The1Qwerty

Entrance to GO3 looks nice

I attended the last day of the GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 2007, and I was pretty impressed with it, sure it stands no where near the level of content that E3 or the GDC have, however, its great for Australia to get a decent gaming expo. I achieved my goal for GO3 and that was playing World in Conflict (ill get a full review/impressions article up soon). I was even recorded playing World in Conflict by Gametrailers.

nVidia stand

I also got some great freebies from nVidia including an awesome thermos mug, and a little fan that has LED’s in it and makes patterns as it spins around. But the nVidia mug is what I think is cool.

Whilst at GO3 I had to stop by the Gigabyte pavilion to take on Ms. X one of the top female gamers in the world. The contest was a Quake 3 death match. However, Ms X was not able to attend and was replaced by [Python], (who is apparently better than Ms X). I filled in the registration and off I went to take on [Python] with a prize of $500 to anyone who could beat him. What was the outcome? Well I got 1 frag on [Python] and he got 10 on me, so I got owned in public. At least I was not the worst player at GO3 some people ended up with negative scores, I also did not see anyone get more than 1 kill on [Python].

Where I would later be beaten by [Python]

Getting your arse handed to you in public does have some advantages though, I got a nice Gigabyte pen from it and a really cool keyring that has a nVidia chip inside it.

The LAN party at GO3 did not really kick off (from what I saw) there was probably around 100 people there, but no where near the 600 person capacity that was placed upon it.

GO3 LAN Party

One thing I don’t quite understand about GO3 was why there was an area set aside for skateboarding? Why that was done is a very good question.

Skate area?

As usual with an expo there was pavilions around, where companies were advertising themselves and showing off their latest products, the best pavilion in my eyes was the World in Conflict one having a first hands on turn at this amazing game, the nVidia one was also quite nice giving you the ability to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on the nice rigs that nVidia had setup.

Overall I was quite impressed with GO3 and look forward to the prospect of future ones.

The second day of G03 has come and gone, and this time I was not able to attend due to having work commitments. However I will be attending tomorrow and I can’t wait for it. (Just gotta get all my school work done between now and then ).

Below is Kotaku’s coverage of the second day of G03, well worth a look.

• G03 Day 2
• World in Conflict (I will try and get a shot at it tomorrow.)
• Matsuura talks music
• Kojima Live-Blogging

Well that looks to be Kotaku’s wrap up of G03 day 2. I will be bringing you the things I see and do at G03 tomorrow, to you some time tomorrow or monday.

Well unfortunately I was not able to attend the G03 conferences, because of school etc. I have however been reading Kotaku’s coverage of G03 and thought I would give you some links so you can read about it for yourself.

• Mizuguchi live-blogging
• Chat with Rod Fergusson
• Rod Fergusson Live-Blogging
• Suda Live-Blogging

Hope you enjoy those articles I sure have makes me wish I was there

HarpzOn is the personal blog of Mitchell Harper. He is a fellow Aussie who (as most of us) freely shares his vast knowledge, Mitch delivers great tips on how to increase website traffic.

I found Mitch’s blog a few weeks ago and within a short amount of time I found myself checking his blog several times a day, since he has great quality posts, on general blogging techniques as well as more specific things like increasing website traffic via creating a forum. Mitch is also a very generous man and recently donated $10 per comment to two selected charities. Also if you link to him (like I am doing now) he will give you a free link back.

Below are a few of his recent articles I found to be interesting and informative:

• Realistic Goal Setting
• How to speed blog (very good for me since ive been busy the last few days)
• How to find your feet when blogging

I think ill leave it at that, go on and check out Harpzon.com.

GO3 is indisputably going to be the biggest gaming event/conference to hit Australia this year. Taking place this month between March the 30th and the 1st of April.

With all the excitement it has built up for me over the months and it being only a few days away, I thought that I would make an entry on it to inform those of you who do not know anything about it what it is all about.

GO3 is a three day Electronic Entertainment Expo, that will be showing off the latest in gaming and electronic entertainment! GO3 is complete with conferences with guest speakers including, Hideo Kojima, Rod Fergusson, and a line up of many other individuals. Check out the list of speakers at the two day conference.

Not into conferences? well thats fine because along with the conferences is the two day expo open to the general public, including a massive LAN party with room for hundreds of people. Competitions taking place will include Quake 3, BF:1942, BF:2, CS, UT, War3 plus a few others.

A nice slew of games will also be showcased at GO3, including a playable demo of World in Conflict. (Hopefully ill get a shot and get some footage of it)
Other games in the show case include Bioshock, Unreal Tournament 3. For the full list of games check here.

