Left to Right: GHR_Superman (Sam), Teetocks (Scott), Full Tilt 101 (Bob), McWild (McWild), JDsBlackBox (JD), GHR_Maverick (Alfred)

We all woke up a little worse for wear. Late night + beer = tired gamers. Add in Alfred / Scott / Sam’s commute and 30 hours of being awake, it took us some time to get moving. Once we got moving we started our Day 1 plan of going to Fenway Park (Home of the Red Sox) before PAX-East opened. Unfortunately we didn’t plan the trip there very well and after an hour of walking (including 20 minutes at Boston’s Boston Market) we arrived at Fenway…

First off we were late. Over an hour late from our original plan but we were there finally. JD went to the ticket booth and they told us we were out of luck. If we hurried and asked nice, the guide might let us walk through and then pay after. Well we hurried and we ended up blending with the original crowd and seeing the tour for free. Honestly we would have all paid but we didn’t want to get kicked. They had two tour guides, one does the tour and the other makes sure the back of the line doesn’t get lost.

This guide was amazing. Explained about the hawk that lives under the press box, the cardboard wolves to scare away the geese, explained that Fenway is home of the shortest home run route in baseball and the longest home run route in the American League. He told a story about the Citgo (See It Go) sign, told about a baseball that Babe Ruth hit onto a train which then made it’s way to New York (furthest home run ever). Many other great stories and told with amazing presentation. I really recommend seeing Fenway through their tours, this might have been the best part of PAX.

After we left there, McWild and I caught a cab while everybody else walked. We were the two dopes that wore t-shirts so we were freezing. Once at the convention center we got swallowed by a mass of people. Thousands of people were already streaming into line. We bought some PAX shirts / hoodies / scarves and waited with everyone else. This is the part where the AT&T network died. There were tons of iPhones and they crushed the network. Phone calls, text messages, tweets and emails just locked up. With the network dumping all the phones kept trying to push / pull data from all of these places and the batteries were draining extraordinarily quick.

While waiting, McWild bumped into a bunch of the SFX-360 group and the 2-old-2-play people and we walked in with them. A real great group of people that we saw many times this weekend.

I headed to see Wil Wheaton‘s keynote and was thoroughly impressed. Wil was in Stand By Me, Star Trek : TNG and recently worked on The Guild and Big Bang Theory. All of that is impressive but it’s not why he was chosen to do the keynote, he was chosen because Wil is an Uber Geek. I say that with love and admiration. He rolls with the big dogs, the big dogs being Hell Hounds and by rolls I mean saving throws. He’s still big into D&D, tabletop gaming and rocks out with the video games too. And he can give a great speech to a crowd of geeks. He pointed out that we’re all here celebrating a love of games. I could write paragraphs about his speech but that’s not the point of this article. I urge you to check out his video and if nothing else, take his final piece of advice “Don’t be a dick.”

After the keynote I bumped into the gang once more. Literally. I entered the show floor and bumped into Sam. That’s amazing considering the throng of people. At this point they’d been walking the floor for an hour and we got together and started seeing the few things they missed. PAX had tons of 3-D gaming, Tritton headsets, independent games, Intel, AMD, lots and lots of things but the important ones will be covered separately.

We finally get a minute to sit down and a woman comes up and gives everyone at our table an Intel Prize Card. As we entered, Intel gave us big blue buttons. If the prize patrol sees you they give you a card and you can win something. Now I’m happy, I won something. JD is across from me and shows that he has two tickets. Then the mocking begins. He is very proud that he has two tickets.

Next off we see Shank (looks awesome) while waiting for 2K and our 5:30 appointment to see Civilization V. Although we’re starving, we want to see Civ (and Mafia at 6:00) and not skip out on the appointment. Fortunately 2K ignored our appointment and started the presentation 5 minutes early and wouldn’t let us back. Off to dinner we go!

On the way to dinner we stop at the Intel Booth. JD is right in front of me and scans his two tickets. The first ticket is a shirt. The second ticket wins Napoleon Total War for the PC. Not bad, but nothing I want. Next I’m up and they scan my card. The scanner shouts “Processor”. The 5 other Intel people shout “Processor”. I shout “Mazeltov!” Then the whole crowd (100+ people waiting to scan their cards) start shouting “Processor!” I have no idea what I’ve won at this point. I start filling out paperwork and they explain that I won a $1000 processor. Now it’s my turn to find JD and start mocking.

After a late lunch we all head back to the rooms to chill for a bit before heading on the town. LeftBrown joined us and we headed toward Fenway for some food and drinks. Zabari and Vic Joe (Open Forum Radio) joined up and we had a blast. There’s a real open feeling at PAX meeting all the people you’ve known online for years. I had never met or spoken with Zabari or Vic Joe and we fell into a groove. Nothing cements people more than figuring out what kind of wine Jesus would have made for you. Zabari and I agreed that it’d be some real fancy smooth wine. Vic Joe just wanted some Mad Dog 20-20 and I can respect that.

Lots of drinking. Lots of idiotic but fun conversation. Then Day 1 officially ended with a cab ride and some sleep.