For fanatical gamers, getting their hands on the year's biggest blockbuster games, months in advance of the Christmas period in which they are released, has been more or less impossible in recent years. The UK did have a major games show, called ECTS, but that bit the dust in 2004. However, this year, two consumer shows have emerged to fill that glaring gap: GAMEfest, taking place at Birmingham's NEC between 16 and 18 September, and Eurogamer Expo, which will take over London's Earls Court venue from 22 to 25 September.
The first GAMEfest got under way in impressive fashion, with an initial scrum for entry when it opened at 10am on 16 September and large queues to see the top games, although happily, it wasn't oppressively packed. Neil Ashurst, head of communications at retailer GAME, which organised it, explained the motivation behind the show: "It's two-fold: one as a thank you to our loyal reward card customers. And secondly, we do this kind of thing every year for store managers, so we thought if we've got everyone here, why don't we ask the publishers to show their wares to our customers as well? Eurogamer is clearly doing a good job with Eurogamer Expo, which is growing each year, but we thought there was a place for something like this outside of London."
GAME is expecting 30,000 gamers to attend over three days. Ashurst said: "We've actually sold out Saturday 17 September and Sunday 18 September, but we're told there will be some tickets available on the door. It's open 10am until 6pm." Like Eurogamer Expo, daily tickets cost £10; you can visit www.eurogamer.net/expo for tickets to the latter.
The show floor at GAMEfest offered plenty of indicators as to which games will prove irresistible this Christmas, and suggested that keen gamers are about to be spoilt for choice. Probably the biggest hands-on queues were for Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and EA's Battlefield 3, and watching the two first-person shooters slug it out for supremacy will be fascinating. Other games attracting enthusiastic punters included Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the imminent Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3 and Saints Row the Third. There were even some games due to arrive next year on show – playable in the UK for the first time – most notably EA's Mass Effect 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. So if you want to sample this Christmas's best games in order to inform your buying decisions, now is the time to act.
