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Armageddon 2004 Overview

Published By: Shaun Hunter On: 04/10/2004 12:00

NZGamer takes it to Armageddon 2004 in Wellington in our never-ending search for

Well Armageddon two-double-o-four has been and what an event it was. And with NZGamer getting its very own Halo 2 hands-on, we had plenty to boast about. Below are the personal accounts of how Armageddon 2004 went down told by our very own Morgan Bates and Damon Saul.

Damon's version of the story:
Armageddon 2004. Though I could only stay for a couple of hours I can safely say it was a lot better than previous years. The change of venue to Queens Wharf from Michael Fowler Centre is a welcome one, with more space it meant there was more stuff to see and more fun to be had. There seemed to be a bigger focus on Anime with about 6 different stalls selling Anime related materials (and that's not including DVD shops!).

Obviously though, the biggest draw for me was to play Halo 2 and Fable, I mean damn, those are HUGE games no matter which way you look at it. But more on that later?

The atmosphere was incredible, in a geeky sort of way everyone and everything was cool. No one was here to say how nerdy you are or punch you in the face and steal your lunch money. Everyone was here to relax, have fun and hopefully come away with good stories and goodies.

Aside the from the many Anime stalls, comics ruled the centre. Everything from X-Men to Kingdom Come to the hugely followed cult hit Red Star dominated the stands. Some excellent finds were to be had too; if you were early enough you would've seen the $10 Batman.

Seeing all the cool stuff was one thing, but hearing it was another. If you were there and couldn't here someone getting body-slammed or a car getting obliterated? you may need to get your ears checked old man! A Wrestling ring was situated in clear view for everyone to be able to watch the shenanigans of professional wrestlers entertain the crowds with their insults, crude attitudes, giant pile-drivers and tight tights. The entire crowd ate it all up, despite it all being obviously fake, but hey, that's the fun of it all!

And as for cars being obliterated? Xbox New Zealand turned heads with their Xbox truck which had its trunk converted into a fold out projection screen hooked up to an Xbox and one of the meanest car stereo?s you ever hear. Cars crashed and burned in visceral carnage thanks to Burnout 3. But Xbox New Zealand didn?t stop pleasing the masses there, oh no. What has been keeping NZ Gamers up late on forums the past few nights was the announcement that Halo 2 would be playable by the general public right there in the capital city. Wow.

NZGamer got front row seats to the almighty Halo 2. We jumped into the Zanzibar level on MultiPlayer for Halo 2 and were blown away literally. This game does live up to the hype people! Incredible graphics, brilliant physics, excellent gameplay and unique design... November the 9th can't come any sooner. I cannot stress how little the videos everyone has seen do this game justice. Time to get those Xbox Live kits people because this one is going straight through the roof.

But before we were left slack jawed at Halo 2 we were able to get a brief taste of Fable, Xbox?s fastest selling title ever. To in a word state my feelings towards this title I would have to say impressed. Games on the Xbox these days don?t seem to fail on aesthetic, this game looks gorgeous. We were able to see an area by a Forest and Cemetery where a mad GraveKeeper had locked himself in. After hearing the story from one of the villagers we proceeded to execute him and chase his female companion. Cruel? Yes. Fun? Definately. Other options were of course presented, such as finding a way into the Cemetery and opening it for the villager, but being evil is far more fun. When Fable hits NZ Game Shelves mid October it will fly, better get those pre-orders in quick!

This years Armageddon was a blast, it?s a shame it was only two days as opposed to the three we?re used to but for the amount of cool stuff we got to see it?s definitely worth the sacrifice. I think I speak for everyone who went when I say that I can't wait to go back next year! But one big event at a time? ROLL ON NOVEMBER 9!

Morgan's memories of the day:

It is the first day of Armageddon 04 and a small portion of the NZGamer.com crew was on hand to check out the Pulp Culture Expo; Me, Ron and Damon had a look at New Zealand's biggest pulp culture expo in recent years.

The time was 10 am after receiving a press pass from Ron outside I walked into the Expo with high hopes of getting a chance to play Halo 2, but first and foremost it was a time to look for things I wouldn't find anywhere but Armageddon or on a rather expensive shopping trip to Japan. As I walked around the stalls checking out a variety of Anime and sci-fi booths, I could not help but noticed the Madman stall, not in a bad way by any means, it was great, More DVD?s then you could fit into a single bag. I picked up a Chobits DVD box set for a bargain price of just $100, you heard me right, a 6 DVD box set for only $100.

They usually sell for over $200 in the shops and on top of that, these DVD?s came with a few freebies bundled too, a few big posters and a couple of Madman stickers. Sure, it is just advertising, but hey, it is better than a slap in the face with a cold fish (with Madman printed on the fish?). After that, I looked at some of the more interesting Japanese import stalls with figures, statues and all sorts of anime memorabilia. Some stalls had some of the same items available at other stalls for slightly less making it a good idea to shop around.

After spending a small amount of money on figures and DVD?s I headed over to watch a couple of average looking guys wrestling, yes, these guy?s were no taller than, possibly even shorter than me. It had its good points though they did a good job of entertaining me at the very least. It almost made me want to get in the ring seeing how bouncy this thing was; those Wrestlers get all the fun.

It was now getting rather close to 11:00 am, the time we were to meet outside the Xbox booth for a hands on play of Halo 2 and Fable. After re-uniting with my co-workers we headed into the Xbox booth, where they had several TV?s setup with Halo 2 in all it?s glory and boy, is this game looking hot or what. The machine gun is looking more detailed and better than the original. Unfortunately, for me anyway, I had over dressed slightly, ended up leaving the Xbox booth early, due to heating problems, and failed to get a hands on play of Halo 2.

Having cut short my stay at the Halo 2 display, I headed back out into the booths, by this time the wrestling shows had finished and I was down to my last bit of cash, so I headed upstairs to see what the part of the expo I had been ignoring for the most part. They had the Robosapien booth, as well as a stage where people got a change to ask the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actors there for autograph?s question; I avoided asking them anything at the risk of asking why DS9 was such a big pile of, ahem. Excuse me. At that stage the time was now going on 12:00pm thus, I decided to leave Armageddon with a few figures and DVD's, as well as the knowledge that Ron and Damon are taller than I am.