View Full Version : East Coast Gaming Expo - September 11th, 2004
16-bit
09-12-2004, 07:43 PM
I had a great time at the event. It was the first video game event I had ever attended and it won't be the last! I really appreciate all of the work the ECGX staff did to make the event such a success. The event had something for everyone, and as a result the attendance had a wide demographic. The seven year old who ran agross the room screaming "Mom, Dad, I beat a 20 year old [at Street Fighter]. I AM NOT KIDDING!" was my favorite moment.
I'm really glad to hear that there might be a spring show since I do not want to have to wait another year to attend ECGX 2. I'll definately be as a vendor again and will bring a shopping list the next time as I had never seen so many NES and complete genesis carts available for sale in one place!
Sotenga
09-12-2004, 07:52 PM
Heh... glad to hear that everyone had as great a time as I did, if not a better one! :D
May I suggest the Sheraton Hotel for the spring event location? To my knowledge, it's a bigger place, with bigger space, allowing for more games, more tables, more events, more everything. Sound like a plan? ^_^
I'm looking forward to the next one! Chuck, Tim, John, and everyone else, I trust you'll be there if at all possible? Maybe more DP'ers will make it. See ya in my turf! :)
tholly
09-12-2004, 07:52 PM
just got back today from ecgx, man that was a great time, met alot of people from the board, hung out with sniderman and RCM, nabbed the best find of the show, $20 nice condition boxed nes flintstones 2 and a whole lot of other stuff (never played snes ogre battle anyone?). i cant wait til next years show, and anyone who couldnt make it this year , you should definitely try your hardest next! once i get my pictures developed , ill post them up for everyone.
ecgx ruled!
damn you and that NES game....i didnt know which of the 2 flintstone games were rare, so i went to get my guide and it was gone...........im so mad right now
I had a good time as well. I had honestly forgotten that it was happening until that morning while looking through the message board(s). Luckily, Reading is only about an hour's drive for me so I ate my breakfast and headed over. Glad I did too. I got some nice stuff at some nice prices. I also got to spend some time talking with MattSnyper, Snider-Man, and John Hardie. Hopefully this will be able to become an annual or even biannual event.
max 330 mega
09-12-2004, 08:13 PM
i forgot to mention i won the messiah nes proto controllers in the raffle too.
i forgot to mention i won the messiah nes proto controllers in the raffle too.
You know, I don't know if I ever even looked at the controllers at that table. I knew that they were there but seem to have gotten completely distracted by something else to look at every time that I walked by. ;)
Sniderman
09-12-2004, 08:44 PM
Howdy gang!
Got back earlier today after my 7-hour trip through PA to arrive safely back in OH.
Oh-my-oh-my, where to begin? First of all, DAMN GREAT SHOW. It was huge, without being "too" huge - and small without being "too" small. In other words, plenty of vendors, plenty of deals, plenty of trades, plenty of fun, but also had that "small intimate local show" flavor. It was completely worth the trip and those nearby who didn't attend will likely shoot themselves for missing on a great show.
Highlights for me:
- Dinner and bs'ing with the ever-lovely John Hardie. Big John and I hadn't really shot the bull for a while, so it was nice to get caught up over a couple of beers and a seafood buffet.
- Getting a chance to re-make the aquaintance of old friends, and making some new friends from here on the boards. I'm afraid I'll name a bunch of folks, but forget others and insult them, so I'll just say "Great to meet ya all!"
- I brought a whole stack of animated cels from Saturday Supercade and Dragon's Lair. SOld them all in one swoop to one vendor for a tidy sum. :D
- In fact, most everything I brought sold for a tidy sum. I walked away with actual scratch, which is a good thing for a vendor.
- And even BETTER Thing is to then spend those hard-earned bucks on the wares at the event! I came home with:
* an Atari Lynx with 12 boxed games
* a Sega Game Gear with about 7 games
* a Virtual Boy with about 5 games
* a like-new Colecovision with about 20 games
* a GameBoy Advance multicart which I'm STILL amazed by the selection of classics and new stuff on it.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS OF MY TRIP:
- Outfitting a young guy who just bought his first Atari with about a dozen carts for just a few bucks. It was fun debating the plusses and minuses of what games make "a good beginner's selection." And, yes, thought I personally hate the game, I sent him off with a YAr's Revenge."
