PAX Aus

Let’s Reminisce: The PAX Aus 2015 Classic Gaming Area

November 8, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Well PAX Aus 2015 is over, and I think we can all agree that the Classic Gaming Area was a huge success! Let’s reminisce…

The PAX Australia 2015 Classic Gaming Area was a joint initiative between PAX and Melbourne-based retro gaming experts Ausretrogamer, Retro Domination, Weird and Retro (all providing retro consoles and computers), local barcade Bartronica (providing arcade machines), and pinball enthusiast Scott Kellett with Amusement Machine Distributors, Bayside Pinball Club, and Pinmem (providing pinball tables).

Over the three days we had a constant stream of happy guests and even had people queuing for turns on arcade machines, pinball tables and consoles.

Many people were involved in organising and running the Classic Gaming Area – here are just a few of them.

Lots of awesome people visited the Classic Gaming Area including ‘Blow the Cartridge‘ comic book creator Cameron Davis, the guys from Fury Fingers Films, game developer and YouTuber Rob Caporetto (pictured with pinball wizard Shane Rubans), and videogame history expert Harmik.

Freelance technology journalist Adam Turner (read Adam’s SMH article about the Classic Gaming Area), the guys from Mana Mojo (watch Mana Mojo interview Alex Boz), Marcus and Jen from Retrospekt, and game developer/artist/DM/all-round great guy Ant Stiller also stopped by.

…and last but not least, the lovely guys from Combustible Props (visit their Facebook page for amazing cosplay/prop photos), Nich ‘NichBoy’ Richardson from Good Game Pocket, and special VIP guests: Mr and Miss Daz Retro Jr.

The enforcers in the Classic Gaming Area did a fabulous job: as well as creating a great energy, they answered questions, solved technical problems, looked after lost kids and generally kept the area running as smooth as silk. Thank you to Zailee and the rest of the team.

Now let’s see the area in action – beginning with the consoles, computers and handhelds.

Arcade machines and pinball tables were new to the Classic Gaming Area in 2015 and they proved to be very popular!

We had such a great time and we are already looking forward to PAX Aus 2016. If you like this article, here’s our coverage of PAX Aus 2013 and 2014; as well as PAX Aus 2015 cosplay, the 2015 PAX Aus / AMD Classic Pinball Tournament, and Good Game Pocket’s visit to the Classic Gaming Area.

Images sources: ausretrogamer.com and Brant Raven

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Cosplay At PAX Aus 2015

November 3, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

One of the best things about PAX Aus is the opportunity to people watch, or cosplay watch to be precise. Here are our favourites from PAX Aus 2015.

The Alien Prom Queen of PAX Aus 2015

This cosplay’s a triumph. I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

Be my (Jill) Valentine!

The Cute is strong with this one

This Rimmer cosplay is smegging tickety-boo!

Butts…

It’s-a me, and Mario!

All PAX Aus myths have been busted

Hi, can I play ‘Sid Meier’s Pirates!’?

Prepare for trouble! Make it double!

Dino-Rider

Ausretrogamer vs. Predator

Boys from the Rebel Legion Hoth Base

It’s Batman at PAX, man

A Gorgeous Black Widow

Fear and ~~loathing~~ Joy ~~in Las Vegas~~ at PAX Aus 2015

Brain slugs love PAX too

Mad PAX: Fury Road

At PAX, no one can hear you scream

The family that cosplays together, stays together

Now you’re cosplaying with power

Gotta Go Fast!

Beautiful!

Master Chief

Big Daddy

Super Mario World War Z

Wario and Luigi

Boba Fett – casual Friday

Awesome Zero Suit Samus

Bad boys

Zatanna

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Good Game Pocket Visits PAX Aus Classic Gaming Area

November 2, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

So PAX Aus is over for another year, the event was a huge success and the Classic Gaming Area was more popular than ever!

We had a ball and were especially excited when the super-friendly guys from ABC TV’s ‘Good Game: Pocket Edition’ stopped by to enjoy the nostalgic vibes.

