I’ve been working on the UC 2009 summary page for the last few days, getting it slowly updated between other things I’m working on. I finished it just now, around 7:30 pm. Nice to get this out of the way, and of course to summarize the UC ’09 display, and how well each section of my area did. There were a few surprises this year, which make it all the more interesting.
I still need to get my hands on Erica’s and Greg’s pictures, which I did not get over the weekend. Hopefully by next weekend.
I had a bit of free time today, so I went and put up my photos from the MGC ’09 show. The link is under the Pictures links, or just go here. I have my Pre-show pictures, and of course pictures from the actual show. I plan on adding a few more pictures, when I get access to my friend Erica’s photos and my brother-in-law Greg’s photos. These will hopefully be added in about a week or so.
I still need to post my summary of the show. That will be done probably by late next week, when I should have some time to work on that part of my blog.
Till then, enjoy the photos!
Just got back from the Sunday part of the show. It was a rather decent day, with what seemed like a better turnout for Sunday than in past years, as far as I could tell. I’ll admit that I like the Sunday being two hours shorter than Saturday. It is nice to get home a tad earlier.
Back to the show, this year seemed to be the best so far, with hardly any hiccups at all in regards to any problems (which there were virtual none of). People were really enjoying themselves with all the different games to play, and of course buy as well. Plus it really was great to see people from last year, and a few new faces for this year. Here’s to the next show – ’10!
As for myself, I have to switch back to College mode and get some homework and studying done, so I probably won’t post more here (including pictures until later in the week or possibly next week). Sorry about that.
Well, it is Saturday night now, but it was hours ago (of course). The Midwest Gaming Classic kicked off today at 10am at the Olympia in Oconomowoc, and ran till 8pm. I got there around 9am, to do some last minute touches to the Underdog Chamber exhibit of mine. Tweaks in place, the area was partitioned off from 10 to 10:30, so I could do some shopping at the start of the show. I always hate missing some deals, so I just opened my area a little later than I was supposed to.
I didn’t buy much, as I’m trying to watch my money, but I did pick up some Odyssey2 things. I bought an extra copy of Quest for the Rings and Conquest of the World, both brand new and still in their original shrink wrap. I’ve got copies already of these games of course, but not in the good shape these were in, plus the price was rather good too for them. I picked up another copy of Type and Telll as well, as the only version I have has a rather beat-up box. This one was mint, and I mean mint, in a still sealed box. Plus, the same vendor I bought this stuff from has Pick Axe Pete, the Japanese version for a very good price as well. I’ve never had a Japanese copy of an Odyssey2 game, so I had to buy this as well. The vendor was nice enough to give me an empty cartridge box, with the official Magnavox logo on the side!
Other than that, I bought the MegaPak 1 for the Atari Lynx (yeah, I’m a fan of the old Lynx as well).
The only other thing I bought, for a good sale price, was a Hallmark Xmas ornament of a Pac-Man arcade machine, which played official sounds from the game (much to my amusement).
Not sure if I’ll buy anything more on Sunday, but you never know.
Oh, and I met up with a nice guy Tony, from Texas (if I remember correctly). Very nice guy that was really into the old stuff (Odyssey2, Bally, Vextrex, and other such consoles). I met up with other new folks as well, like the TI guy (forget the name), and a few others that show interest in various system I had on display (mainly the Timex with the iPod commercial running).
As for the show today, my area did rather well. Quake, as expected, did incredibly well the entire day. The Odyssey2 and G7400 got some attention, but not a ton, but that is normal for these lesser familiar systems. The Apple IIgs did fairly well, as did the Vectrex. The Gamecube did okay too, but not as good as I would have expected. The Timex/Sinclair running 3D Monster Maze and Mazogs got terrible reception, and was largely ignore, enough so that I took that unit and TV home with me Saturday night. At least I tried, but it just was a rather poor reception. Darn thing is, I ran Ted’s Timex/Sinclair iPod Shuffle digitized commercial on the Timex/Sinclair T/S 1000, and this actually got a lot of attention. Much more than it did back in 2007 when I had it on display. Lots of people were fascinated by it, and asked lots of questions about the unit and how Ted got the commercials to play at such a fast frame rate on an old 1Khz machine.
But, Satuday is almost done for now, and I’m a bit glad for that. It was a fun and interesting day, with a good amount of people showing interest in my older stuff, and asking lots of questions. That is the part of the show I like the most! But, after 10 hours of this, I’ll admit that I am worn out. The heat in the room I was in didn’t help though. For some reason, the room (unlike last year) got up to at least 85 degrees, and I was sweating rather well most of the day. Other than that though, I had a great time today. My area did very well overall, and literally had a waiting line for Quake for a good portion of the afternoon hours. (There are a lot of Quake fans out there). Heat aside, the day was a very fun day, as it always is at the MGC show!. Sunday should be the much slower day that it always is, but it’ll still be fun.
Here’s to Sunday at the show!
Below here, I have a picture of the ever popular Quake. And to the right, that sign that I didn’t get a good shot of yesterday, that I made up for the Odyssey2. It has the 1982 World’s Fair info on it, along with that pin I got from Rick (that again buddy). I also plugged the best O2/VP forum on the net! 
Have to admit (as it is obvious here) that I’m up a bit too early. Can’t sleep. A bit of excitement, bit of insomnia, and probably because I’m aching a bit from moving all that equipment yesterday. I can feel it a bit today. Just another part of getting older. 
