People pay my wife good money to write, edit, format and post blogs on professional web sites, she tells me tricks to increasing readership and exuding quality include: posting regularly, using pictures conservatively and keeping each blog post to a few paragraphs or less.
I don't want more readers, so I make blogs super long, post very randomly and, like in this case, use so many pictures as to be annoying.
Welcome to my blog on the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2013.[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3669/10180032274_a8d0904abe_b.jpg[/img]I remember seeing Tron in Halo 1,2 and 4, don't you?The show took place Saturday and Sunday October 5-6 at the Portland Oregon Convention Center. Because I put off doing everything except procrastination, this is being written a month and a half later.
We got there about an hour early on Saturday, and were maybe 100 people back in line. The trick is getting the preordered passes which let you get in a hour before the rest of the people. It puts you first in line to buy the cool stuff from the vendors.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8124/10180248463_7e6b142c2f_b.jpg[/img]"If I stand back here it still looks real when I punch you in the arm"While waiting for the show to start we were entertained by Spartans. This group I think:
https://www.facebook.com/...X-company/474810332557869[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3792/10180135275_97df4580b5_b.jpg[/img]They don't install fitness requirements for Spartans until 2035We spent a bunch of time that weekend going to panels. There were lots and the topics covered were wide. Lots of Atari 2600 (they say "VCS" of course) programmers and youtube/podcast "stars."
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7342/10180170206_1147aa30da_b.jpg[/img]RooWe went to the panel of some guy named Roo. I only vaguely knew he was a youtube guy but his panel sounded interesting. It was The Way Games Work, he talked about the physical properties of things like the Wiimote and the UForce. Pat the NES Punk came in for some of the discussion too.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ClanOfTheGrayWolf/Joe Decuir, an original engineer at Atari was in the audience, he kept trying to turn the presentation to be about why games work from the software design perspective rather than "how the hardware works" Roo was presenting. I thought it was funny. Decuir had his own panel and was present in a few others. He is not a man of few words. I think he could have had 4 of his own panels and wouldn't have ran out of stuff to say.
http://www.giantbomb.com/joe-decuir/3040-98011/[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3691/10180031674_42038e4076_b.jpg[/img]David Crane, Garry Kitchen and Bob SmithThis was a great panel, don't let my picture of Garry Kitchen trick you into thinking he is aloof and looking at his phone the whole time. He was awesome. Great guy to have on a panel. Lots of cool stuff to talk about. We got to hear about Atari, Activison and Imagic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...id_Crane_%28programmer%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kitchenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Smith_%28Atari%29[img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2821/10180031444_4e2d756334_b.jpg[/img]Rebecca Heineman and Jennell JaquaysTwo more people from old Atari days. Rebecca reverse engineered the Atari VCS as a teenager. Jennell did design work back then. Both of them have continued to work in games.
Rebecca's wiki page is pretty thin but here are their two wiki pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Heinemanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennell_Jaquays[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8537/10180246723_090bde617f_b.jpg[/img]DMP, John Hancock and MJRThis panel was called, "Video Game Collector Panel." Paul and MJR are always entertaining but, I don't know how much I learned there because the topic was the "how-to" of a hobby I've been doing for a long time now.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3755/10180023384_f25fa30dc1_b.jpg[/img]Gamester81In the past I've always taken pretty lame pictures. Mostly I don't want to just be putting up pictures of random people. This year, the privacy of randoms is out the window! Well, actually my pictures are still lame, this one I snuck of Gamester is a great example, I was super far away and its just of his back.
He was filming this video at the time:
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5499/10180132745_498353f1ee_b.jpg[/img]UKMike, SoCal Mike and ScottThe Retro Gaming Roundup guys. It's a very flattering picture. They talked about the expo towards the beginning of episode 66 of their podcast:
http://www.retrogamingrou...13/roundup066_2013.10.htmWe went to their panel, they did a show segment there but I don't think it got used. When they talk about PRGE on the podcast it's not what they recorded in front of us. The panel was fun though, they made everyone stand up and introduce themselves.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/10180009724_b1c265c370_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8278/10180170926_f1280ea9d6_b.jpg[/img]The Behemoth arcade areaThe Behemoth was there with a few arcade machines. They are huge!
The picture is kinda dark and it makes it look like two Castle Crashers next to each other. It is one enormous machine.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8416/10180010684_32510b2b71_b.jpg[/img]The Wizard of Oz pinballThis is the first pinball to be made by a company other than Stern in a long time.
