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Recently, Matt (PrattP) got in contact with me and told me that it was my turn to go out into the field. So without any questions, (of which there were a few! – Ed.) I put on my adventure cap, got changed out of my three-month old unwashed clothes and stepped out into the bright sunlight.

Soon after my talk with Matt (and questioning myself about where I was going), I found myself inside the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre at Gen Con Oz. I didn’t know entirely what Gen Con Oz was about at that point in time, but I quickly found out that it was all about games. To be more precise, it was all about computer games, console games, board games, card games, role play games and miniature war games.

Mini War Games

Once I had worked out my location, I quickly ran to the entrance of Gen Con, grabbed a program guide off an event volunteer and then went out in search of entertainment. I wandered around aimlessly for a while until I accidently encountered some guy who wanted me to sign up to a 2K Games competition. At first I tried my best to ignore him, but eventually I couldn’t handle the pressure any longer (they say it takes 4 seconds of silence before one person in a two person conversation will crack) and I just blurted out, “Yes, I’ll do it”. After I had handed over all my precious details to him (birth certificate and all), we engaged in small talk and I said, “How about a free shirt?” and he replied with, “Okay” (the conversation was thrilling). A few seconds later he returned with a free 2K Games shirt and after that I was happily playing the Xbox 360 version of the soon to be released Borderlands.

Borderlands, by 2K Games.

Now, for those who haven’t heard about this game, Borderlands is a sci-fi FPS created by the talented people at Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. The inspiration behind this game was apparently Blizzard’s Diablo and George Miller’s film, Mad Max. Personally, however, I feel as if this game has been based on Fallout 3 because it features similar gameplay mechanics and is set in a desolate wasteland. The features that set Borderlands apart from Fallout 3 are the cel-shaded graphics and four player online cooperative mode (which was unfortunately unavailable at Gen Con). Lack of online meant that I was forced to run around the game’s hub world and accept one of the few missions on offer. During my time with Borderlands’ missions I didn’t really accomplish anything because I was too busy mucking around with the weapons on offer, fighting off dog-like enemies, dealing with the inverted controls and exploring the badlands. Whilst doing all of this, I noticed that the shooting aspect of Borderlands was quite stable and that its A.I. appeared to be relatively smart. The one disappointing thing that I noticed about the game, though, was that all of its objects, such as tires, piping and crates, seemed to be fixed to the ground. I wasn’t even able to shoot a beer bottle off a bar table, which I found to be sorely disappointing. Even the most basic videogames of the 90s had environmental destruction within them. Besides that one minor problem I enjoyed the time that I spent playing Borderlands, but I dropped my controller and ran as soon as I heard the voice of Zero Punctuation’s Yahtzee Croshaw.

Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw from Zero Punctuation with Matt and Yug from Australian Gamer.

I dashed through the crowds and ran to centre stage; luckily no one was there yet so I jumped into the second row of seats and began to eagerly watch and listen to everything that Yahtzee had to say. After a short while (and a lot of laughing), I eventually snapped out of my Yahtzee day dream and realised that Matt and Yug from Australian Gamer were also up on stage. Turns out the three were actually doing a special Gen Con Oz podcast. Their show went on for an hour in total, and during that time they spoke about the latest gaming news, games coming out and answered audience questions. After the entertaining hour was over, I stared at Yahtzee for a bit (exactly what he told his fans not to do) and left the centre stage area.

A rather awesome Bowser cosplay.

At this point I was feeling lost and vulnerable. So I decided to try and familiarise myself with my surroundings by walking amongst all of the cosplayers. During my walk I spotted Star Wars characters, Pokemon, Snake from Metal Gear Solid and even the number 1 videogame villain, Bowser. I eventually came across a whole bunch of Counter Strike players and Australia’s top shoutcaster, Stewart ‘Ej’ Brumm, who just happened to be providing commentary for a Counter Strike Source match at the time. After this I headed over to the Sega booth to see if there were any free controllers available, but as I expected it was packed out with kids who had little to no idea what they were doing. This enraged me (damn kids!), so I decided to go and watch the question and answers session with Battlestar Galactica’s Kate Vernon. All I really have to say about her is that she looks much older in real-life and that the other guy up on stage with her (who I was unable to identify) was extremely funny, he just kept cracking such random jokes and then began doing musical beats with his mouth and interrupting her – weird.

