Irrational’s PAX East Report

After three days spent meeting thousands of friendly and passionate fans, I think we can declare PAX East 2011 a success.

Our booth loomed over the entrance lobby in the Boston Convention Center–a fitting location for our Elizabeth actress and the massive statue of Him that greeted (and posed with) convention attendees.

Being located away from the show floor gave us a great opportunity to chat informally with fans and give away some Dog in a Wheelchair shirts. All of you who visited really made all the planning and preparation worth it. Except for our tireless Elizabeth, everyone at the booth was an Irrational Games employee, and we were all humbled by the enthusiasm and passion of the fans.

We saw people from across the gamer spectrum: casual players all the way up to ambitious cosplayers and tattooed super-fans. At one point, G4 even came by the booth to film a massive gathering of costumed attendees depicting characters from dozens of games.

There were plenty of moments that stuck with those of us manning the booth, including the father named Andrew Ryan with a son named Jack Ryan (really!), the amazing tattoos of Jordan Hill, the story of how BioShock led one man to meet his significant other, and the memory of Ken Levine signing some fans’ chests…both female and male.

On Saturday night, we held a fan party at M.J. O’Connor’s Irish Pub. A couple hundred fans joined a group of Irrational staffers for a night of discussion, drinking, board games, and giveaways.

The atmosphere was relaxed and conversational–exactly what we were hoping for. And after a raffle, a few lucky fans walked away with some coveted prizes: a BioShock Little Sister statue; a Murder of Crows vigor bottle; and a signed, framed print of one of Robb Water’s Game Informer covers. (Check out Irrational community member Syclone’s video of the proceedings.) All attendees were given a BioShock Infinite poster and a t-shirt.

To everyone we met at the booth and the party: thank you! It was the first time we’ve had this kind of presence at a big fan event, and thanks to our fans, it couldn’t have gone better. We can’t wait for the chance to do it again.

Head over to our forums to discuss your PAX East experience. There’s a thread for general impressions from the convention, one about Irrational’s presence, and one with reports from the fan party.