Tag: NEC

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

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 – 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

EGX 2015 – First Timer’s Perspective

This was my first ever EGX, following up from my first ever Rezzed. Over the past few days I’ve given you some short recaps of how it all went down: who did I meet, what games I tried and what kind of stuff blew me away. But I haven’t gone into what I thought about the event itself. Let’s get to that. Continue reading EGX 2015 – First Timer’s Perspective

EGX 2015 – Day Three

I will be honest. I wasn’t looking forward to EGX Day 3. I was tired and aside from the interviews I had planned, I had pretty much seen everything I had wanted to see at EGX.

But I did make a promise to the Great and Legendary Ben to try out one of the AAA games for him, to brave the long queues and give it a whirl. But because this was a bigger day, Saturday after all, I could only do Just Cause 3. As someone who’s never played a Just Cause game before I have to say I loved it. There was so much freedom to do as you wished and the potential for creative destruction is outstanding. Continue reading EGX 2015 – Day Three

EGX 2015 – Day Two

I woke up sore on day two, and I just knew the day would be just as long and my feet would hurt twice as much by the end. But even so I was excited to come back.

This day had a few surprises and fun meetings. I ran into the big boss and editor of 1001Up, She Who Wields the Red Pen of Doom, there for the day to keep an eye out on what the Great and Legendary Ben was up to, and checking out some of her top picks as well. Always lovely to meet her, though as is usually the case, we were all so busy there was never really a chance for a long chat. Continue reading EGX 2015 – Day Two

EGX 2015 – Day One

This is my first EGX and my first time at the Birmingham NEC, so I was so fortunate to be on the bus with developers and locals going to the event, meaning I just had to follow them. The queues to get in with the early access crowd—as I didn’t know there was a press entrance—were insanely large, something that honestly shocked me.

This was an intense day. It was my first time at an Expo. I had to find a rhythm between exploring and interviewing. Made me wish I had some backup, to rein me in sometimes, but it’s all part of the experience. Continue reading EGX 2015 – Day One