As Brits, we might not be able to win at national football, break the Wimbledon singles tennis curse, or reach the top step of the podium at Silverstone this year. But we do make some cracking computer games; something that is definitely worth celebrating. This weekend saw the last days of the Games Britannia show, at the Magna science museum in Rotherham.
The hall was packed with every computer, young and old, running games with a predominately British flavour. The best bit; it was all playable, just pull up a seat! The vast selection of gaming history on offer was impressive. It was tough deciding where to start.
It was a great opportunity to play many games made by British developers. This included games from Rare's classic library. Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, an arcade cabinet running Killer Instinct, and of course; a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye. Local developers Sumo Digital were also attending, displaying Outrun, Doctor Who, and Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.
The event provided a great contrast between early and modern gaming. Many exhibits were set up displaying the progression of various genres. One of the best games I played on the day was Sensible Soccer. It might have very simple graphics and gameplay by today's standards. But a friend and I had a fantastic match. We were hooked for 10 minutes of frantic football, ending in a 1 all tie. Both goals somewhat embarrassingly scored by myself. And just to our right, the evolution of Fifa through various generations; displaying the gameplay and graphical improvements that have come from new hardware.
Big names like Nintendo were also in attendance, bringing demos for the Wii and the 3DS. This included Kid Icarus: Uprising, New Super Mario Bros 2 and Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise. They had plenty of consoles with them, so no queues to get hands on. Beat the Beat's wacky, rapid fire gameplay was definitely a highlight. A mid-afternoon championship had it displayed on the hall's main screen. The reaction from the crowd was part laughter, part bemusement as players went head-to-head, catching supersonic peas on the end of a fork. This was followed up with a posing contest between 2 Mexican wrestlers.
Other modern games in attendance were the Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition on the XBox 360. A game that really uses the entire graphical grunt the console can muster. Great too look at in motion, but really a game you want to sink hours into, not just a few minutes with the tutorial. Street Fighter 4 and Dirt Showdown both had competitions as well; a few pros in attendance demonstrated their skills in both. And unsurprisingly, Minecraft was set up on a table of laptops. Presumably just in case someone had missed the indie hit, or desperately needed to build another Cobblestone castle.
A big part of the week's events was to inspire the next generation of British games creators. Various workshops were open to school trips throughout the week, allowing kids to get hands on with making computer games. This is something I would have loved when I was in school. Hopefully there might be a bit of renaissance for games development in the country. Recent years have seen a lot of talent being lured to the US and Canada, leaving behind a handful of independent studios, and almost no publishers. Which is a shame considering the rich history on display. So fingers crossed for a brighter future, and hopefully the start of a great yearly event.
