Penny Arcade's PAX East gaming festival recently wrapped up this weekend in Boston. Thousands of gamers from all over the world flock to meet, compete and even preview unreleased video games in this highly-anticipated event. However, this year's 'PAX East' gaming festival dealt once again with recurring issues on questionable security and an accident as it closed.
Brianna Wu, a video game designer of Arlington and owner of Giant Spacekat, decided once again to miss the event. As reported by Metro, "Wu asserts that PAX's organizers - makers of a web comic called Penny Arcade - didn't do enough to reach out to her and plan for security measures and other accommodations."
It was previously reported by Metro that Wu and Giant Spacekat employees were subjected to online harassment over the "role of women who make, play and write about games." A movement called #GamerGate actively rejected Wu's call for gender inclusivity in games and in turn, received 300 death threats from the community. Despite that, Wu remains positive that next year's 'PAX East' will be different.
'PAX East' also took another wrong turn when a Blizzard's Overwatch Ford F650 Supertruck hits an Uber Car. According to Kotaku, both cars were commissioned by 'PAX East' to transport players from their hotels to the venue. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford was first to the scene and started to tweet about it. Luckily, no one was injured and they have another Supertruck to escort the gamers in transit.
Despite the controversies, the Associated Press reported that Robert Khoo, president of Penny Arcade believes that 'PAX East' is still "like a Woodstock for gamers...It's more than just about games; it's about the culture that surrounds it." Virtual Reality Technology was the subject of fans' rave during the event. More companies decided to invest on new gaming headsets to make the experience more realistic and authentic for the players.