My 2 day experience of the Expo.,...
Day 1
Firstly, the queues for the PS4 section :sulk: Titanfall was about a 2 hour wait too so i wont bother with that. Watched it though, it is Call of Duty, with extra mist and faster pace, not a bad thing though. Looks V good. Even the menus looked like COD!
First played Forza 5, when waiting and watching it looks a bit meh, but when you look over at GT6 opposite, Forza 5 suddenly looks 2 gens ahead.
Plays well, looks good and that was just the Laguna Seca track. The new tracks will look even better.
The Xbox pad.......felt a bit wierd to me, sticks noticeably small in size and movement and lighter to push. Pad is lighter too, bit smaller. Not sure i liked the changes, very surprised that i have come away a bit worried about the pad. My big hands felt a bit too big for it, felt like i was needing to push shoulder buttons with the middle of my fingers instead of the tip.
But the biggest problem i found was the triggers, when fully pressed, the inner edge of the casing was slightly elevated above the trigger, i found this annoying.
So i am a bit concerned!
Especially when i got to get on the PS4 pad with Ass Creed 4.......it is a massive improvement i have to say, really comfortable and the triggers felt good. Still think the sticks are in the wrong place though. But impessed overall.
Ass Creed 4 is about 7 billions times better than AC3 , but thats not hard. You start in a naval battle which i find boring, so unlike everryone else i deserted the seas asap for Havana and let loose in combat. It is very good. And i got good 'oooooo' reaction from people watching me when i did a double take down off a roof :smug:
Lastly got to play BF4, Xbox One Pad. And the game is good, very good infact and looked good too. There were reports of it looking muddy and dodgy, no idea where that came from. Seems solid enough to me anyways.
Going back tomorrow and will a bit more time so hopefully get to play more Xbox One and PS4 games. But want to get some indie action too.
Honestly did not think i would come away with Xbox pad concerns. Hopefully it is just a case of getting used to it.
2nd day at the Expo.....
It was noticeably busier than Friday and a lot more kids flying about. so based on I was hoping there would be less people in the over 18's section to have a go on Titanfall, I was wrong, still queues for nearly 2 hours so I didn't even try to play it.
Had another watch of it though, and it does look so much fun to play. I think the hype is definitely justified. It is going to be perfect for people burnt out by COD.
Had another go on BF4 as the queue does move quite well with big change over's between games. Didn't have to wait too long. This is one of the games I feel is worth it for the new consoles at launch. Graphics consolewise is a huge step up from BF3. BF3 does look decent on current consoles but everything looks so much clearer, especially at distance and its ultra smooth.
About the Xbox One pad again, on Friday I felt it was a bit odd with the triggers fully depressed as you could feel the casing stick up a bit....it actually does not stick out at all (of course), but I noticed when comparing to the 360 pad is that the casing is wider on the 360 at the inside of the trigger and It is just the difference I can feel, I'm not worried about that now, just a matter of getting used to the different touch.
The sticks being smaller, with the slightly smaller area of movement makes everything feel more sensitive, again just a case of getting used to it all over again. The rumble triggers on Forza felt brilliant, the feedback is very impressive. Didn't feel it much on BF4 though, but might be because I was concentrating on the game.
moving away from that area of games, I had my time there. I spent a lot of time in the indie section, starting with Octodad

What a brilliant game, so simple, so stupid, but an absaloute joy to play. Will be a deffo buy when I pick up a PS4 sometime next year.
Again the PS4 pad is brilliant, so comfortable to hold. If the sticks were Xbox placed then I would probably prefer it. I remembered to do the thumb to thumb test, and I can happily report that my thumbs no longer knock into each other like on the abysmal PS3 pad when the sticks are pushed towards each other.
Next up, Velocity 2 on the Vita, and it will be on PS4 too. While waiting I was talking to one if the debs about it, telling me how Sony asked them to make a sequel and you could see how passionate they are about the game. Anyway, my first time using a Vita and I'm not really digging it, I don't find it natural to hold, I feel like my thumb is too hunched when going for the buttons. Sticks are quite good though.
