Ovge 2011 Announced!

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

The date for 8th annual OVGE has been set!

Date: June 18th, 2011
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Place: Spirit Bank Event Center - South Ballroom

Admission: $5 for everyone ages 8 and up.

Contact me ASAP to reserve space for this year's event! Several are already reserved by exhibitors and space will fill up fast!

Full details at the website:

http://www.ovge.com

Hope to see you all there for our 2011 event!

[neist]

Woo hoo.

I enjoy this event. Glad to see it's still happening. :)

[Steve W]

Just a month away. I didn't even realize how soon it was going to be. I'm still planning on making it if I don't have problems with getting the time off.

[8bitgamer]

Just a month away. I didn't even realize how soon it was going to be. I'm still planning on making it if I don't have problems with getting the time off.

REALLY looking forward to it this year.

[Steve W]

Last year I drove out for lunch and got snarled in horrible traffic when I went Vintage Stock and GameXchange shopping. The traffic around the mall area is terrible, I'm going to avoid that section of town this time. Each year I seem to spend a little more time away from the convention hitting stores and thrifts. In a few years time I'll probably just pop in for fifteen minutes and spend the rest of the day drifting around town.

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

Quick update since we are only a month out from the show!

First and foremost is that members from TheOneUps will be back to play live and have their new album Intergalactic Redux on sale along with their other great CDs, t-shirts, and other merchandise.

Also we will have a new arcade collector graciously allowing all of us to borrow and play on his wonderful full upright cabs.

Again, check the website for the latest info and we will see you all there in one month!

[98PaceCar]

This really sucks. It's on the one day in June that I can't be there. But I'm sure it will be a great show as always!

[Darko]

Last year I drove out for lunch and got snarled in horrible traffic when I went Vintage Stock and GameXchange shopping. The traffic around the mall area is terrible, I'm going to avoid that section of town this time. Each year I seem to spend a little more time away from the convention hitting stores and thrifts. In a few years time I'll probably just pop in for fifteen minutes and spend the rest of the day drifting around town.

I can support this comment. I lived near 81st and Harvard in Tulsa for about a year training for my current job. I frequented the Tulsa game stores often and I can tell you that the Vintage Stock off of Memorial will more than likely have the lowest number of good items. There is a newer Vintage Stock off of Highway 75 and West 71st Street that I always found something at. The store on East 41st Street is also pretty decent from my experience. I realize that the product turn over in Vintage Stocks vary day to day, but if I was going to skip one it would be the one on Memorial.

If you happen to be traveling through OKC on your way to Tulsa, I would recommend stopping by the Vintage Stocks in Norman, Moore (right off I-35), Midwest City or the one located at 7407 N May. There's supposed to be a new one in Edmond but I haven't been there yet. I'll try to break down what I've noticed at each OKC store so you don't have to go out of your way for nothing.

Norman: Good NES selection, have plenty of "rare" titles upfront including a boxed Mario RPG and complete Tales of the Abyss the last time I was there. Not a good guidebook source. It's a college town so there's plenty of inventory.

Moore: Good guide book selection, quite a few NES and SNES games (mostly commons though), and typically nothing too hard to find. There are quite a few collectors in Moore so it's usually picked over. You could get lucky though. There's a Secret Scout there now that's been there for a while.

Midwest City: Usually has a really solid selection. It is right by an Air Force Base so they have a ton of inventory turn-around. Good guide book selection (last time I was there). It's potentially a little out of the way but may be worth it.

N. May OKC: I work in Nichols Hills (N. OKC) so this is the store I frequent the most. They have a pretty decent guide book selection, a nice peripheral selection, a solid supply of difficult to find games across all systems, and probably the easiest to search through set-up. The store is big and I would bet that it does more business than any other store in the OKC area. I don't know that for a fact, but they ALWAYS have new inventory. They have more Blurays/DVDs than any of the other stores as well. It is absolutely out of the way for most of you I'm sure, but if you're looking for something in particular you can call them and they should hold it for you. I've bought a LOT of items from them over the past several years.

Hope this helps some of you!

[neist]

Just putting in another word for the Oklahoma vintage stocks, if anyone is traveling by some on the way there. Good finds can be hit or miss, but I've had a good share of decent finds.

I've even found a prototype Genesis game at the Norman one, and for only 7 bucks, no less. I've also seen a Vectrex at the MWC location. Not super rare, but for a brick and mortar store, it's pretty unusual.


REALLY looking forward to it this year.

