Dell Technologies has partnered with Fortress Melbourne,the largest video gaming and esports venue in the Southern Hemisphere, to become its end-to-end technology partner.

Located within luxury shopping centre Emporium Melbourne, Fortress Melbourne will support esports players, fans and gamers of all skill levels, fostering a gaming community that will invite inquisitive parents and casual patrons looking for a premium entertainment experience.

Fortress Melbourne will include a 200-seat main arena – the Alienware Arena – and a LAN Lounge that will be equipped with some of Alienware’s most powerful PCs, featuring Intel Core processors, and cutting-edge gaming peripherals. The space will house more than 150 of Alienware’s Aurora R9 gaming PCs in the new Legend ID design with liquid cooling and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and 2070 SUPER GPUs, and Dell Pro Support services provided for all devices. Fortress Melbourne will also feature a mix of Alienware 27” and 34” gaming monitors with Legend ID design, RGB keyboards, gaming mice and headsets, offering gamers the best in class game performance.

“According to the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association’s (IGEA) Digital Australia 2020 Report, our local gaming industry continues to grow with two out of three Australians playing video games and total sales in the retail gaming industry exceeding AUD$4 billion in 2018.

Melbourne is at the epicentre of this growing community as it’s home to PAX Australia and the Melbourne Esports Open,” said Ben Jackson, General Manager, Consumer and Small Business, Dell Technologies ANZ. “We’re passionate about making Australia’s esports scene the best it can be, and we couldn’t be happier to partner with Fortress Melbourne. We believe that the venue will become the unofficial home for professional and casual gamers alike.”

In addition to the slew of high-end Alienware gaming PCs and equipment, Fortress Melbourne will be supported by a complete end-to-end infrastructure solution, from Dell Technologies, that will power its business, as well as deliver the best gaming experience for visitors. The IT infrastructure solution includes; Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 servers featuring 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, which will ensure the smooth and secure running of the corporate operations as well as the PC Gaming services, Dell EMC SC Series storage, providing multi-media support for gaming streaming services and Dell EMC N-Series & S-Series networking for high availability and low latency that is critical to the gaming industry.

“We want Fortress Melbourne to become the go-to venue for all Australian gamers, which is why we’re so excited to be partnering with Dell Technologies,” said Jon Satterley, CEO at Fortress Australia. “By having our venue equipped with Alienware’s powerful gaming PCs and peripherals, as well as infrastructure from Dell Technologies, gamers of all skill levels will be able to experience the best gaming equipment in the world.”

The partnership between Dell Technologies and Fortress Melbourne comes at an exciting time for Australia’s professional gaming culture. The IGEA Digital Australian 2020 Report shows that Australian audiences are continuing to flock to esports tournaments and gaming events, as the local sector follows the lead of the United States and Europe’s billion-dollar esports industries.

“By creating a professional-grade esports facility that’s open to the public, Dell Technologies is proud to be in the driver’s seat and lead our local gaming community’s exciting transformation,” said Jackson. “The response from gamers across the country has been amazing and Australia is set to see more world-class esports and gaming venues emerge in the years to come.”

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Elves, warlocks, mech’s and every character from Overwatch descended upon Melbourne for the weekend that was the three day Video Gaming and pop culture extravaganza PAX Australia 2019.

Every major gaming platform had a presence.

PlayStation showcasing some up and comings with a heavy influence on the reboot of their MediEvil.

Activision kitted out with a very impressive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare stand while Nintendo’s large footprint in the main hall had a swag on Switch’s ready with their latest and greatest.

Xbox showcased Gears 5 as queues of game playing fans lined up for a hands on the newest chapter of the epic and long running series.

Even THQNordic kitted the main hall out with their soon to be released reboot of Destroy All Humans and a title that I am eagerly awaiting, Biomutant.

Myself and Darren from STG roamed the expansive Melbourne Convention Center aiming for hands-on’s aswell as some exclusive stuff.

Our mates at Riot Games took care of us and in a closed briefing introduced their up and coming card battle game Legends of Runeterra.

A title that places the hottest and fav characters from the League of Legends lore and combines both strategy and old fashioned table top game play in a fierce battle against live opponents and A.I.

Legends of Runeterra has been built to accommodate newcomers to the card battle scene with an easy tutorial and even easier pick up and play.

NVIDIA took us in to a showcase for their ray-tracing work.

The first game to exclusively and fully make use of ray-tracing was CONTROL. NVIDIA applied this real-world-like effect to Minecraft and wow – what a huge difference it makes.

If you’re not too sure what ray-tracing is, it is a lighting and shadow physical and particle effect that is built in for developers of video games to use, making reflections, the said lighting and shadows and even textures becoming almost 4D (4 Dimensional).

Blurring the lines even further between reality and gaming.

