PAX

Are We Having Fun? Playing Games Critically

We’re developers, researchers, lecturers, and critics… but what inspired us to join the games industry in the first place? Did we play games for fun, once upon a time? Analysing games when they’re supposed to be ‘just for fun’ is sometimes frowned upon online, but it’s also how we can encourage positive change in the games industry. We talk about what it really means to think critically about games, the benefits it has, how we still manage to enjoy the games we play, and how you can too.
Panelists

Alayna Cole [Founding director, Queerly Represent Me], Rami Ismail [Business & development guy, Vlambeer], Dakoda Barker [Lecturer, critic, and developer, University of the Sunshine Coast], David Hollingworth [Digital editor, Next Media], Jess Zammit [Senior writer, Select Start Media]
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Expanding Horizons: Exploring Open World Gaming

Recent AAA titles have introduced us to the most expansive open worlds we have ever seen in video games. Will game environments continue to grow? At what point is big too big? We look at how titles like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Skyrim have successfully balanced huge open world without distracting from amazing game play and story.
Panelists

Nic Healey [Breakfast Host, 2SER 107.3FM], Mark Wilson [Game Designer, Bioware, Team Bondi, Riot Games], David Gaider [Creative Director, Beamdog], Tim Stobo [Principal Quest Designer, Guerrilla Games]
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PAX Day 2 – Sexy Stats: Making Sense of Your Numbers

Yes. Only I would go to a video games conference to listen to people discussing statistics. If someone threw an Excel spread sheet at me, my life would have been complete. I was honestly expecting to be the only one in the lecture. Boy, was I mistaken! Turns out… I had found my people. Even more fascinating? How gaming stats started changing player behaviour! Here’s how the achieved it. Continue reading →

PAX 2016 Day 1 – Wrap Up

If you love video games, then PAX is one of those amazing annual events that is worth going to over the three days. Admittedly, I was only introduced to it formally in 2015 but had heard rumblings about it from a raving fan in 2014. It’s definitely one of those things that you need to go experience for yourself. To give ou an idea, here I am writing up notes and blogging about all the amazing things I found out about the event. Here is my biggest takeaway from day 1. Continue reading →