Wrap Up: Eurogamer Expo 2009

Just got back from London’s Eurogamer Expo and boy was it worth it! We arrived on the Thames nice and early and were amongst hundreds of gamers already in line, eager to get their hands this year’s must-haves. Kudos to the door staff who managed to get the line moving at an impressive rate, it wasn’t too long before we’d gotten through registration, secured our wristbands and we were inside!

When it comes to these shows I don’t know where to start, which lead me running to the nearest booth and seeing Bayonetta in action. Like last year’s Expo the floor was spaced out perfectly, there were plenty of games and it never felt like you were too far from the next big title. It was nice to see the odd themed booth (see New Super Mario Bros. Wii) – if I remember correctly GameStars Live in 2004 had a bunch of these and they went down well with the fans. HMV was in attendance as expected and held a small retail space in the middle of the floor. Hey, a sponsors gotta do what a sponsors gotta do!

The ground floor was filled with sequels: Battlefield: Bad Company, Assassin’s Creed, Lost Planet and Red Steel were all trying to win the gamers over with their next installments, while a cornered off 18’s only area played host to the survival horror Left 4 Dead 2, PlayStation exclusive God of War 3 and many more.

The basement had various games on display, from Triple-A Titles like Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain to Relentless’ episodic murder mystery adventure Blue Toad Murder Files. What surprised me was a lot of already released content hogged up precious floor space while some Activision titles: Modern Warfare 2, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk: RIDE were all missing from a near complete lineup.

Upstairs the Career Fair made a return bringing you face to face with dedicated professionals from the likes of Rare, Ubisoft and Crytek to discuss career opportunities or offer one-on-one advice regarding the games industry. On the same floor was the Indie Games Arcade which packed a handful of unique games in a single room with the developers nearby to answer any questions if needed.

I missed out on the Developer sessions that took place all day, which made me wish I’d grabbed a ticket for both days, not only would I have been able to attend these sessions, seen Brink in action for the first time, snuck an exclusive look at Splinter Cell: Conviction but I might have even been able to trick Valve into talking about Portal 2 – just maybe!

All in all it was a great show, they bettered last year’s Expo and upped the atmosphere, from the sold-out venue to the tie-in of surprise celebrity appearances they did a tremendous job. I felt 2008 had a better selection of unreleased titles, but it was probably due to a lot of games missing the boat this year and opting for a 2010 release.

If you’re like us and can’t wait, or you didn’t manage to make it this time but would like to register your interest for next year’s show head on over to the website.