AGE finally looks like it’s ready to turn the top three into the top four.
The last time I attended this show was way back in 2001 when it occupied the old Darling Harbour exhibition centre. I never got to see it in its island home but I gather there were several drawbacks with that venue.
The impressive new ICC Sydney venue has lifted this event to a place it deserves to be in. Ross Ferrar and his team have pulled out all the stops and, despite the still slightly smaller size, the show feels like London or Las Vegas or Macau.
The one thing that would make the Australasian Gaming Expo as big as G2E Asia or the US show is the legalisation of online gaming in Australia. I have been told, however, by many of those who should know that this is not on the cards. Not yet maybe, but all it needs is something like a change of government and this issue could be back on the agenda.
No event is trouble-free. Having to fill in the online induction form in order to obtain my exhibitor badge had me feeling like I was back in primary school. The ban on the serving of alcohol on stands half an hour before the close of the show each day is a little strange, though I fully understand the reasoning behind it.
But I’m nitpicking. AGE now feels like a proper, grown-up gaming trade show. To back this up, attendance on the first day was up by nearly a fifth on 2016 - that’s a serious upturn. This is an event that can only get better and better and, with the organisers’ ability to think outside of the box, this is something that will definitely happen.
