Gamescom 2014
Another month, another convention. July and August are the most popular months for cons and Gamescom is one of them! Gamescom was held in Cologne, Germany like the previous years from 14 to 17 August for the public. The event has been great with a few small hiccups along the way but without further ado, here are our impressions.
First things first, this was the first time I attended Gamescom so I was certainly overwhelmed. The organization of it was smooth, almost flawless even – I mean the parking queue was longer than the queue to enter the building. One flaw in the organization was that parts of the boulevard was closed off which meant that you had to walk for miles and miles around the building while the hall you wanted to visit was only around the corner. I completely understand the necessity to maintain a steady flow in the boulevard but this was slightly too much and could’ve been organized better. That being said, let’s go over the overall impression.
If it is your first convention, the overall size of Gamescom will certainly stun you. Add the fact that the banners are bigger than trucks to that and you’ll be gaping with your mouth open for at least the first hour or so. Without exaggeration, Gamescom is huge. There were six public halls and one business hall where only press was allowed. The majority of halls didn’t really have a theme going on but it was noticeable that the bigger gaming companies often took up about one-third of a hall. The indie games were sort of cramped together in a hall which also housed the vendors. Most of these vendors were German-based vendors but two major ones that stood out were definitely the Blizzard Gear Shop and the Valve Store. Furthermore, there was for something for everyone in the Gamescom Fan Shop Arena – anime, manga, action figures, statues, posters, games, replica’s, the list goes on endlessly. Naturally there weren’t many comic books to be found but this was to be expected.
If playing the games is your reason to attend Gamescom, I would advise you to go for at least two to three days. There were certainly enough games to play but the waiting lines were rather insane. The common AAA-titles such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Battlefield Hardline and Dragon Age: Inquisition had a two hour queue. While this may seem worth it, I personally don’t feel like waiting in line for two hours to play a game for five to ten minutes if I only have eight to ten hours to see the entire venue. To top it off, most of these titles were played in closed-off chambers – giving the curious public that didn’t want to play no chance of having a quick glance at all. Luckily some booths made sure to allow the public a quick glance – World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor and Heroes of the Storm come to mind as they put up extra screens so that those who did not have time to wait in line could at least see what the game looks like.
There were quite some cosplayers present but I thought that these were almost extinct – that’s how little there were in comparison to other smaller events. Riot Games did one heck of a job with their cosplay village however that also had workshops from professional cosplayers – including Kamui Cosplay. Cosplayers also had the opportunity to have a professional photoshoot and go on stage to show off their amazing costumes. The Riot Games cosplay village is certainly a blast to visit for cosplayers.
As Gamescom was sold out already a few weeks ago, it shows how popular the event is. I’ve seen quite a lot of Germans but Polish, Belgian, French and even gamers from the Netherlands were present. Gamescom truly is an international event and possibly one of the largest gaming conventions in Europe. Food and drink stands were almost around every corner so you couldn’t be hungry near the end of the day, but the stands that were outside of the halls had no seats available. Not exactly the biggest problem if you can sit on the ground but a little rain can ruin your possible pavement-seats. This and the organization of the boulevard were small hiccups but it certainly didn’t ruin the experience nor the fun.
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