PAX 2008: Population 58,500
by Ross Miller 
{ Sep 1st 2008 at 9:30PM }
So, what's to be done for PAX 2009? More expansion, of course, to ease overcrowding. "At 2 or 3 of the main theatre events 3-4% of the line wasn't able to make it," said Khoo, "but we hear those 3-4% loud and clear. We have a few ideas to manage that problem for 2009 including wristbands for popular events or just a straight-up hard count of people in line. The worst thing is if people line up for something and end up not getting in." The next PAX will take place again in late August, with the first PAX East Coast opening its Bostonian doors in late March 2010.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GabsterVIII @ Sep 1st 2008 9:58PM
Multiple showings at the main theater would have been nice for those that weren't let in. Damn those lines were long!
Saeth @ Sep 1st 2008 10:08PM
What was Microsofts TBA they had on their schedule on GSB?
PAX sheep @ Sep 1st 2008 10:09PM
All hail LineCon 2009, where 60,000 sheep will sit in The Line Room for hours on end! First, to obtain concert wristbands.
Then, to obtain wristbands for each talk (after The Line Room has been cleared, of course. Can't have malingerers hanging around and scoring a good spot in The Line).
Finally, after another Room-clearing, to attend the actual events they already had to wait in Line to get wristbands for.
But all is not lost! For those of you not carted out on stretchers due to lack of food, medication, ventilation, or what-have-you (and I saw at least one this weekend!), you'll be "entertained" by The World's Worst Band: The Freezepops, whose popularity can only be explained by the throngs of fans who didn't actually live through the 1980s, and are thus woefully ill-equipped to recognize the worst of that decade when it's performing in front of them. (for values of "performing" that include "widdling petulantly on the carpet of one's soul".)
Me? Bitter? No, why do you ask?
Zorink @ Sep 1st 2008 10:23PM
Did you really have to go and make a new account just to post that?
Cal @ Sep 2nd 2008 4:00AM
If he didn't, he would've been trolled to Convention Hell and back.
Sam @ Sep 1st 2008 10:21PM
What they really need to do is pump the audio from the major events into the lineup room. They could even put in some flat screens or a projector if they wanted to do it right.
That being said, I never had a problem getting into an event if I showed up 30-45 minutes beforehand, and I always got into the concerts no matter when I showed up.
mr mobius @ Sep 1st 2008 10:31PM
If PAX in the east isn't a mirror of the PAX in the west and are shown a month or 2 apart, it'd be sweet.
PAX could be the new E3 and if so then that keaves both events fine. Just not need to get Nintendo to use PAX for hardcore announcements.
j.howlett @ Sep 1st 2008 11:31PM
pax east is in 2010. i don't think there'll be 2 cons in a year
PAX sheep @ Sep 1st 2008 10:45PM
Let's not forget the added benefit of LineCon: After spending hours upon hours in line, you try to get the best seat (or square foot for standing) possible.
You pray that you won't be surrounded by people taller/wider/ruder than yourself.
You manage to get a spot that almost lets you -- if you hold your head JUST right -- see about 1/3 of the stage, and perhaps glimpse the speaker/panel/performers.
...only to have that view destroyed by the inconsiderate video crews who decided to say "Screw the audience, we're the MEDIA!" and take up residence on the stage or just in front of it, standing there as though they were the only people in the room, completely oblivious to the fact that they were blocking an entire section of the audience from actually seeing what was going on.
I'm looking at you, video stringers at the concerts. And you, annoying semi-pros who stood like statues just to the side of Wil Wheaton.
The pro photographers weren't a problem, because they really WERE professional photographers: killing themselves to get the best shot possible, while remaining as unobtrusive and invisible as possible.
Many of the gits with video rigs need to have a lesson beaten into them, preferably with the sharp, expensive bits of their own equipment: YOU DO NOT BLOCK THE AUDIENCE TO GET YOUR SHOTS.
James C @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:50PM
@PAX sheep
Prior to PAX, had you left your house before? These issues are nothing new, almost always part of a large gathering of any kind and not at all unique to PAX.
mochabear @ Sep 2nd 2008 3:46AM
James C
James C
Sep 2nd 2008
1:06AM
@PAX sheep
Prior to PAX, had you left your house before? These issues are nothing new, almost always part of a large gathering of any kind and not at all unique to PAX.
2 hearts
Fristle @ Sep 2nd 2008 2:29PM
"At 2 or 3 of the main theatre events 3-4% of the line wasn't able to make it," said Khoo
I don't know what Khoo is smoking. From my perspective, the main theater events worked like this: get in line an hour before the scheduled time, with only about two hundred people ahead of you in line. At scheduled time, a hundred people in line enter the room that surely seats a couple thousand. 30 minutes later, waiting in silence, the rest of the line realizes the room was full all along due to squatters from the last event, loses all hope, and dissipates.
I saw that process happen twice. I stopped wasting my time trying to attend any of the events. 3 to 4% my ass. More like 30 to 40%.
mpwigen@hotmail.com @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:28PM
Yeah, at the Fallout 3 line it was more like 50%. They never said anything to us just gave out a Fallout 3 brochure and went away.
The events were a waste of time for sure.