Nich Richardson with Alex ‘ausretrogamer’ Boz, Retro Domination’s Daz Retro, Pinball Wizard Scott Kellett, and Kerith ‘ms ausretrogamer’

It’s great to see retrogaming getting some serious air time – now watch ‘Pocket Edition’ presenter Nich Richardson (@NichBoy) explore PAX Aus, and most of all – skip to 3:23 for an interview with our very own Mr Alex ‘austretrogamer’ Boz!

Video source: Good Game on YouTube

Behind the scenes:

Lights, camera, action ausretrogamer!

Interviewing Alex Kidd aficionado Braden

Interviewing pinball prodigy Jordan Tredaway

Interviewing Donkey Kong maestro Ryan

Stay tuned to ausretrogamer.com for more stories about our adventures at PAX Aus 2015 over the coming days.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

PAX Australia announces return of the Classic Gaming Area at PAX Aus 2015

October 26, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is proud to announce that the Classic Gaming Area will be returning for the third time, bigger and better than ever, at PAX Aus 2015. The Classic Gaming Area joins the dozen of areas on the show floor catering to PAX Aus badge holders over the three-day event including Tabletop, Console, PC, eSports, and more.

Image source: Blow The Cartridge

The Classic Gaming Area will feature a plethora of playable retro consoles and computers from the 1970s to the early 2000s, and for the first time, arcade machines and pinball tables! This will also include the new and much anticipated Game Of Thrones pinball tables!

Image source: IGN

A joint initiative between PAX and Melbourne-based retro gaming experts Ausretrogamer, Retro Domination, Weird and Retro (all providing retro consoles and computers), local barcade Bartronica (providing arcade machines), and pinball enthusiast Scott Kellett with Amusement Machine Distributors, Bayside Pinball Club, and Pinmem (providing pinball tables), the Classic Gaming Area will transport PAX Aus attendees young and old to the golden age of video gaming.

Consoles on display will be NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Saturn, Master System, Mega Drive, GameCube, N64, PC-Engine, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Game Boy, Wonderswan, PS1, PS2, and Xbox.

The classic arcade section will include Mortal Kombat 2, Time Crisis, and even an original Donkey Kong cabinet.

Image source: Prima Games

Ausretrogamer’s Alex Boz explains “besides freeplay consoles, computers, arcade machines, pinball tables, and friendly retro gaming experts, the Classic Gaming Area will be running tournaments all weekend with some great prizes!”

Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg, PAX Aus Content and Community Manager adds “the Classic Gaming Area has been a very popular and successful part of PAX Aus since we began in 2013, we are thrilled it is back for 2015 and excited about this year’s expanded range of activities.”

More information about the Classic Gaming Area, including tournaments, can be found at https://www.ausretrogamer.com/paxaus-2015-classic-gaming-tournaments.

Friday and Sunday badges and 3-day international badges are still available and can be purchased online at www.paxaustralia.com.au/registration.

For further information visit paxaustralia.com.au or follow PAX Australia updates via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Source: PAX Australia

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

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)

PAX Aus 2015 Primer: We’re Back, Again!

September 2, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Just like Arnie famously said, “I’ll be back” – well, we’ll be back too for our third straight PAX Aus event! Since the first PAX Aus in 2013, the ausretrogamer team is once again teaming up with the Retro Domination boys and the Weird and Retro crew for 2015 to bring you an even more awesome Classic Gaming area!

All your favourite retro gaming systems from Atari, Commodore, Sega and Nintendo (to name just a few) will be back on freeplay! For this year, the old school consoles and computers will be complemented by an array of ‘other’ bigger (and badder) machines that will inject even more nostalgia into the area. We can’t say too much at this stage, but be ready to be blown away!

With a stellar lineup of systems, games and tournaments, this year’s PAX Aus is sure to be another event you cannot miss! Hope to see you guys there!

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

If you want to reminisce about previous PAX Aus events, then get into your time machine and punch in 2013 and 2014 right now!

image source: Blow The Cartridge

PAX Aus 2014: Highlights

November 19, 2014 By ausretrogamer

The curtain may have been drawn on PAX Aus 2014, but it doesn’t mean that we should relegate it to the back of our collective minds. On the contrary, we should be proud and reflect on another fantastic and successful event. PAX Aus 2015 can wait for now, this is PAX Aus 2014‘s time to shine.

