QTX

Possibly due to some kind of mix-up, I’ve somehow managed to get me some tickets for the Brasil Game Show this year, and I think it’s fair to say I’m more than a little bit excited about it. For Gamers big conventions are basically our version of these “Music Festivals” whatsits that the kids seem to like so much, and for five glorious days I’ll get to wander around staring at some really cool stuff (probably whilst making involuntary cooing/gurgling noises), and hopefully I’ll even have the chance to get my stubby little sausage fingers on some great games, demos, gadgets and such ahead of their release – at least temporarily (I’m not talking about stealing stuff, for the record!). There is, by any conceivable measurement, a shed-load of stuff to look forward to this year, including – but not limited to – all of the following….

Firstly, some of the really “Big Guys” will be there, including (in no particular order) Ubisoft, EA, Warner Bros. Games, Activision and Capcom, as well as Sony/PlayStation and Microsoft/Xbox. And, by the looks of it, they’ll have a lot of really cool stuff on show – like, a lot!!

For nearly two years now, I’ve been massively intrigued(/ridonkulously excited) by Tom Clancy’s The Division, and it seems I’m finally going to be able to get an up-close, detailed look at it. Boom!

I’d basically be happy with just that to be honest, but there’s a lot, lot more.

Since I first saw the trailer at e3 2014, I’ve been equally intrigued by Quantum Break – which, given its mind-bending premise, and groundbreaking cross media presence, promises to be both awesome and unique – and that’ll also be making an appearance. Boo-yah!

Star Wars: Battlefront will also be on show a full month ahead of its scheduled release, and I’ll be excitedly waving my lightsaber around with the best of ’em (and no, that’s not a euphemism!).

Elsewhere, there’ll be an opportunity to see something of Rise of The Tomb Raider – another game I’m extremely excited by. After the last, really rather excellent, installment it seems the franchise is back to being one of the all-time greats, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Lara Croft next. Coming back to Tom Clancy, there’ll be a Rainbow Six: Siege presence of some description too, also Call of Duty: Black Ops, Asassin’s Creed: Syndicate, and the newest Need for Speed will all be competing for our attention. As a *cough* slightly more mature gamer, I’m also particularly excited about seeing the newest version of one of the very first games to get me really hooked on the medium – namely Street Fighter V, and waaaay before it hits the shelves next year (there might be a lot of local interest in that, because “accidentally” posted photos this week suggested there’ll be a new Brazilian character kicking ass and taking names!).

Also, on the subject of an eagerly anticipated Number 5, for Xboxers there’ll almost certainly be a large, and exciting Halo 5: Guardians presence. Even though No. 5’s have a lot to live up to in general (See: Chanel, Mambo, etc), this is still, undoubtedly, shaping up to be one of the biggest releases of the year  – certainly one of the most eagerly anticipated – and there’s a big chance it’ll be a real crowd-pleaser here. On a personal note, I’ve so far (admirably, I feel, given my track record) resisted the urge to get an Xbox One – making do with the PS4 for my next-gen needs – but there’s a distinct possibility that Halo 5: Guardians will blow that out of the water and have me hollering “shutupandtakemymoney” faster than the Roadrunner on PCP.

Oh, and on that note – Xbox Head Honcho Phil Spencer has confirmed he’ll be at Brasil Game Show 2015, which is a) pretty damn cool, and a great endorsement of the show in general, and b) means that I’ll definitely be coming home with an Xbox one, given he’s a bit of a legend!

And that’s just your big, Triple A type games. I love them, obviously, but I’m also rapidly becoming a big fan of Indie games and developers, and they’ll be ably and admirably represented at Brasil Game Show 2015. Brazil (and South America in general) have some genuinely great potential in, to use the correct terminology, tech-ey type areas, with Indie Dev-ing being one of the strongest fields, so I’m really looking forward to having the chance to check some of them, and their work, out. All told, there’ll be close to 20 indie studios in the designated “Indie Area” (see what they did there?), and I imagine I could happily lose the best part of the five days just wandering around that if I’m not careful.

There’s also a competitive gaming cup thingy – which I’m hoping to see. Having only ever watched such things on twitch or YouTube, I’m genuinely hoping to get a taste of the live, game-day atmosphere which, by all accounts, is really something else. That’s obviously going to be balanced out by the inevitable (crushing) realisation that, compared to these people, I’m truly a horrible, rubbish Gamer – but, still….them’s the breaks, eh!?

Finally, on a personal note, gaming conventions are great because everybody there will likely be somebody who loves, or understands gaming. That’s great on many levels, but not least because it means I don’t have to lie about, for example, what I did this weekend. Ordinarily, if my answer to that particular question is along the lines of ‘I finally managed to shoot that Boss Guy in his big, stupid, effing face’ people tend to look at me funny, then immediately start looking around for whoever’s supposed to be looking after me. At a convention though, people know what that means – there’s a shared language, built on shared experience and common knowledge – and that’s absolutely brilliant. “Normal” is overrated, for sure, but it’ll certainly be nice not to be viewed as full-on batshit crazy for once. I also don’t have many friends here in Brazil, so, you know, fingers crossed this’ll be the year!!

Anyway, all things considered (and especially that last bit), I’m very much looking forward to Brasil Game Show 2015. Assuming I don’t get overly excited and enter some kind of geek coma, I’ll endeavor to report back on the stand-out bits of the event, as well as pass on my thoughts/impressions of some of the individual games and stuff. There really is a lot to be excited about, and look forward to, and I’m not saying I’m expecting it to be the best five days of my entire life, but……actually, bollocks to it – I totally am expecting it to be the best five days of my entire life!