{"id":19868,"date":"2020-01-24T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T00:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=19868"},"modified":"2020-01-20T02:43:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:43:38","slug":"pax-south-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/24\/pax-south-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"PAX South 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is one of the largest video game conventions open to the public in the US.\u00a0 It started out in Seattle, then expanded to another show out East in Boston, and for the past few years, they\u2019ve also had a show in San Antonio with PAX South.\u00a0 Since that\u2019s only a few hours\u2019 drive from where I live, I decided to go again this year along with my dad.\u00a0 Let\u2019s check out what I saw.<\/p>\n

One thing I will note is that this show was a bit smaller than the last few years\u2019 shows.\u00a0 Usually a few big name companies will attend, like Capcom, Namco, or Nintendo.\u00a0 But none of them were here this time, and the show floor was a bit smaller, too.\u00a0 One of the reasons why is because PAX East in Boston is only a month away, and a lot of the companies chose to attend that one instead since it\u2019s so close, timeframe-wise.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why PAX scheduled those shows so close together, they kind of shot themselves in the foot.\u00a0 But I still took a couple of pictures from the second floor down below, and there was still a lot to see. I was just able to finish everything in a day.\u00a0 Who knows if I\u2019ll go again next year if it\u2019s still like this.<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s a shot at the other side of the show floor.<\/p>\n

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PAX Rising<\/strong><\/p>\n

One good thing about PAX is they focus more on indie games, and there are even booths where a bunch of indie developers show off their titles.\u00a0 PAX Rising is one of those booths, and there I played two games.\u00a0 The first is Konsui Fighter.\u00a0 I played it at last year\u2019s PAX South, and it\u2019s a 2-D fighter where you play as a man in a coma (Konsui means coma in Japanese), and he has to fight characters who represent emotions inside his head.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be available for mobile devices but new at this show was that it was also on PC!\u00a0 It looks pretty good for a mobile fighter, and I hope I get to review it soon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another one I played at PAX Rising was Aeolis Tournament.\u00a0 You play as colorful characters in Mario Party style mini-games where the main gimmick in all of them is that you can suck in and spit out projectiles.\u00a0 Up to eight players can go at it at once!\u00a0 And in case I don\u2019t specify, most of the games I played here will be either available on mobile, or at least the Switch, if not more consoles.\u00a0 It seemed everyone was trying to get their game on the Switch.<\/p>\n

Stack Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another neat thing about PAX South is that a lot of charity organizations show up.\u00a0 I think my favorite is Stack Up.\u00a0 They donate games and consoles to military and veterans.\u00a0 Please check them out if you are interested.\u00a0 Only bad thing is that this year at PAX South, they didn\u2019t have their push-up contest.\u00a0 Oh well.<\/p>\n

tinyBuild<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think tinyBuild had the best booth at the show.\u00a0 They had a neat carnival midway theme for their booth, and they had a wide variety of games for PC, mobile, and console.\u00a0 And they gave out the best swag, too.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a picture of a part of their booth.\u00a0 I\u2019m so sorry it\u2019s so blurry.\u00a0 It was hard to focus with all the lights and stuff.<\/p>\n

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I think my favorite game at their booth was Totally Reliable Delivery Service.\u00a0 It\u2019s a 3-D action game for four players, and you try to deliver packages as fast as you can around an open world.\u00a0 But you can also mess around with all sorts of vehicles.\u00a0 Lots of humor and references to other games, too.\u00a0 Even Untitled Goose Game gets a nod!\u00a0 Another one I checked out was Black Skylands.\u00a0 It\u2019s an overhead shooter with 16-bit graphics set in an airship run world.\u00a0 They had other games, too, but there were so many I couldn\u2019t see them all!<\/p>\n

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Luminosity<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always like visiting with Luminosity at PAX South because they\u2019re local and have some neat games.\u00a0 They showed the same stuff as last time, but I still can\u2019t wait to play them when they come out.\u00a0 The Painter\u2019s Apprentice is a 2-D platformer where you use color and paint to bypass obstacles, and the worlds are based on different styles of paintings in history.\u00a0 Osunia is a farming simulation set in the future.\u00a0 They\u2019re also planning on remaking their first game, Once Upon a Runner.<\/p>\n

Dotemu and The Arcade Crew<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another one of my favorite booths was Dotemu and The Arcade Crew.\u00a0 Dotemu was showing two games on the outside of their booth.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already played them at PAX West, but I still can\u2019t wait for when they come out later this year.\u00a0 The first was Streets of Rage 4.\u00a0 I really liked the Genesis games, and this demo added a new character since last time, and I think the stage was different, too.\u00a0 It had a dojo theme with lots of new weapons you could pick up, like cleavers and spears.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get to play Windjammers 2, but that\u2019s OK because I\u2019ve already played it at other shows.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sequel to an old game that combines throwing flying discs and Pong.\u00a0 It\u2019s a heck of a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

