Ottumwa declares itself 'Video Game Capital of the World'

[apogee_vgc]

I'm sure everyone here knows Walter Day

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090430/NEWS02/904300366

[XYXZYZ]

So it has to refresh it's title every 30 years?

[DreamTR]

Video game capital of the world needs a video game Hall of Fame arcade !

[jack612]

I thought they already declared this in the early 80s

[NoahsMyBro]

The article said Ottumwa was best known as Tom Arnold's hometown. I had no idea it was Tom Arnold's hometown.

My immediate thought was Radar O'Reilly's hometown.

[The 1 2 P]

At first I thought that was a Canadian city when I read the article title. Now that I know it's in the US I'm still wondering the same question: where? I've never heard of Ottumwa before and something tells me that in ten years I still won't remember it. They should start a gaming league or something.

[apogee_vgc]

So it has to refresh it's title every 30 years?
I thought the same thing when I read it, I remembered something about Day's arcade back in the day but maybe that it was just the home of the official high=score list or something like that. Don't remember it having the backing of the actual city though.

[thom_m]

From the article:


There's a whole community out there, all the gamers, and they would flock to Ottumwa

Mr. Van Velson, Indian Hills Community College Instructor

Obviously, the above quoted gentleman fails to realize a crucial fact: the beauty about videogaming and its whole community actually lies on the fact that you don't really have to get up and go anywhere to have fun (except for the arcades, but they're disappearing anyway).

Now, seriously: this kind plan is almost always destined to fail. No city will ever get recognintion by trying to shove it down peoples' throats. I've seen similar "world's/country's/state's ____ capital" projects 'round here too, and they all flopped.

[Lady Jaye]

At first I thought that was a Canadian city when I read the article title. Now that I know it's in the US I'm still wondering the same question: where? I've never heard of Ottumwa before and something tells me that in ten years I still won't remember it. They should start a gaming league or something.

That's Ottawa you were thinking of. And that's actually a capital: the capital of Canada.

[Pantechnicon]

My immediate thought was Radar O'Reilly's hometown.

...and, you know, when you think about it, there's a beautiful synergy to that fact and Ottumwa aspiring to be the video game capital of the world.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/RadarMASH.jpg

...I mean, look at the guy. He was a HAM radio operator (closest thing they had to computers in the Korean War) and addicted to soda (Grape Nehi instead of Mountain Dew). If he was born sometime after 1960 he'd be kicking ass in any number of video games. Radar O'Reilly is O.G. (Original Geek). Makes perfect sense he'd be from Ottumwa.

[The 1 2 P]

That's Ottawa you were thinking of. And that's actually a capital: the capital of Canada.

You are correct, thats where I thought they were talking about. I should of known that considering how many people from Canada I play with over Xbox Live.

[Haoie]

A bit boastful thesedays, isn't it?

[bombman]

That guy is a fucking moron.

[Malon_Forever]

Video game capital of the world needs a video game Hall of Fame arcade !

Here it comes:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-08-05-gamearchive05_ST_N.htm

[jdheins]

To be honest, I'm perfectly ok with them doing this, I mean I wish there were 100 Video Game Museums, maybe one or two in each state. It is where Twin Galaxies is from, and it is smack dab in the middle of the united states with 4 Major airports within a driving distance, how could this be a bad thing?

Of course there really is no "real" capital anywhere, but if the could put together all of the arcade machines they are shooting for, that would be one hell of a collection.