Ricoh | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:20:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Ricoh | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Multiplay announces Insomnia is moving to the NEC https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/jon-martindale/multiplay-announces-insomnia-is-moving-to-the-nec/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/jon-martindale/multiplay-announces-insomnia-is-moving-to-the-nec/#respond Mon, 31 Aug 2015 08:02:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=265512 Multiplay, the gaming server provider and host of the multiple-yearly-Insomnia gaming festival and LAN parties, has announced that with its next event, the winter LAN, it will be moving from its current home at Coventry's Ricoh Arena, to Birmingham NEC. This will allow it to fit in more gaming space, more booths and perhaps most …

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Multiplay, the gaming server provider and host of the multiple-yearly-Insomnia gaming festival and LAN parties, has announced that with its next event, the winter LAN, it will be moving from its current home at Coventry's Ricoh Arena, to Birmingham NEC. This will allow it to fit in more gaming space, more booths and perhaps most importantly for some, more parking spaces.

“It is with a huge amount of excitement that we can today announce that with the support of GAME the Insomnia Gaming Festival will be moving to the NEC Birmingham for our upcoming Winter event, Insomnia56,” said Multiplay in a statement on its site.

This is the second venue move in as many years for Insomnia, which until 2014 was located at the Telford International Centre, where it began operations in 2011. While the Ricoh Arena offered more space initially, that was only possible because the Coventry City football team were unable to use the pitch, so Multiplay had all of that extra space to work with.

insomnia2

However when the team came back to using the grass, suddenly a huge portion of the Insomnia events had to be moved into the carpark, beginning the issues with getting to the event.

While this is no doubt a good move for the iSeries, not everyone is happy. The announcement was made during the i55 LAN that took place this weekend past, where we spoke to a few gamers about the news. Some of them had already pre-booked hotels in Coventry for the Christmas LAN, after Multiplay “confirmed” the dates a few weeks before. They're now out of pocket.

It's unknown if any of them will be able to move their hotel bookings to the same chain in Birmingham instead.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is a move that absolutely had to be made, but considering the Christmas LANs are typically smaller than the big summer ones, it feels like Multiplay could have made the move next year instead, or at least given people more warning. 

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Insomnia has grown enormously at i51 – Impressive stuff https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/insomnia-has-grown-enormously-at-i51-impressive-stuff/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/insomnia-has-grown-enormously-at-i51-impressive-stuff/#respond Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:24:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=188362 Parents all want, pretty much, the same thing for their kids. It's all university, professional career, kids and retirement near the sea. So what happens when a ‘bad seed' comes along and decides that being a surgeon is a bad idea and that playing games for the rest of your live is a good idea? …

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Parents all want, pretty much, the same thing for their kids. It's all university, professional career, kids and retirement near the sea. So what happens when a ‘bad seed' comes along and decides that being a surgeon is a bad idea and that playing games for the rest of your live is a good idea?  Luckily, Craig Fletcher's parents backed him 100% and now ‘Wizzo' is the Managing Director of the UK's biggest gaming organisation, Multiplay. KitGuru wishes it had packed a wider lens when visiting Multiplay i51. This is getting REALLY big.

Running a small LAN for your mates might seem more like ‘fun' than the best way to build a multi-national, multi-million dollar empire, but you'd be wrong.

Even more annoyingly, not only is Craig a bit of a business guru – he's also a genuinely nice chap. Sure, he's had as much fun as the next geek at these events over the past 17 years, but his family always push hard to support local charities and, this weekend, the drive was for the Godiva Appeal to help blind and partially sighted people enjoy life more (Craig's the smug sod on the left, the cute one on the right is a puppy).

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Craig-Fletcher-Guide-Dogs-Godiva

When Ricoh offered to sponsor a £113 million, 32,000 seater stadium for Coventry, they would have imagined that football matches would have been player there. A dispute over payments has seen Coventry City football team take their jumpers down to Northampton and there is a chance that they will never come back.

Coventry City's loss is Multiplay's gain, it would seem.

“This arena is absolutely fantastic for us”, said Multiplay's operations guru, Stewart Fletcher – Craig's brother and right hand. “We always knew that with the right venue, we could increase the number of visitors over a weekend well past the 10,000 mark, and i51 looks like it might see the turnstiles clicking almost 20,000 times over the course of the Easter bank Holiday weekend”.

“While i51 has been amazing, we know that i52 over the August Bank Holiday will be even better”, said Stewart. “Now that space isn't limited, we have big plans”.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Stewart-Fletcher-Ricoh-Arena

The Arena, entrance way and overall set up for i51 are very impressive – and on a grand scale. Truly a gaming paradise.

