Insomnia 57 - The UK's biggest Gaming festival comes to Birmingham!

The NEC is certainly a spacious area, so if you're going to put the UK's biggest gaming festival anywhere, why not put it there? Spanning 3 days, Multiplay's Insomnia57 was packed with gaming, cosplay, tournaments and much more... definitely more than enough to keep you interested!

[breakout title="Joanne Kendrick" align="right"]Joanne Kendrick is a gaming blogger, and will cover news and reviews from the gaming world. She has written for the gaming websites Ready Up and Made2Game, as well as PlayGamer magazine. You can read more from her at Checkpoint Reached.[/breakout]

The pace was already set to super high as soon as I walked into the arena, with stalls full of themed goodies, from Harry Potter to Zelda, Star Wars to MineCraft. If there wasn't a stall bursting with memorabilia, there were old style sweet stalls, tuck shops, and places that you could get American style sweets such as Hershey's bars and Twinkies. Cosplay was in full effect too, and I spotted a few Batmen and Zeldas as I was walking around. Saturday bought you the Cosplay Masquerade, and Sunday the Cosplay Community Masquerade, and as with most Cosplay, the quality was very high. Exhibitors from huge name companies such as Activision, Sony and Microsoft had a presence there, and even BBC's Top Gear had a stand, where you could have a ride on the Top Gear Experience. Presented in full HD, you are put in the seat of some of the top super-cars going, such as the Bughatti Veyron or the R7500 Caterham. These cars, originally driven by The Stig, reach up to 253 MPH!

Also, amongst the hustle and bustle, there was a fine old retro stand with games systems I'd almost forgotten about, such as Mega Drives, Nintendos and the good old Dreamcast. Surrounding these were games that are over 30 years old, yet perfectly preserved and still in their cellophane... My copies of Sonic, Streets of Rage, and Golden Axe, wherever they may be (likely covered in dust, forgotten in a loft somewhere), definitely do not look like the ones I saw on display... These games went way back to the days of the Master System and handhelds such as the Game Boy, right up to the original Xbox.

Throughout the show, there were also onstage talks which were scheduled through the day. I got to see the Yogscast guys playing Move or Die onstage (https://youtu.be/U4qMr6w6xFk), and heard some advice from some prominent streamers from the Twitch community, giving some insight on how to make your mark in the world of online streaming, with advice on how to grow your channel and how to go about networking and such, to keep your stream up to date (https://youtu.be/ssJCrlw4dFQ). There were also different Q & A sessions going on and on the Saturday evening, a Bethesda sponsered Pub Quiz on the Insomnia stage. Truly, with all of this going on, as well as the gaming tournaments, the eSports stage, and the games booths, this event was definitely jam packed with things to do... No wonder they had a team of Mobile Massage masseuses near the entrance!

This was the 57th festival that Multiplay have held, the first one being held way back in 1999. Starting out as a PC gaming tournament event using nearly 300 PCs, classic games such as DOOM and the just released Quake II were played competitively, and it successfully grew year after year. Over the years it has gotten bigger and bigger until it became the three day mammoth that it is today (Keep an eye out for Insomnia 58 in August!). Now there are a lot more computers, and as well as England, the Insomnia Gaming Festival is also due to be held in both Ireland and Scotland. Amongst the PCs were the consoles. One of the games I got to get hands on with was an Xbox release called Quantum Break. Developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft, this game uses the same facial recognition technology as RockStar's LA Noire. You take the stage as Jack Joyce, and the story is one of time manipulation and time travel, with you having to master your powers as the end of time beckons. As well as mastering the techniques demonstrated, you have to make some hard hitting choices that have a huge effect on the game itself. You will also see some familiar faces, as the game uses a few well known actors such as Aiden Gillen and Lance Reddick. Quantum Break is due to be released on the 5th April and shows great promise based on what I played at Insomnia.

As a whole, Insomnia was a very enjoyable weekend, and I thoroughly recommend it. Gaming is categorised very different these days to what it used to be, and even if you don't play games in the 'traditional' sense, you are likely to have a mobile and use games/apps on there, and you probably know your way around the internet and know of or own YouTube/Twitch or other streaming channels. Games conventions such as these are open to more people nowadays, and as a family day out, would have something for everyone. Insomnia is looking to get bigger and better with every festival, so keep an eye out and look for the next one!