PAX East draws nearly 70,000

The Penny Arcade Expo's West Coast confab may have been the first open-to-the-public gaming event organized by its eponymous webcomic creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, but it is no longer the biggest. After speaking with the creative duo's business director Robert Khoo, Big Download reports today that last weekend's PAX East drew a crowd of 69,500 attendees to the three-day event in Boston.

PAX East's attendance just edged out PAX Prime 2010, which saw more than 67,600 gamers pack into the Washington State Convention Center last September. The East Coast event's 2011 draw far outpaced the expo's maiden run last year, which drew 53,000 attendees.

"The venue we have this year is massive--it's legitimately 2-3x larger than last year's venue, so the amount of breathing room was fantastic," Khoo said of this year's event. "I didn't hear a single complaint about overcrowding. I never thought I would see the day."

This year's East Coast show featured a keynote address from Jane McGonigal, author of Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, as well as a panel from key developers on BioShock Infinite. GameSpot also caught up with a variety of game creators, including Irrational's Ken Levine, Robot Entertainment's Chris Rippy, and Supergiant Games' Greg Kasavin.

For more on this year's show, check out GameSpot's complete PAX East coverage.