- Playing upright Pengo machine for the first time in years. Drooled over the Armor Attack for sale and would've bought it - if I wasn't driving a Cavalier. :roll:
- Plus I had a bunch of videogame-related Saturday morning 'ttons playing in my booth, so it was fun reminicing with passersby over "what was Saturday morning like in your house in the 80s?" Count Chocula was the number one vote-getter, with Cap'n Crunch a close second.
- May have made a connection for a set of Captain N DVDs. :D
HIGHLIGHTS *NOT* ABOUT ECGX:
- My hotel served continental breakfast in the morning. Not unusual, but this hotel had a WAFFLE IRON! I was havin' a stack o' waffles every morning while there! Mmmm...
- Wished I had stopped, but I actually drove past the Monroeville Mall which, as memory serves, was the setting for the original Dawn of the Dead film. Next year on my way to ECGX 2, I'm makin' a Romero pilgramage.
THis was an awesome show and I'm sure tons of pics will be posted soon, as I was dragged out a few times for photos. Thanks to Chuck - n - Adam for a great show and it was great meeting RCM and max 330 and all the rest of you loonies! THanks again!
Sniderman
- about to sleep for a very long time....
Drexel923
09-12-2004, 09:50 PM
Glad to hear the show was a success...I'm definitely going to try and make it for the next one.
OldGuru
09-12-2004, 10:14 PM
Took a few pictures at the show in case anyone is interested...
http://www.adventurevision.com/somepictures/ECGX-2004/
Thanks for posting the pictures, I could even see myself (partially, in one of them) :)
I also thought that the show was nice. The setup remineded me the one of PC2 - but is was way better than that. Here, you could actually, take your time and see everything you wanted to, talk to people you knew or just met, and actually play some of the nice games that were on put display on the vendor's tables.
Overall, I liked it a lot. I only regret that I had to leave early due to prior commitments. The 2.5 hours drive (in each direction) was worth the it. I'd definitely sign up for next year's show.
Thank you Chuck, Adam and the crew,
OG.
I had a GREAT time! Thanks to all the coordinators, sponsors, and everyone else for making a great show. Everyone was so friendly there, I just felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of friends talking about and playing video games. The Gamebot people were cool, I really enjoyed the Killer Bees tournament (my friend actually won that tournament), and I bought a bunch of stuff, and I think I got a pretty good deal on everything there.
The arcades from Challenge Arcade were great too, I had never really played laser disc games much, but the Super Don Quixote was a lot of fun, and Pengo was great, although I suck at it, and the prototype Tenth Degree was SWEET! The owner and I beat the game, which was really cool.
Then I went to the mall and played some more great games at the actual Challenge Arcade location, WOW! That's a nice arcade... they've got a lot of classics, along with some new games. The Dragons Lair hooked up to the big screen TV was really sweet! Also, the Philly Steak place in the food court was really good :) .
DogP
tholly
09-12-2004, 11:51 PM
I had a GREAT time! Thanks to all the coordinators, sponsors, and everyone else for making a great show. Everyone was so friendly there, I just felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of friends talking about and playing video games. The Gamebot people were cool, I really enjoyed the Killer Bees tournament (my friend actually won that tournament), and I bought a bunch of stuff, and I think I got a pretty good deal on everything there.
The arcades from Challenge Arcade were great too, I had never really played laser disc games much, but the Super Don Quixote was a lot of fun, and Pengo was great, although I suck at it, and the prototype Tenth Degree was SWEET! The owner and I beat the game, which was really cool.
Then I went to the mall and played some more great games at the actual Challenge Arcade location, WOW! That's a nice arcade... they've got a lot of classics, along with some new games. The Dragons Lair hooked up to the big screen TV was really sweet! Also, the Philly Steak place in the food court was really good :) .
DogP
i went over to that arcade also.....very nice place...very clean and all the machines are keep in very nice condition
TheSmirk
09-13-2004, 08:50 AM
Then I went to the mall and played some more great games at the actual Challenge Arcade location, WOW! That's a nice arcade... they've got a lot of classics, along with some new games. The Dragons Lair hooked up to the big screen TV was really sweet! Also, the Philly Steak place in the food court was really good :) .
