Hello everyone! For a while Jim has been asking me to sit down and write for the Channel Hide blog to get a second opinion on things. It seems appropriate. I've been a part of Hidesquadron for many years and I'm excited to see where things could go in the future after meeting all of the amazing people at PAX. My gaming preferences and the things I look for in a game differ from Jim's in several ways and I think that this is a strength that he asked for my differing opinion on the convention.There were tons of things to do at PAX, and it was impossible to do them all. I'll try to talk about things that Jim didn't get a chance to in his first post, to spread out the experience a little.
PAX was amazing. This was the first time I had ever been to a convention of any kind for something that was not mainstream...although with 70,000 people showing up for PAX East, it's probably more mainstream than many of us will admit.
 |
| Nintendo's New Handheld Gaming System |
Nintendo 3DS
I walked by the Nintendo booth as one of the first things that I did whenever I got to PAX. I am an old Nintendo gamer. My first console was the SNES with Mario All-Stars, letting me catch up on my Mario 1, 2, and 3 games. I quickly fell in love with The Legend of Zelda, and later in life, Metroid...but I have felt like Nintendo let me down with the Wii. I loved the Gamecube and actually owned one of those instead of an Xbox at the time, much to Jim's dismay. So I had to check out Nintendo and hope for a return to the glory days. Unfortunately, it seems more and more to me that Nintendo's glory days have come and gone. I do not own a DS (or a Wii for that matter) for the fact that there have not been any games that have made me say, "Oh, wow! I really want to play that!" It seems that Nintendo is just constantly re-releasing old favorites for new systems so that the younger kids that Nintendo caters to won't miss out on some of the best the have to offer.
I saw the long lines at the Nintendo booth to try out the 3DS and I was disappointed. It sounded cool "3D without glasses!" but there was no way I was waiting in line for 4 hours to try a system that was coming out in 2 weeks. Luckily I spotted the ever-shrinking Capcom company's booth towards the back of the hall. They have been doing much of the same as Nintendo, their glory days come and gone as well. They were opting to port old games to a new platform, but fortunately for me, the new platform was the 3DS with a very short line. I played Street Fighter II (I wanted to play Resident Evil 3D Mercenaries, but the line was much longer). I've never been a big fighting games person aside from Super Smash Bros but I wasn't there for the game. The 3D on the screen is controlled by a slider on the right top half. You can slide it down completely to turn 3D off, or up for on. I played with this and I found that Street Fighter consisted of a flat background with the characters sporting rounded bodies coming off of the screen. The new "inverted" joystick on the controller seems like it slides around a lot more than the traditional joystick I'm used to on my Xbox controller, but I'm sure it will only take a little getting used to...besides - using only a D-Pad with 3D games is kind of rough and I applaud the DS's attempts at making a flatter joystick.
A cool effect, to be sure...but then the rep hit me with the price tag. $250. Ouch.
Nintendo, if you read this, put some new and interesting games out once in a while and I would consider it. Otherwise, I have simple to pick up games that I can play for free on my smartphone...a device that does more than just play games. Oh, and it can play emulators of the games from the "good 'ol days" which I bought once and you are re-releasing and charging another $40 for them. I'm just asking for you to make me go "WOW!" once more in my lifetime, Nintendo. Overall, a very cool system, but not having had a Gameboy since the Advance generation, I feel no need to rush out and get one now.
I walked by the Nintendo booth as one of the first things that I did whenever I got to PAX. I am an old Nintendo gamer. My first console was the SNES with Mario All-Stars, letting me catch up on my Mario 1, 2, and 3 games. I quickly fell in love with The Legend of Zelda, and later in life, Metroid...but I have felt like Nintendo let me down with the Wii. I loved the Gamecube and actually owned one of those instead of an Xbox at the time, much to Jim's dismay. So I had to check out Nintendo and hope for a return to the glory days. Unfortunately, it seems more and more to me that Nintendo's glory days have come and gone. I do not own a DS (or a Wii for that matter) for the fact that there have not been any games that have made me say, "Oh, wow! I really want to play that!" It seems that Nintendo is just constantly re-releasing old favorites for new systems so that the younger kids that Nintendo caters to won't miss out on some of the best the have to offer.
