GamesYouLoved at Play Expo 2014 - day one

Day one update - www.playexpo.net 

Manchester - 11th October 2014

Magic. Absolute bloody magic. Whether we’re talking atmosphere, cutting edge gaming or arcane retro technology, Play Expo has it all. The team at GamesYouLoved enjoyed today so much, we really had to give you an update tonight.

We had a great time even after a fairly disastrous beginning. After cramming in a quick breakfast with the Funstock team (full English, of course), we jammed a bunch of old school consoles and equipment into the car and headed off. Immediately upon reaching the venue however, our car window refused to close, the mechanism had broken! We hadn’t even set up yet, so picture those stress levels going through the roof. Suddenly we’re in hard mode; getting the stand put together while trying to get the AA on the phone!

Fortunately everything was fixed and good to go soon after the doors opened. What struck me about Play Expo was the amount of space given over to gaming itself, almost half the venue was dedicated to games already released for people to actually play rather than obsessing over new and upcoming releases. This idea of gaming in the present and of course, the past, instead of a fixation on future gaming really speaks to me, the expo certainly lives up to its title.

 

Loads of floorspace was filled with every game under the sun, many of which were multiplayer set ups, you felt like you could start a game with anyone. There were a couple of consoles I hadn’t even heard of before, I tried an FM Towns Marty for the first time, there goes my credibility eh?

There was still a strong presence from the new console generation though, the big three were out in force.

The real hype was radiating from the arcade section: an absolutely mindblowing collection of cabinets, shoot’em ups, racing games, all that good stuff set to free play so you could game as much as you want. Personally the chance to play some real shooters by CAVE on an actual arcade cab was just awesome. With all the score competitions going on there were opportunities for all that bedroom practice to be seen by fellow gamers who genuinely appreciate it too. I’ve got a score to settle with Typing of the Dead tomorrow, that’s for sure.

It was all about playing the games, but also the retro community that surrounds us all. Retro Joe, Tooty UK (Stuart), Rich King Retro, Cybersnake (Jason), Dave 'imagamegeek' to name but a few where there. The GamesYouLoved crew and these guys and others took time out to chat and do some mutual filming too. All in a days work for these massive retrogaming fans. Not only this but we hooked up with Sam (@MrSidC64) to chat about his Commodore book on the www.funstock.co.uk stand - where we fitted in a short interview of this and his new Amiga Kickstarter which begins Monday 13th October.

A little walk through the venue presented me with crazy cosplay karaoke competitions going on in one corner next to a casual Smash Bros tourney run by the Bristol boys who’d come up for the weekend. Alongside this Retro Collect had their many competitions on and kept the energy up all day - great job guys.

There were enough stands selling retro games, quality prints and other merchandise to make me believe my wallet had a mind of its own. There was even a bloke selling swords, but thankfully the cosplayers weren’t all armed to the teeth.

So the end of the day found me back on an arcade cab playing Progear, just dying to finish my credit (it was a good run!) while being asked repeatedly by security to finish up as it was closing time. Eventually I had to relent and abandon my plane to its fate. See you all tomorrow though yeah?

By Ben Cataldo

GamesYouLoved

A 1980s childhood brought to life - A book review

GamesYouLoved synopsis: 
Diary of an 80s Computer Geek
By Steven J Howlett 
As a child growing up in the 80s you would have seen dramatic changes occuring in technology along with music, movies, toys and fashion.  

In the Diary of an 80s Computer geek, Steven J Howlett brings this to life through the eyes of a child and the world around him changing before him. 

The wonderment of change and a life dedicated to computers started early for our protagonist. From the longing for the simple ZX81 in 80s Britain, where the individual had a chance make something from new if they really wanted. To the idea that this could even be a job or career.  Could this 'hobby' of computers and gaming become something more?

From the playground where cassettes could be bought and sold on the black market, to programming line after line of code to create simple games Stephen was on a journey that no other generation had encountered. 

