Ramblings (Underdog Chamber)

Nothing firm to report, but I am working on the system setup for this year, and plan on making announcement here sooner than later. I will be doing a TV inventory soon, which means testing units, as I’ve had units die in prior years. So I test to make sure I got what I think I have. When that gets done, I can then start pairing up systems with TV sets, and testing the systems then. When that works (and yeah, systems can die in storage too), they get announced here for the 2012 show. That is it in a nutshell – but it sounds easier than it is.

I’ll be starting on Quake too, pulling out the units and making the final tally of how big the LAN will be for 2012. I do plan on scaling back this year, so don’t expect a 11-player Quake LAN like last year. Unless I can squeeze things into place.

Announcements coming soon…

A bit earlier here on Ramblings, I mentioned that I wanted to change the UC area, for reasons that I won’t do into details here. The matter of this issue is though, I simply don’t have enough time to do what I really wanted to do (like upgrade Quake – but it’ll still be there in OS 9 goodness). So instead of making any promise I can’t keep, I’m just going to stick with reality and say that some changes will occur. I’ll state right here, the biggest change is the simple fact that I am somewhat tired of just displaying less popular gaming systems. While I enjoy doing it, I also would love to display the Genesis, Atari 2600, Playstation and more. Not all at once of course. Thus for 2012, I’m indirectly going to call it the Underdog Chamber +, where the ‘+’ is going to stand for the competition that went against the underdog systems I have on display. I’m going to try to display things by generation (1st gen, 2nd gen, etc.), and show systems that beat the underdogs during each generation of console. How much of this I get done, only time will tell. How well it will be received in another thing too, but I can’t predict that until it actually happens. Consider this a test.

The other big area I wanted to seriously improve was signage. I want more display boards behind systems, with more information for casual (and hardcore) gamers to be able to read, to garner more information about systems on display. This is the one area where I am way behind in, and will not fully be able to implement by show time. At least I don’t see that happening, between work and school, time is somewhat short.

That is it for now. Have a fun New Year’s for those who celebrate it. Goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

Have not posted much here in months, as I’ve been a little too busy with school and other things. But Winter break is fast approaching, and I need to get my butt in gear. Really want to make some decent changes to the UC area for 2012. I’ve already got another sucker volunteer to help out with the UC exhibit, who shall simply go by ‘Jeff’ on the site here (thanks Jeff for helping out). I’m hoping to get a system from Jeff to display this year too – will find out soon.

Till then, keep your stick on the ice (when Winter truly gets here), and have a great Holiday!

I’ve known the date for next years Midwest Gaming Classic for months now, but the date has been officially announced on the MGC Website. Luckily it falls on my weekend off of work, which makes it easier for myself to make the event again. I have not gone into full swing in regards to what I’m doing this year with the Underdog Chamber. The only thing I know for sure is that my area is going to change, more than it has in the past, simply because I want the UC area different than it has been. Not sure how much change I can implement by March 2012, but I plan on doing my best. More information will be posted as this develops.

See you in March 2012!

Been meaning to put up a recap for the MGC 2011 show for a while, so here it is (finally). Note: I did not see a lot of the show, due to just maintaining my own area, so I will only comment on what I actually saw (which wasn’t a lot – there was much more than I’m recapping here).

Staring in my neck of the woods:
Atari Jaguar Festival – I’ll have to admit that this area was setup pretty good this year, but I did not take much time to check out what was being offered. Looked good though.

Die-Hard Gamer Console Arcade – New name for the Modern Museum. John Norman is the main guy behind this area, and as always, it was setup incredibly well for the 2011 show. Signs for practically every system, with lots of cool information on them. Plus so many consoles hooked up and ready to play. I did not play much myself in this area, but saw lots of people at the show having fun, and that is what it is all about.

E2M Museum – New name for the Classic Museum. This year Marty (and friends) went with a ‘dark’ arcade-like theme for the E2M room. Lots of good stuff was up and running, from Erik and his TI stuff, to a Commodore group, CoCo setup, Coleco Adam, and a rather nice 6502 area. In all, very (and I mean very) well done! My only gripe, a little too dark, but that is just my opinion. I know a lot of people liked the room with the lights down. I just would have liked a bit more light to see stuff with (maybe more rope lights would have helped). Gripe aside though and no joke, if it wasn’t for Marty’s museum area, there would be no Underdog Chamber (and that is a fact)!

Family Game Room – Nice setup this year, done by J.D, as Tom was out for 2011. While the area did rather well, I missed Tom and his kids. Hopefully they will return for 2012.

Turbo Fest – This was in the hall this year, and looked like fun. I didn’t stop by too long, but people were showing an interest during the whole show.

Underdog Chamber – Need I say more. My area did great. I still find it amazing on how people always tell me that I have one of the best setups in the show (at least that is what they tell me). Guess I’m just a little to critical in how I see my area. I always know it could be better, even if it is great the way it is. I’ve got plans for next year already – expect some major changes!

As far as show Events go, I missed them all. Suck to be me. I should have checked out Ben Heck, but just didn’t get around to it.

Panels and Presentations – I only got a chance to see Ralph Baer and Ted Dabney. I can honestly say that Ralph is just a great guy. He’s getting up there in years, but his mind is still sharp, and he’s still working on gaming devices. Very, very interesting guy too. I loved his skype presentation. Ted was pretty cool too, especially talking about the early days of Atari. Fun guy with a great sense of humor.

Other than that, I did get some chance to play some stuff in the Pinball/Arcade room. There were a LOT of machine for 2011, which was just fantastic!

The vendor hall had a lot of variety for 2011. From pinball parts to magic wands (seriously). I did pick up some things, but not a lot. My collection is getting tighter, and it was hard to find specific things this past show, not that there wasn’t a lot to buy (just not much for myself). I wish I would have caught GWH’s big sale on Sunday!

That is about it. As stated, I spent a lot of time in my own area. Still, it was a great show, and it just gets better each year. Here’s to 2012, and whatever it brings!

P.S. Someday, I’ll finally post pictures of 2010 and 2011 here…

Somewhat of a busy day today. I finally got together with my parts provider, and got that Dalmation iMac back together! I need to format it properly, but hopefully will have it going soon (soon = before next March).

I did purchase some additional equipment too, for the Mac LAN. Won’t know how that pans out till later in the year. Just glad to get some things out of the way. Have another thought for using an old iMac that doesn’t work well. At this point, I’m thinking something along the lines of the iSkull I’ve had on display for years, but this would be much cooler!

On the side, I never did get any response from that guy that sold me a lemon classic system. The thrill of Internet buying. Oh well, forward march is all I have so say.