Midwest Gaming Classic 2010 3/26-3/28 THIS WEEKEND!!!

[Unleaded Logic]

Got back today and got tons of great stuff! I do agree that it was really cramped compared to last year and didn't seem to flow as well as it did last year..

Overall though, with everything I got, it was worth it.

[s1lence]

Just got back as well. Help out with Dave in his booth, traffic was down from last year and the vender hall was way smaller then last years. It had better "air" flow though. The location was good for restaurant choices compared to Oconomawac.

Overall a good show and it was nice to see everyone once again, I think I actually saw/met just about everyone that said they were coming.

Thanks Dave/Gac/Jen/etc for letting me help out, it was a good time.

[mycarsucks]

aaaaaaaaaaa

[Dan Iacovelli]

vendors were upstairs down the hall from the consession stand.
the layout was the worst I seen since it was there in 2004.

[Dan Iacovelli]

wifi wasn't free this year I had to pay 10.00 for saturday to get my stream working.
accidently paid 5.00 an hour when I connected through efernet wire.

[mycarsucks]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Tupin]

Yeah, they were donated for the. I donated the Color Computer 2 and came back at the end of the day, someone got a ridiculously high score on Popcorn.

I really liked playing the PC-FX and Pippin.

[s1lence]

wifi wasn't free this year I had to pay 10.00 for saturday to get my stream working.
accidently paid 5.00 an hour when I connected through efernet wire.

Yes but at least it worked in the rooms. Last year was such a bitch to get online.

The layout WAS terrible, if people are saying they couldnt find the vendor room thats not a good thing.

[Compute]

I was helping out with the show, constantly pointing people in the correction direction, "yeah, down that hall, hang a left, it looks like a dead end but it's not, just keep going around and you'll see it." :bullshit:

I loved the show, but the layout was teh sux. Maybe they should move it to Appleton, I'm sure there's a place up here with the space :D

[YoshiM]

I had a fun time at the show as did my little sister, who had never gone to anything like MGC before. I was able to find most of the stuff on my shopping list and my sis was able to get some good games to start her N64 collection.

One of the things that totally blew me away was that the Color Computer 3 in the museum had the emulated arcade ROM of Donkey Kong running on it. Being a CoCo nut, I read about this feat being accomplished but never had a chance to see it in action. As I was playing Popcorn on the CoCo 2 I heard the familiar sounds of DK. Once the controller was freed up on the CoCo 3 I reset Popcorn and switched sides. Wow...just amazing on what was done. I had to give it up as I was being challenged to play Pong.

I will have to chime in with the others and say that the layout was just bad. We too got lost looking for the vendor room. We didn't see the dots going past the Bistro so we went in the opposite direction and found the museum rooms then back tracked after we found a map. The vendor area was CRAMPED-more so than at the Olympia last year. Many of the vendors were forced to put their wares on the floor under their table, which was hard to see due to all the bodies standing sifting through stuff up top. When you did find a bin and knelt down, I found I got bumped a lot by passerby's. Someone mentioned strollers earlier in the thread: my first child is going to be born next month and if the walkways are going to be cramped like they were this year, I don't think I'll be going back.

I also didn't like how the museum was split amongst separate rooms. It was quite the experience last year when everything was in one room. Easier to find, flowed better and from a group standpoint was more "electric" as the crowd seemed more enthusiastic. The classic arcade feeling in a modern age. I do have one major complaint: if at all possible please don't put arcade machines in the hallways of a place like that. People playing the games created choke points which caused some bodily traffic back-ups.

My last issue would probably be the pinball room. Now, it could be that there were some forgotten settings but I was finding some of the pinballs were set to pay-to-play. I know my way around a pinball machine but I could not find a button to press to add credits on some machines and both my sis and I saw people popping quarters into the machines. And not every machine was like that. So was this just an oversight or did some of the machine owners want to get some cash for their games? Unless I missed a sign stating as such, people who pay the entrance fee usually expect to not have to pay to play games-that's what the entrance fee was. Never happened at past shows that I can recall. I could have found an MGC person to try and get some free plays but the crowd was huge, so I probably would have missed the opportunity to play whatever game I wanted to play.

Well, here's hoping for a better location or set up next year!

[mycarsucks]

aaaaaaaaaaaaa

[YoshiM]

does anyone have pictures of the vendor area?
When I see my sister tonight, I'll ask. I think she took some of the vendors.

[ianoid]

I have some pix on my Twitter feed here:
http://twitter.com/deliciousgames

I liked the show. I had no problem with the layout. I can imagine it was confusing, and I wish they had put down more sticker dots, since they got pulled off as the traffic increased. It is a much nicer place than the Olympia and I hope they keep it at the Brookfield. I do agree that it would be nice to have giant rooms, but they just don't offer that kind of space reasonably in Milwaukee.

[gamegirl79]

I had a great time at the show and I didn't have any problems with the layout, but everything was just so cramped. In the vendor area I got pushed around more times than I can count, and it was hard to even get a look at stuff with such a large crowd packed into such a small area.

It seemed like there were less vendors this year than last year. I still got lots of great stuff though.

All in all I like this year's location better (really easy drive from STL), I just wish there was a larger space for vendors.

[s1lence]

but they just don't offer that kind of space reasonably in Milwaukee.

Exactly what folks in the vendor area were talking about.

[mycarsucks]

aaaaaaaaaaaa

[Nophix]

I'd be good with Appleton. That's an easy place to find. You just keep heading North passed Milwaukee, on 41/45. Appleton as a city is better laid out as well, and convention centers have much better use of their space.

At this point, any place would probably be better.

[Matt-El]

I'd say the only problem was air ventilation or space in the vendor area. I loled when the rent-a-cop walking around got a whiff of the hot stinky ass and electricity burning in the air and bolted out to catch a breath. I gotta say, i liked the rooms, the convenience of the breakfast, the traffic flow on saturday and a good part of sunday in the vending hall. May not seem as big, but it worked out well. I would have no problem with vending there again.

And if they moved it again, I'd say you'd just have to go all out and go the biggest you can think of. If they rrreeeeeallly had to switch, I'd just see about using the Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee. Here is a layout of the place.

http://www.midwestairlinescenter.com/virtual_tours/midwest_airlines_center

Place connects to the Hyatt AND the Hilton. Halls are huge and plentiful, in downtown Milwaukee. But would be very EXPENSIVE I'd imagine.

