My second day at PAX Australia had taken a slightly different turn with a break in the middle where I left the venue to attend a Bethesda event in the Melbourne CBD. The event itself was actually a nice change as for a hour people could chill out in a space (a bar) that was themed with the publisher’s products. There was a large model of Starfield‘s robot companion VASCO and a Fallout themed space that included a wall of doughnuts that formed a pic of Vault Boy. And as a bonus I was able to get a controller themed with a Fallout design as well as grab a bottle of Elder Scrolls‘ “Breton Bitters”.

Shout out to ZB73 for the heads up about the event and listening to my continued complaints about skill based match making in shooters! 🙂

Panel attendances for the day was down to just the Jackbox Games event where the team tested out their upcoming Jackbox Party Pack 9 on PAX regulars. The games really are a good fit for these sessions with their ability for the audience to become involved through their phones. Three of the games were played in the “truth and lies” Fibbage 4, “sorting game” Quixort and “reality drama” Roomerang; of those I think Quixort was a big winner as the idea of sorting elements of a topic into the right order translated very nicely onscreen. It was also again a nice session to chill in, even with the bigger crowd in attendance.

Spending just as much time away from PAX as I was there may seem like a negative but I could see that it was a winner from the Bethesda side as it allowed them to keep a presence near the big event where fans could gather and chat minus other distractions. And though it could have done with a few demo stations, even if Starfield and Redfall are still months away some Doom or Wolfenstein would have added to the fun, I enjoyed the change in scenery and imagine this approach may be used again in the future if the “big three” console manufacturers aren’t back on the show floor in 2023.