Any hope there will be early prints of your new book there? :)

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

Sorry...another quick update. The list of arcade cabs and possibly some pins scheduled to be setup for this year has been posted to the Details page of the website.

In addition Rob "Flack" O'Hara will be teaming up with Robb Sherwin to exhibit GET TEXT, an interactive display of text adventure games on a variety of vintage and modern computer platforms. Copies of Get Lamp, Necrotic Drift, Commodork and Invading Spaces will be available at the table.

Hope to see most everyone there!

[Wraith Storm]

This really sucks. It's on the one day in June that I can't be there. But I'm sure it will be a great show as always!

Man, sorry to hear you can't make it, although it's kinda odd that its happening so early this year. Last year you helped out at Mad Gears table didn't you? You guys had so many excellent import Saturn games and PC Engine stuff. I loaded up!

Is there any word if Mad Gear will be back? I'm ready to stocking up on some more import Saturn and PC Engine games.

Last year there was also a fantastic selection of domestic Saturn Games at the Trade-N-Games booth. I loaded up there. Unfortunately I had to pass up on some amazing Dreamcast deals in the process, but there is always this year!

Can't wait to see everyone there!

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

Thought I would try and explain why the early timeframe for this year's event.

I've always tried to schedule the OVGE around other events. And this year, with other expos and other events elsewhere and around the OK area it has become more and more of a challenge to find a time frame that is good for everyone. This isn't the first time the event has been held in early summer. We schedule the event this way back in 2004 and that event still remains as the largest attended event since. Besides with the event being held on father's day weekend...what spouse, girlfriend, or significant other is going to deny their mate his wish of attending the event?! ;-)

And sadly Mad Gear won't be at the event this year. As the date of the show conflicts with his schedule as well.

[98PaceCar]

Man, sorry to hear you can't make it, although it's kinda odd that its happening so early this year. Last year you helped out at Mad Gears table didn't you? You guys had so many excellent import Saturn games and PC Engine stuff. I loaded up!

Is there any word if Mad Gear will be back? I'm ready to stocking up on some more import Saturn and PC Engine games.

Last year there was also a fantastic selection of domestic Saturn Games at the Trade-N-Games booth. I loaded up there. Unfortunately I had to pass up on some amazing Dreamcast deals in the process, but there is always this year!

Can't wait to see everyone there!

Yea, I'm the one that was working with Mad Gear last year. He is actually going to be at A-Kon in Dallas the weekend before, so not too far away from you. If you are at all interested in anime, it's worth the trip to check it out. It's one of his biggest shows, so he always brings a great selection of stuff to sell and there's a ton of other cool stuff to check out. It's a huge show, but very fun!

[Steve W]

A couple weeks away now, and I'm not sure if I'll have any money to spend. Things are a little tight at the moment, I don't know if even attending this year would be worth the effort and expense.

[Steve W]

Well, Phosphor Dot Fossils is letting me sell a few things at his table, so I'll be able to afford to go to the show now. I was worrying that my finances wouldn't allow me to attend this year, it's no fun to be broke at a show like that when there's so many cool things you want to pick up but can't. And at least gas prices are dropping a little bit at a time, that'll save me a few bucks too. Now I just have to get my boss to let me have the day off.

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

Excellent Steve! We look forward to having you and PDF back again at the show!

[Steve W]

Half a week away now. I'm sorting through some of my extra stuff to sell, researching online to see how much it's all worth and getting bummed out when I find they're not all that rare and aren't worth very much. :( Hope I can sell enough to make it worth the gas money.

[Deadman]

Half a week away now. I'm sorting through some of my extra stuff to sell, researching online to see how much it's all worth and getting bummed out when I find they're not all that rare and aren't worth very much. :( Hope I can sell enough to make it worth the gas money.

I hear you Steve! I'm beginning to sort through my boxes of extras and spare parts hoping there is something there that people will be interested in. This year I'm bringing both of my sons so this is almost more of a "guys trip" rather than a money-making venture. I always come to OVGE looking to at least break even, selling just enough to cover my table costs and maybe some of the hotel costs.

I've always come home on the plus side and at the same time, I usually come home with at least one box full of new stuff that I traded for or bought. We love OVGE and are totally jazzed to head out for Tulsa on Friday!!

[Steve W]

I'm going to do what I usually do every year, start driving at a painfully early hour Saturday and time it right so I can be there at opening time. Then around four or five PM I'll head back to Dallas, probably slamming down energy drinks to keep awake.

I dug out my old Austin Game Expo name badge from 2003, the first retro game show I've ever attended (and where I discovered Atari Age and Digital Press at) so I'll wear it to the show. You'll also spot me hanging around Phosphor Dot Fossil's table like I usually do.

