AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for gamers

gamers

Gaming Giants Assemble: PAX Aus 2025 Exhibitors Announced

By

PAX Aus 2025: Gaming’s Biggest Party is Back in Melbourne!

Dust off your controllers, sharpen your pinball flippers, and charge those power banks — because PAX Aus 2025 is almost here, and it’s shaping up to be the ultimate celebration of gaming culture! With less than a month to go, the exhibitor line-up has just been revealed, and trust us, it’s packed with enough gaming goodness to keep your thumbs twitching well into next year.

From console giants to cult indies, esports mayhem to quirky activations, here’s a taste of what’s waiting on the Expo Floor this October.

Nintendo Brings the Big Guns

Nintendo Australia is going all-in with an epic booth showing off the Nintendo Switch 2 and fan-favourite Switch titles. For the first time in Australia, you can wander Lumiose City in Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2 Edition) ahead of its October 16 launch.

But that’s not all:

  • Kirby Air Riders is speeding onto the scene (Nov 20 release).

  • Metroid Prime 4: Beyond lets you try Joy-Con 2 mouse controls.

  • Demos for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades II and more round out the booth.

Basically: if you’re a Nintendo fan, clear your calendar.

Xbox Turns It Up to 11

Xbox is dropping a massive rig at PAX with THIS IS AN XBOX — an immersive booth stuffed with must-play moments. You’ll be able to get hands-on with the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, slice and dice in Ninja Gaiden 4, and uncover plenty of Easter eggs for those willing to explore.

Pro tip: bring your camera, because the booth is loaded with photo ops.

The Sims Goes Camping

Who says gaming can’t be outdoorsy? The Sims is bringing Camp Gibbi Gibbi to PAX, complete with its new Adventure Awaits expansion. Expect campfire vibes, bug-catching, and some very collectible Sims merch. FreePlay is joining the fun too, showing off an in-game campground lot for mobile players.

Devolver Digital & Massive Monster – Cult Vibes

Lamb cultists, rejoice! The first hands-on with the new Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven DLC is happening at PAX. Alongside gameplay and merch, you’ll also be able to snap photos with The Lamb in the Temple. A must-stop for anyone who loves Devolver’s quirky chaos.

Bethesda Brings the Wasteland

Step into Fallout IRL at Bethesda’s Red Rocket diner and Vault-Tec cafeteria setups. With props, prizes, and photo ops galore, you’ll feel right at home in the Wasteland. Plus:

  • Meet ESO Game Director Rich Lambert.

  • Pose with DOOM: The Dark Ages props.

  • Nab an exclusive Fallout 76 Pinny Arcade pin.

Collectors, consider this your side quest.

Borderlands 4 Lands at Gearbox

Vault Hunters, PAX Aus is where you’ll first hear the dirt on Borderlands 4. Expect developer insights, never-before-heard stories, and a chance to chill at Moxxi’s Bar with themed drinks, giveaways, and fellow fans. Chaos guaranteed.

Ubisoft: 10 Years of Siege & Just Dance Vibes

Ubisoft is bringing the big guns with a Rainbow Six Siege 10th Anniversary Esports Showdown. The best APAC teams will fight for a slot at the Munich Major, plus fans can groove to the latest Just Dance tracks on the show floor.

Aftershock Powers the Party

Custom PCs, daily giveaways, streamer battles, flight sim setups, a claw machine (!), and even live carving by Broxh — Aftershock is pulling out all the stops. Expect SteelSeries, Clevergear, and Ultralabs hardware launches, plus exclusive merch for the lucky few.

Retro Collecting Meets Modern Gaming

It’s not just about new titles. eBay’s Passport Adventure will have a collectors’ playground, including:

  • A museum wall of iconic gaming collectibles.

  • Vintage arcade games (yes please!).

  • Exclusive prizes for quest-goers.

For collectors, this booth is a holy grail.

Extra Goodies Worth Checking Out

  • ÆRTHLINGS mystery figs drop daily in Queue Hall, tying into the brand-new ÆRTH game.

  • Red Bull Tetris® brings a competitive twist, with a shot at the World Finals in Dubai.

