An 8 am sleep in sounds luxurious until you realise that it was 7 am less than a week ago.
Across the road from the hotel is Albert Park Lake. In the morning winds we take a short walk before heading back.
We catch the tram to Federation Square. As we walk up the stairs towards ACMI I think I recognise Professor Dan Golding walking in the opposite direction. It’s not surprising, especially considering that ACMI is celebrating Melbourne International Game Week with a variety of programs, including the exhibition Game Worlds.
I buy tickets to the exhibition, but am forced to move them to a later time as Alex is feeling a bit unwell. Fortunately, ACMI is a fantastic place to rest for a while with comfy padded benches.
The exhibition begins with a PDP-10 and the first 3D game in Maze Wars. There’s a range of other games on display. Text games like Zork and the Melbourne developed The Hobbit, along with development notes and maps. Silksong, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Elden Ring, SimCity and more. The amazing Doom on a Lego brick. Not so many retro games, though those can be found elsewhere in the museum. Game communities, abandoned games, timelines for series.
I’m not much of a gamer, so it’s difficult for me to judge the exhibition, though Alex found it interesting. One thing I did find thought provoking was the Machinima documentary using Grand Theft Auto to talk about Palantir and the LAPD’s Operation Laser. How the inherent bias in data analysis can have real negative impacts.
So much money and effort put into policing crime when you could address the social issues that cause it in the first place.
Everyone is starving after the exhibition. We debate where to go and B suggests Laksa King in Newmarket. That’s a train ride from Flinders Street station opposite Federation Square. But we just miss the train and the next one is 20 minutes away. More frequency needed!
Newmarket is on the same line I took last visit from Moonee Ponds last trip, same Comeng train I caught then.
We have an Assam and a combo laksa and nasi lemak with beef rendang. The Assam laksa was especially excellent.
On our return, much better timed, we exit at Southern Cross station and walk to DFO at South Wharf.
After shopping for clothes and tea we are absolutely exhausted. We grab sandwiches and salad for dinner and catch the 96 tram towards St Kilda, then change to the 16 back to the hotel.
I’m tempted to head back to ACMI to watch Departure as part of a Joe Hisaishi celebration, but just cannot go to the effort. So a surprisingly early night in!
