Games

PAX 2011 Report: Day 2, Part 1

By Zak Edwards
August 26, 2011 - 23:45

PAX Report: Day 2, Part 1:

In Which the PAX N00b Discovers the Importance of Queueing

    Day 1 was mostly a study in Downtown Seattle, where PattyTheCake, Chew, and I wandered around and took in the city.  I managed to already make a financially irresponsible decision, before PAX even starts, at the Barnes & Noble across the street after a fairly intimate conversation with an extremely large beer at some Brewhouse.  But today, not even nursing a possibly deserved hangover, Chew, PattyTheCake, and I are in line starting at roughly 7:30.  Lunchbox put his Enforcer shirt on and strutted out of the hotel room just before us.  Chew, for his first shirt of the day, sports a “Mutant and Proud” shirt, giving me a sly grin as I look at it.  Apparently he’s begun to buy shirts with my annoyance in consideration, but I think this one’s awesome.  I don’t even have a coffee yet, but the energy in the queue room is electric anyways.  A bit of a caffeine boost in its own right.  As per usual, tons of costumes, all of varying degrees of quality and worn by people of varying degrees of attractiveness, abound.

PattyTheCake and Chew are arguing over the quality of a Duke Nukem costume (“But it’s supposed to be understated like that!”) when a giant beach ball, swiftly losing air as it takes Shoryuken after Shoryuken, smacks Chew in the face.  As it falls, the crowd begins to erupt and the ball is quickly saved from hitting the ground by yours truly.  Cheers ensue.  Soon the three of us are looking through our SWAG bags, I lucked out and got a t-shirt that actually fits and out come the panel schedules.  Our vastly different tastes soon surface and we figure out we’re going to be spending a lot of time apart.  “Don’t worry though, we’ll come visit,” Chew says, “but the lines can be pretty ridiculous.”  As I circle the “What Women Really Want” (Sunday, Kraken Theatre @ 11AM), a gender and sexuality in video games panel, PattyTheCake laughs.  “Dude, those panels have some of the longest lines.”  That simultaneously excites and depresses me.  So I ask him about the Game Studies panel happening later today.  “That just sounds boring.” Awesome, I think, no line.

We whip out the DS’s, mine easily the most ancient I’ve seen so far (it’s practically a launch DS that I got from Lunchbox when he decided to upgrade his) and, avoiding Pictochat as per the advice from yesterday, strike up a game of MarioKart DS.  I kicked ass, hands down, but the very presence of three guys standing around playing their Nintendo handheld consoles is enough for people to ask us if they can join.  One guy in particular, was just wandering up and down the line asking people if they wanted to play Pokemon.  Someone joins us for a couple of races (he was way better than us!) before wandering off to get a better look at the costume contest.  PAX organizers have figured this line waiting thing out, with plenty of distractions for us line waiters, apparently they have an entire department of volunteers dedicated to the cause.  But I can’t stay any longer, I’ve got a panel to attend.  Hopefully I’m right about the line!

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12