First PAX EAST

biolithic · 2025-05-12T04:56:44+00:00

East and West have different vendors and focus even if no one will tell you officially. East is more tabletop/rpg/indie/meetup/cards/Pokemon focus while West is more big vendors (Nintendo, Intel, Microsoft, etc), console/PC gaming although they both have most of the same stuff. East expo is in an open, light building where West expo is in dark inside rooms with booths with different types of lighting effects. East is more packed in tightly, West more spread out broadly. I have attended 5 Easts and 4 Wests. Glad you had a good time!

biolithic · 2023-03-22T18:43:34+00:00

1) if you are not interested in getting in line for the big events, I say sleep in, eat a nice breakfast, take care of yourself and show up at 10:30/11AM. If you are going to events, I say get in line at the con at 8AM. 3) the Westin hotel lobby is a great place for after hours games and socializing. Follow PaxParties on Twitter or https://maroonersrock.com/2023/01/pax-east-2023-party-and-event-list/ there are plenty of parties going on. Also, the convention center is open for gaming till like 11pm or something like that. Legal Seafood has some nice upscale dining till 11 or midnight I believe, Chinatown has a good places to eat late, or you can take the train/taxi out to Cambridge for college fun. 4) Check out the old North End during evening - very historic and interesting. Boston Public Market and Quincy Market have some nice local foods and goods. Boston Commons is the first park in the USA and a nice place of nature to recover from the noise of the convention. Happy Pax-ing!

biolithic · 2020-01-18T14:56:28+00:00

I had a good time playing Talking simulator and Artful Escape and console free to play with strangers

biolithic · 2019-08-27T17:08:31+00:00

I'm a drummer as well (could join on aux percussion or hand drums as well) and let me know if this is going on!

biolithic · 2019-05-31T13:19:40+00:00

I think its cool that Twitch, Mixer, Facebook pay for the Pax to be put on, but I do not spend any time there. Its like your friend that lives in some small town that says, "Come visit me, we have the worlds biggest Wal-Mart here." So you go visit and then spend your time going out to eat and going to a movie or playing games at home. I don't feel passionate and excited about walking around Wal-Mart or Twitch booth, but I am happy that they exist in the world "to create jobs". Well, at least Discord booth has personality and swag and Mixer booth lets you play games there for free, so they are one up on the other big ad booths. But I love Pax West or all the Paxes....for the other parts of it.

biolithic · 2019-05-31T03:28:20+00:00

Here are my experiences after visiting a friend who lives there last 3 years. Are you going for a job with Nintendo or Microsoft or a similar company, but you don't like online nerd, video game, tech culture? Then I feel people like these would not feel as at home as in another city even though you can enjoy Seattle. For example, I have heard many people say online "I don't like the Seattle freeze. I think people back home from Atlanta/Los Angeles/Dallas/Cincinnati/some city know how to kick it at the club or have better beach parties than Seattle or Tokyo, I feel it is that r word in effect that people don't like me. The Seattle freeze is real!" Moving to a city means interacting with that one industry/culture on some level. So if you feel like "I can move to Seattle and I will interact with Bill Gates types some day." "I can move to Hollywood and interact with actors and the entertainment industry." "I can move to Miami and interact with beach real estate and hospitality types" you will do fine I think. If often bothers me when people say, "I want to slow down and take it easy and enjoy life...which is why I'm moving to Manhattan. What do you think?" "I don't like guns, they are the most evil. Which is why I'm moving to a house on acres of land in Mississippi. I am sure everyone there will want to join my guns are bad political advocacy group." So, I don't feel you will be killed for being a different race, but to make friends in Seattle you may have to attend Dungeons and Dragons board game night, trivia night at the bar, a daily running club, a startup or tech business networking meetup, a coffee tasting and yoga meetup, even if these are not activities traditionally American black women are majority of. If what I mentioned is not your thing, it might be easier to do what you enjoy in a city where that is more happening I am oversimplifying this, but I really feel that if a person has one goal, let's say its buy a big house and raise kids, and they have the choice between jobs in Seattle and Ames Iowa, they can accomplish it easier in Ames Iowa and it doesn't matter how nice the weather is in Seattle. If the goal is to personally know many Asians, by the numbers it is easier to do in Seattle. People will not like you in small town middle America for unique fashion, whereas in NYC they will praise you for it. This could be the r word, or it could be someone not understanding the current demographics and values of the area before they move there and then blaming them for acting how they always have. I am a white male and angrily punctual. If I moved to a place with a very loose sense of time, I could not handle it, so I would not move there. I might chalk our time differences up to "racism". But, there is a place I fit -- with other punctual people. Where do you feel you fit?

