Any first words on CGE???? [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

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GamingGirl

08-11-2003, 01:39 AM

Anybody who went to the show got some words for us? What was the big surprise that the CGE guys had in store for people??? :-D

Teddman

08-11-2003, 02:14 AM

Nolan Bushnell delivered an awesome keynote speech this afternoon from 1:30pm to 3:30pm, and then signed autographs and posed for pictures with the attendees. It was really great; I couldn't believe the amount of fascinating anecdotes he related about the inner working of Atari and the origins of the company.

The "Godfather of Videogames" really dished the dirt--he should write a biography tell-all book about Atari (if he hasn't already). That place was like a soap opera... And Mr. Bushnell was a shrewd businessman, like the Machiavelli of videogames.

I'm sure you'll hear a lot more about it soon, but that was the highlight of the show for sure!

My other personal favorite moment was getting to play the unreleased gold beta final version of Sega AM2's Propellor Arena, a terrific dogfighting game that was cancelled due to 9/11.

GamingGirl

08-11-2003, 02:19 AM

WOW!!!!!!!!!! Nolan Bushnell???????? O_O O_O Why didn't they just announce that he was coming so that more people would have come out to the show??? That is quite a catch and something I definitely would have been more than happy to announce if I were them! Awesome!!

Teddman

08-11-2003, 02:31 AM

It was a last-minute arrangement... I don't know how soon they knew that he was going to be at the show, and I think it was even a tentative booking up until this weekend.

The show's organizers probably didn't want to advertise that Nolan Bushnell was going to be there and then risk the possibility that he couldn't make it.

In fact, it was so last-minute that they had to cancel the keynote speech scheduled for the same time today, featuring a classic game programmer... On Saturday, the posted schedule for the Expo's Sunday events didn't even make a reference to Mr. Bushnell at all.The first time they announced he'd be attending was during the game auction on Saturday night.

His keynote speech today was AMAZING, I think it could have gone on twice as long and everyone would have been glued to their seats... It felt like 2 1/2 to 3 hours wasn't enough time for all of the fascinating anecdotes and inside info he shared. The conference room was packed too--standing room only!

I'll post some more details soon. Hopefully more attendees will make their way to the board as they get home and add their take on it all...

Biohazard

08-11-2003, 04:46 AM

DEBRO

08-11-2003, 05:44 AM

Nolan Bushnell!! :o

Please tell me CGE services video taped the session.

DEBRO

08-11-2003, 05:45 AM

In fact, it was so last-minute that they had to cancel the keynote speech scheduled for the same time today, featuring a classic game programmer...

And who was the classic game programmer??

Phosphor Dot Fossils

08-11-2003, 06:52 AM

You guys want some first words on CGE2K3? I'll give you two: FREAKIN' AWESOME. Lemme tell you, the past three days have rocked my world. I don't even know where to start, but I'll give it a shot, if only to distract myself from the indigestion-induced insomnia (say that five times fast) courtesy of the overpriced food at Star Trek: The Experience...

Nolan Bushnell, of course. He fielded some pretty tough questions honestly, talked about what sounds like an absolutely bizarre unreleased Atari pinball table, his bid to acquire the Atari name and IP rights out from under Hasbro, and some of the wild legends and rumors that have persisted about Atari for years and years.

Trading DVDs with Howard Scott Warshaw. I had a handful of copies of my demo reel on DVD with me this weekend, including the concept work I've done for my own documentary project, and I gave him a copy when I bought his new Once Upon Atari DVD.

The alumni dinner. Good God, but I had a deer-in-the-headlights things goin' on here, and then Steve Woita introduces me to Dan Kramer and we're off and running, meeting folks left and right. But, without wanting to downplay any of these meetings and introductions, I have to say that it was amazingly cool to sit and just talk shop with Bill Kunkel over dinner. A big chunk of my living is made off of writing, and a big part of what made me pursue that from a young age was my fondness for the writing in Electronic Games. I was in awe, and yet digging the conversation too much to let my guard down and have my little fanboy moment there. In retrospect, I probably should have done the latter too while I was at it.

