Armageddon 2015: Talking XBox at the festival

Armageddon 2015: Talking XBox at the festival

With just days to go to the 2015 Armageddon Expo in Auckland, we got the low down from Steven Blackburn, Xbox New Zealand Lead on this year's event.

What’s the best part of being at Armageddon?
Armageddon is the people! It’s such an iconic Kiwi event and the Xbox team love meeting the gaming fans, hanging out and talking about games we love and seeing people get hyped at the new releases. It’s a marathon session as the Xbox team all work the entire weekend but we wouldn’t miss it – every minute is crazy fun.

What’s the one item that you always sell really well – and why do you think that is?
We don’t sell at Armageddon – for us it’s about letting gamers get hands on with new and unreleased titles as it’s one of the only times that Kiwi gamers to play some of these titles before release. Seeing folks getting amped up and excited is reward enough.

What does Armageddon mean to you?
It’s a highlight of the year for the team – it’s in the midst of the Christmas build up with big blockbuster titles releasing weekly. This year we chose to launch Halo 5 Guardians at the close of Armageddon – Kiwis will be the first in the world to get their hands on the next chapter of the story and we couldn’t face moving away from the crowds at Armageddon to run a separate launch. Folks coming to the stand will get the chance to attend on Monday night – it’s going to be pretty awesome.

What’s been your favourite moment at all of the Armageddons you have attended?
Oh so many. Our Star Wars competition a few years back was pretty cool, seeing the rush onto the stand as the doors open on the Saturday is always a blast. Sitting at the end of the day with a beer once everyone has gone home is always a great moment too with the team swapping highlights before going home to sleep for a few hours then do it all over again

What’s the one thing at Armageddon this year that you have that you think is the coolest item?
For us at probably a couple of things – games wise I think people are going to be blown away by Halo 5 and also by Tomb Raider….. we also have folks getting Gears tattoos live on stand, there’s a Fallout statue and unique Fallout 4 Xbox One to give away.... and this year we have AndrewDFT, Friscoblondi and FloppyRagdoll broadcasting to the web live from the stand – it’s gonna be a riot.