Also I saw an exhibitor with Green ranger and White Ranger's power coins tattooed on their necks. Anyone who knows me - a few from IRC can attest - Power Rangers. Means the world to me. And seeing someone, finally someone, out nerd me with THAT...at PAX. really made me feel at home (especially since last year some random dude made fun of my MMPR Ring tone...)
Meeting Warren Spector (or, the group I was with met him - I didn't really have anything to say, so just hung around). On the way out on Sunday, stuck my head into the Epic Mickey stall, turned to my friends and went "Hey, is that Warren Spector?", and it was uphill from there!
A bunch of other stuff too. Settling into the hotel on the first day and realising just how many computer gamers there were around. The demos, the beta invites (not a clue how I'm going to get through all of those), the cosplayers, the panels, the community... err, first time PAXer, can you tell?
Hands down my greatest PAX moment was giving Wil Wheaton my home-made Magic the Gather card called "Dead Meemaw". He cracked up the instead he read it, and continued to geek out for a few moments before deciding to tweet it right then and there. I doubt I will ever have a moment so awesome ever again at PAX, but im going to try
Salmon Security...LoL, that would get you noticed.
I think they were filming a movie.
Well, I think I can actually tell you now. That was the PAX Prank. Instead of pranking single targets, this year the goal was to prank everybody at once.
It worked pretty well from what I observed.
Moe Fwacky on
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peetsnackTeam Green Poké Assist, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Head Girl House HufflepuffThe Cleave LandsRegistered Userregular
I gave a copy of a book I drew and wrote to Mike and Jerry and they said it was awesome. (Warning, website and book are NSFW)
I also came in 1st place at the Bomberman tournament at the Hudson booth, which earned me 8000 MS points, a set of Turtle Beach X31 wireless headphones and a Hudson polo.
Salmon Security...LoL, that would get you noticed.
I think they were filming a movie.
Well, I think I can actually tell you now. That was the PAX Prank. Instead of pranking single targets, this year the goal was to prank everybody at once.
It worked pretty well from what I observed.
Yep, it was the PAX prank. They did it at the Wheaton panel, as well as the second Q&A at the very least.
As an exhibitor, the cool thing that totally happened to me was being asked by my company to go to this show. I don't work trade shows very often, and the only other PAX I've been able to attend was the very first one, as a loyal fan (did pretty well in the SC2 and Double Dash tourneys; got schooled in CS)
Working shows sucks. You stand around a lot, you typically have to put on a PR face, you usually have to deal with a ton of media or retailers who either know nothing about your game, don't care about your game, or both, and their questions and comments reflect that. And despite the trip being free, it's rare that booth workers get to walk around and enjoy the show.
In the past few years, PAX has gained a bit of a reputation in the industry for being the best show to work, and now I know why. What an incredible group. I spent my days chatting with the nicest, chillest people I've ever had to deal with when demoing a game. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to be able to just talk with a bunch of gamers, people that are excited to be there and just want to have a good time. Every break that I had, I ended up in at least one random, engaging conversation with someone. As an exhibitor, calling a convention "tolerable" is a compliment, but pretty much everyone from our group agreed that PAX is downright fun.
What a difference a community makes. I really hope to be back next year.
popnfresh7000 on
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TimeCruiserMikePast Organizer of the West Coast Train TripSan Fernando ValleyRegistered Userregular
Salmon Security...LoL, that would get you noticed.
I think they were filming a movie.
Well, I think I can actually tell you now. That was the PAX Prank. Instead of pranking single targets, this year the goal was to prank everybody at once.
It worked pretty well from what I observed.
this weekend i'm going to hopefully edit the footage i got from the prank and start putting up videos.
Participating in the prank was definitely the coolest thing i experienced at PAX this year
TimeCruiserMike on
{Fondly remembers the PAXTrain}
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Moe FwackyRight Here, Right NowDrives a BuickModeratorMod Emeritus
edited September 2010
I have a bunch of Prank footage I can get to you after I get home, if you tell me where to upload it.
