I thought this X-Com statue was just a part of the permanent convention center decorations until I took a closer look.
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Video game conventions exist on a continuum. One one end is Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, which on its public days gets so crowded with nearly 350,000 people and hundreds of games that there’s barely room to sweat, let alone move. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Firaxicon, which attracted a few hundred people to a laid back corner of the Baltimore Convention Center last weekend for some laid back rest and relaxation.
Much like last year’s inaugural show, Firaxicon 2015 is an antidote to the massive, loud, glitzy, crowded conventions that litter the calendar these days. The small scale meant all attendees not only got to listen to their favorite developers (including studio founder and industry legend Sid Meier) talk about game design in a huge auditorium, but they could easily approach those developers to gush about XCOM and Civilization. As if that wasn’t enough, those same developers were available to hang out and play a wide variety of card and board games in impromptu sessions as well.
Firaxis was only showing a single computer game this year, the “Rising Tide” expansion to Civilization: Beyond Earth, which attendees could wander up to and play at a luxurious-for-a-convention 100 turn pace without any wait. There was also a small history exhibit showing off arcana from the Firaxis offices, a store where attendees could buy a few pieces of swag (with optional live autograph sessions), and… well that’s it really.
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