PAX 2013

I'm a huge video game fan.  I love playing games, I love talking about them, and being part of the culture that has developed around them.  It is truly one of my greatest loves.  Ask anyone who is into video games if they know about E3.  I think pretty much everyone who is into video games had at some point dreams of attending the convention.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, E3 was the most important event for video games.  Announcements were made about all the biggest games, new consoles were unveiled, people got the opportunity to play demos of unreleased titles, and have the chance to meet the biggest names in the industry.  Unfortunately the people behind E3 made the decision to shrink E3 and severely restrict who could attend.  The dreams of thousands of gamers like me were destroyed.

But then PAX happened.  In 2004 a couple of guys behind the Penny Arcade webcomic decided to have a little convention of their own for gamers by gamers.  It started as small gathering of people who loved webcomics, video games, board games, and nerd culture could feel free to share their love for all those things.  Every year since then, the numbers have increased exponentially to the point where the entire game industry just simply cannot afford to ignore PAX.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend PAX Prime in Seattle for the first time.  I kind of had an idea what to expect, but my mind was blown - everything was better than I had ever imagined!  This was E3, only better.  It was 70+ thousand people who were just like me and share that love of video games.

That thing I said about the gaming industry not being able to ignore PAX, well game companies, now are announcing projects at PAX.  The biggest names in the industry go to PAX to meet and talk to fans.  I shaked hands with people that work at Double Fine, Valve, EA, Telltale, and many others.

Attending PAX was a blast.  A dream come true for me.  I liked it so much that when the tickets for PAX East 2013 went on sale, I didn't even hesitate.  I booked the hotel and flight to Boston on the same day.

It's been a year exactly that I was leaving Seattle to fly back home.  For Prime 2013, I sadly didn't see the update quickly enough and was not able to buy the tickets.  What I'm trying to say is that if you love video games, then you simply have to go to PAX at some point.