Let me be crystal clear with you, I absolutely adore video games. Crash, Sora, Spyro, Blue, Zelda, Yohimitsu, Cloud, Squall, Ryu, Ellie & Joel. The list of heroes who have engaged me for hours on end is nigh on endless. I can lose myself in a modern adventure like "The Last Of Us" because it is truly a work of art, I am an impatient mess waiting for the Crash Bandicoot remake and this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gaming. At the moment, I am about nine hours into Final Fantasy XV and it is the first entry in the series since I joined Tidus in Spira that has engaged me wholly. It may even be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen on a screen.
Gaming has exploded so much in the last few years and with the exciting developments with Virtual Reality I can only see it growing even more. It has always been a big part of my life from a young age and is probably one of the reasons why I became a developer. It instilled a desire to learn in me that has stood to me to this day in my everyday life.
They are a fantastic learning mechanism and in my opinion, gaming should be encouraged by parents all over the world. Gaming has been proven to help increase problem solving and logic, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, multitasking, concentration and memory. In fact, it is probably due to gaming that my photographic memory has been so fine-tuned. For example, I can recite every line of dialogue in every Grand Theft Auto and almost every book I have ever read off the top of my head. I firmly believe gaming helped me to attune these skills as a kid and they translate very well to my adult life and "career" because video games foster the mind and creativity. Thank God I became a coder and don’t have to remember people’s names though!
This brings me to Gamercon and the fantastic people at Yellow Machine were kind enough to invite me to the event next year, in truth, I had planned on attending anyway as it is guaranteed to be a fantastic event. There are some amazing guests planned and I encourage anyone who even has a passing interest in gaming to come along over the weekend and check it out. As an adult, finding the time to be an active gamer can prove difficult so Gamercon is an opportunity to feel like that invincible twelve-year-old who just completed Spyro 100%, and let’s be honest is there a better feeling in the whole entire world?
Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre. – Andy Serkis.
There’s something for everyone at GamerCon at the Convention Centre Dublin on Paddy’s weekend (18th & 19th of March 2017) You can experience the 5 GamerCon Zones across 30,000 Square feet of pure Gaming enjoyment. See the stars of YouTube on our Main Stage, a 2000 seater auditorium! You can explore the world of Virtual Reality with Playstation VR, roll back the years in the Retro gaming zone or shop in the largest single collection of Gaming merchandise in Ireland at the GameStop Merch-Market! Their aim is to give you an experience you will never forget!
Set against a backdrop of gaming fun, world-class entertainers and non-stop music, you better strap in tight - It’s going to be a fun ride!
We will be posting about it regularly do make sure to keep an eye out for that too! Happy Gaming!
Aidan out.