EB Games Expo is a three day event held at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, showcasing the latest upcoming and new release games. Running from the 7th to 8th October, the expo boasts “the world’s biggest EB Games store and E-Sports competitions for everyone from beginner to pro” and, in an endeavor to celebrate all things pop culture, features a huge cosplay competition.
Confirmed exhibitors include several big names, from PlayStation and Xbox to Activision, Nintendo and Ubisoft. A whole load of the games exhibited will be playable in Australia for the first time over the weekend, such as Gran Turismo Sport, playable before release on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, and Nintendo’s Super Mario Odyssey.
Other playable titles at the EB Games Expo will include Activision’s Call of Duty: WWII, Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World, and upcoming PlayStation VR titles including Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR and Supermassive Games’ psychological horror experience The Inpatient.
The keynote will be delivered by Jens Matthies, Creative Director and co-founder of MachineGames. He will share insight into the development of the soon-to-be-released Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus and the ways in which the studio have brought the series into the modern era over the past few years. Presented by Paul Verhoeven, host of Steam Punks on the ABC and co-host of the 28 Plays Later Podcast, the keynote will take the form of a Q&A style presentation as Matthies and Verhoeven talk through the process of game design and the Wolfenstein series together.
The EB Games Expo will also feature a once in a lifetime chance to catch Australian rock icons Regurgitator celebrating 20 years of their triple platinum album “Unit” with a show at the convention center on the Friday. They will be joined by ARIA award winners Art vs. Science, known for their hit singles ‘Parlez vous francais?” and “Magic Fountain”, and hyper bit-pop band 7Bit Hero, who also develop mobile video games.
During 7Bit Hero’s show, attendees can use their smartphone as a joystick to control a character in a multi-player game projected behind the band, which is a really freaking cool idea (even if it sounds like a major distraction from the main show!). Expo attendees will need separate tickets for the concert.
There will be a bunch of competitive gaming competitions over the weekend, including Minecraft battles on the Saturday, culminating in an apparently “epic” showdown on Sunday, as well as daily Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokken Tournament DX and ARMS competitions for Nintendo Switch fans. And for the old school gamers among us, there will be arcade machines, pinball machines and over 40 free-to-play retro consoles on the show floor.
Entry to the official Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 20 Years of Slaying Fan Party comes free with your ticket. Fans are invited to attend in their PJs or to cosplay as their favorite Buffy character with prizes for the best dressed. Speaking of cosplay, winners of the COSPLAY! The Just ‘Cos Cosplay Competition will win prizes from a pool of over $2000 and the chance to meet internationally acclaimed “cosplay superstars”.
We’ll be attending the event so if you see one of us running around in a A 90s Kid t-shirt come say hi! For more info on tickets visit here.
