Topic: EB Games Gold Coast Expo (Australia topic - crikey!)

Sooooo....did anyone go today? Or will be going tomorrow?

I just arrived home from attending the event today.

And I regret ever going.

The whole thing was in shambles. Here's my experience.

I arrived at the event an proceeded to the showroom floor. I could not play anything due to the insane lines and uncoordinated system of kids who refused to let go of the machines. I eventually wandered over to the Nintendo area to play Skyward Sword.

Big mistake.

I stood among the throngs of overweight and...erm...'aromatic' people who somehow managed to get a hold of the game, despite me waiting for much longer (there was no line, just a bunch of people standing around, hoping to be noticed by the Nintendo rep). Even after waiting for so long, I only managed to finally play the game because a fellow punter handed me the Wii remote after he quit the game. Zelda itself was very disappointing, thanks to the unholy lag that plagued my sword swings and which rendered my flying beetle almost uncontrollable. Still, I really can't wait for this game, as I decided that the lag was due to the showroom environment - rather than the title itself.

Straight after, I spotted the Sonic Generations booth, and meandered over. Almost 30 MINUTES later, I finally got my hands on the blue blur's latest adventure. Thankfully, this provided my one happy experience of the day, as the game was simply fantastic. I played as 'Modern' Sonic on Green Hill Zone and I had a blast. The controls felt tight and responsive (much like Sonic Colours), and the visuals were simply phenomenal - they were almost movie CGI-quality. I blazed through the level and received an S-Rank, which prompted the SEGA guy to tell me that I was by far the best player he'd seen the entire day! So yeah...I was quite chirpy about that!

Afterwards, I came crashing back down to reality, as I met my family for lunch...urgh. There was one tiny little food service stall, and all they served were 2 different burgers and a lamb kebab - that's it. I got my food and went outside before being greeted with an astonishing sight - there were only about a dozen tables, most of which were covered with half-eaten food, trash, stains and empty bottles - most people had no choice but to sit on the ground. We were forced to share a table with a bunch of obnoxious, cursing, burping teenagers (who were also complaining about the protracted wait to play Skyrim). Yeah...so it was at this moment I decided to get the hell out of there. My brother had a similarly frustrating experience (he particularly mentioned Kirby Wii - a demo that did not have a time limit which meant he was unable to play it thanks to greedy little brats who seemed to have been given free reign). The whole place was a mess - both literally and figuratively. And the most hilarious thing? I traveled three hours to get to the bloody thing!

Without a doubt, the glorified EB games catalog - otherwise known as Game Informer - will post nothing but glowing praise in order to please their retailer overlords. When that time comes, I can only ask that you don't be fooled.

So yeah, I'm a happy camper, lol. It was hardly Australia's E3.

Sounds horrible. I rather not go to events like that unless it's E3 or TGS.

What did you expect for the first year of a big convention?

Conventions usually take a few years before they're able to run hitch-free.

Also, love the assumption that journalistic integrity will be compromised. You don't know the journalists, you don't know the journalistic process, but that doesn't stop you from being an expert!!!11lolone!!!

What Game Informer reports will be from the position of being attending media. Which means they don't have to deal with the crowds and lineups you mentioned. And they'll no doubt report on the games anyway. No one cares to read a whine about how bad an event is.

I know NintendoPurist went

Methinks someone is taking things a tad seriously.

@YellowChocobo - Yeah, who cares that I spent a lot of money on tickets and gas? It was only their first expo! I mean, EB Games are only a multibillion dollar retailer who've been planning the event for over a year!

And since when am I "whining"? I listed plainly valid reasons as to why I didn't like the event, but I suppose the other people I saw who were also unhappy were whining too!

And as for the game 'journalists'? Yeah...I've seen hobos who make better writers. GameJournos.com beckons for you,

GameJournos.com

Ah. That explains a lot about you. Don't need to waste my time in here any more.

I'd like to see you handle a gaming expo hitch free.

Yeah I feel bad for you. Doesn't sound like it would have been very fun for me either! But I live in Western Australia and we don't ever get any special events here... I've always wanted to go to Nintendo's Connection Tour though, they sound fun.

Oh the Connection Tours are great fun! There's also lot's of freebies. I managed to get myself an Ocarina from this year's Connection Tour too!

@YellowChocobo - I kinda figured that'd be your response. Well, see you around!

@Aviator - Eh? I'm not talking about 'hitches'; I'm talking about genuinley terrible service and organisation skills that were clearly evident. Now, I'm not the type of person who 'whines' about things on the 'net for no reason. I made this topic because I genuinly felt people needed to know what I experienced. How they take that information is up to themselves - I was THERE and I was flabbergasted at it all. Maybe people took it better than I did? That's a strong possibility. Maybe the second day was better? That's likely.

But I'm sorry if I have a low tolerance to sub-par events and services after being promoted to high heaven by EB and GM as "Australia's biggest ever gaming expo" (among other things). There were a multitude of other disappointing things I saw I haven't even mentioned.

Again, I didn't mean to come off as a negative nancy, but I'd rather state my true feelings and take flak for it, rather than keep my proverbial mouth closed for fear of offending anyone!

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not insinuating that all games writers are terrible (the staff here on NL are great at what they do, and I really like publications such as gamesTM & NGamer). But I can't change how I feel about adver-rags such as GM (not Games Master!) or shudder CVG and Kotaku.

It's expected since isn't this the first expo?