split/screen co-op

There was a lot of stuff at the Expo, none of it was news, but it was really exciting to be part of it. I’ve made a little list of things I did like and of course made a list of the most interesting games I saw people playing there. The best things were the music and dance stages, the HMV game shop at the Expo and the career forum where young people could apply for a job at a game development company.

My top 10 picks of games you could see at the Expo after the jump

I played a demo of Fable III on the first day of the show and thought it was rather short. On the second day I noticed that people were playing something that looked different from my experience and I was puzzled. On the last day I had another go and solved the mistery.

It turned out that they had several different demos, showcasing different aspects of the game. One was all about combat and fighting enemies, one was a demonstration of the game’s social aspects, like holding hands etc, one was heavily dialogistic, and so on. I’d picked the shortest one because it was first on the list and I didn’t realise there were any other options.

On Sunday I played another demo which was so long that I didn’t actually finish it (though I completed two quests). My initially excellent impressions did not change a bit. It seems that Lionhead has kept all the best things from the previous game and added cool new features. This will be one of my next favourite games, I have no doubt.

By day three we’ve become real expo pros, and so we smartly avoided queueing for entry. Inside, I had to try out Fable III again and see why the demo I played on Friday was different than the demo I saw people playing on Saturday. It turned out there was a reason, but I’ll say more on that in a separate post. We also went to see CDProjekt‘s presentation of The Witcher 2, which didn’t really show anything new: it was the same presentation we’ve already seen before, tits included.

I’d like to give you a wrap-up of my overall impressions from the event (after the jump).

On the last day of the Expo we finally were able to enter the conference room and saw a presentation of The Witcher 2 by the Polish guys who are developing the game. They said the sequel has a new engine and the character customization has been upgraded. The requirements for the game will not be too high and the game will not be a short one.

Before we got to the presentation Dilyan played another demo of Fable III and I managed to shoot some great pics of it.

I also have pictures from the two parts of The Witcher 2 presented at the Expo.

Will post all galleries here next week (I hope everything will be up by Wednesday).

We learnt an important lesson on Friday: if you show up a bit late for the opening, you miss the talk you wanted to check out the most. On Saturday, we learnt an even more valuable lesson: if you show up a bit earlier, you gain a longer wait in line to go in.

Once inside the Earl’s Court exhibition centre, I made straight to the Killzone 3 3D stands. I managed to find a console with no queue for it and was pretty soon playing the game.

People complain a lot about the galsses required for 3D television, cinema and gaming but I’ve never found them particularly bothersome or headache-inducing. So that was not a problem. The problem was that I found Kilzone 3‘s 3D to be actually quite meh. It looks decent enough, to the extent any HD game looks good, but it is nothing spectacular or extraordinary.

The game itself is your standard Killzone shooter, which isn’t bad but isn’t earth-shattering either.

I passed by the Fable III stand and noticed that people were playing a different demo than the one I played on Friday. It was a lot longer and showcased a lot more of the title’s new features. Or maybe it was the same one and somehow I’d gottent it all wrong the previous day. Anyhow, this warranted a second try, but the queues were insufferable so this will have to wait for Sunday.

Having gained an expoing level, we plan to show up around noon tomorrow and maybe try and get into the Witcher 2 developer session. I’ll let you know how things turn out.

One of the best things at the Eurogamer Expo 2010 are the music and dance activities. There are several areas here, where people can play Guitar Hero, RapStar or dance along with Kinect.

For the Kinect dance along they have a little stage, where people go up and perform for the other visitors. It is great fun, ifyou’re not on stage of course

Another great thing is the RapStar stage, where you can hear some rap tunes from visitors (all were very talented by the way). They gave us some rap dollars and invited us to sing, but we politely refused

In the Guitar Hero 5 area I saw some real talent. Little kids just playing so good, it made me miss my GH guitar at home.

The music can be heard in the entire exhibition hall and everyone walking around the stands, nods or hums along with the music.

Hope to soon can put up some pics from the different music&dance areas here.

Me and Dilyan have started our second day at the Eurogamer Expo at Earl’s Court exhibition centre in London. Today’s queue was a nightmare — we waited for almost 45 minutes to get in. The number of visitors today is much higher than yesterday’s, because it’s the weekend I guess.

Hit the jump to read what we’re doing today

I am a huge fan of Heavenly Sword and, by extension, of developer Ninja Theory, so I was very keen to try out their new creation, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Check out my impressions after the jump.

If you follow the news on Fable III, you will have noticed the way Lionhead and Microsoft have been behaving ridiculously by releasing one puny single screenshot at a time. In keeping with this fine tradition, Fable III‘s demo at the Eurogamer Expo was so short I’m not really sure I’ve even played the game at all.

My brief impressions follow after the break.

The Eurogamer Expo opened today at Earl’s Court in  London and we were there. See what happened after the jump.