Day Two is in the books for the Penny Arcade Expo of 2008, and while a few problems persist, overall it felt a bit more like the show I was expecting.

First, I want to tie up a few things from yesterday that weren't as detailed as they could have been (that's what I get for trying to write at 4am). At the PA merch booth, they have not only a bevy of comic/game-related t-shirts and hoodies, but also posters, books, a special edition of their first game, and a limited edition PAX '08 themed Razer mouse. With so many special/limited items combined with it being the first few hours of the show, the deluge of patrons was to be expected, but that still doesn't explain why they only had one credit card machine and a small handful of people available to take customers. Today, there were no lines at the booth when I passed it. Seems the early rush was the worst for them.

Next, despite the severe overcrowding of the exhibition hall, the exhibitors didn't hold back. On display were playable versions of H.A.W.X. (being demoed by the lovely FragDolls), Need for Speed Undercover, Midnight Club L.A., World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Tom Clancy's EndWar, the WoW Adventures collectible-card game, several Wii projects at Nintendo's booth, and many more. Sega even had upright arcade machines housing their works in progress, cordoned off in a special area made up to look like an old school arcade. The booth promoting Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway was offering free copies of the game for anyone willing to get their head shaved bare right there in the booth. I was willing to do that, but not to stand in line for two hours first.

Cosplayers were present in scarce numbers, but with admirable attention to detail for their attire and selections. The fully dolled-up harlequin, a Final Fantasy black mage, a medic and spy from Team Fortess 2, Yuna and Yuffie cosplayers, whoever donned the metal exterior of one PA-original Fruit Fucker 2000 (I swear that's its name), and the chick in the white robes with the contacts that only showed her pupils were standouts in this category. There were also a couple of guys running around in costumes promoting Ninjatown as well as an extensive photo op for a trio of impressively geared-up WoW fans. Probably half my photos are just cosplayers or promotional costumes.

I didn't want it to end up sounding like there wasn't anything worth doing there. Much to the contrary; it's just difficult to get to. For example, an ongoing issue for me is that the staff won't let us simply walk into the Bring Your Own PC (BYOPC) room to check out the custom rigs and talk to their creators about how they built them, get pictures, and just engage fellow attendees in conversation. Rather, you have to stand in a line of varying (but typically extensive) length to sign up just to enter the area, even if you're not going to play anything. I asked about this Friday to no avail, and it's the same story today. Guess I was hoping if I bugged them enough they'd let me in.