PAX East , the popular gaming convention held in Boston, announced today that it will be starting a new sister convention, PAX South, scheduled for Jan 23-25, 2015. The new PAX South will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, which Penny Arcade hopes will make their conventions more accessible to southerners.
“Since its launch in 2004, PAX events have doubled in size almost every year, and our Seattle and Boston events represent the two largest gaming festivals in North America,” said Penny Arcade President Robert Khoo in a press release today. “We’ve been hearing for years that those in the south had a tough time making it to the northern corners of the country; PAX South has always been a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if.’ ”
The PAX South press release describes PAX as “the most authentic celebration of game culture in the world” with “a healthy mix of the latest and greatest in video games, tabletop games, game inspired music, competitive gameplay, and insight from leaders in the world of gaming.” Penny Aracade and ReedPOP, who organize the PAX events, promise that PAX South will follow the formula of the other successful PAX conventions, bringing game developers and their fans together, giving fans “a PAX show for every season throughout the year.”
This year, the latest and greatest in video games included video of “Titanfall” for the Xbox 360 , as reported here at Inquisitr .
PAX Prime, the original PAX (Penny Arcade eXpo) convention held in Seattle, set a new record when it sold out within six hours last year. It was exactly this popularity that led PAX to start PAX East in 2010, and PAX Australia in Melborne last year. Penny Arcade also hosts PAX Dev in Seattle, a developer-only event right before PAX Prime. PAX Prime began with 3,300 attendees in 2004 and was moved from the Meydenbauer Center to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in 2007, when it boasted 39,000 attendees. After PAX drew in over 60,000 people in 2009, Penny Arcade opened up PAX East in 2010. PAX East hosted 52,000 of gamers its first year for a combined total of over 110,000 attendees. The conventions draw in such a large crowd that last year PAX East in Boston started checking attendee’s bags for bombs and other dangerous material at the city’s request.
Co-founders Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins announced the new PAX South during their “Make A Strip” panel at PAX East 2014, on April 12th, as reported by Polygon.
