i34 event coverage

The Mfestival aspect of i34 really was big - much larger than anything else of its sort in the UK, and a real taste of what the larger trade shows are used to. We here at bit-tech certainly hope this aspect of i-series can continue to expand as the UK sorely needs some sort of public industry show comparable to huge events like CeBit in Germany.


MSI had a few interesting boxed hardware setups, as well as its new range of high end gaming laptops on display. The card on the right was of particular interest, with a hybrid GPU cooler that uses its improved cooler to passively cool the GPU for low end applications and then kicks the fan in when the heat starts to generate as you play games - perfect for media centres that enjoy a splash of gaming on a big screen.


As one of the principal sponsors of i34, Samsung's stand was suitably enormous, with a sweet triple screen Guitar Hero 3 setup for the World Cyber Games (WCG) qualifiers (which were required to play Tenacious D - The Metal – on Expert! Finger melting stuff!). There was also the usual accompaniment of Samsung windscreen TVs, mobile phones, and even more WCG qualifier points spread around the stand, this time for Project Gotham Racing 2.


As well as all the publisher, manufacturer and vendor exhibits, there was also plenty of other entertainment laid on for the Mfestival attendees. Multiplay had brought in on a veritable shopping centre full of classic arcade machines, as well as an awesome mechanical bull (I lasted a good 30 seconds by the way) and had buxom celebrity and Red Alert 3 actress Gemma Atkinson arrived to open the event and judge the Rock Band finals in the evening (she didn't much care for bit-tech's choice of Rock 'n' Roll Star by Oasis sadly).