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PAX venue will triple in size in 2007
According to a press release sent out today, the 2007 Penny Arcade Expo will be "triple the size of [the 2006 venue], and we've already begun to receive reservations for booth space from AAA publishers." Despite the massive growth, Penny Arcade's resident business guru, Robert Khoo, expressed a desire to keep PAX about the community. "We don't want to be E3," he said.This years, over 17,000 people are expected to attend PAX. With triple the venue size, we can presume triple the attendance (the demand will be there, we suspect). A 2007 Penny Arcade Expo with around 51,000 attendees, puts it just under the size of E3 2006 (60,000 people). With such an influx of people and a growing list of major publishers, can Tycho and Gabe, Inc., manage to keep the sensationalism out?The 2006 Penny Arcade Expo runs from August 25 to 27 in Bellevue, Washington.
PAX versus Min-E3. Round one. FIGHT!
The logic goes: the giant void left where E3 used to reside will need to be filled. On Sunday, our first response was to write, "If the ESA doesn't manage to get the big guys back on board, another organizer will step in within the next 18 months with a show that will take E3's crown as the king of gaming trade shows." Could this dark horse expo be Penny Arcade's gamer-centric PAX? Gabe writes: "With a projected attendance 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."He contributes some other thoughts on the possibility noting that they've encountered a great deal of interest in exhibition space for PAX '07. With many of E3's biggest critics (like Greg Costikyan) wondering why the ESA didn't "throw the 'trade only' restriction out the window, open it up to actual gamers, charge them enough to make big bux for the ESA, ramp up attendance from 40k to 100k plus, and make it an event where publishers market to consumers as well as the trade," PAX does seem exceptionally well placed to capitalize on the failings of E3. If PAX evolved into something much larger, it could risk losing the personal touch the pair strive for, but it could resuscitate the not-yet rotting corpse of our fair E3. We'll be there regardless, how about you?
Going to PAX? Try carpooling with strangers
Alright, two groups are organizing carpooling convoys to transport PAX attendees from their places of origin to Seattle, WA. Let's put our math caps on. I'll use myself as a test case:From Philadelphia to Seattle is about 2,848 miles. Averaging 25 mpg highway, I'd use approximately 114 gallons of gas o' line. With the national average for gasoline at $2.87 right now, gas for the trip would hit $327 ... one way! Split between, let's say, 3 other people, we're talking $163 per person for gas round trip. If you're super cheap and eat horribly, throw another $50 on for edibles for the two day trip.*Sure, the math doesn't work out great, but it's not about the money, it's about the experience. Imagine it: 48 hours of non-stop portable gaming with fellow nerds on a pilgrimage to nerd mecca. That's what it's all about ... that said, we're not sure we'll be going by automobile, but Joystiq will be on hand to congratulate any SuperTrippers upon their arrival.*Same thing applies for the west coast SuperTrip, except they're not nearly as hardcore and all relevant figures should be adjusted to reflect that.Read - Cross-Country Super TripRead - West Coast Super Trip(Update: stupid spelling error corrected; punishment administered.)