John Harris! Poor guy - he had such a tiny crowd at his keynote, and yet he had such an interesting story to tell about Jawbreaker, Jawbreaker II, Atari 8-bit Frogger, and why you're not anybody until you've been sued by Sierra! It was a riot, a really nice intimate little panel, and I got to ask a LOT of questions I've always wanted to ask about Jawbreaker, a personal favorite of mine. I hope I succeeded in talking him into doing Jawbreaker as a PDA/palm/PocketPC game!

And most of all, meeting all my pals from the forums and elsewhere. Joe, John, Sean, Jaime, Kris, Laura, Keith, Nate, Mat, Matt, Ian, Tim, everybody. I already regard most everyone here as my friend, but now there are real names and faces and voices to put to those online nicknames. It was great to finally meet Chris Cavanaugh, Michael Thomasson, Leonard Herman in person...geez, I feel like I better stop naming names before I leave someone out. I feel like I made a hundred new best friends this weekend.

CONFIRMED: TheRedEye throws quite the party - and himself, right across the room, playing Duck Hunt! LOL

Star Trek: The Embarrassment: in brief, I couldn't get my shit together, and so our "evacuation shuttle" ride took something like five minutes to get off the ground. More than enough time for the Klingons to wipe out anotherfluke, myself, and a buddy of mine from out of town who tagged along. Yes, there I was, Mr. Star Trek Episode Guide, screwing the whole thing up for everyone. HA!

The CGE Auction. I was actually bidding on someone else's behalf, as arranged before the Expo, on a certain SNES game that flew up by a few HUNDRED dollars. I gotta admit, I kinda enjoyed being the center of attention there without saying a word, but then again it wasn't my money, and I had been given a limit to take it up to, but damned if it wasn't some good fun. That explains why someone who doesn't even like SNES was bidding the hell outta that game, and then didn't chase anything past $35 for the rest of the night!

All in all, to put it simply, CGE was the best time I've had in MANY years. I felt bad that I missed as many of the keynotes as I did, but there were so many people to meet, coin-ops to play, pictures and video to take, and new releases, homebrews, and long-desired original titles to buy. I got some stuff that I've always wanted, met people I've always wanted to meet, shot twelve disks of photos and four hours of video, and got a quick reminder why you folks are some of my best buds - now without the silly element of never having met anyone in person.

Oh, and ask Laura about the PINBALL MACHINE she won in the raffle - it is MIGHTY!!

I loved it. Man, I've been bummed since I passed the hall on the way back from grabbing a drink downstairs and seeing the whole room empty, the games all gone, everything bare. I did not want it to end.

Beautiful show. My thanks to everyone involved. CGE ROCKS.

sniperCCJVQ

08-11-2003, 09:03 AM

Nolan Bushnell, of course. He fielded some pretty tough questions honestly, talked about what sounds like an absolutely bizarre unreleased Atari pinball table, his bid to acquire the Atari name and IP rights out from under Hasbro, and some of the wild legends and rumors that have persisted about Atari for years and years.

WOW ! O_O

Thanks PDF for the cool recap.

It's look likes it was an awesome show this year.

I hope the part with Bushnell was taped or recorded !

Just reading this get me pumped for the next Phylliclassics !

sniperCCJVQ

08-11-2003, 09:04 AM

sniperCCJVQ

08-11-2003, 09:05 AM

DOH!

Double post, sorry.

MarioAllStar2600

08-11-2003, 10:18 AM

I cant believe its over.... :( On another hand Bushnell was pretty intresting. Its true he did host his meetings in hot tubs!!!!!!!!!!!! Me and Punkoffgirl are officially good friends. And the party was pretty fun, although Janice never showed up though for furniture tetris. Extreme Duck hunt was pretty fun to watch though.

kevincure

08-11-2003, 02:13 PM

CGE was awesome. Me and two friends made the 15-hr drive from Oregon down to Vegas (made worse by that bastard of a traffic jam on I-15) and got ready to rock.

