I went to PAX Prime in Seattle with The Quest Gaming Network, and saw a lot of cool stuff. There’s a lot of great games coming out and some incredible new technology on the horizon, but one of the best things about PAX Prime was the people.
Granted, there were too many of them. There were WAY too many people in there for the size of the venue, which was the Washington State Convention Center. Trying to make your way through the masses of sweaty, smelly, yet altogether awesome people was tricky, especially when I wanted to work my way through individual booths. Sony, for example, was so jam packed that I got stuck in one spot for about three minutes waiting for people to clear out enough for me to be able to continue moving. Lines were long, but the worst part was how long they actually took to wade through. It’s not like at a theme park where you have long lines for a two minute ride, so it moves fairly fast. In the case of The Elder Scrolls Online, the line peaked at a two and a half hour wait for a 25 minute demo. So 25 minutes with the game would have been pretty good, but two and a half hours hardly ever moving in a line would not have been.
So yes, there were too many people, it was too jam-packed, and there was a fairly significant odor almost everywhere I went (come to think of it… maybe it was just me?). But what a treat it was to interact with other fans, game developers, and celebrities. I met IGN’s Greg Miller (my industry hero), IGN’s Mitch Dyer, Destructoid’s Jim Sterling, and Dragon Fantasy creative director Adam Rippon. I spoke with the people who make Chivalry, inFamous: Second Son, Strife, and Forza Motorsport 5. And while waiting in line for Titanfall I was able to geek out with another gamer in a lengthy discussion about Fable. It was these moments, not necessarily the actual gameplay itself, that made PAX Prime such an amazing experience.
Not to mention the fact that I was there with two friends, Joe and Evarwyn from QGN, who helped make it a great weekend. Together, we cruised the exhibit halls, crashed parties, got on stage to play Infinite Crisis, interviewed some of our gaming heroes, had some great food, and went home completely exhausted. Throw in some next generation gameplay time, and it was an experience so fun and exciting that it may be hard to top.
My overall impressions of PAX Prime are that there were too many people in too small of a venue, and it was way too loud inside. But thanks to my friends, and all of those people who were there that helped make it such a great time, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being yourself, for feeling free to come to a convention like this and dress up as your favorite character, geek out over Hatsune Miku: Project Diva, and make me feel like I’m not alone.
You’re the best. Game on!
