It’s no secret that we haven’t been able to come together at PAX Aus in person since 2019.

But if we’ve learned anything from sinking every available second into Elden Ring, it’s that the surefire recipe for success is to keep doing forward rolls over and over until you reach the desired outcome. And friends, lemme tell you, we have been doing so many forward rolls in preparation for the following announcement.

The PAX Aus community will come together live and in person on October 7th – 9th, 2022 for the biggest celebration of gaming in the Southern Hemisphere.

Badges for PAX Aus 2022 will be available for purchase from Midday AEDT on March 22nd, 2022.

“There is nothing quite like the feeling you get from standing on the PAX show floor. The whole team wants to get back to it just as much as you, and we’re already hard at work to give our community the event they deserve,” said Lauren Luciani, Event Director at Reed Exhibitions. “It’s our honour and our privilege to be able to put on the event, and we can’t wait for this October.”

PAX Aus will cap off Melbourne International Games Week (October 1st – 9th 2022) with all requisite and appropriate thunder, including the world’s biggest game publishers teasing upcoming releases, a three-day schedule jam-packed with panels, concerts, tournaments, and more, and a showfloor celebrating the best that the Australian gaming community has to offer.

“PAX means so much to so many,” said Luke Lancaster, Head of Content & Partnerships for PAX Aus. “I say, with a huge amount of reluctance and insistence from our marketing team, that it is downright ‘poggers’. With three years of planning going into PAX Aus 2022, strap in for everything you love about the show, as well as some brand new stuff we’ll no doubt tease you with over the coming months.”

PAX Aus is produced by RX (Reed Exhibitions) in conjunction with Penny Arcade. PAX Aus was the first international PAX event and has brought passionate gaming communities together in Melbourne since 2013.

Incorporating exhibitors with highly anticipated games, community tournaments, pro esports competitions, industry panels, and a plethora of gaming opportunities, PAX Aus is the biggest event of its kind in Australia.

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With less than 9 sleeps until PAX Aus Online, we’ve decided to give you a little peek at what’s in store on October 8th to 10th 2021.

PAX Aus Online encompasses everything that fans have grown to love from the annual event with the legendary Omegathon, Speedrunning marathons, and 10 new Aus Indie Showcase winners. Taking place across Twitch, Discord, Steam, and our website, jump in for panels, games, community events, games, and more games.

The three-day event will be kickstarted by Among Us developers, Innersloth, who will be delivering the keynote address at 11:30am AEDT on Friday October 8th – a talk that is bound to play witness to a bit of betrayal, sabotage and general hijinx.

RPG fans can tune in for a star-studded 40th Anniversary actual-play of Call of Cthulhu, a spicy “C” Team charity special and the return of PAX Quest, as well as a host of other dice-fuelled goodness.

Scratching a AAA itch? Don’t miss panels with developers including fireside conversations with DEATHLOOP’s Dinga Bakaba and The Elder Scrolls Online’s Matt Firor and Rich Lambert.

If that’s not enough, there’s dozens of other panels (dozens!) being shown across the three days of the show, with topics including the power of ethics in narrative choice, gaming accessibility, education, indigenous narratives, and esports.

A virtual expo hall and Discord channel provide the perfect roadmap for this virtual playing field, pulling dedicated community spaces for discussions, giveaways and a brand new PAX Explorer text adventure that will almost make you forget you are watching from home.

For those wondering how to literally drape themselves in PAX, we’ve got you covered with the release of official 2021 merchandise, available from 10am on Thursday 30 September at store-paxaus.myshopify.com. From cute camp-themed PAX tees to beanies, mugs and water bottles, PAX merch has everything you need to get that sweet, retail-driven serotonin hit!

With under 2 weeks to go until the show, it’s time to lock in that new attire, assemble the virtual crew, and buckle into that gaming chair because we can guarantee that PAX Aus Online is gonna be much more entertaining than that 1000th Zoom call you had to do. Because we’re all about achievable goals this lockdown.

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PAX Aus recently announced that the country’s gaming community would once again be coming
together in person on October 8th – 10th 2021 for the largest and most diverse celebration of games in the
Southern Hemisphere.

Despite a slight inconvenience, PAX Aus is ready for ticket launch 2.0 (the improved edition).

And guess what? It’s right now! Truly.

There are limited quantities of Early Bird 3-Day tickets available and Early Bird Single Day tickets for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday available.

“We are very excited that PAX Aus will return as a live event in 2021, but rest assured, the safety of our community is our absolute priority,” said Jono Whyman, Event Director at Reed Exhibitions.

“Working closely with our partners and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC), we are taking into account every necessary precaution for public health following COVID-19.”