I can deal with it, but I wish I had my 30 year old body for doing these hauls. Other than that, looking forward to the show. Did a few last minute things at home, like finding a few boards to raise one TV a few inches, as it is blocked a bit from the console in front of it. Plus I’m going to us some twist ties on my Gamecube controllers, so they don’t try to walk away on their own (like one did last year – and turned up in another area of the show after it was all done).
Off to get something to eat and then drive out…
Just got home from setup (and dinner afterwards) at the MGC show. Setup wasn’t too bad, but it always takes longer than I would like. Had a minor glitch at first with the power folks at the resort, but it got straightened out fairly quickly. The Mac LAN took the longest to setup, but I figured it would, as the table and power strips were arranged different (but not that different) from last year. Glad it got done though. The Odyssey2 and G7400 were setup on the rows end, next to the Mac LAN. Looking down the side of the isle, it looks damn cool!
The other consoles were a bit more difficult to setup, as we kept shuffling them around a bit until they seemed to work with the chair seating that I got. Last thing to setup was the Sinclair stuff, which proved a little troublesome, but not in the computer stuff. The speakers I brought for music to play with the iPod digitized commercials on the Sinclair decided to die on me, but I was smart enough to have a backup pair of Bose speakers (very glad I brought them). A bit of overkill though. Should have seen the looks I got from the few people there when I cranked The Cult from my iPod through the Bose speakers at peak volume. I wouldn’t call it super loud, but it got everyone’s attention for a short bit. Of course, I’m not a jerk though, so I turned it down to a normal level after a short bit. The flashing iSkull worked great next to the speakers.
I’ll be there a tad early on Saturday, as I did not totally get done with setup. I left a bit of the Sinclair stuff to still put out on display, mainly because I was getting tired and just wanted to get home (and get some sleep).
One thing to note, it was rather nice to see familiar and friendly faces again. That is one thing I like about the MGC show. Dan, Gary, John, Marty, Tom, Lance, and others to many to name here (including Dave Loosen [hope I got that one right] and Marty’s wife [who’s name I know starts with an ‘M’ – sorry – so many people, so many names).
Saturday is expected to be a big day at the show. Much bigger than last year. We shall see!
P.S. In the picture below, you can just make out the 1982 world’s fair sign I made for the O2, with an official pin I got from Mr. Sprague – an online O2 friend of mine! I took a closer picture of the sign, but it turned out rather bad. I will try again tomorrow. Oh, and the sign plugs the Videopac / Odyssey2 forum too (the newer forum). Gotta let those O2 fans know about it! 
This is the first time I’m posting this information on my Ramblings blog, which I used to put in another blog. That one is going away though, and since I do video game stuff, I figured I’d post this here once a month. Why? Because I want to, simple as that.
The sales figures for February are pretty much in the order they have been in for a while, at least for hardware sales. The Wii and DS still dominate, with the 360 close behind. Then you get the PS3, the PSP, and lastly the old PS2.
NPD figures for February 2009 are:
Hardware:
Software (top games for February 2009):
I was rather surprised to se Wii Fit at the #1 game spot, not that it is a bad thing. Street Fighter, I’ve never been much into that type of game, but it obviously sells well. The rest of the software chart is a nice mix of all of the systems.
In the hours after this morning, I’ve managed to finish packing up almost everything, with the exception of the Apple IIgs. That is the only thing left to pack though. The Bally is put away, the last display board is done, and the plastic display signs are all done. I even made a short little video of the preparation stuff (which I need to put on DVD some day – I’ve got stuff from the last two years as well).
The only main thing I have to do is put a nice grouping of songs onto my iPod shuffle, for some music at the show. Hopefully that won’t take too long. Of course I’ll make my last minute checks, and make sure everything is set for 10 am tomorrow (Thursday), when it all gets packed up and then setup in Oconomowoc (say that three times really fast).
My next posting will be after setup on Friday, hopefully before midnight, with possibly a few shots of the area before the crown settles in on the weekend.
See you all there (who is going to be there).
It is now partway into Thursday, and I’ve managed to get a fair amount of things done so far. The broken Mac SEs and Plus are put away, along with other things that didn’t make the cut this year. I’ve cleaned up the small Sony TV for use with the Sinclair. The Sony was in my kitchen, so it needed a good cleaning, and looks a lot better now. I’ve packed up the Odyssey2 and G7400, and will be doing the Bally shortly. The camcorder is charging, my Macbook is being power cycled (just felt like doing that), and I’m even sneaking in a few loads of laundry. And it is only 10am! I’m now switching to some paperwork, part of which will finish the last display board. Then I’m off to get the plastic display signs put together, two of which I have to create today.
That is it for now. I’ll post some more later today when I’ve got more done.
Just two days now till the show! (And tomorrow is setup day!)
I spent a bit of last night, and a good chunk of today putting together the five display boards for the UC area. This included an updated UC main sign, which I rather like. And of course, a somewhat tweaked Odyssey2 board, and the UC board that shows all the systems on display. This year adds a fifth display board to my area, which you’ll have to see at the show.
On the topic of the Mac SE or Plus being at the show, I’ve canceled that for this year. Main reason is that it is just too close to packing time (and too many hardware failures this year as well). I may still try to put in an extra //gs, but that will all depend on how much work I get done on Thursday
Which leads to tomorrow (Thursday), which will be spent packing things up, and putting together the plastic stand-up signs for each system in the show. That, in addition to a few extra show pieces, which I will also be finishing up on Thursday. It’ll be a busy day, but I’m off work (real work) till after the show, so I should have time to get the last minute things done.
So, only three days till the show! (And two days till setup day).
Something tells me this is going to be a big year for the MGC show (with Sony, SciFi Channel, and other big sponsors – and the smaller ones too). Can’t wait for the fun!