The last few years I’ve spent a lot of time taking pictures and writing about the experience of each of my days in PAX Australia at occasionally sunny Melbourne which kept me way too busy at the end of each day. This time I needed a break and I’m writing about the experience a week after the event.

Thinking back on it there was definitely a lot of positives to come from this year’s event with a larger floor space for the tabletop gaming, a huge idie gaming space, the return of Nintendo and perhaps one one the best classic gaming setups due to its sheer variety, but on the flip side Xbox and PlayStation were no shows and left a big hole that needed to be filled. Hardware vendors did a good job of showing their wares and having some impressive stands on the show floor but apart from Sega and the previously mentioned Nintendo I didn’t see much else from the big games publishers and that was a shame. Bethesda did have something during the weekend but it wasn’t part of the PAX show floor and was a separate event which was another missed opportunity.

It was cool to see the Atari 2600+ on display in the classic gaming area. Having a smaller, modern version of the original console that plugs into a TV via HDMI and plays the majority of original cartridges AND supports the 9 pin peripherals like the joystick and paddle controllers is more tempting than I would have originally thought. Atari’s new leadership seem to understand well what works for the fans and are taking smarter steps in delivering on it. That I will soon be able to buy BRAND NEW Atari branded CX40 joysticks that will work on my 40 year old console is wild.

The panels are always good and the ones that I most enjoyed were the “fireside chats” – one with Doom/Wolfenstein/Killer Instinct composer Mick Gordon who spoke about his time in the industry with a focus on Killer Instinct which had the 10 year anniversary of the Xbox One release. The man has a lot of love for that game and everything around it and had plenty to share from the original Rare versions of the game right up to his work on the Xbox version. He also donated $1000 on the spot to the Black Dog Institute for mental health – an absolute Aussie legend. The other fireside chat was with John Johanas (Tango Gameworks) and Rich Lambert (Zenimax Online Studios) where both talked about their time in the industry. John’s story of walking into Tango with no industry experience but a love for games, then eventually leading the team that produced a cracking game like Hi-Fi Rush shows that cool things can still happen even in the big game studios.

My swag collection was not as extensive this year but I did walk away with a Backbone controller for my Android phone and an 8bitdo Xbox Controller, both of which I’ll probably talk about, especially as the Backbone is replacing my Razer Kishi that was too small(!) for my current phone.

Overall, it was a good event that showcased a LOT of upcoming indie games… I’m really curious about both Copycat and Footy Bash for my own reasons… but missing out on the bigger developers does mean that plenty of people who follow the big franchises were missing out. I still think my favourite PAX panel was one from Gearbox WAY back in 2014… having a Developer go all out with reveals, discussions and goodies for the audience is not something I’ve seen a lot of since then and I do miss it. But with streaming events taking hold that may also be something we just aren’t going to see anymore which is a shame.

It could also be that after ten years my own expectations from PAX have to change with the times as much as the event has needed to adapt. Where I was previously going alone to the event for very specific interests I’m now taking my family along and that means trying out different things and seeing what the rest of my family likes to play. So changes may come when I check things out in 2024… I’ll be there for sure!