}2 GAMES MASTER LIVE!!}8 }1 If you're all sitting nicely with a pot of tea, I shall begin...... Friday 4th of December was the grand opening of Gamesmster LIVE!! at the Birmingham NEC. If you were lucky enough to have obtained a ticket to a some what enjoyable show, then I hope you had a tremendous time, as I jolly well did. }6 SO WHAT WAS THERE? }2 SEGA }1 Sonic the hegehog, yes he's back, but he did not come alone, this time he brought his cute little friend Tails along. Yes, SONIC THE HEGEHOG 2 graced the halls of the Birmingham N.E.C. Two big SONIC 2, double decker buses were parked neatly, side by side. If you do not own a Megadrive this was your chance to play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the first time }6(and the last because it's so easy to finish! - Hawk).}1 I thought Sonic 2 was quite a remarkable game, if a little on the easy side, so playable, this game is bound to sell a few megadrives amongst other things. }2 ELECTRONIC ARTS }1 Showed off ROAD RASH 2 on the Megadrive, this was set up as a challenge, for two player action, head to head fun. This stand was some what different from the others as while playing Road Rash 2 you were able to sit comfortable on a real motor bike, which I can truely say did not heighten the enjoyment of the game. }2 ACORN }1 Calling all parents.... indeed that was their slogan. As I glanced lonely as a cloud (and lonely is the key word) there lay the very sad 32 bit Acorn, how could they boycott the Acorn, your parents only bought the machine because the man on the stall told them this: Parents: so tell me about the new Acorn 32 bit. Salesman: Well Acorn computers are now found in nine out of 10 schools in the UK. Acorn also has a strong educational tradition, going back many years. (What tradition?????) Narrator: did you get pulled in by mendacity (lies): nine out of 10 schools, when you bought the machine and took it home to the family and friends you found out the your school is the 1% that does not have an Acorn system oooooo-well 400 pounds down the drain.. Parent: I knew I should of bought that Amiga 1200!!! }2 NINTENDO }1 Yes course they were there with the biggest hit on SUPER NINTENDO. STREET FIGHTER 2, was spread across a stunning and gigantic video wall and 48 monitor screen running the hottest titles from Nintendo. 18 seperate monitors were showing off, STREET FIGHTER 2 (2 PLAYER MODE) The video wall was left open to the challenges that were running every half an hour. I MICHAEL POOLMAN was lucky enough to have been chosen for a challenge with which I challenged a guy in a wheel chair, I knew I would beat him, because he was too full of himself, and when you get that feeling you're finished and indeed I got the feeling from my second challenger, this tramp. I can only describe as being one of the dirtiest people I have ever seen, beat me in the first fight, I won the second fight and he unpleasantly finished me off in the third. (It was great fun any how, as I was chosen amongst 400 hundred people, which in its self is a pleasure. }6 GAMES ON SHOW }1 If you did go to the show, you would of been able to play on the Super Nintendo the following games: Actraiser, The Addams Family, Another World, Blazing Skies, Castlevania 4, Final Fight, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda III, Lemmings, Paperboy 2, Pilot Wings, Probotector, Rival Turf, Robocop 3, Top Gear, Turtles in Time, Super Mario, Street Fighter 2, and many more titles . }2OCEAN}1 Ocean boasted the biggest video screen, so they say, (so they all say for that matter, but to me they all looked similar in size) Ocean had lots of giveaways, sickers and posters and games if you could answer questions about the WWF fighters, If you had answered most of the questions you could of won every ocean game and the hardware, but I do not think any one got that far. }2COMMODORE AMIGA}1 This for me was one of the best stands at the N.E.C. (Amiga forever) Commodore boasted about the A1200, and why not? Civilization graced the monitors and the enhanced version of Zool and Putty, which showed off the NEW A1200 colour and graphics abilities. Wing Commander also made an appearance, although I could not tell if it was an enhanced version of the Amiga A500. Commodore also showed off the CDTV, which showed some of the NEW and old titles that were developed recently. A sneak preview of Microcosm, which was not to bad: You could of tried out CDTV~S Karaoke (live!!) if you thought you would be the next MICHAEL JACKSON OR MADDONA. COMMODORE displayed Lemmings 2, those little chaps in blue with green hair, and it`s BRILLIANT: LEMMINGS 2 THE NEW TRIBE look out for it soon. Also on display was the Amiga 600 HD }1and 600. }2VIRTUAL REALITY & QUASAR}1 There was two Virtual Reality machines sitting quietly, surrounded by 300 noisey people waiting to enter the world of VR. I did not go on these machines, but I would liked to have. The only problem with the VR, was the waiting time: Some people had to wait a stunning 2 hours for one go. A few friends and I cued for Quasar for two minutes, only to be told that we would have to wait a further two hours and 10 minutes before we entered the Quasar dome, fuck that, and before you know it, I was flying to the next possible stand. }2GAMESMASTER LIVE!!!}1 There was four showings at different times of the show, where you could have been chosen by Dominik Diamond (whose he?) for a boring poorly presented challenge, but thank the GODS I only saw the second showing that lasted for a very small 15 minutes. (THAT WAS ENOUGH) Challenges taken place such as Sonic 2, Street Fighter 2, and Dynablasters: were once shown on Gamesmaster, already!!! (And yes the people who had taken a challenge apon them, were indeed very very crap. dare I say.... }2GAMESMASTER LIVE!!!}1 I enjoyed the show, and bought 50 blank disks for 14 pounds, When the voice from the intercom said "The show is now closed". Some thing deep inside my soul died. The truth was I did not want to leave, it was BRILLIANT, had I not lived so far away from the show, I would have bought a second ticket for the Sunday showing of GAMESMASTER LIVE. Because I own almost every machine under the sun, it was heaven, but for someone owning one machine they would not have been on a spiritual high unless they were taking some form of drug. 4 stars out of 5 truly amazing!! Written by... }3 MICHAEL POOLMAN}8 }1 To all those who write articles for Zicron, keep up the good work Message to Gears, I found your article about learning to drive most amusing and credit goes to whom wrote the dirty joke article we all loved it!...... }1 End.