I saw the long lines at the Nintendo booth to try out the 3DS and I was disappointed. It sounded cool "3D without glasses!" but there was no way I was waiting in line for 4 hours to try a system that was coming out in 2 weeks. Luckily I spotted the ever-shrinking Capcom company's booth towards the back of the hall. They have been doing much of the same as Nintendo, their glory days come and gone as well. They were opting to port old games to a new platform, but fortunately for me, the new platform was the 3DS with a very short line. I played Street Fighter II (I wanted to play Resident Evil 3D Mercenaries, but the line was much longer). I've never been a big fighting games person aside from Super Smash Bros but I wasn't there for the game. The 3D on the screen is controlled by a slider on the right top half. You can slide it down completely to turn 3D off, or up for on. I played with this and I found that Street Fighter consisted of a flat background with the characters sporting rounded bodies coming off of the screen. The new "inverted" joystick on the controller seems like it slides around a lot more than the traditional joystick I'm used to on my Xbox controller, but I'm sure it will only take a little getting used to...besides - using only a D-Pad with 3D games is kind of rough and I applaud the DS's attempts at making a flatter joystick.
A cool effect, to be sure...but then the rep hit me with the price tag. $250. Ouch.
Nintendo, if you read this, put some new and interesting games out once in a while and I would consider it. Otherwise, I have simple to pick up games that I can play for free on my smartphone...a device that does more than just play games. Oh, and it can play emulators of the games from the "good 'ol days" which I bought once and you are re-releasing and charging another $40 for them. I'm just asking for you to make me go "WOW!" once more in my lifetime, Nintendo. Overall, a very cool system, but not having had a Gameboy since the Advance generation, I feel no need to rush out and get one now.
 |
| NVidia's Gaming Booths |
NVidia 3D Gaming
This was an incredibly fun booth to spend some time at, and was one of the largest on the floor. I am not much of a PC gamer except for Blizzard games (Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo) but I did get to play Crysis 2 in 3D, and wow, I was very impressed. It did seem like just the weapon and HUD were in 3D on the screen, but that was good enough for me. The lights and colors playing across the barrel of my gun were beautiful, and I got more than one feeling of dizziness jumping from rooftops, but it was pretty fun. Next, I walked down the isles and found one computer with 3 3D graphics hards attached to 3 24" HD monitors running 7 processers dedicated to World of Warcraft. The attendant let me load up my account and fly around Stormwind in 3D...and then I proceeded to crash the system twice. It was very cool, he told me that games needed to be played on a special monitor with glasses and with special graphics cards. The game also has to be supported, which means that NVidia needs to have gone through the game and pre-rendered the game, which is difficult with ever-changing and expansive games like World of Warcraft. A real buzz-killer next to the pricetag that I conveniently neglected to ask about.
3D itself seems to be a semi-gimmicky technology today. Most people seem interested by it, but not enough to make them want to bite, for the reasons listed in Jim's 3D article. People were much the same way with HDTVs, they liked them, they wanted them...but they didn't NEED them. They were fine with their older projection TVs until the price became more reasonable. I feel that this may be the case, coupled with the fact that people just recently finished buying their HDTVs for their homes and are not ready to buy the next generation as it feels like it is too soon. 3D is not as widespread as HD was at launch either. Couple that with some people getting headaches or motion sick from having glasses on and your brain trying to fight the urge to see a 2D image in 3D, and people just aren't as enchanted by it as they were with HD. Until we get more devices that let us view 3D without having to be dead center in the middle of the screen, without wearing a pair of glasses, I won't invest in it. I'll take my 1080p HD thank you very much.
This was an incredibly fun booth to spend some time at, and was one of the largest on the floor. I am not much of a PC gamer except for Blizzard games (Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Diablo) but I did get to play Crysis 2 in 3D, and wow, I was very impressed. It did seem like just the weapon and HUD were in 3D on the screen, but that was good enough for me. The lights and colors playing across the barrel of my gun were beautiful, and I got more than one feeling of dizziness jumping from rooftops, but it was pretty fun. Next, I walked down the isles and found one computer with 3 3D graphics hards attached to 3 24" HD monitors running 7 processers dedicated to World of Warcraft. The attendant let me load up my account and fly around Stormwind in 3D...and then I proceeded to crash the system twice. It was very cool, he told me that games needed to be played on a special monitor with glasses and with special graphics cards. The game also has to be supported, which means that NVidia needs to have gone through the game and pre-rendered the game, which is difficult with ever-changing and expansive games like World of Warcraft. A real buzz-killer next to the pricetag that I conveniently neglected to ask about.
