Tulsa Set To Host 2015 Gaming Convention

Tulsa will host a convention this fall that is expected to bring thousands of people to the area.

XPO 2015 will be held at the Tulsa Convention Center October 2-4. The event will be about everything gaming, and will feature some of the top industry professionals. One of those professionals is a Tulsa man named Jordan Newman.

Some of Newman's designs are showcased in a new PlayStation 4 game that was released by Sony Wednesday morning. Newman stated that it was a great day, due to his achievement.

Newman's work will now be available to 16 million PlayStation users. Tuesday, Sony Online Entertainment released PlanetSide 2 on its free to play network, where much of the artwork was done by Newman. "I think the easiest way to put it is, I would be a digital blacksmith. I sculpt and make shapes," said Newman.

Sony allowed users to submit artwork for this particular game last year. "I had been submitting artwork to another station, so I jumped on it. My first submission was successful, and it took off from there,” Newman stated.

When players log on to the game they can choose from a number of his designs. The accessories include things like: helmets, weapons, and vehicle parts. "The competition is very high, so when you put your work out there and you want it to be noticed, you need to make sure your work looks as good as possible the first time people see it," Newman said.

The artist makes money off of each purchase. Last year, his designs were number one in sales for 11 of 12 months. "I have no idea what it is [going to] do, but I'm excited to be expanding into a market that's so huge. That is a really uncommon opportunity."

At the XPO gaming convention Newman will speak to the Tulsa community about how big gaming is, and how you don't need to live in Los Angeles or New York to break into it. "I know a lot of people have the passion of wanting to work in games but don't know where rubber meets road, so XPO will be a great opportunity for people to come and see how that all works."

On Saturday, PlanetSide 2 players will be trying to beat the Guinness world record for the largest number of gamers simultaneously in a single instance of an online free to play network.