Impressions: Gamefest

So! As it turned out, I wound up going to both day 1 and day 3 of gamefest. I saw quite a lot, it was a surreal experience from the moment I stepped off the train to be honest. I never quite acclimatised to the whole 'game show' environment, it's a tired and predictable old saying but I really was like a kid in a candy store. For someone who loves games, it was like heaven. So many screens and sounds, theme songs roaring throughout the hall, other attendees dressed as their favourite characters, booths decorated in ways that would make even the most stony-faced games fan want to squeal with excitement. I must've spent so much time wandering around in abject awe and amazement when I could have been, well, queueing. 


Yes, queues, a lot of them, of course I wasn't as naive as to expect I'd walk on every game I wanted to see, but I couldn't have imagined the literal lengths some people will go to in order to play these games. Queues well over 3 hours long for the likes of MW3 meant that I missed out on a few big titles, but I still managed to see enough, and really it was an experience unlike any other. I enjoyed every moment.

The Battlefield Booth was nicely presented. I sat in the chair behind the guy in blue!

For anyone out there who wonders what it was like, I apologise for the lack of personal pictorial accompaniment to this post, these pictures you see are from the official photo feed, frankly, I forgot to take photos. In a way, that fact alone can help to explain what it was like. I went out with a game plan, hoping to see x number of titles, make pages of notes, take plenty of pictures, not waste a single second with the likes of food and rest, and from the moment I stepped through the doors my plan went out the window. I couldn't have anticipated what it would be like and honestly, for a place like that you don't really need some sort of complex military-grade itinerary, the game show experience seemed like the very definition of 'let's just see how it goes'. So the lack of pictures can serve as testament to how, upon entering, I managed to completely abort most of my carefully-conceived plan. 

It's like with anything, you have the eternally unpredictable variable; people. Their numbers, their habits, which queues they would join, which games they would pass by, how long they would play for, when they would eat, when they would rest, when they would leave. I couldn't predict any of that, so it really became the sort of experience, at least for me, where I just went along for the ride to see where it took me, not concerning myself with missing out on big titles or wasting valuable gaming time or anything like that. And all in all, the ride turned out to be pretty good. Oh and remember those queues I mentioned...?

Hey look a queue!

Another wild queue has appeared!

At least they got to queue next to some sweet posters

Yeah. Those pictures don't even tell half the story, if I was to take those pictures of queues and photoshop them onto the ends of pictures of other exceedingly queues maybe you'd be able to appreciate how ridiculous it was. Believe it or not I actually waited in two of those, spent about three hours of my life in two lines, in fact now I'll go ahead and tell you how it all happened.


Day 0


Thursday, the day before the event began, I already had my ticket for day 3 and had plans to attend with friends, but for some reason, maybe it was my exceptionally high excitement-levels, maybe it was the part of me that always loves being the first to see something, maybe it was the worrier in me imagining the queues once I saw Saturday and Sunday were completely sold out, whatever it was, it made me, at around 11pm Thursday night, buy a ticket for day 1 and make plans to go by myself. 

I'm glad I did this, for the obvious reason of getting the chance to play twice as much, and the not-so-obvious reason of being able to just walk around by myself and witness all of that excitement on a more personal level. I'll try and think of some way to explain it... You know how, when you go to an amusement park with a big group of people, you sometimes end up going on rides that you'd rather not have gone on and doing things you'd rather not do? Whereas, imagine if you went on your own, you obviously wouldn't get the fun of having friends there, but you'd literally be able to do your own thing all day long and go ride whatever you liked. That's part of why I went on my own on the Friday, primarily, because I wanted to have a day of just me and the event, whereas on Sunday I would have a group of friends with me. 


Day 1

Friday, day 1, the grand opening and I sure as hell wasn't going to miss it. After an early awakening and rushed train ride, I found myself at the entrance. Or rather, about a quarter of a mile from the entrance because of the giant queue ahead of me consisting of people who were closer to the entrance than my humble self. To put this in perspective, I was there around 9.30, half hour before opening, and by 9.55, five minutes from opening, the queue behind me was probably twice as big as the one ahead of me.

Eventually, the grand moment arrived, I apologise for over-dramatising this event somewhat but hey it makes it more exciting to read (hopefully). The doors opened and the queue began to surge forward at an alarming pace, my compliments to all of the staff working the doors that day, they did a fantastic job, and within a couple of minutes I was inside.