Sick of having to get up in the middle of a sporting game to get yourself another beer? Well here is the solution for you. Reported in The West Australian today, a US engineering graduate has create this beer tossing machine to help remind him of what college life was like. The Beer Launching Fridge (BLF) is a fully automated, remote controlled beer throwing machine. The remote for it is a key less entry system for a car, the unlock button will start the BLF rotating and once you have it lined up you press the unlock button again it will stop ready to fire in the direction you have set. The locking button initiates the launching of the beer.
The magazine for the BLF can lock and load 10 beers in total.

John Cornwell has plans to create a limited number of BLF’s, with a new remote having arrow buttons for the angle and 10 preset angles.
View the metacafe video of the Beer Launching Fridge in action.

The Hole - video powered by MetacafeCheck out BeerLauncher.com

An ice sculpture has managed to capture Link charging off into battle, a perfect rendition of him set in ice, what a shame that it will eventually melt though. None the less an awesome sculpture of Link.

[Via TGBUS, image from TGBUS]

The latest 360Zine (Issue 3) has just been released and just like the previous issues before it, it’s full of the latest gaming news, previews reviews and interviews for all of you Xbox 360 fans. For those of you who don’t know what Gamerzines are be sure to check their website and my Gamerzines issue 2 article and Gamerzines article.

For a quick run through Gamerzines is a free high quaility magazine for gamers discussing the latest and greatest gaming news, reviews, interviews and much much more. Published as a PDF readers only need to have a free copy of Adobe Reader and you can read the whole magazine plus get all the extra goodies of animated pictures, videos and even audio interviews as is in this issue.

“Each issue continues to push the boundaries of what is possible,” says Publishing Director, Dave Taylor. “Issue 3 contains the embedded video, the interactive quizzes and animated screenshots that had helped previous issues capture people’s imagination, but the ability to give readers not just the interview in print, but the complete audio within the magazine is fantastic.”

Find out whats in this latest issue after the break.

(more…)

Super Mario Fact sheet credits to GoNintendo.com for this.

Here are a few that I thought were rather interesting to read the full fact sheet click the Via link.

* Players run through vibrant 2-D worlds, stomping on enemies and breaking blocks … then, with the press of a button, they flip into 3-D. In the third dimension, they’ll find hidden paths, battle foes and uncover secrets as they explore the previously invisible depth of the 2-D landscapes.

* When a mysterious villain kidnaps Peach and Bowser and forces them to get married, their union creates a rift of dark energy that threatens to tear the universe apart. Hilarious characters, laugh-out-loud plot twists and unforgettable dimensions await as Mario™ makes his way through eight chapters, each more memorable than the last.

Game storyline: Mario and Luigi are enjoying a lazy afternoon at their house when they hear the terrible news: Princess Peach has been kidnapped! The two brothers head straight for Bowser’s castle to get her back, but Bowser is just as surprised about Peach’s kidnapping as they are. At that moment, a strange top-hatted villain warps in and abducts everyone but Mario. The mysterious villain then forces Peach and Bowser to get married, creating a rift of dark energy that threatens to tear the universe apart. Only Mario can save the day … but he can’t do it alone.

Special powers/weapons/moves/features: All characters have their own abilities. Mario is the only character able to travel between the dimensions and flip between 2-D and 3-D. Princess Peach’s parasol allows her to glide across gaps. Bowser’s fiery breath incinerates enemies.

Players will find Pixls hidden throughout various stages. Each Pixl gives Mario (or any of the other characters) access to a special ability. For example, one Pixl lets Mario flip sideways and become paper thin; another lets him grab enemies and hurl them.

Thats very interesting and, wow I thought that Bowser marrying Peach was just another rumour running around but here it is confirmed, rather surprising I think something that I was certianly not expecting.

[Via GoNintendo]

A new Wii channel has snuck up upon us during the day, one that no one had expected at all. Everybody Votes is the name of the channel and basically it is a channel where Nintendo fires questions at you and you have to pick which option you prefer the most. For example ‘What is a more romantic Valentines gift? Chocolate or Roses’. Not only do you get to vote but you also get to have a choice on which way you think the poll will sway.

The channel allows you to register your Mii’s as voters, once that’s done you can vote away. The statistics of the votes are tracked to the individual Mii. To vote just simply pickup your Mii and drop him in the option you are voting for.

Could we see Nintendo coming up with poles on which games we would prefer to see come as VC games? Time will tell but I wont be to surprised if they do, for that would be a great idea of Nintendo working out which games will be more successful.

[Via Go Nintendo, image from Go Nintendo]