I have seen a lot of first-timers asking if PAX is a lot like the old E3. I figured, since I have been to every PAX and a few E3s, I would lay down the major difference here.
PAX > E3 because PAX is made of win, and not fail.
It's really a totally different thing, so they are hard to compare. E3 is for the press, and retailers that will be selling the games. That's why there are so many games on display, because a lot of people are pre-juding a bunch of sales numbers and shit.
You can tell this from the attitudes of the developers. None of them want to be there, and if you are just a stray gamer that weaseled your way in by having a website, or being an "independent developer", the chances you will get attitude from the developers there is very high.
Also, as has been highlighted, a LOT of people there know nothing about games. Why was Paris Hilton at e3? How come the booth babes can't tell me if this weapon will be in the final version of the game? These are questions without answers, and contribute to the fail of E3.
So, as it goes, E3 was reduced greatly, to the size of a hangar in Santa Monica. Even then, many of the major developers are actually just doing their own thing in hotels and such around the area. Most of the companies don't even care about E3, other than that if they go to Santa Monica during it, they will get good press.
So as you can see, as a gamer, there is really not much to enjoy there. Sure e3 has tons of hot games that are not to be released for quite some time, or even new and inventive hardware. However, the best stuff is always behind a locked door someplace, and we are left with the dregs (not always the case, but more often than not). To even see Gears of War last year was a pain in the ass unless you worked for MS, or knew somebody who did. Thankfully Shadowrun made the MS booth a lot more worth it.
PAX on the other hand is much the opposite. For starters, the spirit of the conference is that which was made by gamers, for gamers. It's like a huge fucking LAN party and everyone there is totally just enjoying the environment. Every nerd dream is there (except Miyamoto-san), and there are even developer booths in an exhibition hall.
Oh sure, PAX doesn't have as big an exchibition area as E3 did (yet...) but the big difference is that these people actually came to speak to the CONSUMERS, rather than just the press and Wal-Mart. A novel concept really.
PAX is, from the ground up, built to be totally different than E3. Having been to both, if you are coming to PAX and missed E3, you aren't missing much at all.
PAX FTW, srsly, kthxbai.
Posts
I, for one, loved E3. I also love PAX.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/04/10
Yet...
60,000-70,000
Wait,
Pax is every 6 months?
I didn't think I would have to explain that. Read the two posts above mine, kthxbai.
Equation = divide the number in the post above yours by 2