Prior to going to PAX, it was suggested to me to try and get myself to some of the after parties that take place Friday and Saturday night.
During the day on the expo floor, I found out about a couple of after parties that looked pretty good. The most interesting one was the Aion: Assault on Balaurea Launch Party featuring the Wonder Girls. Although, honestly, I had never heard of the game or the Wonder Girls. I also had the option of several evening panels and the ever popular PC freeplay area.
First though, I had to eat. Seriously, I ate breakfast at my hotel (continental breakfast) and that’s it. The expo floor was just too crazy and I didn’t want to leave in fear that I would miss something. There was a cafeteria on site but the prices sucked and the line as Subway was nuts.
In my swag bag there just happened to be a coupon for the Hard Rock Cafe giving the bearer 20% off their meal. I had eaten at the Hard Rock a few months earlier when I was in town with work and I knew the food was good, so that’s where I went.
Amazingly, it wasn’t that busy (considering everyone at PAX had the same 20% off coupon). Anyway, I sat down and ordered a drink. While sitting there, I hear someone calling my name. Without realizing it, I was seated next to an acquaintance with whom I had bumped into early in the day on the expo floor. What are the odds?
Well, I ended up eating with him and his crew and went with them to the PC freeplay area (they were already planning to go and they invited me along).
Photo by Angela Webber
At first, we accidentally walked into the Console Freeplay area. I was like “ya, I guess this is kinda big” and everyone else was like “WTF, this doesn’t look right”. Upon closer inspection we realized that each seat had a console and it clicked that we went to the wrong room.
We eventually found the PC Freeplay area and got in line. There were only a few people waiting, so we had to wait about 5 minutes.
As they led us in, I was like “Holy ****, now this is a LAN party!”
It’s actually a pretty amazing sight to behold. 1000 computers (including BYOC) all networked together for some PC gaming goodness.
We spent the first session playing Left 4 Dead 2. I had never played it before and it was really fun. I guess I’ve been missing out. Once your session is over, they come and tap your shoulder and kick you out.
After waiting in line for a few minutes, we got back in and started up some Team Fortress 2. Sadly, this is yet another game that I had not played, and again it was pretty fun, though I didn’t like it as much as L4D2.
By the end of this session it was almost midnight and I had to get to my car (the parking garage closed at midnight). So I headed out, grabbed by car and drove to my hotel (Damn my cheap ass for picking a hotel so far away!).
ComputerAbuser