DogP
I'll second that and third it even, I really liked the games he brought to the show (Pengo :love: ), but since the mall was LITERALLY around the corner, we couldn't pass it up (and we wanted to grab a bite to eat before driving back home) and that arcade was awesome! Great classics, all in excellent condition....laser disc games, great. Awesome ol' pinballl, and did anyone else play that old race game, the one with backlit animation cells of the cars and the analog timer? Great great stuff. Alot of care went into those games. Also finding Qix Neo and Blaster Master-Blasting Again at the EB there for $3 each wasn't bad either. :)
Oh yeah, the show!! Very good! All the vendors were excellent and ALOT of really good deals. A little cramped at times, especially down at the XBox/Halo end of the room, but for a first show....excellent. I was impressed by the "coolness" everyone had, no attitudes, everyone willing to shoot-the-shit with you. Man if I had the cash.....there was so much GOOD stuff there. Hell, I would've spent alot more at Carlson's table (guy with a TON of import titles), good guy and very knowledgable about his games. I had a great time there.
Suggestions for future ones: A little more room :) Also, more interactive stuff, or have a area where people can play and try alot of stuff. I was able to squeeze a game or two of Pengo in, but the "stuff to try - amount of people" ratio was a little skewed. Also theres only so many loops around the vendor tables you can do, with a larger selection of stuff to play, it breaks it up and its always fun to play games. Also have ALOT of game tourneys....big ones little ones, it doesn't matter.
Vendors and crowd excellent, wouldn't change a thing. Nice first outing, looking forward to the next.
downfall
09-13-2004, 10:04 AM
I had a blast!
Our drive was supposed to be in the 6.5 hour range. Due to fog and whatnot, it was more like 9.5 hours. We rolled in about 10:30 or 11:00 and tried to cram 3 tables worth of stuff onto one. Quite possibly the most hectic experience of my life, as there were many people trying to buy stuff from us while we were still pushing it in on the big luggage carts. Insanity! @_@
I did manage to thin down what I brought - only went home with about half of what I had, so that was great! Glad to be able to hook everyone up with something that they were interested in!
I missed meeting quite a few people, though I did enjoy meeting and chatting with the following (and I'm sure many more of you whom I didn't know were on DP):
John Hardie
Sniderman
max 300 mega
noahsmybro
16-bit
ehall
RCM
(the very lovely) DeliverMessiah
and I'm sure many others.
I had a great time. About 12 or 1, a few guys took off, so I shot over and made their two tables home. Ended up next to Carrie from Messiah - if you make it to a show and see her there, please introduce yourself. I know there is a lot of the O_O going on, but I can say (hopefully minus any embarassment) that she's a sweetheart, and I had a great time chatting with her. Carrie definitely knows her stuff! So like I said, don't just get all bug-eyed at her if you see her at a show - go chat it up with her!
And speaking of the Messiah controllers - I loved them! I intend to order a set of the NES ones - I'm more of an NES fan than a SNES fan, but the SNES controllers were excellent as well. Definitely check them out - you will be impressed. It takes a bit to get used to the controller (much like any other), but once you use it for a few minutes, it's smooth.
I was also impressed with Sniderman's Clocks - He didn't have any left that I was interested in (so I snagged me some Namco Museum for GBA instead), but those are some quality pieces of merchandise!
My only disappointment was that I barely had time to get out from behind the tables (there were people pretty much non-stop all day) and roam around, but there were some awesome goods to be had, and some great people to meet.
I have a few pics, but I'm at work, so I can't upload them now. I'll try and get them up later though.
All in all, I could ramble on for several more pages about the show, but I consider it a huge success, and I consider myself hooked as far as going to these things go.
Anyway, sorry if I left anyone out, but thanks to everyone that helped make this show a success on every level (from promotion, to vending, to attending) - It was a blast!
bigdaddychester
09-13-2004, 12:13 PM
What a great weekend it was! Hats off to everbody that organized this show.
I wasn't sure what to expect so I was planning to go and just be an observer, I'm glad I took a few things to sell though. I think all the vendors did well and it was cool seeing all the kids and grown up "kids" walking around, playing stuff, reminicing about old games, meeting new and old friends.
