PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) Recap Day 3 - The end

It’s the end of day three, the final day of PAX 2010 and find myself looking back on the weekend and gathering life lessons, like an attendee picking m&m’s out of their trail mix. It was an ordeal, a marathon of sorts, where the importance of self care was only dwarfed by one’s need for mental fortitude. I did better and worse at different points of the expo, those peaks and valleys always corresponding to controllable variables, like my blood sugar. What I was looking for and therefore saw everywhere this weekend was a feeling of belonging, a sense of acceptance within a culture that would allow me a peek at it’s foremost edge, where I could have a few moments with the men and women that are breaking ground out there. The people that are realizing the dream of the rest of the gaming world, a chance to shape an industry that we all live for in varying degrees.

PAX has a reputation for being the gamer’s Con and it is. Everywhere I turned I was met with industry representatives that simply oozed with the understanding of what drives the gaming industry --fanatical fans. And everywhere I turned after that I saw swag laden gamers following up on their end of the bargain, waiting for hours to catch a twenty minute demo of a game they have been waiting on for over a decade (coming up tomorrow I’ll give you a complete transcription of Gear Box’s Duke Nukem pitch, recorded inside the booth). The whole tail eating serpent was visible in that exhibition hall, scores of development crews and their CEOs, and the unruly mob that is the gaming community, flaunting their buying power.

One of the traditions of the Penny Arcade Expo is the Omegathon, a tournament of twenty preregistered contestants who compete in a weekend long battle. They play a bunch of games at different venues, games chosen from a wide range of eras and genres, all the way from Pong to Halo. The closing event of PAX 2010 was held in the main hall, a theater four blocks away from the convention center, that seats over 2,500 people; it was also the final contest in the omegathon. I was seated up in the third level, all the way at the back and this afforded me an amazing view of the theater. It was packed to capacity and the juxtaposition of the thousands of nerds with the operatic feeling of the venue put me in mind of some steam punk reference that I can’t quite put my finger on now. Just before the last battle began I peered over the two foot high railing, the only thing between me and defenestration (is falling to your death still called that if it’s not out of a window?), seeing a sea of people sitting on the floor level. Hundreds of points of light seemed to ripple on the tides of they’re excitement like phosphorescence. Every third person had some kind of hand held device and the glow from them augmented the warmth of the room.

Then came out the men themselves, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of Penny Arcade and our hosts at the convention. Introducing the two finalists of the omegathon by their handles only, Jerry and Mike went on to ask the audience what we thought the last game was going to be. “We will give you three clues. First, this game is ancient. Second, it is turn based and third it is all about resource collection.” Thousands of people called out, yelling the name of their favorite old school RTS. After a suitable period of suspense the curtains parted to reveal that most devious of opponents, the bane of bowling alleys the world wide, the claw machine. Or as it was called on the stage, the Omegaclaw!

Far from being anti-climatic, this conclusion to a weekend of spectacle was fitting, it encapsulated the spirit of the last three days. This was our civilization, our culture and what is an empire without its Colosseum? We stood, we screamed for blood, we smacked our brows with our palms as the plush Yoshi fell from the claw inches before reaching the shoot that would place it in the hands of its rightful owner; our champion.2010-09-06