PAX Prime 2010 Report
I’ve barely blogged about anything this summer. I don’t remember the last time I wrote a con report. I figured I could at least sit down and try and summarize my summer in a single post. Unfortunately, I have a terrible short-term memory, and might have a tough time recalling things in detail. So this time, I really wanted to take the time out to write about my annual trip to Seattle for PAX.
Penny Arcade Expo is my favourite convention. Nowadays, most conventions are synonymous with work and partying. That isn’t really a convention. That’s just, well, work and partying. Which is great and all, but I think content can make your experience significantly better. PAX also happens to be in the fantastic city of Seattle, and I love every minute of being there. This con also means a lot to me, for personal reasons. Without it, I’m not entirely sure what I’d be doing.
Thursday
Around 7:30PM, I arrived a little late from my 1-stop in Kansas City. Fristle was already there. It took about an hour and a half to get my bags, walk to the light rail, and take it into downtown. We checked into the Hotel Vintage Park. We were tired and rested for a bit. I brought some apple donuts in from Apple Haus for Mike, and he figured out how to get to Shorty’s on his iPod Touch. It was a bit of a walk. I remembered the one thing I dread about Seattle. Everywhere you walk feels like it’s uphill. I think my thighs are still hurting.
Shorty’s is a pinball arcade and bar. I LOVED it. I got to have some awesome nachos. I asked the bartender, “What’s in there?” It looked like a slushee machine. He responded with, “Daiquiris.” I said, “I want that!” Somehow, he knew I wanted the “red” one. I got on the high end of buzzed and the low end of drunk off that single daiquiri. We played a few games of pinball and I pointed and said, “That guy was on my plane!” Well, this guy looked at me. I recognized his white adidas superstars with red stripes and his bright yellow hulk shirt. He said he saw me too and that he thought I looked like I was going to PAX. We ended up chatting with him for a bit at the tail end of our visit to Shorty’s. My drunk made the walk back a bit easier.
When we got back to the hotel, we stood in the hallway and heard someone having sex. It sounded like a Chihuahua barking. So I started barking too. “Yapyapyapyapyap! Then I giggled while Mike tried to cover my mouth and again started barking, “Arfarfarfarfarfarf!” We manage to stay up for another 3-4 hours. I’m not really sure how. We both had to wake up early and the time difference is 2-3 hours behind for us. I had a pretty amazing start to the weekend.
Friday
We took our time checking out of the hotel and then checked into the Hyatt at Olive 8. We had a room that was almost a carbon copy of the room we had last year (a corner room on the same corner of the building). The closest Jimmy John’s to Fristle is about 40 minutes away, and he’s a big fan. (I am too; I introduced it to him.) We ate sandwiches at the Jimmy John’s and then headed to the con. After getting our lanyards (Behemoth for the third time in a row) and picking up swag bags, we strolled into the expo hall.
We took a good look around and it was probably twice as big as it was last year. It also felt a lot more crowded. I thought I’d just take a look around to see what everyone had, and then decide what games to play after I made a round. Though, some things I just had to play immediately. I’ll mention the games here briefly, but will go more into it in my gaming blog soon.
The first was NBA Jam for the Wii. It sounds silly, I know. Though, I love arcade-style sports games, and NBA Jam had to be the best one back in the day. I had so much fun playing with a group of strangers. We were all very into it, and there was a lot of random shouting happening.
The second was Epic Mickey. The display for this was enormous. Disney had three gigantic spaces on the show floor, and two of them were for Epic Mickey. (the other was for Tron.) A developer named Clay mistook us as press. Fristle said it was probably because I was “cute” and his “camera was big.” Anyway, Clay was very thorough in showing us the game. I played it for a good while. I enjoyed it, but feel like it’s been overhyped.
Mike and I decided to get a drink at Juicy and hang out in the DS lounge. We were there just in time, as a Dragon Quest meet-up was about to happen. I came across about 30 more people for my Inn. I also obtained a few maps and we learned about the elusive map full of metal slimes that came from Japan. Fristle actually did get this map, but I did not.