Only problem with moving this show is that the locations have been very cost effective. Why increase the prices to show goers and vendors more? Plus as the organizers do this in their off time with their full time jobs, i mean it's tough. And, does a change in venue demand larger space for what is really offered?

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience 99.998%. I will set up again next year at the Sheraton or wherever.

Compute: If you start a little CCAG style show in a hall, I'll set up :) Many other flea markets and other stuff have failed there though. Don't think Appleton is good for a large MGC style show, but I'd be there.

[Dan Iacovelli]

it was way too cramped in the vendor hall.
I think if they moved the vendor hall down stairs were vgevo was it might have been better.
it also sucked that wifi wasn't totally free this year(only by main entrance it was free)
I paid for a day of wifi(10.00) by the museum hall.
good show though

[tofu]

Was anybody else surprised to see so many security guards?

The vendor area was all the way out in the boonies and the lack of free wifi in the rooms was a real turnoff.

I still had fun and met plenty of great people but hopefully the show won't return to the Sheraton.

[s1lence]

Was anybody else surprised to see so many security guards?

The vendor area was all the way out in the boonies and the lack of free wifi in the rooms was a real turnoff.

I still had fun and met plenty of great people but hopefully the show won't return to the Sheraton.

Well the free wifi in the rooms last year was a joke, i was more then happy to pay for a connection that actually worked. I didn't have to use internet sharing with my 360 either.

[Carey85]

MGC in a nutshell:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4474554209_9948ddb45b_b.jpg

[Tupin]

One of the things that totally blew me away was that the Color Computer 3 in the museum had the emulated arcade ROM of Donkey Kong running on it. Being a CoCo nut, I read about this feat being accomplished but never had a chance to see it in action. As I was playing Popcorn on the CoCo 2 I heard the familiar sounds of DK. Once the controller was freed up on the CoCo 3 I reset Popcorn and switched sides. Wow...just amazing on what was done. I had to give it up as I was being challenged to play Pong.

Did you see the bouncing ball demo on the CoCo 3?

I'll definitely be back next year.

[YoshiM]

Did you see the bouncing ball demo on the CoCo 3?

I'll definitely be back next year.

The original demo from years ago? Oh yeah. If newer, then no. Amazing little machine, the CoCo.

[Tempest]

I had a good time. Having to walk so far to get to the arcade area and museum was a bit annoying, but then again I need the exercise. I didn't see much 'got to have it' classic stuff this year, all the good stuff seemed to be SNES/Genesis for some reason. I did come home with a 3DO and a Jaguar which were two of the three systems I was still missing for my collection (CD-i next year I suppose).

I was shocked at all the security guards as well. I guess since it was so spread out they needed more security. They were nice, but it did seem a bit odd since I never saw any over at the Olympia (maybe I just never noticed them there?). My only beef was that the arcade area was always crowded and I was barely able to get one game in before someone behind me was yelling that it was their turn. That and the arcade room was hot and smelled heavily of unwashed bodies. Seriously people it's called a shower, look it up!

Tempest

[Trade-N-Games]

The show was great. It was super busy all weekend even on Sunday! I think the vendor room was only a little smaller but there were no arcades in there so we had more room. I hope they stay at the same location. Really if someone could not find the vendor room they could have asked. The banner outside was 40 foot long and dead in front of the doors to the vendor hall.

[YoshiM]

The banner outside was 40 foot long and dead in front of the doors to the vendor hall.

But the doors were locked until someone wedged a hunk of wood in between the door and the frame.

I think the bistro with the serving tables in that hallway deceived people. Upon the first glance it looked as though the hall went to another food area.

[NipRing]

That and the arcade room was hot and smelled heavily of unwashed bodies. Seriously people it's called a shower, look it up!

Tempest

Amen!

[Carey85]

Yeah, some of the MGC vendors need to definitely organize and implement a "No Shower, No Service" policy.

[ProgrammingAce]

I didn't think the vendor room was nearly as crowded as it was last year, i remember getting stuck in the isle way for 15 minutes last year trapped between booths.

Why was the outside door to the vendor hall locked all day sunday? In the 10 minutes i stood by the door, i saw a dozen people walk over, pull on the handle, then have to walk all the way around the building. I spent most of the weekend trying to explain to people how to get to the basement. I don't know why my dev systems were down in ben heck's room, but i doubt anyone noticed them.

[s1lence]

Yeah, some of the MGC vendors need to definitely organize and implement a "No Shower, No Service" policy.


Where I was at I didn't have the odor smelling problem. (Right under the A/C vents helped)

[98PaceCar]

Instead of putting hot sauce in the bags, they should just put some deoderant in them. Maybe people will get the hint.

[goatdan]

Hey all,

I'm just finally getting a chance to decompress, but I wanted to put this out here...


May not seem as big, but it worked out well. I would have no problem with vending there again.

Here's the problem, the only option to make it less crowded it to allow less people to bring things. The space used at the Sheraton as a whole (including the hallways and whatnot where we had displays) was nearly *double* the size of what we had at the Olympia last year. There was NO way in HELL that we could have fit what we fit into the event this year into the show last year. We had the following things increase in size or that were brand new:

Gamers Network Room (New)
BenHeck Room (about 3 times bigger than last year)
Versus Room (New)
60+ additional arcade and pinball machines
RGP.Rec.Room (new)
VGEvo.com Room (About 10 times bigger than last year)
Portable Pieces (New, although wasn't open that long)
Second speaking venue (new)
CelebrateTheArcades.com Tournaments (new)

So... yeah. We could have cut all this stuff back and kept with the Olympia, where we were 100% maxed for power and space.

Also, the vendor hall was about 2000 square feet smaller than the Olympia, however if you took the hallway tables, as well as the fact we moved 90% of the arcades into the arcade room, we had more tables of goodies to buy at this year's show.

The other problem, the MGC is a community based event. By having everything divided up, groups were able to host their own after parties in their own rooms if they so wanted. VGEvo.com had a big after party on Saturday night with lots of people because of this. The arcade room we host an after party for the people who bring games.


And if they moved it again, I'd say you'd just have to go all out and go the biggest you can think of. If they rrreeeeeallly had to switch, I'd just see about using the Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee.

