It was Eurogamer this week and I headed down to Earls Court. The range of games on offer was incredible, sadly though I didn't get there early enough to take advantage of the early bird ticket. I did manage to play the Nintendo 3DS for the first time. I think I may have one weaker eye as I struggled to focus on the 3D. I had to turn it down to half way-ish. I haven't looked into it but maybe you have to focus it to people's eyes. A statue of Link greeted me on the way into 3DS booth. I played a little of Zelda which I think has alone encouraged me to purchase a 3DS. I also played Mario 3D which I found hard to figure out how to play with Mario in a 3D environment compared to the normal platform that I so enjoyed. Maybe my lack of experience playing Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy had something to do with.
I also played one of my favorite games ever, Pokemon! But it was not the Pokemon that I had spent many hours leveling up, but it was SuperPokemon Rumble, I struggled to work out what I was meant to be doing. I was playing as a Pokémon, rather than a trainer. I think the game had more emphasis on battling (although I couldn't find a battle) than collecting, which I think the two combined help make Pokémon so successful. Stereotypically the battling and collecting appealed to the boys and the collecting and nurturing appealed to girls. I didn't really play enough to pass proper judgment but all in all I will be purchasing a Nintendo 3DS.
After the 3DSing I hunted down the Creative Assembly and passed on my new work, so figures crossed. I then bumped in to one of the best areas, reliving parts of my childhood playing on Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, losing at Mortal Kombat and seeing a Saga Saturn for the first time in years at the Replay Expo. World of Tanks deserves a mention for giving me a t-shirt and two tanks. The game basically involves selecting and loading up your tank and playing on a multi-player map in teams trying to destroy the other team. One of the best bits of this game is the ability to smash through everything that dare be in your path.
Undoubtedly the best thing about Eurogamer this year was receiving a free Onlive console and controller. Onlive looks great and seems to be in many peoples eyes the future. It also promises to make indie developers lives easier in the way of getting on the console and the inability to be pirated. It comes with a 30 day trial plus 3 months free if you are a BT customer then £6.99 after that for access to hundreds of games including Fear 3, Batman and Assassins Creed. I have been playing it for a couple of days now and I love it. I am even considering getting rid of the PS3! On the way out I had a go on Uncharted 3 multi-player, it was the first Uncharted I have played and it was incredible. Of all the games I played this was the best.
I headed over to Venice for a few days to attend State of the Art Academy Day 3. There was great talks from speakers such as Peter Guthrie, Pixela, Ronen Bekerman, Adam Hotovy and Tomek Miksa. Lots of great subjects were brought up and I got to meet a lot of the 3d community. I particularly enjoyed Pixela showing how to create amazing pillows in Marvous Designer and Adam Hotovy giving a great insight into the importance colour theory and harmony. A couple of cool links to check out are Gobotree and Color Scheme Designer 3
On Wednesday I attended Develop Conference in Brighton. I made a personalised business card for the event, each card had a unique piece of artwork and a brief summary of my experience and awards. I managed to chat with some really inspiring people and had a great time and Fate of the World was up for the Indie Award too. Thank you to all that attended and I hope to see you all soon! 