PAX 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

PAX was a lot of fun, but since I've already been there once there wasn't that great surprise of joy. Once again I felt the rush of being with my own kin, seeing Pokemon battles go on, watching penis drawings fly on Pictochat. It's a good thing they don't actually sell games at PAX, or I'd be a broke little fool. You get into that mood: the new PSP is slim, lemme have one. This RTS interface looks good, here's fifty bucks, gimme. I had some trouble with my luggage on the way up and down, but otherwise no major problems. We'll see what the jet lag does to me on Wednesday.

As always, please enjoy the studiously annoted Flickr set, as well as my notes from the trip.

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Sleep, like a male model's life, is a precious precious commodity. I think I deserve recognition for guessing that I wouldn’t get enough on the night before, but I had no idea what the final number would be. My best estimates land it at two hours, tops.  I tried to work myself crazy and fall asleep early, and I was a good boy and crawled into bed at 9 PM. But sleep escaped me. I got up at midnight, logged into World of Warcraft, said “hi” to Lenia, and signed out.

I was staring at the clock at 3:30 AM, wondering if I should get up. And whether I was even down enough to qualify for “getting up.”  I was looking forward to one thing most of all: shaving. Having woken up at 10 AM on Thursday I opted to go scraggly so I wouldn’t be scraping nubs on Friday morning. I hated that feeling. Clean shaven is the way for me.

With everything carefully packed on Thursday I didn’t have much to do on Friday morning. Just made a quick orange juice shake and hit Capital Circle. Imagine my delight to discover it’s a straight shot from my apartment to the airport. You probably already knew that, so imagine it, okay?

The threat level was orange, same as last year. For a supposedly “high” chance of terrorist attacks the TSA folks are awfully relaxed. My flight to Atlanta was cramped but uneventful. There’s one guy here in a Trigun shirt; is he going to PAX too?

My arrival at Seattle was marred only by an hour wait for my luggage. It arrived, thank the gods, and I jumped on a bus to downtown Seattle. On the bus was a very nice lady named Yvonne. She saw me “surfing” with my luggage in an empty area and offered me a seat. I declined, but we chatted the trip away. Turns out she does a bit of traveling herself (to Christian concerts, ugh) and has been to Tallahassee. She pointed out the Boeing museum and some of the old buildings downtown. Although on her way to an interview for a secretarial position at a law firm, she had time enough to drag me excitedly through the Union Square buildings and one of Seattle’s many underground malls. As I crossed the final street to my hotel she told me she’d pray for me. Good luck with that.

Checked quickly into the hotel, stripped naked (sorry for that mental image) and changed into my game hobo outfit with Jenova’s Witness shirt. At PAX 2006 there was The Ball. At 2007 there is The Line. Imagine two football fields of tightly coiled, snaking lines. I wasn’t sure the exhibition hall would be able to hold everyone.

But we did fit. And so did a buttload of people who were in line after us. The exhibition hall was three times larger but the density of exhibitors is about the same, so it didn’t feel like a revelation. The noise wasn’t as bad as last time; there’s no obnoxious Fury announcer and no big booth booming.

I was impressed by the number of playable titles: Kane and Lynch, Heavenly Sword, Lair, Haze, Metroid Prime 3, Mass Effect (sort of), Gears of War PC, NFS Prostreet, Project Gotham Racing 4, Viva Piñata Party Animals, Universe at War, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and The Eye of Judgement. If the controllers weren’t filthy I would have give some of them a try.

If PAX 2006 was about the swag, this year is about the photos. I promised a full 1GB memory stick and I’ll be damned if I didn’t do my best. I took 130 pictures in the first three hours but couldn’t fill up the 400 shot stick. I did get photos with Hal Halpin (president of the ECA), that tall guy from Flying Labs, and even the Master Chief! There is still swag out the wazoo, but it didn’t tug at my heart as much.

Like last year I found myself utterly exhausted by Friday night. No sleep plus The Line plus the sheer orgasmic energy of the first night of PAX meant I was just gone by 7 PM. The concerts, panels and movies couldn’t rouse me.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

The show still goes on Saturday morning. The line is less than half of what it was but folks are still handing out room temperature Bawls. No cosplayers this time; the Master Chief has been called to more important battlefields. I haven’t had enough, seen enough… uh, and bought enough. There are some cute toys at Sweet Kitty and Pink Godzilla. But at lunch I decide to see Seattle.

One of my best decisions, as it turns out: there was a Sandfest thing going on outside the Westlake Center. They had sand sculptures, fire engines and some crazy guy dancing around with streamers. I went into the mall and was dazzled by their very modest food court. Look – a freaking sushi station! I got the manager’s special and immediately regretted the awful miso soup. But the California roll and tuna roll were delightful. They even gave me a 10% off coupon for my next visit. I stared at it like a Wonka Golden Ticket. Even a 10% increase wouldn’t have stopped me.

Then I decided it was a-wandering-I-should-go. I took a picture with some cops and looked for the wharf that I assumed to be nearby. Three out of four directions showed continuous roads and skyscrapers. Another displayed a bright blue expanse. I headed west.

