Classic Game Fest - July 30-31st, Austin, Texas

[erichenneke]

Yep,when I walked by the game over both they had 2 800xls, a 130xe and the white/two-tone (most desirable) atari power supply... All 4.99 each and "defective".

 

I decided to walk around for awhile and when I came back by 15minutes layer the 130xe was gone! so I nabbed up the 2 xl's and the psu. The power supply worked fine too after I cleaned the contacts/pins. Wish i had grabbed the xe too the first time I saw it!

[+SpiceWare]

Thanks, Al - and maybe next year I'll have something new to bring again.

 

 

That's great! I'm planning on going too, and I *may* have something new to debut also!

 

I talked with David Kaelin on Sunday, he's hoping we can together to do a group panel about homebrews next year.

 

One bummer, the food truck lot across the street was empty. I'd been telling my sister & nephew all about Short Bus Subs (photo from last year) and we were all looking forward to getting something for lunch there.

 

[+SpiceWare]

A little steep on the entrance fees and concessions

 

concessions in these types of venues are always a bit on the expensive side. In prior years we'd go across the street to the food truck lot, but it was gone

 

Entrance fees aren't bad at all, only $20 for the weekend if you bought them ahead of time. In comparison it's $30 dollars (also ahead of time) for weekend passes at the Houston Arcade Expo and the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

[Papa]

Do you think they asked them not to set up so that people would spend more at the venue or did they move where they set up?

[hookem]

Do you think they asked them not to set up so that people would spend more at the venue or did they move where they set up?

 

The Short Bus Subs food trailers went out of business at the end of last year, unfortunately. I don't know about the other trucks on that spot, but they opened up a new food trailer lot a few blocks away on the same road (Barton Springs), so that might be why they are gone. I don't think the organizers would have been able to get them to close, as it's a very busy road with lots of traffic (foot and cars) not related to the event center across the street.

 

 

 

concessions in these types of venues are always a bit on the expensive side. In prior years we'd go across the street to the food truck lot, but it was gone

 

 

Ah, I should have thought about that. Terry Black's BBQ is right across the street and it's probably my favorite BBQ place in Austin right now. Which is saying something.

[PacManPlus]

 

I talked with David Kaelin on Sunday, he's hoping we can together to do a group panel about homebrews next year.

 

 

Sure! I'd be in for that!

[Albert]

Do you think they asked them not to set up so that people would spend more at the venue or did they move where they set up?

 

I would not be surprised if it was a move by the venue so their concessions would earn more. Which is too bad, as they were (as expected) extremely expensive. $8 for a single slice of pizza, for instance, $32 for an entire pizza. The typical $4-5 for a single bottle of soda.

 

..Al

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

I would not be surprised if it was a move by the venue so their concessions would earn more. Which is too bad, as they were (as expected) extremely expensive. $8 for a single slice of pizza, for instance, $32 for an entire pizza. The typical $4-5 for a single bottle of soda.

 

..Al

Yeah eff those prices. I'd leave to find a restaurant, then come back. Assuming they give you wristbands or tags, should be easy getting back in.

 

When I went to the 2014 Texas Pinball Fest, my fiance and I ate from a Food Truck. The sandwiches were quite reasonable. Also I think the convention center had vending machines that sold bottled soda for $2.

[+bcombee]

I was there for an hour on Saturday afternoon. I was a little disappointed in it; the size is huge, but most of the vendors were NES-era and up. There were so many attendees that I didn't get to spend any time on the classic arcade machines or computers. I'd originally planned on coming back on Sunday with my 3-year old, but I didn't want to bring him into that chaos.

 

If I wanted bulk GBA and DS carts, I could have my fill -- one booth had them for 3 loose carts for $5. I've already got a bin full of those, so I passed. I liked looking through Ianoid's offerings and found a couple of Atari 8-bit carts I needed. In one of the many $1 bins at Game Over, I got two Suncom Slik Stiks - one works, the other has a broken plastic bit inside that I probably can fix with superglue.

 

There was one booth doing silkscreened shirts; I got a couple from them last year and really liked the designs, but it looked like they hadn't expanded the screen selection. Lots of people were selling hand-made art, but if you wanted something outside the world of Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda, it was slim pickings.

