Dispatches from PAX Prime 2014: The Game Industry Rumble Drops Playful Antagonism into the Squared Circle

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There's been a certain... let's say, "assholish" segment of the gaming crowd who recently raised a stink about what they mistakenly viewed as a sin deserving the dreaded "-gate" suffix. I'd use stronger words, but I'm pretty sure our little website is rated T for Teen.

It's a wonder these misguided souls weren't out protesting PAX Prime's Game Industry Rumble en masse, because, on the surface, it confirms all of their suspicions. Developers! Journalists! On stage together, *gasp* having fun? If I didn't know any better, I'd say our insular industry might be capable of fostering friendships between these two not-so-different camps. But I guess it's easier to craft manifestos, cranky vlogs, and death threats than to pull out Occam's razor and let it do its thing.

Being the type of person who realizes people traveling within the same sphere might, in fact, develop personal relationships—until we're all mandated to return to our Skinner Boxes at the end of a long work day—I viewed the Game Industry Rumble as intended: a way for notable industry figures to blow off steam via WWE posturing and an ugly, ugly game. This morning's Rumble began with the seemingly endless roll call and theatrical entrances of familiar faces, from Polygon to Disney Interactive, who proceeded to fight it out in on an unlikely battlefield: the N64's Wrestlemania 2000.

I can't lie: I know absolutely nothing about professional wrestling after I lost interest in the early '90s—even typing "WWE" feels slightly wrong to me. And I mostly associate wrestling games with my time at GameStop, where we collected enough N64 WWF/WCW trade-ins to make the titular Hoarders of Hoarders look like rank amateurs. But the time I spent at the Rumble felt like a celebration—laced with the appropriate amount of irony—of the N64's multiplayer charms. Nintendo's SNES follow-up had its problems, but I spent more time engaging in low-polygon couch co-op as a teenager than I'd like to admit.

In case you're wondering, Wrestlemania 2000 hasn't aged well. Like any N64 game that attempted realism, its characters look less like human beings and more like strange papercraft mutants who carved the faces off of professional wrestlers and affixed them to their terrible, featureless skulls. And the real joy comes from the strange disconnect of seeing an entire audience explode with joy over these visually imperfect recreations of glistening muscle men. Signs are hoisted, chants are bellowed, and the entire event is framed in a narrative that would be feel at home in the WWE.

I couldn't stay for long, but the Game Industry Rumble made me appreciate just how far this assembled group of 30 were willing to take a joke. Just as video games seem to be brimming over with negativity, it's refreshing to see a crowd that isn't afraid to be silly.