3D itself seems to be a semi-gimmicky technology today. Most people seem interested by it, but not enough to make them want to bite, for the reasons listed in Jim's 3D article. People were much the same way with HDTVs, they liked them, they wanted them...but they didn't NEED them. They were fine with their older projection TVs until the price became more reasonable. I feel that this may be the case, coupled with the fact that people just recently finished buying their HDTVs for their homes and are not ready to buy the next generation as it feels like it is too soon. 3D is not as widespread as HD was at launch either. Couple that with some people getting headaches or motion sick from having glasses on and your brain trying to fight the urge to see a 2D image in 3D, and people just aren't as enchanted by it as they were with HD. Until we get more devices that let us view 3D without having to be dead center in the middle of the screen, without wearing a pair of glasses, I won't invest in it. I'll take my 1080p HD thank you very much.
 |
| Duke Nukem playing Duke Nukem Forever |
Duke Nukem Forever
Apparently the gaming world's biggest joke and leader of the Vaporware category is actually going to come out. I won't believe it until I actually see it sitting on shelves, of course, but there was a big booth with hot babes around the Duke's throne (Hail to the king, baby!) and a playable demo. I saw crazy things like the trailer holds, awesome Duke Nukem 3rd grade humor and one-liners, and some interesting mechanics I haven't seen in games in years. One gun shrinks an enemy down to cockroach size and then Duke steps on him, squishing him. I never got a chance to play the original games as my parents were rather conservative with gaming in general, but I am eager to participate in the myth that is Duke Nukem. I hope that Fox News doesn't go on some stupid crusade against mature rated games again like they did with Bulletstorm, citing that little kids getting M-rated games is wrong. I have news for you. little kids CAN'T buy M-rated games from stores by themselves...and if they do order it for themselves online, it is your responsibility as a parent to have an active role in your child's life and know what they are playing. That's why the ESRB exists, and that's why all major gaming consoles have parental controls!! This is one title that is worth getting excited over.
 |
| Arkham's Finest meet the Imperials: Harley Quinn, Clone Trooper, Scarecrow, Storm Trooper, Poison Ivy, Darth Vader, The Joker |
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Ahh, Star Wars. One of the staples of the geek diet. After the failure of Star Wars Galaxies, but the incredible success of Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware and Lucas Arts have teamed up again to bring a seemingly promising MMO to us. While there are still no huge details on the game available to the general public, I did start talking to some guys, one of which turned out to be employed by Bioware and was the one that wrote the story for the Soldier class. He wasn't able to tell me many more details because they simply weren't decided upon yet. No news on whether or not ToR will be free to play or not, but based upon the budget of the game and the companies behind it...I'm willing to say it will be subscription based like WoW, RIFT, and DC Universe Online.
The waiting line to try the demo and get a free T-Shirt was 7+ hours long both days. I was even in line 1.5 hours before the show floor opened to get in line for ToR and I was still going to be in line for 4+ hours. The reason for this? The demo was 45 minutes long. For the size of the booth that they had with the attendance and the interest in the game, this was a very poor choice. I would have been perfectly fine with a 10 - 15 minute demo of the game, just to get a feel for it. They did have big TVs showing the monitors of the people currently playing on the outside of the booths though, and I am not completely sold on it. Lots of the moves looked like they did exactly the same things such as a volley of laser blasts, a thrown grenade, or like different strikes with the lightsaber (thrust, slash, etc.). It was some relatively boring gameplay to watch, but I'm still holding out hope that it will be a fun and varied game. I mean...it is BIOWARE making the game!
Ahh, Star Wars. One of the staples of the geek diet. After the failure of Star Wars Galaxies, but the incredible success of Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware and Lucas Arts have teamed up again to bring a seemingly promising MMO to us. While there are still no huge details on the game available to the general public, I did start talking to some guys, one of which turned out to be employed by Bioware and was the one that wrote the story for the Soldier class. He wasn't able to tell me many more details because they simply weren't decided upon yet. No news on whether or not ToR will be free to play or not, but based upon the budget of the game and the companies behind it...I'm willing to say it will be subscription based like WoW, RIFT, and DC Universe Online.