[Deadman]

I'll have my standard two table setup that I'll put my black and white checkered tablecloths on, so if anyone notices, stop by and say hi!

[98PaceCar]

I'm going to do what I usually do every year, start driving at a painfully early hour Saturday and time it right so I can be there at opening time. Then around four or five PM I'll head back to Dallas, probably slamming down energy drinks to keep awake.

I dug out my old Austin Game Expo name badge from 2003, the first retro game show I've ever attended (and where I discovered Atari Age and Digital Press at) so I'll wear it to the show. You'll also spot me hanging around Phosphor Dot Fossil's table like I usually do.

That was either my first or second show as well. I picked up an Amiga 3000 from the Goodwill Computerworks booth. I really wish Al would do another one!

[Darko]

Tomorrow is the big day!

[Steve W]

So I'm looking through some of my stuff, sorting through things to sell at OVGE. I have this tendency to not look all that closely at game and peripheral cases when I buy them, I'm just usually happy to have found something good. Then, much later, I find out the case is either empty or has something totally unrelated inside it. For example, I've got some Japanese PS1 memory cards in their boxes. I looked them over, and it turns out one box is empty other than the memory card's plastic storage case. Dammit. That was something from a Goodwill, I sort of expect them to screw up. But then I opened up a Japanese import of Air Force Delta that I bought at a Movie Trading Company (a division of Vintage Stock) and there's a US copy of Hydro Thunder inside. I once bought a Sega CD game in the past from them only to find out it was empty. They tend to shrinkwrap everything they can get their hands on, but they're not overly concerned whether or not the item inside belongs there. At thrift stores, it's usually old ladies sorting through CDs and stuff, they don't know what goes where so they'll put some AOL CDs inside a FFVII case and then scotch-tape it shut. I would think a business like Movie Trading Company would at least check before they seal things up.

[Wraith Storm]

Wow... It's already 4:40 in the morning? I should probably get some sleep before the show. Sleep is good. :)

The past few hours I have been going through all my Saturn games and aside from a few select titles, I pretty much have all the domestic games I want. Last years show was amazing and I was able round out my Saturn collection.

This year I think i'll be focusing on Dreamcast. Hopefully there will be some 3do stuff as well, we'll see. In all honesty, last years show will be hard to beat, but as always, i'm sure it will be good fun!

I'll also have my son with me. He was born in January so this will be his first (of hopefully MANY) OVGE's. It's never too early to get him started on the classics!

Now if I could only find my old Digital Press name tag that I made a few years ago...

I suppose I will now stop my rambling... See you all there!

[Flack]

If I remember correctly, you found your name tag ... and it was nice to meet your son! :)

I will try and post some pictures of the show tomorrow. Had a good time hanging out with all the DP folk (Phosphor Dot Fossils, Icbrkr, Gapporin, Ubikuberalles) and the guys at my table (Robb Sherwin and my buddy Jeff) and of course all the people who came by and checked out our display of old text adventures!

Great show again, Crossbow!

[Flack]

Pictures from the show:

http://robohara.com/photo/index.php?album=Conventions%2FOVGE_2011

[Steve W]

Man, I was tired for the show. I didn't sleep well the night before, I was humming from energy drinks all day.

Phosphor Dot Fossils let me sell some stuff from his table and I managed to sell a good amount of gear. I was shocked that nobody wanted to buy my Telegames Dina 2-in-1. I sold a good amount of stuff, and I didn't go crazy and blow all my money there. All in all, a great show.

What happened to Play N' Trade? They had a table reserved over by the side of the arcade cabinets, but they never showed up. Any reason for that?

[Deadman]

Another great OVGE! My sons had a blast playing with Nathan and some of the other kids there, and now they are all over me to find a Super Mario pinball machine for the house. I have to say that I'm with them on that one - that was one fun game! Oddly, when I got home and was unpacking, I realized that I only bought a couple of things at the show, with most of them being for my kids and only bought a Retro Gamer shirt for myself! NO GAMES AT ALL! It was a pretty busy show and I was selling pretty solid most of the day but I can't believe I didn't get ANYthing fun for myself. Fairly disappointed in that and will have to try a little harder next year!

Thanks Jesse and Vickie for putting on another GREAT OVGE!

[Wraith Storm]

If I remember correctly, you found your name tag ... and it was nice to meet your son! :)

Yeah. I found it at the last minute buried under some books.

