FIRE! PANIC! FIRE! My eyelids had
just about sealed shut with the sandman’s kiss when the hotel fire alarm
sounded loudly and I jumped back out of bed. “What the hell is going on?” I
asked to no one in particular as the rest of my groggy group were also jolted
awake by the ear piercing sound of the alarm. We were now very much awake, but
confused by the situation; I’ll elaborate. When we fell asleep it was in a fit
of giggles and questions about whether or not our old heater was simply making
a lot of noise or did we have a gas leak. We had surmised that the giggles were
a symptom of exhaustion and not our impending doom caused by a room slowly
filling with gas. But now, jolted back awake by the unrelenting wail of the
building fire alarms, we were not so sure.
 |
| From left to right: Zelda, Travis & Link |
We joined the rest of our fellow
sleep-deprived hotel patrons emptying into the quickly overcrowding hallways
and began the long shuffle down several archaic corridors towards the lobby. I
can only describe the scene we found there as something straight out of a
Romero film: hoards of people milling around aimlessly, eyes glossed over with a
thousand-yard stare, stumbling over each other as more and more flooded the
lobby. I began to wonder to myself what would happen if every patron in the
hotel did decide to heed the loud repeated warning and join us in the lobby.
Would we all drown in a sea of pajama bottoms and bathrobes? Be smothered by
the very clothes meant to keep us warm and snuggly? I pictured fighting to keep my head above a
swirling terrycloth whirlpool while clinging hands of strangers threatened to
pull me back down into the depths. The nauseating smell of stale beer and the
hot breath of a fellow Park Plaza survivor shattered my daydream, snapping me
back into our sad reality. Our new companion came to PAX East a game designer,
but now, like all of us staying at Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, he was
just another member of the herd. He had been up late partying, and like us had
just hit the pillow when the alarm sounded. He said he had a roommate still in
bed, but he wasn’t able to rouse him. It turns out our game designer’s roommate
had the right idea because after standing around for what felt like an eternity
we found out it was a false alarm caused by a mischievous punk pulling the alarm
on the fifth floor. Very funny, guy; now do the world a favor and please go
play in traffic for your next trick. Now our group plus one waited for our turn
to ride the elevators back up to our rooms and try and get what little sleep we
could before the following days activities. Why not take the stairs? Well,
because hundreds of our closest friends had the same idea and we were now stuck
in a damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t situation. It was better to just stay
the course and wait for an elevator than try to brave the overcrowded stairways
and halls. When our elevator finally came, we parted company with our friend
the game designer. I never got to ask him what game was his, but in our
exhausted states it probably was for the best. I hope if you’re out there
reading this you got more sleep than we did and enjoyed the rest of your time
at PAX East. Yeah, that’s right, here’s where I should get to tell you that
once we got the “All clear” to return to our rooms, we leapt into our beds and
embraced Morpheus’ sweet embrace, but that would be a lie. Unfortunately, a
second set (as in more than one) of alarms sounded letting us know it was safe
to go back to our rooms. This went on for quite awhile and I managed to capture
the audio - enjoy…
Dawn of the Second Day - 48 Hours
Remain
 |
| Travis first enters the PAX Expo |
Due to the festivities of the
previous evening, we were dragging pretty bad when the dawn of the second day
of
PAX East broke. Needless to say, my carefully calculated schedule I created
via the guidebook app had been thrown into complete disarray. But not even the
complete lack of sleep could stop us today, for today was the day that I would
get to pop Joe & Desiree’s proverbial cherry and expose them to the
honeypot that is the Expo Hall floor. But we are only human after all and
before we could quest onto the Expo Hall we first needed provisions and they
came in the form of oversized jelly-filled powdered sugar covered doughnuts. I
will admit that I also had to buy myself a fruit cup (I’m just programed now to
search out fruits and vegetables) and both the doughnut and the fruit cup were
delicious. And now it was time to hit the Expo Hall Floor, almost… See, in a
fit of excitement I managed to cut myself on my
PAX East badge and was in dire need
of an adhesive bandage (no, I didn’t stop to snap a picture of this gusher).
