PAX Aus is only a few days away, and each time I look at the schedule, I find myself adding another vendor or panel to my wishlist! After so many events in Australia this year, I seriously thought I had seen everything. I was wrong. Very excitedly, over-enthusiastically WRONG.
PAX is PAX is PAX. And it is global. This time last year, I was on my first ever GeekMom assignment, flying from Sydney to Melbourne to attend PAX Aus 2015. It was also my first ever PAX, and I loved every minute of it. If ever there was a way to take over the world with gaming, then PAX will be the Gateway.
PAX Aus is held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. It is a fantastic location, perfectly catering to the diversity of offerings.
You have the Exhibition Hall: a HUGE space, divided into separate areas for computer games and tabletop games (with a little buffer zone in between for some lazy handheld gaming). I’m pretty sure this is standard for any PAX event, but comparative to my previous events in Sydney, this stands out. Even the CG area is divided into eSports, computer equipment, PAX Rising (for upcoming new games), and a whole heap of other stuff. The Tabletop area is filled with areas to sit down and work your way through their free game library. Last year, I loved strolling around this area with my Wing Man Dan—but alas, he is unable to attend this year so I will have to infiltrate a few games on my own. Keep an eye out for the Lab Coat.
The Exhibition Hall can become quite overwhelming, with all the noise and flashy lights and crowds and stuff. The AFK (Away From Keyboard) Room is a great place to chill out and escape it all, even just for a few minutes. There are also plenty of coffee and food haunts around the building and area. My favorite place to escape to is across the road, alongside the river. Perfect for cosplay viewing as well.
You also have the Convention Hall: so many conference rooms and panels… and stairs. I love the panels. I love the heated discussion with each panel. (“Heated” in Australia is a fairly light interpretation. Think the stereotypical kindness of Canadians, but it’s more to do with us being chilled out.) Seriously, the panels are great and comfy, but my favorites always seem to be 10 minutes after each other, at opposite ends of the Convention Centre.
So what am I excited about? I always love PAX Rising, and I’ve lined up a few interviews. The part that really surprised me (in the best possible way): Out of my 10 interviews with co-founders/developers, 7 of them are females!! I know I shouldn’t be surprised, and to be completely honest I wish I weren’t. But my previous experience has been with male developers at these events. And considering some questions I have in mind, it’s nice to see more diversity in the people I am talking with.
Here are some of the games I’m looking at:
- Mallow Drops
- The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti
- Damsel
- Forts
- Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Yeah, I’m greedy–I already saw this at EB Games Expo and I really want to have a second look. It’s just that damn pretty!)
- Forza Horizons 3 (I have a review article for that coming up… and I want to play it again.)
- MIGW – A Township Tale
- And whatever tabletop games I can lay my hands on…
Keep an eye out for me wandering around PAX Aus—you can’t miss the Lab Coat. I’ll also be sharing everything on the Social Media again: @evilgeniusmum1 on Twitter and @evilgeniusmum on Instagram. GeekMom will be sharing it all again at a more reasonable US time.
