NTSC-uk holds meetups every now and then. Usually they are at arcades in London and perhaps a Chinese for nosh afterwards. However, this time, members wanted something a little more adventurous. So like a fool, I volunteered my flat in Reading to be turned into a den of sick multiplayer iniquity. And so, the planning started. Ah, hold up. Better tell the wife! Not a problem, but best to check. She decided to vacate for the weekend, so everything was back on track. So, thanks to Lucy, for being her usual considerate self. The plan was for a midday Saturday to midday Sunday session to give people enough time to travel closer on the Friday night if necessary. Furthest to come was Mark (Rep - Forum nick in brackets) from Glasgow who stayed at Jez's (Brats) pad on the way down.

After ensuring that people were going to bring enough of each game / console / pad / memory card et al, and that people had some vague clue where my house was, I waited for the carnage to start. Early arrivals helped me set the house up and Adam (Adam Stone) made a banner to help people feel at home.

Trevor (Madbury) helped by bringing a whole load of equipment and injecting some humour into the proceedings with impeccable timing: "Damn, this corridor is narrow!" and then smacking his 28" widescreen TV into the doorframe. Not too much damage though and I barely had time to notice as the house started filling up with people. Thanks go to James for providing the taxi service all afternoon to and from the railway station. Astonishingly, every single person that committed to come, turned up. A sign of good things to come.

Three rooms in the house were constantly in use with five TVs and a seemingly endless array of consoles, games and peripherals. If anyone got a bit bored in one room, it was easy just to move to another and do something completely different. Everyone brought whatever kit they could. We were mainly looking for multiplayer games and also unusual or rare games / devices that people might not have seen before or get the chance to again. Indeed, this was one of the best things about the meet for me. When else will you ever be able to experience offline 16 player Halo? It was great being able to shout abuse at the opposite team and praise to team mates, rather than playing with and against faceless online people (look out for the Vectrex too).

Everyone seemed to have their own particular strengths. Kamaran (Kamaran) destroyed everyone's score in Halo and probably could have played a team all to himself.

Most people had never played Samba Di Amigo and it was extremely popular. An amazingly fun game and subsequently, bank accounts are sure to fall foul of its pricey charms. Adam (Edame) left his set with me after the meetup so that I can persuade Lucy that it's a great idea to spend £150 on a second hand game. Wish me luck.

A great variety of fighters were played, both 2D and 3D. Saurian (Saurian) showed up all-comers at Soul Calibur with his superb ability and specially altered DC stick.

Adrien (Sidez) remained unbeaten at a variety of StreetFighter games and no doubt everyone that played him improved to some degree. Adam (Edame) gave it his best shot, but Adrien always stayed relaxed against the opposition.

Other notable fighters were the polished Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, the 6 player Guardian Heroes, and Super Gem Fighter. Alex (ZeroRisk) brought his Tekki. Just assembling the thing took enough time and people relished the chance to try-before-they-buy.

Saturn Bomberman and Chu Chu rocket kept people going all night and are untouchable for pick up and play multiplayer fun. And for generating swearing.

Jez (Brats) showed off his Spice Gameboy Player and Matt (Mayhem) proudly displayed his Miyamoto signed copy of the Zelda bonus disc. If only people had forgotten to take their stuff home.

Saurian was the resident Psyvariar king. Well, actually more of a demon than a king. Gaming conventions banning psychics were clearly being broken. The whole house stopped and looked on in awe as the seemingly impossible took place. After that everyone was always going to look totally amateur.

The full list of games played is too enormous to detail, but the running theme through them all was the enthusiasm that was put in. Victory taunts and cheers rocked the building. Play went on through the night. Tom (DiscoTom) and Adam (Adam Stone) played Soul Calibur 2 for 4 hours straight and didn't bother sleeping. Others grabbed a couple of hours either in the spare room or back at Adrien's house and came back into the fray later on Sunday.

To a man, everyone kept to the agenda of enjoying themselves for a full 24 hours and I don't doubt that everyone would do it all over again. And that may well happen if I have anything to do with it. Looking forward to the next meetup already. A big thanks to everyone for making the effort. I'll let a picture finish off for me, because it perfectly represents the essence of the meetup.

Attendee's:

0Risk, Adam Stone, Brats, Camps, Charlesr, Disco-tom, Edame, Garibalid biscuit, Kamaran, Kempc23, Madbury, Marcus, Mayhem, MD, NickG, Rep, Saif, Saurian, Super Stu, Sidez