CGE highlights and lowlights...

[Sniderman]

Hey gang,

Just gonna pop up some random impressions I had of this year's CGE. These aren't in any particular order.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Meeting all of the folks from these boards in person. Great meeting you all. I won't even try to type all of ya in. YOu know who you are.
- Berzerk with voice for 2600. Holy crap. This thing blows the coolness factor off the scale.
- Those gigantic damn daquaris at La Bayou on Fremont Street. I'm still detoxifying.
- The live entertainment. Seth was his usual great self and The Minibosses ROCKED. Fun, fun stuff.
- Being able to strike up a conversation on old video games with ANYONE within arm's reach.
- Getting the chance to shake the hand of David Crane. Thanks for the intro Joe. I got incredibly silent because I felt my "geek gene" beginning to kick in and I didn't want to come across as "Fan Boy!"
- Having my wife there this year. It was nice to leave the CGE floor and be able to still see the Bellagio fountains later that night with her.

LOWLIGHTS:
- The stalker who turned Saturday's auction into a miserable little venture (HA!) for me. Thanks goes to Joe for his kindness and generosity in correcting what was a bad situation.
- The Dig Dug Drop. Great idea. Fun concept. However, I think I have a bruised kidney.
- No shows. It was a pity both Ariel and Tony Fox didn't make it due to last minute crises for both. Hope both are doing well respectively.
- The hangover I had from those damn daquaris.
- The flight back, or as I like to call it "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

[retrogmr]

By the way Tim, IS IT OKAY FOR US TO TALK IN LOUD, OBNOXIOUS VOICES NOW???

<sounds of rumbling thunder, shaking glasses and babies crying in the background>

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Stalker? Man, I really did miss the action this year...

[punkoffgirl]

Highlight: Larry doing the "white boy dance" in the Pac Man costume!!

[Tempest]

Highlight: Dan Kramer and his protos (or should I say MY protos now).

Tempest

[retrogmr]

Lowlight for Matt: A much, much lighter wallet after buying Dan's protos

[k8track]

Highlights:
--Getting to meet many of you fine folks in the flesh and putting faces to names! It was great to meet Joe and Sean after conversing with them on email several times--friendly, great people! Rapping with the Sniderman was a blast! Jaime was just wonderful, and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with Andy "Videogamebible" Slaven after CGE, I feel like I kinda bonded with you! I look forward to hearing from you again. If I omitted anyone, mea culpa, forgive me.
--Got to room and hang out with my friend Steve from CA, I hadn't seen him since I met him in Ukraine.
--Getting my Korean fix! Found a nice Korean restaurant and had Bulgogi (Korean BBQ) and kimchee (don't ask). Mmmm!
--Meeting and talking with David Crane.
--Getting to experience "Star Trek: The Experience" at the Hilton! Wow, how cool was that! After two days at CGE and getting to do the Star Trek thing, my geek bloodlust was satisfied.

Lowdarks:
--Not too many, really, but I feel like I got gouged in a couple of places... wish I hadn't have traded those Blip magazines for those instruction manuals and Odyssey games, I didn't realize the disparity in trade value till I checked the DP guide afterward. (If the guy I traded with is reading this, I mean no offense.) Also, I feel remorseful for spending so much and getting so little at a certain booth (*cough**Atari2600.com**cough*).
--That's it, really!

[Tempest]

Well Atari2600.com's prices may be high, but you've got to admit they've got the goods. I guess they're more of a "I've got to have it no matter what the cost" kind of place.

Tempest

[punkoffgirl]

Nate, what would you say about the food in Vegas?
I think the fajita tortillas are a bit crusty...

[Tempest]

I had sushi for the first time. It wasn't too bad.

Tempest

[vincewy]

I had all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet 3 days in a row during the weekend, ouch, my stomach still hurts. BTW, people should try the World Carnaval Buffet at Rio, the variety is amazing.

[Cafeman]

So speaking of CGE, I assume that jet and her man were no-shows? The last thing I read , it seemed like there were some veiled threats goin' down.