On a human level, running such a massive event takes lots of fuel, determination and communication. Here are some neat behind-the-scenes shots from the Multiplay Management Hub.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Running-Major-Events-Fuel-Communications

That's the personal side of things. Under the rug/radar. The visible front line looks different.
In the first shot, Steve ‘Shed Boy' Wilson balances his enormous brain while considering which button to press next in order to make Multiplay work.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Shed-Boy-Shedboy-Steve-Wilson

To the right of the main Battle Stage, we have pro-casters, all of the necessary feeds and an archetypal referee (smooth paunch intact).
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The main stage looks amazing, we can tell you.
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Main-Stage

But what you have to remember with the way that Insomnia has grown, is that we're not just talking about one main stage. In the main exhibition hall, there's another stage. When we snapped it, the masses were being professionally messaged by super hunk Sam Deans (right) – full time combat expert and part time multimedia guru.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Exhibition-Stage-Sam-Deans

Traditional favourites like the major raffle and Om Nom Nom stores are still in place – but bigger!
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Nom-Nom-Raffle

The food on offer at Multiplay i51 was truly awesome. Fresh, loads of variety and – for a change with a major venue – reasonably priced.

Example?  A tray of chilli nachos with unlimited guacamole and salsa for just £3.50 – and you can eat it all while sitting on real hay bales – Yee Har!
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Great-Food-Hand-Cooked-Cool-Location

Stacks of prizes, enormous entrance ways for the thousands of people who keep coming and going and – in the aerial shot – Yvonne ‘Mamma' Fletcher ensuring the smooth flow of comfort food.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Prizes-Entrance-Yvonne-Fletcher-Tuck-Shop

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

KitGuru says: Without doubt, Multiplay i51 is the biggest gaming event that the UK has ever seen – and there's plenty more to come.

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The most gorgeous systems at Multiplay i51 – Part Two https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/the-most-gorgeous-systems-at-multiplay-i51-part-two/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/the-most-gorgeous-systems-at-multiplay-i51-part-two/#respond Mon, 21 Apr 2014 14:38:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=188338 Welcome back hardware lovers. Did we successfully get your juices flowing in Part One?   Good.  We didn't stop searching for beauty all day long and we were up late last night picking the very best for you. Here's the second instalment of the Most Gorgeous Systems from Multiplay i51 at the Ricoh Arena in …

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Welcome back hardware lovers. Did we successfully get your juices flowing in Part One?   Good.  We didn't stop searching for beauty all day long and we were up late last night picking the very best for you. Here's the second instalment of the Most Gorgeous Systems from Multiplay i51 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry over the Easter Bank Holiday.

Gaming with your mates normally means a few guys pop over and slump on your sofa.

If you're more serious about gaming, then maybe your crew bring their rigs over to your house and spend a day or three raiding.

Multiplay is on a completely different scale. Hall after hall after hall – full of hardcore gamers – playing non-stop for 4 days.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Main-Gaming-Hall

So, walking around all of these halls, we came across some impressive rigs. Including this one from Eclipse.
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Eclipse-Orange-Nuclear

We love the contrast of colours in that rig, but we also love the more traditional blends.

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But what if a system's blood wants to run white instead of red or blue.
There's no mist inside, but way these tube glow, it almost feels like there is.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-White-Blood-System

We can take liberties with the next system, because YOYOTech's design guru Kevin managed to ping us a perfect studio shot (right hand side) earlier today.
It gives you an idea as to why YOYOTech's sales guru Ryan is giving the thumbs up to this new design at i51. Very 70's retro chic chaps.
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-YOYOTech-901

Whenever we saw a deep red glow emanating from a gamer's rig in the main hall, there was a fair chance that we'd see a small ‘Start' button.

To those in the know, only one mainboard has this feature in the top corner. Can you guess which?
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Blood-Red-Rampage
While we should restrict the number of times a system builder can appear in this line-up, there was a very cool rig on the Antec stand which must be given a mention. It's based on the whopping great Nineteen Hundred chassis and it has been fitted with a load of liquid cooling goodness. We couldn't shoot the crowd on the Antec stand AND get the system right at the same time, so here's a crowd and a fully loaded system combined. You can composite them yourself in your mental eye.

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Lastly, here's a beautiful shot of PC Specialist‘s master creation. The ‘items' in the bottom left hand corner are, in fact, wrist bands.
John Medley and the guys up in Huddersfield put together a mean rig when they put their collective minds to it.
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-PC-Specialist

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.
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KitGuru says: You've been thinking about a new rig for a while, which is cool. But even if you're only upgrading your existing box, there's no excuse to save on the pimping. Give your hard-working rig some love – because it's worth it.

