MY PlayStation Experience
Earlier I shared some of the exciting announcements from PlayStation Experience 2016, and my favorite games of the show. It was a whirlwind weekend, but many of you may be wondering what it was like to actually attend the conference. I hope that by sharing my experience you can decide if you want to attend next year.
The Lines
Let’s get the negative out of the way at first. Every popular convention has lines, that’s to be expected. There was even an hour plus line to shop at the Gear store! The only time I really got frustrated with the lines was the first morning. Even though I showed up 45 minutes before the opening, it took me 2 and a half hours to get in through TWO enormous lines, one for badge pickup, then another for metal detector scanning. Thankfully the convention got better after that rocky beginning.
Swag
Stuff We All Get is a staple of conventions, and I always like to bring back fun stuff for my kids to play with. Ok, maybe I don’t mind a few trinkets and shirts myself. Besides the sunglasses, shirts, pens, and pins, there were collectible cards available at certain booths. These cards were very high quality, with thick cardstock and foil accents. They were highly sought after by several collectors.
PlayStation Experience gave away a TON of free game code, avatars, and themes. Scanning your badge at various booths unlocked these digital goodies, which you could redeem within the special PlayStation Experience App.
Photo opportunities
There weren’t a lot of cosplayers at this convention for whatever reason, but there were a fair amount of character actors wandering the halls like Sonic the Hedgehog, Ratchet, Crash Bandicoot, and a few others. Here’s a few pictures I managed to grab while rushing between game demos.
Special Moments
I had a few special moments at PlayStation 2016. It took waiting an hour and a half, but I got an interview with God of War and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe.
And best of all, even though I was far away thanks to the long lines out front, I caught a glimpse of Hideo Kojima.
Best booths
I got to play over 30 games during my time at PlayStation Experience, but one demo stood out in particular thanks to the soundtrack being played live in the booth by chiptunes artist Chipocrite. Earthnight is a great fantasy endless runner on its own, but to have the music composer playing the game’s music live for you while you played…simply magical! I was so transported by the experience, I forgot to record it, but check out Jessica Conditt’s recording of the experience (via Twitter)
Live soundtrack for the dragon apocalypse. EarthNight is so damn cool. If you’re at #PSX16, go play it: booth B1011. Go go go! pic.twitter.com/OYGA6HY4lX
— Jessica L. Conditt (@JessConditt) December 4, 2016
The Let it Die booth was also fantastic, with costumed models acting as characters from the game and interacting with people in the audience. They had the best photo opportunity of the show as you can see above.
If you’d like a view of almost all the booths and a general sense of the show floor, feel free to check out the video below.
I hope you got a sense of PlayStation Experience 2016, and maybe I’ll see you next year!
