Ever feel like being a gamer in Australia means being second best to pretty much everywhere else in the world? It takes months for games to arrive here after being released in the states, major 'worldwide' console launches tend to ignore us, ... hell even NEW ZEALAND has an R18+ rating for games.

What we DO have though is a collection of fantastic online and offline gaming communities, some of the best local game developers on the planet, and a country full of people who are dedicated and passionate gamers.

As a gamer and as the part time collaborator of a gaming website, I'd like to ask for your input for a potentially massive gaming AUSTRALIAN ONLY event and expo that will be happening soon. I'm not trying to market this or spin it in any way, I simply want to know the answers to a few questions, the main one being:

AS A GAMER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE AT AN AUSTRALIAN VIDEO GAME EVENT / EXPO / COMPETITION?

How about a massive 36 hour Xbox 360 tournament with an obscene amount of prizemoney? How about the equivilant of an 'Australian E3' but targeted towards GAMERS not the industry? How about playing the latest games before they've even been released in the states?

Give me your opinions, your ideas, your feedback. This is an event which has the potential to be defined by YOU, the Australian Gamer :)

I'm going to post this on a few gaming forums, just a heads up for anyone who thinks I am 'SPAMMING'. Cause I am. Definately. I want to hear feedback from as many different people and places as possible!

Thanks! :thumbsup:

How about girls at these tournaments who aren't just shallow models getting paid to be there but real people there for the same reasons that the guys are there.

Also some freestyle footbag would be cool www.footbag.org ;)

Competetive gaming in Australia shouldn't be a problem, as there has already been a history of it. WCG.AU is just around the corner and it is interesting to note how the organizers are going about running the different games. The more popular games, WC3 and CS have been done so that the winning teams/players from each state (state prequalifiers are played in net cafes) will be paid to fly over to the Gold Coast to compete in the nationals. Whereas the less popular games, such as Starcraft or Dead Or Alive 4 will just be a single event played in the Gold Coast. The winners of this event gets a trip to Italy to play in the grand finals, but that can easily be substituted by prize money.

So this is my suggestion : know what kind of audience you're going to appeal to, because getting a huge sum of prize money won't be easy unless you know how to go about it. Remember that the typical cost of entering a competition is about $25 per player. So either your competition could be aimed at players who would rather pay less than that and most likely have a smaller prize pool, or go with the standard route. Alternatively, you could find some generous sponsors, but I'm not sure how likely that would be.

Oh, and if you're planning on hosting PC games, BYOC (bring your own computer) events generally aren't desirable for 'professional' competetive play (hence why they are either held in Net Cafes, or in exhibition centres with brand new identicle computers provided). However, BYOC is fine for a more casual atmosphere, and even competetive play. They're simply different audiences.

Anyway, this event sounds good. I look foward to seeing what you guys have to offer.

An Aussie E3 wouldn't work, mainly because there aren't enough companies in Australia which would be able to produce the exclusives to draw the crowds. Your best bet would be to hold a hands-on event. Draw the crowds in with a massive LAN, and allow Australian game developers to attend and promote their games and their industry to the crowd.

The LAN's should work in two segments. One for WCG type events with professionals, and another BYOC just for social players to attend. This way amatuers could gain insights from the professionals, and the professionals could strike up deals, sponsorships, etc. with the game developers.

The event should be more of a "be part of the industry" rather than "look at the industry". Grow Australian gaming before you promote it.

Not only introduce developers, but also Universities. They just love to advertise their courses, they were handing out free lunches and $25 gift certificates to Computer Science students just to fill out a survey to let them know how to increase awareness about the IT courses available.

A massive event to push the industry in Australia is what's needed. If something like this was to happen, I'd be happy to help out with set-up/show-booths/promotions etc. Bottomline, I want in! :P I'm sure more than a few members here would happily oblige to assist.

Well to give you more of an idea of where I'm coming from here, I'm not talking about AustralianGamer.com putting an event on. We have enough trouble keeping our own website updated, as opposed to organising a full fledged industry event (i.e. time and money) :P

However we have been approached and asked advice in regards to a large scale gaming event known as 'Game 1', which will initially be a sub section of the 'Auto Salon' shows that tour around regularly. The reason I'm excited is because these guys seem serious about putting on a gaming event with the needs and wants of the gamers in mind, without having to be exclusively controlled by the needs and wants of the 'big three' or the publishers per say.

