Tag: Birmingham

EGX 2016 – Merge Games – Sublevel Zero Redux, Aragami, Mainlining and Hopiko

Last year I spoke to Merge Games about a ton of games, with Riot being my favourite, and later that year and even into 2016 they helped out with my charity works, both on Extra Life and Gameblast with the Gamely Giving crew. I knew Merge was going to be at the event so I made sure to catch up and talk to Nick Clarkson, their head of PR and Marketing.

It’s rare for me to see PR people so passionate about the games they’re talking about, as strange as that may sound. There is only a handful I’ve spoken to in the past few years who seem to be as into the games as their audience is, and Nick is one of them. Continue reading EGX 2016 – Merge Games – Sublevel Zero Redux, Aragami, Mainlining and Hopiko

The EGX Experience 2016

From Thursday 22 to yesterday, Sunday 25 of September, EGX took place, once more at the Birmingham NEC (which I insist on wrongly calling “neck”). My original plan was to be there the weekend but in the end, I only made the trip on Saturday.

The main reason for this is that I was exhausted. When I arrived in London in the morning, hoping to take the tube from Tower Hill to Euston Square and then walk to Euston Station, I found that because of engineering works, there were no trains heading that way or anywhere east. Back on street-level I tried to find a bus but couldn’t, so my only choice was to walk 5 km to Euston. By the time I got on the train to Birmingham, I was already exhausted and my day was just starting. Continue reading The EGX Experience 2016

EGX Highlights – Best of EGX – Runner Ups

Yesterday I spoke of my Best of EGX but there were more games that competed with them for that trophy—or sticker—and today you’ll hear a bit about them. These are games I saw that and loved though most of them were early in development or just didn’t grab as well as those I mentioned yesterday. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Best of EGX – Runner Ups

EGX Highlights – Best of EGX

EGX was a lot of fun, as you’ve been able to see from my previous articles and the many photos I took (though I promise to take even more next time around). I played tons of games, spoke to many developers and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I met new and old friends alike. It was a wonderful experience.

I’m not a fan of “Best of” a given event, as I feel it diminishes the value of every other game that I saw during EGX. But thanks to my friends at 1001Up, it’s public knowledge what my favourite game at the event was, so what the hell? I’ll talk about my Best of EGX 2015. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Best of EGX

EGX Highlights – Rising Star Games

One of the last people I met at EGX was Tyrone Walcott, PR Manager for Rising Star Games. We had an interesting chat about some of the games they had on show and the first thing that struck me was his barely contained energy. He spoke in a calm tone, but I could feel how excited he was about it all. I could almost picture him jumping up and down in excitement over them, much as I was on the inside.

The first thing he asked: “Which ones have played?” To which I replied Lumo and Lumini, two titles that got me hooked instantly. Lumo filled me with childlike joy and made me feel like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, the bumbling apprentice in the Wizard’s Tower. Lumini was just relaxing. In the bustle of EGX, it was a title that was just about chilling.

It was surprising to me then when Tyrone filled me in on these games and I realised what I felt was pretty spot on. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Rising Star Games

EGX Highlights – Merge Games

I was looking forward to meeting the guys from Merge Games. I’ll admit that it was for a single title: Riot: Civil Unrest. Not many of you know this but I’m originally from Venezuela, a country that in the past few years has had its fair share of protests, marches and full on riots. It became very common to see it on TV.

So when I saw this game about Riots, about altercations with the police, Molotov cocktails, thrown bottles and angry shouts, it tugged at some part of me. So I had to see it.

It was a great surprise then, when other titles in their lineup attracted me as well. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Merge Games

EGX Highlights – Tears of Avia

One of the games for which I saw the longest queues in the Rezzed section over the course of my EGX adventure was Tears of Avia, a tactical RPG with anime-ish elements. It’s currently on Kickstarter. I passed by the stall and looking over people’s shoulders I saw bits of the gameplay and it was a style I was familiar with and knew I liked, a style all of you who ever played Final Fantasy Tactics will also recognise. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Tears of Avia

EGX Highlights – Theo & Lizzy

One of the biggest surprises I had during EGX was Theo & Lizzy. Ever since playing the original Super Mario Bros. with my NES back in the 80s, I’ve loved platformers and the faster they are the more I like them. I want a challenge when I play them, mostly so I can show off my skills—or lack thereof—by completing levels as fast as possible or not at all.

I went by Butcherlab’s stand and saw people playing it like crazy. Knowing how busy EGX was and how many people would crowd the booth, I’d decided to only play a little bit of Theo & Lizzy, to get a feel for its gameplay so I could write this article, but the moment I started playing and got a handle on the controls, I couldn’t stop. Ollie Elliot, Co-Founder of Butcherlab, sat by me to guide me through the demo as well as answer a few of my questions. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Theo & Lizzy

EGX Highlights – Knee Deep

One of the developers I was most keen to see at EGX was Prologue Games. I always enjoy talking to them, mostly about crazy Florida stories with Wes Platt, Writer and Designer for Knee Deep, and some interesting stories from the game’s development with Colin Dwan, the Overlord…I mean owner.

This time around they were joined by Cory Farris, Senior Artist for Knee Deep—a part of me wants to believe they dragged him along for him to know how your body feels AFTER an expo—and while we waited for people to finish playing the demo I started talking to Wes, hoping to get some insight into the story-craft behind this episodic swamp noir. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Knee Deep

EGX Highlights – Cosplay

During Rezzed I had the opportunity of taking a few cosplay photos but I didn’t really get into it as I didn’t want to cramp Timlah’s style. He was the cosplay man, in disguise himself, so I just stood in the background and let him do his job. Thanks to him I did get some awesome photos in.

But now Timlah was in some faraway land so it was up to me to take on the EGX cosplay photo-taking duties. Last week I shared a photo of a Peach cosplayer I dubbed the best of EGX Cosplay. I still think he was. The confidence and joy he displayed while walking around dressed as Peach was amazing and it was one of the best moments of my EGX visit. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Cosplay