After we mingled with some fellow Dragon questers, we headed back to the hotel to drop off stuff. We stopped by American Apparel and H&M looking for a new hoodie for Mike. (He bought a grey one at H&M.) We headed back to the first hotel we stayed in because a taxi voucher to Safeco Field was provided by them (it was including in the stay’s package).
The taxi arrived quick, and we were dropped off right in front of the stadium. We walked around some, so Mike could take photos of the stadium. The Mariners Team store ended up taking up a lot of our time! I wanted an Ichiro shirt and picked one out carefully. There were a lot of Japanese tourists around, stocking up on Mariner Moose plushies and Ichiro jerseys. We were a little early to the game, and our seats were the closest I have ever had. We were behind the visitor’s dugout.
Since Safeco is probably the only ballpark in the states that serves sushi, I had an Ichiroll. It was extremely hot. It set my mouth on fire. I don’t know what possessed me to do this, but I also put wasabi on my Ichiroll and then it burned my mouth AND my nasal passages. I fiddle around with the Nintendo Fan Network on my DS while watching the game. I think it was the shortest game I had ever seen. It was only about two hours long. It probably had to something to do with the fact that the Mariners and the Indians are two last place teams. Though the Mariners did win, 1 - 0. Ichiro did great, but everyone else was making wild pitches and errors all over the place (both teams). At one point, there was about 30 pitches in one inning toward the end.
Photo by Fristle
After the game, Fristle kicked himself in the face repeatedly for not knowing about a Slayer/Megadeath/Testament show, as there was a suspicious amount of metal heads near Safeco field. We accidentally walked passed the Stadium light rail stop, so got on the one in Chinatown instead, and headed back to the Hyatt. Back at the hotel, we tried to search for a 24-hour drug store to buy a few basic items. They were all closed, but a tiny convenience store was open. We stopped in there to buy some milk and plastic spoons (for Apple Cinnamon Cheerios I brought). Afterward, I assembled my Kobun and headed to bed.
Saturday
We woke up, ate cereal, got ready and then headed to PA Make a Strip. We stood in line for a little while, and were seated in the balcony of Bayonora hall. It was really fancy. A little too fancy for a bunch of gamers. Jerry Holkins did most of the talking, while Mike Krahulik did the drawing and fans asked questions or told their life stories. It was really neat seeing all how Mike Krahulik uses Photoshop, and seeing the “punch line” of the joke come together was really funny.
I guess Penny Arcade thought we needed exercise because Bayonora Hall was actually pretty far from the con center. I didn’t mind the walk, though. It was also near Pike Place Market, so we stopped there and got some delicious Japanese hot dogs. It was the best hot dog I had ever eaten in my life…and I’m from Chicago. As soon as I got it, I just wanted to stand there and eat it right then, but we had to go on a wild goose chase for a place to eat it. Here I was, starving, and there is this extremely delicious-looking piece of meat (with wasabi mayo, green onions, and daikon) in my hands. I was getting frustrated and was about to just sit on the ground. We sat on some steps instead, had out hotdogs, and drank our Cokes (the Mexican kind was all over Seattle, btw). After we ate, Mike bought goodies from a bakery and I ate a Snickerdoodle on the way back to the hotel.
It took me an hour to get into my Tron Bonne costume. Fristle helped me out big time with carrying my wallet, phone, business cards, lip gloss, glue gun (just in case Kobun got maimed), and extra pair of shoes. The minute I walked into the con center, I was bombarded with photos. I don’t remember the last time this happened really. I think it’s been years. It’s part of what drove me to cosplay. I ventured into the expo hall briefly, but extremely carefully. I was so deathly afraid of someone running into my wig or my Servbot. We got out of there pretty fast. Fristle took me around the con center and we took a few photos with my new Kobun. I got to also get my picture with a Deloreon and on the Deadrising 2 bike.
