Oct 22 2018
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pax south

God of War Director Will Deliver Keynote for PAX South 2019

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Sony Santa Monica Studios game designer Cory Barlog will deliver the Storytime keynote address at PAX South 2019. PAX South takes place Jan. 18-20, 2019 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Barlog is best known for the God of War series. He was lead animator for the original God of War in 2003, then directed the sequel God of War 2. He left in 2009 to pursue other game design companies, including LucasArts and Crystal Dynamics. He recently returned to Sony in 2013 to direct the God of War reboot that released earlier this year.

God of War (2018) has enjoyed critical and commercial success, becoming one of the best-selling games of the year.

PAX began life as the Penny Arcade Expo. It was launched in part by the gaming webcomic due of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik.

“Doing a sequel to a beloved game is a unique challenge, and so is rebooting a franchise for a modern audience – Cory Barlog has done both,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade. “We’re overjoyed to have him join us at PAX South. If I get the chance, I’m gonna tell him about this place I know in San Antonio where they make the guacamole with Orange Juice instead of Lime. It sounds crazy, but it works.”

PAX South 2019 will mark the fifth PAX South convention. Like most PAX conventions it features a large expo hall of new and upcoming games, geeky vendors, concerts, tournaments, and gameplay stations.

Tickets are still available. Three day passes are $85. Single day tickets are $42. Special Sunday Kid Badges (ages 7-12) are available for a reduced price of $10.

The next PAX event is in Australia with PAX Aus, which takes place this weekend, Oct 26 – 28 in Melbourne. The next US-based PAX is the board game focused PAX Unplugged, which runs Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 in Pennsylvania, PA.

Jun 01 2018
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PAX West 2018 Reveals Dates, Tickets Almost Sold Out

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It’s nearly impossible to write a timely news post on PAX West. Each year tickets sell out within minutes, and this year was no exception. As of right now only single-day tickets for Monday remain available.

PAX West 2018 will take place at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA on Aug. 31 – Sep 3. Single-day badges are $50 each, though only Monday, the final day of the convention, remains.

“PAX West is where it all started, so whenever we have a chance to invite people into our home it’s just a good feeling,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade. “Purely as a word advice, I would briefly minimize this window and try to get tickets as soon as you can. They tend to go fast.”

PAX West 2018 is the 14th incarnation of the original gaming convention that began in Seattle by webcomic Penny Arcade. Now run by event company ReedPOP, PAX has since spawned multiple annual conventions around the United States, from Boston to Texas, and Australia.

PAX West (once simply called PAX, then PAX Prime) remains the largest of the PAX conventions, and certainly the biggest gaming event in the west coast. It spans eight buildings in downtown Seattle. It features multiple exhibition halls with develoeprs and publishers presenting new and upcoming games. You can also find autograph signings with YouTube and Twitch stars, esports tournaments, professional panels, live concerts, and freeplay areas for consoles, PC, and tabletop games.

The full PAX West 2018 schedule has not yet been revealed. Non-attendees can still watch many of the tournaments and panels at PAX thanks to multiple twitch channels that broadcast the live event.

PAX West 2018 will take place Aug. 31 – Sep 3 in Seattle.

May 11 2018
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pax unplugged

PAX Unplugged Officially Returns With a New Date

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When PAX Unplugged was announced last year, some where skeptical that it was a one-off event. Put those fears to rest, as Penny Arcade and ReedPOP have officially announced PAX Unplugged 2018. Badges will go on sale May 17.

“I know we’re biased, but we really did have a blast at Unplugged last year and we’re really excited to come back,” states the official announcement. “Not just come back, but we’re growing the scope of the show considerably. Don’t worry, it’ll still be focused on tabletop gaming, but parts of the building will be opening up to us this year and we should have a bit more room to stretch our legs and smooth out some of the wrinkles.