Highlights of the show:
-Bushnell's speech and my silver-signed Atari controller. Great anecdotes - Nolan cleared up the Magnavox/Pong debate again and discussed his favorite current game (Halo).
-CGE Museum. Damn. Both NWC's, all the test cartridges, hotel units, Mr. Gimmick and Rodland, Cosmos, Atari 2800, Vectrex stand-ups, boxed Stadium Events. Damn again.
-All the arcade games. Robotron is a better game when Walter Day and Billy Mitchell are standing a few feet away :-).
-The CGE Auction. I almost took a Vectrex w/ Multicart, but wasn't sure if I should be spending the money. Except for a few items, there were some fantastic buys at CGE. My bud got Dragonball GT for 110, the Vectrex w/ Multi went for 140, Condor Attack for 180. I was hoping to see some bigger money items go (like an AdventureVision or an NWC), but still very fun. The bidding war for the original Nintendo Game Counselor books was great.
-Bought tons of cool stuff including a NeoGeo pocket, 1-up Magazine (great, by the way), Psychopedia and a grip of Playstation2 goods from the TGS where it was announced (including the demo disc and documentation from Sony on "Gran Turismo 2000" - the demo disc is a CD-r with GT2000 9/18 and something in Japanese on it - pretty rad, huh?)
-Warlords, Firestarter playing club tracks on a gameboy hooked up to his mixer and laptop, meeting everyone, NBA Jam

Kev

Boboduo

08-11-2003, 05:32 PM

What a great show! This was the 2nd CGE that i've been to
and it was better. Everything was top-notch, the keynote
speeches, more vendors, cool CGE shirts, awe-inspiring museum,
CGE auction, And good job guys on nabbing Bushnell!
I will definitely be going next year. To all who couldn't make it-
all i have to say is start saving and preparing to go now-you'll
have a blast! :D

Kudos to all CGE staff and Volunteers!!!

rolenta

08-11-2003, 06:09 PM

On Saturday, the posted schedule for the Expo's Sunday events didn't even make a reference to Mr. Bushnell at all.The first time they announced he'd be attending was during the game auction on Saturday night.

Not true. The schedule that was posted outside the main door cleaarly had Nolan listed for Sunday and it was up when the show opened Saturday morning. I was surprised to see his name listed because I had been told that it wouldn't be announced that Nolan was attending until late Saturday afternoon.

rolenta

08-11-2003, 06:19 PM

-Nolan cleared up the Magnavox/Pong debate again

Not really. And since I may be publishing Ralph Baer's autobiography later this year, I better make the facts clear.

- Nolan said at his keynote that when he saw the Odyssey, it was a failure. Nolan saw the Odyssey before the Odyssey was released. How can something be a failure before it even comes out.

- Nolan said one of the main problems with the game when he first saw it was that it was for two players only. I don't remember ever seeing anyone playing Pong by himself. (I'm referring to the arcade version which was clearly 'inspired' by the Magnavox failure.

- Magnavox sold over 160,000 Odyssey's during it's first year, and that was by selling them only in Magnavox stores. Nolan said they manufactured 150,000 Home Pongs.

- Nolan referred to the Home Pong as the first home videogame game. Come on! Even if the Odyssey was a failure, it was still first.

Unfortunately, Nolan suffers from a selective memory. In the Atari episode of G4's Icons, Nolan said that the name Atari was actually his third choice. Yesterday he said it was his 4th or 5th choice.

I have nothing against Nolan and I enjoyed talking with him and presenting him. But please, let's get the facts correct!

Teddman

08-11-2003, 06:38 PM

thejpc

08-11-2003, 07:36 PM

kevincure wrote:

-Bushnell's speech and my silver-signed Atari controller. Great anecdotes - Nolan cleared up the Magnavox/Pong debate again and discussed his favorite current game (Halo).

Actually it was Halo AND WarCraft III... :)

rolenta

08-11-2003, 07:36 PM

Well, in any event they did have to bump somebody's keynote to make room for Mr. Bushnell.

Nobody was bumped. Someone didn't show.

Teddman

08-11-2003, 07:59 PM

Sorry I had the details incorrect--thanks for clearing that up.

Got your book by the way; it's great!

evg2000

08-11-2003, 11:19 PM

I put up a few pictures at:

www.evg2000.com

enjoy 8-)

later,
Charles

PS Great Show!

TheRedEye

08-11-2003, 11:24 PM

CONFIRMED: TheRedEye throws quite the party - and himself, right across the room, playing Duck Hunt! LOL

Don't forget lamps and furniture. I threw those too.