We have, actually. We would have to pay more than the entire show made this year just to rent the space, and it would eliminate 100% of the after parties and stuff like that. The State Fair has locations also, but with either of these two it would be a lot more expensive to rent, no after parties, and you would have to pay for parking or park a mile away.


Only problem with moving this show is that the locations have been very cost effective. Why increase the prices to show goers and vendors more? Plus as the organizers do this in their off time with their full time jobs, i mean it's tough. And, does a change in venue demand larger space for what is really offered?

Here's the end of the day thing -- if we went for a larger venue like what was mentioned, we would need to attract larger sponsors that we have specifically *not* courted before, and charge them a *lot* more to come to the show. It would essentially freeze out people like OpCode Games, Trade-N-Games, and so on.

If you want to go to a show like that which celebrates big companies, E3 and PAX offer outstanding alternatives to the Midwest Gaming Classic. If you want to celebrate gaming at a show where we work our butts off to make sure that the people that are getting things celebrated are the communities, then that is what the Midwest Gaming Classic is. If you're pissed that the Midwest Gaming Classic isn't at the Olympia (because it is way too big), then sorry -- but I don't exactly want to tell people like VGEvo.com that they have to drastically scale back their efforts because the location isn't perfect.

We toured damn near everything in the city, and the Sheraton isn't perfect -- but worked with us a ton and offers us a ton more space than anywhere else in the city. I can't believe so many of you apparently want a smaller show. Most of the people who I talked with loved the way the new location was set up, and how it helped to disperse the crowd a little further on both days of the show. If that wasn't you, again sorry -- but I don't want to turn people away that want to be part of the show.

[Goodwill Hunter]

As a vendor, I thought the 2010 MWCG was a great show. As a vendor with no assistants, this is about all I saw of the show however…

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1359/lvendor.jpg

Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures, didn’t have room for a camera!

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8807/rvendor.jpg

Business was great on Saturday (and it wasn’t too bad Friday night either, with other vendors snagging some early deals!) and didn’t really slow down until about 3 pm. Sunday was slower, of course, but a bit of discounting made it almost as good as Saturday, plus I went home with about a third of the boxes I came with (also known as “happy wife”).

It was a bit of a tight squeeze between tables, but it seemed like the attendees had enough room to shop. I had a few boxes of handhelds in front of my tables, and the reactions were fun to watch…more than a few people would dig one out, stand up, and exclaim “I had this one when I was a kid!”

Most of the people who requested DP badges found their way to my table, and it was good to put some new faces together with forum names. Great as always to see Dave, Ian, Kelan, Kristine, and all of the other DP regulars too. Didn’t have much time to shop the other vendors, but what my haul lacked in quantity, I made up for in size and quality…

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/2229/mwgc2010.jpg

Anyone know of a high-res scan of the front panel artwork for a Frogger tabletop? And no, the wife has not seen (or heard!) the Lancer yet. ;)

I can understand the concerns about the show being too spread out, but there seemed to be plenty of maps throughout the place. I was able to quickly find the Ben Heck room right before the show opened. Although I didn’t have any luck getting my 360 looked at, I did get to play Bill Paxton pinball, which was simply awesome.

Congrats to Dan, Marty, Gary and their team on putting on another great show. I know it’s a ton of work, and it’s tough to please everyone, but I’m just happy that an event like this is right in my backyard. Till next year…

Rich

[martyg]

Dan already talked on most of the major points. This was actually a far far better layout than we had last time at the Sheraton - in fact we had a 1/3 of the space last time we were there, no cooperation from the hotel, and had a nightmare split of the downstairs rooms and the Wisconsin wing. This time we had literally the entire hotel and conference center, around 30,000 sq ft. Every room, every wing, every hallway, even the lobby. As for Dan I's suggestion of the downstairs for the vendors, that would be a step far backwards and makes little sense - it's far smaller than the current vending area that some people were complaining was crowded. Trade-N-Games was right, it was only a little smaller, mainly it was the different shape that was throwing everyone off. We literally doubled our space and content this year as Dan mentioned, with new event areas, expansion of previous event areas, two speaking areas, a good 150 or so coin-ops, and more.

As for Midwest Express Center, to move there (which we looked at) it'd cost three to four times as much as what we currently paid, and that's just for the space - no tables, electricity, etc. And as Dan said, no after parties or any of the other festivities everyone enjoys.

And it was great seeing all the regulars, including Ian, Rich, Carl, etc. With regards to what someone asked about the museum/console event areas, the 1972-85 console/vintage computing museum room is all mine except for some of the computer displays. The '85 to present room is all JD Norman's. Family Game Room is all Tom's, and Underdog Chamber is all Ozyr's. As far as the coleco booth in the vending area that someone asked about, that was Eduardo better known as OPCODE Games. Besides the homebrew he writes, he was demonstrating his expansion module prototype. Yes, his version of the long cancelled expansion module #3. That's actually what the arcade donkey kong and MSX game ports were running with. In fact he just recieved permission and a license from the current holders of the Coleco/Colecovision brands to use the name and produce units.

Anyways, here's pics of most of the areas of the show on Saturday plus the VGEVO and coin-op vendor after parties.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91071283@N00/collections/72157623732608054/

[slapdash]

Anyone got info (URL) about the CoCo3 Donkey Kong? (And don't worry, I'll Google for it eventually, but just... you know...) I was told TWICE about it, and forgot to look while there (possibly it wasn't playing at the time; I THINK I would have noticed otherwise).

[channelmaniac]

As a first time attendee and a vendor (This was my first time to ever do a show as a vendor) I have to say that the event was done well.

The only 3 complaints about the show were directly related to the hotel.

1. FORTY DOLLARS for breakfast?
2. SEVEN DOLLARS for a short phone call to order a pizza?
3. THE most uncomfortable beds I've ever had the displeasure of sleeping on!

Those beds left both of us (me and the wife) stiff and with quite a bit of back pain and wishing we paid the extra money to stay at the Hilton property less than a mile away.

The event was well done and mostly organized. There were a few mis-steps that the folks were scrambling on, but those weren't a big deal at all.

