rolenta Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 I haven't seen any notice of this yet so I might as well anounce it here. As everyone probably knows, Bill Kunkel, co-founder of Electronic Games magazine, and author of the new book Confessions of A Game Doctor, will be attending VGXPO on November 12, to sign copies of the book (which will debut at the show). In addition to Bill's presence at the Rolenta Press booth, Ralph Baer, the legendary inventor of home videogames, will also be attending to autograph his book Videogames: In The Beginning! If you already have a copy of Ralph's book, he'll be more than happy to sign it. This naturally is pending and everything depends upon Ralph's health (he is 83) and his wife's health. Check here for updates if the situation changes. By the way, I'll be there signing copies of the 2nd edition of ABC To The VCS, for anyone who may want it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted October 5, 2005 Share Posted October 5, 2005 Sounds really great Lenny!!! Looking forward to seeing you at the show... Curt I haven't seen any notice of this yet so I might as well anounce it here. As everyone probably knows, Bill Kunkel, co-founder of Electronic Games magazine, and author of the new book Confessions of A Game Doctor, will be attending VGXPO on November 12, to sign copies of the book (which will debut at the show). In addition to Bill's presence at the Rolenta Press booth, Ralph Baer, the legendary inventor of home videogames, will also be attending to autograph his book Videogames: In The Beginning! If you already have a copy of Ralph's book, he'll be more than happy to sign it. This naturally is pending and everything depends upon Ralph's health (he is 83) and his wife's health. Check here for updates if the situation changes. By the way, I'll be there signing copies of the 2nd edition of ABC To The VCS, for anyone who may want it! 941979[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstulir Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Lenny, that is the best news I have heard about this show yet!! Awesome. Can't wait to see you & Ralph again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 I hope Ralph Baer is able to make it to Philly this year. And I hope that he and Bill Kunkel will be interviewed by Mike Stulir for the Back In Time Webcast. His interview with Howard Scott Warshaw at Philly 5 was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Glad to hear Ralph Baer will be at the show! I've never had an opportunity to meet him, and he was kind enough to write a wonderful foreword for a book Joe Grand and I worked on. Hopefully nothing will stand in the way of his attending the show. Leonard -- can you tell us more about Bill Kunkel's new book? Thakns, ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davepesc Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Awesome, can't wait to meet them and say Hi to plenty of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Anyone coming to the show will be in for a rare treat... Ralph is one of the most approachable people in the industry you'll have ever met. He's sharp as a tack too and really enjoys coming up with cool idea's and products. On a recent visit up to his home he showed me some new products he's been working on and I was very impressed with some of the things he's done as he has found ways to take what has really become some stale, unevolved technology in the videogaming industry and completely turned it on its ear, the man is amazing... If anyone was fence sitting about whether to come to the show or not, then make the decision to come and meet a real legend. Curt Glad to hear Ralph Baer will be at the show! I've never had an opportunity to meet him, and he was kind enough to write a wonderful foreword for a book Joe Grand and I worked on. Hopefully nothing will stand in the way of his attending the show. Leonard -- can you tell us more about Bill Kunkel's new book? Thakns, ..Al 946639[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstulir Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 I hope Ralph Baer is able to make it to Philly this year. And I hope that he and Bill Kunkel will be interviewed by Mike Stulir for the Back In Time Webcast. His interview with Howard Scott Warshaw at Philly 5 was great. 945929[/snapback] Thanks for the kind words. I was really pleased with the way that HSW episode turned out. If do any webcasting, it would be offsite from the show. I will not be doing any panels or webcasting from the vgXpo floor. I am not an "official" part of this event amymore. The new vgXpo staff has done NOTHING to attract special guests as they have been too busy worrying about comic books, action figures, bemani, cosplay, and other inconsequential SHIT that has nothing to do with the classic gaming roots/legacy/tradition of PhillyClassic. When I was approached about doing something to fix that a few weeks ago, I said it was several months too late to make arrangements for me to bring some people in. It is a shame too, as there are a number of "alumni" on the East Coast, but I needed to be extending the invitations during the summer, not four to six weeks before the show. Bill/Ralph are Lenny's guests. Since Lenny arranged for them to be there, I would want to get his "blessing" and make any arrangements through him....assuming there is even any interest for me to do a webcast. Up until a week ago, I wasn't even planning on attending...even though I live in Philly. I was completely disgusted when I saw the reports/reviews from Dallas & D.C. and I had more or less "walked away" from the whole mess. After I had given up on the show, Curt asked me to give him a hand with his Atari Museum exhibit and a Legacy Engineering Group display. Since I am deep into a number of projects for Curt/Legacy Engineering, I agreed to help him for the Philly event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitardude Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 ACK! Not sure if I can get out to Philly...When will the Kunkel book be available for sale on the website? It'll probably be the next best thing to getting old copies of Electronic Games (BTW, some dude has old EG copies on ebay for 30 bucks a pop!