What is Game City?

Game City, now in its 8^th year, has expanded from a couple of dudes squatting behind a desk for a weekend to a full-blown, city-wide, week-long gaming expo.

This year, ditching the iconic if not cumbersome giant tent of yore, the daily collection of Market Square-based events will take place on two huge moveable screens.

No tent of yore

The week boasts of talent both local and from further afield, and will be showcasing numerous special guests from throughout the gaming industry, including Crytek (one of the UK’s biggest game developers and creator of the industry-shaping Crysis series) and countless others, big and small.

Ever enjoyed one of those goofy Lego games (Harry Potter, Batman et al)? Well, the developers Traveller’s Tales will be there to personally shake your hand. Maybe.

From Market Square to the Castle to the Royal Concert Hall and more, Game City marks a creative collaboration the likes of which you don’t often see. A hat-full of local businesses are involved, from Confetti to the city’s own council, and they will be running their own events throughout the week.

Something for everyone and not just the usual computer game geeks

The point here is: there’s a lot going on. From Q&As to demos to workshops and maybe even a song or two, it might be called ‘Game’ City but this week isn’t just for that pasty white-boy stereotype your grandmother clings to. It’s for everyone. Embrace the community love. (Full list of events here.)

Its launch event last Friday – an interactive digital fireworks display on the Market Square screens by a group known as PixelPyros – was cool in a fleeting sense. It was kind of like watching the old Windows Media Player song displays, except where there was once a laptop screen was now King Kong’s personal home cinema.

Digital fireworks- just like Windows Media Player

While it may have lacked in spectacle, it more than demonstrated the screen’s potential for mass-crowd entertainment. Just picture it for a second…4-player Mario Kart on a screen bigger than your student debt. (Disclaimer: there’s no guarantee that this’ll happen. And it probably won’t. Because dreams are for the weak and useless.)

So not only is Game City remarkable in its very existence, it offers a metric ton of great events. Stay tuned to the reviews section for lots of exciting news from the events throughout the week.