Whilst Cubed3 was flown over to Amsterdam at the end of January for a Press Only event where all the latest titles were on show, Thursday, 24th March, 2011 saw a London-based launch party take place at Old Billingsgate, the home of the Eurogamer Expo from two years prior, and to say it was a massive hit would be an understatement. Read on for more details about what was called Nintendo 3DS Ignition.
Parade, Hadouken, and Plan B were the music acts that Nintendo had hired for the 3DS Ignition event at Old Billingsgate in London, along with a set from DJ Yoda to round the night off, whilst comedian Russell Kane attempted to warm up the crowd of Club Nintendo winners that had just spent an hour or so sampling a wide range of Nintendo 3DS titles, most for the first time ever. This was the UK launch party in a nutshell.
Expanding slightly, after initially wandering around to the back side of the large building where people were permitted entry to EuroGamers Expo two years ago, seeing hundreds of people queuing up led me to head back to the front, road-side entrance, where I rolled up to the door only to spot a red carpet adorning the pavement. Clearly Nintendo knew I had arrived! Waltzing in and receiving my golden VIP Nintendo 3DS wristband, off I went, mainly in search of food since I was starving after skipping lunch during the day, then not getting anything whilst on the train down from Warrington to London. Thankfully Nintendo had all sorts – a free bar, as well as mini burgers, hot dogs and even tiny steak pies! The Northerner in me jumped for joy at that
The location was jam-packed with all the 2,000 Nintendo UK Club Nintendo registrants kept downstairs, whilst the celebrities, media and journalists were allowed Access All Areas, yet I decided to stay upstairs as that was where Nintendo 3DS gaming pods featuring the likes of Dead or Alive: Dimensions, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean were located.
All of the focus for some may have been on getting as much free alcohol down their throats as possible before the live entertainment started, but for Cubed3s sole representative it was more about trying the new titles and chatting with certain key people that were milling around. Okay, watching the eye-pleasing girl group Parade was fun, yet clearly the crowd were not interested as nobody was dancing in the downstairs area where performances were taking place, nor did anyone clap enthusiastically after each song performance. Then comedian Russell Kane followed with an extremely inappropriate stand-up act that had nobody laughing and again was greeted with muted applause. Things started to pick up with the energetic Hadouken, though – the Prodigy-like high octane band that Cubed3 interviewed last year because of their love of Street Fighter and propensity to contribute to various video game releases (the interview can be read here) – and a group of people started bouncing around, waving their fists in the air and shaking their heads around. With my last train back to Manchester being at 10:00pm, sadly I missed out on the performance from BRIT award winner Plan B and the 11:30pm start of DJ Yodas dance set that saw the event through to the 2:00am finish.
The beauty of attending a party where so many people are eager to play the Nintendo 3DS is that there were also plenty of celebrities, media moguls and heaps of regular Press Junkies such as myself, all with the Nintendo 3DS systems in tow, sat in StreetPass mode all ready and raring to go in terms of meeting new Mii characters a-plenty and exchanging Extra Data from games such as Asphalt 3D, Ridge Racer 3D and nintendogs + cats. For Ubisofts racing launch title I accrued plenty of money and a new vehicle decal from the five people that had Extra Data from that title on their SD card on the night, whilst Ridge Racer 3D told me that four StreetPass Duels had taken place, slotting 8,000 StreetPass bonus points into the game. As for nintendogs + cats, the resultant factor of StreetPass is that new breeds can come to meet your puppy for a wander around the local park. Sadly I had forgotten to save my Master League data from Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D to StreetPass mode, so missed out in that respect, but did get the chance to use my new Mii friends to access new image tiles in Mii Plaza: Puzzle Swap and take them into battle against ghostly apparitions in Mii Plaza: StreetPass Quest.
However, the night was filled with plenty of fun and frolics, great gaming moments, and chance encounters with the likes of David Yarnton (General Manager at Nintendo UK), Graham Appleby (Commercial Director at BSkyB), Rachael Grant (PR at Ubisoft UK), Sarah Head (former European PR Assistant at Nintendo, now Account Executive at Fever PR), and Leigh Francis (British comedian, best known for his roles as Avid Merrion in BoSelecta, and as Keith Lemon). Apparently I even blanked Jonathan Ross in my eagerness to finally meet the delectable Emily Wooliscroft of Nintendo UK, who has been helping the venerable Rob Saunders and highly industrious Lewis Digby over the past year, and was so patient in sorting out arrangements for Cubed3s 3DS review unit and the three launch titles, nintendogs + cats, Pilotwings Resort and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.
Ah, and I met Yoshinori Ono-san, Producer of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition and his interpreter. What a fine, friendly gentlemen Ono-san is! Of course I apologised for causing him any hassle with the Nintendo x Capcom story I wrote back in January, following his response to a question I asked him in Amsterdam. He laughed it off, though, saying the subsequent meeting with Satoru Iwata-san did not actually get him into any trouble and everything was okay.
Overall it was a fantastic night that sadly I was only able to experience for about two-and-a-half hours, but I certainly made good use of the time and am extremely thankful to Emily, Lewis, Rob and the Bell Pottinger team who made it all possible and kindly invited Cubed3 along for the ride.
Were any readers actually at the event via the Club Nintendo programme, or did you attend a midnight launch in general, or even catch any of the nights events recorded for broadcast on Sky 3D, Sky 1 and Sky 2?
