Giant Fire Breathing Robot

PAX East 2011: Sunday

The second PAX East in Boston has officially concluded. While it’s sad to see the convention draw to a close for another year, PAX East 2011 was still an event for the history books. Those memories will always remain with me thanks to my photos. You can check out the grand finale by clicking the jump.

PAX Prime really could use a bag check area like this. For $3, it’s a steal!

The Console Freeplay room featured many popular games, including Marvel VS Capcom 3.

The first cosplayers I photographed on Sunday, who were from League of Legends.

Uh oh… I pissed off Aqua Teen’s Carl Brutananadilewski!

The Ghostbusters are always a crowd-pleaser at conventions.

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson poses with a fan.

Mr. T pities the fools who skipped out on PAX East!

Sonic the Hedgehog tries to win a prize from Newegg’s booth.

CyberPower’s equivalent to Vanna White.

A demonstration involving overclocking and dry ice.

I unfortunately did not have time to play the new Mortal Kombat at PAX East, but here’s a shot of the character roster available in the demo.

Duke Nukem’s here to kick ass and chew gum

Some of the brave souls who decided to endure the five-hour wait to play The Old Republic demo.

A wall at the Shoot Many Robots exhibit showcasing robots created by PAX East attendees.

A four-person Shoot Many Robots photo op.

Snapshot shirts were printed at the show just as long as you provided the t-shirt.

MIMOBOT and their line of neat USB flash drives shaped like characters.

Three Axe Cops and Dinosaur Soldier came out of the hit comic series.

Another batch of the sold-out PAX East scarves were available for pre-order for anyone who missed the chance to own one on Friday.

Customized Xbox 360 Slim consoles served as prizes from Twisted Pixel.

At the expo, dice could be bought in bulk.

UmJammer Lammy still believes in the music game genre.

Dragon Nest was fairly entertaining for a free-to-play MMORPG. The combat reminded me more of Diablo than World of Warcraft. The main thing I loved about it was the artwork and character designs.

One of the Swarmites from Swarm.

Oscar the Grouch brought his surly personality to PAX East.

Two more cosplayers showing their love for Minecraft.

Various items of interest at Steve Jackson’s booth.

While PAX Prime had players battle Justin Wong in Street Fighter 4 for a chance at a prize, PAX East had gamers take on iNcontrol in Starcraft 2.

Special Penny Arcade shoes sold by Tweak.

Since Samurai Warriors Chronicle wasn’t at Nintendo’s 3DS exhibit, I sampled a few random games like Steel Diver. The motion controls implemented in the game impressed me, as you have to literally turn your body round to make your sub face whichever direction you wish to see. The demo I played had me simply shooting at, and avoiding incoming fire from, enemy vessels, but the rep assured me that the product features more strategic elements, including maneuvering through hazardous environments. Still, I can’t see myself buying Steel Diver for more than collection purposes.

Pilotwings Resort was one of the better demos capable of showing the 3DS system’s 3D features. While flying around with a jetpack, the backgrounds I saw looked wonderful thanks to the technology.

Fans could pose for photo with this fake Wil Wheaton and donate money to help out Japan.

PopCap Games had a small setup showcasing some of their most popular products.

Pantheon from League of Legends.

The booth for the upcoming PC shooter known as Firefall.

Vindictus was a Nexon property, just like Dragon Nest. Between the two games, I felt Vindictus has the better combat system. I imagine that a massive multiplayer version of Dynasty Warriors would play in a similar manner.

For Ryu and Morrigan, the last day of PAX East was the most important day of their lives. But for M. Bison, it was Tuesday.

Many PAX Enforcers had to try and clear space in the aisles due to fans hoping to win a $130 Spirit Hood from Nexon. I didn’t have one of the lucky tickets, darn!

The IGN/Spring lounge had early access to the upcoming DLC characters for Marvel VS Capcom 3. Shuma-Gorath crouches in a corner.

Jill does the same thing. Based on my short period of observation, she no longer uses her Marvel VS Capcom 2 fighting style.

I’m assuming that he’s the evil older Sub-Zero since he lacks the scar of the younger version.

Bastion’s popularity increased over each day of the show. I finally remembered to play the game on Sunday, and was quite pleased with the gameplay, which reminds me of the older Zelda games, Shining Soul 2, and Diablo. Another cool feature was the game’s narrator. He would basically narrate just about every significant action the character performed in the game.

The PAX East League of Legends cosplayer tournament.

Two League of Legends characters who were watching from the sidelines.

Misty poses with the new starters.

Volition community manager J Goldberg tosses Red Faction: Armageddon shirts from within the giant mech.

According to the Valve staff members at the booth, a few people fell through the walls on Friday.

Mega64 dances atop their tables.

Once the main hall closed for the year, PAX East attendees started to rush up the escalators.

Fans say adios to PAX East by taking pictures beneath the farewell banner.

Look who I spotted on the way back to my hotel.

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at my PAX East 2011 photos over the weekend. I always have a great time shooting convention photos, and this event was no exception. Gabe and Tycho should be proud of how much the expo has expanded over the course of a year. Thanks once again, and hopefully you’ll see even more PAX East photos from me in 2012!