Things are going to be a little bit different at this year's PAX Australia. The convention will play host to EB Expo like some sort of convention babushka dolls or maybe it's more like Voltron.

Either way the two conventions are teaming up.

Microsoft has brought its multiplayer pirate game down to PAX this year but you won't find it on the show floor. Instead, the demos are housed in the Polly Woodside -- the actual tallship bobbing in the river next to the Melbourne Convention Center. If you want to get your hands on Sea Of Thieves, you'll have to head belowdecks...

PAX Australia always has weird timing when it comes to AAA games -- most of the big ones are either already out (two were released today, in fact) or not coming until sometime next year. You never know what the big companies are going to bring down to the Aussie expo, and in what form. Here's what you'll find on the show floor this year.

If Jetstar doesn't cancel my flight thanks to the turd weather right now, I'll be in PAX, hopefully.

One of the fun elements of PAX is that it's as much about the panels as it is the games. So if you could select a group of panel to give a talk about something, who would you choose?

It's been a real good year for homegrown games, not just ones on mobile but on PC and consoles as well. And as they do every year, the industry came together to celebrate some of the talent in the Australian scene.

Kicking off PAX Aus 2017 will be the creator of Red vs Blue and founder of Rooster Teeth, Burnie Burns. The machinima pioneer will deliver the "Storytime" opening keynote, usually the biggest talk alongside other main attractions such as the Omegathon.

And thank the good lord it doesn't take place on Melbourne Cup weekend.

"You have to imagine that your body is the controller. Your body is a giant joystick."

I'm getting strapped into a device that's half adult baby bouncer, half obscure exercise machine. I'm wearing a pair of shoes that have also been on the last three people to have tried out the Virtuix Omni, shoes that make your feet slip and slide on the Omni's baseplate as though it's made of ice. I'm living the dream -- full body VR immersion. I look pretty damn stupid.

There's a lot of queuing to be done at PAX Australia -- sometimes it's worth it, and sometimes it isn't. When you're lining up to go inside a blocked out little room on the convention floor it can be hard to tell, however. Here are the games that are worth lining up for this year -- and the ones that aren't.

Tonight, the country's game dev community came together for the 2016 Australian Game Developer Awards, a celebration of the talent that local artists, composers and coders have poured into homegrown titles in the last 12 months. Here are this year's winners.

PAX Australia is only a few days away. And whether this is your first time, or your a seasoned attendee, working out what you'll need can be tough. So here's some of our top tips to help get you prepped.

It's hot. It was raining ten minutes ago and I've just returned from touching up my smudged makeup in the bathroom -- only to start sweating it off again the minute I get outside. I'm waiting for my friend who has spent the whole morning applying her full body paint, only now arriving at the convention at 2pm. She'll probably leave again in two hours just to start taking it all off again. This is the PAX experience for your average cosplayer.

Fallout 4 had a huge line for most of the day yesterday -- and if past years are anything to go by, both Saturday and Sunday's lines will be even bigger. Many fans may be hoping for a hands-on with the game, or even a peek at some never-before-seen gameplay footage. Many fans are going to be disappointed.

I've been at PAX Australia for a few hours now, and at least two of them have been spent at the PAX Rising indie game area. There are a bunch of amazing VR experiences for anyone who doesn't want to line up for hours for the AAA VR games. There's a handful of single player adventure games, platformers and strategy games -- but one of the best things about the indie area is the huge range of multiplayer options.

With PAX Aus less than three weeks away, now is the perfect time to start making your most ambitious gaming cosplay. Being up at 3am on the morning of the convention still gluing things to your costume is basically a cosplayer’s rite of passage, but even last minute costumes don’t have to be that painful.

Yep, you read that right. Sydney-based team Hojo Studio is making a fighting game solely consisting of those inflatable, wavey-arm promo people you usually see in car lots. It's called Inflatality.