Thanks! And you know... he handled the show much better than I though he would. After a while he started to get a little fussy but then I put him in the sling and he just passed out.


Pictures from the show:

http://robohara.com/photo/index.php?album=Conventions%2FOVGE_2011

HAHA! Looks like we were sniped by the camera. And without my son in the sling it looks like i'm wearing some badgless boyscout sash! LOL. But at least the polkadots really add something Domo-kun.


What happened to Play N' Trade? They had a table reserved over by the side of the arcade cabinets, but they never showed up. Any reason for that?

I was wondering the same thing. Last year he handed out lanyards and promotional stuff which was kind of cool. I need to swing by his store and see what happened.



Overall it was a pretty good show. I didn't get as much Dreamcast stuff as I was hoping for but I did manage to snag a complete boxed euro copy of Shenmue 2 for a very decent price. It looks absolutely beautiful hooked up with the VGA box. Its one of the few DC imports that I have wanted for quite some time. Now if I could get my hands on Head Hunter and Evil Twin!

But yeah, I had a blast and it was a lot of fun talking to the regulars like Jeff and Rob (Your text adventure set-up was awesome) and also meeting Deadman.

[8bitgamer]

Another fun show! I sold a lot more games than I did last year. Good crowd both years, but customers had their wallets open this time out.

I went to that 2003 show in Austin. It was great and had a huge turnout.

[Steve W]

Its one of the few DC imports that I have wanted for quite some time. Now if I could get my hands on Head Hunter and Evil Twin!

Ugh. Both of those games have (or possibly in the past tense by this time) been in a local store for a while. I've tried twice to buy them, but they wouldn't sell them to me because they couldn't locate copies on eBay to come up with a price for them (they were looking them up right in front of me!). Meanwhile, 98PaceCar went in and bought nearly 20 Japanese Dreamcast games for under $50 because they couldn't look up the Kanji names on eBay most likely. This is the same place that's been trying to sell an Atari 2600 and a dozen commons on Craigslist for $100 for a year and a half. The place is owned by douchebags.

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

OVGE 2K11 is over and what a show it was! We had excellent attendance with more people this year than last! The OneUps played 2 sets of their excellent retro game tunes, we had the largest arcade setup we've ever had, and the overall energy and vibe during the event this year was simply beyond measure! Here are links to Friday night setup and OVGE event pictures. Enjoy!

OVGE 2K11 Event Pics (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.183122385075528.52538.100001333044856&l=7a3f28db47)

Friday Night Setup (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.183111275076639.52534.100001333044856&l=05e740873c)

[Badhornet]

Another fun show! I sold a lot more games than I did last year. Good crowd both years, but customers had their wallets open this time out.

I went to that 2003 show in Austin. It was great and had a huge turnout.


OVGE is always a great show. I was also at that Austin show......it was outstanding.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Hi guys, this is Robb from the text game table. It really was a great show, and I look forward to attending the next one! I wrote up some stuff on my site at caltrops.com about the show -- http://www.caltrops.com/2011/06/20/oklahoma-video-game-expo-2011/

[Flack]

(The other) Robb got a lot of comments about his game Cryptozookeeper at the show, most of them being, "Wow -- this game is really not kid friendly." ;)

I also have a post about the show on ym own site (http://www.robohara.com/?p=3543), although mine is less a review of the show than it is a review of my table. Maybe I'll write up something more about the show tonight.

For what it's worth, I thought this year's show was the smoothest to date.

[Deadman]

For what it's worth, I thought this year's show was the smoothest to date.

Yeah, Jesse and Vickie do a great job, but coming from a toy and comic collecting background with shows/expos/conventions on a monthly basis, I NEED MORE! Maybe we could convince them to do one in Texas - maybe Dallas or Austin? I think there could be a nice turnout.

[jeffg]

i think a game show in DFW or Austin would have a Great Turnout, there is a bunch of game collectors around here. You check DP/NA/Atariage and there are a bunch of collectors from the Metroplex area.

[Badhornet]

Agreed. Any show along I-35 from Dallas down to San Antonio would have a great turnout. Texas severly lacks a show like this. This was evident from that show in Austin in 03 where the turnout was tremendous

[8bitgamer]

Agreed. Any show along I-35 from Dallas down to San Antonio would have a great turnout. Texas severly lacks a show like this. This was evident from that show in Austin in 03 where the turnout was tremendous

The legend of that incredible Austin show continues to grow. I'm utterly baffled as to why there are no classic videogame shows in Texas. Screwattack was the closest thing we had, but I think that ship has sailed since the girl who ran the show no longer works for them. I wish Albert (with AtariAge) or David (with Game Over Videogames) or some other prominent Texas-based figure in the industry would get a show together.