The waiting line to try the demo and get a free T-Shirt was 7+ hours long both days. I was even in line 1.5 hours before the show floor opened to get in line for ToR and I was still going to be in line for 4+ hours. The reason for this? The demo was 45 minutes long. For the size of the booth that they had with the attendance and the interest in the game, this was a very poor choice. I would have been perfectly fine with a 10 - 15 minute demo of the game, just to get a feel for it. They did have big TVs showing the monitors of the people currently playing on the outside of the booths though, and I am not completely sold on it. Lots of the moves looked like they did exactly the same things such as a volley of laser blasts, a thrown grenade, or like different strikes with the lightsaber (thrust, slash, etc.). It was some relatively boring gameplay to watch, but I'm still holding out hope that it will be a fun and varied game. I mean...it is BIOWARE making the game!
 |
| Plants vs. Zombies - One of the Many Middleware Games |
Middleware Games
I was fairly impressed with the population of the middleware games market. Games that I consider middleware are either 3rd party games, Xbox Live Arcade games, or other industries such as PopCap games. Some of the most fun games today started out as these kinds of games (Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Minecraft, Geometry Wars), and show promise for smaller studios competing in a world full of titans. Some of the better games were Slam Bolt Scrappers - a brawler game with a tetris aspect to it. I didn't get a chance to really figure it out because as soon as I heard it was on PSN only, I walked away. The attendant did tell me to buy a Playstation just for that game though. She said it was worth it. Silly Sony people.
The Plants vs. Zombies fan base continues to grow, there were people who made their own costumes there, as well as PvZ tournaments, and traffic cone hats (like some of the zombies wear in the game). I think that these smaller companies give people a chance to break out into the designing world and gain recognition by the larger companies. I was also able to get to quite a few of these games since the lines were generally shorter. I played a game called Gatling Gears coming to the Arcade, where you play a little mech walker in the old vertical scrolling arcade style. You have grenades and missles that recharge over time, upgrades to buy for your mech, coupled with the lost art of hand-eye coordination moving between waves of enemy fire while returning fire. Very fun game. My friend played Serious Sam DD, which isn't that new of a gaming franchise, but it was a decent 2D scrolling shooter platformer, the likes of which I haven't seen since Earthworm Jim or Contra. It was well done and features an ability to stack all of the guns you've collected on top of one another to make a stack of guns that fires together. I got a laugh out of it, and the developer enjoyed his feature of an assault rife on a shotgun, on an smg, on a laser blaster.
I was fairly impressed with the population of the middleware games market. Games that I consider middleware are either 3rd party games, Xbox Live Arcade games, or other industries such as PopCap games. Some of the most fun games today started out as these kinds of games (Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Minecraft, Geometry Wars), and show promise for smaller studios competing in a world full of titans. Some of the better games were Slam Bolt Scrappers - a brawler game with a tetris aspect to it. I didn't get a chance to really figure it out because as soon as I heard it was on PSN only, I walked away. The attendant did tell me to buy a Playstation just for that game though. She said it was worth it. Silly Sony people.
The Plants vs. Zombies fan base continues to grow, there were people who made their own costumes there, as well as PvZ tournaments, and traffic cone hats (like some of the zombies wear in the game). I think that these smaller companies give people a chance to break out into the designing world and gain recognition by the larger companies. I was also able to get to quite a few of these games since the lines were generally shorter. I played a game called Gatling Gears coming to the Arcade, where you play a little mech walker in the old vertical scrolling arcade style. You have grenades and missles that recharge over time, upgrades to buy for your mech, coupled with the lost art of hand-eye coordination moving between waves of enemy fire while returning fire. Very fun game. My friend played Serious Sam DD, which isn't that new of a gaming franchise, but it was a decent 2D scrolling shooter platformer, the likes of which I haven't seen since Earthworm Jim or Contra. It was well done and features an ability to stack all of the guns you've collected on top of one another to make a stack of guns that fires together. I got a laugh out of it, and the developer enjoyed his feature of an assault rife on a shotgun, on an smg, on a laser blaster.
 |
| Hundreds of 30" LCD HD TVs With Attached Gaming Systems |
Free Play Areas
Perhaps one of the cooler parts of the conference were the Free Play areas. These were conference rooms filled with rows upon rows of 30" televisions each with their own dedicated console, and you could borrow/rent games and controllers that PAX provided, giving them your driver's license as collateral. This allowed you to take a break from the show floor, sit down, and duke it out with your friends (or strangers) in games both new and old. I was able to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which is the ONE game I'm sad that I don't have a Wii for, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, You Don't Know Jack, and Darksiders. I wanted to play Darksiders because it looked interesting enough, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to buy it or not. PAX gave me that opportunity. Don't buy it - it's just another Devil May Cry knock off with nothing special about it besides the setting. I also got to get a few rounds of Starcraft and League of Legends in while taking a break from the floor. Time slots were 45 mins if the rooms were crowded, but it was just the right about of time to get a few games in, but not have to wait outside for a spot to open up for you if you wanted to stop by.
