PAX Day 2
More from the floor of the first of its kind expo
Tags: Penny Arcade Expo Categories: Features, GBA Features, Game Cube Features, PC Features, PS2 Features, Tech Features, Xbox Features
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 29th, 2004
After a full night’s sleep I returned to the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). This means that yes, I did indeed miss the previous evening’s musical performances by the likes of MC Frontalot and The Minibosses.
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One of the things that should be mentioned is that the consoles in the console tournament room each had custom skins made specifically made for PAX. Check out this one – pretty much self explanitory. It is this sort of thing that shows the level of dedication on the part of the organizers (and it is more than just Mike and Jerry here) to give attendees a really good time, and give them everything they possibly can.
One problem did arise however – over the evening a PlayStation 2 was stolen, so bags were being checked before players could enter the console play room. The organizers will wind up paying for the console to have it replaced. All of the Xboxes were on loan from Microsoft, or the event organizers, and the GameCubes were all on loan from friends. This is a testament to the draw that Penny Arcade has within the local community, as well as on a national level. To have somthing like this happen from a peer (we’re all gamers when the lights are dim and controllers in our hands) is a slap in the face. It will not deter them from holding the event again next year.
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I went downstairs to check out the Hero Clix tournament, as well as talk a little more with Rachel Cirricione, the person holding court over the tabletop domain. She basically got the job of running the tabletop area by default. She was going to register for PAX, when she noticed that they were tinking of having a small area for tabletop gaming. She emailed saying that she had 7 years of running tournaments, and was rewarded with a response – “You’re in charge.”
I asked about why the publishers didn’t have a larger presence within the tabletop arena. This was something that was talked about long before the event – Gabe and Tycho wanted to have the tournaments accessable to everybody, as well as not have a person stuck in a Warhammer 40K tournament (which typically lasts 8 hours) and miss out on the rest of the expo. Rather than have the publishers come in with their rigid “official” tournament rules, it was decided to hold things in a much more casual manner.
The PC side of things were well under way as well. A What looked like a Halo tournament had players stacked up, as did Unreal Tournament 2004. Many brought their own computers, but Lanwerx, a local area gaming company provided a number of PCs to play on, but there was defenitely room for gamers to bring their own rigs as well.
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The Wizard was shown in the theater in the afternoon, something that many attended, though not to capacity. May were still in the Exhebition Room checking out the games that have yet to hit retail – and won’t for quite a while.
One of the bigger titles to have a showing at this year’s PAX was Halo 2. During the night there were tickets handed out and by 8AM all available tickets were handed out – well over 125 lucky people got to get their hands on a controller and partake in some Halo 2 multiplayer action – the same Zanzibar level that was shown at E3.
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Anybody without a ticket had to be relegated to spectator staus. The long line of lucky ticket holders were outside the console room – with groups of 12 going in at a time. The game was a single flag CTF, with three different camps, Red, Blue, and Covenant. The flag carrier was not able to drive a vehicle, but could be a passenger – this is a setting that can be changed in the final version of the game, but for demonstration purposes, the settings were done that way.
Players press and hold X to pick up the flag, or alternately board a slow moving behicle – yeah, jacking a ride is perfectly acceptable, and even expected and condoned.
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This went on for a few hours, with players filing in and out. The tickets were such a coveted item that they became a black market item, especially the hour or so before the start time. Through the grace of the person who originally held ticket number 81, I was able to partake in some Halo 2 goodness. He wanted nothing in return, other than to feel good about having given his ticket to somebody who appreciated it. I thank you, whoever you are, original ticket holder for number 81.
Naturally, there were tournaments held throughout the day in the console room as well, and the Omegathon continued on as well. As I write this, I am unaware of who the winner is – it is shortly before that announcement, but I am sure that Penny Arcade will do well enough to promote that news.
All told, the first annual Penny Arcade Expo was a success, though not without a few mishaps – but that is to be expected. To pull off an event this large and have it run as smoothly as it did is pretty near unheard of. While talking with a few undisclosed Bungie employeed (ok, they work in the Legal Dept.) somebody came up and asked how good they were, and if they would be participating in the hands on time. “No, but we can operate a mean word processor.” I joked that if they really wanted to kick some ass they could take all comers in multiplayer Typing of the Dead. Everybody laughed, and then realized that was probobly true.
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In closing, a few more random scenes from PAX:
Several folks taking the bottle caps of the BAWLS drinks (one of the sponsors, so they were everywhere) and creating a mosaic of the Fruit Fucker.
Two Japanese men standing in the hall looking confused, and rather tired – each holding a Wavebird.
A boy about 10 years old, standing in front of a television set, controller in hand, looking around, ready to take on any and all comers at Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The general consensus, from those who atteneded, as well as exhibitors and organizers was that the Penny Arcade Expo was not only a success, but one that feeds a need in the community. More events like this are needed, where the public can see upcoming games as well as get together with like-minded indivuduals and share an experience that lends itself to a singular nature, or very small groups.
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Tags: Penny Arcade Expo
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 29th, 2004 and is filed under Features, GBA Features, Game Cube Features, PC Features, PS2 Features, Tech Features, Xbox Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
