{"id":1126,"date":"2012-10-18T21:33:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T21:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/10\/18\/my-frist-trip-to-eurogamer-expo\/"},"modified":"2012-10-18T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T21:35:22","slug":"my-frist-trip-to-eurogamer-expo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/10\/18\/my-frist-trip-to-eurogamer-expo\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Trip To EuroGamer Expo"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a little late as the expo was at the end of September! <\/p>\n

\"WP_000143\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The EuroGamer Expo<\/a> is one of those events that sneaks up on me each year and I never get around to booking tickets so after getting the heads up from a friend this year I made sure I\u2019d got tickets booked in plenty of time (Thanks Niaz!) <\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know the event is a huge exhibition where game developers bring out their latest and greatest to show off for the public to preview (in the hope they will go on to buy them at a later date of course..it\u2019s all mutually beneficial!) <\/p>\n

As well as all the new stuff there are developer sessions, a retro section as well as plenty of things to buy and people dressed as their favourite characters. <\/p>\n

\"Nuns,<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Earthworm<\/a><\/p>\n

So in terms of new \u201cbig\u201d games what did I actually play?<\/p>\n

Assassins Creed 3<\/strong> \u2013 I was really looking forward to playing this and I wasn\u2019t disappointed. I\u2019m a big fan of the series and it looks great and plays as you\u2019d expect it to play. The naval battle demo was interesting even though I was a but rubbish at it. I\u2019ll certainly be picking this up. <\/p>\n

Tomb Raider<\/strong> \u2013 This is a game that wasn\u2019t really on my radar and was pleasantly surprised at how good it is. It looks great and takes a very different style to the previous games. From a plot perspective think of it as a \u201creboot\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019ve been avoiding football games (i.e FIFA and PES) for the last few years, it\u2019s probably a subject of another blog post but I thought I’d give it another try as there happened to be a free controller as I walked past. The verdict? Seems like a big improvement so I\u2019ll give PES a chance this year if i can find a copy at the right price. <\/p>\n

DOOM 3 BFG Edition \u2013<\/strong> This was actually my first experience of playing a 3D game. I wasn\u2019t overly impressed. The whole thing seemed to dark to be able to tell what was going on and while the 3D effect was nice while just walking around and exploring it just didn\u2019t work once the action started to get a little frantic. Not for me. <\/p>\n

Hitman Absolution \u2013<\/strong> I don\u2019t really have much knowledge of the Hitman series. This wasn\u2019t a bad game but didn\u2019t really grab me. Probably worth a second look at some point though. <\/p>\n

There were also lots of games I was happy to watch other people play (in part as I really didn\u2019t want to join some of the larger queues!). Sim City, Halo 4, F1 Race Stars, An Unfinished Swan, Prison Architect, Rocksmith all caught my attention.<\/p>\n

\"WP_000150\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

In terms of the event itself what was good and what was bad? <\/p>\n

Actually there were plenty of good things to talk about. <\/p>\n

It was really good to see lots of families at the event.<\/strong> Gaming covers such a broad range of people now it was nice to see something other than the stereotypical \u201chard core\u201d. The separate over 18 section was good to see in this respect.  <\/p>\n

The venue<\/strong>. I\u2019ve never actually been to Earls Court before. But on the whole I couldn\u2019t think of anything wrong as such. There was plenty of space and it never felt crowded at any point and the queues to get in disappeared much quicker than I thought they would. <\/p>\n

Accessibility<\/strong> -  my friend had a minor operation on his leg the week before the event but was still only able to walk about with a crutch. The staff at the event were really great though, making sure he was able to do everything with a minimum of fuss. <\/p>\n

Developer Sessions<\/strong> \u2013 I only managed to see the Prison Architect session in person and it was great! Hearing the thought process behind the whole history of the game was really interested and they kept the room entertained throughout. You can find links to the sessions that were recorded on the EuroGamer website<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

Free Stuff<\/strong> \u2013 They were giving away some neat stuff at the various stands if you got in quickly enough. I\u2019ve got a very cool little Hitman character sitting on my desk in the office.<\/p>\n

And the not so good?<\/p>\n

Mobile phone coverage<\/strong> \u2013 there were a lot of people at the Expo and while I was able to use the website and follow the Twitter hashtag<\/a> initially before long my mobile phone quickly became a glorified camera. I was barely able to send texts or make calls for most of the day, let alone use the Internet. This was really disappointing. There were some people I was hoping to catch up but it was impossible to communicate with anyone. I\u2019d have happily have paid a bit extra for my ticket in return for some WiFi.  <\/p>\n

Queues<\/strong> \u2013 yeah it\u2019s an obvious one but there was tons I didn\u2019t get to do because I was unwilling to wait in a queue. I really wanted to check out Halo 4 but I\u2019m not so desperate that I\u2019d stand in line for an hour. I had an early access ticket that I failed to take advantage of properly. As it was my first time I spent half it just walked around taking it all in. If I\u2019d realised what would happen to the queues I\u2019d have got all the games I wanted to play sorted in that first hour.  <\/p>\n

Free Stuff<\/strong> \u2013 yeah this is probably a little unfair but\u2026..After the event I got an email with a free trial code for 30-days access to PSN+. I do appreciate the gesture \u2013 really \u2013 but as I don\u2019t own a PS3 or a Vita it wasn\u2019t much use to me. I\u2019ve also got a code for a free iOS Lara Croft game. Very nice..but again I don\u2019t own an iOS device. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll probably agree that\u2019s not a huge list of bad things though. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m planning on going again next year and if you\u2019re into gaming at all it\u2019s worth checking out!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a little late as the expo was at the end of September! The EuroGamer Expo is one of those events that sneaks up on me each year and I never get around to booking tickets so after getting the heads up from a friend this year I made sure I\u2019d got tickets booked<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming"],"yoast_head":"\nMy First Trip To EuroGamer Expo - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/10\/18\/my-frist-trip-to-eurogamer-expo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My First Trip To EuroGamer Expo - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a little late as the expo was at the end of September! 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