Jersey Jack Pinball:
http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/I didn't get a chance to play at the show but we have since found a machine about 30 minutes from here. It's pretty awesome.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/10180173616_f23ee89ce6_b.jpg[/img]The Wife playing TronIn the few minutes she got to play it, my wife didn't care for Tron so much. She's the pinball lover of the family. It looks awesome though. There is a miniature Tron arcade machine on the playfield, about halfway up and offset to the right. It plays Tron the video game on the tiny little screen while you are playing Tron the pinball.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/10180014674_ba6c708168_b.jpg[/img]Am I really this much taller than people? They look so little way down there.They had lots (150?) of arcade machines and pinballs set up to freeplay there. I didn't get many pictures of that somehow. The selection was great.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8399/10180118975_c1c53142eb_b.jpg[/img]The Wife playing Typing of the Dead. She was pretty excited about it. The funny thing is, we actually have this at home, along with two keyboards and have never hooked it up. Shame on us.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/10180116145_7141fa6375_b.jpg[/img]The console area was always busyThere was a big area, more than whats in the picture, set up with different consoles and a selection of games. I didn't spend much time there, they didn't have much that I don't have at home
I've never played a Virtual Boy, which they had set up, but, you know, face germs.
The next section here, we'll just call, "seven amateurish pictures of nothing in particular"
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3796/10180014994_79a0576e91_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2843/10180178236_34176dd859_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3708/10180183846_2209f58dbc_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/10180022544_8d0017c1ea_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8266/10180185576_e8fb0d0295_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8403/10180023844_37659c93c8_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3725/10180127085_07c0b6ce8f_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/10180025104_4ac3d8b733_b.jpg[/img]KittSomehow, I don't think I've ever seen an entire episode of Knight Rider.
There was a vendor there who is a big collector and minor youtube personality, I guess, he shows up in the 'suggested videos' of other game collecting shows I watch. Anyways, he had some things on display, mostly for fun.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8400/10180026614_bd241543da_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2843/10180025374_1c8c7c4727_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8533/10180241493_bbc54a2ba2_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/10180188216_50c8c7cbfa_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7302/10180187306_b004e0387d_b.jpg[/img]I took this picture for ZagnorchThis proves there is such a thing. Ninja Turtle with a light gun, who knew?
That Miracle Piano in the background - Foreshadowing.
Saturday night there was a live auction. We were all pretty beat and didn't stay for it but I got pictures of some of the stuff they auctioned off.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8393/10180129015_897bcf3984_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3735/10180130775_e3c9f23ed5_b.jpg[/img]In that Retro Gaming Roundup episode I linked to above, Scott talks about how weird the people in Portland are and how many guys wear skirts. It's totally true. I thought I had snagged a picture of one here but it's just a hoody.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5483/10180191106_f2fa2f25c7_b.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/10180245553_9680f3ca9a_b.jpg[/img]One of a kind PolybiusThere is a story, or urban legend depending on who you talk to, of an arcade game from the 80's called Polybius. Someone made a homebrew Atari 2600 version of the game. They sold some copies at the show but auctioned off this one of a kind "Collectors Edition" at the auction.
Video of the gameplay:
Because the internet was made to show off pictures of what you eat.....
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/10180232873_a1c7fde6e2_b.jpg[/img][img width=600 height=800]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8119/10180123745_90cab49937_b.jpg[/img]Portland may be weird but there is a brewery every other block, so it's not all bad. This is where we ate after the show, there was food too, I promise.
The Stuff I GotI know it took awhile to get here, but I did buy some stuff at the expo to show off too.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5520/10848489343_b7fd006fd8_o.jpg[/img]One vendor did a "whatever you can fit in a plastic shopping bag for $5" sale. This was bag number 1.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/10848489133_860c38a29f_o.jpg[/img]What is this?
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3746/10848221516_c7d7c5ca81_o.jpg[/img]This was bag number 2. 40 games for $5.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3826/10848154445_6af98e5393_o.jpg[/img]For some reason I had to open that Gyromite cart and look inside. Not too bad for 12.5 cents.
[img width=600 height=800]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3684/10848489503_45d74cec52_b.jpg[/img]Also opened that big box pc game Summer Challenge. Weirdest set of pack in's ever. That Wii Sports sleeve is empty of course, Summer Challenge came out in 1992, it's amazing they even knew about the Wii. This goes to show all you non-pc collectors, this is why we do it, for all the stuff they put in the box.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3764/10848152485_5ba1b49d09_o.jpg[/img]Spent some real money here, probably somewhere around $50. I have all those O^2 games of course, those are for label variations and making things CIB.