Got a chance to meet some DP members (and some lurkers, c'mon you know you wanna post!!!!) but there were a few that I missed. Of course there were so many people in and around that your bound to miss a few. Going to the Arcade place afterward sounded pretty cool but I needed some sleep after 37 hours of being awake. The controllers from Messiah were awesome, congrats go out to Max 300 mega for winning a pair of those. I will definitely be getting a set of those in the future. The DP family was well represeted and those of us that were still around later on had several group photos taken, soon to be posted so check back.
I certainly hope this show continues to grow. Everyone was friendly, lots of ideas were tossed around, heck I don't think I ever heard anyone complain about any of the prices. Time to get ready for the next one.
Buyatari
09-13-2004, 03:52 PM
To those of you who went to the show what were your feelings on the game tournaments and the museum.
I feel Chuck did an awesome job making sure the tournaments ran smoothly. Are there any games we didn't have you would like to see in the future. Beside having more room and more of them is there anything else we should work on?
As for the museum, I really didn't know stuff to bring. So I brought a bit of everything old and new. Was it worth it? Should we scrap the museum in favor of more interactive stuff or did you enjoy seeing it?
Adam
max 330 mega
09-13-2004, 04:48 PM
i only competed in the bust a move tourney, and chuck kicked my ass first round.... so yea they were nice lol
I thought the museum was cool, but it's nicer when you can actually see the stuff close up, but I know you don't want the rare stuff where it can be messed with/stolen. Maybe a glass display case or something would be nice for that next year.
About the tournaments, I think it would have been nicer to have more room, there was such a big crowd that I didn't even bother going over near there. I also think it would have been more fun to have more smaller tournaments, and especially some more old games in the tournaments.
So why did they decide to cancel the auction? I was kinda looking forward to that...
DogP
16-bit
09-13-2004, 06:18 PM
To those of you who went to the show what were your feelings on the game tournaments and the museum.
I feel Chuck did an awesome job making sure the tournaments ran smoothly. Are there any games we didn't have you would like to see in the future. Beside having more room and more of them is there anything else we should work on?
As for the museum, I really didn't know stuff to bring. So I brought a bit of everything old and new. Was it worth it? Should we scrap the museum in favor of more interactive stuff or did you enjoy seeing it?
Adam
I would suggest making the museum more interactive where people could experience gaming history first hand.
Some ideas off the top of my head:
Vectrex
Virtual Boy
SMS with 3D glasses and 3D Outrun or Space Harrier
2 Neo Geos wtih the com link cable and League Bowling (I can bring one)
Nes w/ Excercise pad and Stadium Events
Famicom Disc System with Excite Bike Vs. (I can bring one)
FM Towns Marty (I can bring one)
Laseractive
The 2004 ECGX tourneyments featured a great selection of games from classics to modern and brought a diverse crowd to the show. As far as tourneyments ideas for next year, a 10 player Saturn Bomberman would be fun on a projection screen, and I think many of the old school sports games that many of us played to death years ago like Blades of Steel or the original Madden would be tourneyment-worthy as well.
Hey hey!
Your old pal RCM here. I would like to thank anyone and everyone who showed up to the show! If some of ya didn't know, RCM was also a promoter. I did all that I could and observed the skills of Adam and Chuck as much as possible. They know what they are doin! Now that i'm now a virgin to organizing a show watch out all you virgins! get it?
The show was really fucking awesome. We have a bunch of pics and vids coming soon so check the official site WWW.ECGX.COM.
While I enjoyed the show a lot we have a lot of stuff to improve and a lot of great stuff to expand upon.
I was really happy about meeting fellow DPers and seeing all the Sega Saturn stuff! We need more import Saturn stuff at the show next year!
All in all, I had a lot of fun and hope all of you did too. We are coming back again so stay tuned!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
Now that i'm now a virgin to organizing a show watch out all you virgins! get it?
Now that i'm NOT a virgin to organizing a show
that's what i meant to say. Carry on!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
Buyatari
09-13-2004, 09:17 PM
Mike from Video Game Connection posted some pictures as well
http://www.videogameconnection.com/ecge_2004.htm
tholly
09-13-2004, 09:30 PM
Now that i'm now a virgin to organizing a show watch out all you virgins! get it?
