I’m a long time gamer but this was first trip down to Boston for PAX East 2013. I took the trip down with my brother and I have to say it was well worth it and met all my expectations. My only regret? Not getting the three day pass.
Highlights for me included the great representation of Indie game designers and companies. I love seeing the small biz people getting their names and games out there for all to see, giving them the chance to be the next Minecraft or Super Meat Boy. A couple of games that caught my attention on that level were “Castle Story” from Sauropod Studio (castlestory.net), “The Seed” from Little Bit Games (youtube.com/littlebitgamesinc), my favorite comic as a kid “Usagi Yojimbo, Way of the Ronin” from HappyGiant (usagiyojimbogame.com) and so many more. I’ve already downloaded a pack of games for my iPad just from talking to these developers.
The big name companies were represented as well of course. Assassin’s Creed IV, Splinter Cell, League of Legends had booths that stood out. Watch Dogs and The Last of Us had long lines. It was crazy.
The other great thing was the table top games. They had a huge portion of the convention center for people to play test the games, get instructions from the game reps and even a load of tournaments (not all were Magic!). I love the rise in popularity coming to table top games and I had to pick up a few games that I haven’t seen in stores (Monty Python Fluxx, Nuts, Dino Dice to name a few). I’m actually shocked I spent less than $1k on things I saw. Of course I did drop a few bucks at Think Geek for their exclusive PAX East Minecraft “Butter” (Gold) swords for my kids as well as a couple great shirts from GameChurch.com because we all know Jesus Loves Gamers!
I do have to mention the one thing that really caught my attention. I talked with two great guys, Steve Spohn and Mark Barlet from “aglegamers” (www.ablegamers.com) who are working on software that is eye tracking that will allow disabled gamers to become able gamers. The software tracks eye movement to control the game so no hands are needed. It’s in its early stages and they had a beta game where you can defend Earth from asteroids but the potential from this software is amazing. I’m sure they will make a huge impact on people with disabilities that will only increase the numbers of people gaming reaches.
Yesterday was all a blur of excitement that I can’t fit everything into. It was EPIC and I’m sure the rest of the weekend will be too.
GO TO PAX EAST (next year if you missed out on this years tix) and stop by the GameSkinny booth while your there!!!
Rico S. aka SpectreFedSen
