PAX Prime 2010 Happy Stories :)

[Schizophriend]

First day of PAX I was in line for Duke Nukem. I was Halfway around the booth, right next to the picture area when I hear a voice I feel I recognize. I turn around and there is Tobin and Yuzo standing right behind me talking to someone. As soon as there was a pause in the conversation I introduced myself and shook their hands.
Movie stars don't phase me, musicians don't phase me, but whenever I meet someone I idolize in gaming, I get a little bit of a "Wow I'm talking to this person. This is so cool!" thought going through my head. Same thing happened in the Duke Nukem booth when Mikey N was giving his little intro speech and chatting with us.
Then I played Duke Nukem and it was amazing.
So pretty much the three coolest things to happen to me at PAX all happened within the same hour. lol.
Oh. And I took this picture.



Oh yes, and right after the Bungie panel I ended up rideing down the escalator behind the Rooster Teeth guys. At the bottom of the escalator I shook their hands and got a picture with them. We're holding our Reach posters signed by the Bungie guys.
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[Ar7emis]

I have way too many happy stories about PAX! I should just post JamEnslaver's narrative of the trip in this thread...it covers all the bases

Since plagiarism is bad, however, I'll just go over my highlights!

-Thursday night and Saturday night. Elephant and Castle. The NTA. Numerous rounds of shots. Need I say more?! Shout outs to the awesome staff at that pub, who put up with our shenanigans, and even took shots with us!
-Playing boardgames in the bgbb's room!
-The appearance of the infamous Green Man
-Getting to meet Brad and Ryan from Giantbomb, and laughing my ass off at the Giantbombcast live

And more than anything, the best part of PAX is just getting to spend time with some of the most awesome friends anyone could have! All we do is laugh when we're together, and have a good time, even when we're exhausted and/or sleeping under the sink (Gravehound!) and I treasure the time I get to spend with everyone. I feel like PAX is the one time when all of us just get to be ourselves and have a good time. It's magical :]

Bottom line: can't wait for next year!

[Fuzzy]

The experience for me was amazing. Meeting everyone and being with them all weekend was the best time I've had in years. I really know now that these people are more like friends, rather than 'people you meet online'. On the train ride to the airport as I was leaving Seattle, I told HP, "I know now, I need to come back." It was so much fun.

Piroshkys were deffinitely worth the hype. I look forward to going back there. Also, the cheap Seattle coffee was really nice (I'm pretty sure a Tall dark in my town is $7). Visiting Pike's Market was a lot of fun. It was so close and there was so many cool things to see. I really enjoyed it. It's something totally unlike anything we have in Wisconsin. I loved the atmosphere.

The convention was a lot of fun. Discussing things and waiting in line with friends is so much better than going alone. I would not or will not go to a convention without friends. The experience was so much better. Even for the long lines, like when Gameshark and Atheiss waited for 2 and a half hours, we had a good time just talking about random stuff. Trying out the games was so nice too. I found out my likes and dislikes for the upcoming year (Gears 3 = Yes. Kinect = No.) as well as other new things that I've never learned of before, like Monoco. Standing in line was cool for a lot of games too because the developers were there. I got to talk a bit with the environment director of Dead Space 2 (which, if you think about the atmosphere of Dead Space, the environment director has a major job there), and having the lead developer of Monoco talk us through it was awesome.

Meeting Tobin and Yuzo was fun too. I wasn't sure what they were like in person, but they're awesome. They're deffinitely cooler in real life than they are on their show. :wink: I look forward to meeting them again. Meeting Gravehound and Jam Enslaver was probably the most favorite people I met, simply because I really dont talk to either of them much due to timezones, etc. Meeting both of them was really new to me, unlike everyone else who I talk to frequently on XBL and in the IRC. Grave is about as much Bro as a Bro could be, but with sideburns. I'd drink a pint with him any day. Jam was a really classy guy. He's so classy that even when he insults me, I feel like thanking him for such a good burn. Deffinitely a smart man with a great sense of humor.

The night life was fun. Rockbottom was really good. Drinking with everyone was a lot of fun. Meeting all the NT people was great. All those nights of Gears and Beers and drinking together over XBL come together when we meet in real life. It was lots of fun meeting all the new people.

That's so much for the big stuff, here's some little random memories that I smile at when I think about them;

~When suggesting how Gravehound acts on his date, Ar7temis said "You should act like Alistair from Dragon Age" and Gameshark replied "What would they talk about? "Hey wanna look at each other's vaginas?"" Hilarious.

~The endless "shots? shots? I'll do shots," jokes we had.