Perhaps one of the cooler parts of the conference were the Free Play areas. These were conference rooms filled with rows upon rows of 30" televisions each with their own dedicated console, and you could borrow/rent games and controllers that PAX provided, giving them your driver's license as collateral. This allowed you to take a break from the show floor, sit down, and duke it out with your friends (or strangers) in games both new and old. I was able to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which is the ONE game I'm sad that I don't have a Wii for, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, You Don't Know Jack, and Darksiders. I wanted to play Darksiders because it looked interesting enough, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to buy it or not. PAX gave me that opportunity. Don't buy it - it's just another Devil May Cry knock off with nothing special about it besides the setting. I also got to get a few rounds of Starcraft and League of Legends in while taking a break from the floor. Time slots were 45 mins if the rooms were crowded, but it was just the right about of time to get a few games in, but not have to wait outside for a spot to open up for you if you wanted to stop by.
 |
| D&D, Magic: The Gathering, Munchkin, Warhammer, Pokemon TCG, and WoW TCG Tables |
Tabletop Gaming
One of the best things about PAX was that it wasn't just about video games. It was about gaming in general. Sure, video games are the most popular and easiest form of gaming in the modern world - you don't have to physically sit down with your friends during the week, you can pick up a game, play it for a few hours and be done with it. This is especially nice if you have friends living all over the country now for jobs, or old college friends that you don't get to see that often. Tabletop gaming is the root of many video games, and is something that I have enjoyed for years.
In Highschool, my friends and I wanted a cheap way to have fun and hang out. Video games were great, but they got old after a while. We picked up Dungeons and Dragons, and later World of Darkness pen and paper role playing games. Pen and Paper RPGs, for those of you who don't know, are a form of collective storytelling with one person being the mediator/narrator and the other people being in charge of their own character. Yes, you roll dice, and some people get REALLY into it in the form of Live Action Role Playing or LARPing. This is made fun of, and then enjoyed in the movie Role Models. It is very enjoyable if you play it with the right people, and the nice thing about it is that you can add rules, remove rules, bend them...everything is free form.
There are other kinds of tabletop games though, ranging from traditional board games like Monopoly to newer games such as Munchkin and Warhammer. There was actually quite a large following of these alternate kinds of games in a video game dominated world. There were 2 hour pick up games of D&D, games of Munkin, which is a screw-your-neighbor kind of card game, and warhammer, which is like chess with miniature soldiers that have different combat ratings. I also saw games of RISK and Axis and Allies going on. It was a nice sight to see strangers interacting with one another.
One of the best things about PAX was that it wasn't just about video games. It was about gaming in general. Sure, video games are the most popular and easiest form of gaming in the modern world - you don't have to physically sit down with your friends during the week, you can pick up a game, play it for a few hours and be done with it. This is especially nice if you have friends living all over the country now for jobs, or old college friends that you don't get to see that often. Tabletop gaming is the root of many video games, and is something that I have enjoyed for years.
In Highschool, my friends and I wanted a cheap way to have fun and hang out. Video games were great, but they got old after a while. We picked up Dungeons and Dragons, and later World of Darkness pen and paper role playing games. Pen and Paper RPGs, for those of you who don't know, are a form of collective storytelling with one person being the mediator/narrator and the other people being in charge of their own character. Yes, you roll dice, and some people get REALLY into it in the form of Live Action Role Playing or LARPing. This is made fun of, and then enjoyed in the movie Role Models. It is very enjoyable if you play it with the right people, and the nice thing about it is that you can add rules, remove rules, bend them...everything is free form.
