Sunday, August 26, 2007

Overheard at PAX

"This is the new E3."
- an attendee coming out of the exhibition hall

"Have you had breakfast? You look hungry!"
- the barker at the "Win Your Weight in Ramen" merchant booth

"They think they're going to be playing Karaoke Revolution. That's certainly what we told them."
- Gabe & Tycho, introducing Round 4 of the Omegathon

"OH NOES!"
- Jonathan Coulton, ad-libbing at a crucial narrative juncture during his performance of "Creepy Doll"

"There are a lot of DSes here, huh?"
- Jonathan Coulton, after witnessing a swaying sea of glowing cell-phone and handheld console screens during "Baby Got Back"

"See, now you're just a johnny-come-lately."
- Tycho & Gabe, denying the second request for photos on stage during a Q&A panel

"You can't say Bioshock."
- a questioner, making an amendment to "What's your favorite game?"

"It's gonna look real pretty."
- Greg Rucka on the upcoming Whiteout movie

Today was the last day of Penny Arcade Expo 2007, the first I've attended, and it was quite awesome. I'll post a more detailed account later, but Wil Wheaton rocked the house with his "we are gamers" keynote speech; Jonathan Coulton soft-rocked the crowd while opening the Saturday night concert; and Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (a.k.a. Tycho and Gabe, respectively) killed whenever they were on stage, whether it was answering questions, considering strange requests, or drawing a Penny Arcade strip live.

In many ways, the event combined the best of both worlds: the glitz and professionalism of an industry trade show with the scrappiness and flexibility of a fan-run convention. This is a show created by gamers for gamers, and I expect it to get bigger and better, without compromise, for many years to come.

4 comments:

El Atómico said...

Funny, I'm pretty sure you made the Seattle local news.

CKL said...

Yup, that's DeeAnn and me in the background there, introducing our friends Karin and Bryan to Wii Sports.

Was that just B-roll footage, or did they actually show us jumping around like idiots later on?

El Atómico said...

Yeah, just B-roll. The subsequent 20-second piece had some other random footage and basically reported that "there was a video game convention this weekend". They aslo humorously emphasized the "I’m Getting Old: When Life Cuts Into Gaming" panel discussion. Gotta love the local news!

Bryan H. Bell said...

Oh my. Looks like I lucked out and was just out of frame. Damn TV cameras attempting to steal my soul!