Now that I have awoken from 20 hours long coma after PAX West, I thought that I would tell you all about the first time PAX West experience. PAX West (formerly known as PAX Prime) is one of many Penny Arcade Expo's held across the United States. The convention features all sorts of games, from video games, to VR, to Tabletop, and even lesser known Indie Games.

While there are many booths to shop and spend money (wouldn't be a nerd convention, if your wallet didn't hurt after, am I right?) PAX differs from Emerald City Comic Con in that the expo hall in the Washington State Convention Center is not full of artists and comics, but instead, it is chock full of different game developers showing off their newest products.

The camaraderie of Fandom and Nerdom is still the same since you certainly don't spend money on tickets to this event unless you're interested in something. There is a certain kind of atmosphere that you can't take from a gathering of nerds, no matter if it is comics or video games.

You haven't lived until you've gotten into a random conversation with a stranger about Spider-Man, that's for sure.

That being said, both of these Seattle conventions do differ in the atmosphere. Where ECCC is full of artists and comics, and people wandering the halls chatting in full cosplay, PAX caters to demos of the newest games. The lights in the Expo hall are off so that you can see the screens, and most every big game company has a booth of some sort, and a line for the demo of their newest game. And, although I didn't think it was possible, there were more people at PAX West than I have ever seen at Comic-Con. It's even more of a danger that you might potentially lose your companions or accidentally bump into someone when turning around.

I spent most of the two days wandering around with friends and occasionally stopping to peer at a game that interested me. I only stood in three lines that felt worth it to me, one of them being the standby line for "Assassins Creed: Odyssey" which I ended up leaving since most people had appointments. While I would have loved to play the Spyro demo, or the Kingdom Hearts: three demos, both of those lines were capped when I went by them as well.

However, that being said, I have no qualms because I did get to play Marvel and Insomniac Games new Spider-Man for the PS4 and it was absolutely phenomenal. The combat was smooth, arguably almost smoother than that of its inspiration, the Arkham series. Peter Parker's dialogue was delightful and I could have spent hours exploring the city and I am waiting on tiptoes for the game to release this Friday, September 7th, 2018.

That being said, while I am still tired and blinking wearily at my computer screen, PAX West is more than worth it for anyone who likes games, be it tabletop or consoles.