Atar1G1rl

08-12-2003, 12:09 AM

CONFIRMED: TheRedEye throws quite the party - and himself, right across the room, playing Duck Hunt! LOL

Don't forget lamps and furniture. I threw those too.

Which led to Jaime throwing pretzels left and right and almost getting a few down Portnoyd's pants. NO I wasn't upset about the shots!!! LOL

Fantastic weekend, folks! It was great to meet everyone and be a part of it! And just to see the look of awe on Earl's face was truly cool! I should have taken a picture! I only wish CGE2k3 could have lasted longer and that I could have had more time to get to know some of you even better. Maybe I'll talk more next year! ;)

Oh, and yes, the pinball machine is truly a piece of work, let me tell you. The whole event would have been worth the trip just to have DP members come running at the call of my name. I do hope someone has a pic of me and my prize! :D

Hugs to everyone again! Thanks to all who put it together! Michael and I will definitely be back again next year!

Ian, still haven't found the magic of Sierra Madre yet, but we'll keep on looking...

And if I find out who stole my DP name tag, your ass is grass... well, next year, anyway! :)

thejpc

08-12-2003, 02:41 AM

Charles (evg2000) wrote:

I put up a few pictures at:
www.evg2000.com
enjoy
later,
Charles
PS Great Show!

Great pics, and if you look carefully on the Swap & Auction page here:

http://www.evg2000.com/cge2k3/swap_auction/index.htm

you can even find a few photos without the lovely Janice in them! :-D

Serves me right for not getting any pics with her on Saturday before she left... :(

Things to do next year: pics with Janice, arrive on or before Friday, bring more trades, book a hotel room early, work with the DP team, play more games, go to parties, meet more people, get something of mine in the Museum, sell something in the auction, buy something in the auction, have someone mistake me for someone famous and ask me for my autograph, have at least one new C64 cartridge game for sale, get Nolan to sign something cool for me, talk to Howard and everyone else I missed, etc etc etc. ;)

Queen Of The Felines

08-12-2003, 03:00 AM

Personal highlights:

- Playing the Dragon's Lair prototype disc. "WTF? I don't remember THAT!"

- Owning the Super Punch-Out game.

- Making Steve Woita's day.

- Seeing PDF's face when the Magnavox set was brought out during the auction. Priceless!

- Janice = Hottie. Oh yeah.

- The aforementioned Tropicana excursion with the lovely shrimp cocktail.

- Watching Gary Kitchen get all excited when I gave him a boxed Space Jockey to sign.

- Thinking Laura won the pinball machine instead of...um, the OTHER pinball machine. ;)

- Seeing "Malcom in the Middle" being filmed around town.

- Watching Mayhem pitch a royal fit in the Delta check-in line at the airport. ;)

- Finding out that Drexel doesn't wear underwear. ;)

- Seeing John Hardie's fantastic spit-take when Jaime mentioned that she and I were sleeping together that night. (Sleeping together in the same room, that is ;) )

- Pulling Anotherfluke's ponytail. Damn, he's got a lot of great hair!

- Realizing that I could've gone unnoticed the entire weekend because when I didn't have my badge nobody knew who the hell I was! *cough* Laura *cough* Tim *cough*

- Meeting everyone here on the boards, of course :)

Kristine

Raedon

08-12-2003, 03:28 AM

So many great, unexpected things came out of going to CGE this year it really transends mere classic gaming into it's own sub-genre of fun...

Meeting everyone and seeing their mannerisms and internal humor for the first time was the biggest "unsheduled" highlight.

Bushnell was a madman!

Playing many of the LD arcade games I have only read about.

Hearing the other keynotes I could make.. Man, I wish I had brought a production team.. that would have been DVD money in the bank.

Kicking MayhemUK's ass at Tempest.

The WORST CGE MOMENT!!

The G4 producer forced me to play 2600 Pacman for 30 minutes for some sort of top 10 shoot.. I hate 2600 pacman >.< I told her, "Mind if we play Warlords" and I swear she got a look on her face like I had just slapped her daughter's ass. "NO... You need to play pacman!" .. spooky..

