Bringing OBEY to a small town gaming convention.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

This past weekend I had the pleasure to run a 'retro' game section at our local small time (500-800 guests) gaming convention (Evercon).  I had 12 TV spots and ran just about every console I had from Atari-Xbox.  I now have a PC Engine AND a Turbo Duo, so I was able to use two different TVs for OBEY!!  And it turned out great!

Had our newest homebrew RPG 'Mysterious Song' on hand for people to try out.  I had a couple people say "2012?"  I just chuckled...
/img20130112162001.jpg

I made a few people try to beat my high score on Image Fight II for a few hours.  One of my friends couldn't get past the first stage and said it was one of the hardest chooties he's ever seen.  LOL  I have to admit, IFII is a beast!
/img20130112134849.jpg
/img20130112134841.jpg

The lineup from newest to older goes -Xbox, DC, N64, PSone, Saturn, Sega CD/Turbo Duo, SNES, Genesis, PCE - and then around the corner is the 8-bit section (NES, Master System, Atari 7800)
/img20130112131504.jpg
Close up of the beautiful refurbished/RESCUED PCE I got from Luke for Xmas showing the SUPER POWER of Street Fighter II CE!
/img20130112105614.jpg
/img20130112105621.jpg
/img20130112091814.jpg

A shot of the 3 button Blaster pad. 
/img20130112091742.jpg

I've got to say the thing I learned this weekend was the irresistible charm of Kato & Ken. I have played JJ & Jeff a few times and always just thought... 'Well, it's fun, but nothing special', but now, having seen more than just the beginning or the sillyness they took out when they brought this over to the states, I totally have new found respect for it!  I put this one on nearly the entire weekend, I tried to trade it out for a few others (SFIICE lasting the longest) but every time there would be a group of kids walking up and asking for 'that crazy game' again.  And I'd put it in.  The scene of 5-10 random teens standing around the PC Engine was fairly regular for the show.  The genesis really was dead most of the time due to this.  Those kids would take up 5 chairs or more just to watch others play Kato & Ken.
/img20130111213356.jpg
/img20130111200808.jpg
R-Type did alright too, just a totally jawesome time!!
/img20130111183558.jpg
I tried to get the quirky Chiki Chiki boys on the Genesis to draw some of the attention down the row for a bit.  It didn't work very well.  PCE stole the show.  ;)
/img20130111183612.jpg

[soop]

Good work!  Nice to see the little white square that could getting so much love.

Next time, take some documentation to help them learn!  and also, BOMBERMAN!!!

[Opethian]

obey all around congrats!

[turbokon]

Awesome!! I wish there could be something like this in my neck of the woods!

[Ji-L87]

Awesome! Spread the love and knowledge

[chop5]

reminds me of judge dredd when a judge reaches retirement they send him on the long walk thru the cursed earth wasteland bringing law to the lawless. but instead of the book of law in one hand and a shotgun in the other you have a pcengine and jj&jeff.
bringing obey to the obeyless...

[FiftyQuid]

Thanks for posting this joshua.     It was great to see how you set things up and to see the kids playing these classics.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Show them kiddos how to OBEY!

[SignOfZeta]

I used to run things like this for conventions and stuff, back when PCE was still being developed for even. Its a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.

Its great you managed to dig up so many CRTs!

[MrFlutterPie]

It's great to see you introducing the younger generation to the classics.

[SuperPlay]

Great job.  Love seeing pics of this kind of event.

[roflmao]

Its great you managed to dig up so many CRTs!

I was thinking the same thing.  Good googley-moogley that's a lot of spare TVs!

[Nazi NecroPhile]

The school's AV department was raided!

[jeffhlewis]

Josh - I'm going to need all the CRTs I can get my hands on for my MGC room. are those all yours?

[TR0N]

Nice little convention you had there but it lacks "the future is now!"

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Josh - I'm going to need all the CRTs I can get my hands on for my MGC room. are those all yours?

Dude, you and us both!  I'm going to probably be able to bring 5-6 TVs myself, as that's about the limit for what I can fit..... but we should see if one of the Byrons or a spare Opethian can stop for some locally.  The Milwaukee area has to have dozens of thrift shops just oozing CRTs...