~Meeting thebgbb. He is the most interesting and intelligent man I've ever met. I could listen to him talk all day.

~Getting all the cool swag.

~Talking to the Monday Night Combat developers. I love the game so much, it was fun hearing what they had to say about their game and having them talk to us about it.

~Seeing Pike's Market. Such a fun place to walk around.

It's sad to think I have to wait another year for this again. I can't wait to go back. Until then, I'll cherrish the memories and enjoy the chatting time with everyone on XBL and in the IRC. Until we meet again~

[tallchick]

Now THAT's what I'm talking about. Keep 'em coming!

[The Gravehound]

Seeing as this was my 3rd year to PAX, even though I was excited as always, I still had this thought that it would be more of the same. Boy am I glad I was wrong.

Ever since last year I knew that PAX wasn't about the games in the slightest, it was the people. It really was good to see you all again. It felt so good to spend time with people I truly feel comfortable with, yet never see, as well as meeting all the new guys who have earned just the same love and respect.

I think Fuzzy takes the cake for the most ... unique of our PAX noobs. He's such a nice guy (had the typical, "New guy" nerves on the first day) and then out came the Green man suit and suddenly shit got real :P and to mirror Fuzzy's comment, I would drink a pint with him any day of the week.
Getting to put a face to Kaid and hang out with him was awesome, there was also a couple more Brits this year, Roscoe and ... dammit! I forgot his name (sorry), its always nice to see more brits getting in on the action.
We also saw a return of Jaadus, Atheiss and their new addition Brian. Those 3 guys are hilarious, rediculous and way too full of energy and on top of that we had Transwave bring his 3 roomates Steven, Gina and John (i think its John :/ ) they were a laugh and certainly good drinking buddies.
We also had Mailtoad show up and hang with us some, (he's soo tiny!) sucks we didnt talk much, but hopefully we'll see each other again next year.

Most of the regulars were still there and still AWESOME! I just cant put it into better words. You guys know who you are and you know I love you all and it killed me having to once again leave you all at the end of probably the best week of my life to date.
I think however I gotta give the bgbb a special mention. Never in my life have I met a guy who is so interesting, and instantly likeable (I'd say charismatic as well, but I think Locke trumps the bgbb there) Having a coversation with the bgbb is like listening to an amazing audio book you just dont want to turn off. You just find yourself enthralled with every story, every anecdote, its wonderful. I would love for the bgbb to have an audio memoir or something like that. I would buy that in an instant.

Cosplaying at the event was fun, however, I doubt i'll every be doing that again. (or at least anything with a mustache) It was hot, sweaty, I found it really hard to bring myself to do stuff, and nobody knew who I was ... it was awesome fun until my tash started falling off at every opportunity and then I had to abandon the get up.

I got to fist pump with Jeff Davis of Giantbomb fame on the first day, and then shake the hands of Brad and Jeff just before their live show, (just as i was heading to bed :P ) which was awesome.

I also got to spend a good while talking about Fable 3 with some of their devs, and meet the vice president of Tripwire games as well. (Nice guy)

Played some amazing games, most of the best were indie ones as well. Played Monoco with Tobin, Yuzo and Locke, tonnes of fun (and yelling/screaming) was had by all. Hoard was another good one; Age of Booty meets Dragons, you already know its gonna be awesome, and got to play Dragon Age 2, which is looking to be a big step up on the original gameplay wise.

Even though the event itself was great, it was the stuff inbetween that really made it worth it. Going out to Rock Bottom on Thursday (from what i remember) was great, went to a really nice bar called the Taphouse Grill a couple of times and the Elephant and Castle is always a great place to drink.

Going shopping with Ar7emis was a lot of fun, found her a nice cheap dress, found me some nice expensive clothes :P and both stroked the hell out of this obscenely soft hoodie ... I'm serious! That shit was made of Egyptian cotton or something, it was amazing!

I guess I should also mention the fact that I took a very nice lady out on a couple of dates (I guess) whom I met at the Elephant and Castle on the Saturday. Had a lot of fun, ate some amazing nachos, saw west Seattle which was cool, had this awesome Mexican joint that not only did great, cheap nachos, but also had over 100 different kinds of tequila to choose from if so you desired. (i can see Ar7ie salivating already)

Anyway, enough epic post from me, it was an amazing week, and if i could go back and change anything, it would only have been to not order the shrimp ... or maybe not drink with Ar7emis ... or throw up in my shoe ... or try the 100 nugget challenge after already eating lunch ... you know theres a lot of stuff, but even they cant ruin the greatest week of my life.

Ta-ra for now folks, see you next year (or hopefully less then that)