Phosphor Dot Fossils

08-12-2003, 04:10 AM

Actually, I DO have photos of Laura examining her MIGHTY pinball machine! I'm going to have an extensive retrospective up soon. Due to severe weather lurking, waiting for me, ready to pounce as soon as my plane crossed the Texas border en route to DFW on the way home, it took me 18 hours to get home, most of that spent in DFW during a horrendous storm. I plugged my handheld into a power outlet in the waiting area to recharge, and set about writing quite the huge essay about things I saw, people I met, quite the detailed play-by-play.

I'm in the process of transferring my video to DVD, and I could just about cry. My video sucks. I'm used to a much heavier camera (my SVHS monster or the big DVCpro news cams at work), not the little handycam that I borrowed from my in-laws for the weekend. It's like watching the Expo in a caffiene-fueled instant replay. JITTER!!!! I got all of Nolan's keynote, but the video is horrible, just shaky as hell, and the audio isn't great - too much sound "leakage" from the main expo hall since I was just using the built-in microphone. Other people, several others, had camcorders for that though - I'm sure someone'll come up with decent video. and hopefully some of the expo organizers had direct audio input set up. I just couldn't lug a tripod around everywhere with me. But I did get some decent video of Seth's musical performances, the booths, the museum, various arcade games in play, and Chris Cavanaugh giving me a "you're harshin' my buzz, man!" look as I taped him dying in Millipede.

I just wish it wasn't all so shaky. And I hope I didn't come across as a total doof to everybody. I was just so wide-eyed and amazed by it all. I played a real game of Kickman this weekend. Several, in fact. Holy crap.

I feel bad about missing as many of the keynotes as I did...but y'know, I was just having my walk-around-in-a-20-years-ago-today-haze moment, and it lasted all weekend long. I made it to the Starcade, arcade programmers, John Harris and Nolan panels, and that was it. I wanted to hit the INTV panel, but I was so fried from Friday and Saturday nights that I literally slept through the opening two hours of the Expo on Sunday morning - something I'm still quite honestly really pissed at myself for.

punkoffgirl

08-12-2003, 05:26 AM

What an incredible weekend it was! I had such a fantastic time, I'm not sure words can do the experience justice, but I'll give it a try anyway. The photos will come later this week. I've been trying to make notes so I don't leave anything out! :) I don't even know where to start..
I met SO many forums members this year, I can't even remember all their names, but I'll do my best! First, there was that girl I shared the hotel room with.. Kristine! Finally, after 2+ years of online/telephone friendship, I got to meet her in person. And it was great :) And Laura, too, who I felt like we just didn't see enough of (ps- Michael is a cutie!). We never did find your name tag, not even hidden under the table somewhere. Wes, I'm SO glad you came, you were one of the people I looked forward to meeting the most, it was terrific to have a chance to talk to you. And Earl, I wouldn't change a thing about you. It makes the show so much more fun just to see someone else enjoying it so much! Janice, I really really enjoyed meeting you and talking with you, we're both east coasters, so hopefully we'll have a chance to meet up again sometime soon, you were a lot of fun :) Kevin, what can I say? Can you give me a hand carrying this box, I think it's too heavy to carry alone :-D Mr Future Entertainment Director, too. Nick, I'm glad you didn't fall out of the taxi door and die a horrible death on the streets of Vegas. Next year we'll let YOU pick the cab. Thanks for sticking around to help after the show, too. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you don't wear underwear, it'll be our secret. Mister Seth 8BitWeapon! Another person I said "It's about TIME!" when I met you :) The music was fantasic at the show, thanks mostly to you. You'd better be back next year. Frank, thanks for throwing the party, and thanks for the raisins, too. I spanked Dave with your sword. I'm sorry if I left pretzels in your bed. Lawrence, aka l_lamb, it was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you, too, for sticking around to help out after the show. I hope you have a bigger curb built to keep those crazy grannies from trying to make your store a drive-thru. Marty! When I first saw him, I didn't know who he was. I was standing in front of the "bar" area at the party, and here comes this kid walking up. I'm thinking, hmm, is this the forum member I think it is? So I ask, "Do we know you?" He said, "I'm just trying to get some soda" and I realized that it looked like I was playing bar patrol. We got past that, and I just want to say it was great meeting you! Did you get a chance to try out that NES hands-free controller yet? Folks, just in case you don't know, Marty is being groomed to take over CGE when John decides to retire :)
Wow, didn't realize this was getting so long, and I'm not even done yet. There was John Soper, BoatOfCar and the lovely Miss Meow, Chris "Cav", thejpc, thevideogamemaster Jim, icbrkr and anyone else's name I forgot that I met for the first time. Of course, it was great to see everyone else again: Tim, Keith, Ian, Dave "Beefmaster" G, Dave W, Don, Nate, Kevin "Retroyoungen", Mat, and every other person I saw, including the Three Stooges in change of the whole show :-D
That covers the people for now, remind me to tell you later about the show *lol*

