EGX @ NEC Birmingham Review

Another year of EGX under my belt which brings this to four times I have been Eurogamer since 2011 (could not make 2014) but, we now have a new venue to judge and compare to Earl's Court!

Earl's Court was not bad itself as a location but the building was long overdue to have something done to it and it seems to have gone down the demolition route. The NEC on the other hand is modern and large for a venue. (the hall segregation is weird though)

Down to the EGX @ NEC Review! four basic sections:

• Pros
• Cons
• Requests
• Conclusion

Pros:

• The signal attenuation, If you have been to Earl's Court...I don't really need to say anymore, Earl's Court was a black void (Not sure if the building had bad signal attenuation or something) for any communications signal however, at the NEC, no issues what-so-ever and the free WiFi is usable.
• Location is almost perfect (more on that in the cons), Easy access to the rail station and airport with surrounding airports (They are practically connected with direct routes.
• The Subway outside of the rail station has franchise prices!
• Flat Escalator! 

Cons:  

• Travel to Birmingham is somewhat more awkward for me (I live in Swansea) resulting in more changeovers in the routes so fitting times and keep costs low is difficult.
• Size, EGX has gotten bigger yet, the hall size did not feel adequate to accommodate the amount of people there, chill areas were packed during peak hours and you would often get cut off by the massive queues and crowds. (Battlefront was a big offender here)


• Queues, I am not sure what the major issue was here...the above, EA's odd video presentation sessions? I did not really need that hand-holding, I do like it if demos or staff nudge me if I am stuck with something but seriously or misjudgement on the part of which games would be popular as was the case with Mirror's Edge, single row of machines and a video presentation session.
  
  In addition, I think it was also down to the fact it was three narrow halls that further complicated the layout for the queues.
• Noise was an issue for the dev sessions as they were held in a raised curtain area so no sound isolation either, it is fine but considering that Earl's Court had areas for this, it does feel like a step backward.
•  Prices are insanely high in both the NEC (Earl's Court was the same) and the airport, it is a miracle the subway has sensible prices (though it is often out of every bread naturally)
•  Tornado energy drinks, I am neither for nor against energy drinks but, it is not cool when there are empty and spilt cans all over the place, The staff tried to keep on top of the issue but, either there needs to be more visible bins or people need to stop being lazy.
• Sessions not having there own designated area, would of reduced noise level and allowed people to cut across easily from one session to the next in another area rather than having to traverse though the hell queues.
• Booking for the HTC Vive and Sony VR, The major reason I went to EGX and managed not book either of them. With Sony VR, booking was not up when I checked on the Friday and was in work afterward, came out of work and checked, fully booked. I am not sure how that system worked but, I am positive it got abused. As for the Steam Vive, that was a lottery for a booking yet despite signing up for all times and days, I also failed to get that.
  
  Now, I am going to buy a VR headset but at the moment, only Occlus Rift has actually presented a fair chance for me to have a go at EG 2013 and I think 2014 was also just show up and queue (suffer a horribly long queue at EG 2013 and having your mate bail on you since he is not sold on it granted but it was open and just go)
• I miss cybercandy!

Requests / Suggestions:

• Gauge queue prediction and sizes better to properly account for how popular something is going to be, survey when buying a ticket? with the preamble of something like, the more data we get, the better we will be able to properly account for queue size for each game. 
   
• Seating in the queues shaped in the same pattern as the barriers but with two continuous rows on each side with basic padding?
• Time predictions for queues, got a few wildly inaccurate estimates when asked
• A hall for sessions so they can have their own isolated space, the idea is to have each session area in each of the corners of the hall (Developer, Rezzed, Gamesfair and Cosplay)
  
  An information kiosk in the centre of the hall showing on large LCD displays the times and the presentations themselves.
  
  Branching out of the information kiosk would be four corridors (Plus sign area that is left over from the session areas), these would become chill out areas with the addition of being able to watch any session (each corridor would be dedicated to each session area) and would have headphones/headphone jacks to allow you to patch in to the audio while you are sitting the chill out area for corridor designated for that session. Screens in that corridor at both ends for the session it is dedicated to and that is that.
  
  This way, you have the option of going into the session area or staying in the designated chill area to watch each session as it comes up as that is what I tend to do once I have played all the games I have wanted to. Bonus business opportunity of having a reason to buying headphones there if there is only a jack and you want to listen to them in the chill out area!
  
  A rather ambitious and overtop suggestion but, I think it still would be the greatest thing to happen to EG and may do a diagram as I am not sure on my explanation.

Conclusion:

EGX has moved to a suitable venue that has most certainly improved in some ways over Earl's Court but I think some things have be lost in the transition and have gone backwards in what Earl's Court used to offer (thank god the connection issues are gone) but, given that it was the first time there...there are bound to be transitional fubars a long the way so here is hoping that next year will be even better!