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feature :: supanova sydney 2007

SupaNova Sydney 2007

Starks attends and reports on Day 1 of the SupaNova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney 2007

Goto Day 1 (coverage by Starks) | Goto Day 2 (coverage by Jae)

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A supernova (plural: supernovae or supernovas) is a stellar explosion that creates an extremely luminous object.



Boom! Headshot


*Cough* Back on topic.

Supanova Expo 2007 was an event I was looking forward to attending, mainly for the CPL tournament they were supposed to hold. Sadly, when that fell through, I was a little bit miffed as to what to look forward too.

Still, the event seemed to be a big thing each year so I optimistically skipped from Kingsgrove to Homebush...

*Cough*

Dressed as Starkemus Prime, I figured that to perfectly meld into my surroundings I needed to transform into cosplay. It was with many hours of effort and help from mummy that I finally achieved my desired result.



Transform and meet me there!


Upon entering The Dome at Homebush, I was immediately greeted by the bright white sheen of the X-Box 360 Sandman. Whilst waiting for my partner in crime Jooney, I stood and watched the little kiddies play a new 360 game called Naruto. I was amazed at the graphics first of all. The developers at Ubisoft have used cell shading to give the game an extremely unique and in my strict opinion classy touch. In all honesty, the game looks unreal. Think Futurama graphics but 10 times as good.

Whilst I didn’t get a chance to play the game itself, it looks like there is a story mode for the single player, and this is based on the cartoon/comic that Naruto is taken from. The multiplayer looks to be a platform fighter where two characters face off and belt the crap out of each other.

Moving along, the Expo itself was quite cool. Lots of cosplay, lots of interesting stands, but for me some good electronic stands that showcased some great upcoming games.



I just love the blue glow of the NRG PC’s.


Our friends at Auran made another appearance as they had playing the latest version of Fury on the wicked glowing NRG PC’s. Just from looking at it, this current version is a lot cleaner and the HUD spruced up to look less busy and maximise your view of the screen. The graphics look a little nicer too. The game play seems the same, which isn’t a problem really. I’d say Auran are happy with the way the game plays, and spent the last few months of development in more behind the scenes areas. It’s definitely looking good for when it releases.

I trolled over to EA, who were showcasing their new Simpsons game. Can’t say I jumped for joy over this, but I did get a photo with Homer!



Mmmm, doughnuts!


Move on to another stand where I got to test out Timeshift; An upcoming 360 title. After kicking off some kid who thought he was the greatest gift to FPS’s since Fata1ity, I gave the game a whirl. It played quite similarly to FEAR, and I was a little clueless as to what I was meant to be doing. But the NPC’s all made very amusing movements and death animations when I shot them, so I’m thinking that the game itself must be one I’ll need to sit down and go through to get a better idea.



Physical age, 23. Mental age, 12. Hmmm, will this be a problem?


The third and most interesting stand for me was World in Conflict. Now, being a huge RTS fan when I was a kid, and loving games like C&C, Age of Empires, and Rise of Nations, this game intrigued me. It got the three big ticks for mine – It looked good graphically (As all PC games should), it played well and had a great HUD (Which is integral for an RTS), and it had that ‘I really want to play more’ factor that ends up consuming my life for a period of months. This is definitely something I’m going to look into purchasing.



The headphones wrecked my hair.


Moving along, Jooney was desperate to play Guitar Hero III. I had fended off his advances towards the stand due to the length of the line, but finally caved when he agreed that we could do Welcome to the Jungle by Guns ‘n’ Roses for our song. Suffice to say that as we approached, this gentleman was playing.



We got fun and games! We got everything you want! Now that we know your name!


Truly, I could not have timed it any better. Slash playing Guitar Hero III. Wicked eh? Anyways, after listening to about a million people butcher songs and make my ears bleed, we finally got our go. Now, I’ve never played GHII. I hear the gasps of shock and horror, but it’s true. So for me, it was straight to easy. Jooney, being the little show off he is, cranked it up to hard and away we went.

Suffice to say, I did Duff proud, and my Bass was fantastic for a relative n00b who’d never played the game before. Jooney tore it up and had me singing as we were playing the game. All the ‘Spicy Sri Lankan’ needed was a few groupies and a drug addiction and he’d definitely pass as a rock star.

After dragging Joons away from the GHIII stand, we located the Juiced 2 tent where the NRG Ferrari. Whilst I’d seen the Ferrari a number of times at various places, it still amazes me to see the sleek silver vehicle parked, often for the benefit of some incredibly hot promo girl to laze on.



Vrooom!


Next to it, I watched as a few people played Juiced 2. I can’t say I’ve ever played any in the series, but it definitely looked like a lot of fun, and the fantastic custom consoles being used were definitely a great idea.



Errr, Brooom?


With the day drawing to a close, I decided to throw off the restraints, and with very little prompting decided to try my hand at Singstar. It was an amazing performance that is sure to garner the attention of record labels everywhere. Even Simon Cowell was amazed at my performance. Molly Meldrum rates me the best male artist since John Farnham.

Overall, I’d rate the Supanova Expo one I’ll go back to experience. It was a fun, friendly and very family-ok festival of Anime’, games and fan-adoration. The ability to spend large amounts of money is almost irresistible, and I thankfully walked away with only two DVD box sets and a signed poster; Acceptable losses to my bank balance considering the opposition they were up against.

I would have liked to have seen the effect the CPL would have had on the event. Personally, there was a ton of empty space in the Homebush Dome; A result of the withdrawal of CPL no doubt. The influx of people and widening range to the competitive gamer, and the sponsorships tournaments bring, might have made it a more commercial event, rather than the ‘underground’ feel it had.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend the event. If you’re a fan of Sci-Fi, fantasy, anime, gaming or just pop culture, Supanova is sure to impress and well worth spending a day out of your weekend.

















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