This was my first year at PAX East, which was great. Unfortunately, I only had enough time to be there on Saturday from when the doors opened at 10 a.m. until about 5 p.m. Here's some highlights of the things I saw and did.
Classic arcade machines
There was a room dedicated to classic stand-up arcade machines like "Zaxxon," "Burger Time" and various pinball machines. Playing "Zaxxon" was a trip and it's just as difficult as I remember it.
Classic consoles
There was another room dedicated to consoles like the SNES, the Atari 2600 and the Sega Dreamcast. Seeing a kid engrossed in a 2600 game put a big grin on my face. Also, a prominently displayed sign read, "Please do not blow into cartridges," which made me smile/question my childhood spent blowing into cartridges.
Cosplayers
I knew there would be a lot of cosplayers, but I was unprepared for just how many there were. There were characters from every imaginable game although the number of women dressed as Chell from "Portal 2" was quite high.
Lines
There were long lines for everything although the people waiting in them were unfailing polite and usually playing games on their Nintendo DS. Since media badges don't allow you to skip the line and I made the decision to go to PAX too late to book appointments with developers, I had to pick my lines carefully. So I got play Diablo 3 and Dungeon Defenders 2 but didn't see "The Elder Scrolls Online" or "Watchdogs" because their lines were just too long. I also didn't make it to any panels because of line length but that meant more time to walk around the floor.
Showfloor
The range of gaming on display was amazing. There was a separate area just for table top gameing and people were playing everything from "Magic: The Gathering" to "Dungeons" and Dragons." An art gallery showed off the different ways video games can be incorporated into art. A dance floor for people to play "Dance Central" and a stage for "Guitar Hero" saw a steady stream of participants. The number of indie developers was inspiring. Plus, there was a bar in the convention center which is what E3 needs.
