The PAX East 2015 Gaming Experience

 
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pax-east-2015-gaming-1
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Posted April 22, 2015 by

In 2004, the people at Penny Arcade decided that they wanted to do a show exclusively for gaming. There were already huge showcases and conventions for other nerd hobbies such as comics and anime, but nothing that specifically focused on games and gaming culture. There is E3, but that’s an industry event, not an open to the public event for fans. From that idea spawned a small, 4,500 person event in Bellevue, Washington called the Penny Arcade Expo. Doubling in size each year until venue capacities were maxed out, the convention expanded to Boston in 2010 for PAX East. Now, PAX Prime is in Seattle, and there’s a PAX South in San Antonio, Texas, a PAX Australia, and a PAX Dev for game developers and industry professionals. PAX Prime and PAX East now represent the two largest gaming events in North America.

And PAX is just that: conventions about gaming, for gamers and would-be to expert game professionals. That includes all manner of popular gaming, from what’s new and exciting for next gen video game consoles, to giant MOBAs and indie showcases for PC elites, to huge LAN parties for the BYOC gamer, a lounge for Nintendo DS and other handheld devices, retro gaming nostalgia, con-exclusive skins for games like Smite and related loot, live competitive gaming championships for titles such as Halo and Evolve, a massive area for all manner of tabletop games – from D&D to Magic: The Gathering to King of Tokyo to smaller and indie games such as Glamazons – as well as gadgets and gear to enhance the gaming experience.

The PAX conventions are not for those seeking a massive popculture experience. You won’t find the cast of The Walking Dead here. But you will find some incredible Voice Actors and tons of gaming industry professionals and news outlets. At PAX East, the panels covered such topics as anxiety and depression in gaming, all sorts of expert how-to’s for how to get various games off the ground, Q&A’s with staff of top franchises, romance in game design, being a female in the gaming industry, and more.

There isn’t as much cosplay as you might expect. At least there wasn’t at PAX East this year. Instead of the eyecandy of thousands of cosplayers, PAX East reveled in the cult of the livestreamer. Twitch had an enormous presence, with live interviews with popular streamers, professional gamers, and YouTube personalities. Twitch streamers could be seen everywhere, known by their purple Twitch hoodies and/or name tags with their Twitch ID. Famous cosplayers like Jessica Nigri were in attendance, but NOT in costume. She, along with with several well-known cohorts, were working in civvies as hosts or media personalities. Cosplayers weren’t bereft, though. There were still dozens of gorgeous and inspired videogame related cosplay, with huge meetups for League of Legends and Borderlands. While Riot didn’t have a booth for League this year, they did show huge love to their cosplaying fans by hosting a Cospitality Lounge for all cosplayers, with a pro photographer there to capture the glory of League cosplay for a contest.

At night, there were offsite parties galore, advertised through the Penny Arcade forums, Facebook, and hush-hush word of mouth. With some parties, like Twitch, the guest list and lines overflowed, and it was sheer madness to get in unless you’d scored the VIP treatment. Borderlands, on the other hand, kept things much quieter, with private event for die hard fans and cosplayers, which was hosted by GameOverGreggy and featured a sneak peek at some very exclusive Borderlands collectibles. When PAX began, nerdcore music was a big part of its offerings. While not as much of a focus anymore, there was a celebrated Saturday concert series featuring MC Frontalot, Super Guitar Bros., and more. And it wouldn’t be a gaming convention without a large, badass, adults-only game of Cards Against Humanity.

There wasn’t time to sample all of the awesome games on display. Here are some highlights of what we were lucky enough to play, or at least observe. The update to Guild Wars was beautiful, fast, and fun. We learned that for Guild Wars, Living World Season 2 is the best place for newbies to start, and for those who are new or shy to PvP, Stronghold is a great option because there roles on the team where you can assist and not have to be an aggressor.

Blizzard’s new multiplayer FPS, Overwatch, emphasizes cooperative gaming, and looks like it’s going to rock. For those who love MOBAs and FPS, this is the game to play. Two new characters, McCree and Zarya, were revealed at PAX East, along with a new map. Zarya is especially relevant, as she’s a strong, muscle-bound female character who is anything but the unrealistically skinny, huge-breasted videogame babe. She’s a direct response to both the player and professional communities who’ve called for more character diversity in games. The Overwatch beta will begin this fall, and those interested can sign up at Battle.net.

Jotun is another that stood out, though for entirely different reasons. Jotun (pronounced Joe-tun) is a crowd sourced game with incredible, hand-drawn art and a compelling settling set more or less in Norse mythology. Imagine Shadow of the Colossus with a top-down perspective, and a badass female Viking protagonist named Thora with a mighty axe to grind. You explore your way through puzzles, gain abilities, and then take on some enormous bosses, in order to claim the sweet Valhalla afterlife that should rightfully be yours. Even if Jotun doesn’t immediately seem like your gaming cup of tea, it’s worth taking a look for the art, and as a crowd-sourced success story that will be available on Steam this fall.

For even causal gamers, PAX East was like three days in a gaming amusement park. There was just so much to see and do. For those in the gaming industry, hoping to get into the gaming industry, would-be and serious professional gamers, and anyone who wants to be somebody in the world of videogame livestreaming, PAX East was the place to be. More than just fun, it offered invaluable insider information on all facets of the gaming industry.

 

Photos by Gogo Incognito

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Gogo Incognito

 
Gogo Incognito