Let me know when you get that prank footage uploaded, I'm curious to see where else they struck.
Cybit on
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ClixThis guy I knowSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
On Saturday I was bored and had a gap so I decided to walk a couple of blocks over to Zanadu Comics. On the way back some dudes got in an arguement and were threatening to stab each other while I was waiting to cross the street.
I bumped into Warren Spector at the Daily Grill, shook his hand and took his picture:
I found him in one of the elevators. He gave me an Epic Mickey pin. I asked him why he skipped over Deus Ex 2 and they went straight to 3.
It was pretty awesome.
And my wife and I were in the elevator with you! As we were walking up to the elevator I saw him waiting and thought to myself that he looked familiar. My wife mentioned his Epic Mickey button and when he mention "Don't say anything bad about it, I made the game". It dawned on me. "You're Warren!" I exclaimed. My wife said to him she loved the game and I apologized for missing his keynote cause I really wanted to see it. We got buttons too, they have become my prized possession. Even my wife, who isn't much of a gamer, was a little flabbergasted by the experience. My brother was insanely jealous when I told him we were in the elevator with the guy who made Deus Ex and Supreme Commander.
That and the Sega party Saturday night were the best parts of PAX! (Oh and the Giant Bombcast Live.)
I had some bad shit happen to me this year.(I got panic attacks for the first time in my life while trying to fall asleep and it FUCKED ME UP. I was super emotional for a lot of PAX and super low on sleep.) and me and my friends kinda sucked getting into panels we wanted. (We missed the first Gabe and Tycho Panel, the Draw a Strip panel, and the Aquisitions Incorporated panel.) On top of this, I had a slew of other health issues. (minor Injuries, an illness) and in general it was one of the worst physical times in my life. I wound up not playing very many games, didn't feel like waiting in line for DNF or Portal 2 (even though I really wanted to) and got very little swag. Plus one of my friends bailed on the show early which sorta ungrounded me.
That said, some cool stuff did happen to me:
-I stayed in a free hotel room (Job perk) that was within walking distance of the airport AND the light rail, which stopped a block from the convention center. That was pretty cool.
-I got to play Castle Ravenloft four times, got six of the convention special "Gray Hag" promo cards and traded three of them for a super rare "Kobold Champion" promo card. Thanks to Chris of WotC (who's last name I don't remember) who was cool enough to let me get away with one of those cards. Plus I picked up Ravenloft for a cheap $45, instead of $65, allowing me to cancel my Amazon.com preorder of $40 that wouldn't have shipped until the 18th of September. It even fit in my bag too (Score!) if only barely.
-After missing pretty much all the panels I wanted on Friday and Saturday, I made an effort to get to the Saturday concert early, but my other friend and tried finding food first and wound up being a bit late. We got in line only to be stopped like 30 feet short of the getting in.. we settled in for a wait but before we could get comfortable we were ushered into the theatre and me and my friend even got really good seats. (Like tenth row). And the concert was fucking awesome. Super damn awesome!
-Worried that we weren't going to get into the last Gabe and Tycho panel, my other friend and I went in an hour early and wound up getting into the X-play panel right before it. I wasn't really interested in it, but then motherfucking CARMINE from Gears of War came walking down the isles and talking about the Save Carmine campaign. Being a big Gears of War fan, I'm super happy I was able to see it. The Gabe and Tycho panel was pretty good to, only one repeated question. (Seriously, do some research if you want to know why the Gabe and Tycho in the comic look nothing like the Gabe and Tycho in real life. :P)
So, I could have done better at this PAX, but my health was keeping me back. I'm still glad I went, and I'm finally starting to be able to fall asleep without needing Nyquil or something now, so I'm recovered from the panic attacks. I think I'd be up for going again next year.
-Met a couple Seattle locals who took me walking downtown and told me all kinds of cool stuff about the city.
-Got into every panel I wanted to (even when I thought I was going to miss some).
-Met up with a couple of my customers and spent Saturday night gaming with them. They're great people AND they kept telling me how awesome my stuff is.
