eGames Expo day 1 report

Mike Bantick
Saturday, 15 November 2008 02:37

Opinion and Analysis

The rest of the eGames Expo is well populated with professional gaming leagues, PC rigs, software and other peripheral and specialised gaming vendors.

A highlight of the eGames Expo is the Intel sponsored stage.

On Fridays Expo kick off day we saw a presentation on the new (released next Tuesday ) Intel i7 core cpu, bringing back hyperthreading and promising cpu performance increases in the realm of 40 percent over current high-end desktop processers.  The only issue with the display was the obvious unprepared FarCry 2 test of the processer, whilst impressive it was still a little jerky on the gigantic overhead screen.

On the Intel stage we also saw presentations on the FarCry 2 level editor and aforementioned Mega Monsters from N-Gage.

Finally there was the Dissecta panel, dedicated to the Dissecta founder Tim Richards, whose recent death has rocked the local gaming industry.

The panel, consisting of The Age/Sydney Morning Herald and ScreenPlay Blog games reporter Jason Hill, AustralianGamer.com co-founder Matt Burgess and ahem! Myself.  The panel was moderated by Film Victoria Digital Media Manager Amelia King.

The panel discussed a breadth of gaming topics from the lack of a R18+ classification for video games in Australia, through the effects of the global financial crisis on gaming and trends into 2009.  There were also a bunch of thoughtful audience produced questions to wade through.

The two stages at iDEF08 should be high on the agenda for those attending the festival over the next two days.  There are topics that are sure to interest anybody with the need for further insight into this digital age.

All up, the Festival is showing signs of maturing into a comfortable niche.  Anybody that is interested in digital entertainment, that happens to be hanging around Melbourne this weekend could do no wrong in heading along to iDEF08.