Now, for those of you who may not know what the back of Tron looks like, here is a reference image. Like Cammy and Morrigan/Lilith, there is some thong action, causing some ass pronunciation. I have worn Tron Bonne to Anime Expo 2008 and Anime Central 2009. Never had anyone stop me to tell me, with all the honesty and embarrassment in the world, “Your dress is riding up.” Now, my dress doesn’t ride up. In fact, I’m not sure I’d even call it a dress. It’s more like a tunic. I assured the two con goers that I was fully, but never have I been in cosplay and thought of having some sense of shame. In fact, an enforcer (who was apparently managing the area I was in), stopped me. He very politely asked me if there was any way I could put on some “shorts” or “opaque leggings.” He said, he was not going to ask me to leave, but made the implication clear that I very well could get asked to leave PAX if I did not change my costume. His explanation was that the show was “family-friendly.” (Which confused me because Penny Arcade is not really a family-friendly comic with its language and dickwolf rape.)
This left me very upset. So upset that I stood on the first floor of the convention center and pretty much moped. I didn’t want to get out of costume, but I didn’t want to get kicked out either. I stood around, trying to figure out what to do. Other attendees asked for my photo here and there. When suddenly…Mike Krahulik appeared. (In a cape too!) I ran up to him and said, “Um, excuse me, but I was wondering. Do you think I should put pants on? Because, well, um and enforcer came up to me and essentially said I needed to put pants on.” I spun around in a little circle to show him what was being complained about, and he asked, “How do I look without feeling like…” I said, “Oh! It’s okay! You can look!” and I laughed. I told him that the enforcer pretty much ruined my day at the con, and said to me, “I am so sorry. Did you happen to get his name?” I told him the enforcer’s name, and he said he knew who that was. “You don’t have to put pants on!..Well, you might have to put pants on eventually.” He made me laugh and shook my hand and said he’d take care of it right away.
Gabe told me I didn’t have to wear pants. This event is like, in my top three highlights of PAX 2010. I was in the state of euphoria, and directed Fristle back into the expo hall to go on a hunt for a DQ Slime Bag. I heard there was some cool Deadrising 2 event happening and went to go ask one of the workers at the Capcom booth where we could find it. Unfortunately, it had already passed. Fortunately, someone else working the booth told me to follow him. I was told to sit down in front of a camera and then was interviewed on the Capcom Unity livestream. He asked me about my costume and my experience at PAX. I was very happy to see the responses to the stream from Capcom fans. They seemed to really like my costume. ^_^
After the Expo Hall closed, I was ready to go back to the room and change out of costume. I used to be able to tolerate wig hair, but as I get older I can’t. I washed my hair, but still kept my cool green contacts in. We tried to hit up Serious Pie, but man there was a serious wait, even with just take out. We headed back to the US Bank Center and ended up eating at this good fast food place called Pike Place Chowder.
Afterward, we headed back to the Con Center and attended a panel on Net Neutrality and how it affects gaming. A non-for-profit company located in DC called Public Knowledge gave this panel. As much as this topic interests me, these guys were boring. They didn’t smile, they spoke in monotone voices, and had a lot of technical law jargon. I was falling asleep for the first 20 minutes or so. However, they were extremely versed in both technology and law. While I think what they do is important and they were incredibly intelligent, I had a lot more questions about how it affected gaming because I don’t think there was enough of that in this panel at a gaming con.
Fristle had a lot of good questions for the panelists. There was something strangely stiff about them. I had questions for them too, but didn’t know quite how to word them. Afterward, we wandered the con center. The schedule was changed on us without us knowing, so we missed the Escapist movie night. We went into the free play console room instead and hung around there for a bit. I had been getting about 5 hours of sleep each night, so I was feeling pretty exhausted at this point. So, we headed back to our Hotel.