[Steve W]

I think what killed it for Dallas was the VGXpo from a few years ago. That show didn't go very well at all. The One-Ups played there also, but a bunch of vendors didn't show up, the guy bringing the arcade machines just forgot about it, and things quickly lost momentum. The cosplay contest never happened because only one person showed up in costume (a girl dressed as Ulala from Space Channel 5) for example. The convention was also held at the back of another convention sponsored by NBC's channel 5, mainly to do with home improvement but they also had Winnebagos, technology for the physically impaired, and some kind of kid's soccer arena. I wasn't aware of any of this when I got there, I could find no mention of VGXpo being there, I almost turned around and went home. But I decided I had better check the Home and Garden (or whatever) convention out and found Albert at the Atari Age table at the far back. The whole event was a letdown from the start, and I think it might have damaged future prospects for any other conventions around this area.

The VGXpo was supposed to be for Saturday and Sunday. I spent the day there on Saturday, and when I got off work Sunday I went back there to deliver an Atari 800XL to Scott Huggins in trade for a copy of his new homebrew Spectar for the Colecovision. Only the Atari Age table was there. No other vendors bothered to put out the effort and show up on Sunday since Saturday was such a disappointment. That's how bad the show was.

[8bitgamer]

I think what killed it for Dallas was the VGXpo from a few years ago.

I didn't hear about that show until after the fact, so I was spared the "misery." (Still wish I would've known about it, though).

[Deadman]

That's one show that I wanted to go to, but it was not to be. Wasn't it on either July 4th weekend, or even on the 4th itself? I just remember it being a badly chosen date and even though I really wanted to go, it just wasn't going to happen on the holiday weekend. I did hear from some guys here on DP and a few other sites that it was literally a waste of oxygen, as no one attended...

[98PaceCar]

I think the VGExpo was the one that was on the same weekend as a CGE. Screwattack was always over the 4th of July and was *ok*. Not a lot of vendors and mostly just a way for the AVGN and others to act like celebrities, but it was a local show at least.

[Steve W]

I think the VGExpo was the one that was on the same weekend as a CGE.
I think that was the case. I know people like Flack showed up to VGExpo, hung out for an hour, and then left.


Considering how retro games have become more plentiful across the Metroplex since that expo, maybe someone needs to consider organizing another classic gaming show. Perhaps it could be merged with the big pinball convention held over in Grapevine. Since there's so many game stores locally, they could all be contacted to see if they'd be interested in setting up tables. Movie Trading Company (Vintage Stock), Play N' Trade, Console Game Exchange, FX Game Exchange, Game Master in Rowlett, GameXchange in Waxahachie, and GameChop in Carrollton amongst others. There's also the Houston arcade and pinball show - those guys could be contacted to see if they'd like to bring some arcade cabs with them. And there's plenty of out of town folks that wouldn't mind setting up booths at a Dallas convention, like Atari Age and the Game Over store, both from Austin. The organizers could look around and see if they could find some locals involved with gaming back in the day and put together a speech or two. I really believe that a great show could be put together here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

[Flack]

vgXpo was August 20-21, 2005, the same weekend as CGE2K5 (I just checked my blog). I can't seem to find my old review of the show so I'll have to go by memory, which is a dangerous thing to do at my age.

Basically my recollection of the show was (a) there wasn't much there and (b) many of the things that were promised didn't materialize. Like Steve W said, the costume contest didn't happen due to lack of participation, the huge promised arcade wasn't there, and so on. I remember picking up a flyer saying someone (I can't remember if it was the One-Ups or not) would be performing at 3pm at a stage. At 3pm, my friend, my son, and I were the only three there.

If I remember correctly, vgXpo only had about 4 vendors. The Atari Age guys went all out and I remember seeing TradeNGames there, but as far as playing games and such, there just wasn't much to do. OVGE has always been considered to be a pretty small show, and that year I think they had 24 or 25 vendors, so I was simply shocked at the turnout of vgXpo. Plus, as everyone else said, the show was stuck in the back corner of a home and gardening expo or something. Right next to some of the exhibitors was a dental depot and an animal shelter trying to get people to adopt pets.

Here are my old pics from the show: http://robohara.com/photo/index.php?album=Conventions%2FVGXPO_2005

I've always kind of felt like this one summed up the show: http://robohara.com/photo/index.php?album=Conventions%2FVGXPO_2005&image=p1010017.jpg