Now that i'm NOT a virgin to organizing a show
that's what i meant to say. Carry on!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
hey, it was really nice to meet up with you ... ( i talked to you as i was leaving ) .... great show
Mike from Video Game Connection posted some pictures as well
http://www.videogameconnection.com/ecge_2004.htm
My favorite, by far.
http://www.videogameconnection.com/images/Hmmmm.jpg
tholly
09-13-2004, 09:45 PM
Mike from Video Game Connection posted some pictures as well
http://www.videogameconnection.com/ecge_2004.htm
My favorite, by far.
http://www.videogameconnection.com/images/Hmmmm.jpg
she was very beautiful, thats for sure
intvsama
09-13-2004, 10:00 PM
I thought the museum was cool, but it's nicer when you can actually see the stuff close up, but I know you don't want the rare stuff where it can be messed with/stolen. Maybe a glass display case or something would be nice for that next year.
About the tournaments, I think it would have been nicer to have more room, there was such a big crowd that I didn't even bother going over near there. I also think it would have been more fun to have more smaller tournaments, and especially some more old games in the tournaments.
So why did they decide to cancel the auction? I was kinda looking forward to that...
DogP
Time constraints. There was a LONG delay for the Halo tournament (who knew I couldn't use LAN cable for system link?!), I had to send a friend to his house to pick up an official System Link cable to get the tournament rolling. That pushed everything back. I REALLY wanted to start the auction as soon as the DDR tournament ended (ask the guys in the DDR tournament, I just started rushing things), but by the time the DDR event was over most all the vendors and attendees had started shuffling out.
I'll get the auction going on earlier in the day next time. Promise. 8*)
DeliverMessiah
09-13-2004, 10:21 PM
Mike from Video Game Connection posted some pictures as well
http://www.videogameconnection.com/ecge_2004.htm
My favorite, by far.
http://www.videogameconnection.com/images/Hmmmm.jpg
she was very beautiful, thats for sure
Mike from Video Game Connection.... You're in big trouble Mister!!! @_@ :rockets:
hey, it was really nice to meet up with you ... ( i talked to you as i was leaving ) .... great show
Yeah, I remember speaking with you for a bit when you were leaving. Best Brit. pic ever!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
TheSmirk
09-14-2004, 09:59 AM
hey, it was really nice to meet up with you ... ( i talked to you as i was leaving ) .... great show
Yeah, I remember speaking with you for a bit when you were leaving. Best Brit. pic ever!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
RCM = Rob at the door by the sign in sheet? 25 ta life hat?
RCM = Rob at the door by the sign in sheet? 25 ta life hat?
It's possible that Rob and RCM are the same. Maybe not!! Ha ha ha. The world may never know!
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
chadtower
09-14-2004, 11:12 AM
I know. :hmm:
jerkov
09-15-2004, 12:40 AM
God damn it........I forgot all about this event. I should be checking this forum more often. Reading is only a little over an hour away from me and this looked like an awesome event. The first PhillyClassic I heard about was the third one, and NECG looked a lot like that - PhillyClassic before it got all crowded. I've also noticed the quality of vendors has been decreasing for each PhillyClassic, but NECG looks like it had awesome vendors.
Congrats on that $20 boxed Flintstones 2.......I would've been all over that had I been there.
Count me in for the next one......assuming that I don't get some job that takes me far away after I graduate college in a few months.
Vigilante
09-15-2004, 01:29 PM
Here is my sad sorry, yes i missed the show....
My wife's grandmother was having a birthday party that was planned on the same day, saterday. Even though I told her 6 months ago that I was going to this show. Anyone who is married knows what it's like to hear the naging from the Mrs. It wasn't worth listening to her...
Then the party was moved to sunday :angry:
Somtimes I hate my life..... I'll be there next time...
bigdaddychester
09-17-2004, 02:59 PM
I sent in a group pic to Joe, so keep your eyes open, it should be posted soon :D
Just a quick update to everyone. We have been planning next years show for a little while now. If even half the shite we're working on comes to pass the show will be fucking awesome. WWW.ECGX.COM
THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM
intvsama
01-16-2007, 01:24 AM
I kinda wanted to bump this thread. I just made a post about my upcoming event, Too Many Games. I wanted everyone to remember what was so great about the first East Coast Gaming Expo and all the raves it got for being such a success. This is the idea for Too Many Games. Small, but not too small, large, but not too large. Lots of vendors, lots of things to do, lots of fun!
I hope everyone who came out to the first East Coast Gaming Expo joins us again at the first Too Many Games!