These precautions include an updated refund policy and limited ticket sales to reflect the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre’s current capacity restrictions.

In 2021 PAX Aus will again form the centrepiece of the Victorian Government’s Melbourne International GamesWeek (October 2 – 10th 2021), Asia Pacific’s largest digital games celebration, and will still be bringing all requisite and appropriate thunder, including the world’s biggest game publishers teasing upcoming releases, a three-day schedule jam-packed with panels, concerts, tournaments, and more, and a showfloor celebrating the best that the Australian gaming community has to offer.

“We’re excited, humbled, and, honestly, a little awestruck at just how much being a part of the PAX Aus community means to everyone,” said Luke Lancaster, Content Manager for PAX Aus. “While I’ve been advised that laurels are a wonderful place to rest, we’re saying ‘screw you, weird leaf hat.’ On top of everything we’ll normally do, we’re serving up some new stuff for tabletop, cosplay, and content creators to make PAX Aus 2021 the show you all deserve. But like, deserve in a good way.”

Let’s summarize: PAX Aus is back October 8-10, 2021. Grab your tickets now. Get ready to embark on an epic three-day journey. See you at PAX?

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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.

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The two biggest gaming shows in the southern hemisphere will come together for the ultimate celebration of games and gaming culture in 2018.

For the past five years, PAX Aus has welcomed gamers of all stripes home with three days’ worth of massive console, PC, handheld, VR and tabletop freeplay gaming areas, esports stages, over 120 panels across 6 theatres, live concerts, and more, and all of that is coming back in 2018.

This year, PAX Aus will also play host to EB Expo, including a dedicated area for the largest publishers in the world to showcase their upcoming titles, developer presentations in the EB Expo Live Theatre, and Australia’s biggest pop-up EB Games store.

You want more major publishers? More hands-on gameplay? More panels? Well, you got it.

PAX Aus 2018 will take place from 26th to the 28th of October 2018 and will feature over 180 companies from around the world, thousands of playable games and over 150 hours of on-stage content. Three days can barely contain it. The event will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, as part of Creative Victoria’s MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK.

“PAX Aus grows every year, and in 2018, EB Expo is the red mushroom to our Italian plumber,” said Jono Whyman, Event Manager of PAX Aus. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with EB Games to level up PAX Aus and continue to put on the biggest, best gaming show for our die-hard fans and new members of the PAX family.”

Debra McGrath, EB Games Event Director, echoed Jono’s statement: “When we created the EB Expo in 2011, our aim was to share our love of video games with as many people as possible. Our vision for the future is to create a world-class event that becomes a landmark on the global gaming calendar. After an exhaustive search we have found a kindred spirit in the awesome team at PAX Australia, who share our vision.” Debra continued, “Together, with the full support of the Australian publisher community, the IGEA and Creative Victoria we are committed to creating an event that gives Australians the experience they deserve.”

PAX is a festival for gamers to celebrate gaming culture. First held in Seattle in 2004. PAX connects the world’s leading game publishers with their most avid and influential fans, PAX expanded with a second show in Boston in 2010 and a third in San Antonio in 2015, making it the three largest gaming shows in North America. The first international PAX was held in Melbourne in 2013, and has since become Australia’s largest gaming festival.

The brand also expanded to include a dedicated tabletop expo PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, US, and will launch the new Powered by PAX events in Paris, France this April 2018).

EB Games Australia head office is located in Queensland, with its EB Games and Zing Pop Culture stores operating in every Australian State and Territory. EB Games Australia is part of GameStop Corp. Currently EB Games and Zing Pop Culture have 423 retail stores in Australia. The company sells new and preowned video game software, hardware and accessories for video game systems from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

In addition, the company sells PC entertainment software, related accessories, trading cards, board games and other pop culture merchandise.

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At Pax, nestled among the AAA behemoths from Sony, Microsoft and Ubisoft is the Indie arcade. The arcade included a huge number of games developed by Australian and other independent developers and small publishers. Here’s some initial impressions of four of the best that I saw.

First up is the mobile game Paperbark.

With a look inspired by the storybooks by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley that are go-tos for Australian children, you take on the role of a wombat exploring the Australian outback. Grown out of a university project from RMIT, it uses a custom shader to create a look that simulates water colours. Its both unique and familiar to many of us who grew up in Australia. It’s beautiful to see in action, and mixes gentle exploration with education about our beautiful, varied environment. And showing off the many different aspects of the Australian bush is a key aim for developers Paper House. “Australia isn’t just a big desert” asserted the developers, and it shows in areas such as the rich wetlands shown for the first time on the PAX Australia show floor. I can’t wait to play it, and will have my chance early next year, first on iOS, then later on PC.

