PAX Australia Returns with a new dates and a new home

Monday 21 October, 2013 - The world’s premier games festival, Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), will return to Melbourne in 2014 after a critically successful sold out inaugural year in 2013. Community demand will see the show move to the larger Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, to be held from 31 October to 2 November 2014.

Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business Louise Asher announced the highly anticipated return of PAX Australia to Melbourne and said it was a boost for Victoria’s flourishing games industry.

“PAX is the world’s leading games festival and the return of PAX Australia to Melbourne for the second consecutive year highlights Victoria’s reputation as a key hub for games development in the Asia Pacific region,” Ms Asher said.

“This year’s event in Melbourne represented the first time that PAX had been held outside of the United States – not only was it a great coup for Melbourne but the event was a runaway success.”

The 2013 show completely sold out of tickets months before the event itself, as a result, PAX Australia 2014 will move to the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre in order to increase its capacity.

Ms Asher said the Victorian Coalition Government is a major sponsor of the event and played an important role in securing PAX Australia 2013 and 2014 for Victoria.

“PAX Australia is a fantastic opportunity to show off the breadth and diversity of Victoria’s games development community,” Ms Asher said.

PAX Australia 2014 will build on the success of the 2013 event and will combine exciting international and local content with community events. International guests, speakers, musicians and developers will join local game industry representatives to showcase games and community events in Australia. PAX Australia is also supported by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association and the Game Developers Association of Australia.

Robert Khoo, President of Penny Arcade said Melbourne has been an incredible home for PAX, and the Victorian Government has been as accommodating as the fans.

“Not only have they helped us secure a much-needed larger venue for the show, but they’ve paved the way for talented local creators to be showcased on the global stage. The games community here is incredible, and PAX Australia is here to stay,” Mr Khoo said.

PAX Australia will be held at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre from 31 October and 2 November, 2014 and will be run by ReedPOP in conjunction with Penny Arcade.

For further information visit www.paxaustralia.com.au or follow PAX Australia updates via official Twitter and Facebook.

PAX Australia 2013 - Post Wrap up

I understand that I have posted a few articles on PAX Australia the last few days. Let me place them all here, in this convenient style post for you all.

Overview of PAX Australia - With lots of photos

Chatting about Tanks and more!

Inspired by the past built for the future - The Binary Mill games

Australian Pokemon National Championship - Round 1

Tabletop Gaming Never looked so good

Power on with Horize

Mobile Gaming Done Right - MOGA

Xbox One - In photos

Like renting games, but cheaper. Console Freeplay FTW

Making Time Travel Look Cool - Retro Gaming Heaven

Cosplay on display

Sometimes The Princess Does Not Want To Be Rescued

Everybody Loves Bullfrog - A Love Letter To Games of Yesteryear

Ninja's, Vampires and Soccer - Oh My!

Nintendo Booth Tour

Ubisoft Booth Tour

Ah - Somewhere to rest my poor feets

Quickest Way To Create a Storm

There are three PAXes now - one in Seattle, one in Boston, and one in Melbourne

So PAX Australia has had its debut, and what a debut it was. The show was far better than I had actually thought it could be. My initial thoughts were it was going to be a good show, but being a first time event it would not be that good.

Oh how wrong I was. Yug and the team brought together a fantastic show that was equal parts awesome and amazing and every time I turned around I found myself looking at something else that blew my mind. For most people I am sure that there was a singular highlight, something that made the weekend and the show standout. My personal highlight was the Big Top, just the scope of what was going on in that space was truly amazing.

Of course for some people the Expo Hall was where the show was at, and of course that means games. Lots of games and of course new hardware to experience. From the fantastic design of some CM Storm gear, to the awesome laptops to take your gaming on the go, hardware was not missing at all this show.

Games were the other draw of course, my first hands on with a game at the show was with The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD, and it was a beautiful game and played just as I imagined it would. Of course throughout the days of the expo I got to play lots more games, including some fantastic indie titles. Black Annex still stands out as a title to watch out for, Fractured Soul’s jump from Nintendo 3DS to PC aims to take it to a whole new level. And even some non-games like Wander were something that drew crowds all the time.

Oculus Rift was out in force at the show, and there were many of the headsets around. And based on the lines at each station, people could not wait to try out the VR system of the future. I could write loads more about what was great about the show, but instead I will let you see it in picture form. Click them to go larger.

PAX Australia - World of Tanks rolls into PAX Aus

It’s one of those rare moments that as a gamer you feel like a company is listening to your voice. Wargaming.net is a company like no other, not only are they making games that are fun to play, but they are always listening to the community.

At PAX Australia I had the chance to sit down with Jasper Nicolas who is the head of the South East Asia branch of Wargaming.net. Jasper was a thrill to speak with, because you could feel his excitement for the games they made, and the thrill that those game bring to players around the world.

