+Cafeman Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Keep those impressions and pictures coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) I decided to try out the AtariAge Gallery and uploaded my CGF photos here. I was significantly impressed with how much they improved from last year. There was a lot more to see and do. There was plenty of space, though it did get crowded around the booths hosting the speed run competitions. The AtariAge booth was near the stage, which was nice as we could see all the special events that were going on while still being able to keep an eye on all the systems(it's quite surprising how often somebody will turn off a system and then walk away). Though being so close to the stage did make it difficult at times to talk with people visiting the AA booth. All events, including my presentation, took place on the stage. I was a little concerned about that as I'm used to other expos having presentation rooms - it turned out to be a major benefit as way more people attended it than I was expecting. It seemed to be well received and there were a number of good questions at the end. I did, however, have a minor hiccup during the presentation. On Friday we realized I didn't have a long enough HDMI cable to go from my iPad (I use Keynote for doing my presentations) up on stage to were the projector was located. It was suggested I have somebody run Keynote while sitting next to the projector, but there are presenter notes I reference during the talk - this is what the audience sees up on the screen: While this is what I see on the iPad: I woke up in the middle of the night remembering that Keynote has the ability to remote control (via Bluetooth or Wifi) another iOS device running Keynote, so I did a quick test using Bluetooth from my iPad to my iPhone and it worked. Before the doors opened Saturday morning I did a distance test by connecting my iPhone to the projector in the AtariAge booth and walking away while controlling the iPhone from the iPad. I was able to get 80 feet away and figured that'd be just fine as the stage projector was only 15 feet away from where I'd be standing. However, during the middle of the presentation, the bluetooth connection kept getting disrupted. The 80 feet test was done before the doors had opened, so there was probably a lot of phones in the audience with bluetooth turned on. My friend Bryan repositioned my iPhone, which cleared up the problem. Edited August 18, 2014 by SpiceWare 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Day 2 wasn't nearly as crazy as Day 1, which was good because I was able to leave our booth and venture out a little bit more. Some of the Day 2 highlights for me: Got to spend more time chatting with Al and Darryl Spice. Won a $100 gift card in the Atari 2600 Adventure speed run contest. I earned my best time ever for Game 1 (55 seconds), which made me really happy. Darryl was just 1 second behind me, and he terrified me by using the bridge to take a shortcut back to the Yellow Castle with the chalice. Met Ernie Cline (author of Ready Player One), who surprised me by telling he's used highscore.com. He signed my Adventure speed run plaque. (And he was wearing a cool "Life is an Adventure" shirt.) Saw PacManPlus's Astro Blaster for the 7800 which is incredible! KC Munchkin was cool too. My wife got hooked on Assembloids (2600 version) at the AtariAge booth. So now maybe she'll play more 2600 games with me..? Gave away a bunch of 2600 loose commons to some young kids (ages around 8-10) who were surprisingly enthusiastic about Atari gaming. Here's some photos: Me and Al.. Ernie Cline High Score members dj5kjlara and kri5bell Lots of people playing Protector and YASI on the Vectrex all weekend.. Mario came by and bought a boxed copy of Centipede. And here's the plaque I received for winning the Adventure contest: Overall, it was a great experience. Several people from Austin and San Antonio joined High Score, and lots of my extra Atari games and consoles ended up in the hands of some people who were very excited to get them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 The AtariAge booth was near the stage, which was nice as we could see all the special events that were going on while still being able to keep an eye on all the systems(it's quite surprising how often somebody will turn off a system and then walk away). Though being so close to the stage did make it difficult at times to talk with people visiting the AA booth. All events, including my presentation, took place on the stage. I was a little concerned about that as I'm used to other events having presentation rooms - it turned out to be a major benefit as way more people attended it than I was expecting. It seemed to be well received and there were a number of good questions at the end. The AtariAge booth was awesome! I really wish I could have made it to your talk. The crowd on Saturday was just too crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) What Space Invaders clone is this? Dangit, right after I finally pluck money down on Space Instigators, another