Hey folks,
Glad you guys had fun at the show this year! I'm sorry about being at the door like that (I seriously didn't think that door was open that much last year), but they had to move concessions and that pushed things further down the hall.
Attendance won't be known for at least another week as Dan & crew count all of the tickets sold, but my guesstimate would be that our Saturday attendance was either on par with last year or a bit off due to the snow in the morning, but our Sunday attendance was far greater than last year's. Overall I'd be shocked if we didn't break last year's attendance records.
I have *NEVER* seen the museum so packed as I did this year. Especially in the Console Arcade... It was great to see so many people enjoying the room, but it is a bit bittersweet because I wish I had gone with the game-centric format years ago. It seemed like people really like moving through the arcade and finding the game they wanted to play as opposed to finding the platform that may or may not have the game they are interested in. The Versus Room was also packed... So much that the Halo: Reach network was constantly encroaching on the space for WWF Wrestlefest and Saturn Bomberman. Pac-Man Vs. and X-Men Arcade also did surprisingly well.
I'm still majorly tired following the show... We got there Thursday night and some of us pulled an all-nighter already then. Friday I was up until 5:00 AM and we still didn't manage to open everything in the museum until 11 AM. Wanted everything PERFECT this year for our 10th, but regardless that was a lot of work this year.
That said, I announced months before the show and I'll reiterate now that this was the last year that I'll be able to do the show in the capacity I've been able to. Things are increasingly looking as if I'll find a job away from the area following school, so while I'll still likely help organize and become an "enabler" for others at the show, transporting what feels like a ton of game consoles, games, and TV's every year is unfortunately not going to be possible. That means that rooms like the Console Arcade and the Versus Room will likely change a great deal or all together next year, and hopefully the Family Game Room will also go back to its original team.
One option may be to turn the Die-Hard Gamer Console Arcade into several community tables like Marty has done with the E2M Museum. Basically, he only brings a few systems now and decorates the room while several other people and groups bring the rest of the content in that room. If that happened, Turbo Fest would likely move into the Console Arcade room or whatever we called it. Whatever the case, we'll talk about it and let you guys know hopefully in the next few months.
I got a chance to hit the vendor hall for a much longer period of time this year, but I still ended up grabbing a bunch of imports that I don't get a chance to see very often. I mostly found games that I wasn't familiar with and thought they looked like fun, but there were a few finds that I'd been waiting to pounce on:
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Samurai Deeper Kyo (PlayStation) - Actually not all that familiar with the anime, but this fighting game looked a lot like Samurai Shodown, so worth a shot. Gets good reviews...
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Angel Eyes (PlayStation) - Remember seeing the arcade briefly as well as I believe a Super NES version. All-girl fighting game that's supposedly really good.
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Nekketsu Oyako, aka "Hot-Blooded Family" (PlayStation) - Beat 'em Up that launched alongside the PlayStation. Brainless, but fun from what I hear with great graphics.
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Sokko Seitokai: Sonic Council (Saturn) - "Mostly" all-girl fighting game again that's not half bad. Think I remember this one in the arcade.
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Suiko Enbu: Fuuun Saiki (Saturn) - Data East fighting game that I'd never heard of. Has one of the characters from Fighter's History Dynamite in it as well. Supposedly pretty good.
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Kakuto Hao Densetsu Algunos (Super CD) - Reminds me of Revengers of Vengeance but apparently made by the folks that did Asuka 120%. Decent from what I hear, plus it is Turbo.
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Psychic Killer Taromaru (Saturn) - Yeah, my "big" purchase from Carlson.
Always wanted to pick this one up, but I figured this may be my last chance for a while so finally made the splurge. In case you aren't familiar with it, this is one of the most notoriously rare and desirable Saturn games out there. Pretty good 2D action game with great graphics. Think of it as a 2-player co-op Shinobi with a 360 degree firing range.
Anyway...
Great to meet everyone there, and I hope to see you folks again next year!
Later.