This diary takes you through the 1980s with how Steven dabbles in ventures which from a simple hobby using the ZX81 becomes more to him as the years go by. 

We won't spoil the overall plot and detail, but some of the highlights of the story are as follows:

- upgradings of one machine to the next and what this meant at the time!
- computers at school and the games you loved and played
- computer magazines and how we trusted and cared for them
- the evolution of computers from 8-bit to 16-bit, and the high and lows of this

In summary when reading this book - cast your own mind back and think about computers and video games in the 1980s - what kind of memories does it conjure up? 

It might be quite different depending where you are in the world but nevertheless it was a time of great innovation and ground breaking products.  There was also an air of mystery around gaming and computer companies in the very early 80s - with no internet we relied on magazines, newspapers and limited TV channels to serve up information and in some countries (including the UK!) it came much later than 
others such as the USA and Japan. 

Whatever memories you had - the Diary of an 80s Computer Geek is sure to unlock some happy thoughts and will having you looking on ebay or googliing after reading it!

Diary of an 80s Gomputer Geek is available in print format & digital format here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-80s-Computer-Geek-Computers-ebook/dp/B00JYGGCTO
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-80s-Computer-Geek-Computers-ebook/dp/B00JYGGCTO

You can also follow it's author Stephen on Twitter here: @sj_howlett  

Gaming - the 'Art' of Collecting and playing

My first console was an atari 2600 which I unfortunately do not still have. I've been collecting since I got my SNES when it first came out and I have never traded or sold any SNES game I've bought over the years

My first gaming experience I can remember is on my Uncle's pc not sure what it was exactly but it had big floppy discs. I'm 32 now and been gaming since I was about 6 or 7,  Super Nintendo is my favourite console followed by PS1

I'm currently looking online for arcade cabinets like Point Blank,  Street Fighter 2,  Tekken 2 and a few Others. When it comes to gaming art - Drawing wise,  I just like to draw.

My best games:

Atari would have to be Space Invaders or Asteroids as they were the games that got me started.  The sound effects on space invaders were very basic but had you in a blind panic once they started to speed up.

Sega I think Sonic 2 or Jet Set Radio and Sonic 2 because of the speed of it Sonic 1 was good but this game took it to another level. Chemical Plant Zone was unbelievable and Jet Set Radio because it was unlike anything else at the time and still stands alone today in originality of character and level design, 

I've got it on Dreamcast,  Xbox and PS3 it's that good, but it's Sony for me.  Metal gear or FF8,  metal gear because of the unbelievably realistic atmosphere at that time only Resident Evil came close to really thinking about the character and how to not alert any of the bad guys in the game, and FF8 because of everything; story,  graphics,  gameplay,  the card game (which I must have spent at least 30-40 hours playing alone).

When it comes to a SNES best game, this is the hardest for me as I could easily have a top 50. 

Legend of Zelda,  Mario World,  Goldeneye,  Mario 64, Zelda mainly because after playing it on NES originally and seeing the graphics then putting in the cartridge on my SNES and seeing Hyrule for the first time was amazing and then to top that - when it changed to the Dark Hyrule it opened up practicality another game.

Mario World as it was the first game I played on a SNES at a friends house and I knew that I had to have a super nintendo,  the level/character design was quality and still prove to be a challenge to this day,  

My sons both love playing this the most on the SNES and play it daily,  Goldeneye is a fantastic game because of the multi player,  no connecting consoles and having 4 tvs all in one room plus the fact of it being awesome in 1 player as well! Finally with Mario 64 because of the mass there is to it, levels,  challenges,  stars to collect just a massive quality game.

And I don't care what any one on the net says about emulating any of these games there's nothing better than playing them the way they are meant to be played with the proper pad and the original console.

Thanks the Daniel Beech for his Guest Blog
You can follow Dan on Twitter to at @Danny_Beech1981