Sunday
At PAX ’08, I was standing around with the group I traveled with, trying to figure out where to eat. I don’t remember how it happened, but Pernell stopped a man on the street. This man told us there was a great café and bakery that way, and pointed. That Bakery was Specialty’s and we ended up eating there everyday we were in Seattle. I never went back in 2009, so I made it a point to go back this year. After we got ready, Fristle and I headed out to Specialty’s. I had the most delicious bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. [Food Photo]
I forgot something in the room, so we stopped by there and then went into the Sheraton for the rest of the afternoon. The first panel we saw was Bill Amend’s. (He is the author of Fox Trot.) Even though a good fraction of his presentation was showing his game-related comics, he did go into the process he goes through writing and drawing comics. I didn’t realize how long he had been around, and I have much respect for someone who has been in the comic strip business for so long.
The people who are in charge of seeing your complaints on XBOX Live and “taking action” ran the second panel. We thought it was going to be these horror stories about the thing people do on LIVE, but no. It was them saying how awesome they were and telling us to have good sportsmanship when playing a game. I’ll admit some of the videos they showed were entertaining, but the panel was nothing like we thought it was. They talked about how their complaints/responses work via a program called Vulcan. During the Q & A, I asked them how they knew what camera were being used for, but they didn’t really answer my question.
The third panel was given by Gearbox. They bought us all pizza, which I found to be suspicious. We don’t need pizza. We just need Duke Nukem Forever trailers, screenshots, gameplay footage…ANYTHING. Well, they spent more time talking about how much they love Borderlands (and themselves) than anything else. Then we heard this long drawn out story about how “Duke was DEAD! We brought him back to life!” At one point, the CEO shed a tear, and they all gave him a hug. People in the audience were walking out and shouting things like, “Shut up!” and “Show the trailer!” Instead, they went straight to Q & A. We walked out too.
There was a 30 minute wait in between each panel, and luckily they were all in the same theatre. We got in lines for panels early after learning from our mistakes at PAX East. Though, it looks like we could have showed up when each panel started and made it anyway. The rooms held everyone that showed up (and there was still a lot of leftover pizza from Gearbox’s panel).
We went back into the expo hall and I delivered a Giraffey to Behemoth and played a couple more games. The first being Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light, and the second was Marvel vs. Capcom 3. (I’ll save my game impressions for a different post). Fristle and I decided we would not go to the Omegathon. We stopped by our room to drop of schwag and ordered a pizza from Serious Pie. Well, that pizza was tiny. We hung out in the room for a bit, watching the latest episodes of Futurama, thinking I had to sign up for Katsucon’s Artist Alley at 9PM. Well, I missed their announcement over the weekend that it actually was not going up for another week.
After we found this out, we headed out to DragonFish. I had coconut shrimp tempura, and Fristle had a noodle dish. As we were getting our delicious desert of chocolate cake and ice cream, lo and behold. Robert Khoo and company sat right next to us. After our funny coincidence, we headed to Gameworks. I was about to put more points on my card until I discovered there was some ridiculous amount already there (about $50-$60 in points). We played some crazy new gun game I’d never seen before, but there was nothing too memorable about it, except that the gun was ridiculously heavy. Ghost Squad is better. Mike played a little bit of Robotron, and I finally got to show him Tank! Tank! Tank! He was too tall for the camera (it takes your photo to display during the game), so it only got the bottom half of his face. We also got to have fun in a Japanese Photo Booth taking silly pictures.
We headed back, and went to bed around 1AM (which was most nights). The next morning we checked out and headed for the light rail back to the airport. Fristle’s travel was long, but he made it back okay. I went through some crazy stuff where I lost my phone, paid $15 for a pay phone call, got shoved maliciously into the gate counter for a voucher from Southwest, and causing my family to think I was dead after my brother drove around Midway airport for 4 hours. After all that, I was relieved to be home.
I haven’t been to a ton of different places, but once I find a place that I love, I’ll keep wanting to go back. Although I can find some of the events of PAX disappointing, there is nothing else like this con. I go to 5-7 conventions a year, and this one is the winner. The fact that is in Seattle is a huge help. My time in Seattle was too short. I needed an extra day there, but it’s okay because I will most likely end up there again in a year or at the beginning of the following year.
