I posted this on the VGEVO forum a little while ago, but considering you guys are asking about some of the names, here goes:
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Eugene Jarvis - The creator of arcade classics like Defender, Robotron 2084, Cruis'n USA, and the founder of the current arcade developer Raw Thrills. More details about his and Raw Thrills' involvement in the show are incoming.
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George Gomez - He's responsible for co-developing several classic arcade games and hardware including Tron, Satan's Hollow and Spy Hunter, as well as co-developing the Pinball 2000 platform and the games Batman and The Lord of the Rings among others.
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Jack "Jersey Jack" Guarnieri - Veteran pinball distributor and author, he will be at the show I believe Sunday to talk about his new venture, Jersey Jack Pinball, a company that will specialize in producing premium pinball games such as their upcoming Wizard of Oz game.
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Dennis Nordman - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing games like Pirates of the Caribbean, Elvira and the Party Monsters, and the upcoming Wizard of Oz.
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Joe Balcer - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing games like The Simpson's Party Pinball, Star Wars Trilogy, and the upcoming Wizard of Oz.
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Greg Freres - Veteran pinball artists responsible for games like Medieval Madness, Revenge From Mars, and Monster Bash.
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Keith Johnson - Responsible for designing the software behind several pinball classics like Revenge From Mars, The Simpson's Party Pinball, and Lord of the Rings.
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Roger Sharpe - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing games like Cyclopes and Global Warfare. He's also well known for helping to legalize pinball before the New York City Council based on his play.
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Jeri Ellsworth - Famous designer and electronics hacker best known for her "computer on a chip" design for the TV plug & play Commodore 64 controllers. She will unveil her "As Seen on TV" pinball machine at the show as part of the Pinball Wars exhibit in the BenHeck.com Experience room.
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Ben "BenHeck" Heckendorn - Famous designer and electronics hacker best known for his portable game systems, controllers, and even an amateur film maker. He will also have his Bill Paxton Pinball as an entry in Pinball Wars exhibit, as well as a first look at his Lost pinball machine and upcoming "Tesla VS Edison".
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Josh Sharpe - President of the World Pinball Player Rankings and an extremely good player in his own right.
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Marty Goldberg - Programmer and Designer with Legacy Engineering Group, co-founder of the Midwest Gaming Classic, and my co-organizer in the museum wing of the MGC among other things.
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"Trickman" Terry Minnich - Hmm... Never heard of him... Odd.
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Ken "Sushi X" Williams - Nope... Never heard of this guy either. Gonna have to ask Dan about these bookings...
Hehe, I think you'll see these two EGM alumni in the VGEVO room amongst other things if memory serves...
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Ralph Baer - "Father of Video Games" best known for, well, creating this whole video game industry with his "Brown Box" game console. His exact involvement with the show will be announced at a later date.
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Jim Schelberg - Veteran author, publisher and editor of the venerable PinGame Journal.
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Lloyd Olson - Veteran author and owner/operator of one of the oldest arcades in North America, SS Billiards in Hopkins, Minnesota.
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The International Game Developers Association, Wisconsin Chapter (IDGA) - The IDGA will once again hold a meeting at the Midwest Gaming Classic which I believe will mirror the open format they held last year. The IDGA's members include several local video game developers including those at Raven Software.
[/li][/ul].
...Lot of pinball names, and believe me, in the pinball world a lot of these people are like Miyamoto and Cid Meier. Keep in mind this is an incomplete list and I'm aware of at least a few more speakers and a company or two that is planning on doing something at the show.
