London MCM Expo, October 2009

With the honour of opening the London Games Festival this year, the MCM expo blitzed attendance records yet again by hosting a number of over 38,000 visitors throughout the weekend, a staggering 11,000 alone who appeared within the first hour of opening. The scene was set for yet another spectacular showcasing of well loved favourites as well as the latest in movies, games, television shows, anime and comics, proving exactly why people continue to flock to the MCM every year. So let’s check out the events of the day and what this Angel’s highlights of the weekend was.

This October’s special guests included the legendary Ronny Cox, famous for his roles in Robo Cop, Total Recall and Stargate; True Blood’s Nelson Ellis, the cast of Warehouse 13 as well as the leading ladies from the BBC’s Merlin. The panels were diverse and interesting. Ronny Cox and his band entertained the crowd with music from his new album and Nelson raised the audience’s temperatures with tales from the hit show True Blood. Seats were packed for Warehouse 13 and the ladies’ reception for Merlin was as electric as last year.

But as always, we were spoilt for choice; a chance to meet and talk to the amazing guests being just the top of the list.

With gaming exclusive previews from the likes of Ubisoft and James Cameron’s Avatar on a 3-D television wowing spectators, as well as playable demos of the amazing new Nameco’s Tekken 6, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2, SEGA’s Bayonetta – from creators Devil May Cry – and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Tri, Gamers were well looked after. The gamestands were packed, the queues to check out playable demos often long but the atmosphere and vibe so friendly and fun that no one minded. Plus, with the massive range of cosplayers showcasing their spectacular costumes, there was no threat of boredom.

Universal Pictures’ statement of the MCM being “The biggest and most interactive show of the year” could not be more true and as you check out the following highlights and pictures from the event, I am sure you’ll agree!

Angel Highlights:

Interviewing Ronny Cox at a roundtable:

Ronny’s first passion has always been music, he told us and his panel was proof of this. Treated to a concert of country and western music at his panel, we fell in love. In our round table interview we got to ask Ronny:

GA: Throughout your entire careeer so far, which character has been most enjoyable for you to play?

RC: I can name two. I loved being in Bound for Glory, I loved the folk music and Hal Ashby, for my money, was the great American Director for that period of time. Working with him was great. The next one will be a surprise for you – I absolutely adored playing the Chief of Police in Cop Rock…it was 10 years ahead of its time, I have never had so much fun. It was a glorious failure, we were guaranteed 13 shows and we got to 11 shows and they said – we’ll pay you not to turn up. But I have never had so much fun on a shoot, ever. I went to work every day, whether I was called in or not.

Avatar playable demo:

Playing on a similar vein to Halo, the FPS format worked brilliantly well with the theme of Avatar. Stunning lush, jungle backdrops with multiple arenas, including negotiating through a hover level, navigating dangerously beautifully rendered stone columns and snaking the machine inbetween slim passages kept our cameraman Rhodri hooked for hours on end. With the demo presented on a 3-D television as well, the overall image and feel of Avatar is that it’s a smooth, beautiful and challenging game. We’re looking forward to experience the full thing when the game comes to launch at the end of the year.

Photographic evidence:

Ronny Cox and Co.’s awesome concert.