Fun was the order of the day when CHIPS held its sixth annual Christmas Conference.
The country’s largest independent video games chain celebrated its 21st anniversary this year and the conference, held at Ramside Hall, County Durham, attracted big names in the video games industry such as Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony.
More than 120 delegates gathered for a six-hour games fest, where they heard presentations from Nintendo and Microsoft, who unveiled the latest games which will be the “must-have” this Christmas.
One of the highlights of the day was the chance to visit stands showing off the latest games which haven’t even hit the shelves yet but will be on many Christmas lists this year.
Activision, CentreSoft, Computer Bookshops, EA, Focus, The Game Factory, Gem, Hobby Games, Koch/Nindie, Microsoft, Sony and THQ & Ubisoft had all brought along their latest products which will be on the shelves for Christmas.
Award sponsors included Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony, Faragher Jones and Darlington-based Accountants CP Waites.
One of the other main highlights of the day was the CHIPS Annual Awards. Each winner won an engraved trophy, inscribed store plaque and £250 prize money. Each award was sponsored and the winners were:
Newcomer of the Year – sponsored by Sony
CHIPS Dudley – Franchisee Gavin Pearson
Store of the Year – sponsored by Faragher Jones
CHIPS Bishop Auckland – Managed by David Hunt
Employee of the Year – sponsored by Xbox 360
James Dixon – CHIPS Warehouse
Franchisee of the Year – sponsored by CP Waites
Mike & Jenny Smith of CHIPS Arnold – for the second time in four years
See separate releases for more info
After the day’s conference, everyone was treated to a full Christmas dinner, party and Christmas stockings sponsored by Xbox 360 and chocolates from Pinnacle.
A full games room was set up so guests to try their hand at all the new games and it was packed all night.
“This year we had a fantastic range of very sophisticated stands showing off some great games which will hit the market soon,” said Joint MD Nik Agar.
“We say it every year but this really was the best yet. Attracting publishers and events teams to the north-east of England on a Sunday was never going to be easy but we seem to pull it off year after year and we are very grateful for the support we receive,” said CHIPS Joint MD Don McCabe.
Nik added: “The conference was a huge success both from CHIPS and the exhibitors’ points of view and we have had some extremely complimentary emails praising our conference in extremely glowing terms.
“We have already had promises of support for next year, which is fantastic. The conference is the highlight of our year and everyone really enjoyed themselves and gained great product knowledge which they can now pass on to our customers.”
CHIPS has more than 30 outlets across the country from Glasgow to Portslade, near Brighton. Each shop buys sells and trades, new and secondhand consoles, games, DVDs and accessories.
