PAX AUS 2024

People of Perth and Beyond, your very own Perth Gaming Crew (PGC) can safely say that gaming dreams really do come true!

Yes, for their first time ever, Jonathan and Johnny ventured beyond their Perth and Canberra borders all the way to the Melbourne Convention Centre to experience the glory that is better known as PAX AUS!

For the uninitiated, PAX (originally the Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming festivals held annually across Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia and luckily for us Aussies, Melbourne as well. At the heart of PAX is an enormous gaming expo hall where PAX goers can get their hands on with the latest AAA games from publishers like SEGA and Ubisoft, international and home-grown Indie games, gaming specific tech like the recently launched Steam Deck, a classic gaming area kitted out with arcades and retro games from every era, gaming tournaments and prizes, and even an entire second hall dedicated specifically to tabletop gaming.

Beyond the expo halls, PAX goers can also attend a range of panels from developers on upcoming games, current issues and trends in the gaming industry, speedrunning walkthroughs and tournaments, cosplay competitions, a handheld gaming lounge to just chillax and meet with other gamers, an abundance of gaming and pop culture merchandise, and of course photo booths spread everywhere the eye can see to highlight some of the biggest games this year like Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. There were even Cult of the Lamb inspired weddings, we kid you not!

So, with so much to see and do where did your very own crew start, and what did they get up to?

Johnny attended all three days, kicking off his PAX AUS experience on Friday morning with his much-revered content creator badge, which allowed him early entry before the gamer masses ventured in. Jonathan missed the Friday session (very reluctantly!) and arrived on day two, and from there the two combined their PAX AUS roaming powers and crammed in as much as they possibly could, all of course for the People of Perth and Beyond.

For Johnny, PAX AUS absolutely delivered the goods when it came to panels, and he saw himself engrossed in the Civilization VII developer panel, as well as a fireside chat on Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game. Johnny was also delighted to join a crowd of speedrunning fans and curious onlookers to see live-streamed speedrun sessions of Super Mario Bros. 3, and best of all, his favourite game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Oh, and lets not forget that Johnny fully committed to PAX AUS cause, sporting a legit head-to-toe Luigi cosplay outfit (torchlight included!) on day two, doing the Luigi’s Mansion series very proud indeed.

For Jonathan, PAX AUS was all about mixing in with the latest games and their developers. Getting his hands on with game-of-the-year contender Metaphor Refantazio in the SEGA booth, as well as some Indie standouts like Footy Bash, The Drifter, and Project Storm, made all those years of missing E3 as a child, and finally attending PAX AUS, completely worth it. Scratching the retro gaming itch, Jonathan also got his hands on not one, but two holy grails from the retro gaming era in the Classic Gaming space, the Nintendo Gamecube and Sega Dreamcast, and managed to rope in other keen PAX goers to play multiplayer games of both Mario Kart Double Dash and Soul Calibur.

While the lads also enjoyed watching a live episode of the Press Start Australia podcast, collecting a badge at the Mouse P.I For Hire booth, scoring some merch for their families, and taking photos with a range of cosplayers, it would be safe to say that their shared highlight was meeting Aussie gaming celebrities Hex (Stephanie Bendixen) and Bajo (Steven O’Donnel), the duo best known for their late 2000s ground-breaking show on ABC’s Goodgame. What lovely people they are too.

Keen to see what the PAX AUS fuss is all about? Need some survival tips on how to make the most of your PAX AUS experience? Check out our episodes where we got pumped for PAX AUS, and also talked about our experiences after finally, after all these years, making the dream come true.

--- Jon @ PGC