-I've never randomly run into any of the big names while walking around the con before, but this time I gave Cookie Brigade cookies to Tycho, rode the elevator with Anamanaguchi, saw Wil Wheaton chilling in my hotel lobby Saturday night, and passed by Gabe a couple times.
-Saw Khoo in the main theatre Saturday morning and thought I might be bugging him to ask for his picture, but he was SO happy and nice and insisted on my being int he picture too (I don't normally have pictures of me taken) and squeezed me right up against him even though I was all sweaty and insisted I would ruin his suit. :P
-Played so many new games! I don't normally play tabletop games but I kept walking up to people to ask what they were playing and got invited into their games. For the first time, I played Zombie Dice, Leaping Lemmings, Thunderstone, The Great Dalmati, Ascension, and Castle Ravenloft.
-I got a drawing from the Disney animators!! I couldn't even get one when I took the studio tour at Disney World.
It was such a good time and I met so many awesome people!!!
My most epic moment was music related. I loved punk and metal, and actually had a ticket to a local music fest called SONiC Boom. Though it had an awesome line-up, I knew PAX would be even awesomer. Anyhow I told a couple friends about this, and they told me "dude you have to go see Protomen." I don't really know much about the bands commonly found at PAX, and was reluctant. Luckily I had a concert wrist band should I want to check them out.
Dude I met on the MMT who's a big Protomen fan offered to save me a spot at the front on the line, provided I was there within 15 minutes of his arrival in line. Made it there at minute 13, met some other folks I met, and proceeded to the 2nd row on the floor.
This is where my mind was blown all over my face. Holy shit, that was epic. I am now converted, and will be listening to Protomen as much as I can before the next PAX.
Decius on
I never finish anyth
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freakish lightbutterdick jonesand his heavenly asshole machineRegistered Userregular
And my wife and I were in the elevator with you! As we were walking up to the elevator I saw him waiting and thought to myself that he looked familiar. My wife mentioned his Epic Mickey button and when he mention "Don't say anything bad about it, I made the game". It dawned on me. "You're Warren!" I exclaimed. My wife said to him she loved the game and I apologized for missing his keynote cause I really wanted to see it. We got buttons too, they have become my prized possession. Even my wife, who isn't much of a gamer, was a little flabbergasted by the experience. My brother was insanely jealous when I told him we were in the elevator with the guy who made Deus Ex and Supreme Commander.
That and the Sega party Saturday night were the best parts of PAX! (Oh and the Giant Bombcast Live.)
Ha! It's so funny who you run into on the forums.
I had noticed who he was when we were waiting for the elevator, but I had no idea how to bring it up.
Then I saw him again like twenty minutes later on the expo floor. Lol.
Hands down my greatest PAX moment was giving Wil Wheaton my home-made Magic the Gather card called "Dead Meemaw". He cracked up the instead he read it, and continued to geek out for a few moments before deciding to tweet it right then and there. I doubt I will ever have a moment so awesome ever again at PAX, but im going to try
You are AWESOME. You just hit so many funny bones with that!
Let me see, I got to be in one of the most awesome groups at PAX, the Unofficial PAX Community DVD crew. I was front row for the Keynote, the first Q&A (though missed Levin's proposal to Erika, which made me a sadsad panda), was front row for the entire Friday night concert, witnessed the awesome Scott Kurtz panels, and even talked a bit with Tycho at the end of the Omegathon Final. Also saw awesome performances in Jam Space by Metroid Metal and our very own Johnny Nero.
1. Playing in the TF2 tourney and getting a bye the first round. Then getting trounced in the second round in less that ten minutes.
2. Joining a game of munchkin in the freeplay area with players already at levels 2,3 and 4 respectively and me hitting ten with only a halfling card in front of me.
3. Meeting a cosplayer who dressed as Atrus; pretty much the coolest cosplay I've seen in forever. Myst.
My epic moment was Saturday morning. I got into the expo hall and beelined for Portal 2, and my friend and I were in the second group to go in (and the line was wrapped twice around the booth before we went in!). We walk in and sit down, and then one of the guys in the booth comes up to me and we have the following conversation:
Him: Did you play Portal?
