Eurogamer Expo 2009 Review (London Gaming Show)

Here at Zath we like to do things properly, so when we thought we’d check out the Eurogamer Expo 2009 not only did a couple of us visit the Leeds gaming show but I headed off down to London to get a fuller picture of what was at the Eurogamer’s gaming show and see some of the things that the others didn’t have time to investigate.

So after a relatively quick train ride next to a man talking to his watch (the downside of putting phones on your wrist), I like my Zath counterparts, entered the Eurogamer Expo 2009 this time housed in the Old Billingsgate just a few hundred meters down the river from Tower Bridge and I have to say I too was impressed!

Set right in the centre of London a mere stone’s throw from Tower Bridge the Old Billingsgate provided the perfect venue for the expo and I strolled past the massive queues to get in I was genuinely excited.

Even by the time I arrived (at 5 minutes past the opening time of 11am) all stations were occupied, and that is taking into account that there were 3 floors of gaming goodness on offer with the most popular games residing on the ground floor, some of the games already out on the market down in the very atmospheric basement (including a stage for the Beatles Rock Band) and the PSP Go café looking down on all of this where you could have a good play on Sony’s latest console. Added to this the developer sessions and it was really a good job that this was held in a very expansive venue (i.e. an old fish market) – and despite the numbers it was designed so well that it never felt overly crowded.

Whilst I didn’t manage to have a go on all the games due to time/availability limitations, but there was still the opportunity to check some of the best out there: RedSteel 2, Avatar, Assassin’s Creed 2, Need for Speed: Shift (both normal gameplay and using the Nvidia 3D system), Batman: Arkham Asylum (using Nvidia 3D) , FIFA 10, Halo 3: ODST, Brutal Legend, MAG, Lost Planet 2, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box and some strange Wii racing game! I also had the opportunity to have a good look at some of the others and see how people reacted to them, and although I found the queues to be very short for most things, those that were long (most notably Assassins Creed 2) were definitely worth the wait!

It was also great to be able to have a chat with some of the people from the games manufacturers, and whilst there weren’t all that many, the people from Ubisoft at the Assassin’s Creed 2 stand and the guys (sorry, one guy and two scantily clad women) at Nvidia were more than happy to have a chat and answer a few questions.

Overall it was a great day, and you can expect a few posts in the near future giving a more in depth look at some of the games and technologies that were on show. My only real disappointment was the over-popularity of the developer sessions, as despite the fact I turned up half an hour early for the Left 4 Dead 2 one from Valve I was still far too late to get a seat! But that really was a minor qualm and I would thoroughly recommend the Eurogamer Expo to people for 2010.

UPDATE: You can now read in more detail about some of the games that I did get chance to play:

• Eurogamer Expo 2009 (London) – Games Preview: Part 1

Related Pages:

1. Eurogamer Expo 2009 Review (Leeds Gaming Show)
2. Eurogamer Expo 2009 – UK Games Show! (Leeds & London)
3. Eurogamer Expo 2009 Preview
4. Eurogamer Expo 2009 (London) – Games Review: Part 2
5. Eurogamer Expo 2009 (London) – Games Review: Part 1

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