[Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a binary nature, this short article is going to be somewhat different to our usual output, as there was an event going on yesterday that we sent Daibhi to go and have a look around and tell you what he thought. Over to you, Daibhi- Gavin]
Thanks Gavin! Hello to all, my name is Daibhi, and you’re probably wondering why me? I think the answer is just that I had this weekend free and I had never been to a Replay events expo. There’s actually one in my hometown every year, but it was the wrong side of the city for me to get to. Fortunately, now, I live in Paisley, and thus getting to the one in Glasgow was only a short bus ride away. With the aid of Lorna MacGillivray and @TheShinyGira781, we set off quite early, and as we found out getting to Braehead arena, setting off early was actually a good idea. The queue upon the Expo opening was huge, and due to the heat, the queue got restless. However, when the doors opened, we all got processed relatively quickly. There is a short tip here: pay online and in advance, so you can have the QR code ready for the people to check. This meant Lorna and I got in very quickly. One slight downside was the wristbands used are quite bad for the environment and difficult to remove, once you’ve worn it for a few hours.
The event is held in Braehead arena, just off the Braehead shopping centre in Renfrewshire. Getting there from Glasgow isn’t too much of an issue if you’re driving, and the bus is needed for those relying on public transport. Unfortunately, for those relying on the latter, people need to rely on the bus services and McGill’s bus services are less than reliable. However, bitching over, the Braehead arena is where Glasgow Clan ice hockey team play. On Saturday the 17th of June, the ice had been removed and the arena was used host a lot of different things.
Let us start with describing what is in. When you get your wristband on, and your bags searched for safety, you spot the registration on your right, with retro multiplayer games, and on your left, a ring of Xbox 360s set up to play a multiplayer LAN party of Halo 3. I, like Master Chief, suck at Halo 3. Anyway, through a pair of doors and to your left you’ll spot 5 rows of tables with monitors and different consoles. These consoles range from PlayStation 4s to Commodore 64s. I must have played on at least a baker’s dozen of them. The games on the consoles were somewhat disappointing, but I got to meet some amazing people playing on there. A big shout out goes to a fella I met from Elgin, who will be opening up a gaming café in Elgin later on this year. It’s going to be called “Lore” and I can’t wait to go and see it when it opens. I excelled at Rally Cross 2 on the Xbox, I enjoyed playing Super Mario 64, and I ruled at Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock on the Xbox 360. At the edge of the tables is a formed aisle, which allows you to get further down to the arcade machines. The arcade machine variety here was superb! From Galaga and Galaxian, to Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, to an incredibly rare Pac-Man/Pinball hybrid, pretty much every type of arcade machine lover got catered for.
Speaking of Pinball, the left edge of the area has Pinball. They have a medium selection of Pinball machines, but admittedly a wide variety of them can be found. I loved playing on the WWF Wrestlemania game but I didn’t do very well at playing the 1989 Williams Bros table. There is a hard and fast rule I recommend that you observe when you take part in a Pinball game. When you finally lose after 3 balls, leave and go to a different table and let someone else have a go. Don’t be a table-hog, or you’ll be the most unpopular guy at the Expo.
As you walk down to the centre point, you’ll pass tables on your left after the arcade machines with even more retro games, but these ones are videogames that involve peripherals. I’m somewhat germophobic and also immunocompromised, so I didn’t get to do much of this, but I did enjoy playing with the lightguns and killing zombies in House Of The Dead.
Then, you have the indie developers. It was great to meet them all, and it was really awesome to catch up with Ally Low, the genius behind Lowtek Games. We had a wee interview, which you can find on our Twitter account, and we had a great time. I have to admit, it was lovely putting a face to a name, as the last time we had personally corresponded, we were all locked down in Scotland. Lorna bought be a Flea plushie, and we spent nearly 20 minutes geeking out about how ahead of its time the Dreamcast console was.
It was at this point that I bumped into one of my favourite Scottish gaming YouTubers, ZenBloke. For those who don’t know, ZenBloke does something similar to what we do, but on a smaller scale, with a YouTube channel. He’s an absolute gem, and here at Gamerhub, we support our fellow gamers, so go and say hello to him. You can find his YouTube channel here.
Then, we have the Vendors. Geekaboo from Glasgow, a few retro console and game vendors and TCG vendors could be found. I personally bought myself a Purple GameBoy Color and a copy of Pokemon Green. I also bought Lorna some earrings from My Neighbour Totoro, but that was because she’d been our assistant for the day. On my way back around to the entrance, it was great catching up with Paul McConkey from Z Game Energy, and we’ll have an interview with him up in a couple of days. For the uninitiated, Paul created one of the healthiest energy drinks around, and I currently use their Iron Brew flavour. If you decide to buy a shaker and tub/sachet from Z Game Energy, use the code GHUB to get 10% off.
Finally, we meet the guys at Numskull Games. They make the videogame themed rubber ducks, called Tubbz, as well as some insanely cool battery powered arcade machines called Quarter Arcades. These allow you to bring the joy of a small arcade machine to your home and they are incredibly durable. However, they do cost quite a bit, so I’d exercise caution if you do order from them. That being said, I’m a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, and so I pre-ordered their new arcade in time for Christmas.
Now that you’ve had your guide, its time to talk about some of the downsides. First, the Expo had a bar, and as veteran gamers know, alcohol and games aren’t the best of friends with good reason. But, that’s a nitpick. The bar was in a separate area anyway.
The second problem was organisation. For those of us who are differently abled, such as myself, there was very little in the way of seating by the arcades and pinball tables, but I think that’s because we were surrounded by chairs, but they were all up stairs in a stand. I think to be honest, the real issue here is the venue as it was likely too small. There were real queuing issues and bottlenecks, making the event feel claustrophobic at times. On the whole though, it was a great event.
For the Gamerhub, I’ve been Daibhi and you are all legends.
