events

Pinball Frenzy At PAXAus

October 22, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Who said that pinball was dead? Well, it may have taken a back seat a decade and a half ago, but boy, has pinball come back in a big way. There has been a resurgence of flipping the silver ball with companies like Stern Pinball making contemporary tables based on the hottest bands and pop culture franchises on the planet, from AC/DC, Metallica, KISS, to Iron Man, The Walking Dead, Star Trek and WWE Wrestlemania, there surely is no shortage of great pinball machines to tilt and bump on.

Since pinball has once again become cool (Ed: it never lost its cool!), it was a no brainer to start thinking about including pinball machines in the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area. After meeting Scott Kellett at Supanova earlier this year, we had a brief chat and that is when Scott mentioned how cool it would be to have pinball machines at PAXAus. A few discussions later, Scott’s idea was given the greenlight to pursue having pinball machines in the Classic Gaming area. Through sheer determination and dedication, Scott has round up the big names from the pinball community (Bayside Pinball Club, PinMem and AMD) to deliver us an array of amazing pinball tables (Ed: there will be 10 pinball tables!) for all of you to enjoy and compete on. In a major pinball coup, Scott has arranged to have the first Game of Thrones pinball table available for play in Australia at PAXAus 2015 – even more reason to see you all at PAXAus 2015!

For those with a competitive streak, the ‘PAXAus 2015 IFPA Pinball Tournament’ (proudly brought to you by AMD) will be on Saturday, October 31 – more details here. There will be great prizes on offer, including showbags full of Stern goodies and an awesome Game Of Thrones backboard translite! Get your flippin fingers ready for some pinball frenzy at PAXAus 2015.

Event: PAX Aus 2015
Date: Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2015
Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Tournaments: PAXAus 2015 Classic Gaming Tournaments

image source: Amusement Machine Distributors (AMD)

On The Road To EB Games Expo 2015

September 28, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: techradar

This time of year is always the best! The weather starts warming up, trees start blossoming, the major sporting codes play their respective finals and the biggest gaming event hits Sydney – it is, EB Games Expo 2015 time!

For the first time ever, ausretrogamer will be attending EB Games Expo 2015, assisting the Weird and Retro (WaR) crew in the Retro Central Park area. As you may (or may not) have known, Weird and Retro have been running the Retro Central Park area (formerly known as the Retro Gamer Garden) within the Freeplay City attraction at EB Games Expo for the last two years.

After hearing about all of the fun the WaR team has had at previous EB Games Expo events, we knew we wanted to be part of the action. We begged and groveled till they relented and allowed us to hit the road with them to Sydney (Ed: Um, this may not have been how it went down!).

To say we are looking forward to EB Games Expo 2015 would be a great understatement – we can’t wait! It will be great to travel with awesome friends and experience this event first hand. If you are attending, please come by the Retro Central Park area and get a hit of nostalgia by playing some old classics, or come by to check out the Interactive History Museum – you’ll have a ball! Hope to see you there!

The essentials are packed!

Details:
Event: EB Games Expo 2015
When: October 2 – 4, 2015
Where: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park

It’s On Like Oz Comic-Con

June 25, 2015 By ausretrogamer

As the excitement builds for this weekend’s Oz Comic-Con at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the ausretrogamer crew are giddy with anticipation of the geeky awesomeness to come! Being our first Oz Comic-Con, we can’t wait to immerse ourselves in all things pop-culture – from TV and film guests, to great cosplay and cars from movies, it’s going to be huge.

For those of you that cannot be there in person, we will be keeping you up to date on social media using #OzComicCon, so make sure you tune in!

image source: Oz Comic-Con

Pinball Antics at Timezone

March 20, 2015 By ausretrogamer

I am a persistent type of gamer, especially when it comes to pinball and when there is a prize at stake. I just wish I was persistent like this when playing RPG or adventure games *sigh* (Ed: not this again!).

In a previous post I mentioned that I was frequenting Timezone to set a high-score on the designated tournament pinball machine (Star Trek Pro) to book my place for The Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship. Well, I returned to Timezone Forest Hill only to find that the Star Trek Pro table was out of action! I didn’t dwell on my disappointment for too long, so I just hightailed it to another Timezone to flip some balls of steel.

Nooooooo! Time to leave Timezone Forest Hill…..

Next stop, Timezone Chadstone! Instead of Star Trek Pro, the tournament table here was Metallica. My first impressions of the machine were quite negative, but after a few plays, I was hooked – love the music! With some positive encouragement from Ms. ausretrogamer, I was able to get my name on the tournament qualification high-score table, albeit in 2nd place.

With only a few weeks to go till the qualification period ends (March 29), I will be back to feed the snake and build the voltage to give Sparky a good charge. Long live pinball!

Hello me pretties

She is a beauty

Damn! That’s a massive high-score!

Metallica! Let’s get this baby started!

Getting into some flippin rhythm

Fill up that fuel tank! You don’t wanna run out of gas!

Feed the snake, he’s very hungry!

Ms Ausretrogamer getting some flipping action, while I rest my hands

Studying the instructions – gotta get that big score!

Sparky is gonna get some electric action

Finally, I am on the scoreboard. Gotta get that number 1 spot!

Aftershock 2013 Extravaganza

December 12, 2013 By ausretrogamer

When you get a personal invitation to attend a retro gaming event run by the Weird and Retro crew, you know you need to clear your schedule and be there.

The retro gaming event at Aftershock 2013 was part of the overall Monash University Computer Games Boot Camp (CGBC) interactive and industry engagement event. The whole event is the brainchild of Andrew Owen – a remarkable individual with creations that need to be seen to be believed – but more on that in a future article!

