SKOAR!, unlikely to SCORE!
If the title did not give you enough hint as to what to expect, then i will be telling here my experience on Day 1, err...1 Hour 4 Mins 15Secs to be precise my exact time spent at the expo. If you want to know how big actually it is, then you can practically cover the distance from Entrance to End and back! within 65 Secs with people walking in front of you. Me being more than 200+ Pounds took that much time, so if you get my point it ain't that big. If you are a Die Hard SKOAR! fan and can't hear anything bad against it, then i suggest you stop reading from here on forth.
Few thing's to remember when you go to SKOAR! "You gotta fill XXXX load of forms", from entry to trying out any Games. The surprising thing was when i was filling one of the "Intel" forms i noticed it had "IIT Techfest" written on top of it ( Biggest Tech Fest in the Asian Sub Continent ),i am preety sure i was at SKOAR! but meh people don't seem to care at SKOAR! that Intel did not even bother to change the header on the Forms to SKOAR! Well if you want to try out any Hardware on any Booth, you have to fill one form or another. Kinda pissed me off but since some sweet kind women were telling me to fill them, i did not mind much. More on the sweet kind women later.
The BoooooooooooooooooTHS !
The First Thing you see when you enter
Upon entering you see a Huge Stage which is Logitech's stage. They are showing off their Racing Wheels, a Controller and a Remote ? That same stage was also used for competitions like uh "Tug Of War" and "Hula Hoop", ok wait... what is going on here again ? Yes some wierd Games. Moving on around the booth, i see 20 people on one computer, the fact is it took me 5 mins to actually see what was the product in question that everyone was gazing at. A mess indeed... i saw the co-ordinators of the booth bored sitting with nothing to do. You have "A" Racing Game and "A" Wheel and Uhhh that's it. Only one part of the booth had Burnout Paradise as the Game, the sad part is it was showcased on a "17 Inch" screen, OK the most adrenalin filled racing game to ever come out on a Next Gen console for HDTV resolutions being played on a small Monitor which was actually as big as the Wheel itself...How do you even experience the Game that way ? ( One Boring Booth down, few more to Go )
Burnout Paradise on a huge arse screen
People Enjoying UT2004
Besides that we had a bunch of computers with people playing UT on it, when i was about to enter the Expo, i saw the fast paced FPS from the entrance. I thought it was UT III, but.........they had UT 2004. OKKK, UT III released few days back, what is the best way to make the expo a more happening place ? Have UT III, instead they have 4 freaking year old game. Oh My ! i have no clue what they were thinking...
C2D POWAAR Booth
When i went around the booth, there was Intel C2D booth where " The POWER of the C2D" was being showcased by the heaviest Game ever showcased " 4 years" back. UT 2004 again, that's all i saw people playing. I was pissed off but a sweet kind woman asked me to have a seat so i hesitantly sat and watched with boredom the sheer power of the C2D.
People Crowding in to see Crysis
Then there were a few empty booths left and right, i am being optimistic here and hoping that on Day 2 someone will show up. The only interesting thing i saw was the Crysis Multplayer Game being played by people, probably "THE ONLY" interesting part of the Expo. The Game was working smooth enough to be enjoyed and i was glad atleast something "recent" in the Gaming scene was part of the expo. If you get a seat at the Crysis Computer, my tip is to play there all day long and have your "Paisa Vasool" for the travelling expense.
You get a seat, don't freakin leave it.:freakfight:
Going further, i noticed four things. A XFX, Maxtor, Razer and BenQ booth. Now i will try my best to keep my feelings to myself but i don't gurantee anything :
The XFX Booth : A Blank Projector with a Cabinet besides it. I am assuming they were displaying their HIGEST UBEREST Performance Graphic Card 8600GT, cough*cough*. Nothing interesting at this booth either. Lets move on.
The Maxtor Booth : Hmm so how do you display a performance HDD ? I mean how do you convince people to buy the HDD ? According to what i was seeing, you display the performance of the HDD by making people play Road Rash. Well that's what i saw. Period.
The Razer Booth : Now these fellas had every possible product on their booth "PACKED" Surrreeeeee.. you can buy a 5k+ Mouse if you just look at it, don't need to try or anything. Surrrreeeee you can buy headphones too but why bother listening to the sound? Isn't the packaging convincing enough.... Nothing, they could have had people feel the mouse on the mouse pads by making them play certain FPS games by comparing it with some crappy samsung mouse but nope, everything packed on the shelf. People See and Buy, absolutely no need to try.
The BenQ Booth : 2 Chicks 2 Monitors. Period. They were bored out of their ass, i have no clue what they were planning to show but meh...
It's Freakin Packed, WOHOOO !!!
Thats it.. Wait ? Thats IT ? THATS IT ?
Where are the Xbox 360's ? Where are the PS3's ? Oh My where art thou ? Where is CS ?
If someone is wondering why SKOAR! does not have CS it's because SKOAR! was distributing full fledged Games in their DVD's without permission illegally, it included Half Life. When Valve was verified of this, they took away the rights from SKOAR! to have any Valve Games. I have no clue why 360 and PS3 were not a part of this.
This is next-gen gaming, how can a expo not have A SINGLE PS3 or 360. Oh My ! What mess has this become...
It took me 15 Minutes to see every product on every booth. It took more time cause i was trying to take pictures.
I wonder why so many people are here
2 Clueless Chicks, One Booth
Kind Woman on the Right asked to me to fill form and have a seat to test out the uber powaaa of C2D processors.
2 Clueless Chicks, One Booth
Kind Woman on the Right asked to me to fill form and have a seat to test out the uber powaaa of C2D processors.
If you want a Clean Write Up of the Expo, here it is....
In India Gaming is as Rare has Homo Sexuality, maybe i am talking out of my ass but in someway it is true. Having a Gaming Expo in India is like Disney Land for every Gamer here who wanted to meet people like him. Hardly do you find everyone in your group who has interest in Gaming or is updated about the current scene. So we go to these Expo's to have fun, take our friends there to show them how far the gaming scene has come. With the same intention i came here, i got my college friends who liked playing casual old games. I wanted to show my friends, UT III, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted Drakes Fortune. Well i just wanted them to see how good the consoles have become. Unfortunately, these two consoles were not a part of the expo. There was a Playstation Booth though, it had only Game at display "Singstar", when i asked one of the fellows handling the Playstation booth, where the heck is the PS3, he looked and laughed...Silence.Period.
Three booths were really happening, the MTV booth because of the Booth Babes with Mini Skirts, the crysis booth cause everyone was releived to see one freakin good game and the Canteen Booth, i think there was free food. I had heard good stuff about SKOAR! expos in previous years, if they were happy with what i saw right now then Oh My God ! I am just plain speechless.
Seriously speaking there is nothing to expect from this expo, i have no idea what happened and why did SKOAR! even bother with such preparation, by now they must have known the expectations of the Gamers. No Games on Display... How ironic can it get in a Gaming Expo ? What were they thinking ? Having "Hardware" Booths like Logitech showng their wheels on old NFS games, showing their controller on PS2 Game like God War 2 ( For crying out loud, PS2 already has an awesome controller ), A GPU booth with no Games at all to showcase, a razer booth where nothing was allowed to be tried out, a hdd booth where they were determining the performance of the HDD by making the people play Road Rash, a monitor booth with 2 monitors for show. Oh MY !
Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic. This was Day 1, tomorrow i will go alone with a Hi-res camera and give a booth by booth disription. I am doing this as a favor for you, please don't do this, the actions performed here are by a very patient and bored person.
Akshay SIngh