 

My other concern with the event is that they really need a separate room for talks. Having a speaker compete with all the traffic and noise is terrible. The other events that I've gone to have had their own keynote rooms.

[Albert]

I was there for an hour on Saturday afternoon. I was a little disappointed in it; the size is huge, but most of the vendors were NES-era and up. There were so many attendees that I didn't get to spend any time on the classic arcade machines or computers. I'd originally planned on coming back on Sunday with my 3-year old, but I didn't want to bring him into that chaos.

 

If I wanted bulk GBA and DS carts, I could have my fill -- one booth had them for 3 loose carts for $5. I've already got a bin full of those, so I passed. I liked looking through Ianoid's offerings and found a couple of Atari 8-bit carts I needed. In one of the many $1 bins at Game Over, I got two Suncom Slik Stiks - one works, the other has a broken plastic bit inside that I probably can fix with superglue.

 

There was one booth doing silkscreened shirts; I got a couple from them last year and really liked the designs, but it looked like they hadn't expanded the screen selection. Lots of people were selling hand-made art, but if you wanted something outside the world of Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda, it was slim pickings.

 

My other concern with the event is that they really need a separate room for talks. Having a speaker compete with all the traffic and noise is terrible. The other events that I've gone to have had their own keynote rooms.

 

Sorry I missed you at the show!!

 

Yeah, not a ton of pre-NES stuff at the show. I looked at all the booths for Atari games, and the pickings were slim, to be sure. So much Nintendo, though. And there are quite a few artists selling their items, and that's not something I'm particularly interested in. I think there were two different booths doing screen printing at the show

 

The speaker area is my biggest complaint about the show. It was terrible seeing how many times Warren Spector was interrupted by loud announcements, and at least two different bands played during his talk. And they were both quite loud, even though they were on another stage in the opposite corner of the room. I also couldn't hear the questions people were asking Warren at the end. Just terrible. I, for one, don't even want to support a homebrew panel at the show next year if they don't put it in another room. Every other show of reasonable size does this, and there are rooms on the second floor of the facility that would be perfect for such talks.

 

Please leave feedback to the show organizers. I'm going to speak to David Kaelin about it.

 

..Al

[+bcombee]

Yeah, sorry I missed you too -- I didn't get there until 3ish and I didn't see you around while I was on the floor. I just posted on their FB page with my speaker complaint.

[Albert]

Yeah, sorry I missed you too -- I didn't get there until 3ish and I didn't see you around while I was on the floor. I just posted on their FB page with my speaker complaint.

 

I was there until about 5pm on Saturday. But, so many people, I'm sure it's tough finding someone even if both of you are looking!!

[+SpiceWare]

My other concern with the event is that they really need a separate room for talks. Having a speaker compete with all the traffic and noise is terrible. The other events that I've gone to have had their own keynote rooms.

I had trepidations about that back in 2014 for my homebrew presentation, but was pleasantly surprised when the turnout was way more than I expected. Of course they only had 1 stage, so bands weren't playing at the same time.

 

It might be OK for next year with 70K sq ft of space provided the speakers and bands are in opposite corners.

[+bcombee]

I already heard back on Facebook. It looks like they're planning separate spaces for both bands and speakers next year. Yay!

[Albert]

I already heard back on Facebook. It looks like they're planning separate spaces for both bands and speakers next year. Yay!

 

Hmmm,

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. We expanding to 75,000 sq ft next year and the bands and panels will be in separate areas.

 

This doesn't sound any different than what they did this year, just with more space. This year's show was 45,000 square feet and the speaker area and bands were in opposite corners, basically as far as they could be from one another. And it's not just the bands, although that was bad enough. There were announcements being made every several minutes, and it was impossible to continue talking over them. The current speaker environment is not conducive at all to speakers, and I'd be offended if I was invited to speak at this show and was interrupted constantly by the show itself.

 

..Al

[Shamus]

One of the show staff came by asking for vendors to fill out feedback cards and before I could say anything, she said that she was aware of the noise issue and that next year they would definitely address it somehow (I think she mentioned that the bands would be put in a separate room). And as annoying as the announcements were, the bands were by far the largest contributors to the noise factor at CGF this year (and that was true last year as well). So loud you couldn't hear yourself think, and I was situated on the opposite side of the venue from the music stage.

