Another year, another PLAY Expo! This year the event returned to Manchester at the new venue of Manchester Central and Mike, Neil and Tom were there to experience the show, for those not clued up on the event, here’s the blurb from their website:

‘The UK’s favourite arcade, indie and retro games show will return in 2019! Close to 1000 consoles, handhelds, computers, arcades, pinballs and PC's all running the very best in classic and modern video games and all free to play!

Organised by experienced video game events specialists Replay Events the show will be full with features, exhibitors and more gaming mayhem than Manchester has ever seen.

Jam packed with everything you love about gaming and popular culture, the show has something for everyone.

PLAY Expo Manchester - Modern Gaming, Indie, Retro, Arcade, Pinball, Minecraft, VR, LAN, Guests, Merchandise, Cosplay, Tournaments, Education, Communities, Tabletop Gaming, Photo Shoots and More!’

The event felt somewhat different from previous years, largely down to the location, Manchester Central has a very different feel from Manchester’s Event City where it’s been held previously. Our feelings were that things were perhaps spaced out a bit more to make up for a slightly smaller scale event, however saying that there was still plenty to enjoy. Especially if you want to actually play games at the event, there was a plethora of consoles to sample, even some older rarer examples as well as the modern consoles and the previous generation of systems.

Check out our event overview video to see exactly what was on offer:

We took to the Games Market on arrival, where plenty of vendors were in attendence selling their wares, check out the video below to see what Tom picked up at the event:

Of course it wouldn’t be a Blast Process outing without a visit to the Indie section where Neil got the chance to sit down and chat with a games developer who's been working in the industry for a fair few years now...Kev Brady.

Currently he's single-handedly converting the PC game Melkhior's Mansion, developed by Richard Jordan with graphics by Craig Stevenson and Music by Alberto Gonzalez to the ZX Spectrum Next, an exciting piece of kit in itself.

Kev gave us a great insight into his process in this interview and we'd like to thank him for taking the time to talk to us, I think you'll agree, a top bloke all round.

Check out our interview with Kev below:

If you're interested in reading Kev's development blog you can check it out at the link below:

https://specnext.dev/blog/author/kevb/

And with that, the team waved Manchester Central goodbye and headed back home. We had a great time and can certainly recommend PLAY Expo to anyone with an interest in gaming, especially those who enjoy the Retro side of things.

Thanks again to REPLAY Events for putting on another fantastic show and we’re already looking forward to the next time we get to experience another, wherever that may be!

You can read more about the Manchester event at the link below and keep your eyes peeled for more REPLAY Events coming to a location near you soon!

https://www.playexpomanchester.com/