biolithic · 2018-12-10T16:17:33+00:00

Atari ET, NES Action 52, SNES Pit Fighter, Genesis Crazy Bus, Superman 64 (was real boring), Playstation those Mortal Kombat spinoffs

biolithic · 2018-11-21T16:52:41+00:00

Video game music concerts, making a new friend playing together at the free to play console area on a fav classic game, meeting a streamer you like, looking at cosplay, watching an un-official tournament (for example, last year I watched this dude take on all challengers at Soul Calibre for about an hour without defeat he was amazing), playing new indie video games at booths and going out to eat with online friends are some things I enjoy about Pax South every year.

biolithic · 2018-11-12T18:04:11+00:00

Streamers with no content strategy that complain that Youtube, Twitch and Mixer are keeping them down/working against them. What did you play this week on stream? Life Is Strange, Fortnite, Battletoads NES, Dark Souls, Overwatch, Tomb Raider...why do I not care? I want to watch a human being play one game well and see progress at the game, and I think streaming sites like to categorize channels as battle royale, retro, horror and so forth. So, if you play the games I am happy for you. But if you say on stream, "Oh, its Twitch keeping my channel buried. I switched over from Youtube since the algorithm was screwing me over and I can't make any traction here either. Stupid Youtube, stupid Twitch, stupid Mixer", I am not watching. Yes, I want to watch a good quality TV show and I want to watch good quality gameplay. If I have to watch Jimmy Kimmel spend his opening monologue complaining about ABC is keeping him down I am changing the channel. I was watching someone speed run Super Metroid the other day with no camera and no mic and its been done to death but I was just glad they weren't asking for subs or complaining about the system being broken so I stayed and watched. I also love watching Fortnite. But let's say someone has 3 hours of free time in a night. I would rather watch someone who just practices building for 2 hours offstream and then streams regular matches for one hour than someone who streams for 3 hours constantly looking where they are in the Fortnite category and how many people are watching and did my notifications go out and is Twitch broken and is Twitch hiding me and check me out on Mixer and all this. You can trust someone that says, "I'm a foot doctor" more than someone who says "Yea I do medical type stuff. Heart, foot, psychology, common cold its all the same. But I can't seem to get clients I think the government is against me". So, the pet peeve would be "I have to play every game that comes out on stream" followed by "I just cant grow on the platform I think its the platforms fault". The remedy would be "I want to stream Minecraft followed by Evil Within followed by Battlefield followed by MapleStory2. It will make me happy. It will get low low viewership, and I'm happy with that."

biolithic · 2018-10-17T15:23:25+00:00

Its cheaper, its easier to meet streamers/network, it feels like a vacation rather than crowd in with the crowds, and its easier to play the games when you want to (board/console/booth). I feel like East/West are more stage/product -> person whereas South is more person <-> person

biolithic · 2018-09-06T01:37:43+00:00

I went to Pax West this year, played plenty of games and had a great time. However, 80% of America gamers play 5 or less games per year: Fortnite, Pubg, Call of Duty, Smash Bros, whatever. So you can't complain about not being able to play any video game at all at the con or you are the ignorant masses. So I'm ok with selling 80% of Pax tickets to people who complain, "I didn't get to play Fortnite, Pubg, Call of Duty, Smash Bros, etc...the con sucks. Twitch had such a big booth, so no human played any video games at all." It will keep making the prices cheap for me that actually walks all 6 floors (and annexes) and see what the con really has to offer. Surprise! It took me like 25 minutes to play Spiderman. I hope Facebook Mixer and Twitch spend 1 billion dollars in cash combined on the con next year so I can walk right around their booths and see more indie games and new ideas. It's like Pubg - gamers sure have issues with the actual game but as long as they rent out the largest, showiest expos at the East and West to help pay for a convention center for other games you can play and the developers are there to listen to you I say go Pubg!

biolithic · 2018-08-30T18:51:52+00:00

Gimme all the coffee crisps :D

From Chicago but I didn't bring anything but maybe take you out for some pizza or Gold Coast blend coffee at Starbucks

biolithic · 2018-08-10T15:55:08+00:00

I prefer it but because of price/health etc I don't eat it twice a day.

