There are plenty of generic gaming conventions which happen around the UK throughout the year, but rarely is there a convention which is dedicated to one particular game. On February 11th and 12th, the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne welcomes the return of the unofficial Minecraft event Nethermined. It will take place at Northumbria University events suite within the universities Student Union building.
The event welcomes many popular Minecraft YouTubers such as SeaPeeKay, SirCutieYuki, and TheOrionSound, who will be hosting panels on all sorts of interesting Minecraft topics and showing what they do in real-time by playing live, as well as giving fans the opportunity to meet them.
Another large part of the event is the parent-focused Adult Education sessions, as well as Minecraft EDU workshops. These sessions give parents a look at how Minecraft is used for educational purposes and what skills their children are learning/using when they are playing the game. It also gives children the chance to learn new in-game skills by working through different challenges and scenarios.
A spokesman for the event says that due to the success of this area last year, it has been one of the main focuses of the event this year:
“At our last event we piloted EDU Minecraft Workshops, something that has not been done before, as we wanted to bring a new dimension to the event. We have sessions that are run by dedicated Minecraft Mentors for kids of all ages to play Minecraft that have challenges included within the sessions, so that they can develop their skills and work on unravelling situations through their own decision making and outcomes.
This was a resounding success at the last event, much more than we had initially anticipated, so this time we have really enhanced this fourfold at the upcoming event where we will be able to offer the workshops to many many more of our attendees!”
Visitors will also be able to take part in competitions and challenges in the LAN area, where 20+ PCs will be set up to play on. And like any good gaming event, there will be a whole host of traders from all over the North East selling all kinds of merchandise and wares. A selection of retro and arcade games will also be available to play, so there really will be something for everyone at this year’s event!
“We simply aspire to provide a better event each time and offer something different to an ever expanding audience. We also want to provide a platform in promoting local YouTubers, Gaming organisations and businesses within the north east whilst also developing new relationships within the UK as we look to expand our own horizons.
We have been to many of these events in the past and they all seem to lack in the areas that we see as key and are always keen to enhance. I suppose that’s why they have been a great success and hopefully continue to be so.”
On top of all the Minecraft fun, the event is bringing local indie developers into the fold, where they will get the chance to exhibit their games to a local audience. Already confirmed are Coatsink, the Sunderland-based developers responsible for the VR title Esper 2 and popular platformer Shu (check out my review of Shu).
Header image provided by Nethermined. Artist MissDerps.
