PAX Australia General Discussion

Yug · August 2012

So, for those that didn't attend Mike & Jerrys Q&A this morning, they made the huge announcement that PAX will next year be expanding to Australia.

So Aussie PA forum dwellers, what do you think?

And for those not living down under, would you take the adventurous trip to our fair country to be a part of the first International PAX?

Also I'm calling it, #PAXAUS for twitter :-)

Clix · August 2012

That's pretty awesome news for Aussies, and would even be a reason to warrant a vacation down under for everybody else in the world.

Dhalphir · August 2012

Imsorad wrote: »

That's pretty awesome news for Aussies, and would even be a reason to warrant a vacation down under for everybody else in the world.

This may be a mute point, but doesn't Austalia censor video games that are deemed too violent or taboo? Seems like it would be a big hit on the show.

Not really - there are some games which have been refused sale because we don't currently have any classification higher than MA15+ for videogames, but the changes are coming and not really all that many games have been affected.

Chairman Meow · August 2012

I believe our new classification laws will be in by the time any PAXau occurs, too.

helgirl · August 2012

New classification laws I believe should come into effect on January 1st next year.

I'm so bloody excited!!

I don't suppose there was any mention of what time of year it might be held?

helgirl · August 2012

Or where?

SorC · August 2012

Yeah, when and where would be nice to know, but I guess that hasn't been finalised yet or it would have been part of the announcement.

helgirl · August 2012

Yeah, I know... but I need to organise my time off work before someone else nabs it!!

Yug · September 2012

Yeah, the R18 rating has been passed, they just need to implement it. Honestly though it has very little impact on 99% of the games released though.

anima110 · September 2012

it would be on the gold coast in sydney or melbourne

Berym · September 2012

I guess it depends on who they have on the ground in Australia organising things. If they work with the Mana Bar crew (not saying they will, but if), it'll probably end up in Melbourne or Brisbane because apparently those guys hate Sydney

Personally? I believe the best location would be Sydney - it's the premiere international destination city, has the best public transport (which isn't saying much, Australia's no Tokyo) and great convention locations.

I believe that Melbourne or Brisbane would be mistakes as convention destinations; they're harder to get to internationally and with inferior public transit. I cannot consider Canberra, Adelaide or Perth to be viable locations.

If I had to put money on it, I'd be putting it on Sydney, but as I said it all depends who they have on the ground here doing the legwork for them.

Chairman Meow · September 2012

The Gold Coat is not Sydney or Melbourne, it's an area of coast north of Sydney... In another state (Queensland) alltogether.

But yeah it'll be Sydney or Melbourne, on the east coast.

Yug · September 2012

We don't hate Sydney, I LIVE in Sydney these days :-P

Fenrisknight · September 2012

I'm interested in what developers are in Australia that we don't normally see, do people know off the tops of their heads?

Berym · September 2012

Yug wrote: »

We don't hate Sydney, I LIVE in Sydney these days :-P

Sure, but I don't see a Mana Bar here

helgirl · September 2012

I wouldn't say no to Hobart... pity it's only a dream

Spagman · September 2012

I hope the PA guys go against the grain and pick Melbourne, but unlikely as most of the big game publishers are in Sydney.

Druex · September 2012

I probably cheered the loudest when I heard this. It's nice (but expensive for me) visiting the US, and before this, I thought this would be my one and only PAX experience. Got the chance to thank Khoo personally too.

Dyrwen66 · September 2012

The PAX shirts for Aus need to be logos that are upside down.

