PAX Prime 2012 impressions

At 6:00 on Sunday evening, PAX Prime 2012 came to an end and I began the simultaneous process of breathing a sigh of relief that I could sleep in the next morning and counting down the days until PAX Prime 2013. Perhaps writing up a summation of my PAX experience in one post is a bit of a cop out, but I can’t find just one thing that I want to talk about first. Cliche as it may sound, nearly everything was awesome. PAX, for me, comes down to three things: friends, gaming, and amazing panels.

First, and most importantly, all of the friends I have  in the Seattle area with an interest in PAX were able to attend at least one day. PAX as a communal experience is infinitely more satisfying than indulging alone. Even if we don’t end up spending our time there together, we can bond over our experiences when we meet up for dinner and drinks in the evening. However, waiting in line with friends, getting beta keys to the same games, and just roaming the floor together is what I feel like this whole crazy shindig is about.

Video overload

So then there are the games. Unlike Jon, I have a hard time choosing a favorite among the plethora of titles let loose upon the unsuspecting nerd masses. Now annual favorites Firefall and League of Legends both returned to take up significant amounts of floor space. Assassin’s Creed 3 made an impression with their large booth and live game play demo. Epic Mickey 2 was promoted via actual Disney artists doing sketches by request for PAX attendees devoted enough to wait in the epic line that accompanied it. Other major titles were also prominently featured and I would be remiss to not mention the presence of Borderlands 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Resident Evil 6, God of War: Ascension, and Halo 4. Perfect World even got in on the action with Neverwinter and a new action MMO called Raiderz, both of which I was able to get my hands on and anticipate playing more of in the future. I couldn’t possibly consume enough Red Bull and Pixie Stix to have the energy to play everything.

One of the standout areas to hit for me was the Indie Mega Booth. There were titles that bounced all over the board there, but I’ll highlight a few that I was drawn to. Card Hunter was, without a doubt, cross genre gaming nerd porn. Read Jon’s review for the details on that one. Closure had a visual style that was impossible to ignore in its creepy black and white world where things only exist if you can see them. The (and I find this to be the only fitting word for it) zaniest game in the area had to be Octodad: Daddliest Catch. It’s the sequel to Octodad in which you play an octopus attempting to masquerade as a person complete with a wife and kids that somehow don’t know his real identity. Do yourself a favor and go play the original right now.

Panels of interest

I didn’t get to hit nearly enough panels this year, but the ones that I did attend were phenomenal. Bioware hosted a panel discussion on voice acting in video games on Friday that featured Jennifer Hale via Skype. With Ali Hillis also on the panel, the majority of the discussion focused on the work that went into the Mass Effect franchise. Their insights and anecdotes were brilliant and often entertaining. The panel on video game reviews and criticism on Saturday was so profoundly interesting that I am really rethinking the way that I intend to approach my future articles. Oddly enough, the audience was heavily peppered with media badges. I was even able to talk shop a bit with a writer from Psychobuttons for a bit.

Thankfully I was one of the lucky few able to attend the Gearbox panel on Sunday. The verbal interplay of Mike Neumann and Randy Pitchford is not something that I can adequately sum up in text and should be experienced in person. If you like gaming (which I can only assume is a big affirmative if you’re reading this), then you need to put that on your bucket list. Not to mention the generosity these guys have displayed in providing pizza for everyone, giving away free copies of Borderlands 2 at their panel in 2011, and then free season passes for the first four DLC to everyone in attendance this year.

And then some…

This was also the first year that I have attended the alcohol laden tradition of the PAX after-party. I can appreciate that game producers are willing to ply our loyalty with an open bar. Of course, Thursday night was the Gearbox / Amazon / Joystiq party to celebrate Borderlands 2. It turns out that it was a great place to meet other gamers in a social environment and make some friends that we would run into throughout the weekend. New friends that also happened to join us at the odyssey that was the Assassin’s Creed party hosted by Ubisoft, the Frag Dolls, and Twitch.tv over at Trinity. It was an amazing set of experiences that have convinced us that we can only really handle one of these events per PAX.

So that’s it! Another PAX has come and gone and I have no complaints and a number of things I could still say about the tabletop area and the various rooms for painting miniatures or playing retro arcade games. When tickets go on sale again next year, I can only hope that I and all of my cohorts are able to get passes once again amid the buying frenzy that tickets have become.