There are also fewer and fewer lines for major things. Keynote, Q&A, Concerts, Omegathon Finale, playing popular games in the Expo Hall, a small number of Panels: everything else is pretty wait-free.
Unless -insert popular game- in the Expo Hall is giving out really awesome swag (Fallout hand puppet), waiting in long lines is not worth it and quite possibly the stupidest thing you could do at PAX. Wasting your time to demo a game you already know you're going to buy does not make any sense to me.
I am impressed by the BCEC and the size of its main theater. You could just walk into keynote and concerts at any time and stand in the back.
The "waiting in line 3 hours to play a demo" thing boggles my mind. The only time I've ever thought such a wait was worth it was during PAX Prime 2010 when my wife flew out. Being only part geek, she had had her fill buy Sunday morning, and chose to wait in a 3 hour Epic Mickey line b/c they had the actual Disney animators on site doing drawings on request. She got an awesome Steamboat Willie that we had professionally framed for our kid's room.
they had the actual Disney animators on site doing drawings on request. She got an awesome Steamboat Willie that we had professionally framed for our kid's room.
While I am going to PAX East this year, I'm currently trying to finish up panel submissions with friends for Anime Boston. I just hope I'm not going to be thrown back and forth too inconveniently. I tried to convince a few friends to join me however I'm the only one out of my friends to be choosing PAX East over Anime Boston.
The only time I waited in line was for about five minutes to play Tribes: Ascend(?). That was definitely worth it.
Oh, and a few PAXes ago, I was standing around when one of the producers of Civ V asked if I wanted to watch their demo. It was slightly before Expo opened, so it was just me and some journalists. That was fun.
I was one-and-done as well with spending PAX time to go see these acts in person. Glad I did it, just don't need to go again.
Gaming in the live-stream areas can be fun though. I had a great night of gaming in the queue room at PAX Prime 2010 while casually taking in the Paul & Storm/Joco acts. At East last year it was not such a great space for that so we nixed those plans, but who knows, things could change this year.
The fact that the "big 3" as I see it are all stacked onto Saturday night tells me that PAX is aware the concerts are a bit stale, and that they don't have to worry about a crowd crush, and can rather cater to the serious fans of these acts by giving them one crazy night.
Gaming in the live-stream areas can be fun though. I had a great night of gaming in the queue room at PAX Prime 2010 while casually taking in the Paul & Storm/Joco acts. At East last year it was not such a great space for that so we nixed those plans, but who knows, things could change this year.
I could see this happening in the "Secret Gaming Area". Gaming with some music in the background is always nice.
Yeah that would be a good idea. I have to believe they'll change SOMETHING about that area this year, whether it be its size or its purpose. It was heavily used only during the peak lunch hour, and even then, I don't recall it approaching max capacity. I think once there were enough people flowing in to fill up half the place, the food lines got so long people said "fuck it" and turned around, thereby preventing the seating from every being fully used.
I have a feeling the layout will be extremely different this year. Obviously expo hall will still be in the "hangar", but everything else might move around all over the place.
I should specify that we do not have reservations for Thursday night. They were sold out when I went to book. Thus, we've only got space on Friday and Saturday.
Just taking a general poll of interest here. My wife Nicole is coming back to PAX this year, and wants to take some time out to eat one crazy-awesome dinner. After working at Food Network/Cooking Channel for a few years, she's become an amateur foodie. Best part is that all she has to do when we go to a city is ask her boss or the production crew for their top recommendations.
It's not cheap ($38 per person), nor particularly close to BCEC, but looks worth it. If you can guarantee a group of 10+, they will roast an entire pig specifically for your table. They also have a pretty awesome selection of whiskey.
If you've got some time Saturday night, check out the new addition to the concert line-up: Supercommuter. The music's pretty cool and they've got a really neat gimmick: they write all their songs while commuting.
This would work for Thursday night, but since people aren't showing up until Friday, Sunday night after PAX might may work best. I would be down and perhaps Jeremy as well. Wouldn't be a bad idea if we can get more people, the question is can they accommodate if there is more than 10 people?
I don't have any specific plans Friday/Saturday/Sunday yet. Thursday night I'm locked to some activities. There's also Rym's mention of potentially having a post-pax dinner, but I don't know if that's just conjecture at this point.
Comments
The "waiting in line 3 hours to play a demo" thing boggles my mind. The only time I've ever thought such a wait was worth it was during PAX Prime 2010 when my wife flew out. Being only part geek, she had had her fill buy Sunday morning, and chose to wait in a 3 hour Epic Mickey line b/c they had the actual Disney animators on site doing drawings on request. She got an awesome Steamboat Willie that we had professionally framed for our kid's room.
Oh, and a few PAXes ago, I was standing around when one of the producers of Civ V asked if I wanted to watch their demo. It was slightly before Expo opened, so it was just me and some journalists. That was fun.
Same exact bands as always. Nothing to see here.
Gaming in the live-stream areas can be fun though. I had a great night of gaming in the queue room at PAX Prime 2010 while casually taking in the Paul & Storm/Joco acts. At East last year it was not such a great space for that so we nixed those plans, but who knows, things could change this year.
The fact that the "big 3" as I see it are all stacked onto Saturday night tells me that PAX is aware the concerts are a bit stale, and that they don't have to worry about a crowd crush, and can rather cater to the serious fans of these acts by giving them one crazy night.
That sound right y'all?
Also, Wyatt totally hogged the bed way worse than me the first PAX East. :P
This is what they all agreed on
It's not cheap ($38 per person), nor particularly close to BCEC, but looks worth it. If you can guarantee a group of 10+, they will roast an entire pig specifically for your table. They also have a pretty awesome selection of whiskey.
Does this sound like a good idea to anyone else?
This would work for Thursday night, but since people aren't showing up until Friday, Sunday night after PAX might may work best. I would be down and perhaps Jeremy as well. Wouldn't be a bad idea if we can get more people, the question is can they accommodate if there is more than 10 people?