PAXAusFAn · September 2012

hope its coming too melbourne ebexpo has been to melbourne and sydeny so pax should come melbourne

thegh0sts · September 2012

Man, I am so amped for PAX to come to Australia even if it's either in Sydney (where I live) or Melbourne! I'll have to keep an eye out for dates and pass prices

Flay · September 2012

Did not expect this at all, but now I'm really excited for 2013. Sydney or Melbourne, either way I'll definitely be there.

thegh0sts · September 2012

Flay wrote: »

Did not expect this at all, but now I'm really excited for 2013. Sydney or Melbourne, either way I'll definitely be there.

this news made my day! Robert Khoo and all the dudes/dudettes over at PA I thank you!

just1legend · September 2012

I'm kinda excited for PAX Australia but I wished there was PAX in San Francisco or any other U.S city. I mean Australia is a nice place and Gabe and Tycho wanted to do an international PAX but I mean if there was another PAX in another U.S city then most of the folks might go to the other show so PAX Prime can be balanced. Still, it is what it is and I am still is excited for PAX Australia.

helgirl · September 2012

EBExpo hasn't been to Melbourne. First one was last year on the Gold Coast, this year in Sydney, and 3 times the size. From what I hear, it's unlikely to go to Melbourne - it left the Gold Coast because it outgrew the convention centre next to Jupiters, which is where they've always had their Vendors show. Having said that, I don't know what kind of size the convention centres in Melbourne are like.

I'm super amped though, because I'm going to EBX this year!!

Suriko · September 2012

I'll try to keep tabs on this. If I can get tickets, I'm totally making the trip up from little old Tasmania.

Snow Dogs · September 2012

I can't wait, I've travelled to the US for PAX Prime and PAX East. It would be great not to have to travel so far.

area · September 2012

I happy for you guys, but I was really hoping the first international PAX was going to be in Europe. Still, I'm going to take this as a positive step forward in that direction, regardless.

spiderz13 · September 2012

Khoo gave a interesting quote about PAX Australia in his "Khoo Q&A" that it would require some very difficult decisions for 2013. I wonder if this means that the show would be planned in such a way that you would have to pick between PAXs. I am assuming if that was the case, it would be done to help alleviate the demand on a particular show.

Enigmas · September 2012

I request when speaking of this new PAX, the pronunciation be 'awwPAX'. Then after the show is done, we can all collectively go 'awwwPAX', in sad voice.

Alazull · September 2012

While I'm happy for Australians to get a PAX (trust me, I know how bad you guys suffer when it comes to games, you guys deserve it) I'm failing to see how this will alleviate any of the problems PAX Prime has that caused the talk of a third PAX. Short of scheduling the shows on or near the same weekend so as to make it impossible/very difficult to attend both, it does little I can see.

But then again, I wouldn't have started a gaming show while running a web comic, so I obviously know little.

sanovah · September 2012

Also starting to question the decision of an AU PAX. Taking to a few guys staying in my hotel who were exhibtor. They basically said next to no developers would go because of how far away, how expensive it would be, and how limiting AU laws are in terms of video games. I also don't see how it would alleviate any of the problems with prime or east unless they held it at the same time which would punish probably the new pax.even more then our will probably already be.
If they decided to do AU because of overpopulation and scalping at prime and a much easier and cheaper solution would be some increased security measures. I know I'd personally be willing to spend an extra five to fifteen bucks for my, name and a picture on my badge. That would pretty much completely shut scalping down especially if they limit what's changable.

thegh0sts · September 2012

it should be held in june/july in either sydney or melbourne but preferably sydney

sanovah wrote: »

Also starting to question the decision of an AU PAX. Taking to a few guys staying in my hotel who were exhibtor. They basically said next to no developers would go because of how far away, how expensive it would be, and how limiting AU laws are in terms of video games. I also don't see how it would alleviate any of the problems with prime or east unless they held it at the same time which would punish probably the new pax.even more then our will probably already be.
If they decided to do AU because of overpopulation and scalping at prime and a much easier and cheaper solution would be some increased security measures. I know I'd personally be willing to spend an extra five to fifteen bucks for my, name and a picture on my badge. That would pretty much completely shut scalping down especially if they limit what's changable.

they'll figure something out + the Australian government has passed the R18+ rating and now it's up to the individual states to implement it into state law.

but if 1000s of fans is not enough compensation for devs to set up for 3-4 days then that's their loss!

zerzhul · September 2012

Something tells me that they already have dev buy in to even consider a new pax of any kind, let alone an international pax.

thegh0sts · September 2012

so long as the PA community supports it and not just those in Australia I think it will be possible and a success even!