Penny Arcade Expo is my favourite convention. Nowadays, most conventions are synonymous with work and partying. That isn’t really a convention. That’s just, well, work and partying. Which is great and all, but I think content can make your experience significantly better. PAX also happens to be in the fantastic city of Seattle, and I love every minute of being there. This con also means a lot to me, for personal reasons. Without it, I’m not entirely sure what I’d be doing.
Thursday
Around 7:30PM, I arrived a little late from my 1-stop in Kansas City. Fristle was already there. It took about an hour and a half to get my bags, walk to the light rail, and take it into downtown. We checked into the Hotel Vintage Park. We were tired and rested for a bit. I brought some apple donuts in from Apple Haus for Mike, and he figured out how to get to Shorty’s on his iPod Touch. It was a bit of a walk. I remembered the one thing I dread about Seattle. Everywhere you walk feels like it’s uphill. I think my thighs are still hurting.
Shorty’s is a pinball arcade and bar. I LOVED it. I got to have some awesome nachos. I asked the bartender, “What’s in there?” It looked like a slushee machine. He responded with, “Daiquiris.” I said, “I want that!” Somehow, he knew I wanted the “red” one. I got on the high end of buzzed and the low end of drunk off that single daiquiri. We played a few games of pinball and I pointed and said, “That guy was on my plane!” Well, this guy looked at me. I recognized his white adidas superstars with red stripes and his bright yellow hulk shirt. He said he saw me too and that he thought I looked like I was going to PAX. We ended up chatting with him for a bit at the tail end of our visit to Shorty’s. My drunk made the walk back a bit easier.
When we got back to the hotel, we stood in the hallway and heard someone having sex. It sounded like a Chihuahua barking. So I started barking too. “Yapyapyapyapyap! Then I giggled while Mike tried to cover my mouth and again started barking, “Arfarfarfarfarfarf!” We manage to stay up for another 3-4 hours. I’m not really sure how. We both had to wake up early and the time difference is 2-3 hours behind for us. I had a pretty amazing start to the weekend.
Friday
We took our time checking out of the hotel and then checked into the Hyatt at Olive 8. We had a room that was almost a carbon copy of the room we had last year (a corner room on the same corner of the building). The closest Jimmy John’s to Fristle is about 40 minutes away, and he’s a big fan. (I am too; I introduced it to him.) We ate sandwiches at the Jimmy John’s and then headed to the con. After getting our lanyards (Behemoth for the third time in a row) and picking up swag bags, we strolled into the expo hall.
We took a good look around and it was probably twice as big as it was last year. It also felt a lot more crowded. I thought I’d just take a look around to see what everyone had, and then decide what games to play after I made a round. Though, some things I just had to play immediately. I’ll mention the games here briefly, but will go more into it in my gaming blog soon.
The first was NBA Jam for the Wii. It sounds silly, I know. Though, I love arcade-style sports games, and NBA Jam had to be the best one back in the day. I had so much fun playing with a group of strangers. We were all very into it, and there was a lot of random shouting happening.
The second was Epic Mickey. The display for this was enormous. Disney had three gigantic spaces on the show floor, and two of them were for Epic Mickey. (the other was for Tron.) A developer named Clay mistook us as press. Fristle said it was probably because I was “cute” and his “camera was big.” Anyway, Clay was very thorough in showing us the game. I played it for a good while. I enjoyed it, but feel like it’s been overhyped.
Mike and I decided to get a drink at Juicy and hang out in the DS lounge. We were there just in time, as a Dragon Quest meet-up was about to happen. I came across about 30 more people for my Inn. I also obtained a few maps and we learned about the elusive map full of metal slimes that came from Japan. Fristle actually did get this map, but I did not.
