Once again it is the time of year where the ATLAS Team pack an overnight bag and head to Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC) to indulge in the festival we all know and love that is the Insomnia Gaming Festival.
The latest addition to the Insonnia was Insomnia59, held at the NEC in Birmingham December 9th till December 11th. Our Press and Media team attended the Saturday and Sunday of the event, from start right through to the finish - and once again, we fell in love with Insomnia (not that we ever stopped, we love Multiplay and the events they throw).
What is the Insomnia Gaming Festival?
Founded in 1999, for over 14 years the Insomnia Gaming Festival has been a place for gamers of all backgrounds to gather and have videogame-related fun. Insomnia is a unique gaming event combining LAN Gaming Halls, a huge Exhibition Hall, Special Guests doing cool interactive content, large-scale Esports Tournaments, and a whole host of fun activities tailored to gamers of all ages.
Insomnia59: The Expo Hall
Now the Exhibitor (Expo) Hall is a part of Insomnia I take very keen interest in. Purely because it's the place where I find new games and technology that I like. I normally end up buying a lot of game merchandise from the Exhibitor Hall, but let's not get into that right now.
I have to say that I did find the Exhibitor Hall smaller than usual, normally I can send a good hour or two walking around the hall before I have found everything - but this time it seemed to take hardly any time what so ever and I already knew where everything was. That however is not to say that I didn't like the Expo Hall and its contents, because I did and I met quite a few new Companies, Game Studios and general people while I was in the Exhibitor Hall so I can't complain.
The Exhibitor Hall had an interest twist to it that I did not take enough notice to before, I found that there was a section of the Hall that had a giant Green Octopus in the centre of it where you could find Indie Developer Game Studios. I had noticed the giant Green Octopus Tentacles before at Insomnia58, however none of us really understood what it was for and got quite scared by the idea of going to see what it was.
Insomnia59: The Main Stage
I wrote about The Main Stage in our previous Event Coverage for Insomnia58 and I can't say that much has changed in my opinion. I can say that the Main Stage had an entire Hall Dedicated to it again which meant that we all got a seat to watch the show.
The Hall was organised amazingly, the seating preparations were great and I couldn't fault the Main Stage or the Main Hall to be honest. They were both amazing.
Insomnia59: The Press Room
Now I spend a lot of my time in the Press Room with the ATLAS Team and some of our Business Associates / Friends. I have to say, I wasn't overly impressed with the room we had been given this time around. I found that it was quite small and if there were big teams in there working together, conducting interviews or generally working together on their projects - it would be a tight squeeze.
We did however make it work, and if you were lucky enough to see our Livestream to our Hitbox and Twitter Accounts, we had a really good time in there. You can check them out on Hitbox and on our Team Members Periscope Account.
ATLAS Meet Coatsink
Now I won't go into this a lot, as my colleague Ryan Wild will be going into this in more detail in his own article that will cover the two games that we were invited to play - Shu and Esper.
About Coatsink
Coatsink is a passionate and talented games development team working on games for PC, VR, console and mobile. Since Tom Beardsmore and Paul Crabb established Coatsink in 2009-10, the company has grown into a recognised face in the developer community, growing VR industry, and applications market. Currently, we’re working on some original projects for release on PC, Oculus Rift/Samsung Gear VR, and console.
Coatsink have worked on projects like the extremely successful party game Gang Beats as well as their own games such as their current VR Game Esper 2, part of the Esper Collection.
Read more about Coatsink and their games over at their Website here.
About Shu
Shu is a beautiful and engrossing platformer that we’re bringing to PC and consoles with our friends at Secret Lunch. Control Shu and a colourful trail of hand-drawn characters as they run, jump and glide their way up an ancient mountain, forever pursued by a monstrous and unrelenting storm.
Shu is a stylish 2.5D platformer set in a beautiful and engrossing world. Guide Shu and a cast of beautifully hand-drawn characters as they run, jump and glide their way across exotic lands, forever pursued by the monstrous and unrelenting Storm. Can you outrun the end of the world?
Read more about Shu at Coatsink's Website here.
About Esper
Reprising your role from the original Esper game, you will become an agent of the enigmatic ESPR organisation. ESPR was set up to deal with the outbreak of telekinetic abilities among ‘special’ citizens and consequences of the event. You’ll venture to exotic locations, including the outer reaches of your mind, as you attempt to thwart a villain’s quest to obtain a mysterious artefact. Esper 2 is a direct sequel to Esper. Esper was a launch title for the Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus and has also been announced for the Oculus Rift. Make your way through ancient temples, government buildings, underwater bases and more, as you use your powers to solve puzzles and uncover secrets.
Esper 2 features an all-star cast. Eric Meyers, the voice of Geoff in the original, makes his return. Joining him are the fantastic trio of Nick Frost, Lara Pulver and Sean Pertwee.
Read more about Esper 2 at Coatsink's Website here.