In Between Posts, June 17, 2012
June 17, 2012
I capped off my week in a fine way yesterday by attending the 2012 Oklahoma Video Game Expo. Held in Bixby, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, the convention featured many retailers and vendors hawking all sorts of classic video games. Seeing harder-to-find games and systems was sweet, but the best part was that tons were hooked up and available for anyone to play! I attended last year and not much has changed, but this time I spent most of my time actually playing games.
The moment I walked in I began playing Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. The game is a remake of the classic arcade game but what’s most notable is designer Jeff Minter’s trademark psychedelic neon graphics and techno soundtrack. Afterwards I dabbled a bit with various home console games before finishing off along the wall of arcades and pinball machines. My friend and I had competitive matches in Street Fighter II: Champion Edition and a SNK vs. Capcom fighting game. We also competed in Pengo (a Sega game from 1982), Donkey Kong Junior, and a few others. I felt like I was among like-minded people and there was a super positive energy throughout.
Oklahoma Video Game Expo 2011
June 21, 2011
Okay. So I have been to the Oklahoma Video Game Expo before, but that was a couple of years ago. The OVGE 2011 was held on June 18, 2011 (last Saturday) and I attended it with a pal. It ran from 9 AM to 5 PM, but I had to work at 11 AM so I didn’t get to stay long, but I experienced a lot that was there. The thing I enjoyed most about the expo was the atmosphere. The passion for video games had brought us all there, and the few conversations I did have, were just great.
Admission was five dollars and the first table we checked out was a retailer from St. Louis. He had some harder to find games for an array of consoles. Vendors were in the majority at the OVGE 2011, and vendors specializing in older, harder to find games more specifically. The next table was a vendor as well. But after that was a table run by a very enthusiastic gentleman. He was hosting the “Bad Game Beatdown”, displaying his collection of notoriously bad video games.
Proceeding along we walked along a wall filled with about twenty arcade and pinball machines. My friend and I played game of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, I lost. We checked out a table with many old computers and I played a little bit of Zork I. We checked out some more vendors, among them some local favorites, Vintage Stock and GameXChange.
In between that however, we had a good chat with the dudes who run Nintendo Okie. They were asking trivia questions to anyone who wanted a shot at winning a free game. We both attempted and lost. We definitely enjoyed it though.
And the most important conversation for me was getting to talk to Brett Weiss, basically asking him many questions. He has written a couple of books dedicated to describing every North American video game release for specific consoles. For instance his book Classic Home Video Games: 1985-1988 covers every North American release for the Atari 7800, Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Sega Master System, all released within that time frame. The books in this series are basically reference guides, and they’re right up my alley. I really enjoyed talking with him.
That pretty much sums up my experience with the OVGE 2011. There was of course much more going on throughout the day, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to stay. There were also many more vendors and exhibitors that I didn’t mention. I refrained from making any purchases, although I was tempted by many items. I’m looking forward to attending next year’s expo, hopefully staying much longer, getting to experience many classic video games and have plenty of conversations.
