Author: Danielle Riendeau

Before this weekend, I was a PAX virgin. Sure, I had been to industry events before (E3 2009 was my trial by fire), but never to a fan-centric type of convention, something that was all about game culture as opposed to game development or hype-frenzied PR and marketing. PAX really is all about the gamers, the proud dorks and the cosplayers, and it's all the more inviting for it.

Upon arrival, I couldn’t get over how much more inclusive PAX was than E3. I had arrived expecting a throng of badged media folks lording their passes over everyone else and skipping the lines. Not so. PAX is a fan event – big developers are just here to entertain and enlighten, it’s the little guys - the music artists, the indies, the local dudes and the board game guys who do the majority of the talking here. It’s an attitude that prevails through every aspect of the conference, from the packed show floor to the collegiate panels to the open gaming areas and tourney rooms.

The population is pretty different too. There were plenty of cosplayers strutting around – I saw two Bayonetta’s, a totally cute Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, some badass cyborgs, Mario’s and Luigi’s out the wazoo and all manner of anime characters that I couldn’t name for the life of me. Another shocker: there were plenty of other girls present. I’m used to only having to share the ladies room with booth babes and the stray female game journo, but I must say, it was quite cool to see so many women gamers hanging around. Finally, there were little kids and families all over the place – at one point, I saw an adorable toddler girl crawling happily amongst a throng of gamers in the indie games area. Hooray for the geek babies!

I spent my first few hours learning the lay of the land, ducking from the main exhibition hall to the tourney rooms and other exhibits, my “world map” in hand. The main hall was pure E3 – companies hawking their new games set up booths for attendees to try them out, usually on half-broken controllers. It’s as loud and crazy as a circus, and all about the spectacle.

I got my little paws on Disney’s upcoming racer Split Second, which struck me as a very weird combination of something a bit like Forza meets Mario Kart. It looks and “feels” like a serious racer, with sharp graphics and realistic handling, but you have a power bar (filled by completing drifts, jumps, and drafting opponents). Once filled, you can execute a “power play” attack on fellow racers, like causing an exploding bus to take them out.