As an event, PAX 2007 was definitely well run. What follows are my impressions of the PAX events I attended.
Panels
Keynote
I declare a man crush on Wil Wheaton. :) Considering every promo of his speech talked about him having no idea what he wanted to say, my expectations were low, which made the truly excellent speech that much better. It helps that I'm only two years younger than Wil, so his experiences synced up with mine a lot. He had a lot of great jokes. He mentioned a lot of great games. And he emphasized how much games bring people together. It was awesome. I only wish I'd remembered to start the "One Of Us" chant at the end. It could have been a moment.
One caveat: I couldn't endorse his "Don't be a dick" statement. Being a dick is awesome, as long as the recipient deserves it and / or it's hilarious.
Penny Arcade Q&A
Gabe and Tycho came out to "Every Day I'm Hustlin". I'm not familiar with the song, but I hear it in my head every time I see them now. :P My main memories from the panel were of the brain damaged guy who never actually asked a coherent question and the homosexual double entendres Gabe couldn't seem to escape. Tycho's live singing of "My Belruel" was beautiful. Reverb owns. :) Oh, and some guy from the audience was allowed to come up and make the same entrance Gabe and Tycho did (minus the fact that the house lights were still on). At the end they brought out Uwe Boll. He's officially dead to me, so I left. I heard he got a sound verbal drubbing. Good for the PAXers.
Life Cuts into Gaming
This panel was people working long hours or trying to balance work, family, and gaming. I don't really know why I went, as I'm neither of those, but it was a good panel.
1UP Yours Live
I listen to headphones at work, and 1UP Yours is a staple of my listening diet, so it was cool to see the folks in person. I got to tell a joke, say thank you for the podcast, and tried to discuss my fears about gaming getting mainstreamed, which really didn't go anywhere. Also Garnett Lee said I looked like a character out of Mall Rats. It stung to get insulted by someone I was so happy to be talking to, but that's how the 1UP guys are, and it's probably a fair cop. (I haven't seen Mall Rats.)
PA Family Feud
Apparently this was Pork's idea back during the first PAX, but didn't come to fruition until this year. The answers the survey provided were kind of lame. They may need to find a better way of getting the survey done, though, as some of the answers were kind of weak. Street Fighter was apparently never answered on the "Name a Video Game Movie" question. WTF?
Concerts
Let me preface by saying I am too old to stand in one place for four and a half hours. I was so burned out on concerts I didn't even see Frontalot, so that would make me totally burned out.
One Ups
It's like what you'd get if The Dave Matthews Band covered game music with a few too many solos. Their set was a freaking hour and a half.
Optimus Rhyme
Wonderful and unintelligible as always. :)
Freezepop
Very fun, but lots of problems. Liz lost the pitch, the beat, and the words a few times, partially due to monitor problems. French Ghost was great, but The Duke was still missed.
Jonathan Coulton
Very nice. I hadn't heard his stuff before, but I enjoy it. I don't think it's stuff I'd listen to every day, but it did have the distinction of being the only music quiet enough that you could actually hear it. And his cover of Baby Got Back was just too good for words.
Other
Gaby & Tycho Signing
I fucked up by actually having them sign stuff. It was all business, and that's sad. Next year I'm not going to have them sign anything and just say how glad I am to be there and make sure Gabe understands how proud I am of him for defending childhood. That (combined with the response he got) was one of the greatest things I've read in a long time.
Console Freeplay
The most fun I had at PAX was learning to play Mario Strikers Charged with three other PAXers. In the couple hours we had, we only managed to win one round (not match, just round) against the level three AI, but it didn't matter. Every goal was a victory and a very loud one, at that. My apologies to anyone we may have thrown off their game, but yes, we were having that much fun.
Everything Else
The organizers and Enforcers did a damn fine job. Things ran ridiculously smoothly. It was awesome. I need to volunteer next year.
