Last weekend Play Expo made its debut in Manchester, and it
was a welcome sight. There’s a real lack of gaming events in the UK considering
how large the sales of games are here. The event was billed as cosplay, retro
games, pro gaming and new releases all under one roof. My real hope for the
event was that the major publishers would showcase their upcoming releases,
considering the Christmas period is just around the corner.
Sadly the event was a little disappointing on this front.
Some big names attended. EA brought the latest Need For Speed and Medal Of
Honor. Halo 4 was playable in a small multiplayer area and Nintendo brought a
WiiU / 3DS booth. It was great that they attended, but the booths themselves were
small and run by marketing firms. It was a long wait to get hands on for
anything. The Nintendo area was quite open, so it was easier to just watch the
WiiU in action rather than queue. It seems that the best way to play upcoming
releases for Brits is to make the trip over to Germany for Gamescom.
The European Gaming League took up the majority of the expo
floor. Rows upon rows of 360s were set up for competitive Call of Duty and
Gears of War. It was easy to spot the more professional teams, turning up with
team jerseys and matching headsets. At
the back of the event there was a large stage area set up. Unfortunately it was
never used while we were there on the Saturday. It would have been great to see
teams competing on the large screen. Instead, watching any part of the
competition meant crowding around the teams, peering over their shoulders.
There were no leader boards set up anywhere, so it wasn’t possible to keep
track of anything.
The real highlight of the show was the large retro area.
Once you got fed up in the queues for the few new releases, you could always
grab a seat and enjoy some classic gaming. There was massive variety of games
and consoles on show. I took the opportunity to play some Lemmings on an Amiga
600, alas the poor thing crashed after level 3 and needed resetting. There was
also a large retro stall which at the start of the day had a selection that
could rival eBay.
The best part of the event for me was the array of Pinball machines.
They were a rare sight when I was young. So it was satisfying to sample an era
of gaming that was before my time. All the machines had clearly been cared for
and looked like they had come fresh from the arcade.
All in all, it was a fun event. And it’s good to see these
events taking place as they are few and far between in the UK.
