Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2009

[teedub]

Apologies in advance if this should be in "Off Topic", I figured it would be best served in the "video game" area.

Just wondering if anyone was traveling to Seattle for PAX this year. I'll be heading there with a small group of friends, and am quite excited about the trip.

If anyone has attended PAX before, please share your experiences, and let us know of any worthwhile attractions in the area. I'll definitely be checking out SHORTY'S since I'm a huge pinball fan.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

[hardcore_canadian]

Since you're coming from Winnipeg, you obviously have a Canadian Passport, use it to take the Ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC. I can find you stuff to do here, but not much down there.

[jascl22]

I live in the Seattle area, and last year was my first PAX. And I can assure you that it's AWESOME if you're even remotely interested in video games. The main thing to see is the exhibition hall, which is where Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo show off their stuff, as well as many other top developers. To give you an idea, last year they had Left 4 Dead, Starcraft II, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero, Valkyria Chronicles, Midnight Club, Red Faction, and a TON of other unreleased games to try out. You could spend hours just wandering around that hall. Oh, and just about everyone with a booth will give away free swag.

Plus there's free concerts Friday night, a bunch of tournaments for games like Halo, Super Smash Bros, Guitar Hero, COD4, etc., and many many panels where people from around the industry talk about every possible thing you could think of that has to do with games. There's also 100+ PCs set up with Steam, so you can play all the hot PC games out there... for free.

As for stuff to do outside of PAX... definitely hit up Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and the downtown retail core (PAX takes place in downtown already). Bumbershoot is a music festival that happens the same weekend as PAX in Seattle Center, near the Space Needle. There's dozens of great bands and comedians there, but it's rather pricey ($40 per day for all the concerts you can see). If you're into rock history, see the EMP museum, also next to the Space Needle. If you're into baseball, Safeco Field has cheap and really cool tours daily where you can see the locker rooms, press boxes, etc.

Hope this helps. Summer in the Pacific NW is gorgeous, and you really couldn't have picked a better time to visit.

[xino]

Isn't PAX in Germany?

Anyway, when you are there, grab some sweet footage of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2!
That is what life matters!

[Shin-Ra]

PAX ≠ GamesCom

[teedub]

@hardcore_canadian:
I don't think I'll have enough spare time to hop a ferry to Victoria. I'll be taking in as much of the PAX event and Seattle as I can in 4 days. I've been fortunate enough to visit every province in Canada (not YK or NWT as of yet, though), but this will be my first visit to Seattle.

@jascl22: I have no idea how I'm going to fit all of that into a four day visit, but I'll sure try! I've been researching as many pics and videos of PAX2008 as I can, and it just gets me more and more pumped! The only game I'm actually competitively viable in would be Tetris, and I think there's even a tournament for that, which I'm fully into. I'll be taking a ton of pics and video myself, it's going to be an epic trip.

Pike Place, Space Needle and EMP museum are on the list if we find the time to pull ourselves away from the convention centre. Bumbershoot looks incredible as well! I'll have to check the schedule, I'm sure we could take in a show after PAX has shut down in the evenings.

Thanks so much for the ideas, such a great help!

[teedub]

Since PAX is only 2 weeks away, I thought I should give this a bump to see if anyone else will be there! Getting super excited!!!