Post and pictures contributed by Ken Gagne of Gamebits.
Last weekend, Boston was the mecca for 60,000 gamers from around the world as we hosted Penny Arcade Expo East, the inaugural East Coast counterpart to Seattle's annual celebration of gaming in all its forms.
While video game conventions have been around for decades, most— such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)—have traditionally been reserved for industry members. Such events served developers, retailers, and the press, but neglected the ultimate audience: dedicated gamers. In 2004, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of webcomic Penny Arcade founded PAX as an alternative game convention for the masses. The event's popularity has nearly doubled every year until it became too big for one convention to hold. Thus, PAX East was born.
The three-day event included a spacious show floor for both renowned and independent publishers to show off their wares. Gamers could play recent and upcoming titles, from Rockstar's Red Dead Revolver to Aksys Games BIT.TRIP Runner. Dedicated rooms hosted tournaments of not just video and PC games such as Joust and Street Fighter IV, but also board and card games like Munchkin and Settlers of Catan. Hallways were littered with beanbags for gamers needing to rest or to engage other attendees in wireless handheld gameplay.
Several stars of video game and Internet culture were present for various unveilings. Rooster Teeth Productions needed the full capacity of the 4000-person main theater to debut the new season of machinima series Red vs. Blue with the most impressive single episode of the show we've ever seen. Later, PAX founders Holkins and Krahulik took the stage to answer questions from the audience, which provided the opportunity for several moving tributes to the duo's non-profit work with Child's Play, a charity that provides games to children's hospitals.
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