PAX East once again filled the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, its attendees ready to play the latest and greatest that the video game industry had to offer.
Penny Arcade Expo East, also known as PAX East, was recently held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center over the weekend. The slight rain and dreary morning cold couldn’t damper attendees’ spirits as they traveled from near and far to attend one of the year’s biggest video game conventions.
Players of all ages and video game developers small and large packed the convention center’s expo hall, where attendees could play the latest games that were yet to be released. The three companies behind the current generation consoles—Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo—each had their own booth with various kiosks for different games. Passes to this convention had sold out minutes after becoming available online; this was immediately apparent, as it took one to three hour waits at one booth to enjoy certain games.
Cosplay, the shortened term for “costume play,” could also be seen throughout the convention. Attendees dressed up as characters from all sorts of games were out and about, from the familiar faces of the Super Mario Brothers games to the latest and greatest costumes for the expansive cast of League of Legends, one of the most played games on PC, and everything in between. The franchise that was the most popular in terms of number of cosplayers would be Undertale, an indie game released last September that took the video game world by storm and has already sold a million copies.
Tournaments also took place throughout the event. Attendees were able to sign up for all sorts of games, fighting against one another in Super Smash Brothers for WiiU or seeing who could stay on beat the longest in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd. As if that weren’t enough, professional players, either sponsored through a school or through companies like Mad Catz or Razer, also got their own spot on the expo hall floor. Matches were streamed through Twitch, one of the biggest sites for players to watch video game competitions or to be entertained by their favorite streamer.
If that wasn’t enough, concerts were held on Friday and Saturday night that closed their respective nights. Both nights had multiple performers; Bit Brigade, MC Frontalot, and the Protomen rocked the Main Theatre on Friday night, while Sammus, Paul & Storm, The Doubleclicks, and the Video Game Orchestra kept the crowd roaring on Saturday night. The acts that closed out the convention center each night were the ones the crowd were clamoring for; both the Protomen and the Video Game Orchestra have performed at previous PAX Easts. The Video Game Orchestra are made up a rock band, orchestra and choir, and its producer, Shota Nakama, graduated from the Berklee College of Music.
PAX East has, is, and will likely continue to be the place to go to see what’s in store in the world of video games.
