Quote of the Week: "I see dead Pixels! "
The Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas has no equal in the industry. GrizzLee has been attending since 1998, when it started out as "World of Atari". Since then, the show has evolved into other venues, including the Nintendo (NES, SNES0 Sega Genesis, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex, etc... There is no other place we can think where one can meet the leaders of the industry and meet famous game designers of the yesteryear (founders of the industry we all know and love today). This years show was no exception. The keynote session/speeches with classic gaming alumni folks from Atari, Intellvision, Original Activision gang, Ralph Baer (Creator of the Odyssey,,,),.... just to name a few. Even later game industry giants make an occasional appearance, as was witnessed by many when, ex-Microsoft Xbox VP, Ed Fries was on hand to witness his game creation, Halo2600, debut on the Atari 2600. All-in-all, it was a fantastic show. Many new acquaintances were made, but it was the re-acquaintance with long-time gaming friends that were the most exciting for Lee.
Albert, from AtariAge, during the show setup. We are not sure, but it appears that his alter ego was attempting to hide. Either that, or we caught him in the midst of an exorcism.
It was a pleasur eto meet Leonard Herman again. He is a respected author on the subject of videogames and is well known for his books, namely, "Phoenix: The Rise & Fall of Video Games" and "The ABCs of the VCS"
Long time collectors and friends, Chris Cavanaugh and Al Backiel.
Me want...... Vectrex with vinyl clad siding. A real "one-of-a-kind" piece.
Hans Reutter setting up shop at the NWCGE booth.
Toby Wickwire and ???? (geez, I am good with faces, but not so good with names). They were part of a crew of 5 guys who drove a mini-RV from Portland to Vegas (Hitting all the thrifts and swap meets they could along the way).
A new Colecovision game "The Void" makes it debut at CGE.
Halo2600!!! By Ed Fries.
Matt, Al, and Fred, "Ready-to-Rumble" at the AtarAge booth just moments before the show opened.
Cool Atari Lamp. Made out of Atari carts and a 2600.
Joe Santuli, gamer, collector, video game store proprietor, co-founder of CGE and co-founder of Digital Press. All around great guy.
Carl Forhan (Song Bird Productions). Carl is a great resource for the Atari Jaguar and Lynx community. He has programmed and released games on both platforms (Lynx/Jaguar). He is a great source for those hard to find games on those systems.
Ian, aka.. Ianoid. Ian and Lee treat each other like close brothers. Ian is a great guy and someone who has been around the community a long, long, long time. If you've got something to trade, he is your man. He has been known to trade 2 common games for your "ultra-super rare, one-of-a-kind item" without batting an eye. This is why we love him.
Banjo music with classic 8-bit "chiptunes". Does music get any better than this?
GrizzLee with 3 of the Intellivision programmers. Keith Robinson, front and center, is the most vocal and well known of the gang. After 30 years, they are still passionate about the Intellivsion as they demonstrated the new Intellivision Lives collection for the Nintendo DS and the iPad.
One of the keynote sessions with ex-Atari game programmers. There were many sessions like this and it was hard to find time to play games, hang out with friends and still attend all these sessions. Thank god, some folks made video to share with us.There are some nuggets of good information and antectodal info in these sessions.
Bob Smith sitting next to Bob Polaro (both 2600 programmers for Atari)
Some "dude" dressed up as a Tank in the 2600 Game "Combat"
Mario Cookies... mm, mmmm good! Coutesy of RetroZone.. Thanks!
The classic arcades set on free play was always full during the show.
Micro arcades (mainly form Coleco) were also available on hand to play as well.
More arcades
There was also a home console section setup where folks could play those as well.
Good deal Games booth. Always a great place to get some of those home brews and unreleased games for "newer systems", like the Sega Genesis, Saturn, Nintendo DS and Advanced game systems.
Donkey Kong.... One of many hand made sculptors of many classic gaming characters could be had from one booth.
The ghosts from Pac-Man
Retro Rumble... Digital Press vs AtariAge. Playing "Slot Racers" on the Atari 2600.
Joe Grand having a "grand time" kicking butt.
More Retro Rumble. Combat vs. on the Atari 2600.
Dr MarioX was on hand to cure folks of their gaming blues.
The proto of the new 7800 add-on making its debut. Sure wish Curt Vendel was present in person to discuss.
"Circus Atari Advanced" was a really nice project. Pretty excited about this one.
Tempest for the Atari 5200 (Work in progress). This was pretty nice as well.
The costume contest was a real treat. Princess Peach was the ultimate winner.
What is CGE without John Hardie at the helm of the auction? Here he is saying "sold" just before nearly passing out from his 10th beer of Corona.
The crowd was eager to bid.
However, Wonder007 (aka Jose...) kept out-bidding everyone by a wide margin. You don't want to mess wth Jose in an auction. He always gets what he wants. Just don't mention "Air Raid" in his presence. Instead of taking duck and cover, he may just pull out his wallet and ask where :-)
Need we say more here?
Rick Weis contemplating on bidding against big John Hardie.
Intellivision "The Closet Thing to the Real Thing". Take that Sony!
John auctioning off the last beer for.... gulp! $300!!!!!
What does a $300 beer taste like? We will never know.
The AtariAge party was a great way to relax after a long days worth of gaming and socializing. Thanks to Cathy (ShyOne) for her cooking, dinner and wine. Delicious. Best meal of the whole weekend.
Golden and his lovely wife Zack were on hand to demonstrate his passion for the modified Xbox scene. This is one of 2 Xboxs he had on display.
An uber controller that Zack Modified. He wasn't content with 40 buttons. He had to add more.
The ultimate xbox, complete with LCD screen, and the worlds largest hard drive.We wish Zack (who is in the armed services) the best of luck, as he will be deployed in a month to Iraq.
Video Game Jepaordy.
With videogame categaories like "I see Dead Pixels", "F This" and "Vector Men", what could be more fun?
CPU Wiz and his wife Cathy.Another fun show and a great time. We hope to attend again.
Until next time.....
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