There are other kinds of tabletop games though, ranging from traditional board games like Monopoly to newer games such as Munchkin and Warhammer. There was actually quite a large following of these alternate kinds of games in a video game dominated world. There were 2 hour pick up games of D&D, games of Munkin, which is a screw-your-neighbor kind of card game, and warhammer, which is like chess with miniature soldiers that have different combat ratings. I also saw games of RISK and Axis and Allies going on. It was a nice sight to see strangers interacting with one another.
 |
| Bunch of People Dressed as Characters from League of Legends |
League of Legends and Free to Play Gaming Model
While in the Free Play area for computers, my friends decided they were going to introduce me to League of Legends. For those of you who have played Defense of the Ancients on the Warcraft III engine, the game is very similar. The creators of DotA created their own online platform and company called Riot Games. LoL is essentially a back and forth tower defense game. You are a summoner that summons one hero you control throughout the match. A line of minions spawn from your base and your enemy's base. Your teammates and you can go and attack these minions and advance your line towards their towers and base. Other player controlled heroes try to stop you. As you kill things, your hero gets XP and gold to learn new abilities/rank up abilities, and buy gear that augments your power, HP, attack speed, etc. The goal is to destroy your opponent's base. At the end of the game your summoner (you) gain XP and points to spend on talent trees, runes, and permanently buying a hero. There are around 50 heroes, and the game randomly selects 10 that everyone can play for free every week. Pretty simple, but pretty complex with the tactics at the same time. All in all, it's pretty fun, and I was really surprised at the following it had at PAX.
One interesting thing that one of the Riot Games guys was up on the podium at the Alienware booth talked about during the LoL tournament was the free-to-play model of their game with micro transactions. The entire game is free to play online. You CAN spend real life money on it if you want to unlock new heroes, buy different skins for your heroes, or gain the end of game rewards points faster. The Riot Games rep said that this actually generates more money than having to charge a monthly fee to play because people aren't discouraged by it, and they can spend money if they want to on some things. The game also uses advertisements on the main panel between games which helps fund it. There are some other games out there that are running the free-to-play model with micro-transactions, but I haven't really seen many companies move to jump on-board with it completely yet.
While in the Free Play area for computers, my friends decided they were going to introduce me to League of Legends. For those of you who have played Defense of the Ancients on the Warcraft III engine, the game is very similar. The creators of DotA created their own online platform and company called Riot Games. LoL is essentially a back and forth tower defense game. You are a summoner that summons one hero you control throughout the match. A line of minions spawn from your base and your enemy's base. Your teammates and you can go and attack these minions and advance your line towards their towers and base. Other player controlled heroes try to stop you. As you kill things, your hero gets XP and gold to learn new abilities/rank up abilities, and buy gear that augments your power, HP, attack speed, etc. The goal is to destroy your opponent's base. At the end of the game your summoner (you) gain XP and points to spend on talent trees, runes, and permanently buying a hero. There are around 50 heroes, and the game randomly selects 10 that everyone can play for free every week. Pretty simple, but pretty complex with the tactics at the same time. All in all, it's pretty fun, and I was really surprised at the following it had at PAX.
One interesting thing that one of the Riot Games guys was up on the podium at the Alienware booth talked about during the LoL tournament was the free-to-play model of their game with micro transactions. The entire game is free to play online. You CAN spend real life money on it if you want to unlock new heroes, buy different skins for your heroes, or gain the end of game rewards points faster. The Riot Games rep said that this actually generates more money than having to charge a monthly fee to play because people aren't discouraged by it, and they can spend money if they want to on some things. The game also uses advertisements on the main panel between games which helps fund it. There are some other games out there that are running the free-to-play model with micro-transactions, but I haven't really seen many companies move to jump on-board with it completely yet.
 |
| Mass Effect Crew: Mordin, Commander Shepard, Tali, Liara |
Costumes and Cos-Playing
This was arguably my favorite part of the show. As I said above, this was the first convention that I have ever been to and while it was fun being around people who shared in one of my favorite hobbies, I was even more blown away by the time and effort put into these costumes. Cos-playing essentially means dressing up in costumes of well known characters. I think that it has mostly kicked off with our generation loving Halloween, and places like Disney where the imaginary characters from movies, games, and tv shows are actually "real" and walking around amongst you. I have just started playing through Mass Effect 2 (Don't get angry - life keeps me busy) and I thought it was so cool to see "real-life" versions of these characters walking around next to me. As you've seen above, I've been posting mostly pictures of people in costumes to head up my sections to show off some of the better ones I came across. These people are incredibly talented, and built these costumes themselves, and are not getting paid by companies to advertise for them. They do it because they enjoy pretending to be their favorite game characters for a day (the "playing" part of cos-playing). Jim would shake his head as I would run to catch up with someone to get a picture of them in their costumes. What can I say? More pictures, if you're interested.