[punkoffgirl]

Actually, according to THEIR message board, it seems we were part of a "project" having to do with emotional reactions, supposedly to help them create a better gaming experience in the games they design...

actually.. to quote from their board:

It?s an Experiment of the human condition and its response to certain prefabricated conditions; The DP project will help us make games that draw out Real human emotion! Such as anger, fear and extreme excitement.

[Anonymous]

That's total BS, it's a cheap move to save face, IMO. I don't want to talk too much smack though, because I really don't care why he/they/it did what they did, as long as they're not doing it anymore.

Yes, the Crusty Fajitas looked delicious. I can say from experience that the white cream sauce is fantastic! And of course all the 3.95 Steak and Eggs that everyone but me unfortunately missed out on.

[Tempest]

I can say from experience that the white cream sauce is fantastic!

I'm not gonna touch that one...

Tempest

[digitalpress]

Ha! I forgot, Matt - you weren't at our farewell dinner on Sunday (or was it very early Monday, I can't remember), were you? It was the "dinner of innuendoes"... Jaime and Nate are the masters, I discovered

[Raccoon Lad]

The dinner was Sunday about 9:00PM. Remember how Portnoyd got lost in the vortex of time and had to take a taxi to find us? Good times.

[atarifan49]

Highlights 8)
- Al Alcorn - a man of his stature was truely awesome. Amazing how influential and involved he was back in his days at Atari. He influence great people like Jay Miner and Woz, and had great stories to talk about Steve Jobs when he worked for Atari (his talk about Woz and Jobs and the ending of their close friendship). Atari is truely the Fairchild of Video Games (Fairchild is the company that a lot of silicon valley chip makers can tied their family roots to)
- 2600/5200 talk - these guys still have lots of great stories to be told. I could listen to them for hours on end. I love the Atari related discussions the best!!
- Getting together with other classic gamers and just talk. Other than places on-line to talk, I don't get to do this where I live. My voice is still raspy from all the talking I did over the weekend!!
- Seeing the DP guys again and getting to chance to meet Joe Santulli
- Seeing Fremont St. for the first time and having some beers with Keita and Jerry Jessop and getting some interesting Atari engineering stories from Jerry.
- Seeing the first Playstation. Not the one that came to market, but the CD unit that was prototyped for the Super Nintendo.
- Museum was incredible
- DP guys were doing a random walk around and giving away free stuff to people after the Dig Dug drop. That was very kind of them.
- The Speed rollarcoaster ride over at the Sahara was incredible!!!
- Briefly meeting Warren Robinette and Steve Woita and seeing Howard Scott Warshaw again

Not so great
- The music. I personally didn't care for the music. Was too much of loud noise for me. Had to leave the show to go somewhere else to talk. I personally didn't think it added anything.
- Not enough time! Sunday night came too quick!!!
- Dig Dug drop was fun, but also very dangerous. People didn't really care about following the rules. At least some people were kind enough to throw some boxes out of the middle so people on the outside had some opportunity. I quickly realized that I wasn't going to get a box so I assisted a someone who was trapped on the floor. He gave me a box just for the rescue aid that I gave.

People did mention a feeling in the air of some stagnation and some vendors did mention dwindling sales. But I see that mainly due to a culmination of some factors: show saturation, economy is not the greatest right now, too many games being presented and buyers getting low on money, etc. But when push comes to shove, CGE will always be my number 1 pick of shows! :P

[Anonymous]

Hehe the vendors might have sold more if they came back to earth and checked up on current prices... Not all of them mind you, but a couple were a little outrageous, and one was a lot outrageous. I can't remember who said it, but I'd love to see more trading/swapping going on. The swap meet after the show was way way too short (as was the auction).
As a suggestion for Next year, It would be great if there was an area to pre-register items for auction, and have the auction and swap meet last for 2-3 hours. Maybe have them in two different places, overlapping by an hour or so. And with the Pre Register in effect, you can have a list which shows what Items will be up for bid during the overlap, so people who want to bid on something won't miss out during the swap meet. Just a suggestion, of course.

[Mayhem]

And of course all the 3.95 Steak and Eggs that everyone but me unfortunately missed out on.

Not everyone!

Guess I missed the dinner Sunday night. Or was that invite only too? Ah well... maybe next year. Maybe next year I will remember we're supposed to meet at McDonalds on the Friday :P