The Public Market Center is full of fresh veggies, fish, arts & crafts, people and parrots. It was bloody packed, but I didn’t mind. At the fish, um, emporium, you could pick out a whole fish and toss it fifteen feet to the jovial fishmongers. That seemed pretty popular. I wandered around the lower levels, looking at places that sold bags, WWII propaganda posters, jade sculptures, gems, wood carvings, scarves and even ocarinas!

I looked long and hard for something appealing but came up empty. The smell of fish would have been nauseating, I suppose, but to this child raised in Taiwan it was awesome. Since I couldn’t cook a fish at the Sheraton (or, indeed, at a professional kitchen, the eater-outer that I am), I decided to look for a dedicated anime store for presents for Jordan. I went to the concierge desk at my hotel and asked the lady where I might find a place that sells Japanese toys. The look she flashed me was one I’d use on someone asking for an octopus to have sex with.

But she pulled out a map of downtown Seattle and circled Uwajimaya, a mini-mall in the heart of Seattle’s tiny Chinatown. It was on the other side of town, just past the free bus zone. Maybe when I was outside that zone I could get myself shot… is what her eyes were telling me. Eventually I found the right bus and the right place and a bit of disappointment. They had an absurd amount of English and Japanese language manga, but precious few toys and many overpriced CDs. Being a very conspicuous white boy in gritty Chinatown I didn’t take any pictures. The place was kinda dumpy anyway. Flies crowded the trash cans and hardly anyone walked the streets. I saw promises of Dim Sum every ten feet but alas, was not hungry.

In an unassuming building I found the true anime shop I was looking for. Or rather, one that would suffice. Its primary focus was model kits, but they had enough t-shirts, hats, bags, figurines and key chains to keep me browsing for a good hour. The shopkeeper was drawing a motorcycle on a giant piece of paper when I arrived. Unlike the Sweet Kitty stand at PAX these guys actually had stuff that wasn’t Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist or Inuyasha. I would have given my little brother’s earthly body for a Re-l or Pino figurine, but no dice.

It turns out the full Pink Godzilla shop was next door. I went inside looking for a gift for Blair. Since he doesn’t keep or advertize his current anime/gaming passion it was quite a trial. I know Blair knows more Japanese than me, maybe an import copy of Doki Doki Maho… no, he already has it. There’s Zelda: Phantom Hourglass… ah, no, he already has that too. Ouendan 2… no, that’s over a year old. Hey, lady, what’s the most popular item here? Great, I’ll take it.

It looked like it was going to rain so I panicked and headed for the bus. Headed, mind you. I found the bus about six blocks later, after the rain thought better of it and moved on. Four blocks on the bus and three walking east to my hotel and I collapsed for another early night. My feet were killing me; it felt like I had been going barefoot through Molten Core.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

On Sunday I formalized my opinion on the abundance of Starbucks in Seattle. It’s not a joke to say there is one on every block. The sky is also blue, in case you’re interested. You can turn around from one Starbucks and lay eyes on another. They are as ubiquitous as gas stations, which is a good way of thinking about them. Coffee fuels humans, and you need a lot of fuel in downtown Seattle. It means you don’t need to think about going out of your way to get coffee (or for me, a blueberry smoothie). Simply extend your hand, anywhere at all, and a barista will place a cup in it.

The line on Sunday was the smallest yet. I went, again, just happy to bask in the LCD monitors’ warm glowing warming glow. With the queues gone I tried Kane and Lynch (not impressed), NFS Prostreet (even less impressed) and PGR4 (the load times are still impressive). Pirates of the Burning Sea, sadly, looks a bit choppy. I can forgive them the bizarre loading priority (your sword appears before your body does) and the incongruous shadows, but the interface feels odd. The left and right mouse buttons don’t do what I expect and the camera won’t zoom the way I like. But the graphics are good for a beta and the ship combat is going to blow your mind… with cannons.

I left the exhibition hall early, determined to ride the monorail to the Seattle Center and the Space Needle. I had lunch at the mall’s sushi place and experienced the shortest monorail trip of my life.  The sky was overcast but I was in a good mood. There was a sci-fi museum at the end of my trip and that sounded pretty cool. The Seattle Center covered three square city blocks, so I’ll go and be the typical tourist again.

I stepped off the monorail and into the terrestrial version of Luna Park. It looked like a state fair, only far lamer since it was barely noon (and this was fixed in place). Skee-ball, cardboard horse racing, ring toss and all the generic fair rides you care you ride. In downtown Seattle, rather than rural Tallahassee. Thanks, but no. Inside the main building it was apparently Tibet day. Enjoy our native dance, buy a colorful scarf, or donate to save the orphans.

It got worse from there. The Space Needle was directly overhead… for a mere $17. The sci-fi museum was $15, and no photography was permitted. The normal science center was also like $12 per person. No learning for free in Seattle, I guess. Defeated, still exhausted from Saturday, but with a strawberry smoothie in hand, I ride the monorail back to the hotel and await my flight on Monday.