So did ya go?
Well, I was at day 1 of the expo, 2 will be later today (I say 'today' since it's past midnight and technically Saturday). No pictures yet, as I took a TON but haven't downloaded them to the computer yet (or is that 'upload'?). Unfortunately I'm still using the same 10 year old camera as the last one I went to, so several have been deleted because they came out blurry. Sucks too, because that shot my confidence pretty well, since I like to take photos of people there, get their names down, and they get their 15 minutes of fame from the article that goes up on The Atari Times website. Especially since there were some fine-assed women there too; gads. Wish the camera was newer...
I should be in bed, but can't sleep right now, so I'll just go over a couple of things. One is that it's nice to play some 'new' games...even though most of them are 20+ years old. Like Moon Patrol, Galaxian and Vanguard...on the Atari 5200. I never played those versions before, even though I had friends who had that system. Who the hell programmed Galaxian, Stevie Wonder?! Since when did the aliens go sideways? I'll know what to avoid once I get that system eventually (always wanted one). H. A. A. G. used to be an all arcade and pinball expo, but two years ago Albert Yarusso (sp?) of the Atari Age website started bringing some of his home machines to the show, so that changed. However, he brought some new homebrews, like Asteroids Deluxe for the Atari 7800. A good rendition, that game never made it to a gaming console back then, only a PC version or two.
Back to the 'new' old...I also played Varkon, a rare, vertical pinball game. I might try to explain this better when I have more time later. Some of it I still can't figure out though, like how they did the sort of 3-D effect with the score right in your face. And Q*Bert's Qubes; holy sh*t. I never even heard of that one until several years ago, I never saw it in a game room back in the day. That thing's gotta be really freakin' rare now. Also played a unique game that I don't know what genre it goes under, it came out in 1938 or so. Kind of like a pachinko machine is about all I'll say for now. Another one had bizarre reverse flippers, i. e. the right flipper pointed left and the left one right. Hard to explain but I got a photo of it, I'll probably put that one up. It also had a small sign on it saying that minors couldn't play the game. Sound weird? Back then, pinball machines (I don't know when it came out, maybe the 40s or something) were considered gambling devices (since you're not guaranteed to win or something) and were even briefly illegal. So that's why that was on there.
But then, onto the brand new: The Lord of the Rings pinball machine. Holy (*#! sh*t, that thing's a damn beauty. It's kind of sad in a way, since Stern tried to bring back pinball in the last few years but already they're laying off people. There's tons of little statues of orcs, hobbits, Gandalf and a big Balrog on the playfield that glows. That thing costs $4,-7,000, I can't remember how much it is, and it shows, all the fancy ramps and all. I'll probably put that pic up too, I took a picture of it with a couple of guys, one of which I owed a better photo of (his was the only one that came out blurry from the last expo I went to).
And speaking of which, I'll end it on this note, another blurry photo: a guy named Joe Grisaffi (sp?). He's like an assistant executive producer or something of the Friday Night Lights tv show and is a classic gaming enthusiast (he owns a Centipede and several other games, and is a fellow Vectrex owner like myself
But I don't have those 3-D Imager goggles and games like he does, dammit! Those cost like $500 nowadays!). He also made a politcally incorrect, but very funny movie called Laughing Boy (the showdown between him and the televangelist is hilarious) shot here and in Sugar Land. I won it as a door prize one year so that's how I know about him, since obviously he's not a big star and all.
Well anyway, I brought my copy of Laughing Boy and asked him if he would sign it. I explained to him that I was covering the expo for TAT and that I could take a picture of him and use it to promote some new movie he has mostly finished that he did a partial showing of tonight (management shut the movie down before it was over; something about them getting all silly for not liking a movie being shown on the patio!
) Unfortunately the pic came out blurry, dammit. If he's there again today I'll see if I can retake it; if not I'll e-mail him to see if I can just use a press photo of him instead (if the TAT owner will take it as a substitute, which I'll explain to him the deal). I was surprised he called me by name on the way out, since, with a lot of us in general, you meet someone new, then you instantly forget their name
But then I had had business cards printed up a couple of years ago so that visual aid probably helped him remember. Seems to be a good guy.
Anyway there were tons of other things going on there but I'll leave this as it is for now. Photos to come later!