It was great to put faces with the names of various folks from different forums I'm on: DP, neo-geo, Atari Age, etc... I was set up along the back of the Vendor hall. If you didn't see the Arcadecomponents.com logo banner, you might have seen the little Sony broadcast studio monitor that I was using for showing off the modified consoles. It was a hit and if I can find a few of them, I'll bring them to sell at the next show.

I'll be back for next year.

RJ

[slapdash]

Instead of putting hot sauce in the bags, they should just put some deoderant in them.

Oh my god, I thought that WAS deodorant!

But more seriously, I had fun for the day I was there. Thanks Marty, Gary etc for putting it all together!

[goatdan]

Just to reply to a couple other things...


vendors were upstairs down the hall from the consession stand.
the layout was the worst I seen since it was there in 2004.

Not to be rude, but would you like to make the call to cut out something like Jagfest because it is in the hallway and you've already used up all the space in the main halls, or would you try to cram the show with content? We added 15,000+ square feet of new experiences this year, as well as doing that in a year where we switched venues and were really learning how this new location worked. I guess I could have cut the entire museum wing out of the show to make things easier to find too, but is anyone going to seriously argue that doing that would have made the show better? It would be a LOT cheaper to run the show without the museum, so if everyone on here thinks it is a waste and the only thing you care about is the vendor hall, sorry all the other stuff is there.

A lot of this seems like the complaint I had last year from someone that the show would have been a lot better if there wasn't any pinball machines there. Seriously? I can't believe that it seems like so many people on here are complaining that there was *too much* to do.


wifi wasn't free this year I had to pay 10.00 for saturday to get my stream working.
accidently paid 5.00 an hour when I connected through efernet wire.

Actually, wifi was free in those rooms. JD had the codes for the area, sorry -- if you had asked, he would have told you. WiFi was open in the rest of the show entirely. It wasn't in the rooms, however the rooms were also $10 / night cheaper than the Olympia, making the purchase of WiFi access essentially free if you didn't want to be downstairs to use it.

The free spot was a sort of gathering spot all night for different people, I kept seeing people meet up there and chat, so it didn't seem like the worse thing in the world.

Sorry you missed it, we'll try to communicate it even better next year.


I will have to chime in with the others and say that the layout was just bad. We too got lost looking for the vendor room. We didn't see the dots going past the Bistro so we went in the opposite direction and found the museum rooms then back tracked after we found a map. The vendor area was CRAMPED-more so than at the Olympia last year. Many of the vendors were forced to put their wares on the floor under their table, which was hard to see due to all the bodies standing sifting through stuff up top. When you did find a bin and knelt down, I found I got bumped a lot by passerby's. Someone mentioned strollers earlier in the thread: my first child is going to be born next month and if the walkways are going to be cramped like they were this year, I don't think I'll be going back.

So your suggestion is to have less vendors for next year to create more space? But then won't they need to put more stuff on the ground?

For the record, I have an eight week old son who came to the show on Saturday. There was a total of four strollers that I saw at the show the entire time, and my son was in one of the four. Does it really make sense to try to make the walkways and the entire show cater toward the maybe 10 or so parents who will have a stroller there? As a parent, if I was deciding to go to the show or not, I would have taken Ben on Sunday as it was slower, or not at all. We try to cater toward families, but the two and under crowd isn't exactly something that is easy to do at an event that draws a lot of people. It's just the truth.

Hell, my son didn't come until 7:15 at night on Saturday because I told my wife I didn't feel comfortable having him there with how crowded I expected it to be. If you have an 11 month old, and you do not have anyone else to take care of him, one of the show organizers is right here saying I wouldn't take *my own son* to the show, so I have no issues with you not coming -- but I'm not going to realistically try to cater to that tiny portion of people who do want to come with strollers. If your decision is to brave it, great -- good luck, and you'll have to be patient.

I will say the elevator situation sucks. The only way down is with a service elevator in the back the Sheraton will take you too. But at the same time, I don't really think the show caters much toward the 2 and under crowd, so I've never really thought about it.


I also didn't like how the museum was split amongst separate rooms. It was quite the experience last year when everything was in one room. Easier to find, flowed better and from a group standpoint was more "electric" as the crowd seemed more enthusiastic. The classic arcade feeling in a modern age. I do have one major complaint: if at all possible please don't put arcade machines in the hallways of a place like that. People playing the games created choke points which caused some bodily traffic back-ups.

Okay, again -- the suggestion is to remove more content? I guess I'm kind of amazed by this whole idea. I never thought people would complain that there was too much to do in a venue nearly twice as big as last year.

The other option is to raise prices to keep down attendance. I'm sure that no one would have had an issue if there was only 1000 people there on Saturday with it being too busy. But I'm also sure that everyone would have an issue if we started charging like $40 a day to get in. I don't want to change the price points at all, and I also don't think having a bunch of content is so horrible.


My last issue would probably be the pinball room. Now, it could be that there were some forgotten settings but I was finding some of the pinballs were set to pay-to-play. I know my way around a pinball machine but I could not find a button to press to add credits on some machines and both my sis and I saw people popping quarters into the machines. And not every machine was like that. So was this just an oversight or did some of the machine owners want to get some cash for their games? Unless I missed a sign stating as such, people who pay the entrance fee usually expect to not have to pay to play games-that's what the entrance fee was. Never happened at past shows that I can recall. I could have found an MGC person to try and get some free plays but the crowd was huge, so I probably would have missed the opportunity to play whatever game I wanted to play.

Honestly, I think there are two things here:

1) For people putting quarters into machines, I think that some people just don't realize they are on free play no matter what you do. Every year, games make a little money. I'm always interested to find about $10.00 in the machines that I bring to the show, even though they are all on Free Play. I don't know what more can be done about this, as I even had a machine this year where I disabled the coin mechs so the quarters dropped out the coin slots, and I still had 5 quarters in the coin return for that particular game.
2) There are a lot of funny games where the button to start the game doesn't seem to be in the right place. Case in point is the Nine Ball that was in the tournament. There is a button on the left hand side where most normal start buttons are. It does nothing that I know of. But, a button on the coin door starts the game. A number of big time players went up and hit them.

We host an after party in the room on Saturday night, and I looked at all the games at that time, and didn't see any not set on free play if it was possible. Some games, it simply isn't possible, and most of the collectors set them for super low replay levels to make sure they didn't run out of credits. Unfortunately, not all pinball machines are the same, and a LOT are confusing with how to start them, especially stuff older than 1985ish.


