So, back from PAX.
PAX itself was flat out amazing. Everything not PAX was horrible — the travel, the logistics, the food (Seattle is obsessed with expensive “dining experiences”) and so on. I’d never do it again, not when PAX East is much closer and easier to deal with. But PAX? Yes. PAX was good stuff.
I figured I’d summarize here since I can’t exactly get all my thoughts down in my various social media streams. Some of the stuff I looked at, what I thought of it.
WildStar – New MMORPG. Beautiful cartoony art style, science fiction background (but leaning heavily on science-tinted fantasy), great character designs, interesting action-based gameplay, etc. I’m really looking forward to this one as it scratches several genre and game design itches I have.
Guild Wars 2 – My mates are going apeshirts over how great this is, but I’m not quite sold. I like their approach to living worlds, and I DO get to carry an assault rifle in a fantasy setting, but it’s still too Generic Gritty Fantasy Game for my tastes. I’ll look into it more.
Fortune Street – Someone yanked me aside for a demo of this, and I had more fun than I thought I would. But, games are long, and only one person in the house is really keen on Monopoly On Steroids(tm) so I’ll probably pass. But it’s quality stuff, indeed.
Torchlight 2 – They split my two favoritest things in the world into two different classes — robot armies of doom and shooting people in a fantasy setting with guns — but it looks GREAT and is still $20, DRM-lite, mod-friendly, and looking amazing.
Fluxx – We also played a few card games and traditional games. Fluxx was a lot of fun; we got a Monty Python themed deck so I was doing great since I remember and can quote/sing from the source material. Doing TOO great. So, we got a more neutral zombie themed deck to play later.
Love & Berry – Yes, the horrific idol singing mass consumerism fashion dressup card mongering arcade game. I saw it at GameWorx and just HAD to take a run at it. It was a living nightmare of PS1 era graphics and terribad game design for little girls, and I loved indulging in the horror.
Other Amazing Games I Really Wanted To See – I couldn’t see them, because the crowds were too thick and the booths too small and the controls up too high for me to reach. Poop. But, I’m patient. I can wait.
PAX, any PAX be it East or Prime, is terrific stuff. Just watch your diet and don’t spend 10+ hours driving and flying in a single day if you can avoid it.
Edit: One other thing. Those business cards promoting anachronauts that I mentioned in my last post? Didn’t get any of them out to the masses. Problem is, we were expecting PAX to be like Otakon, where members of the fandom leave flyers or cards on tables about their various websites, etc. Here, you’re spammed with advertising from moment one… and all of it from people who PAID generously for the right to advertise to you. If we dumped our cards around on tables we’d be unpaying litterbugs and possibly ousted. Darn.
Micheal says
There’s good food to be found in Seattle. Admittedly, you do have to go digging for it.
And come to think, I’d be doing most of my digging outside Seattle proper.
pixeljen says
I found it interesting that PAX Prime was so much like PAX East… I mean I guess it’s not surprising, but it was SO similar that there’s basically no reason to haul ourselves way the heck out to Seattle again.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
The main difference is the games being presented are post-E3, so usually juicier. I mean, at PAX East, they didn’t have much new to show. But… given that East has grown considerably since the first year, and nowadays games are getting released year ’round instead of ONLY in the holiday season, and the hottest games are too crowded to really get any demos of… yeah. East is just as good for our purposes.