My First Fan Expo

Ah! The Fan Expo. To Canadian gamers this is as one of the closest experiences you can have to say a Comic Con in the States. I have always wanted to experience a huge gaming convention, and dream of going to E3 just like any other. Up here in Canada we don't get to experience these massive conventions couple times a year like the States. The Fan Expo is held in Toronto, Ontario once at year, a showcase of games, movies, anime, and comics. I missed last years show and planned with a couple buddies that we were going to go next year, everyone was in. That morning we left early and head off to Toronto with no tickets and full of excitement, not knowing that what we were in store for that day. We were passed by the "Back to the Future" DeLorean, which meant something, right? Anyways when we arrived we parked, for a usual ridiculous amount of money it seems to cost to park anywhere in Toronto. We walked a couple blocks until we started seeing people walking the streets of TO all decked out in their characters costume. We were heading in the right direction, or were we? Nope, have to go this way. We then told to line up at the end of this massive line that was not short of couple blocks. Then handed something that looked like an info sheet to fill out. No one had a pen except me, smart thinking. I began filling out my form as everyone else seem to watch and ask for permission to use my pen. As I watched my best pen get tossed around a security man walked up and told us this is not the back of the line could you please move up. We casual starting walking up the walkway as I hunted my pen back to my possession. The people standing a line next to us on the right looked as we mobbed forward. We were all like "Hey, guy said to move up." As we reached basically the upper front of the line, we could see the goal. The entrance gates.

"Finally!", "Alright, we will be in no time!" was what we were saying to ourselves at this point. Thinking we be inside in hour, no problem. The sun was out that day, and couples hours had passed. "What is going on here?" The line has not budged. We all were standing around crammed in the middle of this walkway, looked like a scene from Dead Rising. Zombies, everywhere. People were getting restless at this point. A Fan Expo Coordinator guy came over and started to explain how the building was at maximum capacity, and could not let people in until people started to leave. He also informed us that the people in the left side are ticket holders and that they were first to enter. We weren't upset, cause we knew would should have bought tickets. How long should we wait? We all agreed we would wait another hour max and we were going to leave. By this point we were all hungry,thirsty and soaked from standing in the sun all day. I wanted to meet Victor Lucas and Scott Jones and had a good couple hour cousin when we we arrived, that was long gone. I even seen Scott walking by the line, was a piss off. Not too long after that they started letting people in, we were close enough to get into this wild pack of people and everyone rushed inside. There were kids running full tilt, people tripping and yelling all to each other trying to get in first. Waste of time, we basically ran into another waiting room inside. All lined up like we were at a bank, a zig zag pattern with the rope off. Waiting was the game at this point, there was giant curtain blocking our view of the insides. We could hear the chatter and laughter, but we, we were stuck waiting. Couple people behind us gave up and walked out. If they would have waiting ten more mins they would have been able to purchase their tickets and walk in, that's just what we did.

We all walked in in amaze, starving and probably looking like shit a this point. As we walked by the trash we all threw out our info sheets as they had no play into the "getting in" of the expo. Weird. Walking around there was so much too see and so little space to see it in. About 60,000+ people showed up this year, which I guess is almost tripled from last year. It was packed. We all agreed we needed to eat and get something to drink before we started looking around floor. That lasted probably a couple feet. As we scanned merchandise tables looking at figures, games, imports, and anything you wanted. If there was something, some collectible that you need for your collection you could more then likely find it here. Trying to make it to the food court was impossible. I seen the G4 and wanted to see who from G4 was on the meet and greet at that time. It was some of the cast from Reviews on the Run Daily. I met Miri Jedeikin, Steve Tilley and Raju Mudhar. I chatted and congratulated them on how much I enjoyed their work on the show. On my way out of the booth I seen Ben Silverman, quickly asked him couple questions and snapped a picture. It was cool meeting all of them and talking to them.