Mayhem

08-12-2003, 07:14 AM

I'm dead... but still alive!

Woah, what a ride and all there... so much to tell, so little time 8-)

Pictures erm later, if my sodding webspace returns (it's done a bunk AGAIN!), if not then you'll just have to make do with some words...

Great to meet everyone again, thanks to Jaime for crashing in our room and getting me into the alumni dinner. That's ONE surprise I'm not going to forget in a hurry ;)

Free arcades, can't beat that even if I couldn't handle Tempest on extreme setting and seeing Kris wipe the floor with me at Super Punchout. Still, I got her back on Hypersports :P

Keynote speeches were great again, and Nolan Bushnell's was the icing on the cake. As mentioned he did field some tough questions and it was good to see him answer them somewhat and not duck ;)

Air Con... the difference between Vegas and the UK during that week (as the UK went over 100F for the first time ever in my absence!).

Oh and Kris... have to mention the kitty... I'll be back ;)

Cav

08-12-2003, 09:05 AM

WOW! Double WOW! (I told you it would go by all too fast!!). It's like the day after Christmas now. Well... two days.

I had a fantastic time, as usual. The show gets better and better. This year was a unique experience for me, and one I won't forget. The day before the show, Joe contacted me and said there were some last minute changes and wondered if I could help moderate a couple of the keynotes. Would I? Hell yeah! Oh wait...public speaking scares the crap out of me. But I decided to suck it up, take the challenge and contribute to the Expo in any way I could. What started out as being just "a couple keynotes" turned out to be quite a few. One of the other moderators had some emergencies and couldn't present most of the keynotes he was scheduled for so Leonard Herman and myself stepped into his.

Aside from a couple of blunders on my part I think it went fairly well. There was a last minute change for the Starcade keynote so I had to give it a day earlier. That threw me off a bit. Mark Richards spun a good yarn and was very personable, but I thought Damon Claussen stole the keynote with his stories as a contestant. Then I was called in last second to present the Arcade keynote. D'oh! While scrambling to get everyone's name (and pronunciations) the programmers wanted to remove the podium so they could be seen better. Smart move, but it threw me off in that I had to make like Quasimodo to introduce them. Now I had zero introduction prepared for these guys and figured they had done this before so I just basically said, "These are the arcade programmers, these are their names..have at it." ......and silence.... and more silence.... :embarrassed: Then it got rolling. Phew! God forbid I started the proceedings by having them introduce themselves. Bad moderator! Bad! Now I know better.

The highlight though was meeting Nolan before his keynote. However, if I knew we were going to be starting him so late (which I didn't!) I would've kept him in the hallway until we introduced him. I was getting VERY uncomfortable standing there thinking we were going to be starting 'any second now.' The poor guy started to look like a zoo animal sitting there while everyone was snapping pictures of him. Thankfully it rolled smoothly after that. I'm proud to say I was the "Official Water Boy for Nolan Bushnell."

As Earl mentioned, the other great yet underattended keynote was the John Harris one. The guy was asked at the very last minute if he wouldn't mind giving a speech. If you missed that one, then you missed some great tales about Sierra On-Line, Jawbreaker, Frogger, and the Jaguar. Good stuff.

