PAX, the most-attended events in Australia and North America celebrating all things gaming, brings its first online event to the global gaming community this September 12th to the 20th, 2020 as replacements for 2020’s PAX Aus and PAX West along with support from EGX, the largest gaming event in the UK.

With an international community joining the festivities, PAX Online will bring fan-favorite content 24 hours a day, over 9 days, all for free and most importantly a chance to connect with and make new friends.

PAX Online will serve as a digital space encompassing everything fans love about PAX Aus and West’s annual bash including surprising game reveals, hands-on demos, thrilling esports tournaments, a carefully curated selection in the Indie Showcase, as well as new partnerships bringing the virtual show floor to life as ReedPOP and Penny Arcade translate their creative vision into an accessible new format.

“First and foremost, PAX has always been about the incredible community created by everyone involved, from the attendees, panelists, exhibitors, and our amazing enforcers ” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder of PAX. “PAX Online will recreate that shared experience, along with everyone’s other favorite elements from game rxxcs eveals, exclusive hands-on experiences, the chance to hear from and speak with your favorite game developers, journalists as well as content creators, and so much more. Even if we can’t all meet in Seattle or Melbourne this year, we look forward to reconnecting with friends, and welcoming everyone to our new home, PAX Online.”

PAX Merchandise makes its return to PAX Online with fresh 2020 designs for fan-favorite letterman jackets, hoodies, and pins. Pre-orders are available now on the official website with more goodies in the pipeline as the festivities officially kick-off this fall.

Panel submissions are open to submit today and will close July 24th.

Developers that would like to register for the PAX Online Indie Showcase can submit now until July 24th, 2020.

Platforms for watching and participating will be shared in the coming weeks.

Everyone that works on STG is a volunteer. If you like the site and it’s contents please think about donating. Even a small amount helps keep the servers running.

The post Largest Gaming Events in Australia & USA Combine – PAX 2020 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The EB Games Expo comes around every year and with it the we get to glimpse and experience some of the latest games and preview others yet to be released. So what does 2016 have to offer? The end of year line-up is somewhat dismal to be honest, however while limited there are still some titles to get excited over.

The small array of games left over seemed to impact the size of the expo itself. All the big names were there, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and even Bethesda but all of them seemed to simply have less on offer than previous years.

Nintendo did have a lengthy playable demo for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but these were only available to a select few winners of a completion. I was disappointed there was no Pokémon Sun and Moon sneak peaks as it is due for release in November. While there was none of the new game to play there was certainly a whole dedicated Pokémon store which I certainly found myself emptying my wallet at.

Sony did have its new VR on display but with currently limited game options for the system there were only minor games available to experience. There was dedicated section for Drive Club VR experience but this didn’t really catch my attention.

There were a few games of note however. The biggest and most interesting would be the new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn. Having seen a demo of the sci-fi open world RPG with the developers at E3, it was one title I was very keen to get some hands on time with. Thankfully I did and managed to experience everything the demo had to offer. I have to say the gameplay available in the demo seems solid and I enjoyed what was there. The team did showcase a bit more of the features of game and it all looks stunning from the mechanical dinosaur like creatures to the concepts of the universe that are all definitely intriguing. The various components of combat seemed natural and the crafting system was also simple and intuitive. I really hope the rest of the game lives up to this small snap shot and I look forward to more of it.

The other game of interest for me at the Sony booth was Resident Evil VII. Unfortunately, I never got around to getting any time with this title. There were some other minor titles available but none that really otherwise grabbed my interest.

The Microsoft booth definitely held some interest as the next Gears instalment, Gears of War 4, was available to play. Both a small amount of story and the new and improved horde mode. Both, while still maintaining a reasonable amount of the same gears we know and love, also offered enough new and interesting aspects that I found quite enjoyable. I sincerely can’t wait to get my hands on the full game.

Having already obtained an addiction for Forza Horizon 3, I didn’t sit down and play it but I was glad to see it available at the Expo. Dead Rising 4 also made the showcase floor and showed off pretty much more of Dead Rising 3, if you had told me I was playing DLC, I might have believed you. Sadly, one game I would have liked to try, despite a less than positive reception, was ReCore but this was nowhere to be found.

Ubisoft did have a section with the most noticeable game on display, Just Dance 2016. Can’t say I am a big fan if this series, but there seemed enough gamers lined up to give it a go. Ubisoft did provide a playable demo for their up-coming title For Honour, a medieval combat type game that, as an observer, ran smoothly enough but lacked any game defining features.

Bethesda had a single booth set up dedicated to Dishonoured 2, which sadly due lines of 2 hours +, I did not get time to play but I look forward to playing this title on release as I am a big fan of the first entry.

The EB games mega store, in combination with Zing, had quite the array of nerdy merchandise. So there was plenty to lose your money on.

The highlight for me of the EB Games Expo was actually the Xbox Presentation who featured none other than the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer himself. While most the Xbox Presentation wasn’t anything new, a bit more of Gears of War 4 was showcased and Phil Spencer made comment on the direction of Xbox and the new consoles to be released, respectively the Xbox One S and Project Scorpio.

The EB Games Expo is an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the games around and the games to come. While I was certainly glad for the opportunity to play some of these games I feel this year’s EB Games Expo was certainly lacking luster that some of the previous years have provided for the gaming community.

The post EB Games Expo 2016 – Feature appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Star Citizen, Chris Roberts’ ambitious space combat/trading adventure game, has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the Most Crowd-funded Project (Overall), having secured $39,680,576 from fans as of 4 March 2014. Right now that figure stands at $61,448,595, sorry… $61,448,830. The game’s website dynamically updates and they’ve earned some more money since I started writing this article.