This was arguably my favorite part of the show. As I said above, this was the first convention that I have ever been to and while it was fun being around people who shared in one of my favorite hobbies, I was even more blown away by the time and effort put into these costumes. Cos-playing essentially means dressing up in costumes of well known characters. I think that it has mostly kicked off with our generation loving Halloween, and places like Disney where the imaginary characters from movies, games, and tv shows are actually "real" and walking around amongst you. I have just started playing through Mass Effect 2 (Don't get angry - life keeps me busy) and I thought it was so cool to see "real-life" versions of these characters walking around next to me. As you've seen above, I've been posting mostly pictures of people in costumes to head up my sections to show off some of the better ones I came across. These people are incredibly talented, and built these costumes themselves, and are not getting paid by companies to advertise for them. They do it because they enjoy pretending to be their favorite game characters for a day (the "playing" part of cos-playing). Jim would shake his head as I would run to catch up with someone to get a picture of them in their costumes. What can I say? More pictures, if you're interested.
 |
| Boston's Skyline |
The City of Boston
Maybe it was because I didn't spend much time in the city, or maybe it was because I didn't go "downtown" to meet the locals, but nothing really stood out to me about Boston. It sure felt like an older city and it was pretty cool seeing a skyscraper looming above an old hand-built church while riding the bus to the convention center. It was the first port city that I have ever been in, so seeing nothing but cityscape, but having a hint of seabreeze on the air was a bit different. The locals that I did interact with were all very nice people who dealt with the gigantic convention well, and were always helpful whenever I asked them a question. One day we went out for lunch on the town riding the trolly tour bus to the Barking Crab. I had Crab Cakes and a Mahi-Mahi sandwich, which was fantastic. Few things can compare to fresh seafood. Jim went to a place called Lucky's which he also gave high reviews for. I think that having a convention center of that magnitude has made the city of Boston pretty used to large crowds for events like PAX and Anime Boston. The hotels were all well organized, but the thing I loved most was the complimentary shuttles to and from the convention center to all of the hotels that weren't close enough to be within walking distance. Boston was a nice city, and while I'm not against going back there anytime soon, it's not so fantastic as to go out of my way just to visit the city.
Maybe it was because I didn't spend much time in the city, or maybe it was because I didn't go "downtown" to meet the locals, but nothing really stood out to me about Boston. It sure felt like an older city and it was pretty cool seeing a skyscraper looming above an old hand-built church while riding the bus to the convention center. It was the first port city that I have ever been in, so seeing nothing but cityscape, but having a hint of seabreeze on the air was a bit different. The locals that I did interact with were all very nice people who dealt with the gigantic convention well, and were always helpful whenever I asked them a question. One day we went out for lunch on the town riding the trolly tour bus to the Barking Crab. I had Crab Cakes and a Mahi-Mahi sandwich, which was fantastic. Few things can compare to fresh seafood. Jim went to a place called Lucky's which he also gave high reviews for. I think that having a convention center of that magnitude has made the city of Boston pretty used to large crowds for events like PAX and Anime Boston. The hotels were all well organized, but the thing I loved most was the complimentary shuttles to and from the convention center to all of the hotels that weren't close enough to be within walking distance. Boston was a nice city, and while I'm not against going back there anytime soon, it's not so fantastic as to go out of my way just to visit the city.
 |
| Borderlands Thug - Exactly the same as the game's box art! |
The Gaming Community
It was awesome being around people who understood jokes dropped in reference to gaming culture, and it was even more fun being around people dressed as those characters that you spend hours with while playing games. Especially characters so well developed by their creators like the Mass Effect crew. There were the stereotypes there, the overweight, hygienically-challenged men with long, unwashed hair pulled back into a ponytail and with wild, unkempt beards and large women with legs as thick as my body...but they strangely enough, were not the majority (whew!). There were normal-looking in-shape guys there accompanied by sometimes bored girlfriends, and other friends and they were the majority. There were even plenty of girls there so that it wasn't nearly the sausage-fest that I was expecting...and no, I'm not talking about the attractive ones that were hired by various companies to work the booths, but those girls were nice too. To top it off, it seems that girls like doing the costume thing even more so than guys do, which is perfectly alright by me.
