A few days have passed since Poznań Game Arena 2018 , making this a good time for a considered review of this year's event. Across Friday and Saturday, we spent a record 15 hours at the fair, allowing us to explore the latest trends and equipment and meet players, developers, game creators and others.

One of the biggest surprises was the weather. For the first time in years, PGA had a beautiful, warm autumn weekend, and we could freely enjoy all the attractions outside the exhibition halls of MTP. A welcome change from last year's rain, snow and storm, which stranded us in Wrocław for several hours on our way to Poznań.

We began at the Nintendostand, testing various Nintendo Switch applications. We particularly liked the Nintendo Laboset, an attractive Switch extension for building interactive cardboard toys. Excellent for children and parents, who crowded the stand. Nintendo remains associated with children's games but is slowly offering productions for older users, including a new Doom version for Switch. Unfortunately, its graphics are unimpressive. The console is clearly too weak to run such titles at a quality matching PS4, Xbox One, let alone PCs. Nevertheless, the selection and quality of party games, including dancing, sports and arcade games for several people on one console, are impressive.

Samsung had 2 separate stands this year. The first mainly demonstrated Fortnite on Galaxy Note 9 smartphones. The second offered opportunities to test Samsung Gear VR and the manufacturer's smartwatches, tablets and smartbands. Nearby was Wacom, a company we know and like for its graphics tablets. Its staff deserve praise for professionalism, patience and commitment. They surely encouraged some of the hundreds of visitors to explore graphics tablets.

The aforementioned Fortnitewas hugely popular, appearing at seemingly every other stand on devices from smartphones and consoles to PCs. Equally enduring was Counter Strike: Global Offensive, demonstrating its continued status as the most popular esports game after a relatively weak start to the year and a significant player decline. Its presence on gaming equipment, numerous competitions and mini-tournaments, and major PGA events testified to this. Matches in the ESL Polish and European Championships drew crowds of supporters.
Interest in League of Legends had visibly declined, with its minimal presence on gaming hardware particularly surprising compared with last year.

Several launch and pre-release demonstrations took place, notably the new Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 4 and World War 3. All were graphically impressive.
The Unreal engine stand was very interesting. We sometimes use this engine in projects for Pogotowie 3D. Several titles demonstrated its capabilities.

Personally, we were somewhat disappointed with Sony PlayStation's stand. Sony showed only PlayStation VR games, which are… what they are. Despite many games arriving for VR, their length and quality still leave much to be desired. It was surprising that Sony omitted major titles such as the new Spider-Man and Detroit. Perhaps they need no further promotion. PS4 continues selling well and has caught up with the iconic PlayStation 2 in popularity. Talk of PlayStation 5 is also growing, with reports that Sony is seeking companies to market the next generation.
Speaking of consoles, Microsoft deserves praise for an excellent Xbox One stand that lacked almost nothing. Plenty of equipment and the latest titles surely attracted crowds.

Interest in VR was visibly lower. A year earlier, it was topic number 1, with exhibitors eager to show any virtual reality project. VR now seems out of favour with exhibitors and players. HTC Vive and Oculus Rift were almost absent. PlayStation VR defended the technology's honour somewhat, but was a drop in an ocean of traditional solutions. This did not surprise us; we anticipated a similar scenario last year. Equipment remains far too expensive, and the lack of interesting, worthwhile applications is the final nail. Little has changed in the last 3 years, and hardware evolution, despite manufacturers' emphasis, is slower than we hoped. This is unfortunate, as we await wider adoption of technology enabling more interesting projects with fantastic immersion.

There was no retro hardware and games stand this year, unfortunately. It was always a highlight of our PGA visit. Fortunately, indie developers brought interesting titles that will hopefully reach sale soon. Meeting creators is among the most valuable aspects of these events; sharing experience is priceless. The little-known, often overlooked exhibition hall number 15 deserves mention. It hosted talks on game development, music, graphics, design and marketing, alongside opportunities to meet Polish and international developers. Essential for anyone wanting to begin creating games or expand their knowledge.

Large, attractive stands from Sprite, T-Mobile and Play no longer surprise anyone, but Gillette's presence did. Hosts distributed many disposable razors, the stand offered competitions and, above all, opportunities to challenge professional esports players. Praise for an imaginative, unobtrusive promotion that fitted the event well.

A significant PGA announcement was 10Gbit/s fibre internet from Inea. Initially for Poznań subscribers, the company already plans expansion into other major Polish cities. We eagerly await these capabilities at our Chrzanów office 🙂 Particularly given the enormous amount of data Pogotowie 3D sends clients daily.

It was hard not to feel CD Projekt Red's main presence this year was Giermasz, selling games and merchandise. Apparently, they are concentrating fully on the approaching Cyberpunk. Or perhaps the PLN 60 million Mr Sapkowski is demanding?
11Bit Studio had an appealing stand. Visitors could play its flagship titles, this year's Frostpunk and This War of Mine, alongside lesser-known projects. The growing presence and world-class quality of Polish games is extremely pleasing.

Hardware retailers' lively stands were clearly visible: X-Kom, Komputronikand Alsen offered appealing deals. Many promotions were genuinely attractive: no extraordinary discounts, but some products were cheaper than online. That is something. Better than offers like a keyboard for PLN 1 with only 2 units available 😉 Asus also presented its Republic of Gamersbrand well. Incidentally, we have used its top motherboards for years without disappointment. Good chipset cooling, socket and power placement, overclocking capabilities and, most importantly, reliability let us build powerful workstations used at Pogotowie 3D.

Finally, graphics card availability. Such events normally feature top-end, well-equipped computers, but despite Nvidia's recent 20xx-series launch, the strongest cards were extremely hard to find. We found no GeForce 2080Tiat all. Even after the cryptocurrency mining boom ended, these components remain severely scarce. We have waited a month for pre-ordered graphics cards to expand our GPU render farm.

For those unable to visit PGA 2018, we include a short photo report. We posted many photos and several hyperlapses on social media. If you do not already visit our profiles, we warmly encourage you: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube.

See you at PGA 2019! 🙂
Maciej ‘SarmaC’ Sarzyński
Copyrights Pogotowie3D