pax-east-2010 posts

As we exclusively reported earlier today, the seventh edition of PAX Prime 2010 brought in 67,600 attendees to Seattle last weekend, making the fan-oriented games convention the largest of its type in the US. The first annual PAX East event last March in Boston brought in 52,290 attendees and next year will move to a much larger venue in the same city.

With two successful Penny Arcade Expos, is there room for a third PAX event? Gamasutra reports that the answer is, "Maybe." During a press Q&A with Penny Arcade co-creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins during PAX Prime 2010, the report says the team hinted that a third PAX event might happen and that it "would likely take place in a different country; preferably somewhere the duo want to visit." Might we suggest Bermuda?

The first PAX East event was a solid hit in terms of attendance. The first east coast version of Penny Arcade's game exhibition-event brought in over 52,000 people to Boston's Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center and the event sold out a week before the doors event opened.

Now the Boston Herald has posted word that Penny Arcade has officially signed on the dotted line to stay in Boston for the next three years of PAX East. As we have reported before the event will be moved to the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for the 2011 edition where it should allow for more people to attend. Dates for PAX East 2011 have yet to be announced.

Earlier this year internet rumors stated that Atomic Games' military shooter Six Days In Fallujah was completed and was just awaiting a publisher. However it now sounds like the game still has a bit of work left to finish before it's really done. Our sister site Joystiq reports that Atomic Games' head Peter Tamte says that while all of the game's levels are indeed done but that there still needs to be some"additional AI and graphics" added to the title before its completed.

The article, based on chatting with Tamte during PAX East last weekend, does a good job going over the basic premise of the Iraq War-based game and the controversy surrounding the title which lead to its original publisher Konami deciding to ditch the game just a few weeks after it was officially announced in the spring of 2009. Tamte says that the game has "interested parties" that are looking to take over publishing Six Days in Fallujah. In the meantime they are working on their multiplayer shooter Breach that's due out later this year.

At PAX East, we were given a special behind-closed-doors look at how Civilization V is shaping up. After the fantastic reception Civilization IV had, the often-asked question becomes, "What can you possibly do to top it?" It looks like the answer isn't necessarily to top the features of Civ4, but instead, refine the game with a streamlined interface and better gameplay interaction. But make no mistake, this is a new Civilization, and a number of changes will distinguish it from its predecessor.

The announcement that the hugely popular Penny Arcade Expo would be getting an spin-off event in Boston generated tons of interest from both gamers and the game industry. Today Big Download can exclusively reveal that the inaugural PAX East event held last weekend at Boston's Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center officially brought in 52,290 attendees. All of the tickets for PAX East 2010 sold out a week before the show started. By contrast the first ever Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle brought in 3,300 attendees in 2004. In 2009 PAX in Seattle had 60,750 attendees.

As we have previously reported the 2011 edition of PAX East will be held in the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center sometime next March so expect a much bigger attendance number for that event. Meanwhile the mothership Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle will be held September 3-5.

At PAX East, just a few hours after NVIDIA announced the launch of the 400 series GPU, a panel comprised of John Kreiner (Terminal Reality), John Abercrombie (Lead Designer at Irrational Games), and Michell Shuster (Co-owner of LanSlide Gaming PCs) came together to discuss the future of PC gaming. Moderated by Jeff Kalles from Penny Arcade, the panel took questions from the audience to figure out where PC gaming is headed, given the trends and approaches publishers are taking combined with the leaps in technology. Although the room was almost filled to capacity with PC gamers and all three speakers are self-described fans of PC gaming, the mood quickly turned a grim comparison with console gaming. It soon became clear that the future of PC gaming was already going through a long, dark and ominous tunnel into the unknown. The only question is whether there's any hope of seeing light at the end of it.

The already odd case of the person who allegedly tried and failed to steal the code to the upcoming multiplayer shooter Breach at PAX East this past weekend has taken yet another turn. Our sister site Joystiq reports that the suspect, who is now named as 20 year old Justin D. May, skipped out on his planned first court appearance today in Boston.

This new development certainly doesn't make May look good, even though he told Joystiq that he didn't try to steal the code for Atomic Games' upcoming game. Whether or not he is guilty of that crime, he's certainly guilty of skipping bail which means folks like Dog the Bounty Hunter are likely going to try to find him.

The long arm of the law has reached out and captured a suspect who is accused of trying to steal the early game code for the just announced multiplayer shooter Breach. Our sister site Joystiq reports that the suspect, which is not named, is accused of trying to download the code for Atomic Games' upcoming title to his laptop on the last day of PAX East at Breach's booth. According to the story the suspect was stopped before he completed his task and was then arrested after he attempted to flee into the crowd.

Joystiq chatted with the suspect who claims he was not trying to steal the game code but simply trying to get online with his laptop. However the article makes it clear that the suspect has had dealings in the past with illegally downloading games. Breach's PR head seems to take the theft in stride, saying, "While it's a very unfortunate incident, it was a form of a compliment that he liked our game so much he risked a felony to play it early.

On the evening of March 26th, NVIDIA's GeForce General Manager Drew Henry officially announced the launch of the cutting edge GeForce GTX 470 and 480 video cards in front of packed crowd at PAX East in Boston. The 400 series ushers in the next generation of PC gaming as the company's most powerful graphics cards to date. The GPU includes 3 billion transistors, which equals four Intel Quad Core i7 processors, which gives a clear indication of the kind of might this card packs. What it comes down to for gamers is a chance, in Drew Henry's words, to "blow some sh#t up." When summed up, gamers can expect the GTX 480 to double the performance output of the GTX 285, NVIDIA's previous top-of-the line GPU, for many games. According to the chart shown at the presentation, there will be at least a 50% boost in performance for most games, including recent ones like Battlefield Bad Company 2. In any case, players will be free to dial up to detail levels to their most extreme levels without worrying about a single particle effect or lighting and shadow feature to hinder performance. In addition to blowing stuff up, the 400 series motto invites you to "Crank that sh#t up!"

While official attendance figures for the just completed first annual PAX East event have not yet been released, it's clear that the Boston-based gaming event had a ton of folks come out to the Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center. Too many, in fact, as some people complained of overcrowding at that location.

The Boston.com web site reports that for the 2011 and 2012 edition of PAX East, the event will be held at the much bigger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.Curt Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher and now head of the game developer 38 Studios, is quoted as saying, "I think the city is a little bit taken aback by how big this is. I don't think they were expecting this."

[Via Blue's News]