By this point we somehow managed to get our shit straight and get some food in us. We lined were they served hot dogs/sausage on a bun with water for like fifteen bucks. Yikes. We got that in us and headed out see if we could find the Pure Pwnage booth. We circled the place and looked at our complicated map lay outs and ended up looking at more figures along the way. The amount of poeple dressed up was crazy. Some were sloppy costumes and majority were all out replicas of the costumes. Was a lot of fan service for the Star Wars universe up in there! Tons of storm troopers everywhere. The Star Wars booth had tons of layouts of Star Wars toys in huge battle scenes under glass casings. They also had the Boba Fett action figure box you could stand in. We all snapped pics with the real Boba Fett too, well not really. We made way and found the Pure Pwnage booth. We the Noob Store was all set up and they had anything you want for sale. Jarett Cale (Jeremy) was at the booth at the time signing autographs and talking to the fans. We lined up and I talked to him about what he was playing these days, which he answered "Star Craft 2." I also asked him "Where is Dave?"  He told me that Dave actually is in China, which all gave a laugh to the people around. We also asked him how come T-Bag was not on the showcase Tv series? He told us that he died in a car crash and that is why they stopped making the web series. We all apologiesed cause we had no idea, and then he said it was cool and that they want to bring back and finish off the web series. We snapped some pics, got my program signed, and purchased some merch and left. We then started walking around the comic/artist section of the convention. There was so much beautiful art pieces for sale there, hundreds of artist had their work on showcase. So many prints to look at, we all wanted to get something but were just overwhelemed at all the great pieces there.

We then heard cheering and some amount of noise coming from the one corner of the floor. Heading over there I could read the signs that tournaments were going to be held. Upon arrival there was a Super Street Fighter 4 tournemnt being played. We stood around and watched a couple of matches, was good to see a real technical game of SF4. As we were watching, we were informed that we had to move because Adam West was leaning on the Batmobile and was doing a private signing. I said " were watching this man, were just standing here." He kicked us out of that little pathway after that, eventhough we werent even paying attention to what was going on with Batman behind us. We just said "screw watching the rest of this, lets go check something else out." Walking around I randomely snapped pics with any good costume I seen that had anything to do with what I liked. I thought it was so cool that people put that much effort into dressing up, like more the Halloween! And it was mostly chicks that were all done up, which was hot I had to admit. We stumbled upon the Sony booth that was set up. Wasn't that much set up really. Had Move, Lil Big Planet, and Gran Turismo 5 Racing Sim Booth set up. Orlando and I wanted to play the GT5 in 3d so we lined up. There was a kid playing this and he was awful at it, like I have never seen anything this bad. He was hitting every wall there was couldn't even drive straight on the straights, people were making calls on him. I was next, I proceeded and ask the woman who was setting up my game to put it on "manual please." She said sure, and I set up my seat. I have played GT5 Proluge and the GT5 online beta so i knew how to play. I wanted to see what they did with the 3d more then anything, which I was kinda disappointed. There was really no eye popping anything, seemed more the like image had little depth in the screen. Orlando played and said they same thing. Was "no biggie" i'm still going to buy the game, just wanted to check out what they were doing with that technology.

We made couple more passes around the convention floors, checking out the last of the vendors for stuff that caught our eyes. I had a headache by this point, think it was from the 3d or maybe lack of water? Looking at swords and weapons that cost up to a thousand dollars was different, all crafted to look like replicas of famous game swords. Walking downstairs on our way out we spotted the Back to the Future car again and walked around it and check it out. Yep, "Great Scott" that was the same one. I could barely walk anymore as we posed with more Jedi and Sith Lords and watched a robot chick talk to us. The show was coming to the end, and all in all was well worth that 3 1/2 hr. we endured. I didn't get to meet Victor or Scott, or did I get any of the games that I wanted at the time. We had a blast though talking and interacting with the people in that place. I wish that we would have left just a bit more earlier to get the full effect of the show and not have had to cram it all in one afternoon. Next year I can only imagine the turn out for the Fax Expo, it has taken over Toronto on that date. I suggest to anyone that has an interest in game, movies or comics to come and check it out. There is a lot to do and see and tons of celebrities to meet and greet. Its on all weekend so check which day(s) that suit what you want to do. Cosplay was bigger then I could have thought it would be, and I am very much looking forward to what next years turn out will bring to the show. I doubt that I will ever dress up. But hey, you never know when a Ninja might show up. The one thing I know that will happen next year, were buying our tickets in advance.