PAX Unplugged 2018 will take place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. Last year it took place the weekend before Thanksgiving, but this year the dates have been shifted two weeks later, taking place Nov 30 – Dec 2. That should hopefully ease the chaos of traveling around the holidays. Not to mention another big board gaming convention, BGG Con, that took place at the same time last year.

Like other PAX shows, PAX Unplugged features an exhibit hall stuffed with vendors, develoeprs, and publishers, discussion panels, musical performances, and tournaments. All other PAX events focus on video games and the gaming industry, with a light sprinkling of tabletop. Unplugged focuses exclusively on tabletop games, board games, and RPGs, from a massive freeplay area with lending library to a dedicated area for painting minatures.

PAX Unplugged also includes a special family room area with kid-friendly games. The final day of the expo, Sunday, is designated Kids Day. Kids Day will provide an extra emphasis on family-friendly games, as well as offering reduced single-day Kids Day Badges for the Under 12 crowd. The Kids Day Badge still provides full access to the event.

PAX Unplugged 2018 badges will go on sale at 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern on May 17. You can sign up for Twitter notifications when registration opens.

Mar 30 2018
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Nintendo PAX East Lineup Includes Dark Souls, Donkey Kong

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Nintendo will be present at next week’s PAX East gaming convention in Boston, MA. The publisher is bringing many upcoming games for Nintendo Switch, some of which will be playable by the public for the first time. PAX East 2018 takes place April 5-8.

Games at the PAX East Nintendo booth include first party titles like Donkey Kong Country, third party games like Dark Souls: Remastered, and several indie games, which Nintendo insists on referring to as ‘Nindies.’

“We love being able to get fun games from Nintendo and our partners into the hands of some of our biggest fans,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior VP of Sales and Marketing. “PAX East gives us the opportunity to showcase some of the best new and upcoming games for Nintendo Switch.”

Here is the full lineup of Switch games at PAX East:

  • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
  • Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
  • Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido
  • Dark Souls: Remastered
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
  • SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Indie games:

  • Just Shapes & Beats
  • Dead Cells
  • The Messenger
  • Lumines Remastered
  • Runner3
  • West of Loathing
  • Pool Panic
  • Pode
  • Garage
  • Next Up Hero

Many of the indie games were featured in the recent Nindies Showcase that was streamed earlier this month.

Attendees can also compete in casual four v four Splatoon 2 matches, mini-game challenges in Super Mario Odyssey, and speed runs in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The Nintendo booth will also utilize a Fast Pass system using a My Nintendo QR code at the booth. Visitors can scan the code to select a specific game and time to jump ahead in line.

PAX East 2018 takes place next weekend, April 5-8, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Jan 12 2018
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pax

PAX South 2018 Runs this Weekend in San Antonio

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ReedPop and Penny Arcade will kick off their fourth annual PAX South gaming convention this weekend, January 12-14. That’s about two weeks earlier than previous years.

Three day passes have sold out but single day tickets are still available for all three days. PAX South is hosted at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Like other PAX conventions, PAX South features an expo hall with developers presenting recent and upcoming games, a tabletop hall to check out board games from a massive library, numerous panels from industry veterans, streamers, and academics, nightly concerts, free play arcade, console, VR, and PC areas, and the D&D live adventures of Acquisitions Incorporated. PAX South will also kick off season two of the C Team, Acquisitions Incorporated’s weekly spin-off D&D show.

PAX South is smaller in attendance and scope than big brothers PAX East in Boston and PAX West in Seattle. PAX South was previously known as the board game or Tabletop-focused PAX convention, but last year introduced PAX Unplugged, a tabletop-only PAX convention that took place in Philadelphia in November.

The True Dungeon experience will return to PAX South, greatly expanded from last year’s sample offering. Tickets much be purchased separately for 2-hour time slots to experience the live-action role-playing adventure. This year the models and story will be inspired by best-selling author (and Acquisitions Incorporated member) Patrick Rothfuss’ fantasy series (image above). A free 24-minute demo will also be available to provide a sample of the adventure.

PAX South takes place January 12-14 in San Antonio, Texas.