Ever since Necrobarista was featured by Kotaku Australia, I have been keen to try the game, which has been developed by an Australian studio, out for myself. It’s a gorgeous cinematic visual novel featuring a custom shader for the impressive cel-shaded look. Even though it uses common development tools, it manages to avoid the common “look” those games can sometimes be saddled with.

The brief demo that was on the show floor featured an introduction to the story, with a surprise at the end that will be familiar to any Australian. My time with the game only strengthened my interest for it, and I’m looking forward to its final release sometime in 2018.

The third game that spiked my interest was only of the most popular indies on the show floor, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption. Coming out for PlayStation 4, Xbox and possibly for Nintendo Switch, it’s an impressive Souls-like that will feature seven very different bosses that represent each of the deadly sins. With impressive graphics built on Unreal Engine 4, it’s targeting the “triple-I” space, prioritising quality of experience over breadth of content.

So how is this different from any other game in this quickly-growing genre? Well, the main point of differentiation is that it completely flips over the standard levelling system. Instead of starting out weak and growing to become godlike, you start with all your abilities, but each boss requires a specific debuff. In the demo I saw, the pirouetting dancer required you to give up a good portion of your health before you could start, making dodging and avoiding attacks all the more important. In motion it looked fantastic, and a smooth 60FPS helped keep the action responsive.

While there is no indication of price at the moment, the publisher has said that it will reflect the amount of content in the game. Look for Sinner: Sacrifice Redemption sometime in late 2017.

Another impressive Australian game from Melbourne-based Atomizer Games, Heist is a black and white stealth game, set in a 1930s noir world that would make Miss Fisher proud. Sneak, avoid guards and steal, all set to a soundtrack that perfectly captures the spirit of the era.

Heist will be coming out on Steam after being previously greenlit. It’s a game that seems perfectly suited to the Switch too, but as yet there are no plans to bring it to Nintendo’s newest console.

With the closure of most large Australian game studio, there was real concern that the industry as a whole was at risk. But due to new technology, economic structures (such as early access) and pure enthusiasm, Australian and other indies have proven the viability of existing outside the orbit of AAA studios. I was supremely impressed with the level of quality that was on show at Pax, and that many were sponsored in some way by the Victorian State Government. In many ways the Australian game industry has never been stronger, with a wealth of ideas being slowly honed into games that I can’t wait to play as soon as they’re out.

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Hot on the heels of the release of the latest range of processors, Coffee Lake, Intel has partnered with MSY at the Pax Aus convention.

In conversation with STG at Pax Aus, Intel has revealed the latest range of Optane Storage, the 900P, now with ultra-low latency, and far greater speeds than even the fastest m.2 solid state drive, while using the same amount of PCIe lanes as a standard m.2 drive. Aimed at professional content creators or those who want only the very best for their system, the new storage options are made for the most discerning gamers.

STG also discussed Intel’s latest series of chips, the Coffee Lake.

As single-core IPC (instructions per clock) has only increased marginally each chip generation, chip makers have had to think of new ways of providing extra power to eager content creators and gamers. In response, with Intel’s 8th generation the company has moved the budget core i3 to the core and thread count previously populated by the i5, and the i5 to six-core core and thread count.

The chips have performed exceptionally in review benchmarks, but there has been some questions about Intel’s commitment to the value end of the spectrum. Coffee Lake was announced without confirmation about their Pentium range, whose G4560 processor is a fan favourite with budget PC builders.

Intel was able to confirm that it knows how popular that processor is, but that it is only just able to get the G4560 in stock in Australia and New Zealand due to excessive interest from bitcoin miners. It also was able to confirm it was not exiting the value market, and to look forward to announcements in the future. While not confirmation that a successor to the G4560 will be announced (perhaps moving to the same four-core, four-thread count of the Coffee Lake i3 series), it should give hope to those disappointed by Intel’s announcements so far on the Pentium range.

Intel Optane SSD 900P Series AIC

With six core chips now becoming mainstream thanks to AMD’s Ryzen and the new Coffee Lake Core i5 and Core i7 chips, game developers and game engine software engineers have a challenge to move from single-threaded or low-thread count engines to ones that can take advantage of the extra power available in modern systems.

Intel spoke about the “surprisingly large” team of software engineers working with developers and game engine makers (such as for Unreal or Unity) to help transition the industry to the new multi-core world. With Intel’s market share, Intel is confident it can help move the industry forward.  

After a series of updates to CPUs, that while industry-leading, have not been revolutionary, this is perhaps now the time to look at how the extra cores and overclocking potential could help your build. Intel is certainly trying its hardest to make the case, but it faces the fiercest conversation it has in years. This can only be good for gamers, with more choice spurring the industry forward.

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