The tournament would be the main focus, because if that can be nailed ... if it's possible to organise the biggest australian video game tournament EVER, with the biggest cash prize EVER, with coverage in all the gaming publications, websites, communities, etc. Then getting involvement from the publishers and game companies shouldn't be an issue.

I'm certainly excited at the possibilities and I'm hoping that there are enough interested gamers around to accomidate such an event. I believe there are. What do you think?

I would like to be interested, but there needs to be more meat on them bonesbefore I'll jump on the bandwagon.

So far I'm interested if this was to be a real thing, and not a poorly run event that wants to be something it has no chance of being (if it happens like that).

The only thing that would appeal to me (other than the LAN) is advice from those in the industry. Many people are sceptical about entering the gaming industry in Australia, I think if they incorporated some kind of career motivated attraction within the event it would be great.

I'm majoring in Multimedia and Game Development, but because the industry is on shaky ground and jobs are scarce I'm more than likely going to change majors or even courses. Some kind of reassurance or advice would be ideal.

Mate what state do you live in? We've just been in and done feature articles and interviews with Auran, Krome Studios and Pandemic Studios (Krome should be going live this week, Pandemic next week, our Auran article you can see here)

Every single one of them said they are looking to put on new people very shortly, and they are always on the lookout for new talent. There is a great program to mentor new people in the industry, and to nurture local talent.

Melbourne and Canberra are the gaming capitals of the country aren't they? So I'd imagine your best chance would be to move in one of these states, unless you live there already. I could be wrong though, perhpas its taking off in other states as well.

Exactly, I live in NSW and have no intention of moving. Even then its not looking promising. I'm not the only one in my course, there are hundreds of others just as good if not better than me. There are only so many spots to go around, I won't graduate until 3 years from now, so unless the industry takes off, the market will be saturated by the time I enter it.

On top of that, job security is also a major issue. Like the movie industry, Games aren't a certain source of income. Money can be lost just as easily as it can be made. There are only a handful of developers with only a handful of successful games. Who's to say, 3 or 4 failed games down the track the company won't go out of business, leaving me and my highly specialised skills unemployed.

On top of that, despite attending University, I have heard that specialised school's devoted to educating young Game Developers are highly sought after more so than Uni students. I don't particularly want to put my eggs in one basket and enrol in one of those schools.

There are so many more factors than just job vacancies, and there are so many more questions. From just speaking to people at my uni, even my 5th year tutors, many of them have said they have diverted from the Game Developing path to seek a more secure career.

Using this event to reinforce a promosing career as an Australian Game Developer (if it does exist) would be far more important that just showing off a few games.

I think it's a reasonably good idea, you'd have to be very pro-active and have a make it happen attitude otherwise you could fall flat on your face.

I'd love to see politicians at this event, so they can see the enthusiasm in the industry.

Perhaps they'll try to introduce legislation that provides tax breaks to videogame developers, therefore providing incentive for game companies to start up, and therefore proving that australia has a wealth of creative talent that won't migrate to other, forward thinking countries.... countries that understand that the entertainment industry isn't just about movies and music... and gambling... and women... and... er... women...

Ahem. Where was I? I phased out for a second.

It looks like this thread which started as ideas for a gaming convention has become a reality as Game1 (http://www.game1.com.au/).

Along with http://www.egamesexpo.com.au/ and many others, so it's good we're finally getting our own events here other than the AGDC. Now if only they were in Sydney...

I want to go to Game1, but I can't afford to drive/fly down for one day.

Kinda off topic, but I think I'm doing the same course as you _MetalliX_, at Wollongong uni. Bachelor of Computer Science, majoring in Multimedia and Game Development. I'm finishing my final year now, but I have one subject left in autumn next year.

And to stay on topic: I think that Game1 looks pretty interesting. I'll have to look at it further to see if I want to go or not. I did travel up to Homebush last week to go to the Supanova festival thing which was cool, so at least I'd know how to get there.