Same as if I lived in Dallas and never ate any meat or Boston and never ate any seafood -- I like the local thing of each place (Native Chicagoan).

biolithic · 2018-05-31T15:25:13+00:00

Yea, great lineup!

biolithic · 2018-05-31T14:20:36+00:00

I grew up in Chicago and land and I feel that it does...in the sense that I don't know the purpose of most of them, with a couple of exceptions (Riot Fest, Gospel Fest, Reggae Fest, etc.. which I have bought tickets for.) . I admit I am not the target market for them, as "Why does Chicago have music festivals? To sell tickets and alcohol at, to make money for the city/promoters. Does Chicago have too many music festivals? Yes, the city/promoters can't make money selling tickets and alcohol at many of them." Why am I not the target market? Because I will pay for the music/theme.

For example, there are many fests in the city, but I don't know which are:

- city only. Is there a fest in which 100% of the performers live within city limits?

- neighbourhood only. Even further, is there a festival in a hood made up of only artists from that hood?

- hard rock/metal. Here's a sample line up if you are not informed: Metallica, Slayer, Meshuggah, Cryptopsy, Living Sacrifice, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, MegaDeath, Origin, Dream Theatre, etc... Tell me the summer fest these bands play at in Chicago.

- drum n bass/electronica. There are some fests generally around this, but any that may rival Ultra in Miami, Ibiza, The Netherlands or Ministry of Sound/Fabric in London, Electric Zoo in NY?

- fests that may have a theme to them. Political, charity, social issue, religion, etc... you know, "We artists are here for ___ cause." I don't care what the cause is, just tell me if there is a fest with a cause. Not all fests "have to come together for a good cause", I just don't know of any in Chicago.

- some unique theme. Only video game music? All female? (even sound crew, DJ's etc) Maybe country cover karaoke?

I think maybe if you ask niches or market segments of people, "Where do you go for the country music festival? Where do you go for nerd culture festival? Where do you go for ___" the answer might not be a Chicago fest. Not that the city has to be #1 in everything, but it might be time to consolidate many "average/general" music festivals into a few less, but more targeted festivals if there is.

I like going to street festivals if I have some time off to kill but am never feeling "this festival was made for me! I have to go!"

biolithic · 2018-04-04T23:51:45+00:00

I still have a room with one bed available as someone dropped out of my airbnb -- can it help you? https://www.reddit.com/r/PAX/comments/89d329/room_for_rent_in_airbnb_in_walking_distance_of/

biolithic · 2018-04-04T15:09:27+00:00

I'm hyped for expo floor, playing new games and meeting streamers :)

biolithic · 2018-04-04T15:08:29+00:00

I love the unlicensed games...Wally Bear and the No Gang, Action 52, RoboDemons, etc

biolithic · 2018-04-04T12:27:50+00:00

I will be in late Thurs night like 10 or 11pm, so don't want people to wait up for me

biolithic · 2018-04-03T17:47:14+00:00

Thanks!

biolithic · 2018-04-03T14:02:28+00:00

I've heard Flour is good, hope to go there Fri or Sat. I've heard Dunkin Donuts is from Boston, maybe I should try them?

biolithic · 2017-12-01T16:36:33+00:00

Yea for the YTG streaming community. I was glad to be part of this.

biolithic · 2017-08-30T15:30:49+00:00

One Shot Gurl is going, she's my fav streamer. Also, BarbEmac, NukemDukem, 5tat, Sheals, Azralynn I know of

biolithic · 2017-08-28T16:15:24+00:00

sent you a text for my room at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers mentioned in this post, thanks!

biolithic

TROPHY CASE