The 2008 Penny Arcade Expo has come and gone from the Washington State Convention Center. I’m finding it difficult to sum up in words my experiences of this past weekend. I’m glad today was a holiday because I definitely needed some recovery time. But even though the respite was welcome and very beneficial, I’m still left with a feeling of loss.

After posting some pictures over on Flickr, a friend asked “What is PAX?” I supplied a link to the PAX site and tried to sum it up. But after thinking about it, my answer was not as sufficient as I would like. If asked again, my answer would have to be something like this:

Verdict: OMFGPAX!

In a Nutshell: PAX is a Massively Multiplayer Living Game.

(from the game’s website)

“PAX is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, the weekend-long Omegathon event, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers. Even with all this amazing content the best part of PAX is hanging out with other people who know their shit when it comes to games.”

• Fun Rating: Really Fun
• ESRB: n/a
• Players/Mode: Single-player/Campaign, Multi-player/Campaign
• Game Duration: 3 days
• System: ALL SYSTEMS GO!
• Developer: Penny-Arcade
• Website: http://pennyarcadeexpo.com

Playing the game

At PAX, you (the hero) will find a menagerie of Player Characters (people you know or get to know) and Non-Player Characters (the crowd and the heroic icons that populate the PAX world) that come from all over the real world. You can compete with many of these people in the vast array of mini-games (tournaments or casual competitions) or join them in any number of side quests (mostly for gathering food or surviving “The Queue”) as you attempt to complete the quest you arrived with, or a new quest you picked up along the way. The story in PAX is your story; your adventure. And, as with a good story, once PAX is over, you are left with the imprint, the lingering memory, of being a part of the wondrous intangible.

What the game gets right

PAX is everything you could ever want at an arcade. There is so much to do that you have to be actively trying to be bored in order to be bored (i.e. stand in line all day and as soon as you are at the front of the line, go to the back of the line or go find a longer line to stand in. Unless of course, lines are your thing, in which case I can’t help you.)

The hosts, speakers, and bands are completely approachable (as long as they are not being whisked away to their next scheduled event).

PAX is for the gamers, first and foremost.

What the game gets wrong

Time-Turners not handed out at the door.

NPC’s not programmed to conduct themselves well; booth babes were snuck in, gamers were reportedly kicked off for media demos, and the crowd is still, at times, an unwashed mass.  The Penny Arcade guys are going to do their best to make sure the first two items don’t happen next year.  The last is up to the attendees.

Sum it up

My personal quest this year was to play as many games as possible on the exhibition floor (the Hall) and meet and talk to the developers of those games. And for the most part, I succeeded. I missed out on the big games like Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, as I was focusing on the independents, table tops, and the “smaller” developers.

Even with all I did, I still feel like I missed out on so much. Next year will require a better plan of attack on my part. Hope to see you there next year!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 am and is filed under Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.