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Feature | Living In A Videogame Nation
on 15.06.2009 at 21:02
Posted by Mike Mason (Mason) 
Comments: 3 
Reads: 1532
Tags:
Urbis, Videogame Nation, gaming, games, retro, museum, Sony, Nintendo, NES, Wii, DS, PS3, PSP
Posted by Mike Mason (Mason) Comments: 3 Reads: 1532 Tags:
Urbis, Videogame Nation, gaming, games, retro, museum, Sony, Nintendo, NES, Wii, DS, PS3, PSP Related Stories
It's about time something games-related came to Manchester. While London, Edinburgh, Nottingham and - if this year's upcoming Eurogamer Expo is anything to go by - Leeds are furnished with events at least annually, one of England's biggest cities has previously been left out in the cold. Well not this time, I cry with elation: Videogame Nation is, for now, exclusive to Manchester.
Comfortably inhabiting the first floor of Manchester's gigantic glass museum Urbis (sandwiched between the Triangle Shopping Centre and Victoria train station), Videogame Nation is a celebration of video games old and new. Refreshingly, the focus is distinctly British, with the majority of games on show deriving from our fair shores. This is no ordinary trip to the museum either; as you might expect from the medium, Videogame Nation is as interactive as you get, with dozens of playable titles scattered throughout.
After paying your three pounds entrance fee, the first room greets you with a bedroom setup representative of both the place many play their games and also the primary programming environment of many coders past (and some present). Visitors should be advised not to slip under the warmth of the Space Invaders bed spread, however, as there is plenty to get to grips with from the get-go. You've got the opportunity to make your own pixilated beast with blocks and peruse some great examples of indie 'bedroom coded' games: Darwinia and Jet Set Willy being two such examples.
Moving round you will find a number of genres awarded their own sections. Platformers and racing games share some space, along with arcade machines including - yes! - Rainbow Islands. A case of relevant items of interest also resides close by, such as the Pac-Man board game (Did anybody else have that? It was awesome.). It is in this area that you will first notice that all games playable are faithfully running directly from their native hardware platforms. NES' Micro Machines is looking a bit messy on a big TV nowadays, but is it still fun? Undoubtedly. The organizers of Videogame Nation have been fortunate enough to secure sponsorship from Nintendo and Sony. It's unclear how much of the old equipment has been supplied by those companies and how much has come from the back rooms of like-minded enthusiasts, but you can be pretty certain that the Wii, PSP, PS3 and DS demo pods found later have been contributed.
Thinking games (i.e. puzzle, strategy, 'god'/simulation and adventure games) get their time next, though there is some crossover so that some pieces get the exposure they are warranted. Design sketches of entire levels from a Dizzy game, for example, are placed in the brightly lit section alongside Theme Park, Lemmings and Broken Sword so that they can be viewed properly, rather than being in the dark arcade-reminiscent area used for the other platformer materials. A mass of design documents can be found in a nearby case - perhaps too much for the casual observer, but for anybody with a deep-seated interest there is a wealth of compelling information and sketches for a game adaptation of Total Recall, Wizkid and others.
In the following section a sizable Sensible Soccer setup shares space with a small area where visitors are encouraged to draw images to represent their favourite games (with a multitude of colourful marker pens) to hang on the wall. Did I have a bash? Of course I did. Feast your eyes on my amazing rendition of Pac Man. No tracing!
The intent of some of the final areas of Videogame Nation is not quite so clear-cut. There are brief dips into mobile gaming, a saunter back into platforming courtesy of Nintendo-era Rare with the N64 Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country, a bunch of PS3 pods playing Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and the LEGO games, an appearance from Lara Croft in the PC version of Tomb Raider. It's soon back to the solid topics, however, with an employee-guarded 18+ room holding Bully, Grand Theft Auto and, most interestingly, the letters between Sony and Manchester's very own Cathedral regarding the controversial use of the location in FPS Resistance: Fall of Man. By contrast, stepping outside again will find you in the 'future' section, made up of the family-friendly WiiWare launch Lost Winds, a Little Big Planet-fuelled PS3 and written theories about the routes gaming will take. If you fancy a sit down along the way, there is also a separate room with a projector showing old episodes of Gamesmaster. To finish, feel free to add your favourite gaming memories to the wall and read over a brief timeline of gaming.
Videogame Nation is an excellent addition to Urbis, where it will remain until September. It's unknown how, or if, the exhibit will continue in the future (there are plans, but nothing can be solid until its success has been determined), but in the here and now it's very much a worthwhile look if you're a gaming fan. It's suitable for all ages, too, which is a plus - there's a healthy selection of retro and 'grown up' titles for older visitors, while children will be occupied by things like the LEGO games and the interactive elements of the exhibition.
That's not where Videogame Nation's appeal ends, either. Over the next few months, there are a number of guest speakers from the industry talking about their games and studios. The full list of events can be found here, each costing £5 (in addition to the exhibit; they are held in a separate section of Urbis). Adam 'jesusraz' Riley and I have already interviewed Jon Hare, Sensible Soccer creator and co-founder of Sensible Software, so look out for that (and hopefully a fair few more) in the near future.
You can find more photographs taken of the exhibit right here in the special Videogame Nation media album.
Does the concept of Videogame Nation excite you? Do you think you will be considering a visit, to either the exhibit or a talk, before it closes in September?
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News Editor
This is pretty much exactly the same thing as what I went to in London a few years back...but I actually think they had more retro stuff on offer. Still, for those that haven't seen much in the way of older gaming, this Manchester event is definitely worth checking out.
Really looking forward to the other speakers, such as the Oliver Twins (Dizzy), Charles Cecil (Broken Sword), David Braben (LostWinds) and Matt Smith (Jet Set Willy).
Cubed3 Senior Editor :: Lead Writer :: News & Interviews Editor
Really looking forward to the other speakers, such as the Oliver Twins (Dizzy), Charles Cecil (Broken Sword), David Braben (LostWinds) and Matt Smith (Jet Set Willy).
Cubed3 Senior Editor :: Lead Writer :: News & Interviews Editor
104
L11 Koopa
this looks pretty interesting
i'll have to check it out
edit: OMG! old episodes of Gamesmaster. I'm definatley gonna check this out.
( Edited 16.06.2009 19:15 by -orion456- )
i'll have to check it out
edit: OMG! old episodes of Gamesmaster. I'm definatley gonna check this out.
( Edited 16.06.2009 19:15 by -orion456- )
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14548L100 C3 Master
Great to see more and more video game exhibitions, good read and neat pics Mike!
Banner pour vous ^^
( Edited 19.06.2009 01:30 by jb )
Banner pour vous ^^
( Edited 19.06.2009 01:30 by jb )
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