I think I'm glad the eGames & Entertainment Expo is only on once a year - we were only there for two days this time around and I'm still having trouble getting my head around it all!

Building on last year's roots, this year's Expo promised to be bigger and better than before - and from what we saw, it delivered. With big titles such as Crysis, Assassin's Creed, Haze and Mass Effect on show (the official number was 50 new titles either displayed or playable), plus large stalls from Sony and Nintendo, this was a great way to show off just what's around (or coming soon) in the games industry.

Friday was the "quiet" day, as usual featuring a few more trade-oriented events, keynotes that offered more insight than just a look at what each publisher is releasing next, and gave us a bit of a chance to find our way around without too many troubles. Just after doors opened at lunchtime, I ran into Noel Gray, Exhibition Director, and we had a bit of a chat about his expectations. He'd just poked his head out the front doors to check out what was going on out there, and was very impressed by the number of gamers waiting in line to buy their tickets - and the variety of people there.


Schoolgirls play SingStar; The Haze car; Visitors check out the Sony stand
Noel explained that one of the things that excited him about the Expo is the simple fact that it was, truly, open and interesting to all ages. It's the kind of place where (unlike the motor shows and boat expos of my childhood), the kids are dragging their parents along - and the parents are surprised to discover that they really enjoy it, too! A quick glance around at the crowd showed that eGames has made quite a nice little spot for itself in the Australian gaming calendar - people of all ages were there: parents, kids, the "average" 20-something gamer, industry types, students in school uniforms and the inevitable cosplayers were all milling around, checking out what was on show. While no numbers on attendance have been released yet, Noel and the organisers were expecting an increase of roughly 15-20% on last year, due to the higher number of publishers and developers involved - and the great new titles being released this year.

...and yes, I said school uniforms. Part of this year's event was a series of seminars and lectures to show students (and parents and teachers) what is available in today's Australian games industry in terms of potential jobs. While we didn't get a chance to check them out, presentations were being held by various educational institutions such as QANTM college, TAFE and Swinburne University. When the expo was opened to the public, there were eighty students in an upstairs conference room, being taught about the local industry. Not bad, eh?

That's enough of the formal stuff though. What was it really like on the ground?


Playing Assassin's Creed; Taking part in the Pro Evo Soccer tournament; Hands-on with the Wii Zapper
Well - it was different to last year, but I'm not sure quite how. I chatted to a few people to compare experiences, and we all agreed that something felt like it was missing. Perhaps it was the inevitable hype that was there last year - not only was it the first such event, but it was also the first time many of us had been given the chance to get our grubby little mitts on Nintendo's then-unreleased Wii! This year, things had settled down a bit.

All that aside, it was a great weekend. Highlights included the aforementioned Mass Effect, which was playable under a giant, inflatable Halo helmet; Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles in the Nintendo stand (Resident Evil complete with hands-on experiences with the Wii Zapper); playable copies of Guitar Hero III and SingStar; Uncharted: Drake's Fortune in the Sony trailer; hands-on with both Haze and Assassin's Creed from Ubisoft; The Simpsons Game, which grabbed Acaila's attention; the Atari Pro Evolution Soccer tournaments... the list just goes on! We didn't really get a chance to check out the Team Immunity e-sports stuff (every time UgLyPuNk went over there, they tried to rope him in to an event, so he learned to detour around them to save face), or the camouflage Resistance: Fall of Man tournaments in the corner... (I did, however, take a moment or two to appreciate Tzuga, which was very interesting, expect more on that later.)


One of the Resistance tournaments; Crowds listening to a presentation by the makers of BioShock; Giant Halo helmet in the background
I'm still sorting through my notes to try and make sense of what we saw and who we spoke to, but I want to know what you liked - or didn't like - about this year's eGames & Entertainment Expo. We'll pass all the feedback onto the organisers, and it'll help improve next year's show!