Gamesylvania

The Sheraton is a nice hotel — expensive, but nice. Unfortunately, free wifi is not one of its many virtues; however, a hot shower with plenty of water pressure is. I almost give it 5 stars for that, but I’m easy to please. So far, I’m hanging out with a good friend of mine. We’ve been through 2 PAXes, and this is his second as an Enforcer. In fact, I’m in a room full of Enforcers. These guys arrive early and build everything you see. They help out and keep things running smoothly; PAX couldn’t happen without them. They’re volunteers and are nothing short of awesome for what they do — which is, pretty much, everything.

My friend pulls out his Xbox 360 and a copy of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection. A few moments later, we’re playing Golden Axe. I have no idea where everyone else is… a party, somewhere? I’m exhausted after the day’s travels and he’s exhausted from working at the Expo. We finish Golden Axe and turn off the light. Crash, hard crash. We’re asleep.
Sometime later, our roommates show up and no one’s getting any sleep anymore. A combination of nerves, excitement, loud people just outside the door and snoring — lots of snoring — is keeping everyone awake. Regardless, the alarm goes off sometime around 7 a.m., and I’m awake. None of us is prepared to look out the 16th floor window of our hotel room to see the flurry of snowflakes in the air, nor can anyone explain the hotel phone sitting outside our door, off the hook.

I don’t remember falling asleep, but, somehow, I got enough sleep to be here today. The show doesn’t begin until 2 p.m., this year. No one’s sure why the show is starting late, but it means that the majority of us are standing around, staring at each other with nothing to do. Regular PAX goers are lining up in the queuing area — a giant room resembling a parking garage which will soon fill with a large fraction of the 60,000 people who are attending this year. Finally, the media room opens and I crowd in with the rest of the journalists, bloggers and other hired geeks who are here to cover the show. We’re setting up appointments, checking equipment, filing stories and meeting people we’ve only known by their screen names and bylines. I’m sitting with people from Kotaku, G4 and a myriad of other whatnots from sites I’ve never heard of. It’s ok; they’ve never heard of my site, either. Who cares? We’re here. Let’s get this show on the road.

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