About one quarter of the space in the centre was devoted to the Game1 show, with the rest occupied by Autosalon. The first thing all of our staff headed towards was the Wii, which was making it’s public debut in Australia today. Unfortunately everybody was gravitating towards Nintendo’s large, prominent display and we were forced to wait in line for two hours before having a go on Nintendo’s new piece of tech. Four games were on display, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Wii Play, Wii Sports and Excite Truck (or Truck Excite as the Nintendo representative kept calling it). At the beginning, visitors were allowed to have a go at every game, but by the time Tristan and I had grown older by two hours we were only allowed to play on one game.
The obvious choice for our first experiences on the Wii was Wii Sports. We played the tennis mini game and after strapping the little holders on our hands we were ready to play a game. Whilst only an extremely quick introduction to the Wii, the tennis mini game was thoroughly enjoyable and everybody who played it appeared to pick it up really quickly. However, there were a few concerns. The game didn’t always pick up my movements, during one stroke I would over exaggerate my movement and it wouldn’t sense it but other times the Wii would sense my movements perfectly. The Wii remote also provides no force feedback, so you won’t be feeling your shot, you’ll certainly hear the shot and you’ll see your character execute a shot, but (unlike other games) there appeared to be no rumble at all in the tennis game.
Sonic is a busy fella isn't he?
After Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was easily the second most popular game. We watched quite a few people try their hand at fishing and must admit that the game looked pretty impressive visually. Excite Truck was also surprisingly smooth, the game didn’t impress visually but the frame rate was silky smooth and didn’t appear to miss a beat. Despite my initial reservations about Excite Truck the game does look like it could be a lot of fun, especially in multiplayer. The final game we witnessed was Wii Play, which will come bundled with a controller for a budget price on December the 7th. We got to see two of the games in action, the shooting gallery mini game and the air hockey mini game.
After spending two hours at the Nintendo booth we moved along to some of the other publishers. THQ had a booth set up in the corner and was showcasing Sonic the Hedgehog, WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 and Destroy All Humans! 2. For WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 it was the first time that the game had been shown in public in Australia and visitors were able to go hands on with plenty of the wrestling modes. We must admit that the game looked rather impressive visually, which is surprising because the graphics aren’t normally a strongpoint in the Smackdown titles. Sonic the Hedgehog was also on display and it seems that Sega have updated the build, so you can get a better feel of how the final game will look. If you attend the THQ stand you’ll also be given posters, stickers and possibly even a demo for Destroy All Humans! 2.
Wii Sports - Tennis
Activision’s stand was consistently busy, as they bought along some recent code for Call of Duty 3, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions and the crowd magnet, Guitar Hero 2. At the centre of the Activision display was a Pimp My Ride car, which was used to promote the upcoming game, though the car itself didn’t looked too pimped... maybe it’s a work in progress. As always, Guitar Hero 2 was popular. Whilst the lines for Guitar Hero 2 weren’t as lengthy as the Wii wait, there were still quite a few people lining up for their quick chance to act like a rocker. Call of Duty 3 was also a draw card for the audience and whilst the game looks similar to it’s predecessor, it demonstrates just how popular the Call of Duty series is.
The local developer Auran were also in attendance and had quite a few PC’s set up showing off their latest title, Call of Juarez. Auran’s next big title is Fury, which is the first massively multiplayer online game produced in Australia. Fury will also be on display at the eGames expo. We’ll have an extensive preview of Fury very shortly, so keep checking back to PALGN. Fury looks like it is going to be one of the biggest titles developed in Australia for a long time and despite the build on display being a little old, the game was still extremely smooth.
Aside from this there wasn’t too much else on show. EA had a large booth which basically focused on Need for Speed: Carbon. The Xbox 360 version looks incredible, but the PlayStation 2 edition didn’t look quite so good. Every hour a presentation takes place on the centre stage, the presentations started with Nintendo and were followed by EA, THQ & Activision. During the intervals some lovely ladies came onto the stage to dance. There were also a few technology booths; NRG showcased some of their high-end game systems and Samsung displayed their new HD TV's which support Blu-Ray.
NRG showed off their......technology
The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) had a booth where they talked about their courses available for people interested in getting a foot into the ever-growing gaming industry. The booth was an interesting insight into one of Australia's most successful video game focused schools in Australia, and no doubt something that future artist and programmers will find interesting. We also went over to have a chat with Yug and Matt at the Australian Gamer booth. Free M&Ms and something to sit on made it a highlight of the afternoon. The Game1 expo also featured a 36 hour tournament. There was a lot happening with the space and at any one time there were about twenty five gamers playing Call of Duty 2 for the XBox 360.
Overall the Game 1 expo was a little disappointing. It was relatively small with not enough to do. This leaves us with hope that eGames will be bigger and better with its increased focus on video games. However, this is only the beginning for games conventions in Australia. It was clear by the number of attendees that the idea to include a gaming segment was a success, although it would have been better if there were more games publishers in attendance. Don’t forget that Game1 is coming to Sydney on the 2nd and 3rd of December, if you’re a Melbournite and your craving wasn’t fulfilled by Game1 then we suggest you attend the eGames expo, where PALGN will be participating. For all our photos from the event , check out our media panel.
) all that much the controls where way to sensitive on it to really make it work, it just didn't quite have that thrill for some reason. Should of stuck around they brought out Wario Ware : Smooth Moves, now that was BRILLIANT! I can't wait for that one, best one yet.
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