PAX AUS Wrap Up

PAX AUS is a 3 day gaming culture festival that involves tabletop gaming, arcade gaming, and video gaming held annually at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was originally created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic because they wanted to attend a show exclusively for gaming. This is the 6th year of PAX AUS and my 4th year in a row attending the convention.  

Last year I became good friends with most of the people who competed in the Omegathon so I was fortunate enough to get into the expo hall an hour early thanks to last year’s runner up Ari. When I stepped into the hall I immediately heard the dolset tones of the Super Smash Bros theme music and to my left stood the gigantic mural depicting all of the playable fighters in Smash Ultimate. Obviously that was the first game that I played and it was simply amazing. The graphics look stunning and the characters move with the precision you’d expect from a Smash game. I tried out Inkling Boy who was quite a handful and will need some practice to get good with and I also had a go with one of my mains Link who will also need some practice with his new move set. 

I then decided to get in early and play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey simply because they were handing out these badass Spartan helmets when you went through the demo. I made sure to let the Ubisoft employees know that I had already logged over 40 hours with the game and loved it. And boy does it just look stunning on a 4K TV. Really makes me want to go out and invest in a better one for myself. 

Merch was my next big priority and this year I decided that I was finally going to jump on board the pin train that a lot of people who attend PAX relish in. I ended up getting the limited edition PAX AUS 2018 pin that spins, as well as the Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart sets along with some other pins that I set aside to trade with. 

My friends and I then tasked ourselves with finding where we could get the elusive Sweet Roll and Fallout 76 pins. Eventually we discovered that Bethesda were doing a giveaway in the queue hall so we made our way there and secured a great spot up the front. Two of my mates ended up winning physical Pip-Boys while I scored a 4 disk vinyl of the music from Skyrim. I was then lucky enough to be able to trade one of my pins for the beautiful Sweet Roll which made my day. But my search wasn’t over because I was still missing the Fallout 76 pin. 

This lead me to the Bethesda In Conversation panel where the first 200 people would either get a Sweet Roll or Fallout 76 pin. Unfortunately I got given another Sweet Roll but good news I was able to trade with a friend who had two of the Fallout 76 pins. Great success!!

The Bethesda In Conversation panel featured Vice President, Pete Hines, Producer/Designer of The Elder Scrolls Online, Matt Firor and Studio Director of the Doom and Rage series, Tim Willits. The panel was a big recollection of their lives to date as well as a small look forward at what the future holds. It was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I then had a walk around the tabletop gaming area and noticed that Cherry were selling these mystery Pokemon trading card game boxes with the chance to win a whole booster box or graded card for only $25. This seemed like an offer too good to pass up so I bought one and I was so lucky and won a 8.5 graded Charizard from the Evolutions set. I have always wanted to own a graded Pokemon card and it will be something that I cherish forever.  The last thing I did on day 1 of PX AUS was attend the Zelda panel commemorating and celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was a wonderful and nostalgic trip down memory lane revisiting all of the things that were fantastic and made the game still stand up to this day while also laughing about everything that annoyed the heck out of us when we played the game. It was such a great panel and I really hope that this kind of thing continues to happen for all of those games that have milestone anniversaries.  Day 2 began with a Pokemon panel all about how the franchise has evolved with regards to Pokemon Go along with the trading card and video game competitive scene. It was a very interesting inside look at how competitive players view the series and how the imminent release of Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee will help to bridge the gap between casual and hardcore Pokemon players.  I then sat it on the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Let’s Play panel which was simply audience members playing the game with commentary from a panel of games journalists. The panel was really good as it allowed me to watch solid gameplay so I was able to watch how some of the new fighters handle as well as how some items and assist trophies work.  PAX Rising was my next point of call which is where all the indie games were housed for the event. The first game to grab my attention was Speaking Simulator by Affible Games, a physics game about a robot struggling to infiltrate human society using nothing but a prototype tongue and lips to have conversations. It was absolutely hilarious to play and everyone should give it a go.  I then had a go at Hunt ‘n Sneak a manic party game set in a world where mystical creatures dwell. You either play as a Pixie who do all of the sneaking or a Gobbler who tries to hunt down the Pixies. It is totally a game that I could see me and my friends playing during a game night.  It was then time for me to have a go at the Sonic Mania tournament in which I was sadly the only female entrant and was told by enforcers that I was only the 3rd lady to enter a handheld tournament yet. The competition was fierce and I only made it to the second round but being the very first tournament I had ever entered and just the simple fact that I was representing the women of PAX was so rewarding for me. However, some people felt the need to insult and demean me online for simply having a go. It’s just so sad because these people go around talking smack and yet didn’t even have the guts to compete in the tournament themselves most likely because they knew that they would have come dead last. Perhaps without this unnecessary persecution more females would be inclined to partipate in the tournaments held at PAX AUS.  Day 3 was a massive day for me as I spent majority of it in the expo hall playing all of the games I’m keen for. The first thing on my list was the VR Freeplay area. As someone who had never tried VR before it was something that I knew I needed to experience. Thankfully, the wait wasn’t too long and I was hooked up to a HTC Vive, a virtual reality headset which uses "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment. The game I demoed was Beat Saber, a rhythm game created by Czech based indie studio Hyperbolic Magnetism in which the player slashes blocks representing musical beats with a pair of energy blades resembling lightsabers. It was simply an incredible experience that made me feel like a musical Jedi from Star Wars. And as a Physical Education teacher I can see so much future potential for technology like this to help our kids become and stay more physically active.  I then waited in line for what seemed like an eternity to have a go of the upcoming Pokemon title, Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee. I was a bit skeptical of the game and the Pokeball peripheral but after trying it out I immediately placed my preorder and began playing Pokemon Go again. I can see this as the perfect game to help bridge the gap between casual and hardcore players. 