Jasper Nicolas on the left and Me on the right

Jasper started off in Singapore with a small start up to help get games to players in the area. By taking on a lot of the work to release a game locally, Wargaming.net was able to focus on making the best possible version of the game. When World of Tanks launched in April of last year around South East Asia, by October Jasper and the team had done such a fantastic job that Wargaming.net brought them into the fold.

After seeing how many Australian players were logging on to the American servers to play World of Tanks, the team at Wargaming.net decided to take the plunge and promote the game here. The booth at PAX Australia was one of the busiest booths and continually had lines of people wanting to experience the game themselves. Also sporting a real world tank, the booth was a massive draw for all attendees of the Expo.

The tank is behind the girls, who were very knowledgeable about the game

But many players will be most surprised, as I was,  to learn that World of Tanks owes a lot to Australia, as the engine the game is built upon was made by a studio called BigWorld, based in Sydney. Wargaming.net bought them last year for $45 Million dollars.

Jasper was quick to point out that this is not just a game for the super hardcore This game is a bridging game, where Dads can play it, then the kids can play and they can talk about the game together. It provides a common ground for families to talk about games that are not only great to play but also based in history, which proves learning history does not need to be boring.

The game was initially launched in Australia with a small event out at the tank museum at Pukapunyal, which brought out a lot of families. Now with the PAX Australia display, even more players have had the chance to experience the game and understand what World of Tanks is about.

A few weeks back at E3, Victor Kislyi, the CEO of Wargaming.net took to the stage at Microsoft’s Press event to announce that World of Tanks was now on Xbox 360. What makes this version of the game unique is that it’s not a port of the PC version. This version of the game was built from the ground up for the Xbox 360.

Of course Wargaming.net is not just interested in Tanks. They are currently working on a few new games in the series called World of War Planes and World of Warships. War Planes is due out soon, while Warships is currently still in the early stages of development. There is a dream that all three games could come together and players form armies made up of tanks, planes and ships to win the battles.

For players who do not have a PC or Xbox, Jasper did point out that an iOS and Android version of the game is coming soon and is in a private beta at this time. This won’t be a port but a game made for those platforms so it can leverage the best aspects of the hardware, providing players with the best game they can make.

Of course when you start taking all of this into account, its easy to become overwhelmed with the options available. Wargaming.net are planning to use a Single Sign on system so with the one account you can play all of their titles. But what makes these games even better, from a player point of view is that they are Free to play, in that they cost you nothing to get, or to play. While they do offer a premium subscription, that does not provide players with super tanks, or unlimited ammo. It merely offers up players the chance to earn XP faster. For those that are playing without a subscription, you still get everything that other players get. Purchasing new items in game is all about using your XP as in-game currency. However for those that want to spend some real world cash on the game, you can purchase some items that do not affect the gameplay such as skins for the tanks, gold items and even some new emblems.

When I asked about the possibility of making a modern day version of World of Tanks, Jasper pointed out that it was easier to make a game set in the past, as all of the information is easier to obtain. Some of the tanks in the game were designed but never released into the world. All of the tanks were built of the original blueprints meaning they are as accurate to the real world version as possible. This is the only way that these tanks can be experienced. With modern tanks there are too many restrictions on what you can provide to the gamers, with information about these tanks not easy to obtain. When I asked about making games set in the future, Jasper then pointed out that while its not out of the question, they are going to focus their time and effort on making the best games they can within the worlds they have created already.

The team behind the games are always working on making sure that players are given the best possible version of the game, so they are always working hard to fix issues and provide more content. With that said the game is mod friendly, as long as the mods do not impact the game play.

I asked Jasper what was the craziest, or funniest moment he had seen while playing the game. He pointed out that a team of modders created the Indy 500 mod for World of Tanks. Players were placed onto a map that contained a racetrack and using the faster tanks in the game were competing in races. While I was having a nice laugh, he did mention that the development team always look at those aspects of the game and see what they can do.

The massive screen was showing live matches every day of PAX Aus

One such mode is the bumper car mode. Where all the tanks are stripped of ammo, and players must win by ramming their tanks into other tanks. A simple change to be sure, but one that adds a new and exciting way to play the game.

The booth was at bursting point for most of the expo

After speaking with Jasper, the first thing I did upon returning home was to download World of Tanks for myself. And while I am sure I will most likely suck at playing it to begin with, the chance to learn about the tanks and the game makes me excited to play it. 

Wargaming.net may not be a company you know all too well now, but in the future Wargaming.net will be as synonymous with gaming as Nintendo or Sony. So check out World of Tanks, what have you got to lose?