I liked the show. I had no problem with the layout. I can imagine it was confusing, and I wish they had put down more sticker dots, since they got pulled off as the traffic increased. It is a much nicer place than the Olympia and I hope they keep it at the Brookfield. I do agree that it would be nice to have giant rooms, but they just don't offer that kind of space reasonably in Milwaukee.

The thing about those sticker dots was that although they did all start to get pulled up and whatnot on Saturday, by the time we really needed to get more of them down, it was so crowded that I don't know how we could have snuck any new ones down, and you could just follow the crowd room-to-room. And you nailed the 'space reasonably' thing.

[goatdan]

it was way too cramped in the vendor hall.
I think if they moved the vendor hall down stairs were vgevo was it might have been better.
it also sucked that wifi wasn't totally free this year(only by main entrance it was free)
I paid for a day of wifi(10.00) by the museum hall.
good show though

The vendor hall was about 10,000 square feet big, the VGEvo.com room was about 3000 square feet. I'm open to ideas, but I don't understand how this makes sense.


Was anybody else surprised to see so many security guards?

We've always had a similar number of security guards. We just decided that with the show getting as large as it is, that it is better to have them in uniform so people know the presence is there. In security terms, it is called, "Showing the Flag" and it goes VERY far to ensuring that nothing bad happens at the show. Remember, we had I'm sure well over a million dollars worth of stuff at the hotel, so we wanted to do something to protect it.

---

I think I've addressed most of the stuff here. As I have always said, I'm open to improving the show, but I want to be realistic about it. The suggestions here seem to be to either make the show drastically smaller to fit an old venue and reduce the size of the crowd at the show, two suggestions that I strongly feel would be a step backwards. I'm open to other ideas, and already have a hit list of things that I want to improve for next year, but those two things aren't part of it.

[Mobius]

I enjoyed the show yet again -- I definitely noticed the increased size and that there was more to do, so I'm not sure what others are getting at when they said it was a bit smaller. Definitely don't move the vendors to the smaller lower area -- I don't understand that suggestion, either.

My suggestion would be to give everyone printed copies of the maps and event/speaker schedules. This was done for previous years and was tremendously helpful. This year, I had to wander around for a while, then finally ask someone at the registration area where the heck the vendor area was! Also, how come the Versus Room was closed all day Saturday? I was really looking forward to some 10-player Saturn Bomberman!

I do agree about the coin-ops in the halls that someone else mentioned, though. They did create bottlenecks (in particular, I had to squeeze by people playing the Area 51 machine several times). I don't think they necessarily need to be removed, but maybe moved to lower traffic areas? Or at least to wider hallways?

All in all, though, the show was super fun and my favorite of the three I've been to. I may have to stick around for both days next year and attend some of the after parties, which I've never done before.

[martyg]

Missed this post.


I also didn't like how the museum was split amongst separate rooms. It was quite the experience last year when everything was in one room. Easier to find, flowed better and from a group standpoint was more "electric" as the crowd seemed more enthusiastic. The classic arcade feeling in a modern age.

As the owner and operator of one half of the "museum", I'd have to disagree on that. That's one issue JD and I have always had every year for many years now was either the lack of room or the lack of an allowance to organize our areas to our respective visions on how we want our areas to be. With the compartmentalization this year, we finally had the ability to start working on our own unique experiences for our areas and were excited with the prospect. I specialize in home consoles (foreign and domestic) from '72 to '85 and vintage computers. JD specializes in consoles from '85 to present including Japanese imports. Our areas reflect that, and will continue to blossom in those respects as the museum sections continue to grow in to characteristic events of their own - what we like to call "events within events". I also fully intend to keep expanding my area with more specialized collectors and participants (as I already have been), and many more "ambiance" related decoration/items/happenings to give even more of an experience of stepping through the 70's and 80's. My area also has more of a call for more "museum" like displays than JD's, who leans much farther to the playability vs. display factor. This splitting allowed us to focus that more as well.

There were also issues with the "one room thing" when you have several different events all in the same room, and people thinking they're all part of the museum. The Underdog Chamber and Family Game Room are examples, and now with their own separate spaces, I look forward to seeing how their areas grow in character and content. The Ben Heck Experience area absolutely loved having their own room this year, and I know the VGEVO guys (Trickman Terry and Sushi-X) made great use of their expanded area as well.



I do have one major complaint: if at all possible please don't put arcade machines in the hallways of a place like that. People playing the games created choke points which caused some bodily traffic back-ups.

I'm not sure if you're referring to the competition area in the main hallway outside the coin-op hall, or the Area 51 over by Jagfest in the museum wing. The Area 51 was part of Jagfest and there for a reason - because of the Cojag (http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=778) hardware it uses.

[martyg]

Oh my god, I thought that WAS deodorant!

But more seriously, I had fun for the day I was there.

Great seeing you again and hanging out at the VGEVO party -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91071283@N00/4475519372/in/set-72157623732314846/



Thanks Marty, Gary etc for putting it all together!

Dan, Gary, JD, Marty, etc. ;) Dan and Gary are the ones that do the herculean task of coordinating everything (vendors, speakers, competitions, mishaps) and making sure every area and everything behind the scenes runs smoothly during the show (along with our noble volunteers). JD and myself have enough on our plate during the show time with just the museum areas, heh. I'm certainly a co-founder of the show with Dan and Gary, and was in on the coordination as well for years (for a time it was even Dan, Gary, myself and Tom), but have over the last few years participated more in pre-show organizing because I'm just to busy with the museum area during the show to adequately help out with any coordination. And since 2005 we've picked up a wonderful stable of volunteers to help out with various aspects of the show as well. Dan is the public face and leader of the MGC in almost every respect. And for example as well, the phenomenal growth and success of the coin-op and tournament areas are entirely his baby. And of course it was Dan and Gary's GOAT Store that funded the show from it's inception.

So to make it less confusing: Dan/Gary - Co-founders, head coordinators, and co-organizers. Myself - co-founder, co-organizer. JD - co-organizer. Wonderful stable of volunteers - co-organizers.

[Matt-El]

Hey all,

I'm just finally getting a chance to decompress, but I wanted to put this out here...



