A year of gaming firsts and conversions.

I have a friend who is so cool, that when raindrops fall upon her they turn to ice. That may be either the most poetically badass intro to a blog I’ve written or the most stomach churning cheese muff string of words. But regardless it's related to the below…

Eurogamer happened last week and it was my first time attending. This year has been a year of firsts for me and seeing as I view myself as a decaying zombie (albeit with slightly better hair), having a year full of firsts is peculiar and yet brilliant at the same time.
In terms of cons, this was definitely my crash course in gaming conventions and notable named ones at that. I had only ever really attended the MCM Expo that occurs twice a year in London, but that is predominantly a cosplay and anime affair, though it will offer gaming, films and other geek culture related events and merchandise. This year has seen me meet people from the crazy scawy online world who are into gaming (and extreme underwater ironing), had me finally delve into multiplaying and revive my own personal endeavours in the world of writing, blogging, flogging and…snogging?

Rezzed in Brighton, Gamescom in Germany and Eurgoamer in London all not too far apart from each other (or at least to me, seeing as time is whizzing by) and all thoroughly enjoyable.

Rezzed happened on a day where nature decided that Brighton needed a massive monsoon, to give an excuse for why the city is so rainbowrific aka GAY!


I’m saying nothing

That was a day where I got so heavily drenched en route to the convention centre that my clothes shrunk on me and trying to remove my Justice League converse required a lot of strength and not so attractive face gurning. Nevertheless I had a really good time, with good company. I met Randy Pitchford, who I admit suffered hearing whispers in the audience from me where sentences such as “how would you like your titties slapped” escaped from my mouth. Hey I’m not blaming him for Duke Nukem Forever, but he was there and therefore that means he must fear for his mammaries. Pitchford gave good dev talk and made even a non Borderlands player like me interested in the sequel. He also was kind enough to take a photo with us and let me stroke his fine blue velvet jacket.


Next came Gamescom, which was a double barrel of excitement and frothyness for me as not only was I going to a big convention, but I was going to a country I had wanted to visit for a long time and who’s language I, for some reason, really like and have been keeping up with since secondary school.



Gamescom attendance hit over quarter of a million which is mind blowing, but not that difficult to believe, when you’re greeted by the thick air of gaming enthusiasts and turn around on an escalator to find this behind you.



For me personally I really enjoyed Gamescom, especially as I’d never been to anything quite like it. My bucket list currently has at the no.1 spot ComicCon, so it was already clear that this field dwelling whiskey loving Irish illuminate bear, was craving convention adventures and on a big scale if possible. Gamescom delivered. Yes it was over packed, yes the swag wasn’t that great unless you fought for it or stood for it and yes, I nearly melted to death. But those are minor cons to me, when I experienced new things, made new friends and saw wonderful places.
Then there’s the free cocktails and nom delights at the Deep Silver party. Oh my sweet lawd!


I love you Germany, so very very hard

Shockingly out of all the events, Rezzed is the one where I came away with the best swag. Ok not exactly best but the most…or um any swag at all.
I was a bit disappointed that Eurogamer’s Assassins Creed III area didn’t offer any freebies to those that queued and played, like they did at Gamescom. The queue for that game was too much for me to handle after waiting to play the fun, but jumpy demo of Dishonoured.


Ahahahahaha…no!

Eurogamer then, obviously came next and I found it to be pretty awesome, it had all the big games that Gamescom had but with less chance of being trampled in a hot wave of stampeding geeky gloop. The floor layout was pretty good, affording plenty of space to meander around and to just take it all in. The obligatory Mountain Dew tank babes were there and my goodness Mountain Dew really isn’t that good is it.

Now to hark back to that 'interesting' introduction. I brought a close friend along with me who was big into anime and other interesting hobbies and though always wanted to really get into gaming, never did, aside from the occasional drunken bouts of playing Tekken or Street Fighter. It was cute watching my friend get nervous as we queued for Assassins Creed III, worrying that people would see and judge her for not being able to play the game. Turns out she had nothing to worry about because I was the one who found the game hard to play, as the PS3 controller was a) not one I am use too and b) it was faulty. But she kicked ass on Dead or Alive 5.


So proud of her snifffffffffffffffff!

Though we found that our east end cockney Jeremy Kyle voice over commentary that we did alongside playing the game attracted a little audience behind us who decided to film the disgraceful gaming themed Eastenders style moment. God help us all if that winds up on the web.
We then spent most of the next day playing games at home and I think I have officially converted someone to our dark side!!

All in all it’s been an up and down year and though it’s not over, I have more good things to dwell on and think fondly off than bad. Thanks to those that were with me for the ride and who know how to have a good time! Now I’m no longer a gaming con novice, I’m looking forward to doing it all over again next year but also finding more new events, people and first times ahead.


Fine here you go! You sick sick dirty puppies