Anyway, the game itself is very good it is a top down shooter with platforming sections that reminded me of Flashback. Solid game with good use of quick teleportation when the levels move fast. I liked the mix up of top down and platforming.
Next was Resogun.......this is a special game, fast fluid energetic side shooter with 3D elements that opens up the game and sets it apart. There is so much going on on-screen and not a hint of slowdown. I very nearly completed the 1st level, on the the boss, this huge wheel like thing, I almost had it with only a few hits left to kill, stupidly went in for the kill and blew myself up. This game is another example of next gen launch purchase at day one, its only a indie game but there's no way a 360/PS3 could handle it this well. The new consoles are going to make all games nicer to play, not just visually.
Played a few other small games on tablets, nothing to write home about. But I did spot a PC game where you build your own prison to keep criminals in. I forget the name hut it looked fun.
I seen knack though next to Resogun in the Virgin Media section. It must have been an old build, it looked choppy and rough. I'm sure it will be a decent game overall though.
Headed back over to the Xbox section, I really wanted to play some DriveClub and Killzone but the PS4 area queues were huge. It was One big queue to get access to all games whereas the Xbox One was individual to each game. so sadly did not get on them.
Watch an event for Kinect Sports Rivals, and looks decent. They got a few people in the crowd to play it. They went on jet ski racing and it looked nice, water looked lovely, environments very nice. Gameplay looked fine, was trying to spot input lag from the players and it is very very minimal, most of the time I couldn't see any at all. Obviously I will have to see for myself in November properly.
Xbox guys on stage started throwing out t-shirts into the crowd, got my hand on one but some lanky wanker had a better grip on it :wave: :wave: :wave:
Had another go on Forza 5, reaffirming that it looked good and felt good.
Wanted to get to play Dead Rising but this was the most popular here so I left it, I hate queueing :wave: so I'll be fucked if I'm waiting an hour or so.
So popped into the Killer Instinct queue as it happened to be small as went past, excellent timing as it built back up after after

I was not planning on playing KI at all as its a F2P at launch.....but I am so glad that I did. I don't tend to like fighting games much and I'm rubbish at them.
I had the choice of using the Pads or the fighting sticks designed for the game, went for the pad as I want to keep trying it out. Was paired with another random and straight away I was loving it, I can't explain what it was but this game was amazing. It looks superb, plays wonderfully. Players have tons of health unlike Tekken and Street Fighter and this really helps the fights to be really compelling trying to beat the shit out of the opponent with 10x combo's etc.
Again visually it might not be the most stunning game but trust me when I say you can't get this good looking on current gens at all. and again, its so smooth, no hint of slowdowns at all. I got beat 2-1 in games by the randomer but I came away massively impressed. Sabrewolf is going to be my character of choice
Not much else after that as I had a train to catch but had a look at NFS rivals which looks nice. Had a go on World of Tanks on 360, which was meh. Quick go on Zoo Tycoon too which again was meh, I did actually fancy this game but it doesn't seem very in depth as Tycoon games go, I'll have to give it another go on a demo in future.
So in conclusion. Good experience but was dissapointing not get on Oculus Rift, Main PS4 games and Titanfall due to ridiculous queues. Hopefully if I go again there will be better systems in place for queues, like tickets at times etc.
Re the consoles buying at launch...I will be buying my Xbox One still, PS4 next . No doubt about it. But even though there are some games with graphics that are not mind blowing exactly, however most are noticeable enough, some than others. but the biggest aspect is how well the games play, more games at 60fps or at least locked to 30fps is much more important than graphics at this stage. the big graphical jumps to come soon enough (some are big like BF4, NFS, DR3) but the solid frame rates will massively improve gaming experiences for us all too and after the Expo I need the new consoles now!
The End.