Now, it'll be hard to put into words exactly what I felt as I stumbled into this giant arena of gaming, being pushed along by a sea of (mostly) boys and men with medium to long hair and internet-slogan-branded t-shirts, looking around to see a life-size model of Princess Zelda, countless screens flashing with bright colours, and a seemingly endless purple carpet, hearing the triumphant soaring choir of the Skyrim theme combined with the ambient bassline thud of so many noises ringing throughout the massive hall and my small, insignificant ears. Bewildering, overwhelming, time-freezing amazement shall be my feeble attempt at conveying whatever the emotion was that I felt right then. I was astonished, in awe, strangely happy, I wanted to just take that moment and preserve it forever as one of the most defining experiences of my young life.

Onward, straight past the tables of maps without remembering to pick one up (a mistake that would haunt me later in the day), I proceeded further into this grand showcase of gaming for a day of queueing, gazing, and playing that I won't soon forget.

Now I won't bore you with every single detail, so, a quick summary of the day; I explored the hall, tried to see every single booth, queued quite a bit, and managed to play several games, the highlights of which included Battlefield 3, Rage, and Dark Souls. More in-depth actual game analysis will be posted a later date, this post is mainly just my feelings on the event itself.

Or, more appropriately, 'Prepare to queue!'

I enjoyed the day, despite waiting over two hours in the Skyrim line to wind-up only seeing a video that I had watched online that very morning. Surprisingly, considering it was the first day of the first Gamefest ever, was organised and set-up very well. There were certainly things that could be improved for next year, but overall it was a great show. 

Day 3

For day 3, I arrived shortly after the event opened, meaning there was virtually no wait to enter, but by the time I got inside, the monstrous queues had already formed for the likes of Battlefield and Modern Warfare, I was glad I'd already played some of the big titles on Friday because the Sunday seemed to be twice as busy. Every game station was occupied, every big title had a queue of at least an hour. 

So, again, I spent a great deal of the day wandering around, but the good thing about how Gamefest was laid out, was that just by walking about the place, you could really see a lot. Video screens showing demos and trailers were everywhere, along with people in costume, beautifully-decorated booths, a store selling discount games and consoles, and reps handing out free swag, there was so much on show that even if you weren't in a queue or playing a game, you could still have fun just being at the event. 

Wandering around in awe at all of this was certainly fun, but I quickly found the need to play some games. Luckily, the 3DS booth was relatively empty so I waited there a few minutes and quickly nabbed the first free handheld I could spot. Pokemon Rumble Blast was the game, I won't give overly-involved impressions as I only played for a few minutes, it seemed pretty fun, collecting Pokemon and fighting as them in real-time. 

More importantly, this was one of my first encounters with a 3DS, and I have to say the 3D was disappointing, although it was most likely simply this particular game, the effect was blurry unless viewed from the perfect angle, and it added little to the gameplay experience. Whilst at the booth I also checked out Resident Evil: Revelations, which had incredibly good graphics for a handheld game, and Mario Kart, which had markedly better 3D effects than the other games, and played exactly as you would expect a Mario Kart game to play. 

This is not just food...

From there I continued to make my way around the event, hopping onto any free game stations I was lucky enough to spot first. Rayman Origins, Journey, and more Dark Souls were some of the highlights. 

As the day wore on, the event began to become much less crowded. Queues were shorter, many of the stations were free, and, all-in-all, the final few hours were the best bit of the entire weekend. I managed to play much more than I could have imagined, and while the big games like CoD were still off-limits thanks to their queues, the 'lesser' games were far more accessible. Starhawk, Soul Calibur V, Spiderman: Edge of Time, X-Men: Destiny, Tintin, Sonic Generations, Ridge Racer, and, obviously, a bit more Dark Souls were just some of the games I got time with as the day wore on. 

Eventually, it was time for Gamefest to shut up shop, the stations were shut down, reps began to pack away, and satisfied gamers made their way slowly out of the hall.

It was a fantastic event, one I'll be sure to attend again in the future and would recommend to all. Gamefest not only lived up to my hopes and expectations, it somehow surpassed them. While I didn't get to play every game I wanted, I managed to see and experience more than I could have imagined. It not only confirmed but conclusively re-enforced my overwhelming desire to work in the games industry, and I learnt a few lessons along the way too. The game show experience isn't about how many things you get to play, it's about how much you enjoy it, and I loved every minute of my time there. Finally, here's one picture I did take, just now, of a few things I have to remember the event with.

Yes, I got a map eventually

Bring on Gamefest 2012.