Southampton Game Fest 2016 Show Report

Sunday 22nd May saw the second annual Southampton Game Fest, a celebration of all things gaming held in aid of Southampton Hospital Charity. Held at the maritime city's Grand Harbour Hotel and in the shadow of the world's largest cruise liner (no, really - the thing was docked literally across the road from the hotel's main entrance), Game Fest brought a taste of gaming and geek culture to the historic home of the RMS Titanic.

Harmony of the Seas. This picture doesn't convey the sheer size of the vessel.

The Dreamcast Junkyard was there in collaboration with RetroCollect and brought a decidedly old-skool theme to proceedings, decking out the entrance to the event with a number of retro systems. Megadrives, Neo-Geos, Nintendo 64s, PlayStation 2s, Saturns and - of course - Dreamcasts were all laid out for the general public to experience. The event was a total success and raised hundreds of pounds for the charitable cause it was held to support; and there were plenty of non-retro attractions too. A FIFA 16 tournament, a Bomberman tournament held by Games You Loved (from which I was eliminated in the semi final by a 10 year old!), a cosplay masquerade, traders selling all kinds of gaming paraphernalia and a whole host of indie developers showing off their new projects were just some of the things punters could take advantage of.

We didn't have a full roster of Dreamcast consoles like usual, just because of the limited number of screens and other consoles we had to accommodate, but we did have the Sega Sports black system and a standard Japanese console complete with VGA monitor. Games enjoyed by the public included Guilty Gear X, Ready 2 Rumble, The King Of Fighters 2001, Rez and Virtua Tennis.

One of the best things about this event on a personal level was the sheer number of people I met who were aware of the Junkyard. Several guys I met told me they were fans of the DreamPod, and more still said they'd been reading the blog for years - that was a very humbling experience. I also had the pleasure of meeting RJAY63, curator of the excellent MSR Blog; presenter of the Nintendo Podcast System Jack Gawn; the owner of the Dreamcast first aid kit; and DCJY readers Lee Stevenson and Jamie Russell.

Overall, it was a great day and while not on the same scale as events like Play Manchester or EGX, it was a very relaxed and enjoyable expo with lots of appreciation for the Dreamcast games on show. Not only that, it was all held for a good cause. Well done to Jedi Master Patrick Ewan Chi-Pa Amshe Day-Childs for organising a successful event. He is actually a Jedi, by the way.

Below you'll find assorted images from the event, and we hope everyone who attended had as much fun as we did!