I'm Bryant and on my left is my nemesis, Ahmed. We were tasked with the quest to cover PAX Prime, the biggest gaming convention in America. My subquest was to Snapchat the weekend.
We arrived at the Washington State Convention Center around 8 a.m. Ahmed spilled coffee on himself during the cab ride over, so I already knew we were going to have a blast.
We had quite a journey finding the media entrance after getting lost within the convention center due to bad directions given by one of the PAX Enforcers. I made sure to give him my best side-eye when we passed him on our way back.
Look at this happiness. Ahmed beelined for the Street Fighter V booth as soon as we were let into the expo hall. His boner for Ryu led him to write a post on how he was sexually awakened by a video game character.
Now look at this sadness. After walking around the floor, we decided to check out Gunsport, which is a lot like volleyball, but with...guns. It was a pretty close game, but there could be only one winner. In this case, it was me.
When I saw this Pikachu display in the air, my happiness meter broke. Ahmed tried to take a couple of pictures of me with it, but apparently not everyone can adequately use a camera.
I spent roughly 20 minutes posing next to Pikachu. Passersby were low-key judging me, but I'm the real winner here. I sacrificed line-free video game demonstrations for this picture.
I play Borderlands with my cousins, so seeing Gearbox Software's Battleborn on display made me wish my family was with me. Not Ahmed.
Aside from the poor lighting and a faulty tripod, Ahmed and I had a fun time interviewing Saturday Night Live's Taran Killam, who was there to enjoy PAX and was all about having fun. Check out our interview about classic video games here.
There were a lot of sick art and costume displays throughout the floor. We were even so lucky to get fashion advice from this guy.
Who's still tryna cop Yeezys? Send me a size 10.
Ahmed was mad at me because I wanted to explore this hallway display. We were in a hurry to get to one of our appointments, but because I'm a sicko this enticed me to stay a bit longer.
Simple enough.
👀
I honestly thought something was going to pop out at me.
Only to have my disappointment exacerbated when I was met with Ahmed at the end.
On our way to one of our appointments, I made us stop to get a picture of the coolest Megaman cosplayer at PAX Prime. Look at that fierceness.
*Cutest.
We camped out around this over-the-top Dark Souls display to interview some gaming fans and cosplayers because the lighting was pretty great and the misty blood added a little ambiance.
This cosplay of an Ocarina of Time boss was one of our favorites. It blew our mind how intricate and complex her outfit was.
We stumbled upon a group of cheering fans who went crazy when the Dalek started moving. At this point I couldn't tell which was more dangerous...the fans, or the Dalek itself.
We visited the Klei Entertainment booth mainly because I wanted to check out the sequel to the Don't Starve franchise. Meanwhile Ahmed was selfishly taking over the only station demoing Klei's new game, Invisible, Inc.
I regrettably allowed myself to be talked into watching Ahmed butcher the "Message in a Bottle" guitar solo in Rock Band 4. He kept bragging about his skills but I didn't see any receipts.
While Ahmed was partaking in a Super Smash Bros. competition, I witnessed a great exchange of arcade history between father and sons. I enjoyed watching this dad introduce his sons to the classics such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, etc.
I spent some time reminiscing by playing some arcade classics myself. I hadn't seen a The Simpsons Arcade Game cabinet in commission in years, so I happily shared a game with three other strangers.
I was and always had been terrible at Donkey Kong. That night was no different.
Ahmed and I were invited to test out a bunch of virtual reality games throughout the duration of PAX Prime. Despite running into walls, and tangling our feet with wires, we survived with no injuries. We also discovered Ahmed's hidden dance talent.
We thought it was fitting to conclude our PAX Prime with a selfie highlighting the advancement of gaming technology. Ahmed had no idea I was taking a picture with him.
PAX Prime was full of awesome sauce, and I will definitely be back. I had a great time covering the event with Ahmed, and truly appreciated having him there to hold my camera when I had to tie my shoe.
So many feels.
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