Along with the internal jubilation that my phone line had finally been connected and was now on the path to broadband enlightenment today I had plans to check out the eGames Expo at Melbourne’s Exhibition Centre this afternoon. True it wasn’t a real internet connection but it was something to take my mind off things and perhaps check out a few goodies that I can expect to be playing on my current must-have-to-stay-sane toy, the xBox 360. Heck, I even came in to work before 8am so I could leave early and get to this thing, that doesn’t happen too often let me tell you!

The work day came and went without any great moments worth documenting and at 3:30 myself, Stu and another workmate Matt walked our butts over to the Exhibition Centre where the expo was taking place. Little did any of us know but there was another expo at the same location taking place that day and throughout the weekend, one that was most likely going to entertain just a few more patrons that little old eGames. Right next door, with hundreds of people who didn’t look like “Comic Book Guy” from The Simpsons walking through its entrance, was Sexpo.

Walking in to the hall of the Exhibition Centre it was painstakingly obvious who was going where. A constant stream of leggy models and beefed up guys all wearing “Sexpo Exhibitor” badges around their necks and then a hundred odd guys in shorts and t-shirts with food stains from lunch, backpacks, video cameras and podcast equipment loaded up to the teeth looking at the ground and following the person in front of them like moths to the flame of video game beeps and twangs.

“It’s a me; Mario.”

OK so enough about the pale comparison of exhibition size (no pun intended) let’s talk about what was actually there at eGames. Well to sum it all up in one word, “nothing”. Alright, alright, I don’t want to piss off more people than I already have, there wasn’t “nothing” exactly I just personally think there wasn’t anything exciting worth $16 to see. You see last year we all got to get a glimpse of Gears of War (well you did if you waited in line for three hours to see it on the ONE console) a few months before it came out. This year there was a few things there like Assassins Creed and Mario Galaxy but these are out in a few days! Plus as I mentioned before, just like they did last year you were lucky if there was more than one screen showing the damn thing! I mean come on, if this is your big draw card let the people play dang nab-it!

It’s funny I’ve read a few “impressions” by journalists about the place who’ve showcased the bigger floor size and more software being shown off but seriously guys if you can’t get your hands on the stuff without waiting five hours I couldn’t really give a shit! You might have had three hundred guitars to play GH3 or a bazillion PC’s loaded up with Crysis but those games are already in the wild!

Breath Raj, breath…

So what was the positive, what was actually worth checking out? Gran Turismo 5 was there in its full Japanese charactered menu glory. I must admit it puts some of the models in Project Gotham 4 to shame. Singstar was also on show for the PS3 brethren, a big favourite amongst many a Playstation owner. xBox wise you got shafted a bit, Mass Effect was being shown but when I was there no one really seemed to care. If you were or rather think you are pretty hot in the LAN arena then there was a Halo 3 tournament along with Crysis and I think Call of Duty 4 all running and a bunch of keynotes from games developers and big guns in the gaming arena like Nintendo who of course were peddling the only game to come out for the Wii in a million years Mario Galaxy. I guess it wasn’t too bad but I still felt a tad cheated considering what I paid to get in.

One highlight I was actually really impressed with was God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP. I don’t think anyone knew it was there because I just walked up and had a crack. Best thing I’ve ever seen on a PSP, felt exactly the same as the PS2 version and didn’t appear to be cut down much at all in any aspect when compared to its big brothers. The gameplay was amazingly smooth, sound quality as good as you can expect from the PSP’s shithouse speakers and very well polished. It almost made me want to buy a PSP again after selling it way back in the day when there was nothing worth playing on it (and still isn’t in my opinion, well not until God of War comes out, or is already? I didn’t ask, too lazy)

When it all comes down to it the expo was pretty good for Australia, hell I’m impressed by the fact we even have a games expo! I guess the fact the AutoSalon has it’s little Game1 expo technically means we have two, but from all reports it barely counts. I’ve not been so I can’t give my own twisted opinion on that one. Anyway, back to eGames, I bitch and moan but truth be known if it’s back next year I’ll go again and most likely bitch and moan again. It is growing though and that can only be a good thing, and in order for it to continue to grow and become the great gamer heaven I want it to be in my head means it needs our support, even when it does suck a bit, to get the ball rolling.

So here’s to eGames Expo… pwn on bitches!