Me: Yup, finished it!
Him: Do you know how to use a 360 controller?
Me: Yup.
Him: Do you want to help us demo Portal 2?
Me: YES.
It might have been because I was wearing my Portal shirt, but whyever it happened, it was AWESOME.
Same thing happened to me, without the shirt it was awesome though, ne? I got in the last demo of Saturday, then went to the Trion and CCP parties
Whoa. Were you the short-haired blonde girl? You were a pretty good Portal player
1. Playing in the TF2 tourney and getting a bye the first round. Then getting trounced in the second round in less that ten minutes.
2. Joining a game of munchkin in the freeplay area with players already at levels 2,3 and 4 respectively and me hitting ten with only a halfling card in front of me.
3. Meeting a cosplayer who dressed as Atrus; pretty much the coolest cosplay I've seen in forever. Myst.
My epic moment was Saturday morning. I got into the expo hall and beelined for Portal 2, and my friend and I were in the second group to go in (and the line was wrapped twice around the booth before we went in!). We walk in and sit down, and then one of the guys in the booth comes up to me and we have the following conversation:
Him: Did you play Portal?
Me: Yup, finished it!
Him: Do you know how to use a 360 controller?
Me: Yup.
Him: Do you want to help us demo Portal 2?
Me: YES.
It might have been because I was wearing my Portal shirt, but whyever it happened, it was AWESOME.
Same thing happened to me, without the shirt it was awesome though, ne? I got in the last demo of Saturday, then went to the Trion and CCP parties
Whoa. Were you the short-haired blonde girl? You were a pretty good Portal player
I'm late to the thread, and my epic moment was kinda second-hand, but the first-hand person isn't going to be posting here anytime soon, so...
Friday night, you guys who went to the concerts know about the whole technical difficulties/panic attack thing that went down during the anamanaguchi concert. And if you didn't go, you can watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAzjdFAXqdw to bring yourselves up to speed.
Well, the short version is, that tall redheaded girl who gets up on stage to give Pete a hug at about 10:32 into the video... would not have been there if I hadn't talked her into coming and then paid for her pass and airfare.
A second, first-hand epic moment occured on Sunday, while she was layed up in our room with swollen ankles because of how hard she'd danced on Friday and Saturday, I went to bandland to get a souvenir from Anamanaguchi for her. Just as I reached the front of the line, Pete was telling the story about how he'd been panicking over the technical difficulties until this girl came up and hugged him. The timing was perfect for me to interject. "Actually, that was my third evil ex" and explain that she was stuck in the hotel room because she'd crippled herself dancing. The story was apparently awesome enough that, when I came up short for buying a t-shirt for her, the guy next to me in line paid, and Pete made the most elaborate autograph ever.
We both had totally excellent experiences all through PAX, but these two moments take the crown by a long shot.
Playing Arkham Horror with full expansions, and winning! I think there were five of us playing, with all 4 boards out. And while we weren't all perfectly aware of all the expansion rules and mechanics (mostly me, really) there was a synergy or an energy at the table That negated almost all the confusion and chaos That AH often engenders in the unprepared. Turns and phases moved snappily And monster corpses fell around us like rain. Though the evil spider rose, we cut him down with 2 invest gators undevoured. Best game of AH I've ever played.
From an oddly straightforward AH game Thursday night: "More like Arkham slightly afraid"
Posts
A bunch of other stuff too. Settling into the hotel on the first day and realising just how many computer gamers there were around. The demos, the beta invites (not a clue how I'm going to get through all of those), the cosplayers, the panels, the community... err, first time PAXer, can you tell?
Planet K-PAX? Now it all makes sense! ALL OF IT!
PAX Prime 2011 Challange Coin Thread -- Order your 2011 PAX Prime Challange Coin!
I think they were filming a movie.
You should have come to Unicorn Theatre, where we had it playing ALL WEEKEND...
and now it has a permanent place in the back of my head. Thank you for bringing it back to the forefront...
always, wanna be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony harmony...