Luckily I managed to maim myself directly across from the first aid station and
was able to quickly snag the desired bandage. So after my brief medical episode
it was now time to enter the Expo Hall, almost… I had made a promise to my
future brother in-law, the very same man who told me about the magical land
that is
PAX East, to purchase him a 2012 t-shirt and it made sense to do this
now because the entrance to the Expo Hall just happened to be where the
PAX East merchandise was housed (convenient, right?). So one Large black
PAX East 2012
t-shirt and two red and white
PAX East 2012 scarves later (matching scarves for
J and I), we were now on our way… To
The Protomen table because I wanted to
pick up an
Act II: Father of Death t-shirt and I’m glad I did because it gave
me an opportunity to talk to Turbo Lover about the show and become every inch
of fanboy for a brief moment. And then, with all of our
PAX East swag in hand
(PAX Tip numero uno: always bring a bag) we finally stepped onto the escalator
and descended into madness.
 |
| The vacant Lollipop Chainsaw bus |
The first thing I locked onto was
the giant banners for
Lollipop Chainsaw, the forthcoming game debut from
Hollywood screenwriter/director and personal hero
James Gunn. Who’s that you
ask? First, stop messing around, and second, go check out his latest offering
Super and then come back; don’t worry, I’ll wait. Okay, did you watch it or at
least update your
Netflix queue? Pretty freakin’ sweet, right (seriously watch
that movie)? Okay, well before I lose you again to check out the rest of his
work (and you should, you won’t be disappointed) I have to talk about my own
personal disappointment.
Jessica Nigri, the winner of the Juliet Cosplay
contest, was there in person with game creative director Suda51 representing
Lollipop Chainsaw (the only thing cooler would’ve been if
James Gunn was there
himself) but because of the nature of her
costume (she was wearing two
different costumes from the game) she was asked to change and leave the floor.
Because of this, and my poorly timed
PAX East entrance, I missed my opportunity
to snag a picture with Juliet from
Lollipop Chainsaw: total bummer. The second
letdown came in the form of the line to check out the game; it wasn’t just big,
it was ginormous, such so that you had to wait to even be able to form a line.
For me this wasn’t a huge disappointment because I know I’m buying the game
anyway, but getting my hands on one of those foam chainsaws would’ve been
sweet. If the
Lollipop Chainsaw booth was so popular, I can only hope that
leads to game sales and
James Gunn’s debut into videogames will be a smooth and
profitable one. So, like I said, disappointing but in a bittersweet way.
 |
| From left to right: Joe and Travis |
Instead of standing around waiting
to get into line (a line for a line) we moved on to the Xbox Kinect area to
check out Kinect Star Wars. The game had been released just days before PAX East and I decided to wait rather than preorder or purchasing it. I mean, I was
going to have an opportunity to play it at PAX East so why jump the gun? Just
because I’m an uber Star Wars fanboy wasn’t enough to get me to drop the
$49.99; it hasn’t even been that long since the new Blu-ray set was released
and the sting hasn’t had time to wear off (the 3D movies hitting the theater
doesn’t help). And let’s be honest, the online reviews of the game have been
less than favorable. So I was curious to give it a shot, but I didn’t want to
have to buy it to try it (thanks PAX East). I was hoping for a battle royal
against Joe, a little Jedi vs. Sith action, but instead we had the choice of a
Galactic Dance Off or to test out the Rancor Rampage mode. I won’t lie, I
originally bought the Kinect so Jaclyn could play Dance Central because she
loves to dance. What ended up happening though were many drunken sessions of Dance Central, Joe vs. yours truly, with Jaclyn not really participating as much as
coming home from work to find us busting a move. So the prospect of the
Galactic Dance Off wasn’t intimidating, it was more so been there done that,
what else you got. I will admit, seeing Han Solo getting down with Storm
Trooper backup dancers is the right kind of hilarious. So Rancor Rampage it
was, Joe and I got the quick gameplay explanation from the Kinect Star Wars worker and we were off to the races… sort of. The controls were simple enough,
but it was really hard to stay in front of the Kinect sensor. I mean, we were
only running in place but I could not for the life of me stay where I needed to
be; the game was constantly yelling at me to move myself right or back. After
we concluded our turn, I asked Joe if he had the same problem or felt as
equally uncoordinated, and he indeed had the same issues. The plus of a Kinect is no controllers, but only if you can still have control over the game; this
was a fail. I’m still interested in playing the Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising
Mode and will have to play the game again before I completely make up my mind.
