i29 Multiplay Computer Convention

For those who have never been to one before, i29 (I for Intel, the main sponsors, and this being the 29th convention) was yet another successful Multiplay computer convention.

But when I say computer convention, I want you to understand that his was not a large group of solely male teenage nerds meeting up in their chequered shirts and brown corduroys, all drinking Dr Pepper and arguing over who has the fastest motherboard.

This was a semi-organised hoard of several hundred computer gamers, geeks, salesman and spouses / other halves, ranging from ages 12 to 60 and from every social spectrum you care to name.

There were a few stalls selling the latest gadgets and boards for those with more money than sense, but these were not being run by bored techno-geeks who would bamboozle you with jargon, oh no … these were run by two very fine and very busty babes wearing nothing more than makeup, a white crop top and the tightest pair of hot pants sold on the planet.

For entertainment there were the life size tank and armoured jeep displays to advertise Battlefield 2142, a supped-up Toyota sports car to display Need For Speed, a four way dance-mat competition, plus karaoke, guitar legends 2, pub quiz, drinking boat race and a raffle with over 100 prizes (one free ticket with every entrance ticket) who's top prize was a brand new laptop.

And not to mention a couple of sex young babes walking about wearing white crop tops and hot pants … oh I’ve mentioned them already, silly me.

Spread over the three main floors of Newbury Racecourses main building and spilling over into the Tote betting bar, there was always somewhere to get booze. For those who liked hot food there was a choice of fast food meat wagons set up for the masses, or for those who felt like being REALLY lazy, you could always order a Dominoes Pizza from the on-site van and have it delivered right to your computer station!

The fact that the sleeping accommodation was a bring-your-own-tent kind of affair, this did nothing to dampen the spirits of those who turned up. Thankfully I was with my good friends Rob & Natalie who being old hacks at these events came with a tent the size of a small bungalow and enough sleeping gear to bury a family of polar bears. Which was a good idea as the temperature did indeed drop below zero on the first night we were there.

For more details on the actual event, and for photos, you can always go to the link below which is from the Multiplay official website.

Multiplay

For me, it was a great experience that I am very glad I participated in, and having seen it from a few sides now, firmly believe that at any large event such as this, you get as much out as you are prepared to put into it, and those who turn up and think they are above all the high jinks and drunken merriment will only be short changing themselves.

I must admit that due to the fact I am not a big drinker, and was already short of sleep, meant that I no doubt missed out of a lot of hours of happy drunken socialising.

For me there were many moments that I hope to never forget, but here are a few of the ones I really want to share.

Helping my friends put up a large tent in the dark and the pouring rain. I don’t know what it is, but to know that we were all pulling as a team to get the tent up and get dry quicker, brought us that tiny bit closer together.

Realising that Rob had not had time to check his computer before we left and once we did get there he found out that it needed a bit of minor computer surgery to get it to come back to life.

Watching the stack-a-pig contestants try to build the tallest tower of pink you pigs.

Watching my friend Natalie become the first person to officially propose marriage to her fiancé Rob live on air, whilst at a computer convention – right before the start of the pub quiz.

Having come second in the pub quiz and then gone on stage to collect a cup full of coins as the prize, to then without discussing it out loud, to all as one suddenly chase our quiz team leader around the sage with calls of “mine, mine, mine”, paying homage to the seagulls from the animated hit movie Finding Nemo.

After witnessing the ease at which some people got mega high scores on both ‘guitar legends 2’ and the dance mat game, all sitting in a group getting steadily drunk wondering how hard it would be to design a three in one game that required dance mat coordination, guitar strumming ability and a songster karaoke performance.

All deciding that we could suffer no more pizza for awhile, so instead got a large group together and made up an order for the local Chinese takeaway that ran into multiple pages.

Witnessing the final of the Quake 4 tournament where the number 2 seed got his ass handed to him on a plate royally by the number 1 seed, with a victory points margin that was more like a cricket score than a football match.

And last, but not least, the fact that everyone went around calling each other by their online user names, which was surprisingly not confusing at all, though slightly amusing to me as the convention was being run by a guy called Whizzo, whose brother RedEye was a joint commentator / announcer with yet another guy who called himself TosspoT.

Oh, and although I myself found it slightly annoying after the first few hours, almost everyone else had purchased or borrowed a large inflatable hammer and found it hysterical to have hammer fights anywhere, with anyone and for any reason.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable, if slightly cold and expensive, weekend where you could have just as much fun in the bar chatting with friends as you could have at your computer station shooting the hell out of other fellow gamers.