awesome Space Invaders clone surfaces... EDIT: It's the original Space Invaders. I'm officially an idiot. Some of the Day 2 highlights for me: My wife got hooked on Assembloids (2600 version) at the AtariAge booth. So now maybe she'll play more 2600 games with me..? How does it compare to Space Rocks? I recently picked it up in the AA store and was playing Space Rocks the other day, tons of fun. And here's the plaque I received for winning the Adventure contest: Overall, it was a great experience. Several people from Austin and San Antonio joined High Score, and lots of my extra Atari games and consoles ended up in the hands of some people who were very excited to get them. Very nice plaque. You nearly got bested too! Edited August 19, 2014 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Lots of people playing Protector and YASI on the Vectrex all weekend.. Well lookee there; it's me, my wife, and Chris Taylor of the band "Gimmick!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XM05ES Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I had a great time at the 'Fest last Saturday! The AtariAge booth was easily the most impressive thing there. (Maybe tied with that kid's 'Big Daddy' costume...) I got to try out a newer build of "Stay Frosty 2" than I had seen before and it is amazing!! The new enemies and challenges are brilliant! Maybe if we all buy more copies of the other DPC+ games, it will be easier for AA to make this game available... "Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest" is also now on my list. "Space Rocks," "Circus Atari Age," and "Chetiry" really have to be seen and played to be believed. They are extremely smooth and polished! (oh, and fun too!) I couldn't get near "D.K. VCS" but it looked great. The "Pinata" cart was very fun. Spiceware's "Drakonian" prototype is very exciting. I really liked a little game (literally) called "Assembloids." How does it compare to Space Rocks? I recently picked it up in the AA store and was playing Space Rocks the other day, tons of fun. "Assembloids" doesn't compare at all to a graphics explosion like "Space Rocks." It's a very simple, fun, and fast matching game with interesting pictures to match up. "Medieval Mayhem" is already one of the most played games in my collection, but that didn't stop some pre-teens from handing me my under-armor in the tournament! There were several other games present that I wanted to try, but the stations always seemed to be swamped. (which is great!) I really appreciated AtariAge bringing all of that stuff to Austin! Cheers! (Sorry for all of the exclamation points ...!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 (edited) Glad to hear everyone had such a good time at the AtariAge booth. I'm really sorry I couldn't make it, but from Shreveport, it is a very long-assed drive down US 79 to go it alone. Plus I'd of had to leave S-port at 4am to eat on the road and arrive by 10. Sans lodging, and even with the 75mph speed limit, that's a 5-hour drive one way to spend a few hours at an event, then a 5-hour drive back. If I'm too tired to drive, pull into a well-lit truck stop and have a crap-inducing power nap for a couple hours. Once I had to get out of town and drove seven hours to New Orleans one day on a whim; departed at 10am; arrived at 5pm; toured Burbon Street (no I didn't drink much), got blisters on my feet from doing all that walking wearing Crocs, forgot what the hell street I parked my car on and hired a cab to help me find my car; ended up leaving town at 1am; come 2-something I pulled into a truck stop south of Baton Rouge and slept for a few hours, had horrible leg cramps on the drive home, crashed on my bed at 9am in the morning with my mom worried sick because I never came home that night. Since then I've put a ~200-mile limit on day trips. I can drive to Alexandria, Monroe, Dallas, or Hot Springs and back. Austin, Houston, or New Orleans, I had better plan on staying the night. Prolly better to stay at a Motel 6 for the price of a tank of gas and get to see both days events, but meals, lodging, and gas, it all adds up. Still kicking myself for missing it though... I really liked a little game (literally) called "Assembloids." "Assembloids" doesn't compare at all to a graphics explosion like "Space Rocks." It's a very simple, fun, and fast matching game with interesting pictures to match up. Okay. I though based on the "Ass****oids" name that it was a portmanteau of "asteroids" and "assembly" so I assumed it was an Asteroids clone written with ASM. And we all know what happens when we ass-u-me things! Edited August 21, 2014 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I've had a pretty busy week, so I haven't had much time to process all the photos I took or do much else on the internets since the show ended on Monday.. However, I wanted to post a brief note here! First, I want to thank Darrell Spice, Jr. and Ben Combee for their help with the AtariAge booth! I have to especially thank Darrell, as he helped me with setup on Friday, manning the booth during both days of the show, and teardown