God of War 3 (Playstation 3)

The third and final chapter of the God of War series is here and has surpassed all of its past games and some, Kratos is going all out! The game starts off right where the second game left Kratos at, climbing up Mount Olympus on the back of a the massive Titan Gaia. With the famous words "Zeus, your son has returned! And I bring the destruction of Olympus with it!" The second game ends on that, Zeus is gathering the Gods of Olympus to help stop Kratos in his path of destruction and revenge. Kratos has gone to hell and back if you are not familiar with his journey so far. Here is a summary. God of War is loosely based on Greek mythology set in Athens and all about the main protagonist, a Spartan warrior named Kratos. After almost losing his life in battle as a spartan. Kratos asks for help from the God of War, Ares. Ares saved his life and enslaved him to the "blades of chaos." Kratos is a servant to Ares. One night Ares tricks Kratos into murdering his wife and child to see the true potential of this warrior. Kratos seeks revenge on Ares and has to find "Pandora's Box." The Box has the power to kill a God, The Blade of the Gods. With the help of Athena the goddess of Athens, she guides him to Pandora's Box to retrieve the sword. After the defeating Ares, Kratos is appointed the God of War. As the God of War Kratos commands his Spartan army to seek the destruction of the Gods. 


Cursed as the "Ghost of Sparta" Kratos is haunted in nightmares of his past, killing his family by his own hands. Zues strips him of his godly powers and offers Kratos the Blade of Olympus, in which he kills Kratos with. Before Kratos is sent to his death in the underworld he is saved by by the Titan Gaia, Mother of Earth. He is informed he must find the Sisters of Fate, who can change his fate and prevent his death at the hands of Zeus. Thus the plot of God of War 2. After Kratos has proven himself worthy to The Sisters of Fate by defeating them, he is returned to point at which Zeus killed him. Kratos has the Blade of Olympus and set to kill Zeus when Athena intervenes, to tell him not to kill Zeus. Athena kills herself to stop Kratos from killing the God, and informs him that he is in fact Zeus' son. Kratos saved the Titans, now needs there help to climb Mount Olympus and the journey to the top finally begins. God of War 3.


God of War 3 is something else, and anyone who is a fan or played the past games, you must play this. The open cinematic alone will sum up what my first couple paragraphs were about, it is done in such a great artistic style of representing what happened in the games so far. The game plays just like any other God of War game, for the most part I don't think that is a bad think. I'm not going to ruin the story of the game because I believe it is something that you have to experience as a fan. You basically know what you are in for when it comes to this game. The combat looks way more fluent and stylish, with all the hyper lighting effects on the weapons as they slash and whip around. The amounts of enemies on screen are impressive at times, especially with the scale of the whole backdrops and environments set in the game. The opening level alone, being on the giant Titan Gaia. Massive scale doesn't explain it, it something you have to experience. The game does not let down for what it needed to do to finish off the series. They needed to come out with something that pushed the Playstation to the max, and that had to up the previous games like they all did before. For that, Santa Monica Studios did a great job.


The graphics in this game are some of the best in the business and on the system. The level designs are huge and have such a scope to them. There always something moving going on in the background as you move through this experience. The character models are also fantastic, Kratos has never looked so good. He gets covered in blood in the battles, and his facial expressions in the cut scenes show is true emotion! Which is anger by the way, this man has been angry since he started all this. The character you encounter are well modeled and have such a high polished to them, that said everything in this game has that high polished look. The detail in this game is phenomenal, you can see they must have crammed that Blu Ray disc to the max. The voice acting is done very well, with tons of appearances from famous actors to come and do parts. They actually got Kevin Sorbo who plays Hercules on the old tv show, to come in and voice Hercules on the game. Rip Torn as Hephaestus the Smith God, was such a good performance. You can feel the emotion and work that all these actors did to bring this game to life one more time.


