We Went To The rAge Expo 2015 – Here’s What Went Down
The annual rAge Expo never fails to disappoint its fans. Thousands of attendees, including first time goers, flocked in the TicketPro Dome to experience all the latest in gaming, gadgets, merchandise and the ever so popular cosplays. Everyone was hyped and energetic ‘til the doors closed at 6pm. Anime fans, gamers, PC builders, animators and graphic designers, photographers and headset junkies — we didn’t want to miss out on all the excitement. Plus, we heard there’ll be 5GBps Internet speeds!! Here’s what we experienced at #rAgeExpo2015
YOUR WORLD IS NOT REAL
When it was confirmed that the worldwide VR craze will be showcased at rAge, the amount of people who came through to give it a spin was unbelievable. Oculus Rift is a virtual reality device that take you into a full 360° simulated world which you can control. You are immersed in a matrix-like world. We can’t wait to have our own when it releases Q1 2016
XBOX ONE vs PS4
The console wars continue yet again. Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 had their presence felt at this year’s expo.
PS4 exhibited its newly launched Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection which was visually impressive and definitely one we kept coming back for. Other PS4 titles on the stand included Star Wars: Battlefront, Journey, Mad Max, PES 16 and this year’s best horror game Until Dawn.
The green side, Xbox One, had the upcoming Tomb Raider title which is already a game of the year contender. But a certainly guaranteed game of the year, Fallout 4, was teased at the stand. It wasn’t playable unfortunately. Indie-title Cuphead, Forza Motorsport 6 and EA’s FIFA16 had us hooked for quite some time. Our favorite was NBA 2K16. The realism and attention to detail was mind-blowing! If you own an Xbox One, make sure you get these!
COSPLAY
Every year, cosplayers (costume play) hook up some really good anime, game and movie characters to the T! If you’re a fan of Naruto and Dragon Ball Z, you’d see some good Goku and Sasuke impersonations done well. Other went as movie heroes and villains like Hitman, The Joker and even Game of Thrones characters. Our favorite was Dr. Octopus – this guy worked incredibly hard to pull off the robotic arms. He took a lot of people by surprise when he walked in and we managed to catch him before people started gather around him.
Overall, the expo was really dope. Come through with your homies, beat each other in FIFA and PES, check some of the local graphic designing courses being showcased, buy some headsets at discounted prices, win some great prices from PS4 consoles to R20,000 laptops.
rAge Expo will also be in Cape Town for the very first time next year. Make sure you don’t miss out!!
By Thami Afurika-Jin