"So what is Replay?"
Simply put, the Replay Expo is a huge
weekend long event that celebrates gaming through the ages. The idea
is simple and effective, you turn up, you find that one elusive
console that you never could quite pin down (in my case the Nintendo
64DD), and you experience what you missed the first time round. With
over 100 consoles ranging from the neolithic BBC Micro, to the
incredibly rare and sought after Panasonic Q (basically a shiny
Nintendo GameCube with DVD player inbuilt), the sheer scope of the
gems found here is breathtaking.
Not only do you have access to pretty
much every console ever conceived, but for that one weekend a year,
you also get a fantastic range of original and refurbished arcade
cabinets, housing everything from Street Fighter II to Star Wars
Trilogy Arcade. But wait there is more! Replay also plays guest to
its very own selection of over 50 authentic pinball machines supplied
in conjunction with their partners Northern Lights Pinball.
As you can probably guess Crash To
Desktop had to get a piece of this action, and after interviewing
Replay's very own Andy Brown, we managed to attain access to cover
the event. The travel was long and arduous, with Krem and I having to
walk for an hour down the Blackpool promenade, from the train station
with heavy backpacks. However the long trip was worth the wait, as
gaming heaven effectively awaited us...well almost.
Lifting off
on the 5th/6th November, Replay returns after a
very successful inaugural event, which took place at Norbreck Castle
hotel in Blackpool last year. Last year saw the likes of Iain Lee
presenting the expo and Sensible Software giant Jon Hare being
defeated in his own game - Sensible Soccer. Not only that but Replay
2010 saw strong support from Nintendo with them bringing down some
3DS's and completing the historic lineup.
This year however the event was hosted
by Hollyoaks' very own Matt
Littler (Max) and Darren
Jeffries (OB), which were surprisingly entertaining
and helped inform the crowd of upcoming attractions at the event.
Team 17 also attended (the awesome guys behind the Worms series), who
attempted to destroy visitors at the original Worms (circa 1996) on
the PS1. Along with them, they brought a selection of other titles
for people to play, as well as an adorable and deceptively dangerous
Super Sheep plushie. Other guests who appeared included BAFTA (which
came to talk about the rise and fall of Imagine Software), Kick
Energy who came with their gaming 4x4, and SteelSeries who held the
Rock Band 3 Pro tournament.
Competitions and tournaments are held
throughout the event with the stand outs being the entertaining
Cosplay Masquerade and the epic £500 Super Street Fighter 4
tournament. There was a 16 player Halo 2 LAN for Xbox lovers to sink
their teeth into, which reminded this writer of the many hours he
wasted with Xlink Kai tunneling software in the early days. Most of
the competitions prizes were predictably either games or peripherals
(such as Turtle beach headsets), but there was so many of them it was
easy to leave the event with at least some loot.
Catering was also available at the
expo, and had a selection of food that one would expect from any
average cafeteria. The pricing was reasonable and servings
appropriate so no complaints there, I just think considering the
magnitude of visitors, it would have been better to have a larger
catering area.
Unfortunately Replay operated on a
first come, first served basis so it wasn't uncommon to see game hogs
or the more popular games being perpetually occupied. I suppose it
can't be helped considering the format of the event but maybe set
time limits for games would be a fair alternative.
Another niggle I had was that there was
a noticeable lack of organisation/crowd control, with some groups of
people converging into swarms. I think a larger event hall would be a
welcome addition next year, with a more uniform layout of stands. I
also think that signposting and notification of tournaments could
have been better, as it was easy not realise when tournaments were
kicking off, or not hear the announcements over the noise of the
event.
But other than that I have to say I
thoroughly enjoyed the event, and concede that I'll have to attain a
full weekend pass next year, since there was just too much to cram
into an single day. Remember to check out our Facebook for all the photos from the event, and Twitter
for upto date news, reviews and write ups, of the biggest UK gaming
events. Feel free to comment if you feel I've left anything out, but for now this is Fatal Impurity logging out.
To find more about next year's event and more about the Replay Expo in general go to http://www.replayexpo.com/
To find more about next year's event and more about the Replay Expo in general go to http://www.replayexpo.com/
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