Jaclyn played the Galactic Dance Off mode and said it was fun, but once again I
have Dance Central and Dance Central 2 for that. The absolute highlight of my
time at the Kinect Star Wars area was seeing a father with his two kids, one
dressed as a Jedi and the other dressed as Leia, walking side by side with
their working life-sized R2D2. That majorly stole the cake and made my Kinect Star Wars experience so much cooler, so thank you R2.
 |
| R2D2 steals the show |
After finishing up at the Xbox booth, we decided it was almost time to grab some food again (I know, how much
time was wasted on nourishment?) but before we did we navigated around the Expo
Hall Floor a little bit to see what sites needed to be seen. As I previously
mentioned, I had planned out a day of panels but as the time kept slipping by
so did my opportunities to check them out. Because of the Kinect Star Wars demo,
I missed my chance to check out the Comedy, Video Games and the Internet: A
Steamy Love Triangle with College Humor & Dorkly panel. If the panel was
even half as funny as the videogame videos they’ve been producing, I’m sure it
was a blast. But we had just hit the Expo Hall and how could I come all the way
to Boston and not check out a game or two? The next panel I wanted to check out
wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. so that gave us time to eat and explore a little further.
 |
| From left to right: Jaclyn & Travis |
Our meals the night we landed were
nothing to write home about (run of the mill burger and fries; not bad but
nothing crazy). For lunch I had a better idea and headed to the farthest
reaches of Level 0 to reach it. Like last year, we had arrived late to PAX East and never had to form up in the Queue to gain entrance, but we did have to
venture to the Queue area to gain our swag bags and lanyards and this was the
reminder I needed to remember that some of the great food is hidden in the Level
0 Food Court (PAX Tip numero dos: Level 0 food is where it’s at). We dined on
mouth-watering pulled-pork and gnawed on giant turkey legs as we planned out
our game of attack. The lunch was amazing and the Mt. Dew Code Red gave me a
much needed caffeine boost to continue on our quest. After our quick recharge,
we were off and exploring the area that I didn’t spend too much time in the
year before: the Tabletop area. Now not completely lost, I headed over to the
Steve Jackson Games table to see if I could score a Zombie Dice Bag because the
cardboard cup that came with my game was taking a beating and a Zombie Dice Bag is both portable and cool. But Travis, don’t you already have Zombie Dice on
your iPhone and iPad 2? Yes I do, but there is something satisfying about being
able to throw real dice that makes having the physical game with you worth it,
and as I said, the bag is cool. I didn’t have any luck scoring a Zombie Dice Bag, but I was able to pick up the Zombie Dice 2 Double Feature that adds three
more dice to the game play and makes the game more challenging with the edition
of a Hunk, Hottie and Santa Claus die. I debated picking up a copy of Cthulhu Dice for myself (a Christmas present for my Secret Santa) but I think it was
because the Cthulhu Dice Bag was so awesome. Don’t get me wrong, the game seems
like it would be a lot of fun but the stuffed Cthulhu Dice Bag is sick. Joe
& Desiree were also able to make purchases in the Tabletop area snagging
themselves Magic the Gathering mystery boxes at a really good price. It was actually Magic
that got Joe first interested in attending PAX East after I returned from it
last year and showed him the starter deck I received in my swag bag. He then
attempted to show me how to play and I think if I would’ve continued with it I
would’ve been sucked in too, but the hard reality is it’s another expense. And
between comics, movies and videogames, I don’t think I can take on another
habit at this time.
