Live Magazine Christmas 2016 ISSUE Live Magazine December 2016 Issue | Page 174

PAX AUS
PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) returned in 2016 enticing those of
the gaming community out for 3
days of celebrating gaming culture. Many we spoke to were
returning attendees, proving the
PAX community is growing strong
after 4 years on the Australian
convention circuit.

PAX provides a unique space for
this community to connect the
players and the fans with game
publishers, eSports stars, developers and industry representatives. From indie developers to industry heavyweights all have the
chance to showcase and connect with the people that make
their games great – those who
love, adore and most importantly play their games. This is what
makes PAX special and a unique
event for the Australian stage of
gaming.
However you play PAX wants you.
From the huge stands of PS4 and
Xbox, Tech giants and big ticket
games as you moved through the
excited crowds past the flashing
lights to the stage of the Arena,
people gathered squeezing into
seats all wearing their favourite eSports team jerseys they
purchased from PAX. Here PAX
hosted the ESL Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive AU & NZ Championship Finals and many tourna-

ments throughout the weekend,
highlighting the local talent and
giving their fans the opportunity
to meet and cheer them on.

Moving on from the Arena you are
met with a real treat – and I’m not
talking about the Skyrim sweet
rolls that were so highly sought
after each day. The Indie developers have a serious stamp on the
PAX map. A great chunk of floor
space is dedicated to the colourful and often swamped booths
of games like Mallow Drops, Orwell and Hyper Jam. Most gamers know the big titles – they’ve
pre-ordered them, have seen
walkthroughs, trailers and previewed the game before playing
it at PAX. This is where the Indies
win. You don’t know what you’re
going to find and are often pleasantly surprised – the journey from
booth to booth is part of the fun.
When you move through to the
next hall you really find where
PAX shows its heart. The tabletop area is huge- I mean you
probably won’t find an Australian event where there is such a
large gathering of players playing
this variety of games. Magic the
Gathering ran events all weekend
– decks of Kaladesh selling like
hotcakes. The fun was brought by
games like The Ultimate Drinking
Game, expansion packs of Cards
against humanity and the games

that were likely to come out at
night after a full day of shopping
and playing. New card games like
Final Fantasy were being taught
in their own tabletop areas, multiple booths selling every board
game you can think of, precious
stone D20 sets, miniatures with a
painting area – this was tabletop
mecca.
The really amazing part of this
is that there was barely a spare
seat. The players were coming
together with people that shared
the same love of the game –
complete strangers outside PAX,
but here they were friends playing their favourite game. A place
for players – whatever your game
- PAX is where you come to play.
Every person can find their place
at PAX. You have the free to play
PC areas, crowds watching the
speedruns, retro gaming area,
tabletop, pinball, console – and
of course this year you couldn’t
miss the next dimension of gaming – VR.
There was a VR set up on most of
the major booths. From HTC Vive
to Playstation VR the lengthy lines
for these experiences showed
that this is not a fad. The next level of gaming was seen as players
walked around ducking, turning
and shooting with their headsets
on. It didn’t really make sense un-