Pippa’s top 5 rAge 2015 moments

rAge 2015 has come and gone, and although it’s a slightly shorter wait than usual (if you plan on attending rAge Cape Town as well) until the next one, there are always moments that stand out every year. We’ve gone and narrowed it down to five.

Read more: 4 numbers that tell rAge 2015’s story

The NAG Jam

Those of us in the gaming industry are well aware of the concept of a Game Jam, but 2015 saw the inaugural NAG Jam take place in the weeks preceding rAge 2015. Some amazing games were made in a mere 72 hours, some of which will undoubtedly be developed into bigger and better things in upcoming months.

Or at least they should be! In the end, an amazing little game by Kobus van der Walt called Thumbper took first prize. With any luck this will be the start of an annual NAG Jam that aims to develop and showcase local talent.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider and its protagonist Lara Croft, have been an iconic part of the video game landscape for almost 20 years.

The reboot of the franchise in 2013 brought a whole new dimension to the character who is known not only for her sex appeal but her tough character as well. Rise of the Tomb Raider looks set to build on the stellar reception of its predecessor and if the queues were anything to go by, the consumer public thinks so as well.

Star Wars: Battlefront

Star Wars: Battlefront as a franchise is one of the most loved and in the run up to the new movie, most anticipated video games of 2015. With approximately a month to go before its release there was great excitement from both press and public as the game was in beta (this has now closed).

Read more: rAge Expo 2015 recap: was it the best rAge ever?

Oculus

The Oculus is one of the biggest leaps forward in video game hardware in recent years. While there have been a number of failed VR devices to hit the market, the Oculus seems to be the closest to hit the mark.

As we approach its 2016 release, the Oculus was receiving a great deal of attention at rAge as those people who hadn’t bought a development kit or been exposed to it before garnered their first taste of virtual reality.

Cosplay

One of the highlights of rAge every year is the cosplay. Fans dress up as characters from games, anime, comic books, movies and while some of the costumes are quite basic, others are amazingly detailed and accurate.

It’s been incredibly encouraging to see the cosplay at rAge grow every year – it started as perhaps a handful of people and it’s now quite usual to see cosplayers walking around the expo floor, taking photos with other visitors. Although some do it just for fun, an annual rAge cosplay competition takes place every year.

These are my top 5 highlights from rAge 2015.

The NAG team has promised that rAge Cape Town will have its own unique slant, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it differs from the established Johannesburg event.