Most of all, I was surprised by the general attitude of the fellow attendees and the "Enforcers". The Enforcers are people who signed up to help PAX run smoothly. They work 6 hour shifts and get into the convention for free on their off hours as their payment. Not much, but they signed up because they wanted to meet people in the industry and help things run smoothly. The average attendant was not really the shy awkward nerdy loser (although there were a few of those. Jim had the pleasure of spending his Battlefield 3 wait with one!) but nice, normal people who were very friendly and easy to strike up a conversation with, or join in on one that ranged from gaming, to their hometowns, to rescuing dogs from shelters. There were no fights, there were no belligerent drunken assholes...just friendly competition. There are few other places that I have been where people are as respectful and as friendly as I ran into at PAX. The big name developers and writers would come right up to you and shake your hand, and hand out swag, the other attendees were fun and entertaining to talk to in line, and many were happy to strike up a Pokemon battle, Munchkin, or Magic: The Gathering match while waiting in line for panels. Of course it also helped that PAX provided you with a deck of Magic cards in your swag bag you got when you checked into the convention. I saw a Young Link (5 year old boy) battling a full grown link down one of the hallways while his mother watched with a smile. The funky smell caused by a bunch of sweaty geeks roaming the convention center grew as the night wore on, but it was a strange feeling being around "your people".
It was awesome being around people who understood jokes dropped in reference to gaming culture, and it was even more fun being around people dressed as those characters that you spend hours with while playing games. Especially characters so well developed by their creators like the Mass Effect crew. There were the stereotypes there, the overweight, hygienically-challenged men with long, unwashed hair pulled back into a ponytail and with wild, unkempt beards and large women with legs as thick as my body...but they strangely enough, were not the majority (whew!). There were normal-looking in-shape guys there accompanied by sometimes bored girlfriends, and other friends and they were the majority. There were even plenty of girls there so that it wasn't nearly the sausage-fest that I was expecting...and no, I'm not talking about the attractive ones that were hired by various companies to work the booths, but those girls were nice too. To top it off, it seems that girls like doing the costume thing even more so than guys do, which is perfectly alright by me.
Most of all, I was surprised by the general attitude of the fellow attendees and the "Enforcers". The Enforcers are people who signed up to help PAX run smoothly. They work 6 hour shifts and get into the convention for free on their off hours as their payment. Not much, but they signed up because they wanted to meet people in the industry and help things run smoothly. The average attendant was not really the shy awkward nerdy loser (although there were a few of those. Jim had the pleasure of spending his Battlefield 3 wait with one!) but nice, normal people who were very friendly and easy to strike up a conversation with, or join in on one that ranged from gaming, to their hometowns, to rescuing dogs from shelters. There were no fights, there were no belligerent drunken assholes...just friendly competition. There are few other places that I have been where people are as respectful and as friendly as I ran into at PAX. The big name developers and writers would come right up to you and shake your hand, and hand out swag, the other attendees were fun and entertaining to talk to in line, and many were happy to strike up a Pokemon battle, Munchkin, or Magic: The Gathering match while waiting in line for panels. Of course it also helped that PAX provided you with a deck of Magic cards in your swag bag you got when you checked into the convention. I saw a Young Link (5 year old boy) battling a full grown link down one of the hallways while his mother watched with a smile. The funky smell caused by a bunch of sweaty geeks roaming the convention center grew as the night wore on, but it was a strange feeling being around "your people".
 |
| Mr. T in a Mech...Scariest Image from the Show! |
Wrap Up
PAX East 2011 was a blast, and I thank Jim (Hidesquadron 1) for asking me to go in January. It was so much fun seeing the excitement over games, gathering the free swag, and just being around everyone that was in the same mindset as you. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to participate in the Halo: Reach tournament, or the Omegathon this year, but hopefully next year I will be able to get into those. This is only the second year that PAX East has been around, but it is already the larger of the two conventions between PAX East and PAX Prime. I had a great time, and the best thing is that I spent probably only about $500 on the entire weekend between plane tickets, hotel rooms, food, and convention ticket. If you like anything game related, come check out PAX.
~ Brenton
PAX East 2011 was a blast, and I thank Jim (Hidesquadron 1) for asking me to go in January. It was so much fun seeing the excitement over games, gathering the free swag, and just being around everyone that was in the same mindset as you. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to participate in the Halo: Reach tournament, or the Omegathon this year, but hopefully next year I will be able to get into those. This is only the second year that PAX East has been around, but it is already the larger of the two conventions between PAX East and PAX Prime. I had a great time, and the best thing is that I spent probably only about $500 on the entire weekend between plane tickets, hotel rooms, food, and convention ticket. If you like anything game related, come check out PAX.
~ Brenton
No comments:
Post a Comment