With PAX West beginning yesterday, many larger companies are trying their hand at gaining the attention of the thousands of people who travelled into Seattle. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know when attending some of those companies’ booths:
SONY: Sony’s presence at PAX West is relatively small in comparison to the likes of Xbox. A large notable chunk of Playstation’s booth is taken up by some new PS VR IPs. Inside the center of the booth you will be able to try your hand at titles such as Knack 2 and Detroit: Become Human. On the outer edges, smaller IPs can be found such as the upcoming remastering of Secret of Mana, as well as one last notable IP being the recently released, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. In terms of line lengths, Playstation’s booth is a bit tricky to gauge. With the PlayStation App downloaded one can schedule appointments to test of demos present.
XBOX: Xbox’s presence at PAX West is much more in one’s face in comparison to PlayStation. The majority of space in the Xbox booth is taken up by IPs seen from this past e3, such as Cuphead, or Super Lucky’s Tale. These titles are accompanied with the likes of Forza and Sea of Thieves, to make for an already understood massive wait time to get one’s hands on a controller. With a wait time of about 30-45 minutes easy, choose which games you’d like to demo wisely.
NINTENDO: Nintendo’s booth is located smack dab in the middle of the convention hall it is in, and in Nintendo style, Mario is pretty much the single big title of the conference. Gamers can get a hold of Super Mario Odyssey where they can choose from 2 levels showcasing different portions of the game. Surrounding Super Mario Odyssey are a multitude of Switch games, most of which ports we have seen before such as Rocket League, or FIFA 18. If you’d like a chance at demoing Super Mario Odyssey, I recommend coming to the realization you’ll be waiting nearly an hour.
BETHESDA: Bethesda, although tucked away into its own corner, shines in terms of presence. With a multitude of games to try out, Bethesda is definitely a booth to look to when trying to get excited about this upcoming holiday season. In the massive Bethesda section, one can hop onto a line to demo games such as The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein 2, Quake Champions, and more. The one drawback to Bethesda’s section of the show floor is the wait times. Some wait times nearing the likes of 45 minutes should definitely make a PAX attendant think about which games, in particular, they would like to demo.