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The most gorgeous systems at Multiplay i51 – Part One https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/the-most-gorgeous-systems-at-multiplay-i51-part-one/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/the-most-gorgeous-systems-at-multiplay-i51-part-one/#respond Mon, 21 Apr 2014 12:55:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=188305 While the event itself is a celebration of pure gaming enjoyment, and most of the 19,000 turnstile clicks over the Bank Holiday weekend will belong to gamers with regular style PCs, there's no denying that some folks make a lot more effort and boy does their work attract some serious attention. KitGuru pays homage to …

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While the event itself is a celebration of pure gaming enjoyment, and most of the 19,000 turnstile clicks over the Bank Holiday weekend will belong to gamers with regular style PCs, there's no denying that some folks make a lot more effort and boy does their work attract some serious attention. KitGuru pays homage to the horniest systems in the house.

The audience at Multiplay is big. Really big. Lots of gamers – all serious about winning.

For the most part, they will be focused on frames-per-second.

But, as we all know, once you start to increase the performance of your gaming rig – you are inside with a screwdriver – at which point you may as well make it look awesome.

Some of these systems are pro-class, built by the exhibitors at the event – while others belong to the gamers themselves.

Our earlier coverage featured some cool stuff, this is a tech-porn follow up that we hope you enjoy.

Walking through the main hall at the Ricoh Arena is like walking through a very large Christmas tree. We almost walked straight past this system, nestled between a pair of bright HD screens, but we're so glad we did. Check the close up on this Parvum creation (Get used to that name – you will be seeing more of it!)

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Parvum-External-White-Chassis-Internal

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Parvum-White-Chassis-Internal

In Ye Olde Dayes, men might show their love for a woman by creating a sculpture or painting.
These days, love struck folks with a Dremel choose a different solution to romance.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Tardis-Chassis

The outside grabs your attention immediately (as well as the fact that the owner is a babe!), but check the up-close detail.

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One of Prince's most famous songs was ‘Blue Light'. Maybe he has this system in mind when he penned that hit.
Love the Glug-Glug water cooling reservoir at the back.
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Blue-Light-Chassis

Finally, for Part One, we have the Parvum system that took pride of place on the Asus stand.

We grabbed an up-close and personal shot while the chaps were configuring for even higher performance.

This kind of chassis IS available to the public from Overclockers.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Parvum-Asus-Chassis

KitGuru says: While there are clear differences between modding and performance – there's no denying that a beautiful looking system can make everything you do feel better. Whether you prefer the hardcore tube works of a YOYOTech/8-Pack or the sculpted beauty of Parvum – Multiplay Insomnia i51 is a cracking place to get new ideas and fire the imagination for your next build. Come back for Part II shortly.

We LOVE seeing your systems over on our Facebook page. Show your hard work off to an audience of more than 180,000 hardware lovers today!

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Overclockers unleash 8-Pack and X-Men attack at i51 https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/overclockers-unleash-8-pack-and-x-men-attack-at-i51/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/event/faith/overclockers-unleash-8-pack-and-x-men-attack-at-i51/#respond Mon, 21 Apr 2014 08:31:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=188264 For any of you who follow comic strips, you know that even if our side is threatened with defeat, there is always a hero or two on standby – ready to avenge the fallen. At Multiplay's i51 event up at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Overclockers brought plenty of back-up. KitGuru drops down from Fury's …

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For any of you who follow comic strips, you know that even if our side is threatened with defeat, there is always a hero or two on standby – ready to avenge the fallen. At Multiplay's i51 event up at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Overclockers brought plenty of back-up. KitGuru drops down from Fury's sky base to investigate.

Plenty going on at the Ricoh this Bank Holiday weekend for the 51st instalment of Multiplay's Insomnia gaming series.

We got snap-happy around the Overclockers stand and managed to capture a rather large overclocker called 8-Pack, telling us the way it is:-
Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-8-Pack-Number-One-Overclockers-OcUK

Also on hand with prize draw offers was Kingston's marketing X-Lady Eleonora – stay tuned for more about this X-Men promo tomorrow on KitGuru.

The stand itself drew a wide range of gamers – from OAP to those needing a booster seat. It seems that everyone wants to get their hands on some turbo charged gaming action when possible.

Ensuring that the whole thing runs smoothly is a freshly shaved Mark Purdy. His excuse for losing a massive amount of man-growth that day was that he only got one hour's sleep, totally forgot that he was supposed to be growing the biggest beard ever, and began shaving before he realised. Yep. We've all done that.

Multiplay-i51-KitGuru-Coverage-Eleonora-Mark-Purdy-Overclockers-OcUK

Overclockers were also providing ‘support to your desk' for any of the thousands of PC gamers who attended – which is a pretty cool feature and to be applauded.

Discuss on Facebook, over HERE.

KitGuru says: Plenty on at the Ricoh today as well (Bank Holiday Monday) – and a good chance to pick up some bargains after 4 days of this massive celebration of all the gaming genres. Go and ask 8-Pack to flex on the OcUK stand and be afraid, truly afraid of the bicep.

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