The intense gore and violence still remains the wow factor in God of War. Always thought to myself "could they make it more bloodier then the last one?" Santa Monica did not hold anything back when it comes to the violence in this game at all. They pushed it once again, from pulling Helios' head off straight from his neck to slicing the guts right out of a Centaur General. The game is very graphic and detailed on showing you everything. The music in the game is amazing. Soon as you fire the game up and the main menu screen come up, you can hear that orchestral score bumping and pounding out. Wow! I always thought that the music in the God of War games are some of the most powerful gaming music, and fit the game to a "T". This game does not disappoint at all when it comes to this, it over shines the previous ones. The music fits that dark and gritty battle music that is God of War, and also the music is memorable. I constantly found myself humming the theme songs when I wasn't playing the games, and thats how you can tell that the music made it to the player. The battle effects all sound good, your classic Kratos grunting and sword swinging noises are all here and sound great cranked up.  


Kratos is armed with four main weapons once again. The Blades of Exile, Claws of Hades, Nemean Cestus and the Nemesis' Whip. All four weapons have sets of combos/moves to unlock, just like in previous game you have to kill enemies to earn the red orbs to purchase the upgrades. They majority of them seem all like the same, except for the Cestus which are like very powerful guantlets. The weapons all have there own special magic attack to them. Example the Blades of Exile, when you press the R2 trigger to activate the magic Kratos is surrounded and protected by a spartan shield barrier. The shields blocks you but also delivers a big blow, with spears being pierced out the side. Kratos must defeat the Gods to posses all the weapons in the game. Kratos also has three secondary weapons. The Head of Helios, Bow of Apollo, and the Boots of Hermes. All offer something new to the table. The Head of Helios acts a light in dark areas, it also shows you things that a mortal could not see such as hidden chests. The Bow of Apollo is used the same in other games, sets enemies on fire and can be useful when trying to shooting Harpes, to use them as a way across a section. The Boots of Hermes allows you to run up and across marked walls and lets you dash in combat, which makes it almost slow motion effect with knocking the enemy in the air. Nice touch.  


Gameplay hasn't changed that much at all really, it is still God of War with some new touches to it. The quick action sequences are all done the same except now the action button doesn't come up in the middle, it is located at the side of the screen that the button would be laid out on. Example would be X would be at the bottom and O would be on the right. Makes it easier really, but I think it lets you see and focus more on the action and what is going on in that sequence. Jumping in this game is my only compliant. Well double jumping in this game is I mean. I find it hard that you just can't hold down your first jump and tap and hold for the next one, you cannot do this. Kratos will fall to his death. Double jumping only works if you tap the first and hold the second. Doesn't seem like much but it is, because i'm used to holding my jumps until the next, and learning that from other games. There is still the sex mini game, and the chest finding and all the orb collecting madness that is God of War present here.


The games main story will take you anywhere from 10-12 hours to complete based on the difficulty settings and your skill to be honest. When you beat the game it will unlock a harder difficulty, the Challenge Mode, and Videos of the game and behind the scenes stuff. The video documentary on the making of the game is awesome, a must check out if you are a fan. You get to see the man behind Kratos voice, all the celebrity voice actors, see all the art desgins, and just the process and work it takes to make this great game possible. If you never have played the first two games on the Playstation 2, you must play them. They are some of the must play games for the last generation consoles, and Playstation owners. If you own a Playstation 3 you can play them on the God of War Collection, which has both games on a single blu-ray remastered in high definition. If you have played them and haven't played this game, I high encourage you to get this game and experience Kratos' last stand. A truly epic game for the Playstation 3. 9.5/10