We’ve just gotten word from local PAX man Guy Blomberg that PAX Australia will remain in Melbourne for the next five years. So if you’re from Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or anywhere else for that matter, time to stock up on those frequent flyer points. Apparently the PAX guys like Australia’s most liveable city for some reason.
Goddammit.
The five years in Melbourne thing was announced at the Games Connect Asia Pacific event currently taking place in Melbourne.
Five years. In Melbourne. That’s a long time.
And I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that five years transformed into ten. The truth of the matter is PAX in Melbourne has been a hugely successful endeavour and Melbourne — in terms of indies at least — really is the epicentre of local games development at the moment.
I’m cool with this. Even if it means I have to fly down to that goddamn smug city with its nicely designed road system and great coffee. Goddammit Melbourne why do you have to be so liveable?
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53 responses to “PAX Australia Will Remain In Melbourne For The Next Five Years”
Can’t say I’m not disappointed. The sole reason I’m not there this year is cost. Would have liked to see it in Sydney, but hey, if it’s doing well in Melbourne, I guess they’ve got no reason to change!
The only reason I’m not there this year is because last year was shit. I spent way more time lining up for panels than anything else, sometimes only to find that the ridiculously small capacity theatres had filled up with a dozen or so people left in front of me in the line. The other thing was that it was almost impossible to get a table for board games unless you got lucky. Spent a lot of time on the cold concrete floor playing games. The handheld lounge was alright, although a lot of people weren’t even using it for handhelds and it filled up very quickly. I’m waiting to see how this year turns out before making a decision on next year.
The venue for last year was indeed too small, the venue this year is much bigger and an actual convention center, so I am not as concerned.
Exact words from Yug were “The largest room from last year will fit in the smallest room this year”.
ie. They know panels were a shitful experience and fixed it.
Eh, the roads aren’t that great.
Also, I imagine the Vic government has sweetened the deal a bit.
Mark’s probably referring to the CDB, where the main city is laid out as an easy to follow grid, rather than….spaghetti.
Well, compared to Sydney anywhere is a vast improvement
Yeah but that’s on the other side of the Yarra. The Exhibition Centre/Crown side is a bit of a mess, especially compared to the nice and neat Flinders St/Spencer St grid. Although on the plus side the Yarra River itself makes a great reference point and the Exhibition Centre is right on it. A lot more tourist friendly than the Showgrounds.
Well, maybe the wife and I will actually get some tickets and do our road trip next year.
I’ve got no problem with this. Great excuse for a long weekend or a week away 🙂
SUCK IT SYDNEY.
wait, sorry, that was impulsive…I meant to say……..yeah, suck it, Sydney.
HATE YOU
they’ll be right, they have the EB Expo going!
*crickets*
Yea…..we best be jellous as fuck of DAT EB expo…….
Doesn’t bother me, I’d prefer an hour drive over several hours flight.
I have very high hopes for this venue being much better than the last, at least. But at least it’s a nice place for a few days sojourn.
The Exhibition Centre is built for this sort of thing. I think if used properly the Showgrounds could be the better venue for PAX, but the Exhibition Centre will handle it with ease.
It also helps that it’s right in the middle of the city, so unlike the Showgrounds you can leave, get some lunch from a proper selection of places and come back inside 45 minutes. My only advice is to look deeper into the city (on the other side of the river) rather than going into Crown. Crown is a mediocre casino with a few good places to eat but it doesn’t really hold a candle to the better places in town.
Would’ve been nice to have it on rotation or something. One year in Melbourne, another in Sydney, another in Brisbane, another in Adelaide… (no one cares about any of the other cities, right? :P). But I guess it’d be easier for them to just continue with the same place each time, no need to have to figure things out all over again each time, continue to refine it, etc.
I am glad it’s staying in Melbourne since if/when it moves I will no longer be able to afford to go.
Also, time for Allure to relocate head office to Melbourne!
The roads are indeed great, until you come across the logical nightmare called the Hook Turn.
The only time I drove in Melbourne, I took multiple left turns to avoid taking a hook turn.
YEP. I HEAR YOU.
Hook turns are EASY! Move in the left hand side of the left hand lane when you have a green, then once the lights go green on the street your moving into, you can proceed!
personally i preffer hobarts road system… it is PHENOMENAL. Traffic flows so smoothly at all hours of the day, with all city roads usually one way, there is 5 lanes of traffic constantly moving. BEST. DRIVING. EXPERIENCE. EVER.
Not hard to have excellent roads when you have much fewer people driving on them
I’ve lived in Melbourne for over fifteen years and never made a hook turn, I’d rather go around.
Ahhh hook turns are very logical, if you look at it in a logical manner :oP
But seriously, they are quite logical.
You move to the left to allow other traffic and trams through and, in effect, put yourself in the front of the queue for the cross-way traffic
See this might make sense to you, but it runs contrary to all that is logical for me!