  • Australian Esports League showcases the best school & uni talent across Rocket League, Siege, and Valorant.

  • CODE spotlights Kiwi game dev creativity, and Crunchyroll brings the anime hype.

Oh, and hardware fans? Brands like MSI, Thermaltake, Turtle Beach, Sony InZone, and Keychron will have the latest tech ready for you to try.

Why You Shouldn’t Miss It

Whether you’re chasing new game demos, geeking out over collectibles, or just want to be surrounded by thousands of like-minded gamers, PAX Aus 2025 looks set to deliver on all fronts. From Pokémon firsts to Fallout photo ops, esports madness to indie darlings, this is the gaming event of the year.

Mark your calendars: PAX Aus 2025 hits Melbourne next month (October)!

Book Review: 50 Indie Games that Changed the World

By

🎮  Pixel-Powered Love Letter to Indie Greatness!

Bitmap Books has done it again, folks! If you thought their previous tomes were retro gold, wait till you get your hands on 50 Indie Games That Changed the World. This isn’t just a book — it’s a celebration, a tribute, and a beautifully bound time capsule of the indie gaming revolution that reshaped the industry.

From the moment you crack open the cover, you’re greeted with Bitmap’s signature high-quality design: hardcover, vibrant full-colour pages, and that oh-so-satisfying tactile feel that makes you want to flick through every page like it’s a collectible card deck. But this isn’t just eye candy — it’s brain candy too.

🕹️ Indie Games: The Unsung Heroes of Gaming

Curated by Kirk McKeand, the book dives deep into 50 indie titles that didn’t just entertain — they changed the game. We’re talking about the likes of Braid, Undertale, Celeste, Papers, Please, and Stardew Valley — each one a testament to creativity, risk-taking, and the power of small teams with big dreams.

Each entry is packed with:

  • Insightful commentary on the game’s impact
  • Behind-the-scenes stories of development struggles and triumphs
  • Gorgeous visuals that make you want to replay every title
  • And yes, that warm fuzzy feeling of “I remember playing this!”

🧠 More Than Just a List — It’s a Cultural Chronicle

What sets this book apart is its thoughtful curation. It’s not just about popularity — it’s about influence. These games pushed boundaries, challenged norms, and gave voice to new ideas. Whether it’s Gone Home redefining narrative storytelling or Superhot bending time and perception, each game is a milestone in its own right.

And let’s not forget the diversity of genres and styles — from pixel art platformers to experimental puzzlers, the book showcases the sheer breadth of what indie devs have brought to the table.

📚 A Must-Have for Gamers, Collectors, and Dreamers

Whether you’re a retro aficionado, a modern indie fan, or just someone who appreciates the artistry of game design, 50 Indie Games That Changed the World is a must-have. It’s the kind of book you leave on your coffee table and end up discussing with friends for hours.

Bitmap Books continues to prove that gaming history deserves to be preserved with style, substance, and a whole lot of love. This book is a celebration of the underdogs — the games that dared to be different and ended up changing everything.

Final Verdict: A pixel-perfect tribute to the indie spirit.

So go on, grab a copy, fire up your favourite indie title, and bask in the glory of gaming’s most revolutionary gems. And remember — sometimes the smallest games make the biggest impact.

Disclosure: 50 Indie Games that Changed the World was provided by PixelCrib for this review.

PixelCrib Giveaway – Win an Analogue Pocket!

By

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!

 

PixelCrib Giveaway – Win a Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle!

By

If you’ve been dreaming of getting your hands on the next generation of Nintendo magic, now’s your chance—PixelCrib is making July very exciting for Aussie retro and modern gamers alike!

To celebrate their amazing community, PixelCrib is running an exclusive giveaway for Australian customers throughout July 2025. And the prize? Oh, just a little something called the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle! 🏎️💨

🎮 What You Could Win

The highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 paired with Mario Kart World—a combo that promises countless hours of fun whether you’re gaming solo, with mates, or going head-to-head online. If you’re a Nintendo fan, this is the holy grail.

🛒 How to Enter

Getting in on this giveaway is as simple as placing an order:

  • 📅 Order any in-stock item between July 1 and July 31, 2025

  • 🛍️ Purchase online via PixelCrib’s website or in person at their store

  • ✅ Each eligible order = one entry (the more orders, the more entries!)

