Like I said before, I have never gone to an actual games convention before in my life, be it ChinaJoy, G*Star, E3 etc. I mean, blogging and writing about MMO games is more like a hobby of mine, not my main job and I am not attached to any major publication. Wargaming.net reached out, and just 2 weeks later, I was flown to Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom 2012. 26 hours worth of flight time, to and fro. A dream come true? Hell yeah.
With 10 halls of fully-geared gaming halls, Gamescom is the biggest exhibition of any kind I have seen in my life. The amount of people, the passionate gamers and the amount of female attendees really left me a deep impression. You see, female gaming over here in Asia is still pretty rare, and most of them are still in MapleStory… Hall 8 was also designated as the one for online games, which is really convenient. I just found out some online games decided to have a booth located in other halls, among heavyweights like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor etc. I would personally fire these companies’ marketing manager.
Personally, I have a couple of disappointments from the show. The biggest was no doubt Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn. There weren’t any demo booths for the game! Yes, some gameplay was shown on the big screen, but it still does not beat the experience of trying it out myself. Gamania’s Core Blaze was absent as well, as the developers could not get the game ready for the show.
I met a couple of really awesome folks over at Germany, including the admins from ArcheAge Source, ArcheAge Fans and a couple more. Really passionate about ArcheAge, that was the only thing they talked about XD I spoke to a couple of representatives from China as well, such as Tencent Games, and lobbied for access to Blade & Soul and ArcheAge China. I am waiting for her to be online!
Ok, that is all. I could go on and on, but Gamescom 2012 was really an eye-opener for me. Despite going to Europe for the very first time where English is not the common language, I wasn’t intimidated talking to gamers. We all speak the same language, apparently 🙂 While I have officially “retired” from hardcore gaming, sharing of news and reading up on games will always be in my blood. For all Gamescom 2012 photos, head on to my Facebook album!