Here's the problem, the only option to make it less crowded it to allow less people to bring things. The space used at the Sheraton as a whole (including the hallways and whatnot where we had displays) was nearly *double* the size of what we had at the Olympia last year. There was NO way in HELL that we could have fit what we fit into the event this year into the show last year. We had the following things increase in size or that were brand new:

Gamers Network Room (New)
BenHeck Room (about 3 times bigger than last year)
Versus Room (New)
60+ additional arcade and pinball machines
RGP.Rec.Room (new)
VGEvo.com Room (About 10 times bigger than last year)
Portable Pieces (New, although wasn't open that long)
Second speaking venue (new)
CelebrateTheArcades.com Tournaments (new)

So... yeah. We could have cut all this stuff back and kept with the Olympia, where we were 100% maxed for power and space.

Also, the vendor hall was about 2000 square feet smaller than the Olympia, however if you took the hallway tables, as well as the fact we moved 90% of the arcades into the arcade room, we had more tables of goodies to buy at this year's show.

The other problem, the MGC is a community based event. By having everything divided up, groups were able to host their own after parties in their own rooms if they so wanted. VGEvo.com had a big after party on Saturday night with lots of people because of this. The arcade room we host an after party for the people who bring games.



We have, actually. We would have to pay more than the entire show made this year just to rent the space, and it would eliminate 100% of the after parties and stuff like that. The State Fair has locations also, but with either of these two it would be a lot more expensive to rent, no after parties, and you would have to pay for parking or park a mile away.



Here's the end of the day thing -- if we went for a larger venue like what was mentioned, we would need to attract larger sponsors that we have specifically *not* courted before, and charge them a *lot* more to come to the show. It would essentially freeze out people like OpCode Games, Trade-N-Games, and so on.

If you want to go to a show like that which celebrates big companies, E3 and PAX offer outstanding alternatives to the Midwest Gaming Classic. If you want to celebrate gaming at a show where we work our butts off to make sure that the people that are getting things celebrated are the communities, then that is what the Midwest Gaming Classic is. If you're pissed that the Midwest Gaming Classic isn't at the Olympia (because it is way too big), then sorry -- but I don't exactly want to tell people like VGEvo.com that they have to drastically scale back their efforts because the location isn't perfect.

We toured damn near everything in the city, and the Sheraton isn't perfect -- but worked with us a ton and offers us a ton more space than anywhere else in the city. I can't believe so many of you apparently want a smaller show. Most of the people who I talked with loved the way the new location was set up, and how it helped to disperse the crowd a little further on both days of the show. If that wasn't you, again sorry -- but I don't want to turn people away that want to be part of the show.


I think you definitely nailed it. For what you worked with and were offered with at the sheraton, it worked out great IMO.

Also sounds like exactly the things I thought would pop up if you were looking at other places. Having it connected to a hotel and being able to use all of that space they had accordingly worked great.

And it was a great place to vend! It was nonstop people coming in and walking around on saturday and most of sunday in the vendor hall.

[udisi]

I for one enjoyed the size of the event. It makes it well worth the 5 1/2 hour drive for me. I do have some constructive criticisms, but I don't know if they can all be helped.

1) I too found the Hotel to be maze like. I didn't een know there was a downstairs for a while. I wish the location was more open, but eh....It doesn't seem like there are affordable options to remedy that.

2)There was a big banner outside the vendor hall entrance, but all those doors were locked. I got used to it quickly, but it sure did confuse a lot of people coming to the event. Maybe the check in booth and such would have been better in that hall way than near the hotel check in? Then send people down the left hall to the pinball, arcade, museum, and downstairs.

Neither of these is enough to make me stop going, just things that I wish could be better. It's a great show.

I was a little bummed at the pinball selection this year. There weren't many 90's bally/Williams machines this year, but I guess that's entirely up to exhibitors who bring what they want.

Once again, great show, I wish there was one closer to me. kudos to being about to handle the logistical nightmare that is putting on a video game show.

[16-bit]

This was my 4th year and as always I had a great time at the show--and a terrible experience getting to the show.

The new location was way better than the Olympia. Personally, I really like how spread out the show was--they used it well by giving communities within the gaming community their own space. As a result, Dan, Gary, Marty and JD really have made the show feel like "our show".

[YoshiM]

Anyone got info (URL) about the CoCo3 Donkey Kong? (And don't worry, I'll Google for it eventually, but just... you know...) I was told TWICE about it, and forgot to look while there (possibly it wasn't playing at the time; I THINK I would have noticed otherwise).

Here you go (http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/dk/).

And now to responses:


As the owner and operator of one half of the "museum", I'd have to disagree on that. That's one issue JD and I have always had every year for many years now was either the lack of room or the lack of an allowance to organize our areas to our respective visions on how we want our areas to be. With the compartmentalization this year, we finally had the ability to start working on our own unique experiences for our areas and were excited with the prospect. I specialize in home consoles (foreign and domestic) from '72 to '85 and vintage computers. JD specializes in consoles from '85 to present including Japanese imports. Our areas reflect that, and will continue to blossom in those respects as the museum sections continue to grow in to characteristic events of their own - what we like to call "events within events". I also fully intend to keep expanding my area with more specialized collectors and participants (as I already have been), and many more "ambiance" related decoration/items/happenings to give even more of an experience of stepping through the 70's and 80's. My area also has more of a call for more "museum" like displays than JD's, who leans much farther to the playability vs. display factor. This splitting allowed us to focus that more as well.

There were also issues with the "one room thing" when you have several different events all in the same room, and people thinking they're all part of the museum. The Underdog Chamber and Family Game Room are examples, and now with their own separate spaces, I look forward to seeing how their areas grow in character and content. The Ben Heck Experience area absolutely loved having their own room this year, and I know the VGEVO guys (Trickman Terry and Sushi-X) made great use of their expanded area as well.

I can see where you are coming from in regards to essentially having different environments to reflect what you are trying to convey (ie the "museum" experience in one area vs. the "gaming" area). I'm just going on past experience with the show and I liked the uniformity that was done last year. That's why I said it "flowed" better to me.