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 I hope Ralph Baer is able to make it to Philly this year. And I hope that he and Bill Kunkel will be interviewed by Mike Stulir for the Back In Time Webcast. His interview with Howard Scott Warshaw at Philly 5 was great. 945929[/snapback] Thanks for the kind words. I was really pleased with the way that HSW episode turned out. If do any webcasting, it would be offsite from the show. I will not be doing any panels or webcasting from the vgXpo floor. I am not an "official" part of this event amymore. The new vgXpo staff has done NOTHING to attract special guests as they have been too busy worrying about comic books, action figures, bemani, cosplay, and other inconsequential SHIT that has nothing to do with the classic gaming roots/legacy/tradition of PhillyClassic. When I was approached about doing something to fix that a few weeks ago, I said it was several months too late to make arrangements for me to bring some people in. It is a shame too, as there are a number of "alumni" on the East Coast, but I needed to be extending the invitations during the summer, not four to six weeks before the show. Bill/Ralph are Lenny's guests. Since Lenny arranged for them to be there, I would want to get his "blessing" and make any arrangements through him....assuming there is even any interest for me to do a webcast. Up until a week ago, I wasn't even planning on attending...even though I live in Philly. I was completely disgusted when I saw the reports/reviews from Dallas & D.C. and I had more or less "walked away" from the whole mess. After I had given up on the show, Curt asked me to give him a hand with his Atari Museum exhibit and a Legacy Engineering Group display. Since I am deep into a number of projects for Curt/Legacy Engineering, I agreed to help him for the Philly event. 947260[/snapback] That sucks. It doesn't seem like it would be a Phillyclassic without one of your pannels. And from what you and others are saying, I guess there is a reason why they aren't calling this show Phillyclassic 6. I'll be there but I do hope there are more than 4 booths devoted to classic gaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted October 15, 2005 Author Share Posted October 15, 2005 ACK! Not sure if I can get out to Philly...When will the Kunkel book be available for sale on the website? It'll probably be the next best thing to getting old copies of Electronic Games The official release date is November 29. I will probably offer them online when I get back from Philly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted October 15, 2005 Author Share Posted October 15, 2005 can you tell us more about Bill Kunkel's new book? The book is a collection of essays including tales about the birth of EG, Easter Eggs, Batman software that Bill's software company produced, famous people that Bill met, and the Odyssey 2 at the Knoxville TN World's Fair, among many others. I hope to get a sample chapter up on my website soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted October 15, 2005 Author Share Posted October 15, 2005 Bill/Ralph are Lenny's guests. Since Lenny arranged for them to be there, I would want to get his "blessing" and make any arrangements through him....assuming there is even any interest for me to do a webcast. Mike, be my guest and go ahead. Send me a private email and I'll send you their email addresses if you need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Sorry to say, I'm going to bow out of VGxpo, I'm a little disapointed that NBC is no longer doing a Tech Expo which the VGxpo would be great to be a part of, but instead NBC switched gears and is doing some kind of consumer finance expo and I don't feel its really the right mix where showgoers coming to balance their checkbooks, learn how to get out of debt and how to hire a contractor for home improvements is going to draw in crowds of videogamers. It costs a tremendous amount to haul out the Atarimuseum to a show and I just don't feel the cost will be justified this year. Hopefully Phillyclassic will come back next year and as a very loyal participant of the past Philly's I would return in a heartbeat. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Sorry to say, I'm going to bow out of VGxpo, I'm a little disapointed that NBC is no longer doing a Tech Expo which the VGxpo would be great to be a part of, but instead NBC switched gears and is doing some kind of consumer finance expo and I don't feel its really the right mix where showgoers coming to balance their checkbooks, learn how to get out of debt and how to hire a contractor for home improvements is going to draw in crowds of videogamers. It costs a tremendous amount to haul out the Atarimuseum to a show and I just don't feel the cost will be justified this year. Hopefully Phillyclassic will come back next year and as a very loyal participant of the past Philly's I would return in a heartbeat. Curt 951221[/snapback] Hey Curt, Can you give us some more info on this change? Is this on a website somewhere? Thanks, Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 NBC Consumer Expo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K3V Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Bummer - sounds like teaming up with NBC wasn't such a good idea after all. Oh well, I'm still going - hopefully we can all still keep the VGXPO from being a complete bust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 So what the hell happened? They just changed the focus of the show a few weeks before? Sounds pretty rotten. