think to myself as I am sitting there playing the game. Before we know it our 30 minute time limit is almost up and we decide to cash it in and head back to the hotel and crash. There is a long day ahead of us tomorrow to pick up where we left off.

As I roll over I can see the sunshine peeking through the curtains. Time for round two at PAX East, but first some breakfast. Thankfully Dunkin' Donuts is very close. With content bellies, the NYCGI crew heads back to the conference to see what is going down. After yesterday's session, we are able to revisit some booths that we missed and booths that we loved.

There were some smaller indie booths in the back of the main hall that I wanted to check out, so we headed in that direction. The one that caught my eye and the one that I played for a while was Sharpshooter by yyrGames.

As a huge fan of the FPS genre, I found this game intriguing. It seemed more as a shooting trainer than a game, which is fine by me. Anything I can do to hone my FOS skills I am happy to try out. Sharpshooter did not disappoint. The interface was smooth and gameplay was right on point. After having my cake and eating it too, we decide to head up to the third floor tho check out the next-gen console area.

Of course, the room is packed with people playing everything from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 to Super Mario Bros. Wii. The line to check out games was longer that the lines in the main hall. Regardless, we make our way through to see what is going on and who is playing what. In all honesty, there was a spectrum of games being played which intrigued me. But we have had our fill and decide to head over to the Arcade Free-play area.

Once we get there, the first thing I notice is the music they have blazing through the PA system. I could have sworn that they were playing the soundtrack from GTA: Vice City! If you grew up in the 80's you can understand the nostalgic feeling that crept over me like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter's day.

They had a few arcade machines to play as well as some pinball. We didn't play much due to the amount of people that were in the room. Regardless, I could have stayed in there for hours for the music alone. We finally grow tired of this sardine can of a room and head out to the main hallway in which we find a couple if bean bag chairs beckoning to us to take a load off. We did just that.

So, a little detail on the beanbag chairs and the run of the hallways on the second and third floor on in which they were located. These areas were always packed and you had to scout out your spot in advance if you wanted to relax but I guess we got lucky. You had all different kinds of people chilling out, from photographers getting stills from the moving masses to the tuckered out children and their equally exhausted parents taking naptime.

It was a thoroughly needed break for us. It gave us the opportunity to collect our thoughts on the day and its events as well as to check out all the schwag we have been accumulating. Before we realize it, it is getting late in the afternoon and breakfast is no longer holding up. We decide to gather our things and head out to grab a bite to eat.

Charley's Eating & Drinking Saloon is the venue of choice. This place had a nice pub atmosphere with extremely generous portions. We chatter about the day's events over a few pints, nachos and some pizza and reminisce about high points and low points of the day. With full stomachs and tired feet, we decide to head back to the hotel to relax and have a few pints at the bar.

Overall, the event was definitely leaning toward the consumer aspect of the industry. With many new games to see and play, the general atmosphere was excitement and intrigue. On the development side of the industry there were many keynotes and lectures. Most of which had huge lines due to the fact that the consumers were interested to see what was going on "behind the scenes". Out of the entire weekend and everything that we have seen, the lines for the lectures were to only gripe of the crew.

There were a few developers from other institutions that made it into some of the lectures but even they said that the consumer base threw most of the talks off track and the moderators found it a bit daunting to try and get the discussions back on track. While the attempt was genuine, maybe hold the open to only industry individuals and keep the general public with the confines of the main event.

Regardless of anyone else's take on the event, we here at NYCG had a blast. We will definitely be there again next year to bring you the news coverage that you have come to know and love.

Unitl next time, stay tuned!