Games Booth

EGX is coming and we're going to be there!

Big name games, intriguing indie games and hopefully lots of VR

With only a couple of weeks to go until our annual trip to EGX, we're starting to get excited about some of the new games that are going to be playable and some of the stuff coming out from the lesser, well know Indie developers. 

Yes we know we have to travel up the country as this years show will be held in the massive halls of the Birmingham NEC, a major move for the team and event which has been previously held in Earls Court, London.  But, looking at the exhibitor list, enhanced speaker programme and floor plan, it already looks like it was a great move.  

You'll have seen the news that Sony's Shuhei Yoshida is gooing to take to the speaker floor, so we know that it's Playstation presence is going to be immense. Sony has announced that it'll have 28 playable games on the stand, so it's going to be a whopper layout that's surely going to hold the attention of myself and anyone else who sets foot on it.   But of those 28 games which ones do we think will draw the crowds and what else does Playstation (Sony) have to offer us? 

Firstly it's got to be Call of Duty: Black Ops III,  every year without fail this game draws the queues. It's one of the most anticipated games in the calendar and with two confirmed Zombie modes you're either going to love it or hate it, but you know you're going to buy it. 

Secondly, I think Destiny: The Taken King will draw some crowds despite already being available on the market.  Because of the intense multiplayer game play the first Destiny brought us and the requirement to have friends on the same (high) experience level in order to finish some of the missions, we think many people will be interested in giving this new installment a try first. They're going to want to see some of the mission game play and maybe ask a few questions about what's going to be required of the gamer in order to 100% complete the game. 

But what's really NEW to the playstation stand this year and what's the desirable demo we're all going to want to try.  For me it's Project Morpheus, or Playstation VR as it's been renamed today.  Playstations own venture into VR. Sony will be bringing its virtual reality headset to EGX and they're advising us to book a demo slot - sounds to me like they're expecting long lines.  

VR is going to hold a fair amount of my attention during our visit to the NEC as we're interested in seeing what the developers are hoping will be the future of gaming in the home. In the Indie section of EGX, there's a variety of game developers that are hoping to become the next 'big thing' and one of the more interesting ones is a VR game from Mindfield Games named POLLEN. Taking inspiration from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey this VR game is set in a space station on Saturn's sixth and largest moon, Titan. The gamer will have to explore the facitlity and unravel the story and fate of the crew that once occupied it - that exploration is in first person VR mode so you should be fully immersed in the game play and hopefully won't be experiencing any form of outer space 'bends'.

Will EGX take us out of this world when it comes to new games and VR futures? Will we get the opportunity to test the Playstation VR? 

What we do know for sure is that we're going to be standing around a hell of a lot, playing a lot of games and we'll be back to tell you all about it?

Tune in again soon.