PAX East 2014 Day 1 Reporter’s Notebook

Over the next three day’s I will post a series of observations about the gaming convention PAX East, happening this weekend in Boston. While this has a long history in journalism as something called a “reporter’s notebook,” what it is today is basically a series of tweets I never actually sent. But the objective is the same — to give a more immediate sense of what the convention was like.

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The mandatory bag inspection at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was a much more rapid and smooth experience than at Anime Boston 2014 at the Hynes Convention Center (both managed by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority). That was because the tables were set up outside the BCEC on the expansive stone plaza and there were at least a dozen inspection stations moving people along rapidly.

The show floor opened at 10 a.m. By 10:45 a.m. Friday the floor was as crowded as it was last year mid-day on Saturday, the peak of attendance. It is a shame PAX no longer gives out attendance for any of its conventions, because I think this year it may end up pushing close to New York Comic Con numbers — more than 100,000.

This year the game studios, developers and vendors had about 25 percent more space on the show floor than last year. Since the tabletop gaming space and the queue line space didn’t shrink, what got cut down was the back-of-the-hall food vendors and the seating area for them. The BCEC seemed to have increased the number of its own food and snack stands, however.

Hipsterism among game developers and fans alike is running rampant this year. Epic beards and Snidely Whiplash mustaches were on display in force.

Cosplayers increased in number by a bit over last year, but the quality of the costumes were, on average, greatly increased. Which isn’t to say last year was a bunch of pikers, but this year the numbers of fantastically well-crafted armors and creatively stitched costumes was outstanding.

Lines to test play new games — like the gorgeous and exciting shooters-versus-monsters game Evolve from 2K Games unit Turtle Rock Studios — didn’t seem to shrink until near the end of the show day, at 6 p.m.

Weather this year was nothing like last year, when PAX East was held in the middle of a Spring cold snap that featured bitter and strong northwest winds. Low 60s today, upper 60s tomorrow and maybe even into the 70s on Sunday.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for more observations from PAX East 2014.