Play.com Live multimedia exposition hosted at Wembley Stadium, England

March 16, 2008 London - Wembley Stadium today hosted the second day of the first Play.com Live multimedia exposition, a large event encompassing many large gaming retailers showcasing their latest games across a wide variety of platforms, as well as live music and entertainment from a wide variety of performers and personalities. Wikinews attended the event today, and reported live from inside Wembley Stadium.

First Floor – Corinthian Room
After being greeted at the front door with goodie bags and press passes – the first room to be visited is the Corinthian Room on the first floor of Wembley Stadium. The atmosphere is calm but excited – people are busying themselves browsing the games on display, and getting involved in the wide variety of competitions and events on offer. The Rock Band competition is well underway, and people are competing for the chance to win a 5-day holiday to Las Vegas, as well as a 4x4 car, games consoles, and other prizes such as £5,000 worth of Play.com Vouchers.

The first band to play inside the Corinthian Room is Saving Aimee, who are playing a selection of their songs. The crowd is gathering around the main stage and upper floors to watch the music – and the band is well received by them. The second band to play was the relatively unknown Go:Audio, who also played a selection of songs from their upcoming album. Their energetic performance style had the crowd cheering and singing along. The final band to play was We Are Scientists, who by far had the largest turnout in terms of crowd numbers. They played a number of songs, both old and from their new album, released tomorrow.

The Corinthian Room also housed the Rock Band competitions, Soul Calibur tournament, and housed the Wikinews reporters as they wrote the story. At the end of the day, a £30,000 prize was awarded to the winning team from the Unreal Tournament competition.

Second Floor - Atrium
The Atrium was host to a number of celebrity faces, including Sylvester McCoy (Dr. Who), Danny John-Jules (Cat from Red Dwarf), and Hattie Hayridge (Holly from Red Dwarf). There was also an exhibition by Dare to be Digital - a video games design competition focusing on University students designing and creating video games. In total, 12 games were on show from the Dare to be Digital competition. Retailers also had stands, including Corgi, SanDisk, and Blu-Ray.

This floor was also home to the Far Cray 2 exhibit, and the Unreal Tournament competition.