Game On! report

Hi all, MrPigeon here. Ferris has kindly let me return to his blog because I wanted to point out a wonderful exhibition I recently visited at the Brisbane State Library called Game On!

Hailing originally from London and now in its first showing in Australia, the exhibit is a gloriously detailed history of videogames, from the very first games developed on machines bigger than Yo Momma, to the latest masterpieces on consoles like the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. No stone is left unturned.. even the humble game-and-watch gets its moment in the sun, and consoles which never even saw the light of day in Australia (such as the PC Engine) are on display.

Arriving at the first floor of the exhibition is a jaw-dropping sight. Legendary arcade titles (think Pacman, Donkey Kong, Gradius, Space Invaders, Centipede..) are all present, in their original cabinets, with controls and artwork intact. Even more recent arcade games, such as Virtua Fighter and the Neo Geo multi-game systems, are all present. There's an entire table full of every handheld you can think of, from the earliest game-and-watch titles to the Nintendo DS and PSP. And every console is also on display, each with one of the bigger titles loaded up. I almost fainted when I saw an Atari Jaguar running Tempest 2000, one of my favorite games ever.

The best part is.. everything's on free-play. You can wander up to any of the arcade games or consoles and have a bash. Every game featured that has a two-player mode even has two controllers set up. I became quite proud when I saw that my Ms Pacman high score remained unbeaten when I checked again laqter in the day.

Then you head upstairs, and it's time to prepare for another jaw-dropping moment. The upper floor is absolutely enormous, chock-full of free-to-play TV consoles featuring all the legendary and most influential titles throughout gaming history. There had to have been at least 70 or more wall terminals with games. An Amiga running Monkey Island, a PC running the old Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy text adventure (complete with old-school early-90s keyboard.. no Windows key here!).. a Dreamcast running Rez, a Playstation running the Japanese Katamari Damacy.. an Atari 2600 running Adventure, a Wii running Wii Sports. Ferris would be in heaven, because there was even a wall dedicated to the heroes of the Commodore 64 music scene, with headphones that allowed you to listen to classics by Ben Daglish and Anthony Lees, amongst others.

It wasn't all just playable games, though.. there were exhibits that described the development of some of the more influential titles. My personal favourite was the display of the actual design documents, play flow diagrams and internal emails regarding the development of the nightclub level in Max Payne. Even the clothes that were digitized to become Max's costume were on display. A similar design display for GTA3 was also very impressive.

I spent the whole day at the exhibit, and could've easily spent several more. If you are anywhere remotely near Brisbane between now and February 15.. GO VISIT. This is absolute gamer nirvana and probably the best thing I've ever spent $18 on. Wonderful!