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RTXAU 2016 – The Recap

To start off with, it was a first for Rooster Teeth to hold an RTX convention outside of the United States; the Australian gaming community was thrilled to be selected and were told the staff didn’t even question the decision when Australia was chosen.  This was my first convention as a media pass holder, and it was very exciting to be able to ask the exhibitors about what they are making and getting a little extra demo time on the games they had setup.  RTXAU 2016 was hosted at the Sydney Technology Park and we soon realised how popular Rooster Teeth was in Australia with the lines extending past the main hall and open walkway outside. Luckily we got in ahead of everyone and were able to have a look at the hall and centre stage.

 

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Centre Stage at RTX 2016

 

There have been a lot of complaints about RTXAU which included issues like the air conditioning, queues, the food and the confusion regarding what each type of pass permitted. For a first time show in Australia this might be considered acceptable, but since it isn’t the first RTX in the world we were a bit disappointed. The shows ran smoothly, but it was all of the extra stuff they hadn’t prepared for.  The next RTX in 2017 will be held at Darling Harbour in a new convention centre – I have a good feeling about it and hope the brand new air conditioning system proves to be a crowd-pleaser.

I hope they have more food vans available, more chairs and better training for the staff so they understand who can do what based on what pass they hold.  One thing that seemed to annoy everyone was the centre stage layout, as it was difficult to find a seat and attendees had to sit there all day if they wanted to see every show.  Clearing the room after each show like they did in other areas would have mitigated this problem. I can safely assume the event will be sold out once again for 2017 and can expect an even larger audience.

 

RTXAU 2016 Line

RTXAU 2016 Line

 

The Panels and Shows

The schedule was interesting, with great shows and audience interaction, but 3 shows were run simultaneously. This forced attendees to make very hard choices as to who they wanted to see. Back-to-back shows were also difficult, as the lines were building up 60 minutes before that show had commenced.  Once you got into a show, however, they were great – plenty of laughs and exactly the kind of humour and banter we have come to expect from Rooster Teeth.

The Keynote was my favourite show of the event, featuring Stephanie “Hex” Bendixsen talking about her journey to becoming one of the two hosts of Good Game on the ABC television network.  It was interesting to learn how the gaming community has changed so much in the past 10-15 years and how there are still prevalent gender equality issues (The Loaded Gamer intends to discuss these issues in more depth in the future).

 

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Hex Keynote

 

The Achievement Hunter team put on a excellent show, discussing their plans moving forward, and how much work Geoff puts into 3:00AM emails for video ideas based on a dream he just had.  The panel included Geoff Ramsey, Ryan Haywood, Lindsay Jones and surprise guests Gavin Free and Michael Jones.  We learned Gavin could only stay for the Saturday, but it was great to see them all together.  The guardians did a great job passing the mic around the crowd for questions and even though we went consistently off topic, the questions were still answered.

 

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AH Panel

 

The Cosplay

There was a great turn out for cosplay on both days of RTXAU – everyone was very happy to have their photo taken and the effort put into each costume was impressive.  Check out some of the costumes below.

RT Experience

A great display section was also present, featuring various props and customs used in a few videos. We had a few from items Immersion and Lazer Team, and it was great to see the level of detail they invested into each prop and what it looked like in real life rather than on a screen.

We will be covering more on RTXAU in other articles. If you were there, shoot us a Facebook message letting us know what you thought of the event.

Chris

The Loaded Gamer