C3 Special | Michael Jackson: The Experience Launch Event (Nintendo DS/Wii)

At events like these it is always important to meet really great people that help to make you feel part of the full experience and encourage you to get really involved in the proceedings, rather than standing around looking and feeling both inadequate and thoroughly bored, usually in equal measures. It is fortunate for me then that the past two occasions I have had the pleasure of making my increasingly common Warrington-to-London/London-to-Manchester trips for such PR shindigs has resulted in the meeting of some fantastic people, be it the thoroughly helpful guys at Rising Star Games, the brilliant ladies of Premier PR or even fellow gaming enthusiasts, such as Girl Gamers UK and Newb Review.

Upon eventually arriving at Euston train station in London after a long day at work, and navigating my way across to the swanky Private Rooms location not too far from Victoria, I tentatively entered the posh looking building to see what was on offer. Turning up almost bang on six o'clock, as stipulated on the invitation, as usual I was pretty much the first attendee. Luckily this gave me the opportunity to meet the absolutely delightful Lexy from Neoco, the agency working with Ubisoft to promote Michael Jackson: The Experience. She immediately made me feel extremely welcome and totally at ease, showing me around, explaining various details about the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience, as well as informing me, very importantly, that food would be served very soon. Secretly I knew she was very hungry, but since I was quite looking forward to a nibble or two, I played along with the charade...

After a quick bit of rehydration, courtesy of my new best friend, the bar man, it was time to 'get my dance on,' so to speak. In all honesty I sampled Just Dance, but never got caught up in the craze that has been sweeping the UK and US since last year, and it was only this year that I had my arm twisted to play its sequel on various occasions at different events. Not knowing much about Michael Jackson: The Experience for Wii and DS, though, some may have wondered what exactly is to be offered in the final package. I presumed that Ubisoft would be bringing an Elite Beat Agents effort to the touch-screen system and a motion-inspired Just Dance: Michael Jackson style affair to the home console. My presumption turned out to be perfectly accurate. Lexy showed me over to one of the two Wii set-ups that had been conveniently deserted by embarrassed participants of the dance-a-thon that wanted to hide their faces as quickly as possible as we approached. This was where I got to meet Rachael as well (who it turns out I already knew from her past at Eidos; giving me the old 'Adam Riley? Oh yes, I do indeed remember your name,' which automatically put me on edge!).

Following the ritual politeness of who wants what song, we ended up dancing to one of the easier tracks, The Girl is Mine, followed by the far harder Bad. Suffice to say I showed my ineptitude for physical rhythm games. I am definitely a dab hand at Taiko no Tatsujin on DS and Wii, but bring dancing into the mix and flailing arms does nothing but damage and Lexy showed herself to be somewhat of a dance expert, despite saying she had never played before. As it turned out, she was I f act a closet Just Dance addict...That is not to take anything away from Dancing Queen Rachael, who also left me for dust, claiming second place with ease.

Basically, as the night wore on it became completely apparent that even though I was increasingly enjoying the dancing experience, unlike at the We Sing Robbie Williams event where I improved with each song, here I maintained a surprisingly consistently poor performance level on Michael Jackson: The Experience on Wii. The exclusive preview, which featured a select few attendees, ranging from Michael Jackson dedicated websites and people who had worked in the late great's personal team, to those from certain videogame websites (like the lovely Debs from The Average Gamer, and her equally delectable friend), was a resounding success on the whole night was exactly what was needed for a game like the Wii version. Okay, the DS game was overlooked by most people, but it was clear that the focus this Christmas is going to be on the Wii game anyway. I did actually get some time with the DS edition whilst sat chatting to the mesmerising Tamara who worked closely with Michael Jackson, and very innocently asked me what a DS was, yet the highlight was by far the home console title, which Lexy and Rachael repeatedly played with me, humbling me each and every time.

Michael Jackson: The Experience is available in Europe exclusively on Nintendo platforms from 26th November, and Cubed3 will have a hands-on report for both DS and Wii versions shortly. Cubed3 would like to extend its thanks to Alan Dykes and Pete Closs at Ubisoft for arranging the event and inviting us along, whilst a massive personal thanks goes to both Rachael Grant and Lexy Hall for taking such great care of me throughout the evening and making the entire night so enjoyable.