  • 🚫 Pre-order items are not eligible

  • 🌏 Entry is open to Australian residents only

No forms to fill out. No codes to enter. Just shop and you’re in!

🎯 Winner Announcement

  • 🗓️ The draw takes place on Monday, August 4th, 2025

  • 📧 The lucky winner will be contacted via email and/or phone (don’t forget to check your spam folder!)

Full terms and conditions will be available on the PixelCrib website closer to the draw date.

So whether you’re adding to your retro setup, grabbing that gaming book you’ve had your eye on, or just browsing for gaming (and all other matter of pop culture geekery) goodness—now’s the perfect time to make a purchase.

Big shoutout to PixelCrib for continuing to support the local gaming scene with awesome giveaways like this. Best of luck, and may the odds (and red shells) be ever in your favour! 🍄

Let us know if you enter—or better yet, if you win! 👀

Long Live The LAN Party!

By

Re-live your LAN Party Glory

Remember the hum of CRTs, the screech of dial-up, and the sacred ritual of dragging your entire desktop to a mate’s place for a night of epic fragging?

ACMI is celebrating the glory days of multiplayer gaming in their upcoming Game Worlds exhibition — and they want YOU to be part of it.

💾 Dig up those LAN party pics — the mess of Ethernet cables, the snack-fuelled chaos, the Windows 98 loading screens — and send them in. Your photo could be featured on the walls of ACMI, forever commemorating your place in gaming history.

📸 Email your photos to: [email protected]
🗓 Exhibition opens September 2025

Let’s honour the golden age of connection — before online matchmaking, there was a mate’s garage, a switchboard, and a shared love of the grind.

Bonus trivia: ACMI’s own CEO, Seb Chan, got his start wrangling LANs and playing HEXEN. We’ve all come a long way — now it’s your turn to be featured.

image source: ACMI

We Want The Nintendo Switch 2 So Baaaad!

By

This ain’t a retro gaming related post, but damn, that Nintendo Switch 2 looks so darn sweet!

Lil ausretrogamer has taken a shine to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the original Switch, pumping thousands of hours on it – she is quite good at it and kicks my ar$e every time I race her! So the question remains, should we trade up to the NS2 and Mario Kart World, or stay on the OG Switch and milk it till it dies a slow (but fun) death? What a dilemma!

As the Borg collective famously said, “Resistance is futile”. So, did any of you guys pick up the Switch 2 (and Mario Kart World)? If so, what are your thoughts? Oh yeah, how is the free roaming on MKW? Oh mannnn, so many questions! Hit us up in the comments on FB over here to tell us your thoughts.


source: Nintendo of America

Sega Has Got Us Reconsidering Prize Machines… Seriously!

By

We’ll be honest—prize and redemption machines usually aren’t our thing. But Sega’s latest announcement? Yeah, it’s making us rethink that stance… hard.

Coming in hot for 2025, Sega Prize International has revealed a new range of lifestyle electronics that are set to shake up the prize game. We’re talking about tech that’s actually cool and useful—no cheap plastic toys here!

Here’s what’s got us hyped:

🟣 Tiny Snap – This adorable thermal printing camera was a crowd favourite at the EAG Expo earlier this year. It’s compact, it’s fun, and it prints your pics on the spot with a nostalgic retro twist. Think Polaroid vibes, but modern and mini.

🌀 Track 360 – Influencers, streamers, or just selfie pros, this one’s for you. This phone holder tracks your face with 360° motion and responds to hand gestures to pause or resume tracking. No more awkward fumbling mid-recording!

💍 Smart Ring – The fitness companion that fits on your finger. With a heart rate monitor, step counter, sleep tracker, and even a blood oxygen monitor, it packs a ton of tech into a tiny, stylish package.

⌚ Smart Watch – All the essential features you’d expect: heart rate, sleep tracking, steps, distance, message notifications, weather updates, and even on-the-go music control. It syncs with your phone for seamless daily use.

Trevor Clarke, head of Sega Amusements International’s merch division, put it best:

“We are incredibly excited to offer operators our new range of electronic items as an alternative option for their prize machines and redemption counters.”