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On the inside of the booth, The Arcade Crew was showing Kunai, a neat 2-D action game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And they also had Young Souls, which combines RPG dungeon crawling with beat \u2018em up gameplay and colorful characters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And speaking of Windjammers, I should note another company is making a game similar to it called Shot One.\u00a0 I know I talked about them before in another PAX article, but I think it\u2019s neat that they\u2019re based in Austin, TX, and I like the character designs for their game.<\/p>\n

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Latinax Lounge<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a room on the second floor where a bunch of Mexican game developers were showing off their new titles, and I tried two of them.\u00a0 The first was Lunch-A Palooza.\u00a0 You play as different kinds of foods like a hamburger or donut, each with different attacks.\u00a0 You try and push the other players off the ledges for points, and you can pick up power-ups and power-downs as well.\u00a0 My favorite was a stage set in an arcade and you\u2019re on a slippery air hockey table that changes to a foosball table halfway through the round.\u00a0 Another game I tried here was Floppy and the Sleepy Planet.\u00a0 You play as a robot bunny and a flying robot\u2026carrot?\u00a0 Gameplay hearkens back to 3-D platformers from the PS2 era, but they need to work on the jumping controls a bit in this one.<\/p>\n

SoundSelf<\/strong><\/p>\n

PAX South wasn\u2019t all about hectic running around and playing crazy games, as I got to try a VR title called SoundSelf that\u2019s supposed to help you relax.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to have VR for it, as you can just play it on a PC, but the VR helps.\u00a0 What I did was lay down and was supposed to breath in and out, and when I breathed out, I had to hum.\u00a0 The game records the sounds you make and makes random pictures that are supposed to relax you, I guess.\u00a0 It certainly worked, but I think it was mostly because I got to lie down for ten minutes in a massaging chair.\u00a0 But I was still glad to try it out because I enjoy doing new things.<\/p>\n

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Blowfish Studios<\/strong><\/p>\n

They usually have a few games that interest me at these shows.\u00a0 Last time I tried their Kung Fu Kickball, which is a 2-D sports game that mixes elements of basketball and dodgeball with a Kung Fu setting and characters.\u00a0 But their newly announced game was really neat, too.\u00a0 It\u2019s called Infinite: Beyond the Mind, and it\u2019s a 2-D platformer hack and slash game with chibi 16-bit pixel art and you get to play as a character with pink hair.\u00a0 It looks like a lot of simple fun and the characters look neat, too.<\/p>\n

Annapurna Studios<\/strong><\/p>\n

Annapurna is a movie studio but they also have a division that publishes games!\u00a0 They had a bunch at the show, but the big showcase was The Artful Escape, a 2-D platform game with brightly colored psychedelic graphics.\u00a0 But the game that really got my attention was Wattam.\u00a0 Once they said it was made by the same guy who did Katamari Damacy, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m sold!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m definitely going to have to check it out!<\/p>\n

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Axe Cop<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw a bunch of 8-bit styled games at PAX South, and each one caught my attention.\u00a0 But the one I remember most was Axe Cop.\u00a0 They said it was based on a comic book whose story was created by a five year old (with help from his family, too).\u00a0 I think I remember my brothers telling me about that a few years ago, and I think that\u2019s kind of cool.\u00a0 The game looks like it came straight from the NES, or at least the Game Boy Color.\u00a0 It has elements of turn based RPG battles and Zelda-like action gameplay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Garden Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another one that grabbed me was Garden Story.\u00a0 It has elements of farming games like Harvest Moon, as well as action games like Zelda.\u00a0 So really I think it\u2019ll be a lot like Rune Factory.\u00a0 But the coolest part is you play as a grape with a sword.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PAX South also has a lot of vendors where you can buy overpriced stuff.\u00a0 But I liked this particular display, as it was especially cute and colorful and eye catching.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what it is, though.<\/p>\n

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Cosplay<\/strong><\/p>\n

At these conventions, some people will dress as their favorite video game or anime character.\u00a0 Most of the time I don\u2019t recognize them, but I had to take a picture of this cosplayer dressed as Bass, since that\u2019s my brother Jeff\u2019s favorite Mega Man character.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I first saw this costume from behind, I though it was just a black Shy Guy.\u00a0 But when I walked to the front, it looked more like one of the characters from Spirited Away.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s a combination of the two?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

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Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 I hope you enjoyed my little tour of PAX South.\u00a0 Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is one of the largest video game conventions open to the public in the US.\u00a0 It started out in Seattle, then expanded to another show out East in Boston, and for the past few years, they\u2019ve also had a show in San Antonio with PAX South.\u00a0 Since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19870,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868\/revisions\/19870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}