On September 2, 2015, The Venetian Hotel’s Sands Convention and Expo Center was invaded by video game geeks and enthusiasts of all kinds. We got a couple of VIP passes to witness the madness. Overall it was a pretty awesome event and we got our hands on some pretty awesome games and gear, not too shabby for our first GameStop Expo and first trip to Sin City.
The Good
The goodies – When we got registered they set us up with our first loot bag (there would be many more before the day was done) that included a Expo T-shirt, a Game of Thrones Action Figure, a McFarlane walking Dead construction set, a set of Kontrol Freek analog stick extenders and a Street Fighter replica shadaloo pin.
Most of the games we played were great! They were fun and there was a big push this year for the multiplayer crowd. Titles we are now on look out for in the multiplayer variety are Battlefront with 30+ player battles, Battleborn, Overwatch, Destiny, and the Division. These games revitalizing cooperative play. As we played seveal demos there was a very obvious trend that teams with better communication and cooperation were dominant. what that has to do with the future of couch co-op is yet to be seen. (see our article about couch co-op here).
The Lines moved smoothly and most booths were good about getting players in and out in a couple matches to let as many people as possible experience the games.
The Presentation and Displays were really impressive which we will address in the geeky section but it is worth noting that the exhibitors had some really cool booths that gamers could appreciate.
MVP…
The Playstation Truck, giving away several Aqua Blue Play Station Vitas, Raffling off 4 Limited edition PS4 Starwars Bundles and perhaps the coolest thing ever…
Playstation invited Jared aka JJ from the make-a-wish foundation to their truck to help fulfill his wish of being a celebrity by choosing the winning raffle tickets.
Not to be outdone, the Runner Up – Xbox. Why? Because Halo Laser Tag. *Drops Mic.
Thanks to Gamerant for the action shot.
Honorable mention: Star wars Battlefront set the bar for game immersion. The line led you into a hoth rebel base and briefed you on the mission before entering the beta gameplay! Then, you and the rebels/imperials went head-to-head on Hoth as you recreated a classic scene from the Empire Strikes Back.
“At one moment in the demo I looked up into the sky to see a Tie fighter coming towards our bunker I ducked back inside and turned around just in time to watch another rebel soldier get thrown into the air in a lasery explosion of doom!”
Overwatch was so good that there will be a separate article dedicated to it…
The Bad
The biggest qualm with the entire expo was that we were just sort of expecting more. The space was not exactly full and we wanted to see less lines and more games. Preferably, some smaller titles and more indie love. Even if there were no additional exhibitors it would have been great to see more demos available so that more people had opportunities to play.
There were several giveaways But many were so time-consuming or raffled to where you had to be really close by certain booths to hear your name or number so if you wanted to hit a demo you really just had to sacrifice the chance to win in order to play.
With the VIP pass, we were admitted onto the expo floor at 9:30 about 1.5 hours before the general expo attendees, but with the huge number of VIPs the line still wrapped all around the Sands Convention Center. It took quite a while for all the VIPs to get in so that 1.5hr buffer dwindled rather quickly.
Without a set plan of attack for the expo and a rather small and non-user-friendly map we sorta decided to just wing it and point and click our way through the expo. That was not the best idea and our early access got us the opportunity to get some posters signed, line-up and play 2 games before the floor was all packed.
The Nerdy
The Gamestop Expo had some Epic photo opportunities with some awesome displays and presentations.
There were photo ops with Nathan Drake, Pip Boy, Pikachu and Many more.
ThinkGeek newly acquired by Gamestop had a store at the expo and it was a veritable nerdgasm.
The best hands down, were the awesome attendees of the expo!
GEEKSIDE is all about finding places where geeks can come together and GSX was one of those gems. We shared gamer stories with plenty of Strangers while in line and it was one of those very positve atmospheres where people could let their hair down and really GEEK OUT. We try to keep that kind of energy right here on our site and encourage people to seek out those places and events that allow you to join up with other geeks! The GameStop Expo 2015 was one of those rare events and if you have never been it is worth it to go!
Gamestop thanks for giving us another place to show our geekside! So what else would you like to know about the Game Stop Expo and if you went to GSX what did you Love/Hate.
Please let us know, in the comments Below
–Hook Out