 

Seems to me that the draw at such a venue would be the video game related stuff, not random musical acts! I really hope that CGF staffer was serious about putting the bands in a separate room--that would be awesome.

[ianoid]

 

 

 

I talked with David Kaelin on Sunday, he's hoping we can together to do a group panel about homebrews next year.

 

One bummer, the food truck lot across the street was empty. I'd been telling my sister & nephew all about Short Bus Subs (photo from last year) and we were all looking forward to getting something for lunch there.

 

IMG_6082.jpg

 

 

There are some just down the street past Lamar, maybe a 10 minute walk or 2 minute car ride. And a bunch up 1st and Lamar (uphill, harder walk). Tons to eat nearby.

 

I'd say avoid the concessions at Palmer.

[+SpiceWare]

There are some just down the street past Lamar, maybe a 10 minute walk or 2 minute car ride. And a bunch up 1st and Lamar (uphill, harder walk). Tons to eat nearby.

 

I'd say avoid the concessions at Palmer.

 

 

Yeah, I've eaten at a number of other restaurants along Barton Springs while at Classic Game Fest, Short Bus Subs had just become a tradition and we were all looking forward to it after I'd talked it up to my sister and nephew.

 

We had a good brunch at the hotel before heading over, so we ended up having a late lunch at Torchy's Tacos on S Congress. We took Congress to 290 as 35 was, as usual, a mess. From there I headed back to Houston on 71, while my sister took 183 to 130 to 123 etc. back to Robstown (just west of Corpus Christi).

[ianoid]

We don't love Torchy's. I'd strongly encourage you to check out Taco Deli which is not far, but definitely a car or bike ride from the convention near Mopac and 2244 (Bee Caves Rd.) Busy during lunch. We love Taco Deli.

 

I hope everyone enjoyed the show. I had a good time selling there! I'll be back next year with another 8 table booth!

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I've eaten at a number of other restaurants along Barton Springs while at Classic Game Fest, Short Bus Subs had just become a tradition and we were all looking forward to it after I'd talked it up to my sister and nephew.

 

We had a good brunch at the hotel before heading over, so we ended up having a late lunch at Torchy's Tacos on S Congress. We took Congress to 290 as 35 was, as usual, a mess. From there I headed back to Houston on 71, while my sister took 183 to 130 to 123 etc. back to Robstown (just west of Corpus Christi).

[Albert]

We don't love Torchy's. I'd strongly encourage you to check out Taco Deli which is not far, but definitely a car or bike ride from the convention near Mopac and 2244 (Bee Caves Rd.) Busy during lunch. We love Taco Deli.

 

I hope everyone enjoyed the show. I had a good time selling there! I'll be back next year with another 8 table booth!

 

I like Torchy's, but I prefer Taco Deli as well. It's a little tougher to eat at Taco Deli since they close at 3pm every day!

 

..Al

[+SpiceWare]

I think the nephew had enough "new" for the weekend - as we were heading home, looking for a place to eat, he spotted Torchy's and said "there!" We've eaten at the Sugar Land location a number of times, so it was something familiar

 

Mopac would have been the wrong way; plus, apparently they'd have been closed. I'll keep Taco Deli in mind for future trips though.

[erichenneke]

Ok, July 29-30 isn't THAT far away now. Do we know if Atariage will be there for sure this year?

[+SpiceWare]

I'd strongly encourage you to check out Taco Deli

I like Torchy's, but I prefer Taco Deli as well.

Ran across an article in the Chronicle today about Austin chef Paul Qui opening a restaurant in Houston this spring/summer and discovered this about Tacodeli

 

Tacodeli Houston is Coming Soon

 

We are so excited to be joining the Houston community! Sign up here to get the inside scoop on our opening, events, and more.

[erichenneke]

Two weeks away! So who's going this year?

 

I already have my wristbands.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Two weeks away! So who's going this year?

 

I already have my wristbands.

I'm taking a training class trying to secure a potential future job right now. I would love to come but it's not in the cards atm.