As for those thinking events were all part of the museum...I never got that that impression. I know the Ben Heck Experience probably benefited having their own space away from the noise (out of curiosity-did they get a lot of traffic? I popped in a couple times and it seemed pretty dead whereas 2009 I saw people coming up to the table on a regular basis with questions and hardware) as did VGEVO. But the Underdog Chamber? It fit with the "interaction" concept of the show.


I'm not sure if you're referring to the competition area in the main hallway outside the coin-op hall, or the Area 51 over by Jagfest in the museum wing. The Area 51 was part of Jagfest and there for a reason - because of the Cojag hardware it uses.

Area 51. I know the reason it was there but trying to muscle past people trying to play the game along with their audience was a pain.


So your suggestion is to have less vendors for next year to create more space? But then won't they need to put more stuff on the ground?

For the record, I have an eight week old son who came to the show on Saturday. There was a total of four strollers that I saw at the show the entire time, and my son was in one of the four. Does it really make sense to try to make the walkways and the entire show cater toward the maybe 10 or so parents who will have a stroller there? As a parent, if I was deciding to go to the show or not, I would have taken Ben on Sunday as it was slower, or not at all. We try to cater toward families, but the two and under crowd isn't exactly something that is easy to do at an event that draws a lot of people. It's just the truth.

Hell, my son didn't come until 7:15 at night on Saturday because I told my wife I didn't feel comfortable having him there with how crowded I expected it to be. If you have an 11 month old, and you do not have anyone else to take care of him, one of the show organizers is right here saying I wouldn't take *my own son* to the show, so I have no issues with you not coming -- but I'm not going to realistically try to cater to that tiny portion of people who do want to come with strollers. If your decision is to brave it, great -- good luck, and you'll have to be patient.

I'm just stating my comfort level as a first time parent in regards to the stroller issue. While you can't plan for everything or cater to every whim, it was a thought I had when reading the post of another that had issues with their stroller.

Like I mentioned above with the "one room" situation for the museum-I'm comparing to my experiences to the 2009 show. Vendors did have items on the floor then as well but I didn't feel like people were trying to climb over me as they passed from Point A to Point B when I was digging through the wares like I did this year. Granted I had those issues right at the opening of 2009 (in fact I was swept away in a river of people as I entered) but after waiting a bit, things calmed down and traffic thinned. Didn't have that kind of luck this year.

Again, it's my perception and just a single voice.

I might answer more later. I want to go over some photos first to see if my memory is lacking on last year.

[martyg]

As for those thinking events were all part of the museum...I never got that that impression. I know the Ben Heck Experience probably benefited having their own space away from the noise (out of curiosity-did they get a lot of traffic?

Yes, the whole downstairs did. When I stopped by Ben's a few times I had problems getting through. Gamers Network got a lot of traffic as well, Starcade was very happy with theirs and the tournament they ran.


I popped in a couple times and it seemed pretty dead whereas 2009 I saw people coming up to the table on a regular basis with questions and hardware) as did VGEVO.

Terry said they had a lot of steady traffic and were very happy with the area. Every time I was down their area was pretty full, the exception was the far far side of that room where a few odds and ends booths were (small game studios, some gaming arts and crafts, etc.)



But the Underdog Chamber? It fit with the "interaction" concept of the show.

The Underdog Chamber is and always has been it's own event.


Area 51. I know the reason it was there but trying to muscle past people trying to play the game along with their audience was a pain.

There were two entrances to every room (fire code), and specifically to the Family Game Room and JD's museum room where Jagfest was situated. I'm not sure why you'd have to muscle past anyone to get in to either one of those rooms, both of their main doorways were before Jagfest.

I'm also guessing you were never at GenCon in it's heyday here at MECCA. Events, displays, vendors, etc. were all regularly in the hallways for that as well, and that was *really* a situation of squeezing through in points.

[YoshiM]

The Underdog Chamber is and always has been it's own event.

I remember the Chamber being in the same room as the Jagfest area for a while. When it moved to the same area as the museum I thought it was rather neat because people could hop onto a computer to play and Underdog and then could move on to a console down the way.



There were two entrances to every room (fire code), and specifically to the Family Game Room and JD's museum room where Jagfest was situated. I'm not sure why you'd have to muscle past anyone to get in to either one of those rooms, both of their main doorways were before Jagfest.

It wasn't to get into the rooms, it was just to get to the bathrooms and back.


I'm also guessing you were never at GenCon in it's heyday here at MECCA. Events, displays, vendors, etc. were all regularly in the hallways for that as well, and that was *really* a situation of squeezing through in points.

Unfortunately I never got a chance to check out GenCon until 2001, the last year (if I'm not mistaken) that it was in Milwaukee. I've read about the events in the past from Dragon Magazine (the one year where staff went out and bought Nerf weaponry and vendors attempted to storm Castle TSR is a fave story). They had some stuff in hallways but the areas were wider, like the competition area at the Sheraton.

[martyg]

I remember the Chamber being in the same room as the Jagfest area for a while.

The only time Jagfest was in the museum/events hall (which is what it was called at Olympia) was when it was just a little endcap table with some Jaguar stuff on it and nobody manning it. Otherwise, when Dan I was manning it, Jagfest was in the coin room one year and by Carl F.'s booth in the vending area last year.


When it moved to the same area as the museum I thought it was rather neat because people could hop onto a computer to play and Underdog and then could move on to a console down the way.

You can still do that, just across the hallway. It's really not much different when you consider the entire Sheraton Wisconsin wing is comparable to the museum/event hall at the Olympia. Everything is still grouped in the same "area", it's just we have more room to work with in each individual area now.



It wasn't to get into the rooms, it was just to get to the bathrooms and back.

Understood. Another solution for next year if it's in the same area is to turn the coin-op sideways instead of facing out from the wall, so anybody playing it stays against the wall and in the direct Jagfest area.



Unfortunately I never got a chance to check out GenCon until 2001, the last year (if I'm not mistaken) that it was in Milwaukee. I've read about the events in the past from Dragon Magazine (the one year where staff went out and bought Nerf weaponry and vendors attempted to storm Castle TSR is a fave story). They had some stuff in hallways but the areas were wider, like the competition area at the Sheraton.