I'm going to try to get to Game1, looks good and it'll have a tournament in it which I hope to get into. Oh and in the way of girls, I'll bring my girlfriend to show off. :P

Seriously though it'll be an awesome weekend!

Really, you know that he is at that Uni don't you?

I didn't think the industry was big enough in Australia, so the emphasis should be on the old tournament.

Haha, what a coincidence! You are doing exactly what I'm doing at Uni and where I'm doing it. Chances are we probably know each other, you didn't do DESN290 this year did you?

I'll be changing course next year though, not liking programming at all, so I'm moving to IT, which is what I thought Computer Science was...

Heh I've probably seen you around or maybe even know you. I did DESN290 last year. I think Justin and Brett who I know of from my course did it this year. I sort of like programming, but I like the more interesting graphical/gui kind of stuff, but I've found in the first 2 or so years we've pretty much done nothing on that. I probably would have changed degrees, but I'm not really one to change things once I'm settled. Oh well, I'm pretty much finished now. Just 2 exams in 4 days and CSCI343 (Game Design and Programming) next year.

If either Justin or Brett keep their phone in an iPod sock, then I know them.

The beauty of changing my degree to IT is that I don't lose any time as currently all the subjects for each course are the same.

iPod sock?

A little pouch -- much like a sock, used to protect an iPod.

Probably... they are both Mac people. I don't know Brett that well, but Justin has an iPod shuffle the last I heard. He's also fairly tall and wears glasses and is a bit nerdy.

Haha, well I'm not too sure then, you just described half my course just there... :P

Well you wanted feedback on a video game expo, which became Game1 -- and after attending (kind of...) here it is. Well to put it basically it was a hallway between the two sides of AutoSalon. I, and many other people felt awkward to even show interest in it because of the two clashing hobbies (motorsport and gaming). The stalls themselves were laughable, many containing a TV and a beanbag. The stalls for industry related companies were bare and in no way encouraged me to learn more about their industry, and the people managing the stalls seemed hesitant in approaching you because of the two very distinct mixes of hobbies. The LAN seemed alright, but it was tucked away to the side and roped off.

If this is ever going to be successful it has to be independant, at the very least holding it in adjoining building with a seperate entrance. As I understand it the LAN was SGL -- a well established LAN, use that as the drawcard, and build upon that. Making the expo a symbiote of a completely clashing industry is suicide.

From the sounds of it eGames in Melbourne was a hell of a lot better than Game1, mainly because it was exclusively a gaming expo.

Didn't go yesterday (spent the day in a studio), and I couldn't be bothered going today. Anyone reakon that it'd be worth a try maybe next year?

I went to all of them, GAME1 in Melbourne, eGAMES in Melbourne, and just got back off the plane from GAME1 in Sydney.

First of all, it should be said that in terms of bang for your buck, I think all of the expos didn't do too badly. All of them had alot of new or upcoming games playable in different forms. Nintendo was at them all of course, as was Microsoft.

Realistically though, GAME1 was a small gaming section inside a larger automotive show. GAME1 Melbourne wasn't so bad and kind of worked cause it was off to the side, but I think they made a mistake putting GAME1 Sydney in the MIDDLE of AutoSalon, thereby forcing non-gamers to walk directly through the GAME1 section.

I also don't think it helped that the event was out at Olympic Park, which seems a hell of a way out of the way.

If you goto these expos expecting E3, then you'll be dissapointed. If however you expected to go and get hands on with upcoming games or games on systems you might not own, then I think it was ok. Regardless, it's a good START to potentially annual expos which will only increase in size and scope. I'm not sure if there is room however for both GAME1 and eGAMES (don't get me started on the potentially huge GO3, we'll cross that bridge next year)

My bias 2 cents of course.

Actually ours was the only stall with beanbags ... but cmon, we had lollies and a SNES/Megadrive setup too, surely that counts for SOME points? :)

Im really dissapointed that E3 will never be as big in fact well probably never see expos like that again :(

You should have had women in tight shirts and short dresses like the rest of the place... :P

It definitely has potential and I suppose now its on the map but I really don't think it was successful...

...and I liked the fact it was at homebush, I actually thought it was pretty convenient, I didn't even know how to get there so I just followed a guy in a hotted up car... :P