Now in its third year at Earls
Court the Eurogamer Expo fought back this year against the somewhat apathetic
and stagnant feeling that the current games climate seems to be giving off of
late. The long break between generations coupled with multiple recent studio
closures and a lack of big titles through the summer left the show with,
theoretically, a lot to prove, but a strong holiday line up of games and the
advent of the first new console in nearly 5 years in the Wii-U gave patrons much
to fawn over and judging by the crowds of eager gamers queuing up throughout
the day across the exhibition floor, there was a definite feeling that good
things are coming.
As usual at such events it takes a while to
get your bearings, greeted as you are at every turn by rows of flatscreen
monitors, flashing LED lights and signs and a vast array of attention seeking detritus,
manned by enthusiastic employees eager to get your attention. From the full
sized Formula 1 car that greets you at the entrance, to the elevated Just Dance
stage and the giant Sony symbols that lined their Vita section (itself pitched
as an ideal place to rest up a while, bathed in soothing blue light) there is a
moment where the absurdity of the situation makes you smile and somehow
regress, with blockbuster title after blockbuster title laid out ahead of you
think of how your 14 year old self would have felt, and try and keep hold of
that feeling for as long as you can.
Therein lies the rub, the
industry more powerful and culturally centred than ever, runs the risk of
becoming all show and glamour, thankfully this is not the case, as you spend
time and circulate, you see the focus really is the games, with all sorts of
players brought together by the chance to see something new and share in the
experience, the PR people genuinely looking to help you get the most from your
time with each game. Sure the spectre of big business looms over the event on
the surface, but underneath it still feels grounded in letting the games
themselves do the talking.
Before detailing any of my
experiences I feel it is worth sharing some of my general impressions of the
show and the industry as a whole. The somewhat lacklustre feeling I mentioned
in the opening still hang over the show, but in a way that is inevitable. There
are many fantastic looking games, and ones I'm really looking forward to
playing in the next few months, but as we enter the 6th year of this
generation there was little that truly looked new, or innovative. Triple A
games have become so expensive, their genres and gameplay so refined and honed
that it seems hard for people to break out of the box, at least until we see
what the next generation can do. But what they may lack in true innovation
games like Assassins Creed 3, God of War, Halo 4, Back Ops 2 and Tomb Raider
make up for in polished and honed gameplay and cinematics, experiences that
benefit from all that has come before to offer familiar tropes in ever more
streamlined and impressive forms.
That is where the Wii-U would
seemingly come in, and to be fair to Nintendo it definitely seems to be doing
something new. The tech itself seems solid and comfortable, it also works and
is surprisingly easy to pick up. The demos on hand did a reasonably good job of
explaining the various gameplay possibilities the tablet controller and
different input systems allow, but it still feels that they are missing the one
big title, the Mario 64 or Wii Sports, that proves the potential out of the
gate and makes the system a must-buy. The Wii-U still has a lot to prove, but
it also seems exciting and risky, and judging by the general reaction and
popularity of the booth it might be able to carve out a decent niche for
itself. I wouldn’t say I’m fully convinced yet, but I know that there will be
enough great Nintendo games, and unique experiences both solo and with friends
to make the Wii-U a console worth checking out.
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