It's sad you missed out going there when it was at Mecca. That was during the glory days of paper gaming (80's and very early 90's), and it had more of a con/fan atmosphere than the trade show/corporate one it moved more towards after the purchase. Gamers sitting on the floor in the hallways doing their thing, roaming from room to room, stuff going on everywhere you looked. Midimaze was always a site to see as well (good 20 ST's networked), run by Milatari every year (I have what's left of that, still have to get it running one of these years). Used to have a lot of fun going as a teen back then, and it was a big influence on me.

[Dan Iacovelli]

The only time Jagfest was in the museum/events hall (which is what it was called at Olympia) was when it was just a little endcap table with some Jaguar stuff on it and nobody manning it. Otherwise, when Dan I was manning it, Jagfest was in the coin room one year and by Carl F.'s booth in the vending area last year.
to correct you: at MGC 2004 jagfest shared the room with underground chamber this was at the shearaton (the room was across the vending hall).
and do seem to remember that at the Oylmpia that the UC was in the center of the room and jagfest was in the back a few years back.
it was dreamcast section(the year the table fell) UC , then Jagfest.

[Dan Iacovelli]

Isent an e-mail to goatdan about what I stated here about this years show but I'll sum it up here as well:
1. the layout of the show was good while the vendor hall was a bit crowded over still good.
2. wifi: I had no time to look for JD or who ever else was in taking care of the net connection,with me and jason switching on/off on the section.
you should have either e-mail attendees,vendors and exhibitors at least two months before the show about the wifi situation with if it's free or not and how to access it, or at least have the person come to the exhibitors who need wifi and fill them in on it.
we don't have time to to go looking for person.

[martyg]

to correct you: at MGC 2004 jagfest shared the room with underground chamber this was at the shearaton (the room was across the vending hall).

Sorry, but that's incorrect. There was no Underdog Chamber in 2004. There was a Marathon Lan, and maybe that's what you're confusing it with. The Underdog Chamber did not begin until 2006, our first year at Olympia.

[Dan Iacovelli]

Sorry, but that's incorrect. There was no Underdog Chamber in 2004. There was a Marathon Lan, and maybe that's what you're confusing it with. The Underdog Chamber did not begin until 2006, our first year at Olympia.

to quote johny carson: :"I did not know that"
but didn't the LAN marathon eventually become the UC?

[thanatos]

I thought the show was awesome. The layout may have been a bit maze-y at first, but no more difficult than navigating the Olymipia.

I think the organizers may have been ripped off on a couple of commercials on the Hog, as I was leaving town at 7PM on Sunday, they ran one... A bit late for that, guys!

The biggest problem I have with the show is the same thing that happened last year... For the month or two afterward I just went ape**** on eBay buying more stuff. It gives me the systems/games bug.

[Compute]

Haha, yeah me too. I'm usually pretty good only going out to buy shit like once every couple weeks, now I'm just aching to find more games in the wild.

[DHG Hunter]

Also, how come the Versus Room was closed all day Saturday? I was really looking forward to some 10-player Saturn Bomberman!

It opened around 4-5 PM if I'm not mistaken on Saturday. The reason it was closed for so long was because I got food poisoning Friday during our set-up. It got so bad that my friends were trying to get me to go to the hospital, but honestly, I wasn't about to leave the show that I'd worked so hard on and planned for all year long. :)

That forced my guys - two of which were new this year - to set up both our museum room and Versus Room largely by themselves... Honestly, I think they did a great job! By the time I was well enough to come down on Saturday (around noon), I realized that a lot of the work of collecting systems from the various Versus Room donors still needed to be done as well as figuring out the room's electrical. After collecting what systems we still could so late on Saturday, I had two of my friends and a few volunteers working on getting the room set up as quickly as possible.

Next year, Lord willing I don't get sick or something, I hope to have the Versus Room looking much better with all of the systems we originally intented on putting in there. Plus, this year also gave me a few ideas for how the flow will work next year with that room. I definitely had certain systems like the Saturn (10-player Bomberman) and Halo Networks too close to one another.

Later.

[DHG Hunter]

Two quick notes about the show while I think about it as well...

First off, I think S1lence said something about perceiving attendance being down. It is going to be another week or two for Dan & Co. to go through all of the tickets, passes, and wristbands handed out at the show, but we already knew on the final day of the show that last year's attendance had at least been met. This was critical because our budget this year was in-line with last year's attendance plus some. Therefore, had we not hit or surpassed, we would likely be talking about the death of the show rather than what we'd like to do for 2011. ;)

Second, I have to address a lot of this talk about the show's layout. Are there things that can be done to make navigating the show easier? Certainly, and if we're in a hotel like the Sheraton again next year, we've got a year's worth of experience now that we can use to better alleviate what issues people had so long (as Dan said) we can realistically accommodate them. Yet no matter where we go there is always going to be some that have problems navigating the show... Even if we're in one large 100,000 square foot room, there will be issues.

Case in point: I knew Carlson's Mad Gear Games was in the vendor hall this year, but after moving through the hall once I couldn't find him. I looked around again and... yep... He was just inside the main door, in one of the most obvious spots around. Doh. :p

In years past we've also had people complain they didn't know where the museum or arcade rooms were at the Olympia... Up the few steps and in the next room over.

Basically, navigation is a concern for most any show out there (at least those larger than the small room we began life at in 2001 & 2002). I'm confident we'll do a much better job in the coming years taking these comments you’ve all made to heart, and in turn if we do remain in the Sheraton, a lot of you will remember the show's layout from this year and therefore be able to better navigate it next time, just like I'm sure many of you became more and more comfortable with the Olympia as we stayed there for several years.

Despite my illness, I really enjoyed the show this year and I had a lot of fun throughout. I read that some of you enjoyed playing systems like the Famicom, SuperGrafx and Pippin... That, for me anyway, makes putting the show together even more fun. :)

Later.

[Tupin]

That Pippin was fun, so was the PC-FX. I don't know if it was just the game, but the Super A'Can didn't respond to the controller when I used it?

Glad to see people were actually playing Popcorn on my CoCo. :)

Can't wait for next year!

[DHG Hunter]

I don't know if it was just the game, but the Super A'Can didn't respond to the controller when I used it?

There were two controllers connected, and for most of the games, you could only use the first. Also, I noticed someone put C.U.G. into password mode which you can't get out of unless you reset it from the system... I had to pull that shield up a few times because of that, heh.

Later.