There was lots of media attention and praise for this year’s event, and all for good reason – there was the bigger and better equipped premises, great variety of exhibitors, awesome and interesting panels and of course the volunteers that were there to help anyone seeking their assistance.

For the ausretrogamer crew, the Classic Gaming area was again the biggest highlight – yes, we are biased! I am betting that a lot of people would agree with me. Unfortunately, due to an emergency we were unable to attend on the Friday and Saturday. With that said, we would like to recognise the effort (and great support) we were afforded by our fellow retro gaming brethren from Retrospekt, Retro Domination and Weird and Retro – you guys rock!

We finally made a showing on the Sunday. As soon as we arrived we were gobsmacked by the enormity of the expo and the number of people present. From the Expo Hall to the Freeplay and Tabletop areas, people were just having fun – which is a great endorsement for an event. It was great to have the entire expo under one (Ed: massive) roof. We attended Weird and Retro’s retro roadshow (a personal fave of mine) and toured the floor of the expo. The Indie area was another highlight, as the games that were on show were nothing short of spectacular. All the heavy hitters of the industry were present, with their areas full to the gills with eager punters trying to get a glimpse of the latest and greatest games and equipment.

Finally, the Classic Gaming area. We were taken aback by the sheer size of our patch. With the additional real estate, we were able to configure the tables and systems to be very inviting and relaxing (Ed: Oh those beanbags!). The Classic Gaming crew reflected on the area in the recent Retro Domination podcast, which you can listen to over here.

For now, enjoy the visions from another successful PAX Aus event (Ed: If you missed out on this year’s PAX, check out the interactive walk-through video at the bottom of this article). Hope to see you all at PAX Aus 2015!

Source: BenchMinecraft

Source: hellfire64 (Rob Caporetto)
Image source: Rob Caporetto

The River Raid Champion of PAX Aus 2014

November 10, 2014 By ausretrogamer

They say that the Melbourne Cup (horse race) stops the nation, but last weekend at PAX Aus, it was Rob Caporetto that stopped every contender by becoming the C64 River Raid champion.

Just like the favourites in the famous horse race, Rob was a sure thing for the River Raid high score challenge. His favouritism provided modest odds, but I still put the house as surety of his win.

To ensure there was a level playing field, the contestants were using a Wico Boss joystick. Rob managed to amass a respectable high score of 36,520 with many bridges crossed. I am sure Carol Shaw would have been proud, if she’d been there.

Well done Rob!

PAX Aus 2014: It’s On Like Donkey Kong

October 30, 2014 By ausretrogamer

PAX Aus 2014 is (almost) here people! There was a certain buzz today as exhibitors were scrambling to set up their respective areas.

Speaking of which, the Classic Gaming area was coming along quite nicely, thanks to our fellow retroholics from Retro Domination, Retrospekt and Weird and Retro.

Here are a few sneaky behind-the-scenes pics. Enjoy and hope to see a few of you at PAX Aus 2014!

This is where it’s at!

Welcome to the Classic Gaming area!

Big, isn’t it?

Yep, the Amiga is working sweet

I now feel like a nice greasy burger!

Might sneak in some SNES action….

Another console is ready for action!

Hard working retro gamers

Gotta play old school games on old school TVs

System vitals!

Last minute testing. She works fine.

Get your program and we’ll see you at PAX Aus 2014!

Weird and Retro presents: The Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus 2014

October 19, 2014 By ausretrogamer

Lookout Antiques Roadshow, Weird and Retro is coming at ya with their even cooler Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus 2014!

Don’t worry about bringing your grandmother’s ‘Torquay Fake’ porcelain deer to this roadshow, Weird and Retro want you to bring along and showcase your rarest or weirdest items from your retro (and not so retro) video games collection!

Pack your weird or rare items and bring them along to show them off at the Retro Roadshow at PAX Aus on November 2nd 2014 at 12:30pm in the Kookaburra Theatre. See you there!

PAX Aus

Footer

Support This Site