Ok, I'll quit rambling now. Great, great show though overall. I got to meet some great people. Earl Green, whom I had never met and I would've enjoyed talking to Punk Off Girl more. She did something REALLY nice for Tim Snider for his birthday, that I thought was just...well, really a nice thing to do. Either Tim or her can give the detail if they want.

I'm sure I'll be interjecting in some other posts, but I wanted to give my perspective on a few events. And especially a big thanks to everyone for putting up with a "greenhorn" moderator. Your patience (tolerance?) made it go A LOT easier.

Best,

-Cav

rolenta

08-12-2003, 12:17 PM

It was Tim's birthday? Damn! Qhy am I always left out of the loop?

Sniderman

08-12-2003, 12:46 PM

...and I would've enjoyed talking to Punk Off Girl more. She did something REALLY nice for Tim Snider for his birthday, that I thought was just...well, really a nice thing to do. Either Tim or her can give the detail if they want.

To summarize the "niceness:" My birthday was Sunday and I was being a bit of a pain in the ass. I was having a grand ol' CGE time, but I was getting the mopes - missed my wife and dog, wasn't eating birthday cake, generally a birthday "pity party."

Anyway, Jaime (POG) pulls me aside and says, "Here. We wanted you to have this." It was a birthday card! I opened it and it was signed by the entire DP crew and all my friends she could find. POG, QOF, Cav, Mayhem, Dave, Larry, Joe , and a bunch of other well-wishers. I was extremely touched. Then I noticed the final signature on my card:

"Happy birthday Tim! Keep playing! Signed, Nolan Bushnell." :o :o :o

The card will be framed and hanging over my collection when I unpack. Quite the surprise and - for the first time during the weekend, I was speechless.

punkoffgirl

08-12-2003, 08:33 PM

It was either the card, or a cake from the wedding chapel. I'm glad I could do that for you, Tim. :)

BillKunkel

08-14-2003, 02:48 PM

Having been to five previous CGEs at the same location, you'd think you might become a little cynical about the event. But I honestly had more fun at this year's show than I have at any previous CGE/WoA.

This time I didn't accept any awards (hell, I collected two lifetime achievement awards in the first two years -- long story -- so I think I'm pretty well taken care of in that regard), deliver any keynotes (tho I think I may have helped hype the already excellent Activision Memories panel by broaching the subject of the company's legendary parties and PR events) or sell any collectibles.

As a result, interviewers (especially RetrogamingRadio.com), new friends and basically anybody who recognized my name got to hear all the stories that I hadn't thought about in well over a decade.

The dinner table thing on Friday night was very cool. My wife Laurie (who also wrote for the 90s version of EG and authored several game strategy books) and I wandered into the dining room, thinking about those incredible little potatoes that the Plaza always serves. As usual, we took an empty table and, as people walked in, we roped in promising dinner companions and created a Cool Table.

Discussions ranged from Arabian horses (remember what I told you about offending mafia dons) to Atari tracballs to bitter tirades regarding the lack of killer app-eal on the current generation of console systems.

The only downside was having to leave in the middle of the award presentations when Laurie became ill. Next day, though, she was ready for more.

And speaking of ladies, let me state again that the number of attractive females at this event was a stunning and delightful development for a guy whose first game magazine boasted a 2% female readership (and to tell you the truth, we might have been lying).

Party on, until next year in Amsterdam! (Yes, the Bay Area will do...)

ubikuberalles

08-15-2003, 07:47 PM

I'm in the process of transferring my video to DVD, and I could just about cry. My video sucks. I'm used to a much heavier camera (my SVHS monster or the big DVCpro news cams at work), not the little handycam that I borrowed from my in-laws for the weekend. It's like watching the Expo in a caffiene-fueled instant replay. JITTER!!!! I got all of Nolan's keynote, but the video is horrible, just shaky as hell, and the audio isn't great - too much sound "leakage" from the main expo hall since I was just using the built-in microphone.

Sorry to hear about that PDF. That's why I didn't bring my video camera this year. The last two years I brought the video camera but I hated the jitter. I didn't want to lug around a big ol' tripod and so I got what I paid for. I tried using a monopod last year and the image improved somewhat but there was still quite a bit of camera movement. :/

It was just the digital camera for me this year but I got some good pctures out of it. So no regrets for not bringing the video camera.