EG Expo '08

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 4]
By Paul Davies

It’s never a pleasant experience, being harshly reminded of something you’d been putting out of your mind. In my case, the recently concluded Eurogamer Expo did a fairly good job of reminding me of the obscene amount of money (and time) I’m going to be spending on videogames over the next couple of months. Held at the Old Truman Brewery, just near London’s Spitalfields market, The expo itself was a surprisingly pleasant experience. As a sporadic visitor to some of the UK’s other major gaming shows, it was refreshing to see all available floor space dedicated to games, rather than forcing punters to negotiate their way past speaker stacks blaring garage music, or z-list celebs trying to make a mortgage payment. And with all profits going straight to charity, everything was set up for two days of guilt-free gaming.

Not that you’d have to feel guilty about turning up just to play the insanely good lineup on offer, though – Mirror’s Edge, Call of Duty: World at War, Left4Dead, Gears of War 2, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Resistance 2 and Prince of Persia were all up and playable. And that’s just the stuff that’s due before the end of the year. Resident Evil 5, Bionic Commando, Streetfighter IV and Killzone 2 are hovering just over the horizon, threatening to devour whatever free time you have left in the new year. Keep your eyes on the Games blog [games-forgetoday.blogspot.com] next week for previews of all the brightest jewels in the embarrassment of gaming riches this chrimbo - we’ll get through this somehow, I promise.