What a difference half a decade makes. As E3 overtook CES in terms of importance to gamers and the gaming media, so it seems that PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) has executed the same maneuver. Though both were founded for different reasons (E3 was to give the gaming industry it’s own “mainstream media attention grabbing exposition”, PAX about the celebration of gaming itself) both have seem to have taken the place of the former in terms of certain kinds of hype. While E3 is still where most of the gaming companies make 1/3 of their announcements (the other 2/3rds being TGS and whatever European trade show is king at the time), PAX just seems to be drawing most of that “feel good” sort of hype.

What I mean is that, well while E3 had returned to the larger, more big production sort of ordeal that it was known for back at the turn of the century this past June, most of the “fluff” that the gaming media loved the most about the show while reported on, just wasn’t that much interesting to the actual gamers reading their show reports and podcasts. I’m mostly talking about the fluff of the booth-babe variety. The giant set pieces that companies refer to as booths. Sure many sites had a “LOOK AT DEM BOOTH BABES!” feature and I’m sure those articles got a lot of hits, but gamers just didn’t seem to care anymore about the actual booth babes.

Most of the fluff that would be remembered from this past E3 would be those moments where the people advertising the game actually meant something. Would you rather have a booth babe, busty and voluptuous she may be stand at your side while you demo Shadow Complex or the next Epic Games….epic. Or would you rather be able to have the developers, the Cliffy B’s or the Will Wrights walk you through the game.

Even when celebrities hock games these days, more often than not they’re at least involved with games on a level beyond that of “Just gimme that paycheck”. Most journalists and gamers who read the articles about Spore during development probably remember Robin Williams actually having fun creating creatures for the audience rather than being paid to simply come up with jokes about gamers that fall flat on their face. He was paid to have fun, it was win-win for him!

PAX seems to be the kid of place that both the gamers and the presenters look forward to. Panels ranging from charities within the gaming industry to showcasing the newest and best independent games; there’s a multitude of different panels beyond developers simply showing off their latest games.

PAX has already sold out this year and stands to keep getting bigger every year. Not because it’ll have the latest and greatest new games to show off and demo (although it’s a good incentive to go), but because it’s a celebration of gaming as a whole, for anyone who has a love of gaming. – The Ben