After we mingled with some fellow Dragon questers, we headed back to the hotel to drop off stuff. We stopped by American Apparel and H&M looking for a new hoodie for Mike. (He bought a grey one at H&M.) We headed back to the first hotel we stayed in because a taxi voucher to Safeco Field was provided by them (it was including in the stay’s package).
The taxi arrived quick, and we were dropped off right in front of the stadium. We walked around some, so Mike could take photos of the stadium. The Mariners Team store ended up taking up a lot of our time! I wanted an Ichiro shirt and picked one out carefully. There were a lot of Japanese tourists around, stocking up on Mariner Moose plushies and Ichiro jerseys. We were a little early to the game, and our seats were the closest I have ever had. We were behind the visitor’s dugout.
Since Safeco is probably the only ballpark in the states that serves sushi, I had an Ichiroll. It was extremely hot. It set my mouth on fire. I don’t know what possessed me to do this, but I also put wasabi on my Ichiroll and then it burned my mouth AND my nasal passages. I fiddle around with the Nintendo Fan Network on my DS while watching the game. I think it was the shortest game I had ever seen. It was only about two hours long. It probably had to something to do with the fact that the Mariners and the Indians are two last place teams. Though the Mariners did win, 1 - 0. Ichiro did great, but everyone else was making wild pitches and errors all over the place (both teams). At one point, there was about 30 pitches in one inning toward the end.
Photo by Fristle
After the game, Fristle kicked himself in the face repeatedly for not knowing about a Slayer/Megadeath/Testament show, as there was a suspicious amount of metal heads near Safeco field. We accidentally walked passed the Stadium light rail stop, so got on the one in Chinatown instead, and headed back to the Hyatt. Back at the hotel, we tried to search for a 24-hour drug store to buy a few basic items. They were all closed, but a tiny convenience store was open. We stopped in there to buy some milk and plastic spoons (for Apple Cinnamon Cheerios I brought). Afterward, I assembled my Kobun and headed to bed.
Saturday
We woke up, ate cereal, got ready and then headed to PA Make a Strip. We stood in line for a little while, and were seated in the balcony of Bayonora hall. It was really fancy. A little too fancy for a bunch of gamers. Jerry Holkins did most of the talking, while Mike Krahulik did the drawing and fans asked questions or told their life stories. It was really neat seeing all how Mike Krahulik uses Photoshop, and seeing the “punch line” of the joke come together was really funny.
I guess Penny Arcade thought we needed exercise because Bayonora Hall was actually pretty far from the con center. I didn’t mind the walk, though. It was also near Pike Place Market, so we stopped there and got some delicious Japanese hot dogs. It was the best hot dog I had ever eaten in my life…and I’m from Chicago. As soon as I got it, I just wanted to stand there and eat it right then, but we had to go on a wild goose chase for a place to eat it. Here I was, starving, and there is this extremely delicious-looking piece of meat (with wasabi mayo, green onions, and daikon) in my hands. I was getting frustrated and was about to just sit on the ground. We sat on some steps instead, had out hotdogs, and drank our Cokes (the Mexican kind was all over Seattle, btw). After we ate, Mike bought goodies from a bakery and I ate a Snickerdoodle on the way back to the hotel.
It took me an hour to get into my Tron Bonne costume. Fristle helped me out big time with carrying my wallet, phone, business cards, lip gloss, glue gun (just in case Kobun got maimed), and extra pair of shoes. The minute I walked into the con center, I was bombarded with photos. I don’t remember the last time this happened really. I think it’s been years. It’s part of what drove me to cosplay. I ventured into the expo hall briefly, but extremely carefully. I was so deathly afraid of someone running into my wig or my Servbot. We got out of there pretty fast. Fristle took me around the con center and we took a few photos with my new Kobun. I got to also get my picture with a Deloreon and on the Deadrising 2 bike.
