Monday, April 16, 2012

PAX East 2012 Recap

Penny Arcade Expo East was this past week; and, as a part for the Frag Doll Cadette Academy, I had the honor of making the attendance list. Home to the creative minds and development team of BioShock, Irrational Games, Boston is one of my favorite American cities, particularly at this time of year. Despite having attended last year as press in accordance of providing on-camera content for Major League Gaming, this year I actually worked on the show floor.



There are a lot of reasons as to why, ever since my first Penny Arcade Expo Prime in Seattle circa 2010, I've fallen in love with event. If you'd read my previous blog posts it's quite certain that you already know, but I'm going to reiterate it for those of you who have just recently stumbled upon my daily musings. PAX is a fantastic gathering; not just in terms of the celebration of the games that are revealed, but rather, the culture that seeps out of every hotel room inhabited by the masses of fans, hopefuls and industry moguls alike. People just 'get it'. There's really no other way to describe it. I cannot tell you the countless times I found myself balls deep into conversation outside the Assassin's Creed booth, talking about everything ranging from 'Step Brothers' to 'Rugrats', the secret joy of obtaining carrots and celery from a barrels in Skyrim, or perhaps just the ridiculousness of memes that engross the internet.


Atop of this feeling of wholeness and joy that radiates through every inch of my being - just from talking to complete and utter strangers no less - these events have become a blast, especially recently, due to the anticipation I feel the weeks before I know I will get to see my good friends. These events have shaped my perspective in terms of what 'true' friendship is. Up until just recently and for the majority of my life I've factored that around 90% of my closest friends were those whom I had only been in contact with over the glorious span of tubes known as the internet. These moments leading up to my first events and encounters with such people, social networking, especially in terms of Twitter and in game meetups, has only confirmed this as fact - you guys are awesome. I met a few of you during this particular PAX East: there were so many hugs. Thank you for being YOU, and saying hi!


Now, despite bidding the majority of my time in Boston working and spending time with the lovely sisters of the Frag Doll community as seen above, I did manage to get enough of a chance to preview and play a few games. I'd be lying if I said cutting the line to play Borderlands 2 co op wasn't the highlights of my trip. I also found myself very pleasantly surprised with Lollipop Chainsaw, which proved to be a learning experience in itself. In anticipation of these games, as well as select titles I am also looking forward to this year, I am planning on posting a follow up video in the somewhat near future reviewing my experience with both games as well as my pinnacle event experiences. That being said, please subscribe: here, and if you have tips or particular quarries regarding said video in advance, please do not hesitate to post them here and I will be sure to cover them!

Stay classy internet. XO

1 comments:

IamRyy said...

You were able to cut the lines for Borderlands 2?! WTB Frag Dolls benefits.

Anyways, PAX East 2012 was simply incredible! Living up in Canada it's usually near impossible for me to travel to events such as these, but my four day trip to Boston was an experience I'll always love because of the community / panels that I'd only ever dreamed of being a part of.

So many awesome highlights such as meeting the Giant Bomb panel, seeing a first-hand glimpse of the game play of Assassin's Creed 3, hearing about the future of Bioware (and it's titles) and of course meeting members of the community like you! Thanks for an amazing weekend Boston, and I promise that this won't be my only Penny Arcade Expo appearance.

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