and loading/unloading the van Sunday evening. And Ben manned the booth during the day on Saturday (when it was busiest!), which was a huge help! Even though we weren't selling anything at the booth, it was still quite busy, and I was talking to people near non-stop on Saturday. I had 19 systems setup, and there were long periods on both days where every single system was being played! Looks like the event had over 4,500 people attend, which is a great success! Darrell's homebrew talk was very well attended, and based on the questions people were asking after, at least some people were paying attention! I met quite a few AtariAge members who stopped by the booth to say hello! Thanks to everyone who came by and introduced themselves, it's great to see how many AtariAge members we have either in Austin or within reasonable driving distance. Alright, back to work, and I'll try to get some photos posted this week! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 4500 people - how does that compare to the Philly classics of years ago, or to PRGE ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 (Maybe tied with that kid's 'Big Daddy' costume...) That was one impressive costume! I got to try out a newer build of "Stay Frosty 2" than I had seen before and it is amazing!! The new enemies and challenges are brilliant! Maybe if we all buy more copies of the other DPC+ games, it will be easier for AA to make this game available...And that isn't even the final build of SF2! That cart was made with the 2013-11-06 build for the Houston Arcade Expo while the final build is from 2013-12-17. While I was only planning to do bug fixes after the expo, Thomas Jentzsch freed up a bunch of ROM so number of changes were made during that last month+ of time. Spiceware's "Drakonian" prototype is very exciting.Thanks! The homebrew topic with ROM is here, while technical blog entries can be found here. Okay. I though based on the "Ass****oids" name that it was a portmanteau of "asteroids" and "assembly" so I assumed it was an Asteroids clone written with ASM. And we all know what happens when we ass-u-me things! Assembloids 2600 homebrew topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Finally caught up on this thread: It was great to see Albert and chat with Spiceware and Serious and play all the new games! I posted my pictures from my Saturday helping Albert on the AtariAge Facebook group -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/atariage/permalink/10152569268700255/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Finally caught up on this thread: It was great to see Albert and chat with Spiceware and Serious and play all the new games! I posted my pictures from my Saturday helping Albert on the AtariAge Facebook group -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/atariage/permalink/10152569268700255/ Is there a way to view the photo gallery without a Facebook login? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Sure... here they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Maybe Al will find time to post his pics! Edited August 26, 2014 by Cafeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Maybe Al will find time to post his pics! Maybe. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Any more pictures? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Not trying to rain on anybody here at AtariAge, but what kinds of stuff were at the other booths? I read on the PikoInteractive site that Piko had a booth for SNES homebrews. Surely NES and other systems were present as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 My favorite moment of the 2014 CGF was when a certain celebrity dropped by the AA booth to play a few rounds with an old friend. moar real pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 I still haven't had a chance to upload my pictures from the show. Soon. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 I am packing everything for the show, and I thought you guys would appreciate this.. With one or two exceptions, all of those systems have been modified for composite and S-Video output. ..Al that is very impressive Al! Wow!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 4500! attendees, Very impressive. Can anyone guess how CGE 2014 may compare number wise? I am going to that and I am curious as to how it is in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cankerwurm Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Al, I suspect this has already been asked of you but will you be attending CGE? Or PRGE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Al, I suspect this has already been asked of you but will you be attending CGE? Or PRGE? Lol! Yah Al, you never did answer me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cankerwurm Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Ha ha! My phone was acting up. I meant to add, "Yeah, I'd like to know this too. Atariage is the main reason I come to PRGE in the first place!" Sorry about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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