PAX East: Disney World for Gamers

Last Friday, a few of us headed up to Boston for the Penny Arcade Expo. Gamers at PAX East As a first-timer to the show, I was in awe at the sheer size at one of the biggest gaming events for consumers in the US.  I could feel the excitement as soon as I walked through the door; I’d equate it to an insane amount of eight year olds at Disney World for the first time. Wait times to play games were up to three hours long and there were no complaints about the lines (you won’t find that at Disney World).

PAX East broke records this year with 69,500 attendees, surpassing every US industry event to date (including PAX Prime and E3).  Attendees were able to play the newest and best games the industry has to offer, including getting sneak peeks at Battlefield 3, Duke Nukem Forever, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Mortal Kombat 9, SOCOM 4, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Red Faction: Armageddon, Brink, The Hunted: Demon Forge, Gears Of War 3 and Bioshock’s Infinite.

We also saw some great work coming from the indies, too, including new games from Twisted Pixel Games, Halfbrick, Fire Hose Games, Hothead Games, Moonshot Games and Ska Studios. No matter what kind of games you like to play, there was something for everyone, including a separate section for tabletop games with its very own library in which attendees could use to check out games.

If you didn’t get the chance to check out PAX in Boston, make sure you attend PAX Prime this August in Seattle and mark off April 6-8 for PAX East in 2012.

See you in August!

Borgias
Jenzy and Sam at PAX East