When you think of a games event, places like LA, Tokyo and Leipzig instantly come to mind. They’re the places to go for a good games show. Yet videogame culture festival GameCity Squared proves that Nottingham has the power to be up there with the big names.

GameCity Squared took place over the last week in October and provided a unique and refreshing games event. Its philosophy is to showcase the achievements of the industry in a manner that’s not just playing games. ‘People can play games at home, that’s not what GameCity is about. We’re getting things that we find interesting and showing them to other gamers and we hope they’ll find them interesting too’ explained Iain Simons, director of the festival.

So what consists of interesting? How about an entire day of talks dedicated to showing how games can be used for medical breakthrough, demonstrating technology such as the Wii Glove; developed from Nintendo’s motion tech by professors at Nottingham Trent University to help rehabilitate stroke victims. And such seminars marked only the start of the week. They were followed by a celebration of ZX Spectrum space-trading game Elite’s 25th anniversary with a display of incredible origami spaceships filling a gigantic tent that dominated Nottingham’s Old Market Square.

Origami spaceships designed by Mark Bolitho and based on deisgns from Elite hung in the main tent

Iain Simons' vision was to have this tent change numerous times through the festival, and mid-week the tent became home to Crysis: Live, a recreation of the famous PC game where players got to don the nanosuit of the game’s protagonist Nomad and attempt to steal a laptop from under the noses of a squad of armed guards. The live game was created by Rob Yescombe, Narrative Designer for Crytek UK, who was eager for the festival and his game to inspire the creative types who attended. ‘The games industry to a large degree grew out of the bedrooms of the Midlands, and so a lot of that talent is here so being here we can tap into and make good with it’ he explained. Yescombe went on to top his efforts with Crysis: Live at the end of the week with Left 4 Dead: Live, where he had players sent into a dark office complex armed with only their guts and a torch to face off a horde of blood-thirsty zombies. ‘Last year we made six people cry with fear’ he grinned.

Festival Director Iain Simons inspects the Crysis: Live arena

The end of the week was marked with a BAFTA Key-note speech by Masaya Matsuura – the godfather of music games and creator of Vib Ribbon and Parappa the Rapper – where he demonstrated his new iPhone games WINtA which will be released non-profit as part of the OneBigGame scheme.

Matsuura and ex-Edge editor Margaret Robertson play the kazoo

The big music theme was also echoed in BRICKSTOCK, where the tent was transformed into a Glastonbury-esq music festival where friends could play LEGO: Rock Band on stage in front of mass audiences. Bands playing were the best of those who had played at BRICK FACTOR in HMV all week.

BRICKSTOCK at GameCity Squared 2009

Running alongside these events was Projector Games; a thrilling mass-multiplayer arcade which drew in players of all ages. The IndieCade demonstrated the latest works of many independent developers and workshops by Sabrepulse taught audiences how to make music using GameBoy chipsets.

The IndieCade - showcasing the best of independant game design

The beauty of GameCity was not in it’s announcements of any big new titles or the presence of gaming celebrities, but of the fresh ideas and endearing passion that was evident every day. A celebration of culture and welcoming to all, GameCity demonstrates how a gaming shindig should really be done.

Images courtesy of GameCity Squared