Australian Video Game Expos

by Yug

Waking up at 5am in the morning is never enjoyable. Ever. I don’t care who you are, or if you’ve been waking up at the crack of dawn all your life, the possibility that at that ungodly hour of the morning you wouldn’t want at least ‘one more hour’ to sleep in is unfathomable to me. It also could be because 5am is usually the time I’m getting HOME because that’s when the nightclubs shut. This is why I was not happy to have to wake up at 5am every second Friday morning for the last month and a half to attend the sudden influx of gaming expos that have hit Australia.

Don’t worry though; things get a lot better once I finally woke up.

I don’t know if you’ve realized it or not, but since the E3 Expo (the Mecca of gaming expos) announced it was scaling back, all of a sudden there have been a bunch of Australian gaming expos that have popped up claiming to be the biggest and the best. Specifically, GAME1, eGames & Entertainment and GO3. People might point to other such events as SupaNova and GameConnect; however they are pop culture and game industry only events respectively.

As I already mentioned, I had managed to drag myself out of bed early enough to fly to each of the events that have already come and gone, so sit back and relax as I tell you about what you missed, what the highlights where, what there is to look forward to, and the potential for next year.

GAME1 (Melbourne/Sydney)

4^th & 5^th of November in Melbourne, 2^nd & 3^rd of December in Sydney

GAME1 is a result of the people who run Autosalon (a popular car enthusiast’s magazine and expo) doing a survey of their readers, only to find out that about 95% of them own and play video games. You need to be aware of that, because putting rev-heads and gamer-geeks in the same place together doesn’t actually sound like a good combination.

This was however the first of any kind of multi-platform and multi-publisher gaming expo in Australia though (as far as I know), so the good gamers of Melbourne certainly made their presence known. Buy a ticket, take the ride, and you got access to both the cars and games (although the Autosalon area took up about ¾ of the entire expo).

Realistically though, a gaming expo will live or die by the quality and quantity of playable games, and GAME1 had the support of Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Activision, THQ. The highlight was definitely the Nintendo Wii, as the Melbourne expo was the first time it was offered in a playable format to the Australian public. The Ubisoft Xbox 360 games such as Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Rainbow Six Vegas also drew crowds, as did Activisions Tony Hawk Project 8 and Guitar Hero 2, and THQ’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Destroy all Humans 2. Lost Planet and Gears of War were also playable and extremely popular at the Sydney leg of the expo.

The other major draw card of this event was two massive LAN gaming events, one involving LAN PC’s with Counterstrike 1.6, the other with LAN Xbox 360s and including such games as Call of Duty 3, Need for Speed Carbon and Halo 2. Anyone who was involved in competitive gaming didn’t want to miss this 36hour tournament.

The Melbourne event could be considered a success due to the massive crowds and interest; however the Sydney event didn’t quite have the same big crowds. Maybe it’s because gamers in Sydney are more skeptical, maybe it’s because it was raining all weekend, or maybe it’s because it was half an hour out from Sydney city in Olympic Park!

The best part of the show could also be described as the worst, depending on what kind of gamer you are. Autosalon is an expo where you have shiny cars, half naked women and massive sound systems on display. This carried over into GAME1, where the stage was constantly blasting out hardcore Gangster Rap and R&B, skimpy promo girls danced around the stage, and loud obnoxious DJ’s spent most of the stage time throwing out ‘free stuff’ to a crowd that seemed way to violent for a gaming crowd.

Check out the AustralianGamer.com 5 minute tour video of GAME1 here.

eGAMES & ENTERTAINMENT EXPO (Melbourne)

17^th to 19^th November

eGAMES was in the exact same building in Melbourne that GAME1 was in only 2 weeks prior, but it couldn’t be any more different. For starters, there was no confusion – everyone that came to this expo was there for the games. Skeptics who were worried about the turnout need only have seen the amount of people that turned up at 2pm on the Friday it opened. Don’t people in Melbourne have to work at that time? Or do they all just sit in the little backstreet European cafes drinking chardonnay all day?

Anyway, eGAMES had the support of Microsoft, Nintendo AND Sony, with keynote speeches from the local head honchos of each. There were also many other relevant and interesting events on the main stage, from PC Build-Off competitions, industry panels, showcases of upcoming products and gaming services, and a charity auction hosted by none other then myself and my AustralianGamer.com colleague Matt.

The expo was almost three times the size of GAME1, and included a lot more support from Nintendo and Microsoft, in the form of 9 playable Nintendo Wii’s, an inflatable tent featuring a playable version of Gears of War, plus Viva Piñata, the latest Ubisoft games, and an Xbox 360 competition run by console tournament veterans from SpectreWorld.com.au. There was also an eSports area organized by Infinity with live commentary by the GameStah guys.

Playstation also had a presence, although not with the Playstation 3. They had a PSP truck, a Singstar/Guitar Hero 2 setup, and promo girls running people over in Segways.

Rounding out the expo were lots of other booths and stalls which contained everything from obscure Japanese and Anime games, expensive 3D virtual glasses, new MP3 players, plasma TV’s, old school console displays and arcade machines, high end computer hardware stores, and a bunch of local universities pimping out their latest gaming courses. Aussie developers Auran and Third Wave Games were also there to promote their companies, which was great to see.

Oh, did I mention myself and Matt from AustralianGamer.com were the Main Stage MC’s for most of the event? Surely that seals the deal if you were wondering whether it was worth going to!

One criticism was that there were too many ‘shop fronts’ and not enough playable games, but consider this is only the first of what will most likely be an annual event, and the seeds are set for the expo to grow to be even bigger next year when it comes to both Melbourne AND Sydney.

Check out the AustralianGamer.com 8 minute tour video of eGames here.

GO3 (Perth)

March 30^th to April 1^st

Now, I’ve got nothing against Perth, but as someone who lives in Brisbane, it seems like such a long long way away. Certainly further than Sydney or Melbourne. If you do live towards the eastern side of Australia, you may wonder what this expo can offer to entice you to make the trip.

To answer that, you need only look at the speakers, companies and events they have already planned. The guys organizing this aren’t trying to make an ‘Australian E3’. They’re trying to make a new E3. Period. If gaming media from around the world will fly to Los Angles to a gaming expo, why not fly to Australia?

Featuring not just an exhibition that showcases the latest in gaming and electronic entertainment, GO3 will also feature a trade conference with lectures presented by gaming industry leaders from Australian and around the world, a 600 player LAN party, A Game Developer Competition, and the E-Sports World Cup 2007 (featuring a prize purse of over US$400,000).

It seems like every company is on board this one, from the big 3 (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo), the major publishers, and even the majority of Australian game developers.

The biggest hurdle will be convincing people nationally and internationally to travel to Perth, however with over 4 months to go before the actual event, and already an established and impressive line up of exhibitors, media partners and guest speakers, it’s definitely shaping up to be worth it.