Now, for those of you who may not know what the back of Tron looks like, here is a reference image. Like Cammy and Morrigan/Lilith, there is some thong action, causing some ass pronunciation. I have worn Tron Bonne to Anime Expo 2008 and Anime Central 2009. Never had anyone stop me to tell me, with all the honesty and embarrassment in the world, “Your dress is riding up.” Now, my dress doesn’t ride up. In fact, I’m not sure I’d even call it a dress. It’s more like a tunic. I assured the two con goers that I was fully, but never have I been in cosplay and thought of having some sense of shame. In fact, an enforcer (who was apparently managing the area I was in), stopped me. He very politely asked me if there was any way I could put on some “shorts” or “opaque leggings.” He said, he was not going to ask me to leave, but made the implication clear that I very well could get asked to leave PAX if I did not change my costume. His explanation was that the show was “family-friendly.” (Which confused me because Penny Arcade is not really a family-friendly comic with its language and dickwolf rape.)
This left me very upset. So upset that I stood on the first floor of the convention center and pretty much moped. I didn’t want to get out of costume, but I didn’t want to get kicked out either. I stood around, trying to figure out what to do. Other attendees asked for my photo here and there. When suddenly…Mike Krahulik appeared. (In a cape too!) I ran up to him and said, “Um, excuse me, but I was wondering. Do you think I should put pants on? Because, well, um and enforcer came up to me and essentially said I needed to put pants on.” I spun around in a little circle to show him what was being complained about, and he asked, “How do I look without feeling like…” I said, “Oh! It’s okay! You can look!” and I laughed. I told him that the enforcer pretty much ruined my day at the con, and said to me, “I am so sorry. Did you happen to get his name?” I told him the enforcer’s name, and he said he knew who that was. “You don’t have to put pants on!..Well, you might have to put pants on eventually.” He made me laugh and shook my hand and said he’d take care of it right away.
Gabe told me I didn’t have to wear pants. This event is like, in my top three highlights of PAX 2010. I was in the state of euphoria, and directed Fristle back into the expo hall to go on a hunt for a DQ Slime Bag. I heard there was some cool Deadrising 2 event happening and went to go ask one of the workers at the Capcom booth where we could find it. Unfortunately, it had already passed. Fortunately, someone else working the booth told me to follow him. I was told to sit down in front of a camera and then was interviewed on the Capcom Unity livestream. He asked me about my costume and my experience at PAX. I was very happy to see the responses to the stream from Capcom fans. They seemed to really like my costume. ^_^
After the Expo Hall closed, I was ready to go back to the room and change out of costume. I used to be able to tolerate wig hair, but as I get older I can’t. I washed my hair, but still kept my cool green contacts in. We tried to hit up Serious Pie, but man there was a serious wait, even with just take out. We headed back to the US Bank Center and ended up eating at this good fast food place called Pike Place Chowder.
Afterward, we headed back to the Con Center and attended a panel on Net Neutrality and how it affects gaming. A non-for-profit company located in DC called Public Knowledge gave this panel. As much as this topic interests me, these guys were boring. They didn’t smile, they spoke in monotone voices, and had a lot of technical law jargon. I was falling asleep for the first 20 minutes or so. However, they were extremely versed in both technology and law. While I think what they do is important and they were incredibly intelligent, I had a lot more questions about how it affected gaming because I don’t think there was enough of that in this panel at a gaming con.
Fristle had a lot of good questions for the panelists. There was something strangely stiff about them. I had questions for them too, but didn’t know quite how to word them. Afterward, we wandered the con center. The schedule was changed on us without us knowing, so we missed the Escapist movie night. We went into the free play console room instead and hung around there for a bit. I had been getting about 5 hours of sleep each night, so I was feeling pretty exhausted at this point. So, we headed back to our Hotel.
