47 replies to this topic

[SpiceWare]

Houston Arcade Expo 2011 has been scheduled for November 11th & 12th.  200+ Pinball, Arcade & Console games on free play

Location:
Houston Northwest Crowne Plaza
290 @ Pinemont

Hours:
Friday 6pm - 2am
Saturday 10am - 2am.

Tickets at the door:
$20 for 1 day
$30 for 2 days

Or prepay and save $5.

Video I took at the 2009 expo (at the old location):


I plan to attend both days.

[Rex Dart]

Tough choice between this & the Greek Festival the month before.

[BadHornet]

I think I will definetely hit that up this year

[Zach]

Looks like a great way to spend 11/11/11. Too far away for me though.

[Skylark68]

I'm going to try to make it this year. It's just a couple of days before my b-day so I think that would make a good present to myself.

[SpiceWare]

It's a couple days after my b-day!

Pearland, eh?  Which part?  I'm in Fresno and often have lunch or dinner at one of the restaurants over at Pearland Town Center.

[SpiceWare]

I've been asked to do a presentation at the expo on Atari Homebrewing.  I'll be showing off Chun-Li at the end of the presentation.

Edited by SpiceWare, Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:16 PM.

[Skylark68]

Sorry, I just now re-visited this post. I'm in the old Willowcrest subdivision near Hwy 35 and 518 (near the railroad tracks in the old part of town).

I don't venture out to 288 unless I absolutely have to. haha

[SpiceWare]

That's about as far as I am from 288 (I'm on 6 between 521 & the Fort Bend Parkway Tollroad).  However, it's not heavily developed so it's fairly quick for me to get there - there's only 3 traffic lights between me and Pearland Town Center (that name's quite a misnomer!) if I take CR 59 instead of 518.

[Skylark68]

That's a nice area. I assume you can see those huge television transmission towers pretty easily then!

I'm looking forward to the expo, it's going to be a great time. I'm planning on bringing a friend or two.

[SpiceWare]

Yep, can easily see them from my back yard!

If you're there Saturday at 2 stop by the presentation room and say hi!

[ckrtech]

Hey Darrell - I plan on being there to see your presentation. Only bumped into you at last year's expo as we were taking off for a bit as you were arriving. Hope to see more of you there.

Does anyone need a box to an Atari 5200? I have one in pretty decent shape (came with a 4 port). I believe some of the contents are there. I can try to bring it to the expo if anyone is interested. It is rather...large.

[SpiceWare]

Cool, see you there!

I picked up Keynote so I can give my presentation using my iPhone 4S.   Much more convenient than hauling up my MacBook Pro.  The 4S can output up to 1920x1080p.

I've been creating the presentation using both my iPhone and my iPad.  Keynote keeps the two in sync via iCloud.  I tend to create the initial slides and work on the flow using the iPhone, while I use the iPad for detail work as it's easier to position things on the bigger screen.  

Testing the VGA cable


I scored big time on that monitor, it's a Compaq s1922a that I picked up from Best Buy a couple months ago for $40. 18.5" 1366 x 768, VGA and DVI plus integrated stereo speakers.

Edited by SpiceWare, Wed Nov 2, 2011 2:33 PM.

[Albert]

Very cool that you're using your iPhone to display a Keynote presentation.  I use Keynote all the time (and have given presentations with it) but never have tried using my phone versus my laptop.  I'll definitely be in the audience for your presentation!

I'll be at the show representing Pinballz Arcade, and the plan is to also represent AtariAge with some Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 systems for play.    

..Al

[GonzoGamer]

I am only about 250 miles away and would love to attend this one, but just cannot make it, looks like it will be a ton-o-fun

[elehman3]

I'll be there!! Went last year and really liked it and had a lot of fun! Bringing one of my Pins, Cyclone.  And the wife is even going.  She will also enjoy it!!

Emory Lehman

[Skylark68]

Well, I pre-ordered my tickets this morning so I'll see you all there Friday evening. I'm looking forward to going finally. I would go Saturday but my wife scheduled family pictures for us (yippee) in Dickinson (other side of town).

[Zach]

SpiceWare, on Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:14 PM, said:

I've been asked to do a presentation at the expo on Atari Homebrewing.  I'll be showing off Chun-Li at the end of the presentation.

Cool. I can't be there, but if anyone puts the presentation on YouTube, I'll definitely give it a thumbs up.

So Chun-Li is something you've been working on, Darrell? Congrats on going public soon.

[SpiceWare]

I have Keynote on my Mac as well, but didn't want to haul my MBP up and have to worry about stashing it somewhere before/after the presentation.  The reviews of Keynote mention problems going back/forth between the iOS and OS X versions, and that it was best to create the presentation on the platform you were going to use at presentation time, so that's what I did.

Looking forward to meeting y'all there!  I'll be there this evening as soon as I can get there (depends on traffic and when I get off work), as well as various times on Saturday.

Yep, can't wait to reveal Chun-Li, it's been in sporadic development for a few years now.

[FujiSkunk]

Well foo.  I had thoughts about attending the expo this year, but I've decided I can't make it.  I was out of town last weekend, and I've decided I really need to stay home and have some actual rest, and then catch up on some chores around the house I've been neglecting.

I keep hoping I can use an event like this to give some of my broken hardware to someone who might be able to fix it.  I have a few broken 8-bit and 16-bit consoles and a ton of broken peripherals that I don't have the heart to throw away.  If any hardware hobbyists want to swing over to the northeast side of town during or after the expo, they can have it.  Unfortunately I'm not "right around the corner," more like about 40 miles away, but it's a relatively fast drive down the beltway if anyone is interested.

Edited by FujiSkunk, Fri Nov 11, 2011 4:32 PM.

[LS_Dracon]

Darrel, please, record your speech and post on youtube

[SPIKE]

just got home from the expo a little while ago.

will be there late tomorrow night!!!

[ckrtech]

Wow. It seems like the pinball just keeps growing. Really excellent console representation as well. Even logged some time with Oregon Trail on the Apple II while we were there. Going back today to see Darrell's presentation & then heading back late for more gaming goodness.

[Skylark68]

I went last night, it was a lot of fun. Sorry I couldn't make it back today. Loved the selection of games. I brought a friend who is in his early 40's and really enjoyed playing Defender and Stargate again after 20 something years. The pinball games were amazing. I never spent much time with them in my youth, but now I see that I was really missing out. Kudos to Atariage for such a nice display as well. My friend and I played Kaboom for quite some time before leaving. Sorry I didn't meet up with anyone on the boards.

[Albert]

Skylark68, on Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:37 PM, said:

I went last night, it was a lot of fun. Sorry I couldn't make it back today. Loved the selection of games. I brought a friend who is in his early 40's and really enjoyed playing Defender and Stargate again after 20 something years. The pinball games were amazing. I never spent much time with them in my youth, but now I see that I was really missing out. Kudos to Atariage for such a nice display as well. My friend and I played Kaboom for quite some time before leaving. Sorry I didn't meet up with anyone on the boards.

Glad you were able to make it!  The classic gaming consoles are getting constant play, which is great.  You see them right as you walk in the door, along with the pins I brought from Pinballz Arcade.  

Darrell Spice Jr. put on a great talk today about 2600 homebrew programming. He's going to put his slides on his website, SpiceWare.org.  Here's a picture of him during his presentation:



Time to get back to the show floor!

..Al