Retro Reunited was a LOT of fun.

I got there - the Cedar Court Hotel in Huddersfield - Friday evening, had a lovely meal in the restaurant and then went up to the suite (actually two rooms) where the event was going to be held. Familiar faces were there setting up and I helped for an hour or two, before spending the next couple of hours in the bar chatting to people. Then (at midnight!) it was back up for more setting up. I called it quits at about 1am, but apparently there were others there long after that...

Saturday morning it was breakfast and then up to the suite about 10am. There were still a few things to set up, and of course machines to be switched on and games loaded (as well as the electrician testing and checking the circuits). The show was officially opened by Darran Jones, editor of Retro Gamer, at 11:30am - only half an hour late, but that kind of set the tone for the day.

Korinna from Ubi Soft gave the first presentation, a short history of the company after many problems with getting the laptop to talk to the projector. After that I finally met Andrew Rollings, editor and publisher of my book! With the next presentation delayed, my first Q&A session was pushed back to 4pm. After a few laptop problems of my own, Archer Maclean showed a demo of his new Wii game Wheelspin and then I got the chance to interview/talk to him. The reaction from people was very good, and I hope they liked the unusual style (a ZZAP-style review of his career).

It was gone 8pm by the time my next Q&A went on, after an impromptu talk/discussion by Charles Cecil. This time I got to interview Jon Ritman, although I dropped the slideshow to make sure it started on time. It was a lot of fun and I got some interesting answers from him. And from a personal point of view it was interesting to learn that Andrew Rollings used to work with Jon at Cranberry Source!

Then it was time for... Rock Band! I spent the next two hours playing bass, with fellow RG writer Mike Bevan on the drums. It was also my first chance to try out Beatles Rock Band, and that is amazing - from the great presentation of the menus to the polished in-game graphics recreating various phases of their career. With "Hello Goodbye" the final song of the evening, it was down to the bar. There was a Retro Gamer gathering outside then, with Darran, Mike, former editor Martyn Carroll and Jon Szczepaniak discussing a wide range of topics, with Colin Davies joining us with some juicy leads that will lead to new articles...

I got to bed about 2am and was awake again about 8, eager to get on with the day. After breakfast it was up to the main room to sneak a few games before everyone else got there. My friend Wayne and his girlfriend Carol arrived later in the morning. I also did pretty well on the new GR9 Strike Force game, although Darran won the competition (and completed the game!) I must admit, I actually played more games on the Sunday than I had on the Saturday (what with doing/watching the Q&As and spending a lot of time talking to people). It was a shame the event wound up fairly early with people packing up from 4pm on, but it's understandable when they had to travel home. The other thing I'm disappointed about is that I missed a fantastic gig by Turin Brakes in London because I was all the way up in Huddersfield...

It was a short bus ride to Halifax, a nice Chinese meal and then back to Carol's. Monday was spent travelling back to Skegness by train with Wayne and Carol, who have gone home today (Thursday). It was a mixture of shopping, ten pin bowling and gaming while they were here, and I hope they had a nice break.

Now I'm off on holiday myself for a week on Saturday, back to a riverside cottage on the Norfolk Broads. I'm looking forward to relaxing, maybe a bit of writing and some day trips to various places. Then it will be back to writing the new book(s).