Sunday
At PAX ’08, I was standing around with the group I traveled with, trying to figure out where to eat. I don’t remember how it happened, but Pernell stopped a man on the street. This man told us there was a great café and bakery that way, and pointed. That Bakery was Specialty’s and we ended up eating there everyday we were in Seattle. I never went back in 2009, so I made it a point to go back this year. After we got ready, Fristle and I headed out to Specialty’s. I had the most delicious bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. [Food Photo]
I forgot something in the room, so we stopped by there and then went into the Sheraton for the rest of the afternoon. The first panel we saw was Bill Amend’s. (He is the author of Fox Trot.) Even though a good fraction of his presentation was showing his game-related comics, he did go into the process he goes through writing and drawing comics. I didn’t realize how long he had been around, and I have much respect for someone who has been in the comic strip business for so long.
The people who are in charge of seeing your complaints on XBOX Live and “taking action” ran the second panel. We thought it was going to be these horror stories about the thing people do on LIVE, but no. It was them saying how awesome they were and telling us to have good sportsmanship when playing a game. I’ll admit some of the videos they showed were entertaining, but the panel was nothing like we thought it was. They talked about how their complaints/responses work via a program called Vulcan. During the Q & A, I asked them how they knew what camera were being used for, but they didn’t really answer my question.
The third panel was given by Gearbox. They bought us all pizza, which I found to be suspicious. We don’t need pizza. We just need Duke Nukem Forever trailers, screenshots, gameplay footage…ANYTHING. Well, they spent more time talking about how much they love Borderlands (and themselves) than anything else. Then we heard this long drawn out story about how “Duke was DEAD! We brought him back to life!” At one point, the CEO shed a tear, and they all gave him a hug. People in the audience were walking out and shouting things like, “Shut up!” and “Show the trailer!” Instead, they went straight to Q & A. We walked out too.
There was a 30 minute wait in between each panel, and luckily they were all in the same theatre. We got in lines for panels early after learning from our mistakes at PAX East. Though, it looks like we could have showed up when each panel started and made it anyway. The rooms held everyone that showed up (and there was still a lot of leftover pizza from Gearbox’s panel).
We went back into the expo hall and I delivered a Giraffey to Behemoth and played a couple more games. The first being Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light, and the second was Marvel vs. Capcom 3. (I’ll save my game impressions for a different post). Fristle and I decided we would not go to the Omegathon. We stopped by our room to drop of schwag and ordered a pizza from Serious Pie. Well, that pizza was tiny. We hung out in the room for a bit, watching the latest episodes of Futurama, thinking I had to sign up for Katsucon’s Artist Alley at 9PM. Well, I missed their announcement over the weekend that it actually was not going up for another week.
After we found this out, we headed out to DragonFish. I had coconut shrimp tempura, and Fristle had a noodle dish. As we were getting our delicious desert of chocolate cake and ice cream, lo and behold. Robert Khoo and company sat right next to us. After our funny coincidence, we headed to Gameworks. I was about to put more points on my card until I discovered there was some ridiculous amount already there (about $50-$60 in points). We played some crazy new gun game I’d never seen before, but there was nothing too memorable about it, except that the gun was ridiculously heavy. Ghost Squad is better. Mike played a little bit of Robotron, and I finally got to show him Tank! Tank! Tank! He was too tall for the camera (it takes your photo to display during the game), so it only got the bottom half of his face. We also got to have fun in a Japanese Photo Booth taking silly pictures.
We headed back, and went to bed around 1AM (which was most nights). The next morning we checked out and headed for the light rail back to the airport. Fristle’s travel was long, but he made it back okay. I went through some crazy stuff where I lost my phone, paid $15 for a pay phone call, got shoved maliciously into the gate counter for a voucher from Southwest, and causing my family to think I was dead after my brother drove around Midway airport for 4 hours. After all that, I was relieved to be home.
I haven’t been to a ton of different places, but once I find a place that I love, I’ll keep wanting to go back. Although I can find some of the events of PAX disappointing, there is nothing else like this con. I go to 5-7 conventions a year, and this one is the winner. The fact that is in Seattle is a huge help. My time in Seattle was too short. I needed an extra day there, but it’s okay because I will most likely end up there again in a year or at the beginning of the following year.