Electron Dance Highlights
Expo Man III of VI: Arcade Town Ghost
There's a big fat lie running through this series like a vein of fool's gold. The Eurogamer Expo is not the first computer show I've been to.
In 1986, I went with family to the Atari User Show held at the Novotel hotel in Hammersmith. We were an Atari 8-bit family and remained so even through the subsequent reign of the 16-bit Atari ST. We bought up the Invisiclues booklet for Infocom's The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy because I couldn't work out how to get past the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal even with a towel wrapped around my head. I watched Jeff Minter demonstrate Colourspace before a live audience with a crazed look in his eyes and fell in love with a game called Time Bandit for the Atari ST that I would never play.
It was all very genteel. This formative childhood experience 25 years ago conferred no skills appropriate for gaming expo combat.
Expo Man II of VI: Ghost Town Arcade
NO to the cacophony of the Def Jam Rapstar stage, NO to the disco lights razing the floor, NO to the console-saturated air. I came to Expo for one thing and one thing only. Pixel-Lab's Mudlark's Indie Games Arcade. I've been immersed in a lot more indie stuff in recent months plus it was the only part of the expo likely to have some PC focus.
I reached the Indie Games Arcade about 5-10 minutes after the expo opened and... that's it? Tucked away in the corner, far from all the neon excitement and noise was something that looked like the laptop section of PC World. Hmm... and even better there was hardly anyone around. Was I too early? Would the developers turn up later? When would The JBurger show?
EXPO ROOKIE LOSER ALERT: I had assumed developers would be present. Well, some were, yes. As for the rest, you had to pretend they were there, peering over your shoulder like a spirit guide. I'd hoped to have a conversation or three with some indie developers and thus give me something interesting to write about my time at the expo. As it is, I've just got to make shit up.
Expo Man I of VI: Tutorial Stage
"I don't know what I'm doing here," I said to myself.
Gaming shows have never seemed like my kind of thing. I'm allergic to marketing gimmicks and hype. I have a stack of unplayed games, from Amnesia to Men of War to King's Bounty, so finding out about new games prior to release doesn't really appeal much. Playing the latest games, ditto, and I could always download the demo. I'm a pipe and slippers gamer, I guess. I like to settle down with the perfect environment at home, put myself into the machine and commune alone with the digital gaming god.
But I was Electron Dance now, maybe it was time to man up. When Eurogamer Expo 2010 screamed onto my radar, I decided to sign up... and then I saw the god damn date. The baby was due the weekend of the expo. I complained on Rock Paper Shotgun but as the baby arrived two weeks early, I decided at the last minute that I could go.
I’m Going To… Eurogamer Expo 2010
This Sunday, the last day of my paternity leave, I'll be doing something very family-oriented. I'll abandon my wife and children to attend the Eurogamer Expo. Just so you know, in case you want to avoid me.
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