Chairman Meow · September 2012

I imagine that part of the reason for doing a PAX in Aus is that it's a decent stepping-stone for planning out more internationally-located PAXes. Think about how huge the demand for a PAX in Europe would be, and factor in a lot of language differences and things like that and it does make sense to do a smaller PAX in Australia as a way of testing the waters and seeing exactly how a PAX outside of America would work.

Also keep in mind that we're close to Asia as well, so it's quite likely that we'll have some folks from there show up too, even if the numbers aren't that great. Don't forget NZ either!

Regarding our laws related to video games, as of next year (I.E before any PAXAU) we'll have a federal R18+ legislation that I honestly can't see any state not instating immediately. That's really the only law we have that is in any way limiting to video games. The price hike here is a whole other can of worms, but ultimately is due to things other than governmental issues.

Something else to note is that we have the EB convention running again this year after a rather successful first run last year, and that has attracted plenty of big names in the industry from international locations, so I'm not really convinced that a PAX of all things wouldn't attract similar attention from publishers and studios.

thegh0sts · September 2012

though i think that PAX has a more community feel/vibe/orientation to it over EB's convention which i think is more corporate...plus i don't like EB here.

Sasha · September 2012

PAX Australia sounds awesome. It'd be a good excuse to take a vacation in Australia.

Anyone have any idea what time of year it's going to be held in? My assumption would be Nov-Feb or thereabouts, to make it during their summer.

sanovah · September 2012

They apparently said it would be a hard choice deciding which to go to. So we can guess either during or really close to prime or east. Whichever is bigger or more cramped would be my guess.

Xalara · September 2012

sanovah wrote: »

Also starting to question the decision of an AU PAX. Taking to a few guys staying in my hotel who were exhibtor. They basically said next to no developers would go because of how far away, how expensive it would be, and how limiting AU laws are in terms of video games. I also don't see how it would alleviate any of the problems with prime or east unless they held it at the same time which would punish probably the new pax.even more then our will probably already be.
If they decided to do AU because of overpopulation and scalping at prime and a much easier and cheaper solution would be some increased security measures. I know I'd personally be willing to spend an extra five to fifteen bucks for my, name and a picture on my badge. That would pretty much completely shut scalping down especially if they limit what's changable.

I'm not sure which exhibitors you're talking to but the booths for most well established companies are incredibly portable and built to be moved by airplane. The airplane and hotel costs are not that bad either considering the size of marketing budgets these days. Sure, some of the smaller developers won't come but that's what the locals are for. You already see this with PAX Prime and PAX East.

sanovah · September 2012

He was with an exhibitor from a developer with a big game coming out this year so i'd trust he knows what he was talking about. He wasn't so much taking about how portable booths are he was more taking about just cost. I know my ticket round trip from just LAX here and back was almost 400 with bagage fees. I can't imagine how much more expensive from LAX to an AU airport would be. For simplicities sake let's say its 800, now multiply that by 10 to 15 for your employees. That's 8 to 12 grand just to get your employees there.

Since you brought it up to. Let's talk about booth and merch, they'd still need to get them there which costs money too. Let's say it costs 5 grand to move their booth and all that merch from again LAX to here and back. So let's double that and make it 10 to go from LAX to AU.

Now none of this is even taking into account passport and custom fees, but even so that's 18 to 22 grand per developer to go from prime to AU.

They already for the most part make little to no money from PAX so kinda hard to understand why they'd spend even more to go so far. Honestly kinda surprised they didn't do a london pax since most major developers do have EU offices and teams

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