PLAYexpo Manchester 2015

Last weekend the husband and I went the PLAYexpo Manchester with some friends from church. We borrowed a friend's wheelchair as I wouldn't have been able to last more than an hour on my feet at an expo like that. I'm so glad we went as we had an amazing time!

There was a LOT to do, something I'm not really used to from attending MCM Expos. Not only did they have all the latest big name game releases, they also had lots of Indie game designers (I thoroughly enjoyed Unboxed, the Box simulator!) and more than half the hall was taken up with retro games. You name a console, you name an arcade machine, they had it. The selection of games on show to play was excellent, and I could easily have spent the day moving from table to table reliving childhood memories.

They also had a huge display of pinball machines, at least one of which had an open glass side so you could see the mechanisms inside. From my vantage point in the wheelchair I could actually see the sparks flying between switches as the machine was played with, it was awesome.

We, of course, went in cosplay, as Emmet and Wild Style from the Lego Movie (on the grounds that we've totally played the game of that film, and it was a good game!). I didn't make the tracksuit or the construction clothes, as all were cheap to buy, and my husband already had the blue shirt. I did however paint the tracksuit, style the wigs, and add all the detail to the Emmet costume. I loved the cosplay masquerade, and was pleasantly surprised by the very high standard of costuming!

If you want to see more about how I made the Emmet costume, you can check out my youtube channel here. Were you at PLAYexpo? What was your favourite part?

Cross Stitch Gaming Sprites

I was recently given a cross stitch magazine by a visitor. I hadn't cross stitched since I was little (I made an egg cozy with a chick on it in Brownies!), but I tried out a simple design with my free gift, and made these adorable sweeties.

My husband was fascinated with how simply and quickly the designs came together. "They look like pixels" declared his inner computer geek. "Can I have a go?"

He took a few hours over this Pokemon sprite, and we both thought it looked brilliant. I've seen Hamma Bead sprites before, but hadn't thought to interpret sprites into cross stitch. Being big fans of retro games, we both got stitching. Next, he made my favourite characters from Final Fantasy VI.

I've since made Chrono from Chrono Trigger and Mog from Final Fantasy 6. I think these look great! And they'll be a great way to customise a gift for a retro gamer. Sprites are small, and so the designs only take a couple of hours at most to complete, so they're a brilliant quick project. Does anyone else do this? I'd love to see any other cross stitched sprites!