Intel could be found in two places at PAX Australia. An entire floor was decked out with screens and NUCs for live friendlies and matches. Closer to the main hall was the Intel dome where their were PC’s on show with some very out of this world cases.

The NUC arena also had a stats board which displayed the combined computing power of all NUCs that were on the floor… this resulted in Teraflops of computing prowess.

PAX Australia 2019 was massively huge. Cosplayers all round and the entire Convention Center filled with stages, gaming rooms, developer talks, diversity gaming and of course merch.

I was personally surprised that the merchandise areas (other than EB Games’s gigantic presence) was bigger. But it was varied enough, from pop culture goodness, through to comics, table top gaming items and more.

PAX AUS 2019 is Australia’s biggest video gaming event and clearly I can see why this statement is absolutely true.

The conclusion of the Expo on Monday the 14th of October 2019 left myself both happily exhausted and eagerly awaiting some private time with titles that were previewed, especially and overall Legends of Runeterra!

PAX Australia 2019 – truly epic.

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NOW CLOSED – Slay Zombies or be one in a live action funtastic action filled weekend.

It’s Call of Duty in real-life meets Tough Mudder. With an immersive story that you’re living out, characters you meet along the way to give you secret missions, while zombies are chasing you (and then you chase survivors as a zombie), and it’s all with NERF blasters.

Players take up NERF toy dart blasters and fight for their life against hordes of vicious zombies. Over the course of a four hour game, survivors are hunted down and tagged by zombies, becoming zombies themselves, spreading the virus and dooming humanity. It’s up to the remaining survivors to hold out for as long as they can, and maybe escape ZEDTOWN.

More than just a game of running and blasting, ZEDTOWN is a truly interactive event that empowers players to create their own action and tell their own stories. A call-in radio station provides up-to-the-minute immersive colour and useful survival tips while our dedicated app helps survivors communicate and play the game. Social media streams offer real-time clues, commentary and a hub for fantastic player-driven storytelling.

And thanks to the organisers of ZEDTOWN StG is giving you the chance to Win one of FOUR Double Passes (2 x Double Passes to Melbourne and 2 x Double Passes to Sydney) to become that zombie killing legend and save humanity – or just to hunt down survivors and chomp on their brains.

Melbourne Event: Melbourne Showgrounds, June 24th 2017, 2 games – daytime, nighttime

Sydney Event – Sydney Showgrounds, July 8th, 2017, 2 games – daytime, nighttime

To Enter our ZEDTOWN Double Pass Ticket Giveaway you need to answer this Question correctly:

We want to hear from you, in a few words, what makes you the legendary zombie exterminator – or why you would be the best zombie there ever was. There is no wrong or right answer so be as creative as you like and every entry goes in to the draw.

You can give us your Answer by placing a Comment below, hitting us up on Facebook, Tweet to us, or Email Us.

*ZEDTOWN is an R18 Event. You MUST be over 18 Years of Age to Enter this Giveaway and partake in the ZEDTOWN event. Age Identification will be required when entering ZEDTOWN.

You can check out more info on ZEDTOWN HERE.

* Winner(s) will be randomly selected from those that Comment below / Facebook Comment / Email in accordance to the above Question. Winner(s) will receive a physical Double Pass for the ZEDTOWN event for either Sydney or Melbourne, depending on the Winner(s) selection. Competition ends on the 21st of June, 2017. ZEDTOWN is an R18 Age Restricted event – I.D. for Age verification will be required when entering ZEDTOWN. Tickets / Passes are not transferable. Winners will be responsible for their own transport to and from the event.

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PAX Prime Australia is an annual gaming convention held in Melbourne. Having never attended I was both curious and excited to see what this type of gaming convention has to offer.

So the first game I got my hands on is the highly anticipated (at least by me) Rise of the Tomb Raider at the Xbox booth. I was very impressed with both the visuals and audio. The scene was a temple that Lara needed to get to the top of the temp and collect an important relic before a strange group that is on her tail catches up with her.

Exploring this smallish area I was mostly impressed the beauty and decent level of detail of the environment. Looking in any particular direction had you still looking at something interesting. Lara has, at least, had a change of clothes since last game and still continues to tend to her hair sporadically, although I can’t say she has much hope fixing it, what with being constantly battered around and covered in blood, sweat and water.

Lara is still taking a beating from the elements, surroundings and the enemies in her way but she is still kick-ass and I still enjoy navigating the lost worlds of… wherever as long as I am her.

There were some minor issues with navigating. I did find a few parts where I was over jumping and not going the direction I wanted. It almost had an Assassin’s Creed feel to it. The other slight issue was some aspects had a few odd visual issues. I can hope this is just minor issues with the demo but the rest looked great. I can say I am very excited for this title.

At the Nintendo stall I was keen to try out Yo-Kai Watch, a 3DS game that has a strong Pokemon-esque feel about it.