 |
| NUIT/TV Multi-Touch Display |
With our new loot we left the
Tabletop area and headed back out to the main Expo Hall floor to explore a
little further and get to see some more games before we headed upstairs to the
Cat room for the American Classic Arcade Museum – Video Arcade Panel. Our first
stop was at
Mesa Mundi Inc. who caught our eye with their awesome looking NUIT/TV
Multi-Touch Display set-ups. There were people drawing and others playing
shuffle puck or virtual air hockey or whatever it was called and Joe and I
wanted to give it a try. Now, maybe it was my tired state or maybe my
coordination really was just completely lacking, but Joe destroyed me; in fact,
I think I scored more points on myself than him. But the screen was awesome and
it felt like playing a game on a giant iPad. It was easy to use and the guy
quickly demonstrated the set-up for us. I don’t think I’ll have an extra couple
thousand dollars laying around anytime soon, but if I do…
 |
| Four Swords Links and Travis |
I decided that before we exited the
Expo Hall I should probably swing by the Nintendo booth to see if I could spot
Pit and land some exclusive AR cards for
Kid Icarus: Uprising. When we made it
to the Nintendo section, unfortunately there was no Pit, but I did run into
three Link’s from The Legend of Zelda Four Swords wielding
Minecraft Foam Pickaxes
that didn’t mind snapping a picture with me, another highlight of
PAX East. Their
friend, dressed as Finn from
Adventure Time, even gave me props on the Lon Lon
Milk shirt I scored this past December from
TeeRaiders.com. And since we were
all getting along it seemed like a perfect time to ask where everyone was
getting their
Minecraft Foam Pickaxes from, something that both Joe and I had
been wondering. The ladies were happy to point us in the right direction and
our new quest had begun. Well, sort of. I mean, at this point it wasn’t really
a quest. We finally received really good directions on where to find the place
selling the
Minecraft Foam Pickaxes and, like most obsessions, when we finally
found our object of desire it left us feeling unfulfilled. I knew that since
the item would be a purchase that I could just wait and get one from
ThinkGeek.com and I’m not sure what made Joe balk; they might’ve actually been
sold out. Either way, we both walked away empty-handed.
 |
| The home of the Minecraft Foam Pickaxe |
With our
Minecraft Foam Pickaxes mission now complete, the only thing left to do was to leave the Expo Hall
floor and head to the Cat room for the American Classic Arcade Museum – Video Arcade
Panel. This wasn’t our first line wait (we had to queue for the Friday Night
Concerts) but this was the first time we had to do it this tired. The lack of
sleep was really starting to catch up with our party and the girls were definitely
starting to drag. Sitting still for any amount of time was going to equal one
thing and one thing only: someone was going to fall asleep. Determined to keep
watch while the others dozed off, I decided to take out my trusty handcrafted
leather bound journal and jot some notes down so I wouldn’t in a haze forget
everything that we’ve experienced so far. I was psyched to get to break in my
new journal and knew it would turn heads (and it did) because of how sweet it
looks. My friend Lindsey of
booksforalltime.com custom-made it for me to
adventure with and it held up nicely being tossed around in my backpack. It’s
because of my travel journal that you’re able to read this account of my
experience at
PAX East today.
 |
| Travis and his travel journal |
The American Classic Arcade Museum
– Video Arcade Panel wasn’t quite what I expected but still was interesting.
