A go to to Silent Disco vs Retro Gaming aka #SEGASkyBar, Sunday thirtieth August 2015 offers a brand new expertise in gaming to Darren Browne aka on Twitter @kingmonkey25
As a fan of retro gaming I’m all the time looking out for something within the capital that takes my fancy and some weeks in the past I stumbled throughout a Bank Holiday ‘retrotainment’ occasion organised by a bunch referred to as REZtron. The occasion was being held at The Attic Bar on the forty eighth ground of Pan Peninsula in Canary Wharf, London, an space often related to finance and residential to the headquarters of many main banks comparable to Citigroup, Barclays and J.P. Morgan. The occasion description supplied beautiful 360 diploma views of London, a bunch of Sega consoles and Silent Disco so how might I not go?!
The occasion began at 8pm so the Sun was setting leaving an illuminated London evening sky while inside a mix of UV & neon lighting accomplished the atmosphere for the occasion. Myself and a pal arrived simply after 8pm and upon arrival had been issued with some Silent Disco headphones however my consideration had already been drawn to 2 big projections on the ceiling – one a 2-player split-screen sport of Sonic 2, the opposite being X-Men vs Street Fighter on the Dreamcast, a terrific use of area negating the necessity to have big plasma TVs in all places and was a terrific visible affect.
My pal went and ordered our cocktails on the bar while I sat all the way down to play on the Master System on our desk – an ample collection of video games had been accessible so I began with Wonderboy and as soon as my pal returned, 2-player Double Dragon – I have to admit I did not recall the sprite flicker being so dangerous when taking part in it in 2-player mode as a child although!
We completed our drinks and had a wander to see what else was on supply and rapidly discovered a Dreamcast operating The House Of The Dead 2 with mild gun controllers – offered! I’d’ve been fairly comfortable to remain on there for 30mins however after a number of video games we determined to let the others who had gathered round to have their flip and ventured again to the bar!
One factor that warrants its personal point out is Silent Disco – the headphones you might be given will be tuned to 1 of two totally different channels, every performs a special monitor and the headphones illuminate crimson or blue relying on which channel you choose and also you then get to go searching and see if others share your tastes or you possibly can simply merely decide them primarily based on figuring out the monitor they’re having fun with a bit an excessive amount of! It’s good for such an occasion because it means the online game music is not drowned out and you may as well maintain conversations with folks with out having to shout or go exterior maintaining it sociable. My private spotlight was watching everybody silent head-banging to GNR’s traditional Paradise City!
My pal and I made a decision to take a break from the video games, recognize our Silent Disco ‘telephones slightly extra and benefit from the easy leisure that comes from watching strangers dancing and singing out loud in a comparatively quiet bar! It was a terrific expertise to have the ability to play these video games in a extra social manner than I did once I performed them the primary time round and I believe there have been a lot of folks experiencing a number of the video games and older techniques for the primary time – a improbable technique to maintain the reminiscence of Sega’s best years alive!
Basically in the event you love Sega and reside in London it’s a must to expertise one in every of these occasions!
You can discover out extra about future occasions by following REZtron through social media: www.reztron.co.uk FB: REZtron or Twitter @theREZtron
Whilst on the occasion I managed to talk to the Creative Director of REZtron, Logan Gunasingham, who was sort sufficient to take a while out to reply a number of questions:
1) When was Reztron based and who makes up the group?
REZtron was based in June 2013. We’re Graham, Logan and Tony with pictures from Krij & Kaj who work collectively to place out the retrotainment.
2) What made you consider doing such occasions?
Purely got here out of the truth that SEGA hasn’t been within the console race for practically 15 years so we wished to offer some 80s/90s SEGA nostalgia to the individuals who grew up with these pioneering consoles as a type of ‘retrotainment’ ,i.e a social out of residence expertise inside a bar/membership setting. The different intention was to load some pleasure again into the London nightlife…
3) Where have the Reztron occasions been in London up to now?
We work on a pop-up foundation and have venues in Shoreditch (the place we began out!), Clapham, Mayfair and Canary Wharf the place we placed on common (and particular!) occasions. Each venue has one thing extraordinary about them and has been rigorously chosen to swimsuit our model and our retrotainment. We not too long ago began mixing Retrogaming with Silent Disco which permits our company to pick out the assorted genres of music all through the evening whether or not it is 80s, 90s and even gaming soundtracks.
We do these as particular weekend occasions at venues such because the Sunborn Super Yacht and The Attic, London’s highest DJ bar. On high of public occasions we’ve additionally hosted many company/personal occasions for the likes of Sports Interactive (SEGA), Vype Social, Natural Motion Games and now have partnered up with some thrilling initiatives comparable to BIMA Awards, curating on the Art of Gaming exhibition with Space Studio, Hyper Japan and Sub Audio Festival (UK’s first ever devoted Silent Disco Festival)
4) Are you planning on doing something with Nintendo {hardware} sooner or later?
We would by no means rule it out however SEGA appears to have that intercourse attraction with our ‘retro futuristic’ environment so it really works rather well as a type of nightly retrotainment.
Event overview by Darren Browne aka on Twitter @kingmonkey25