Counter Strike: Source competition.

After this I headed back to the Sega booth and finally got the chance to experience the Wii title, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Now, I must admit that I didn’t enjoy the duo’s previous outing because the majority of it was a waggle-fest involving little to no skill, but this new wintery edition seems as if developer Sega may have fixed up these problems. During my time with the game, I played skiing and snowboarding. Skiing was quite fun and was a simple downhill race from point A to B. It required me to tilt the Wii remote to move my character (Mario) about and I was also able to use power-ups to hurt rival racers. Snowboarding was the complete opposite of skiing in everyway. To me it seemed painful to play because my character (now Sonic) wouldn’t respond to my remote’s movements and seemed to do whatever he wanted to on the slopes. Uncontrollable Sonic aside, the same old cast is back and the visuals seem as if they’ve improved since the last game. One other special mention goes to some kid who kicked my arse in snowboarding, but luckily I was able to take out my rage on the some other kid (in-game of course) who took me on in the next match. The good news about Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is that it actually seems to involve some sort of skill this time. The bad things I noticed were that the controls were sluggish and even unresponsive at times – which could be a worry when I go hands-on with the final retail version of the game. It was easy to pick up and play this new Mario and Sonic title, and I got the general idea of what the game was like once I had finished my short play-test of it.

The SEGA booth, featuring Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games.

After my Mario and Sonic snow session I went and saw Robert Picardo from Star Trek and Stargate Atlantis at the exhibition’s centre stage. I can’t say I’ve ever watched the shows this guy is in, but if they are as funny as he was in real life then I’m there (pretty sure they aren’t though). Anyway, the fans grilled Picardo with questions such as, “Season one, episode twenty-six, how did you feel when so and so occurred?” for the next hour. Picardo responded quite coolly to his fans and with the combination of his funny sense of humour the time he was up on stage quickly flew by. Eventually at the hour mark he was shoved off stage and his fans were left crying out for more.

Shortly after this I headed over to the cosplay chess and viewed an intense battle between anime, videogame, sci-fi and cartoon characters. When this ended, I moved on to Microsoft’s booth and decided to check out Forza Motorsport 3. When I got there I saw Yug and company from Australian Gamer, so I casually went up and introduced myself to him and his colleagues. I, him and company, had conversation which lasted for around 15 minutes or so, and during that time I took a picture of him (which I unfortunately cannot post on the site). The topics we discussed cannot be disclosed here because he would probably sue me for defamation.

Cosplay Chess

On a lighter note, I eventually got around to playing Forza Motorsport 3, and boy, was it good! Being an owner of the original Forza, and having played the second version of the game many times before, I think it is safe for me to say that Turn 10 Studios have managed to maintain their high-quality standards. Forza 3 plays exactly like its predecessors, but sets itself apart with new visuals, cars, tracks and detailed cockpits. The only real downside to this game is that it feels like all of the new content could have been easily been shoved into the previous title as a small update, but I guess a whole new game won’t hurt (L4D2 anyone?). I certainly enjoyed my playtime with Forza Motorsport 3 and I think that it definitely has potential to become the definitive driving simulator.

Forza Motorsport 3

After Forza 3, I checked out some of the stalls, watched the tabletop gaming, had a look at the Madman Theatre (which was running some pretty cool anime all day long) and then I made the decision that it was time to head off. So I stepped back out into the bright sunshine once more and headed for the hills to my small, dark and videogame-orientated little house.

Fun, games and jokes aside, I would just like to let everyone know that this account was based on single day of Gen Con Oz and that the other days I attended the exhibition were quite similar to this particular one. To conclude my account, I want to say thanks to Matt for giving me the opportunity to attend this awesome event and also thanks to Ian Houlihan for allowing a member of The Nintendo Basement to attend Gen Con Oz, the best three days in gaming.

By Liam Doolan