Consoles sought for largest free anime convention

Published On Thu 6 Mar 2014 by Grant Hill

The organisers of Scotland’s largest free anime convention have issued an appeal for gamers to lend them retro and contemporary consoles to allow battle to commence when the event returns to Dundee University Students Association (DUSA) next month.

DEE-CON will take place on Saturday, 5th April when film screenings, board and video game tournaments, stalls, exhibitions, demonstrations and industry presentations take place. Organised predominantly by students and alumni of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), DEE-CON is a fundraiser event with all proceeds going towards the animation degree show in May. DUSA provide backing to allow DEE-CON to take place.

The event has grown in stature year-on-year, and around 2000 fans, many of whom dressed in costume, took part in 2013. This year’s event will see an entire floor of DUSA turned over to video games but, in order to fulfil their ambitions, the organisers need help from gaming enthusiasts.

"Our plan is having consoles ranging from 1983 to 2013,” explained Adam Hackers. “We’d love to hear from anyone who would be willing to lend their game console and a few games to be set up on our gaming floor and would make sure they’d be returned quickly.

“We plan to set up tournaments on classic and modern games on different machines so would encourage anyone who can to lend us either an NES, Megadrive, Playstation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 4, or Xbox One and take part in the fun.”

Another new feature for 2014 is the opportunity for school pupils and other keen artists to have their portfolio reviewed by leading figures in the animation and comics industries to help them develop their ideas and skills.

DEE-CON will feature talks from guest speakers from the animation, games, comic and anime industry as well as other specialists and enthusiasts. The list includes games industry veterans Peter Greeves and Phil Harris, freelance illustrator, animator and director Bianca Ansems, BAFTA-nominated director Jamie Stone, and Zoe Burgess, a Cosplay fanatic and freelance writer.

Cosplaying, a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes that represent a specific character, usually from fiction, or idea, will be taking place, while professional photographers will be on hand to capture everyone in their costumes.

As well as screenings of anime films and shorts throughout the day, features will include a reel of previous animation graduate films and a preview reel of 2014 graduate film clips. The convention will feature an Artist’s Alley where up and coming anime/fan art/comic artists and illustrators can sell their work, promote their businesses and make contacts.

The event will be rounded off with the now-traditional after party, with DJs Momoka and Nanashi battling it out for supremacy of the DUSA dancefloor.

Gary Welsh, another of the organisers, said, “Dundee will once again be nailing its geeky colours to the mast and celebrating anime and gaming in all their forms with a fantastic programme of events and guest speakers.

“We’re adding to the line-up all the time and we’ve introduced a few new features, which we’re sure will go down well. A lot of the people who attend are keen to get into animation or comics are so we’re delighted to be able to offer them professional feedback in the Portfolio Review section, as well as giving people the chance to exhibit in the Artist’s Alley.”

Anyone who can help the organisers out by donating a console and/or games should email deecon2k14@gmail.com.

More information about the event is available at:

http://deecon2k14.blogspot.co.uk/   

https://www.facebook.com/DeeCon2k14   

https://twitter.com/DeeCon2014

For media enquiries contact:

Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 / 07581534927