Play Expo - Manchester
Sunday 14th October
10am - 6pm
Website: http://www.playexpo.net/
Costs: £10.50 ticket plus the cost of coach/minibus transport so roughly £18 - TBC
From the website:
Over the past two years,
Replay Events have delivered their annual Replay Expo to over 7,000 gamers. The show is the only UK video games expo which caters for every aspect of video games – from console, PC and mobile to classic gaming including arcade and pinball right through to pro gaming/eSports and even cosplay.
The Replay Expo has outgrown its old venue and this year is moving to a new location: EventCity in Manchester. Rebranded
Play Expo, the 2012 expo will feature four distinct events:
re.play,
now.play,
pro.play and
cos.play.
Returning visitors can expect to see everything they loved about our previous events in Blackpool, the only difference being that there will be much more of everything! The familiar re.play event will feature freeplay arcade & pinball machines, retro consoles and vintage computers. now.play will have a large emphasis on the preview of Christmas gaming, hardware and accessory releases for the latest consoles and PC. pro.play is an eSports event featuring [big-money!] competitive gaming tournaments, whilst cos.play will include costume competitions, masquerades, talks, DDR and other cool features.
The event is split into areas: Now Play, Pro Play, Re Play and Cos Play
Now Play
The
now.play area at Play Expo will feature the very latest games and hardware for X-Box 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PC and Handhelds as well as mobile gaming.
Expect to see previews of Christmas releases from major publishers and the very latest cutting edge hardware for all your favourite consoles and PC.
Exhibitors confirmed so far include…
(more to be announced)
Re- Play
The re.play area takes shape!
Planning for the
re.play area of Play Expo has now been completed and we can reveal some of the great retro gaming zones that will be available to our visitors. Remember that everything is free to play (including our already-announced Arcade and Pinball areas) and there will be over 350 classic games and systems to choose from…
Replay Lounges
Our popular Replay Lounges have already appeared at past events such as
GEEK 2012 and
The Gadget Show Live, but this will mark their debut at our own show. Each lounge consist of four large-screen TVs, each offering a classic multiplayer game – just sit down, grab a joypad and join in!
We will be featuring dedicated lounges for FPS games like
Goldeneye, plus a dedicated racing game lounge featuring
Micro Machines and
Mario Kart 64. Additional lounges will feature other multiplayer party classics like
Bomberman,
Super Smash Bros and the legendary
Warlords.
Lightgun Shooting Gallery
Go for your guns and shoot to win! Our shooting gallery will feature big screens and a range of classic lightgun games such as
Point Blank,
Virtua Cop,
Time Crisis and
Duck Hunt!
Genre-specific Game Zones
We’ll be charting the rich history of the major gaming genres with each getting its own specific area at the show. So whether you like driving games, beat em ups, sports, platformers, shooters or even puzzle games, there will be an area for you featuring standout titles from the past 35 years.
Classic Computers
It all started for many of us in the 1980’s with an 8-bit computer like the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 or BBC Micro. If you’re a little younger then you may have tried your first taste of gaming on an Amiga or Atari ST. This zone will have them all, along with some of the less well-known computers from that classic era.
Import Only
Some of the greatest games and systems never even made it to British shores. This zone will showcase a variety of offerings from distant lands that you may never have seen before!
Console Curiosities
Here we aim to introduce you to some of the most bizarre consoles and games you’re ever likely to see! Ever killed zombies with a keyboard, played a platform game with a set of bongos, or controlled
Tetris with a Balance Board? If not then you’re sure to enjoy this weird and wonderful array of obscurities. If you have, then we’ll still have some surprises for you!
Retro Request Zone
If all the great games we’ve chosen in our other zones don’t appeal to you, don’t worry! The Retro Request Zone will feature all the popular consoles from the Atari 2600 to the XBOX with a selection of games available for each. Just request your chosen game from the Play Expo crew and your own piece of gaming heaven will be delivered for you to enjoy.
And there’s much, much more… But we’ll save a few surprises for the show itself!
Cos Play
Cosplay (コスプレ), short for “costume play”, is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred around role play. A broader use of the term “cosplay” applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.
Favorite sources include manga and anime, comic books, video games and films. Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject.
