For the past few weeks I have been quite annoyed at all the ‘in your face’ Christmas advertising, designed to make you panic that the holidays are fast approaching and you still haven’t spent stupid amounts of money on tat for all the family. However, I am now ready to embrace the festive spirit - not simply because it has just hit December but because I flew to Ireland on Saturday. Going home is the essence of Christmas for me. Arriving in Dublin airport to the sunny winter chill fully prepared me for shopping and mince pies.

But realising it was advent was not the point of the trip at all. I was actually there to sample the wonder that is World Gamer Live, and play a little touch of Rainbow Six Vegas with some of Ireland’s finest.

World Gamer Live was held in the City West Hotel and took the form of an Xbox 360 LAN. Each gamer had to bring along their own television and console if they wanted to play.  The City West proved to be a rather fancy venue, boasting a swimming pool and golf course.  Not only that, but it’s one of Bertie’s (that’s the Irish prime minister, by the way) favourite hot spots. The event had a great turn out of gamers, and a wonderfully friendly atmosphere.

The R6 tournament was setting up just as I arrived, with a total of 15 teams lined up to play. One team was sadly lacking two players so Ben Talbot (from Official Xbox 360 Magazine) and I stepped up to the challenge. I was sat in front of one of the largest TVs there, kindly donated for my use by Yelpy of the Celtic Snipers. I also got the use of Yelpy’s face, integrated onto his character with the wonders of the live vision camera. Fortunately I managed to keep his features relatively bullet-free as we cleaned up in our first match. The second match crashed a minute from the end with us marginally trailing, so to keep the tourney moving we took a loss. It was for the good of the nation, I tell you!

All in all it was a great day, and I got to meet some really cool people. World Gamer Live was once again a great opportunity to meet fellow gamers from Xbox Live in the flesh. The spirit and enthusiasm for games and consoles shone through at the event, with everyone mingling about, playing new games, and knocking back the lucozade. It gets the Sarin seal of approval, and I hope to get myself back there in the future.

The Pippa Funnell: Take The Reins tournament gets underway