After two days of PAX, I thought it would be paramount to let you all know about my thoughts and feelings of the event so far, and the games that I’ve gotten my hands on.

As many know, that this is our third PAX East. Each PAX seems to get better and better and this one is no exception. The amount of content and gaming goodness we have lined up for the coming week or so is immense. Going into PAX I was overwhelmed with the amount of contact with developers, PR, and community managers.

Jeff and I sat down and decided that we needed to do things a little different this year. We wanted to take you, the viewer, with us on our journey through the show floor. With each game mentioned here, there will be a link that brings you directly to an interview with that developer. You can get an even deeper inside look into the game that we just played, as if you were there with us.

We know that not everyone will enjoy this, so we also build a giant hub that will take you to each and every interview you can handle. The choice is completely yours!

We hope you enjoy our walk through PAX East 2012, and we hope you tell your friends about this! And without further adieu:

Day 1:

Nothing can compare to looking over the expo hall and seeing the amount of gaming before you. It’s impressive and overwhelming at once. It’s like stare deep within complex theories of physics and not knowing where to begin. With a deep breath, I dove in head first and got ready for quite the experience.

Press is allowed to have access to the Expo floor one hour before regular attendees. That gave me time to map out the floor and figure out where everything is. It also gave me a chance to put faces to the many names that I am in contact with on almost a daily basis. After many introductions it was time to begin.

My very first game of PAX East 2012 was:

Dust: An Elysian Tail (XBLA HumbleHearts)

After watching this game develop over the years, I finally had a chance to get my hands on it.  The controls and the game play are simple, tight, and elegant. All of this coming from a one man development team. The ultimate is knowing that Dean Dodrill started this project to learn how to develop games.

Every last art asset in the game was hand crafted by Dean himself and it shows. The amount of detail in each of the backgrounds, characters, and enemies is apparent. I have been eager to play this title, and I can’t wait until it’s fully released onto XBLA.

Look in the coming days for my full impressions of Dust: An Elysian Tail

Charlie Murder (XBLA Ska Studios)

Ska Studios’ story of a punk band that fell from grace and they need to battle back hordes of the undead from a rival, “Norse” style, rock band. It’s a battle of the bands and the game is hella fun.

The game is a cross between Castlecrashers and James Silva’s Dishwasher series. This is a really early version of the it, so I expect many changes between now and when it’s released.

Skulls of the Shogun (XBLA Haunted Temple Studios)

It’s been a year since I played Skulls, as it was being shown at last years PAXEast. In the course of a year, so much of the game has changed. They made a strategy game that already had a low barrier of entry even easier and made the barrier of entry even lower. They tightened up the graphics and added more humor to the game. All and all, Fall can’t come soon enough because I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Click here if for my PAXEast 2012 Day 2 Impressions

Go here to just hit up the PAXEast 2012 Hub