Podcast:E3 2008 wrapup with special guest Yahtzee
Feature:E3 2008 - Day 3 Wrap-up
News:Mainstream Media Hits - Matt on ABCs PM program
Feature:E3 2008 - Day 2 Wrap-up
Review:Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
News:Too beautiful to ignore..
Review:Monster Jam
News:Big trouble in little China
Feature:E3 2008 - Day 1 Wrap-up
News:E3 2008 ... it begins
News:Final Fantasy XIII announced for the Xbox 360
Update:A History Of Refusal
Interview:Firemint talk about their iPod game The Sims DJ
News:BtVS Sacrificing itself for that pesky hellmouth
News:Rock Band 2 Trailer and sneak peak at Rock Band 2 Drums

'The Guild 2: Pirates of the European Seas' Review
by Anna

Ebgames by EdgeCrusher at 4:55am
Duke Nukem Trilogy by EdgeCrusher at 4:52am
Global Warming by SniperXtreme at 4:52am
boom blox? by EdgeCrusher at 4:50am
Favourite Weapons by EdgeCrusher at 4:49am
DUN DUN DUN Dun dun by SniperXtreme at 4:48am
Second Is RE5 Really that Great. by EdgeCrusher at 4:44am
Hey, IT"S FRED!!!! by ArmTheBomb at 4:10am
Call Of Duty World At War by MickeyMOUSE at 2:33am
WoW player trades sex for gold by Schlen at 2:20am
PODCAST [ E3 2008 wrapup with special guest Yahtzee ] by Schlen at 2:14am
Harry Potter & the half blood prince trailer by Lord Halo Nerd at 1:35am
Unofficial Melbourne catchup with Yug by Vesuvious at 1:17am
Sword of the Stranger by Vesuvious at 1:02am
Site Errors by Vesuvious at 12:55am

PC

24 Jul

NDS

24 Jul

NDS

24 Jul

WII

31 Jul

NDS

31 Jul

eGames and Entertainment Expo 2007

A comprehensive report of the event that was the eGames & Entertainment Expo 2007 in Melbourne, as told by various AustralianGamer members who attended the event.

Preface (Brett) | Friday (Oracle) | Saturday (Yug) | Sunday (Samo) | Closing (Brett)

I’m really not lazy, honest. The blame for my absence at eGames on both Friday and Saturday lies squarely at the feet of the shackles of employment. If indeed shackles have feet. If they don’t the blame would lie squarely at whatever they have instead. Anklets maybe. Anyway, as per usual, I digress. The point is because I went out boozing with the team and some of our more hardcore/loyal forum readers on the Friday and Saturday and then was bloody tired/hung over at eGames on Sunday, Yug has decided to punish me by making me write the article about Sunday. Most of which I can’t remember that well because of my alcohol/lack of sleep induced daze.

So once again, I’m waffling. However, despite our enjoyment of refreshing amber beverages and a good night of fun and frivolity at AustralianGamer, there is still some level of professional journalism that has to be found somewhere deep down. That deep down point is usually about the third or fourth paragraph or in other words, about now.

After having attended eGames last year as benchwarmer for AustralianGamer, yes I wasn’t actually on the team back then, I was just a stand-in, I had pretty high expectations for this year’s premier gaming event. Last year was excellent with the oh-too-familiar Tetris A-Game music being my strongest memory, over and over and over again. Serves me right really, I was the silly git who volunteered to babysit a booth that had Super Nintendo Tetris battle on all weekend. 4 weeks later Tetris was still playing in my head over and over and over.




So upon arrival on Sunday morning I was generally expecting more of the same. However on discovering a fully set up AG booth, I was surprised and somewhat overjoyed to discover that our console count had increased somewhere in the vicinity of three-fold. Even better, so had the number of staff available to watch the booth. I was starting to realise that maybe, just maybe I’d get away without having to hear that wretched Tetris song. It was at this point that Brett floated the excellent and all too timely suggestion of coffee. Me being a salesperson and general overall fan of the warm drink made from beans, I followed without actually making any decision. So having oriented myself with the show floor and fed my caffeine addiction I was well and truly ready to receive the public and see what eGames ’07 was all about. This was a good thing because the show had opened to the public half an hour earlier.


eGames then, with Matt and Yug on stage but a large smattering of willing and able helpers – thanks guys, I was able to peruse the show at my own leisure. To be brutally honest, the show was more of the same as last year, just with added representation from Sony and more recent games. The amount of unreleased titles at eGames this year was healthy, even though most were released in the next week or two after the show. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is one such title that is as yet unreleased and I seemed to regularly gravitate back to the Sony stand regularly to play it. Despite feeling essentially the same as before, GT with updated graphics and AI that is actually smart is a very, very tantalising proposition. Thankfully it was right next to the AG stand so I could play GT and watch the stand at the same time. Sort of.




I also did my rounds of the booths I covered for the digital hub. The Scorptec guys were as busy as ever but Chris was able to take a few moments to have a chat with me about how good Crysis is looking and the sheer amount of firepower you need to run the game at full graphics. The monster LCDs Scorptec had setup didn’t harm things in the slightest either.

Dean and Glen from Wide Open Throttle Concepts were demoing their Flat to the Floor racing simulator and every time I went over to see the guys they were, um, flat to the floor. Their booth was always teeming with people who wanted to have a go at their ingenious lounge room racing setup. I would have loved to have another go but I’d already spent a great evening with the lads sampling the FttF and the wait was pretty long anyway. The AG stand was as low key as last year. Beanbags and classic consoles once again. This year the consoles were a little less classic, the N64 would have had the most usage of all. Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 were big favourites with the masses. As they always have been. Ah yes, the days of single stick FPS...




So as the day came to a close and my consciousness was genuinely starting to waver, eGames ’07 was another winner, in more ways than one. There’s no doubt eGames grew this year, and with increased support from Sony and EA, the only way to go now is up. As for us, AG, we had a blast. We’ve met many new friends who have jumped onto our forums since last year and rekindled friendships with others. As for Furious, well, we’re still trying to figure that one out.