#9: Fringe Gaming
Hello dear readers,
Firstly, a massive thank you to those who came along to our show at the Royal Institution this week. It meant the world to me and “King” Rob Sedgebeer to have a full house for the premiere of Wifi Wars v1.0 at such a prestigious venue, and your kind words (and tweets) afterwards have made us two ridiculously happy nerds.
We recently made the decision to take the show up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival so, for those of you who’ll be there, we’ll be at the Pleasance Dome for one night only, Monday 17th August, at 9.30pm. If you’d like to come along (or send 180 of your favourite Scottish people) there’s more information here.
We won’t be the only people at the festival offering interactive videogaming shenanigans though, there’s an increasing number of teams exploring the cross-over between live performance and gaming, so I thought this week I’d share a bit about some of the most exciting.
Firstly, there’s John Robertson’s “The Dark Room”. Those of you who’ve seen me on Challenge TV’s Videogame Nation (Saturdays, 10am) will be familiar with John as one of the show’s main hosts. He’s an incredible comedian and, for the last few years, has been building a great reputation for this one-man tour-de-force. It began its life as a Youtube series – which you can play here – and it quickly became a viral sensation. The live incarnation is a gloriously chaotic mix of retro gaming and improvised comedy and, basically, you need to see it.
Next up, there’s a show from the guys behind Foxdog Studios, describing themselves as I.T. Rock ‘n’ Roll, the stuff these guys are doing looks really exciting and it’s on King Rob and my must-see lists while we’re up there – here’s a video that shows you the sorts of shenanigans they’re getting up to.
If you’re more into traditional gaming, there’s another show, ‘Gamer Gamer’, on at Just the Tonic.
Despite being a show billed as comedians battling on videogames, its organiser Joe Dickens assures me he has gone out of his way to make it distinct from the show I’ve been developing with my double act partner, Sam Pamphilon, for the past couple of years, “Go 8-Bit!”.
Whether he has or not, I’ve got no idea, I’ve not seen it, but it’s going to be hosted by the wonderful comedian Jim Smallman, so is sure to be a lot of fun. Though, if it turns out to be too much like Go 8-Bit, I’ll kill him.
I’m joking, obviously. Have you SEEN Jim Smallman? He’d kick my arse.
Lastly, if you’re the sort of person who likes to take a punt on something a bit different, there’s something on the 29th August that might take your fancy – “Computers Are Only For Geeks” bills itself as ‘interactive science’ delivered by Dr Karen Petrie, a senior lecturer from the University of Dundee’s School of Computing. I’ve not seen the show, but it’s being put on by The Stand, whose name is synonymous with quality at the festival
So there you go. If you like videogaming, fun, or just sitting in hot smelly rooms during the Summer, there’s sure to be something just for you at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Hopefully see some of you there.
