To start off this was insanely fun just because I was able to meet up with friends and other content creators and have fun at a few social events. Besides that this year it wasn’t that big or that many things that would catch your eyes! This truly surprised me when it came down to it, I was expecting the big triple A developers to be there but there weren’t many around. The convention floor looked like they had space for them to be present but they just didn’t show up. It still was fun to see all the indie game companies get a chance in the spot light. But it did look a little disconcerting when you walk through half the convention center and see much open space that you can literally do kickflips from one corner to the next.
When it came time to go to the panels, It was very organized and very well executed. I just walked around through the area, and to say that it was crowded and an awesome sight to see would be an understatement in the matter. On the note of cosplays, there were many awesome cosplays seen. I was seeing many creative , over the top and plain insane cosplays and I am glad that people actually took the time to cosplay this year. I love seeing cosplayers because it’s been a long time since I have cosplayed and I live vicariously through them now. Everyday I was excited to see other cosplayers and what they have been working on , and it was AMAZING !
The tabletop area was nice to see, they had many of the old school board games from Monopoly and many more. I am not a big tabletop player so I didn’t stay for long in there. They also have the gaming area, this is where you can sit and rent out free of charge a gaming console, be it new or old gen. You can sit there for hours just playing video games and not worrying about the time. This year the there were a lot of people in the area, so it was impossible to get a spot in the console play area. But either way it was great to see the area being so active as in the past, being an ex-enforcer it brought back memories of when I use to work that area. It was awesome to see and it brought a smile to my face. I also saw a familiar face , an old friend, an enforcer who was with me since the beginning of PAX in 2010. It was awesome to say hi and chat for a little bit during the weekend.
Now to talk about the actual con floor, this is where it gets a little bit weird for me , there were a few big name AAA studios, but in my opinion there weren’t many who caught my attention. There were alot of computer component companies like usual and it was great to see them still attending the convention but , when it came down to the games there was a lack their of. There were a lot of indie game companies and vendors, but there was A TON of open space that seemed to feel that some exhibitors and/or vendors pulled out ! It felt more like an anime convention then a PAX East in my opinion, I hope that next year the bigger name companies come back and bring a sense of normality to the convention. This is what is truly needed to make PAX what it was once before. Hopefully they take notes of everyone’s complaints from this year.
All in all I thought the convention was decent, it could have been better but only time will tell what next years east will bring to the table. As well as let’s see what PAX West brings to the table and hope they can bring a better show then East did this year.