So how does such a niche game- basically a space combat simulator based on Roberts’ 1990s Wing Commander games garner this sort of fan backing?

I took myself along to the Forum Theatre in Melboune on the Saturday night of the PAX weekend to check out the Star Citizen fan event hosted by Chris Roberts, himself, to get some answers.

My press status often gets me some filthy looks when it comes to queue-jumping. I arrived half-hour early, general admittance was at 8:00pm but press and VIPs could get in from 7:00pm. I found the VIP queue at the front of the theatre went to join the back of the line, which snaked around the corner and right up the hill. This is a game that, even in Australia has a rather impressive amount of VIP backers.

Once inside I settled in with the throng of gaming press to watch Chris Roberts’ keynote presentation which was also being broadcasted live across the internet.

The show started with Cloud Imperium’s Aussie-born Vice President of Marketing, Sandi Gardiner in full space-pirate garb being arrested on the stage. Then on came the admiral, Chris Roberts himself, to riotous applause.

Star Citizen is a game unlike any other. Except, possibly, the similarly crowd-funded Elite: Dangerous which, unlike Star Citizen actually has a release date 16th of December this year.

Whereas Elite: Dangerous’ modular design has allowed the team at Frontier Developments to focus development on a finished product- with additional features coming later via downloadable content, Star Citizen it going to remain in alpha/beta for the foreseeable future.

That’s not to say that backers don’t get something for their money, they do. But whereas getting to play Elite just cost me fifty-quid, Star Citizen’s purchasing system is slightly more complex and a lot more expensive.

First you need a game package. Whilst the packages start at thirty bucks, you are not going to get access to the alpha or beta version of the game for this money- which seem absolutely pointless as you could be waiting years to play to finished game. $40 gets you a basic ship and a hanger to view it in.

You also get access to the beta (due the end of 2015), the Squadron 42 campaign and Star Citizen itself when they become available.

Basically the more you pay (up to US$15,000) the more stuff you get. There’s also an a-la-carte selection of extras with the Arena Commander – the game’s dogfighting module and the only actually pilotable component- available for US$5, hanger upgrades for up to US$50 and extra ships from US$25 to US$250 each.

You can start to see how all that pledge money is being obtained.

So why are fans parting with this, frankly, exorbitant amount of money?

There’s no doubt that a lot of Star Citizen’s success is down to Chris Roberts’ charismatic showmanship. Born in the north of England this British expat is a charming and enthusiastic speaker with an uncompromising vision for his ultimate game.

It’s certainly a vison that I can identify with and, from all those pledged millions, one shared by hundreds of thousands of others (650,458 others, for the website).

As Roberts started his presentation I got a glimpse into a future where I could play the game that I’ve always dreamt of playing. Where I lived in the future, owned a star-ship and basically did as I pleased.

Like Chris Roberts and a majority of the fans in the audience in the Forum Theatre, I’m a member of the Star Wars generation with fond memories of Elite and, later, the Wing Commander games. Roberts knows that he is not alone in wanting to explore the heavens.

In Star Citizen, Roberts offers fans the opportunity to live that childhood dream.

The big news at the Australian Star Citizen presentation was the unveiling of the game’s first-person shooter module. Instead of using the usual FPS tropes the guys at Denver-based IllFonic, the developers charged with getting Star Citizen’s pilots out of their seats, have gone back to basic principles.

Whilst the FPS module is at its heart a straight up shooter, the developers have spent a lot of time on details usually overlooked. As players around, first the just the head moves slightly and then the helmet follows, indicating that the pilot’s head and the helmet are not one thing- just like in real life.

Also, the way the pilot’s breathe mists up the helmet visor ever so slightly when breathing hard during and after a sprint. Very subtle, but very cool.

The demo presentation showed a team of pilots infiltrating a station, disrupting the gravity generator and then engaging in a zero-g firefight. It looked fantastic, and so realistic. The crowd went wild.

These are the things that Robert’s is marketing for his vison. A true-to-life sci-fi experience with an attention to detail that is second to none. Everything does what is does for a reason, from the control surfaces of the starships to the position of the rifle in the pilots hands. It all has to be just right.

The other not-so-secret of Star Citizen’s success is the way the game’s developer Cloud Imperium Games engages with its fans through events like the one in Melbourne, internet TV Shows like The Next Great Starship- whereby teams design their own starship, with the winning ship featuring in the game – and video podcasts like Around the Verse fleshing out Star Citizen’s universe and the people bringing it to life.

The sense of community is overwhelming and necessary to propel would could be seen as a very niche game genre to such great heights.

How this will all fit together? I have no idea, and I’m not so sure that Roberts’ does either. I remain sceptical with the Star Citizen business model and the way the product is being drip fed to a hungry audience. With the alpha slots taken by early investors and beta still a year away, as much as I’d like to get involved with this game I’m still concerned that it’ll never see the light of day.

As cynical as I’d like to be about the game’s almost financing model, I don’t think Chris Robert’s is selling snake oil. In fact, I can’t help by being incredibly impressed and have developed a great deal of respect for Roberts and his team and their uncompromising vison for Star Citizen.

They have got a long was to go, but I’m looking forward to following them on their journey to, what I hope is going to be, the release of the sci-fi adventure game that I’ve wanted to play since I was a kid.

The post Melbourne Welcomes its Star Citizens – Feature appeared first on Shane the Gamer.