GameCity Three

Oct 30th - Nov 1st
Three day pass £50, single day pass £20, some stuff free.
Like the third colossus slamming its massive stone mace into the ground, GameCity arrives back in Nottingham with a bang. Cannilly tied in with international dress-up-like-a-monster night, you could liken it to more of an 'it's alive!', with the content crammed into the three days ranging from the corporate to the musical to the bizarre, making a patchwork Frankenstein's monster of a festival. Of course, this is its draw, and part of its experiment – to discover what a video game festival can be.
Requiring an all day pass for most of the events, GameCity errs on the side of insular but while the 'game geeks' have plenty to be happy with there are also freebies going on around the city to attract the unsuspecting gamer and joe public. So what exactly is going on?
Thursday sees Sony's Eye Toy team showing their new work with the under used PS3 Eye, David Braben (the man behind the seminal Elite and the lovely Lost Winds) spills some magic beans on game design and Splash Damage tell us how they made the transition from mod makers to creators of the sci-fi Battlefield-a-like Quake Wars.
There's also the world premier of Amanita Design's new game Machinarium, a beautifully hand drawn gem continuing in the same fashion of their Samorost. David Jaffe (God of War) is also on hand via live webcast or you could just head down to Market Square all afternoon for a Sports Day that includes a world record attempt, big screen gaming and most likely Wii Sports with lots of embarrassing flailing.
Once the evening draws in, One Life Left bring their excellent and vaguely video games related radio show to Nottingham. Unfortunately they aren't attempting to break the world record for longest radio show as originally planned, although considering they can barely hold it together for an hour, perhaps that's a blessing in disguise.
Halloween hits Friday and GameCity respond in kind. As the undead march upon Market Square, Martin Hollis and David Doak talk about their platform defining Golden Eye, Harmonix recount how they revolutionised the music industry through Guitar Hero and Rock Band, (hopefully through a mix of karaoke and powerpoint), and Stephen Cakebread goes all neon wireframe on us, charting the evolution of twitch shooter Geometry Wars.
Back on the ghost train, a magician demonstrates how video games charm us, cyberpsychologists discuss the portrayal of evil in videogames (growing horns and kicking your dog), while Oddworld's Lorne Lanning hot desks some questions and Traveller's Tales (Lego games) return fresh from Gotham City.
With Market Square's eaterys best advised to serve all manner of brain based hors d' oeuvre, a world record attempt (i detect a theme) is also going down, involving 1000 zombies and some Micheal Jackson inspired dancing. Make-up artists will also be on hand if you're sans costume or uninfected, while dancers can help you if you've lost your groove, or aren't trapped in the 1980's.
The zombie-geddon leads up to an evening of music supplied by the ghoullishly good Jonathan Coulton (he behind the 'Still Alive' Portal song) and Harmonix. There's also the amusing prospect of a Resident Evil speed-run-tag-team-marathon and a 'rather special live gaming event', whatever that may be – a Left 4 Dead preview would be quite fitting methinks.
Easing you into your Saturday hangover and new found hunger for cerebral snacking, Brian Baglow takes you back into the top-down past of GTA while Media Molecule deliver their BAFTA keynote on making the charmingly genius Little Big Planet. Considering its reviews and the DIY nature of the game, expect the most entertainment a keynote should legally be allowed to give.
There's also the launch of the 'Save The Videogame' campaign (part of the new National Video Game archive), and if that sounds like too much cataloguing, Tom Armitage will be sharing curry with anyone interested in how things will look when gamers rule the world, followed up an evening of fun in the shape of the Guardian Gamesblog's Pub Quiz and some Commodore 64 style music provided by Press Play On Tape and Powerplay.
Throughout Saturday, Market Square is host to record breaking of a virtual type via Guiness Book of Records: The Videogame (in further news: a snake eats its tail and a grandfather finds his paradox). Virtual records will be broken and prizes will be given. If score chasing isn't your thing then you can head over to Waterstone's gallery where industry insiders are fielding questions on how to start a career in gaming, and how you can make the next blockbusting genre definer, or shovelware pap.
If nothing throughout those three days tickles your mouse finger then there's always the indiecade at Malt Cross, an arcade full of home-made treats, running throughout the festival. Last year saw it demoing the Xbox Live Arcade smash hit Braid, who knows what indie treats may lie in store next week.