I moved to Melbourne 12 years ago and the idea of hook turns scared the s**t out of me
I finally gave it a go as I was sick of adding 10 minutes to every trip in and out of the CBD trying to avoid them, now, its second nature
The only time a hook turn has given me grief was when a tourist saw the “No Right Hand Turn” sign and interpreted that as “I can turn right here if I do a hook turn”
This! When I visited friends, and was just a passenger, I didn’t feel safe – but I guess it’s something you get use to??
Well let’s hope they don’t schedule it during uni exam period next year. I was really annoyed I couldn’t go this year.
You know not everyone is a student anymore.
Wouldn’t mind checking it out one year at least.
I thought Adelaide was Australia’s most liveable city?
http://www.australiasbestcity.com.au/adelaide-is-australias-most-liveable-city/
Don’t take that away from them Mark! They are so proud of it!
International rankings put Melbourne higher the majority of the time. Depending on what list you look at, Melbourne is almost always the highest Australian city, and for the “EIU’s Global Liveability Ranking” Melbourne has been number 1 worldwide almost every year for at least the last decade. This is the list that I see referred to in media most often, although that might partially be because I live in Melbourne in the first place.
Had to sell my 3 day ticket this year, as I was riding on it not falling during my HSC period, but alas… Anyway, that’s kinda disappointing; wish they were to alternate between Melbourne and Sydney every year or whatever, that would be much more preferable.
I was hoping they’d take it to Brisbane at some point since I love having an excuse to go up there, but right now I’m just happy they’re committing to five years of PAX Aus. My concern since day one has been that this is all sort of expiremental so it might not get the chance to establish itself enough to get proper interest in it. Last year the exhibitor interest in it seemed rather low, but the success appears to have boosted interest this year.
I’d love it if five years from now PAX Aus had turned into a globally recognised event. I think the potential is there considering people love coming here.
Being a Sydney-sider, I actually don’t mind this. Makes for a(nother) good reason to visit Melbourne if anything. But yes, cost is the issue, on top of having a one-year-old, to my not being able to fly down to attend 🙁
Check out degrave st, just opposite flinders st station for some Melbourne ass Melbourne
If its so popular, why don’t they make it a road show and visit all states? Why is a once a year in one place?
Because I don’t have the money or time to visit PAX multiple times a year.
Logistical nightmare getting that many independent companies all on the same page for multiple venues more than once. Plus it is a , banger show meaning that it is used to make an impact and statement and not deliver regular sort of info.
Melbourne has PAX with all the pop culture events comicon, supernova, armageddon YEAH, Syndney already has ebgames expo, so im fine with pax in my city for next 5 years 😀
Melbourne might have the best CBD, the best coffee, the best livability index, the best sports events, AND the best gaming expo, but if Serrels has proven anything here, it’s that Sydney at least has the best jelly.
Sydney has Serrels, what else do they need?
Oh…I mean, yay, PAX is staying here for the next 5 years. I really should go one year.
Brisbane would be awesome, but I genuinely doubt we could handle it as well as Melbourne.
As for Sydney… ugh. I really don’t see why people think it would even be an option. It’s Sydney. The city that wishes it were LA.
I’m stoked that it’s in MEL for 5 years, but I’d still pay to go to PAX anywhere else in Australia other than Sydney. I spent last week in Adelaide, gorgeous, another week in Brisbane, perfect! I haven’t been to Perth for a while, but it was pretty bloody nice last time I popped over.
… but one friggin’ day in Sydney and I want to punch myself repeatedly in the face while being castrated by an angry Steve Buscemi singing One Direction.
Yeah. I’m pretty happy Melbourne’s locked it in.
Yep, you’ve got to be pretty badass to enjoy Sydney 🙂
So who’s at GCAP then?
There’s no surprises here. There aren’t any other venue spaces in Sydney which would be able to handle PAX. With the Sydney Convention Center closed for a refit, the Showgrounds being too big, and “other venues” (including my place of employment) being too small, Melbourne is the obvious choice.
And given that Sydney has the EB Expo, it just makes sense. Also, they would have given them a discount for committing to a five year booking. I’d like to see it come to Sydney but all signs point to Melbourne being cheaper, easier, safer, and above all – logistically feasible.
Looks like MrsBS and I will be going to Melbourne for the next five years 😉
Uh Mark, Melbourne may be the most liveable city but Canberra is the BEST city. In the world, no less.
It also has a great road system and good coffee so I find your argument flawed.
I was surprised on my last Sydney and Melbourne trips to not be able to find “great” coffee in either city (I was in enmore for 2 weeks, then various places in Melb). I have GREAT coffee in Canberra. There was only decent in those others. I admit I only sampled about 15 places all up, but I know at least 10 of Canberra’s best and they are all great.