Personally I think the east and west coast are the best places to have it and they should somehow just make them both bigger.
(within the US)
Okay, I'm curious; why would it be a bad idea to have a PAX South/PAX Europe/PAX Australia (each of which would reduce pressure on Prime/East due to those who travel a long way to get to PAX)?
If a PAX is going to be in Europe, I imagine it being in the capitals. London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid come to mind.
I think that London would be easiest because PA is filled with native English speakers. Although having a bunch of German speaking enforcers would be kind of awesome and scary.
I see the reasoning behind an international PAX... but I question whether the exhibitors would show up. I've worked at big international conventions, and even a modest booth costs a ton to ship and set up overseas. Factor in the epic booths that the big exhibitors have, and the costs would rival the GDP of a small country. Would they spend that? Would they show up with smaller booths? Would they show up at all?
Not to say that the exhibits are the only important thing, but a PAX with a small, quiet expo hall would be weird!
i gotta say, another north american pax is starting to sound more realistic to me. as has been discussed in the 'is pax getting too big?' thread [http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/147984/is-pax-getting-too-big#Item_117], prime has pretty much been pushed to its limits of space expansion in seattle and is unlikely to be relocated since pa is based there, but there's no reason to think prime will do anything but continue to grow. pax east has a nice big space, but still was at around 70,000 attendees in only its second year of existence. a third north american pax might be the only/best way to relieve that pressure and allow pax to grow comfortably.
@adastra makes a really good point about it being expensive and a hassle for exhibitors to travel internationally, plus the language barrier question. is there enough international interest in pax for it to be successful if there was very limited north american participation, both on the attendee and exhibitor ends? that's a genuine question btw, maybe there is, anyone have any further ideas about that?
As much as I want to say "PAX Chicago!" since I live in Ohio, both PAXi are already in the northern part of the US. The south and central areas are sad and lonely. Texas is the logical choice.
As for PAX Europe, there's a LOT to consider. Passports, Visas, travel costs, space rental costs, international commerce regulations. I think it would be interesting, but I also don't think it's particularly feasible. Plus Europe and Japan already have gaming cons. I would say Australia, but Australia is kind of... secluded. How many people would even go?
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
edited September 2011
There are a large amount of European developers and Euro interest that Pax London would likely be successful, and maybe even larger than Prime or east because of the train system and population densities. Greater London not only has a larger population than Greater Seattle and Greater Boston. It's a three hour train ride from Paris which has an even larger population than london. So a PAX Europe could see 100k people pretty easily if the center they use to hold it is large enough to accommodate that.
I see the reasoning behind an international PAX... but I question whether the exhibitors would show up.
I'd start by pointing out that Good Old Games is owned by CD Projekt, a Polish company, so there are some trans-atlantic trips already.
More to the point, there are plenty of European game developers/publishers. Off the top of my head, Lionhead Studios, Rare, Rockstar North, Jagex are all in the UK, I'm sure others could find a lot more with a little time. Ubisoft is French, originally. Many of the bigger publishers have European developers.
You would see a definitely different group of companies, but I don't think there's any risk of lacking exhibitors.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
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Anyways, I think Japan would be a great idea - lots of developers are there of course, lots of enthusiastic gamers too, and there seems to be far less Asian people coming to the US PAXes than European folks, so they should get one of their own first.
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I really would like to see the PAX happen in Germany - although we already have the gamescom over here, PAX still wins by far compared to it.
gamescom itself is way too crowded by now, takes place in an awful location and is way too loud, because everyone is having huge stages with loud nonsense happening on it. In addition, there is too much business and marketing stuff going on, which is of no interest to gamers at all and foils any sense of community.
I would describe my first PAX Prime experience somehow like that: gamescom without the boring business stuff, with a little bit of the GDC, plus "Spiel" in Essen (most attended tabletop convention) plus the best BYOC-LAN-Party you ever had plus great concerts.
And that's totally possible here - noone ever thought about that kind of convention concept before. People are getting tired of gamescom, and i really think an alternative to it would be widely accepted.
I'm not sure if it will be possible to carry over the "hype" and the concept of Enforcers as well. But i really think it's worth a try. Important thing is to give it an international appeal, which could be kinda difficult around here but it's certainly possible.
One day a "Willkommen Zuhause!"-Convention taking place in Europe - Nerdcore galore!
There should definitely be a PAX Australia. I'd make the trip to Sydney if that's what's required, and that is 2000km away (1250mi for those who use a measureing system from the dark ages).
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(within the US)
Okay, I'm curious; why would it be a bad idea to have a PAX South/PAX Europe/PAX Australia (each of which would reduce pressure on Prime/East due to those who travel a long way to get to PAX)?
Not to say that the exhibits are the only important thing, but a PAX with a small, quiet expo hall would be weird!
Now those German enforcers... yes, please!
@adastra makes a really good point about it being expensive and a hassle for exhibitors to travel internationally, plus the language barrier question. is there enough international interest in pax for it to be successful if there was very limited north american participation, both on the attendee and exhibitor ends? that's a genuine question btw, maybe there is, anyone have any further ideas about that?
As for PAX Europe, there's a LOT to consider. Passports, Visas, travel costs, space rental costs, international commerce regulations. I think it would be interesting, but I also don't think it's particularly feasible. Plus Europe and Japan already have gaming cons. I would say Australia, but Australia is kind of... secluded. How many people would even go?
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But in general, I think PAX should stick to English speaking areas, unless PA is available in other languages and I didn't realize it.
I'd start by pointing out that Good Old Games is owned by CD Projekt, a Polish company, so there are some trans-atlantic trips already.
More to the point, there are plenty of European game developers/publishers. Off the top of my head, Lionhead Studios, Rare, Rockstar North, Jagex are all in the UK, I'm sure others could find a lot more with a little time. Ubisoft is French, originally. Many of the bigger publishers have European developers.
You would see a definitely different group of companies, but I don't think there's any risk of lacking exhibitors.
Although Toronto does have a reasonable number of developers there.
Anyways, I think Japan would be a great idea - lots of developers are there of course, lots of enthusiastic gamers too, and there seems to be far less Asian people coming to the US PAXes than European folks, so they should get one of their own first.
Then it wouldn't be a Secret Lair anymore.
Everyone meets at a set time in Seattle, where they're loaded onto a series of blacked out busses, knocked unconscious with sleeping gas, and driven to the secret lair. It's a flawless plan...
gamescom itself is way too crowded by now, takes place in an awful location and is way too loud, because everyone is having huge stages with loud nonsense happening on it. In addition, there is too much business and marketing stuff going on, which is of no interest to gamers at all and foils any sense of community.
I would describe my first PAX Prime experience somehow like that: gamescom without the boring business stuff, with a little bit of the GDC, plus "Spiel" in Essen (most attended tabletop convention) plus the best BYOC-LAN-Party you ever had plus great concerts.
And that's totally possible here - noone ever thought about that kind of convention concept before. People are getting tired of gamescom, and i really think an alternative to it would be widely accepted.
I'm not sure if it will be possible to carry over the "hype" and the concept of Enforcers as well. But i really think it's worth a try. Important thing is to give it an international appeal, which could be kinda difficult around here but it's certainly possible.
One day a "Willkommen Zuhause!"-Convention taking place in Europe - Nerdcore galore!
I suppose we just start building a PAX tower of Babel there for the show and attendees alike.
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