Well, I think I can actually tell you now. That was the PAX Prank. Instead of pranking single targets, this year the goal was to prank everybody at once.
It worked pretty well from what I observed.
I also came in 1st place at the Bomberman tournament at the Hudson booth, which earned me 8000 MS points, a set of Turtle Beach X31 wireless headphones and a Hudson polo.
Yep, it was the PAX prank. They did it at the Wheaton panel, as well as the second Q&A at the very least.
Working shows sucks. You stand around a lot, you typically have to put on a PR face, you usually have to deal with a ton of media or retailers who either know nothing about your game, don't care about your game, or both, and their questions and comments reflect that. And despite the trip being free, it's rare that booth workers get to walk around and enjoy the show.
In the past few years, PAX has gained a bit of a reputation in the industry for being the best show to work, and now I know why. What an incredible group. I spent my days chatting with the nicest, chillest people I've ever had to deal with when demoing a game. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to be able to just talk with a bunch of gamers, people that are excited to be there and just want to have a good time. Every break that I had, I ended up in at least one random, engaging conversation with someone. As an exhibitor, calling a convention "tolerable" is a compliment, but pretty much everyone from our group agreed that PAX is downright fun.
What a difference a community makes. I really hope to be back next year.
this weekend i'm going to hopefully edit the footage i got from the prank and start putting up videos.
Participating in the prank was definitely the coolest thing i experienced at PAX this year
{Fondly remembers the PAXTrain}
Oh yeah, that happened in 2009, didnt it??
Twitter.com: @Shaddz
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/y7lesjt
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And my wife and I were in the elevator with you! As we were walking up to the elevator I saw him waiting and thought to myself that he looked familiar. My wife mentioned his Epic Mickey button and when he mention "Don't say anything bad about it, I made the game". It dawned on me. "You're Warren!" I exclaimed. My wife said to him she loved the game and I apologized for missing his keynote cause I really wanted to see it. We got buttons too, they have become my prized possession. Even my wife, who isn't much of a gamer, was a little flabbergasted by the experience. My brother was insanely jealous when I told him we were in the elevator with the guy who made Deus Ex and Supreme Commander.
That and the Sega party Saturday night were the best parts of PAX! (Oh and the Giant Bombcast Live.)
See you at PAX Prime!
Twitter - Automaticjim
Steam - Outbreak
If you’re winning, play safe and keep the game clean and simple. If you are losing, take risks and complicate the game.
That said, some cool stuff did happen to me:
-I stayed in a free hotel room (Job perk) that was within walking distance of the airport AND the light rail, which stopped a block from the convention center. That was pretty cool.
-I got to play Castle Ravenloft four times, got six of the convention special "Gray Hag" promo cards and traded three of them for a super rare "Kobold Champion" promo card. Thanks to Chris of WotC (who's last name I don't remember) who was cool enough to let me get away with one of those cards.
-After missing pretty much all the panels I wanted on Friday and Saturday, I made an effort to get to the Saturday concert early, but my other friend and tried finding food first and wound up being a bit late. We got in line only to be stopped like 30 feet short of the getting in.. we settled in for a wait but before we could get comfortable we were ushered into the theatre and me and my friend even got really good seats. (Like tenth row). And the concert was fucking awesome. Super damn awesome!
-Worried that we weren't going to get into the last Gabe and Tycho panel, my other friend and I went in an hour early and wound up getting into the X-play panel right before it. I wasn't really interested in it, but then motherfucking CARMINE from Gears of War came walking down the isles and talking about the Save Carmine campaign. Being a big Gears of War fan, I'm super happy I was able to see it. The Gabe and Tycho panel was pretty good to, only one repeated question. (Seriously, do some research if you want to know why the Gabe and Tycho in the comic look nothing like the Gabe and Tycho in real life. :P)
So, I could have done better at this PAX, but my health was keeping me back. I'm still glad I went, and I'm finally starting to be able to fall asleep without needing Nyquil or something now, so I'm recovered from the panic attacks. I think I'd be up for going again next year.