And, thanks for the kind words guys, it was fun, but this is nothing compared to the setup we'll have at MGC!!

Its great you managed to dig up so many CRTs!

I was thinking the same thing.  Good googley-moogley that's a lot of spare TVs!

Actually all 12 stations were the schools rolly TVs for class movies/presentations.  So I lucked out that they still used CRTs and I didn't have to lug in any of my own.  ;)

[Tatsujin]

great show josh. MISSION ACCOMPLISH'D

[jeffhlewis]

Dude, you and us both!  I'm going to probably be able to bring 5-6 TVs myself, as that's about the limit for what I can fit..... but we should see if one of the Byrons or a spare Opethian can stop for some locally.  The Milwaukee area has to have dozens of thrift shops just oozing CRTs...

I'm actually about 10 minutes away from the Sheraton in downtown Milwaukee - I actually picked up a 19" Sansui CRT for the show yesterday (for $3! they're basically giving these things away). I'm hoping to pick up 3 or 4 more before the show but I'm running out of room to store these things, haha. I miss having a garage. I still need to troll around the downtown thrift stores to see if I can dig up some more CRTs. Last time I was at Goodwill they had a Toshiba 27" HDCRT for $5; should have grabbed it.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I used to run things like this for conventions and stuff, back when PCE was still being developed for even. Its a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.

Its great you managed to dig up so many CRTs!

Yeah, it's kind of a pain in the ass.   I almost want to just buy a second set of hardware so my stuff that I have here doesn't need to get unhooked and dragged around every time...

[Mathius]

Looks like it was a great time! I see my favorite "hands off" sign duly posted.

[PikachuWarrior]

A lot of the Milwaukee area Goodwill stores still sell the big ol' CRT TVs. We even had a sale a few weeks ago for $.99 cents (all old-style TVs).

[JoshTurboTrollX]

A lot of the Milwaukee area Goodwill stores still sell the big ol' CRT TVs. We even had a sale a few weeks ago for $.99 cents (all old-style TVs).

[nectarsis]

A lot of the Milwaukee area Goodwill stores still sell the big ol' CRT TVs. We even had a sale a few weeks ago for $.99 cents (all old-style TVs).

Where was this at?

[Bardoly]

Looks like it was fun!

I just wish that I had heard about this.  I might have been able to go if I had known about it.  Was there a thread that I missed telling folks about this convention?

[PikachuWarrior]

A lot of the Milwaukee area Goodwill stores still sell the big ol' CRT TVs. We even had a sale a few weeks ago for $.99 cents (all old-style TVs).

Where was this at?

The Southeast Wisconsin stores lol. from Dec 26th-Jan 2nd.

[Tatsujin]

Yeah fuck teh genny with its wimpy chicky micky boys.
The PCE is where the music plays.

[esteban]

Jawsome. Really.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Looks like it was fun!

I just wish that I had heard about this.  I might have been able to go if I had known about it.  Was there a thread that I missed telling folks about this convention?

No, I didn't really mention it much to anyone not local.  I'd feel bad if somebody made the trek across a couple states just to come to this small gathering....  It was a lot of fun, don't question that, and if you'd like to come to the next gathering, there's always MGC in March, VGS in July, and my own little gathering in September that I do in the northwoods of WI.    I'll be sure to share more info about these. 

[TheClash603]

I live relatively close to NYC, yet they never have any good gaming conventions there.  What's up with that?  Why WI?

[esteban]

I live relatively close to NYC, yet they never have any good gaming conventions there.  What's up with that?  Why WI?

Exactly! Why are all the fun gatherings so far away from civilization?

[Tatsujin]

I live relatively close to NYC, yet they never have any good gaming conventions there.  What's up with that?  Why WI?

Exactly! Why are all the fun gatherings so far away from civilization?

Because they probably didn't know the fun when it was hot back in the days

[JoshTurboTrollX]

I live relatively close to NYC, yet they never have any good gaming conventions there.  What's up with that?  Why WI?

Exactly! Why are all the fun gatherings so far away from civilization?

Because they probably didn't know the fun when it was hot back in the days

Because we have nothing. fucking. else. to do........

[turboswimbz]

I was just looking at this myself.  and there is a couple in the Philly area - but they are games in general and only have a few VG vendors. LAME