Cosplayers

PixelCrib Giveaway – Win an Analogue Pocket!

18/08/2025 By ausretrogamer

Another PixelCrib Giveaway – you could win the OpenFPGA beauty, the Analogue Pocket!

After their incredible response to last month’s Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle giveaway, we knew PixelCrib would keep the good vibes rolling. For this month, PixleCrib is giving away something truly special: the Analogue Pocket!

🕹️ Why the Analogue Pocket?
Because it’s a retro gaming dream come true! This sleek handheld plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges (and many, many more!) with pixel-perfect accuracy thanks to its powerful FPGA hardware. If you’re a fan of classic gaming, this is the ultimate collector’s piece. The Analogue Pocket is indeed the best thing since sliced bread!

📦 How to Enter:
From 16–31 August 2025, every order of an in-stock item gets you an automatic entry into the draw.
✅ Shop online or visit PixelCrib in-store
✅ Each order = one entry (yep, multiple orders = multiple chances!)
🚫 Pre-orders aren’t eligible, so make sure your item is ready to ship!

🌍 This giveaway is open to everyone — whether you’re in Australia or anywhere else in the world!

Have we told you how much we love our Analogue Pockets?!

📅 Winner Announcement:
PixelCrib will randomly draw the winner on Monday, 1 September 2025 and reach out via email or phone.

🎮 Ready to win the ultimate retro handheld?
Head to PixelCrib.com.au, grab something awesome, and you’re in the running. Good luck, gamers — may the pixels be ever in your favour!

PAX Aus 2023 Cosplay Highlights

10/10/2023 By ausretrogamer

It never ever ceases to amaze us how awesome the cosplay is at PAX Aus. After ten years of this marvelous event, you’d think we had seen it all, but no, each year delivers even more amazing cosplay, with 2023 being no exception!

Our amazing friend, Kelly Deluxe (also an avid retro gamer and pinball witch) has delighted us with her fantastic cosplay over the years, so of course we’ll lead into our cosplay highlights for 2023 with Kelly!

Sammie as Jester (Critical Role) & Kelly as Asuka Langley (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

If you thought the cosplay in 2023 were awesome, imagine how mind-blowing next year will be!

image sources: Ms. Ausretrogamer & Brant Raven

MIGW23 – Big Games Night Out

06/09/2023 By ausretrogamer

A GAMES-THEMED WONDERLAND OF FANTASY AND PLAY IS COMING TO MELBOURNE THIS OCTOBER AT BIG GAMES NIGHT OUT

From twilight to late on Thursday 5 October Big Games Night Out invites Victorians and visitors to come together in Melbourne’s iconic Fed Square and surrounds for an immersive night of digital games, music and cosplay.

Presented by Creative Victoria in partnership with Fed Square as part of Melbourne International Games Week, Big Games Night Out is a free, accessible and all-ages event welcoming families and gamers from all walks of life – curious, casual, social to hardcore – to come together and celebrate amongst a spectacle of games, technology and play.

The full program line-up – to be announced soon – includes the not-to-be-missed Big Games Night Out Cosplay Parade and Runway Experience hosted by Myf Warhust and pop star and Twitch streamer Montaigne. A celebration of the fantasy of inhabiting our favourite games, the event is open to all cosplayers to participate, regardless of skill level, whether you make or buy your costumes – all are encouraged to sign up now.

Indie arcade games, 80s games, and exciting local releases will also be available to play, plus a special intergenerational arena for young and mature gamers to play and learn together in partnership with the Victorian Seniors Festival. The Swap Meet gives gamers a chance to find their next challenge by swapping their old games for something new and revelling in some old-school nostalgia.

There will also be special events with some of Australia’s biggest games, including 2022 smash-success Cult of the Lamb. Presented by ACMI and Melbourne Fringe, Cult of the Lamb: The Ritual features large-scale puppets and performers, a DJ performance by River Boy and giant animated projections featuring your favourite characters from the game created by Massive Monster, and featuring Goldens Scissors Puppets and Jean Poole Projection Mapping. The event is supported by Fed Square and Panasonic, and made possible with the support of a RISE grant.

To mark the launch of the homegrown sensation Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, from Victorian-based Summerfall Studios, Big Games Night Out will also present the Stray Gods Fashion Showcase – a multi-disciplinary event highlighting the game’s incredible blend of games, music, and fashion. Eight Melbourne fashion designers will showcase Stray Gods character costumes alongside their own unique creations, inspired by the game’s epic story about gods, magic, and a thousand-year journey to rediscover one’s purpose.

The full Big Games Night Out program will be announced soon, and will feature games arcades, open access game tournaments, live music performances from Tripod and Montaigne, immersive audience participation experiences, prizes, games-themed fashion runways, and much more throughout Fed Square venues.