-Met a couple Seattle locals who took me walking downtown and told me all kinds of cool stuff about the city.
-Got into every panel I wanted to (even when I thought I was going to miss some).
-Met up with a couple of my customers and spent Saturday night gaming with them. They're great people AND they kept telling me how awesome my stuff is.
-I've never randomly run into any of the big names while walking around the con before, but this time I gave Cookie Brigade cookies to Tycho, rode the elevator with Anamanaguchi, saw Wil Wheaton chilling in my hotel lobby Saturday night, and passed by Gabe a couple times.
-Saw Khoo in the main theatre Saturday morning and thought I might be bugging him to ask for his picture, but he was SO happy and nice and insisted on my being int he picture too (I don't normally have pictures of me taken) and squeezed me right up against him even though I was all sweaty and insisted I would ruin his suit. :P
-Played so many new games! I don't normally play tabletop games but I kept walking up to people to ask what they were playing and got invited into their games. For the first time, I played Zombie Dice, Leaping Lemmings, Thunderstone, The Great Dalmati, Ascension, and Castle Ravenloft.
-I got a drawing from the Disney animators!! I couldn't even get one when I took the studio tour at Disney World.
It was such a good time and I met so many awesome people!!!
Dude I met on the MMT who's a big Protomen fan offered to save me a spot at the front on the line, provided I was there within 15 minutes of his arrival in line. Made it there at minute 13, met some other folks I met, and proceeded to the 2nd row on the floor.
This is where my mind was blown all over my face. Holy shit, that was epic. I am now converted, and will be listening to Protomen as much as I can before the next PAX.
I never finish anyth
Ha! It's so funny who you run into on the forums.
I had noticed who he was when we were waiting for the elevator, but I had no idea how to bring it up.
Then I saw him again like twenty minutes later on the expo floor. Lol.
You are AWESOME. You just hit so many funny bones with that!
Let me see, I got to be in one of the most awesome groups at PAX, the Unofficial PAX Community DVD crew. I was front row for the Keynote, the first Q&A (though missed Levin's proposal to Erika, which made me a sadsad panda), was front row for the entire Friday night concert, witnessed the awesome Scott Kurtz panels, and even talked a bit with Tycho at the end of the Omegathon Final. Also saw awesome performances in Jam Space by Metroid Metal and our very own Johnny Nero.
Good times.
1. Playing in the TF2 tourney and getting a bye the first round. Then getting trounced in the second round in less that ten minutes.
2. Joining a game of munchkin in the freeplay area with players already at levels 2,3 and 4 respectively and me hitting ten with only a halfling card in front of me.
3. Meeting a cosplayer who dressed as Atrus; pretty much the coolest cosplay I've seen in forever.
Whoa. Were you the short-haired blonde girl? You were a pretty good Portal player
Nope, I have long brown hair
Friday night, you guys who went to the concerts know about the whole technical difficulties/panic attack thing that went down during the anamanaguchi concert. And if you didn't go, you can watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAzjdFAXqdw to bring yourselves up to speed.
Well, the short version is, that tall redheaded girl who gets up on stage to give Pete a hug at about 10:32 into the video... would not have been there if I hadn't talked her into coming and then paid for her pass and airfare.
A second, first-hand epic moment occured on Sunday, while she was layed up in our room with swollen ankles because of how hard she'd danced on Friday and Saturday, I went to bandland to get a souvenir from Anamanaguchi for her. Just as I reached the front of the line, Pete was telling the story about how he'd been panicking over the technical difficulties until this girl came up and hugged him. The timing was perfect for me to interject. "Actually, that was my third evil ex" and explain that she was stuck in the hotel room because she'd crippled herself dancing. The story was apparently awesome enough that, when I came up short for buying a t-shirt for her, the guy next to me in line paid, and Pete made the most elaborate autograph ever.
We both had totally excellent experiences all through PAX, but these two moments take the crown by a long shot.
From an oddly straightforward AH game Thursday night: "More like Arkham slightly afraid"