Well Trevor, mission accomplished. We might just find ourselves at the local Timezone or FEC, feverishly feeding tokens into a claw machine just for a shot at these Sega goodies.

For those keeping score, it’s:

Redemption machines: 1
Us: 0 (but with a Tiny Snap camera, so at least we’ll look cool losing).

image source: Sega Arcade

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 So Far

By

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

WARNING: Possible Spoilers ahead!

It seemed everyone universally thought the second episode of this new season of “The Last of Us,” titled “Through the Valley,” was incredibly dramatic. It was what diehard fans of the video game franchise were dreading, but knew was coming eventually on the hit series.

I don’t see how anyone who enjoys episodic television could’ve disliked the second ambitious episode of this new season. Pedro Pascal’s character, Joel, isn’t in the episode very much, but when he is, it’s intense and heartbreaking.

The third episode of the season, titled “The Path,” was much slower than episode two, but it was a good “come down” episode. I liked how fast Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) arrived in Seattle to avenge Joel’s death. We didn’t need a long journey from Jackson, Wyoming to Seattle. I’m fully invested in how Ellie will get her revenge on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), Joel’s murderer. I have a feeling there are many twists and turns ahead. Like other great HBO television shows, “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos,” you never know how the season will play out. So far, the writing has been excellent and tight.

In the second episode, when Abby was crawling along the fence line as the zombies were attacking her was nightmarish and thrilling. It’s one of the scariest moments I’ve seen on a television show or film in a few years. I never played “The Last of Us: Part II,” so I don’t know if the terrifying scene is from the video game, but it was shot and executed perfectly.

Some of the marketing for the new season was somewhat misleading. Almost every commercial or trailer for the second season showed a great deal of Pedro Pascal as Joel. I get why they did that, but we only got the character for the first two episodes. And he didn’t appear on screen in the second episode until the 21-minute mark.

 

Barrels of Fun Unveils Epic Second Pinball Game: Dune Pinball

By

Barrels of Fun, the boutique pinball manufacturer behind the acclaimed Labyrinth machine, has officially unveiled its second release: a pinball adaptation of the iconic sci-fi franchise Dune. The announcement confirms long-standing rumors and marks a significant expansion for the Houston-based company.

The Dune pinball machine draws inspiration from the expansive universe of Frank Herbert’s novels and their cinematic adaptations. While specific gameplay features have yet to be detailed, the machine is expected to capture the essence of the Dune saga, immersing players in its rich narrative and distinctive aesthetics.

​Pre-orders for the Dune pinball machine are now open through authorised distributors, with pricing at USD$11,600, this is an increase of USD$1K over their maiden pinball game (AUD $21,990). The machine is available in multiple editions, each offering unique features and artwork to cater to collectors and enthusiasts alike.

With the Dune pinball machine, Barrels of Fun continues to solidify its reputation for creating immersive, story-driven pinball experiences. Fans and collectors eagerly await further details and the opportunity to explore the sands of Arrakis through this new interactive medium.

For more information and to place a pre-order, visit the Barrels of Fun official website.

image source: Barrels of Fun

Step Inside Game Worlds – A One-of-a-Kind Videogame Exhibition at ACMI!

By

📅 18 September 2025 – 8 February 2026
🎮 Level up your gaming experience!

From pixel pioneers to modern masterpieces, ACMI’s Game Worlds takes you deep inside 30 legendary videogames that have shaped how we play. Explore iconic titles like World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment), The Sims (Electronic Arts), and Neopets (World of Neopia), plus get an exclusive first look at a highly anticipated Australian game set to launch in 2025!

This isn’t just an exhibition—it’s an immersive adventure. Get hands-on with exclusive game demos, rare concept art, and never-before-seen designs that reveal gaming’s evolution from the 1970s to today. Test your skills in world record-breaking speedrun challenges and experience games in ways you never have before!

image source: ACMI

Whether you’re a casual player or a hardcore gamer, Game Worlds is your ultimate quest. Tickets go on sale in July! Get ready to press start and explore the magic of videogames like never before.

🔗 More info & first look