Aleks “Serby” Svetislav from Weird and Retro (WaR) extended the invite to us, which we were more than happy to oblige and attend. As usual, the buzz generated by an event run by WaR always brings on a rush of adrenaline. With a firm greeting handshake, Serby ushered us inside the Monash University auditorium.

My pupils dilated once I saw the TempFest2000 (all Tempest 2000 game versions!) setup in front of a large wall projection. Serby (and the WaR crew) always know how to leave a hardened retro gamer totally gobsmacked! With Tempest 2000 versions running on the Jaguar, Saturn, PC, PlayStation to the “I’ve never seen it before” Apple Mac, my mind was well and truly blown.

Even when the doors closed on the Aftershock 2013 gaming event on Saturday evening, we stayed back and chatted with Serby. I even got introduced to a new Pringles potato chip flavour which I am now frantically searching to buy from a certain American grocery store here in Melbourne.

The Aftershock 2013 event wrapped up last Sunday with a showcase of homebrew game releases and of course, some 4 player Power Stone 2 mayhem on the Sega Dreamcast! What a way to wrap-up proceedings!

As they say, all good things must come to an end. It was, as per usual, a pleasure catching up with Serby and Daz Retro. These kinds of events remind me of why I love the retro gaming scene – the passionate nostalgics just like me.

Game Masters Exhibition Coming To Sydney

November 26, 2013 By ausretrogamer

Get ready Sydney, the Game Masters Exhibition is coming to town. Opening on December 13 and running till May 25 2014, this exhibition is not to be missed!

We had the pleasure of attending last year’s Game Masters Exhibition in Melbourne. Our review of the exhibition should give you an indication of what we thought of it and what to expect. We promise, it is highly interactive and you will have lots of fun! Choosing what to play will be your biggest problem.

Tickets are available now.

PAX AUS 2013: It’s A Wrap

July 23, 2013 By ausretrogamer

Wow! What a great three days we just had at the inaugural Penny Arcade eXpo Australia (PAX Aus) 2013. To say the event was a success would be a gross understatement (even CNET loved it!). Ignore the trolls’ comments on forums, the event was a blast.

As for any new event of this magnitude, of course there were some teething problems, but these really were minor and just leave room for PAX Aus 2014 to be bigger and better!

It was an honour and privilege to exhibit in the ‘Classic Consoles Freeplay’ area along with my Australian retro gaming friends: Retrospekt, Retro Domination and Retro Gaming Australia (what an awesome bunch of guys).

Thousands of people visited the classic consoles area; it was great to see them smile with nostalgic joy. There were teenagers “wowing” at the Amstrad CPC464, parents showing their children the datasette on the C64 and explaining that you had to wait tens of minutes to load one game! There were four player battles on the N64 and lots of fighting action on the Dreamcast, Neo Geo AES, 3DO and Saturn. The serious retro gamers were most impressed by seeing the Nintendo Famicom and Sharp Twin Famicom ‘in the flesh’. There were popular high-score competitions on the Amstrad GX4000 (Robocop 2) and the Atari Jaguar (Tempest 2000).

The crowds were constant, from the start of day 1 to the end of day 3. Some came, looked around and played a game or two; some picked their favourite game or console and played to their heart’s content; and others worked their way around and played each console. But most pleasing were the repeat visitors who came back again and again to get their hit of nostalgia.

The Classic Console Freeplay area was a roaring success at PAX Aus 2013. Roll on PAX Aus 2014!

To view the PAX Australia 2013 photo album go to our facebook page.

SuperByte 2013: Chiptunes, Retro Gaming and 8-Bit Art

May 7, 2013 By ausretrogamer

Back in 2012, a musical and cultural festival was held in Manchester – SuperByte 2012. This event had all day micromusic (chiptunes) and retro gaming aplenty. The festival turned out to be the largest of its kind in the UK and attracted visitors from all over Great Britain and mainland Europe.

For 2013, SuperByte is back and bigger than ever! From 13 to 14 September 2013, the UK and international chiptune community will descend on Jabez Clegg in Manchester for two days of live music, visual arts, retro gaming and heaps more. SuperByte 2013 is going to be huge!

Get your SuperByte 2013 tickets now.

Event: SuperByte 2013 Festival
When: September 13 – 14 2013
Where: Jabez Clegg, Manchester

EuroGamer Expo 2013

May 7, 2013 By ausretrogamer

Come this September, there is only one place you should be at – Earls Court in London for EuroGamer Expo – the UK’s biggest and best games show.

The Expo will feature playable versions of the latest and greatest games, and for those of us that want a hit of nostalgia, the Expo will feature the ever popular Retro Arcade zone.

Tickets are running out fast! Get yours here.

Event: EuroGamer Expo
When: September 26 – 29 2013
Where: Earls Court, London

Re:Play returns for 2013

February 20, 2013 By ausretrogamer

EVENT ALERT!

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and Freeplay present:

Re:Play – Indie Development: Exploring the Fringe [Unclassified 15+]
When: Tuesday March 26 2013 at 7:00pm,
Where: ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne
Tickets: Full $15; Concession $12; ACMI Member $11

This March, Re:Play will explore what it means to be an independent developer at the fringes of the mainstream and beyond in Indie Development: Exploring the Fringe.

The beauty of not being tied to corporations in the video gaming industry means that the game developer can truly remain independent – and, in doing so, explore their own personal passions, art and creativity.

Co-curated by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and Freeplay, Re:Play is a series of talks about video games and everything else; live music, musings and memorabilia.

The Re:Play program brings together a host of game developers, critics, writers, academics and other industry experts as they explore questions of convergence, play and what gaming culture means today.

Come along and immerse yourself at Re:Play.

For event and ticketing details check here.

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