Whether you play games once a week or once a year, Big Games Night Out is a special opportunity to experience Fed Square like never before as it transforms into a playful paradise.

Big Games Night Out and MIGW are part of a Creative October – a bigger-than-ever series of creative events taking place across the state across the month with the support of the Victorian Government.

Big Games Night Out is funded by the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund, a partnership between the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne.
Big Games Night Out is on Thursday 5 October from twilight to late, as part of Melbourne International Games Week delivered by Creative Victoria – full line-up, maps and timetables coming soon!

Visit gamesweek.melbourne/big-games-night-out to learn more

Melbourne International Games Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government, delivered by Creative Victoria in partnership with VicScreen, ACMI and IGEA. Events will be held from 30 September – 8 October 2023. For more information visit gamesweek.melbourne

Oz Comic-Con is back with OCC Pop Up Shows!

04/02/2021 By ausretrogamer

Oz Comic-Con gets back to the grassroots of pop culture with the launch of community-based OCC POP UP shows

In a year that relegated fans to virtual conventions, the team behind Oz Comic-Con are thrilled to announce the launch of their first LIVE event of 2021. OCC POP UP is a community-based event
showcasing the local pop-culture scene and is set to hit Sydney Showground on March 6th and 7th. We can assure you that masking up has never felt this good.

Since its Australian launch back in 2012, Oz Comic-Con has secured a permanent place within the hearts of fans across the country through its ongoing support of the local community. Although things may seem a little different this time around, OCC POP UP will encompass everything we have come to love and know over the years.

With a jam-packed schedule full of workshops and activities, attendees can expect appearances from local creators, comic artists, gaming and freeplay opportunities, industry talks and panels and exclusive merchandise that can’t be found anywhere else. Some of the highlights include:

Creators Live – an area dedicated to promoting Australian digital content creators such as YouTubers, streamers, podcasters, bloggers, and influencers. Whilst it’s a great chance to sell merch and network with each other, Creators Live provides a new platform amongst an ever growing community and a chance for Creators to interact with their fans;
Cosplay Active – a cosplay competition for mainstream competitors that find themselves a step above the Cosplay Parade but not quite ready for the Championships of Cosplay. Open to both solo and group performances, Cosplay Active is an opportunity to showcase crafting talents, perform a skit, and bring along the PLAY component of cosplay. And, even your pets can get involved, with the finalists of the OCC Pet Cosplay being invited to attend the Con;

Confirmed guests for the OCC POP UP include Queenie Chan (The Dreaming, Fabled Kingdom), Christopher Sequeria (Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook, The SuperAustralians ), Louie Joyce (Haphaven, Past the Last Mountain ), and JusZ Cosplay, with more announcements yet to come.

A first-of-its-kind event in Australia, OCC POP UP is truly an event for the whole family no matter what fandom you belong to. For more information about the event, guest announcements, and to purchase tickets, please go here.

EVENT DETAILS:

OCC POP UP Sydney
WHEN: March 6 – 7, 2021
WHERE: Sydney Showground, 1 Showground Road, Sydney Olympic Park

TICKET INFO:

Tickets to OCC POP UP will be sold in sessions with a limited amount of full day tickets available for each day. In full compliance with government guidelines and regulations, session times will allow for crowd management in a controlled environment. For more information about ticketing and general information regarding OCC’s COVID guidelines, please visit the Oz Comic-Con site.

Oz Comic-Con Sydney 2019 Highlights

01/10/2019 By Mat Panek

We were lucky enough to attend Oz Comic Con 2019 in Sydney and take in all the amazing sights and sounds! There were plenty of regular favourites and a few newcomers that shows just how much conventions are growing in popularity. Another very welcome addition we noticed was the increasingly family friendly nature these cons are becoming, with a scribble wall and colouring corners for kids!

There was a strong presence from the ESL (eSports League Australia) which is always good to see and they had live competitions running all weekend. The Southern Cross Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion was also out in force, bringing some impressive cosplay from both sides of the force including Stormtroopers, Wookiees and Tauntauns!

The artists corner was buzzing with activity, allowing upcoming artists to show off their skills and sell some of their merchandise. Lots of booths filled to the brim with pop culture goodies spread themselves throughout both the halls. We were also lucky enough to stumble onto some retro goodies that included figures, vehicles and playsets from Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters and Masters of the Universe.

Just in case you missed out on all the fun we brought you some highlights!

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Mat Panek, Chief Games Reviewer
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

PAX Aus 2018 Cosplay Highlights

01/11/2018 By ausretrogamer

PAX Aus would not be half the event that it is without the spectacle cosplay!

We were lucky enough to have our good friends at REE Photography and Ms Ausretrogamer capture the amazing cosplay while roaming the grounds of PAX Aus. So sit back and enjoy the highlights, but be warned, you will be thoroughly gobsmacked by the spectacle!