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariAger Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 (edited) So what the hell happened? They just changed the focus of the show a few weeks before? Sounds pretty rotten. Allan 951584[/snapback] Sorry Allan... ! ~Tom Edited October 21, 2005 by AtariAger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 So what the hell happened? They just changed the focus of the show a few weeks before? Sounds pretty rotten. Allan 951584[/snapback] I'm gonna guess that this is you! ...... Magazines ...... Your welcome...I asked the seller if they would add a buy it now...and was not around when they added it. 951598[/snapback] Sorry. Nope, not me. My only ebay name is chan4321. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstulir Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 So what the hell happened? They just changed the focus of the show a few weeks before? Sounds pretty rotten. Allan 951584[/snapback] In the past, this show was known as the "Technologies and Lifestyles Expo" and featured all kinds of cool stuff like digital cameras, plasma TV's, surround sound systems, etc. Exhibitors included people like Best Buy, Hewlett Packard, Comcast, etc. In the prior years of this event, there was NO videogame presence. It was something that was desired, but the NBC people couldn't make it happen. Two years ago, David Newman, Mark Wolfe, Curt Vendel, myself, and a few of the other "PhillyClassic" people did a large videogame display for the show. We did 10 consoles from the 2600 up through the XBox, and also had Quarterarcade.com bring in some coin-ops. It was one of the most popular areas of the event. The same display was repeated last year, and again, it was one of the most high-traffic areas of the Expo. That was part of what lead to the "partnership" with NBC. Now, flash forward to the spring of this year. PhillyClassic became vgXpo with Ed Fleming taking over from David Newman, Mark Wolfe, and a bunch of other organizers & assistants including myself. Ed has handled everything himself since then, and I do not have any sense as to when he knew this change was coming, or why he did not notify the exhibitors or attendees until now. Suffice it to say, I was quite shocked to hear the news of the show format change. What we have here is a substantial shift in the potential audience for this show. The big attraction for the vgXpo exhibitors this year was the additional draw of 20,000+ technology-hungry people that have attended the "Technology & Lifestyles Expo" in the past. People showing up at this new "Consumer Expo" for their free on-site prostate exam aren't going to give two hoots about coming over to see what Curt and I have to show off with our Atari projects. They also aren't going to be waiting in line to buy stuff from Al/Atari Age, or any other vendor. It is a MAJOR disappointment. What is just as disturbing is the absolute lack of promotion of this event. NBC's web site doesn't even mention the videogame aspect of the show, and I have seen absolutely ZERO advertising from the new vgXpo team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 You just saved me $500.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joesmooth Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 You just saved me $500.00. 951858[/snapback] Lucky for you - I had to book my ticket in October to coincide with some business plans. Seeing how this show has not even been mentioned as part of the "Con$umerfest" on NBC's site (http://www.nbc10.com/consumerexpo/index.html), the apparent lack of promotion, and the dismal responses to the Dallas and DC show, I had decided that it just wasn't worth the risk to go out there, bring a box full of classic gaming stuff, and waste time and money on an unknown event. However, it's going to cost me over $250 to cancel the trip and change my other flight arrangements, which is basically as much as my hotel will be, so I'll still be (grudgingly) going to the show. I certainly don't get the warm, fuzzy feeling that I had with previous real PhillyClassic events, and it's not a surprise - none of the original people involved (David, Mark, etc.) are involved anymore, and it's apparent that the VGXPO portion of the show is being handled unprofessionally. With that said, I'm still hoping if nothing else, the show will be a good place to see old friends, hang out, and maybe trade a few games with the few diehards who still decide to go. I have a bunch of rare Coleco titles and other random classic collectibles that I plan to bring with me, so feel free to PM me for a list if you want to try and set something up beforehand. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickybaby Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 You just saved me $500.00. 951858[/snapback] Man this is really sucking majorly. I finally gimp down to the computer and find many posts in this thread of heart breakers. We were looking foreward to seeing you (even planning a few treats) and Curt among others including a few favorite "vendors". The show really isn't the same. Anyone hear from Oz whether he'll be making the trek over? We had a bad feeling when we saw what they were charging for tables. I don't think we would sell enough to cover the fees. Only reason we'd be there at this point would be to see friends since it's not too far of a drive. Joe - hopefully we can get together for a dinner or drink one night - we had a great time hanging out last year. Well, here ends my few moments of freedom. *sigh* Hopefully there will be better news on my next expedition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 I certainly don't get the warm, fuzzy feeling that I had with previous real PhillyClassic events, and it's not a surprise - none of the original people involved (David, Mark, etc.) are involved anymore, and it's apparent that the VGXPO portion of the show is being handled unprofessionally. Nothing personal against Ed, but it looks like he has been F^#%*& over by NBC (not surprising). That's to bad. It looks like teaming up with them was a BIG mistake. I'm sure it looked like a really good deal at the time though. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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