I’m not sure what I pictured it to be, but it was interesting to hear Steve
Gloson (Co-creator of Ms. Pacman) and Jonathan Hurd (Programmer of Food Fight)
talk about their experiences dealing with and working for Atari during the
initial videogame boom. Their stories reminded me of watching Code Monkeys and
made me wish I could’ve been there to watch the evolution of gaming from arcade
to home console first hand. Eric Pribyl, the other panelist and programmer of
Cruisin’ USA, Cruisin’ World, and Cruisin’ Exotica, was directly responsible
for stealing a ton of quarters out of my pockets with his games (at the very
arcade my wife used to manage I might mention). It was fun to get to hear the
two different generations of programmers talk about the worlds they lived in
and ultimately made me jonze for some old skool arcade action. Luckily, in
addition to hosting the panel The American Classic Arcade Museum had set up a Classic
Arcade room so we could do exactly that. Walking into the Classic Arcade room
was reminiscent of being in the
Denver Barcade 1Up. There were all the classics
from Ms. Pacman to Frogger, from Tron to Donkey Kong. It was awesome and I wish
we could’ve hung out longer, but unfortunately the lack of sleep was starting
to catch up with us again. It just meant that sooner than later I would have to
make a trip to the arcade mecca that is
Funspot in New Hampshire and get some
more time with some old school games.
 |
| The American Classic Arcade Museum - Video Arcade Panel |
We only had a little time to kill
after leaving the Classic Arcade Room before the next panel and the one I had
most looked forward to since the PAX East schedule was first posted. How Not to
Succeed as a Freelance Game Journalist promised to be an entertaining and
educational experience and really was the thing I was most excited for. But
thanks to the lack of sleep I wasn’t even feeling like I was at fifty percent
and I was scared I’d do something super embarrassing like fall asleep during
the panel. Luckily the people from 5-Hour Energy were there and I was able to
score a little pick me up before getting in the line for the panel. I spent the
time waiting in the queue trying to log some game time in The Legend of Zelda:
Link’s Awakening, but even a game I’ve played a million times seemed way too
challenging; in the battle of sleep vs. Travis I was losing. I looked around at
my party and it seemed like I wasn’t the only one. It was going to be rough. Fortunately
the time seemed to pass by pretty quickly and sooner than later we were seated
in front of the journalism panel hosted by Susan Arendt (The Escapist) and made
up of AJ Glasser (Inside Network), Justin McElroy (Polygon), Andrew Hayward
(MacLife), Kyle Orland (Ars Technica) and Rob Rath (freelance). The panel was
everything I wanted it to be: highly entertaining stories from Susan Arendt,
Justin McElroy and AJ Glasser were especially funny, but it was also
informative and it was most interesting to hear from Rob Rath who is still
currently working as a freelance writer. I wanted to hear how the pros
transitioned from freelance to fulltime, but at the same time it was great to
hear from someone who is still currently working freelance how he balances his
daily life with the life that he wants (the life of a paid writer). Lets face
it: I’m still in the baby steps phase of writing and it’s always nice to hear
what some of my next steps could be and very helpful to hear what not to do. My
only disappointment with the panel had nothing to do with the panel itself and
more to do with my over tired condition. I had set out to PAX East with high
hopes of handing out business cards and making good first impressions, but in
my current state that just wasn’t going to happen. You only get one chance to
make a first impression and I didn’t want to blow mine because I was running on
fumes. So I didn’t stick around to mingle after the panel and instead ducked
into a taxi and headed back to Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, business
cards still clenched in my tired hand, no leveling up and no points awarded…
 |
| How Not to Succeed as a Freelance Journalist Panel |
Much like the previous year, when
it came to the final day of PAX East we didn’t make it. This year it was
because a member of my group wanted to make it back for Easter Dinner, not
because we were ready to go. PAX East the second time around was even more fun
than the first and if I would’ve got just a couple hours of sleep I’m sure it
would’ve been even better. I’m looking forward to PAX East 2013 and you better
bet I’ll be wide awake and ready to go next year. See you in Boston...
 |
| Pit at the Nintendo Booth |
Oh yeah one last thing, we did manage to run into Pit and score some Kid Icarus: Uprising AR cards and snag this sweat picture.
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