Scott Ludlam, co-deputy leader of the Federal Greens and perhaps the strongest advocate for the video game industry in Australia, has resigned from his party and the Federal Parliament effective immediately.

The Vivid lights and cultural festival has become a fixture in the Sydney social calendar, and as the years have progressed its collaboration with video games has slowly increased. That's set to increase in 2016, with On The Floor hosting a series of panel discussions with prominent politicians, developers and figures within the gaming industry.

The first video game to enter the collective consciousness was Pong, released into the world in the early 1970s. In 2016, the games industry is a Hollywood-dwarfing multi-billion-dollar behemoth. Even by the standard of the mechanisms of our government so often moving at a glacial pace, waiting more than 40 years to take a closer look at the industry seems like quite an oversight.

The upper house inquiry into the future of the video game development industry in Australia was released by the Federal Government today, with the Environment and Communications References Committee recommending the creation of a successor to the Australian Interactive Games Fund.

This year Greens Senator Scott Ludlam came to PAX Australia, attending the 'Meet The Brains In Charge Of The Aussie Games Industry' panel before spending time at the Diversity Lounge and the show floor. Here, writing for Kotaku Australia, he explains why.

It can be difficult to digest the entirety of PAX Australia -- there's so many games, panels, people and costumes to see.

To help the digestive process, here's our entire coverage of the event from the minute the doors opened (well, to the queue area anyway) to the minute the doors closed.

Scott Ludlam spoke at PAX Australia today, alongside Tony Reed of the Game Developer's Association of Australia and Ron Curry of the Interactive Games Association of Australia.

The overwhelming message? The Australian games industry is worth investing in. And the Australian government should be doing more.

As we reported on June 22, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam secured an inquiry into the general state of the Australian games industry and what the government can do to support it. As the deadline for submissions creeps closer, Ludlam is looking for more people to contribute their opinions.

When the Australian government struck a red line through $10 million of federal funding for video games, the local industry was understandably upset. In response Greens Senator Scott Ludlam secured a government inquiry into the state of games development in Australia and what the government could do to help.

Just a friendly reminder: that inquiry is looking for submissions.

When the Australian government ran a red line through the Interactive Games Fund it removed $20 million dollars from an industry that always paid back its investments and then some. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam is currently attempting to change the way the federal government thinks about video games. According to him, we're missing out on an "extraordinary opportunity".