This last year I've been wanting to upgrade my cables for both my stereo and my console collection. That Xbox component cable was the only cable thing that caught my eye at the show, it is unused. It was marked at $10 but I bought it with some other things and the guy cut me a little bit of a deal.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5537/10848152855_de3365cebb_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2847/10848488323_5df1cf6845_o.jpg[/img]This Odyssey^2 game already had the bad label, so I got to make a minature "Whats Inside?" from it.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/10848152375_4f7f2edfb6_o.jpg[/img]We were once having a discussion about the label variations on Intellivision games. There seems to be more different label variations on the carts then there are boxes. For any one game you might have one that says made in the USA, another made in Hong Kong and another that says nothing. I found this box were they put a sticker over the "made in USA" to make it be "made in Hong Kong."
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/10848220496_1b847c256d_o.jpg[/img]Shiny circles. $10 for all.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/10848220196_32cf3b5ceb_o.jpg[/img]I try and get a new-to-me console at every game expo I go to. It's getting harder. There are only a few consoles, that I don't already own, likely to show up for a price I want to pay. I saw several consoles there I don't have, such as 3DO's, Virtual Boy's and Jaguars, which were $100 or more. I like collecting different consoles but a hundred dollars is like real money. The TG16 has been high on my list of wants for a while now. The last several I've seen have been going up in price quite a bit. This one didn't come with the cables and was only $30, a great deal. I have cables that I can substitute with it and it works fantastic!
NES Miracle Piano. My wife bought this. We didn't get a great deal on it or anything, we paid a fair price, but she was sooooo happy to get it. I forgot to take pictures of everything that came with it. It is complete except for the box and maybe the foot peddle. My wife played this as a kid. Actually, it was the pretty much the only NES game she played as a kid. Her cousin had it and a wisdom tree game, they were the only games her parents would let her have.
The guy who had all the cool consoles above sold it to us with the promise he would send the foot peddle when he found it. We gave him our home phone number and he called it to say he actually had it with him at the show and we should come back to his booth, well, we didn't get the message until after the show. He gave us his card and email, so he could mail the peddle to us, we've emailed him a couple times and no response. Do I call him out on his youtube videos? Do I wait until the next show I see him at?
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2837/10848152195_44d2fd8d6a_o.jpg[/img]I did a second "Whats Inside?" for this blog, just to be super annoying.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7408/10848218936_d95d96f4b5_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/10848218706_b474b63c5f_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7326/10848486783_4b6e753e67_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3708/10848486973_b021a060b9_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3796/10848217936_a7611f1ff2_o.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=525]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2826/10848305404_f634694850_o.jpg[/img]The Portland Retro Gaming Expo is great. We are really lucky to live within an hour of this show. It is exactly the kind of big gaming show I would dream of going to. Can't imagine anything realistically being better. Sure I could talk about the prices creeping up over the years but it's not super bad, we spent about $200 for what you see above and the piano was a big chunk of that.
The best thing about the show, and this is big coming from a non-social person like me, is the people at the show. My wife and I have fun talking to people we see each year, people who are into the same kinds of collecting. I got to see our very own Retrorage and Mrs. Retrorage (my wife was playing pinball at the time, of course.) Mr and Mrs Retrorage are awesome by the way, we've met a couple times at these shows now. MJR and Drunken Master Paul
http://www.youtube.com/user/MetalJesusRocks know us well enough now to say "hi," they sought my wife out to tell her they bought something she suggested they use on an upcoming "I Hate You" episode. Corry from Classics & Oddities
https://www.facebook.com/KelsoClassics greets us by name and has invited me to his store, not in the businessman sort of way but in the friendly sort of way, I wanted to buy more than I did from him 'cause he has great stuff and is super nice.
[img width=700 height=525]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5530/10848150335_74ea066668_o.jpg[/img]LinksSome links to stuff, 'cause that's what the internet is all about, right?
This guy took some straight forward video of pretty much the whole floor. There are lots of videos to go through as he broke it up into chunks.
http://www.youtube.com/pl...NNXhxXx3FYjB5SEyd9-nUBchsPRGE's website, they do a show and move on, so there isn't all the detail about the show as there was as they are moving on to the next thing
http://retrogamingexpo.com/Here is a good recap video with no narration if you only have 6 minutes and 42 seconds and like some blurryness
A somewhat dumb recap of day one but there is a DDR scene were its like, "NO! What? No, I not filming that girl, I'm playing DDR. What girl? Huh? What are you talking about?
If you're really digging deep into the youtube videos of what sort of things were at the show
Don't forget this guy if you just want a walk through of the show floor
http://www.youtube.com/pl...NNXhxXx3FYjB5SEyd9-nUBchsIf you're really hardcore about fact checking me you can use my super secret search on youtube to find other videos, although it's mostly peoples finds and blurry cellphone stuff
http://www.youtube.com/re...gaming+expo+2013&sm=1While I was successfull in
not appearing in any youtube videos, at least the ones I watched, I was really hopeing there would be videos of the panels we went to. Every one of them was recorded, where did those videos go?
