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PAX: The New E3?
By George Walker | August 1, 2006
So, E3 may not be dead, but like a nuclear apocalypse, the E3 as we know it is most definitely gone. But what’s this rising from the fallout? Apparently, that would be PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo.
We already knew PAX was the best gaming festival in North America and after today’s announcement from the ESA it’s also the biggest. With a projected attendece of something like 13 thousand people and exhibitors like Nintendo, Ubisoft, Microsoft and ATI PAX is in position to pick up where E3 left off. Apparently we’re not the only ones who noticed either. The site has been pretty wonky and that’s because everyone and their mother is talking about what the lack of and E3 convention means for PAX. . . .
I personally never thought of E3 as our competitor. The two conventions had very different goals. Now E3, at least as we know it is gone but the focus of PAX has not changed. PAX is about gamers not publishers and geek culture instead of multi-million dollar business deals. We have no desire to turn PAX into a new E3 so don’t worry about that. The only place I think we might see a noticeable change is in our exhibition hall. It’s already quite a spectacle but I think that the lack of an E3 event means our exhibition hall is going to get f***ing nuts.
Rock on, fellow geeks, we shall make our pilgrimage again, for lo, there is a new mecca… it is PAX. And the best part is that PAX is run by a couple guys that really like video games, as opposed to a big corporate non-entity like the ESA.
Buck up, little gamers. All is well.
