*9mm Preacher is the owner/operator/podcast host for the Hardcore Christian Gamer’s Network. He’s also a long time SG forum member and friend of the show and will be contributing to the site with articles about Gamecock’s EIEIO Conference all week.

I arrived in Austin, Texas, at around 1pm, with eager anticipation at the EIEIO 2008 event held at Stubbs Barbeque in downtown Austin. EIEIO, for those that don’t know, stands for Expo For Interactive Entertainment, Independent and Original. This yearly event is hosted by Gamecock studios. They’re the “independent” publishers of many up-and-coming games that you may have heard about, such as Section 8, Dementium-The Ward, Insecticide, Velvet Assassin and more. I’ll have hands-on impressions right here at Sarcastic Gamer on Wednesday.

It was a rainy day in Austin on the day of the event, which was unfortunate, as most of the convention was held outside. The day before was sunny and warm, but on the day of the event it was cold and rainy. Cold and rainy doesn’t stop gamers from all around the globe coming out to see what Gamecock has to offer.

Honestly, they had a lot to offer. Where to start? Well, I started out by meeting Rob Fleischer, the guru that put the function together. Since I arrived a wee bit later than everyone else, I had a lot of catching up to do. Rob was kind enough steer me where I needed to go to get my hands on some games.

The first place he took me was a quaint little outdoor booth housing Insecticide, Killer (a new graphics card) and Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball. My first interview was with Larry Ahern, the art director for Insecticide, a film-noir type game where you play as a detective bug. We chatted a little about the game while he played it on the PC with the “Killer” graphics card. (More to come on the game this Wednesday.)

The next station I was introduced to was the Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball game that will be released on the Xbox Live Arcade. I interviewed Chris Stockman, the Studio Director and creator of Blazing Lizard Studio. This time, I actually was able to play the game against two of the Austin Roller Girls. (For those that don’t know, Roller Girls basically kick the crap out of each other while roller skating.) Like the other games I played, I swore an oath of secrecy not to spill the beans until Wednesday, so bear with me. Needless to say, playing games with other girls, at a bar, was a first… and a lot of fun.

I then proceeded to a dark room where I was able to preview a game called “Dungeon Hero.” It’s basically a Conan slasher with major RPG elements, and an expansion pack for Stronghold Crusader called Extreme. Across the room from me was a preview of a game called Mushroom Men-The Spore Wars for the Nintendo Wii and DS. I’m starting to feel like a small fry in a big fryer, but these guys were really making me feel welcome, which was great. I was really getting into these games.

Tweet This

CONTINUE TO PAGE: 1 2 3