The game is made by Level-5, the company responsible for one of my favourite JRPGs, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, so I was admittedly quite curious as to their next game. The playable demo had you running around a town fighting menacing spirits or rather Yo-Kai. You already have you selection of your own Yo-Kai which you must use in battle to defeat the new ones you encounter.

The combat system was a bit odd and by then end of it I still wasn’t sure if I had all of it understood, and if I did…well… it was very odd. Its live action and you need to select a character and pick the special attack action. You also need to spin around who is in combat so the others get a chance to recharge. If one is knocked out, rotate them out and heal them.

Apart from those few actions the Pokemon… ah spirits… fight on their own accord.

Many of the ideas, themes and looks strongly echo those seen in Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The Yo-Kai all have a very similar look to the familiars in afore mentioned game. Overall I honestly think I would need a fair bit more time to get a good grasp and taste for the game. I hope it lives up to the potential the developers have to create a wonderful game.

Running over to the PlayStation booth I got some time with what is the re-imagining of Insomniac’s classic Ratchet and Clank. Unfortunately the demo was same one that was showcased at E3 earlier this year, so there wasn’t any new or interesting footage to comment on. That isn’t to say I’m less excited for the title come release date.

I did get to use the weapon, Pixelator, which amusingly turns enemies in an 8-bit version of themselves. I really can’t wait to see what other quirky weapons and gameplay there will be on offer.

These where just a few of the games on offer to play and there were also various watchable demos for other games. All the big names where there, from Bethesda to Ubisoft, but it was nice to see a whole section dedicated to indie game developers. While somewhere a bit more than off target, others looked and played great with a few still on their way.

One such game was Grim Balance. This delightful little game was a side scrolling platformer where you played a little Grim Reaper. The real Grim reaper apparently went on holiday, leaving you, his apprentice, in charge. You somehow accidentally knocked over his jar of souls and now it is your job to go and collect them all before he returns.

The look and idea was great. It had great combination of both darkness and colour. Admittedly there were some technical bugs but it played well when working. I enjoyed the art style and the premise and hope come full release its future isn’t grim (pun intended).

One issue with big conventions is you very soon find yourself waiting to play a game in a very long line. If you did not get in early you simply did not get in. Lines for Star Wars: Battlefront quickly reached past an hour with lines for some games closed off at a three hour wait time. It is nice to see big games on offer but it makes it hard to see everything else if you are waiting in line for half the day. Trust me, there is plenty else to see.

PAX Prime Australia does seem to cater to everyone. There was a good sized console gaming section for players to come in and just play a game that might not have tried before. There was even a retro gaming section where they had some original arcade machines set up for play.

Moving on from video games, PAX Prime Australia also covers various other gaming media. There were many card games to watch or participate in. From Magic: The Gathering to Pokemon Trading Card games and many, many more. Unfortunately I didn’t have too much time to sit down and participate or be a spectator, but I could certainly see myself making space in my schedule for it next time round.

The broad section, dubbed Table Top covered quite a variety of other game styles. One particular area, hosted by Reaper Miniatures,was set up so you could choose from a small selection of paintable miniatures and sit down and paint the tiny little things as you please. They even provided the paint and tools necessary for the job. I may have got distracted, at least twice, sitting down to paint a little character of my very own.

For those less artistically inclined there was quite a selection of short session role playing games, such as Pathfinder and D&D (Dungeons and Dragons). So I did settle down to get my D&D fix. Everyone was really friendly and even though the game was only an hour long we all had a good dungeon crawl. Hats off to the DM.

I even got my hand at my first ever game of Warhammer 40k. The set up was interesting and I was happy those running the area made it easy for noobs (such as myself) to jump in and play. The whole area was quite welcoming to both veterans and newcomers.

LARP (Live Action Role Playing) was a bit more absent from the whole scene. There was one Swordplay booth where they promoted LARP just a little but there wasn’t much else, which was a bit disappointing as I certainly see it as a unique form of gaming that more should have a chance to explore. The LARP panel too didn’t quite seem to really explore what LARP is or has to offer a player. I guess there is always next year.

Our very own Jude as Lara Croft.

At one point I did take on gaming of a more physical notion in the form of an Escape Room.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies Escape Room was in Melbourne’s Federation Square to promote its launch. Just in case you don’t know what an Escape Room is, it is usually a series of rooms that require skill, puzzle solving and team work to move on to the next and eventually escape and is usually done so against the clock. The scenario was interesting and I was quite surprised how well they utilised a crate shipping container for the set up. Thank you Black Ops III.

Summing up I can say my PAX Prime experience was compiled of numerous game styles and media and I was happy to see all of them. There were panels that catered to all and I was happy to see what information those in the gaming community have to offer. There was a lot of different things to see and do.

I have to say if your free the same time next year I would make every effort to pay PAX Prime Australia a visit.

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