Gamers are being encouraged to raid their lofts and cupboards for old-school consoles for a forthcoming Dundee anime convention.
Around 2000 fans, many dressed in costumes attended last year’s DEE-CON, the largest convention of its kind in Scotland.
This year’s event will see an entire floor of Dundee University Students Association turned over to video games but, in order to fulfil their ambitions, the organisers need help from gaming enthusiasts.
“Our plan is having consoles ranging from 1983 to 2013,” explained Adam Hackers. “We’d love to hear from anyone who would be willing to lend their game console and a few games to be set up on our gaming floor and would make sure they’d be returned quickly.
“We plan to set up tournaments on classic and modern games on different machines so would encourage anyone who can to lend us either an NES, Megadrive, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 4, or Xbox One and take part in the fun.”
This year’s DEE-CON takes place on Saturday April 5 and includes film screenings, board and video game tournaments, stalls and exhibitions.deecon2k14.blogspot.co.uk/ www.facebook.com/DeeCon2k14 twitter.com/DeeCon2014The free event will also feature talks from guest speakers from the animation, games, comic and anime industry as well as other specialists and enthusiasts. The list includes games industry veterans Peter Greeves and Phil Harris, freelance illustrator, animator and director Bianca Ansems, BAFTA-nominated director Jamie Stone, and Zoe Burgess, a Cosplay fanatic and freelance writer.
Another new feature for 2014 is the opportunity for school pupils and other keen artists to have their portfolio reviewed by leading figures in the animation and comics industries to help them develop their ideas and skills.
Cosplaying, a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes that represent a specific character, usually from fiction, or idea, will be taking place, while professional photographers will be on hand to capture everyone in their costumes.
As well as screenings of anime films and shorts throughout the day, features will include a reel of previous animation graduate films and a preview reel of 2014 graduate film clips. The convention will feature an Artist’s Alley where up and coming anime/fan art/comic artists and illustrators can sell their work, promote their businesses and make contacts.
The event will be rounded off with the now-traditional after party, with DJs Momoka and Nanashi battling it out for supremacy of the DUSA dancefloor.
Anyone who can help the organisers out by donating a console and/or games should email deecon2k14@gmail.com.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user nickstone333.