Next up was Jump Force, a game that really caught my attention when it was revealed at E3 this year. It plays very similar to your regular fighting game and looks very polished. I think it will be a very fun game to play with friends. 

I then got my hands on the Spiro Reignited Trilogy and it was simply charming. I never played the original games so it was such a joy to play a game that was very reminiscent to something like Banjo-Kazooie. The graphics look slick and I’m very much looking forward to picking up the full game next week. 

Another long line found me at a game that was recommended to me by a friend who had seen the game while at PAX West called Untitled Goose Game. You play as a horrible goose in a game that combines sandbox style simulation with slapstick style shtick and lets players loose on a sleepy village. You make your way around town, from the village green to the high street shops, setting up pranks, stealing hats and generally ruining everyone’s day. It was hilarious to simply watch people play the game and see how they went about completing the tasks set for the goose. Im thrilled that this game will be coming to the Switch next year and that it is a homegrown title developed here in Melbourne. The level of creativity of devs here never ceases to amazing me!! I was fortunate enough to book a spot to have a go at a demo for Days Gone using the PlayStation Experience App. The demo had us trying to take out a massive hoard or zombies and it was nearly impossible to achieve. This game looks like it’s going to be a really tough challenge. I don’t know if I’m sold on it, but I am very intrigued. 

Kingdom Hearts 3 was the last game on my list that I wanted to try out and it didn’t disappoint. I got to play part of the Toy Story level and it was just so nostalgic hearing all those original voice actors reprising their roles. I’m so glad that they have been able to achieve this for many of the key Disney characters set to feature in the game. However, I can’t say I’m really a fan of the simplistic gameplay and I just don’t like Sora and all of his anime mates. It’s just not my cup of tea. I’m only here for the Disney stuff and from what I played in the demo that will be enough to get me past the rest of the stuff I don’t like as much. 

As I was leaving the expo hall I got a quick glimpse of a VR game called Double Shot which blends together bartending, shooting and the 80's. Doused in neon and riddled with bullets, the game looked frantic but extremely fun. And the mechanic of physically pouring and mixing drinks looked incredible.  The last thing I always do at PAX AUS is attend the Omegathon Final. The game this year was Street Fighter II which I loved because next to Mortal Kombat it is one of the best fighting games to watch people play. 

PAX AUS is a standout event across the board and continues to become better and better as the years progress. The event continues to be well run, planned and organised and it is great to see that the individuals running the show keep finding ways to make to event run smoothly and effectively. If you like video games or board games this is definitely something you need to check out next year. 

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