PAX East: A Sensory Overload Recap

In the first of many geeky weekends of Boston, I attended PAX East at the Hynnes Convention Center. Those unfamiliar with Penny Arcade (and if you're reading this, you probably have ready the comic, bought the merch, and may or may not have donated to Child's Play), it is a videogame/generic geekery/social phenomenon webcomic. Since 2004 they have been hosting the video game convention that has taken what made E3 awesome and brought it to the fans. Till 2010 this convention has been in Seattle and simply called Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). Last week was the first east coast version: PAX East.

Friday:
This first day of the con, I took the day off and got there about 2 hours before the doors opened...and I wasn't even close to being in the first 2000 people there. The line was fairly epic and to keep us entertained they had various games on three giant screens. LOLcats, games, someone snarkily typing on a computer behind the scenes. They know their audience well. After that we could have gone for the exhibit halls or the Keynote speech. I opted for the keynote.

Wil "Shut Up Wesley" Wheaton provided an excellent keynote. Most people ( including Wil) felt it wasn't as good as his 2007 speech, but I enjoyed the entire thing. His near opening disparaging remark to Jack Thompson drew laughter from the Bostonian crowd. He pointed out the JT doesn't matter at all anymore; disbarred, discredited, and people don't rush to carry the "Video Games are the Devil" flag like the used to. His message was one of welcome as we were finally home.

Going into the exhibit halls with that message made the overwhelming rooms oddly welcoming. I wandered around with neon stars in my eyes trying to take it all in. First booth I went to was Geek Chic HQ . Here I was able to check out their high end gaming tables, such as the Emissary, recently featured in Scott Kurtz's PVPOnline. These tables were absolutely beautiful and I'm trying to convince my Darling Girlfriend that one can be our dinner table in our eventual house.

The next booth I spent significant time at was Wizards of The Coast. I had plenty of experience playing D&D 4th edition but stepped into the live action 4th ed demo. you go in parties of 6 after randomly taking a character. I ended up playing a Goliath Barbarian. We had two turns to try and kill a dragon. yeah, not so much, my d20 rolls were low so, our tank got eaten.


Nintendo was hocking the rerelease of Pokemon gold and silver and that was about it at their booth. Dante's Inferno had a booth...even though the game is already out. Turbine was presenting Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings online.

Both panels I wanted to check out were full so I spawn camped bandland. Got to meet Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm, and Scott Kurtz. All of them couldn't have been nicer. Had a nice little chit chat with Storm about their most recent podcast and got pictures with them and JoCo. Scott was kind enough to sign my DMG and sketch his character Binwin Bronzebottom on the title page.

Went and drummed a round of Rock Band for Re: Your Brains and then went out drinking with guildies. Good times.

Saturday
I hated the world. A morning after drinking and only 4 hours of sleep I was in line at 8 AM. Thankfully this ensured my access to the concert that night. I took a quick look at Rockstar games, Behemoth (bought a green Knight, but more on that later), and nVidia's booth. I got into the line ride for The Wheaton and waited. Got to meet a representative from Think Geek and got a free Annoyatron. While in line Wil blessed a fan's dice and the enforcers kept pointing out there was no line for Scott Kurtz or Kris Straub. Wil signed my DM screen and got a picture of him in his recursive Wil Wheaton shirt. I felt a little bad because the only place for someone to sign on the screen ws next to the sections entitled "Healing a dying character" and "Death and Dying." If you aren't sure why that's funny, go listen to the PA, PVP, and Wil Wheaton D&D podcasts. He got a chuckle out of it and signed.

I made it to the musician's panel. JoCo, Paul and Storm, Metroid Metal, MC Frontalot, The Protomen, Anamanguchi, and Video Games Orchestra answered the questions posed to them. Well, the VGO guy didn't say anything. Paul and Storm tended to provide humorous commentary to everyone else's questions.

I popped home to drop off my messenger bag since I wouldn't need it for the concert and checked out the Knight I bought from The Behemoth games, the makers of Castle Crashers. I asked for a green knight, the box had a green knight label on it, the little box inside had a green dot, and the shield was green....the Knight was blue. Tune into Sunday to see the resolution.

I grabbed dinner with some friends and then made my way into the line for the concert. Again, the screen games kept us entertained and then they let us in. I made it into the pit for most of VGO's set, but then had to sit after my legs couldna hold me anymore.

The concert opened with the 3rd round of The Omegathon: Rock Band. The two teams performed The Gambler...it wasn't exactly pretty but highly entertaining.

VGO opened with Mario, busted out some Chrono Trigger, FF, and a metal inspired remix of Castlevania. Definitely an amazing performance and recommend checking them out if available.

Paul and Storm opened up their show by lip syncing to the recently popularized Trololo meme. Wil Wheaton joined them during that. It was kind of epic. They still performed Opening Band despite being the middle act, but as they said they "are rebels like that." There was a bit on an incident during the song though. Typically the fans will throw (hopefully) clean panties onto the stage. This time, however, Paul was struck with a Hostess Fruit Pie. Paul promptly smashed it on stage in a fit of mock anger and a laugh was had by all. They did their favorites Nun Fight and The Captain's Wife's Lament. Probably the best moment came during Lament:
Storm: "Give us...a ZOMBIE Arrr"
Audience (Groaning): "arrrrrrrrrrr"
Storm: "I think they be ready for Jonathan Coulton"
Paul: " 'Ready for Jonathan Coulton' is my Paul and Storm tribute band"

Coulton came out for his usual acoustic goodness and then brought out some special guests. Paul and Storm typically join him in his performances but this time he brought out the rhythm section of Metroid Metal for several songs. He referred to this combination as "Coultron" and it was awesome.

After fighting a mass of fellow nerds for a cab, I made my way home and passed out.

Sunday
Not having any panels or concerts to get into or the such, I was able to sleep in and not be there when the doors opened, I slept in. I made my way down to the con with the Knight figure. Sadly, when I got to the Behemoth booth, they informed me that they were sold out of knights, but offered me the display one. Now the display one was slightly discolored (not a lot though) so they said I could keep both knights and they called the game designer over and he signed the display case for me. Big props to The Behemoth games. If you own an Xbox 360 and haven't downloaded Castle Crashers...you're doin' it wrong.


All in all, PAX East was an amazing experience. Experience is the only way to describe it. People said it was cramped, but I had no issues moving around, and I'm not exactly of the tiniest of frames. The panel halls could have been larger, but there wasn't much they could do about that and let the gamers have their space to play. And at PAX, the gamer always comes first.

Can't wait till PAX East 2011.