Phosphor Dot Fossils

Just picked this CD up at OKGE, and I've been enjoying it immensely. I had previously downloaded the MP3s from Observatory Online, but the sonic difference makes the CD purchase worth it - and honestly, as much as I've listened to the MP3s in the past year or so, I always intended to put my money on the table if Paul released an actual physical CD. The extra song not previously released ("Same") is good stuff - all of it's good. Sometimes when you have an act with unique instrumentation - say, Blue Man Group - there can be a tendency to write the music around the instruments, and sure it might exploit the instrument to its fullest potential, but it might not come out sounding like what anyone would consider music. Here we have a batch of just plain good songs - they'd stand up on more traditional instruments. There's sort of an early 80s new wave vibe to the whole thing that has nothing to do with where the sounds are coming from - it's all in the writing and arrangements. The videos are fun too - "Sleep" is pretty cool, and gives you a bit of a peek at where the sounds are coming from. For some reason, I thought the "surveillance cam"-style view of the printer was especially neat. All in all, highly recommended. I don't know if Paul and Lauren will ever quite go mainstream, or if that's even their aim, but they're giving us some great tunes here and I hope they get their due recognition out of the deal.

Oh yeah, I had NOT FOR SALE printed up on my placards and stuff this year - last year I wasn't selling anything but I got lots of offers anyway. This year both Kent and I brought stuff to sell, and sold plenty, but it was the stuff with the NOT FOR SALE signs that always got the most offers. We kept track of it for one hour, and someone made an offer on the Coleco tabletops every eight minutes. And there was one guy who really did not want to hear a "no" when he asked if he could buy the Doctor Who pinball marquee! I wrote up a new hand-written sign for the tabletops that said "They're not for sale...but feel free to play 'em." I'd rather have the stuff up front for people to play and have to rebuff the buy offers than put any of it under glass or 'behind the ropes.' They're games, they're there to be played.

OK, my "after-action report" now, transcribed from a post I already wrote on the DP forums: OKGE 2004 was an outstanding show. I ran into some comically embarrassing technical glitches at my own table that apparently meant my much-touted video display couldn't run past 20-25 minutes (!!!), but I gave up on it and just put some games up on all my screens, and that = a happy crowd. Sold LOTS of stuff, scored a Gamecube, some 2600 and Colecovision goodness, new Pac-Man toys (!), two working 2600s, and much more. And a Commodore 1541 drive from icbrkr, who feared that it had a destiny as a speedbump in his garage. Autographs from George "The Fat Man" Sanger, who also played music for an hour or so with another member of Team Fat and had a great sense of humor and seemed to enjoy the whole thing on the level of being an attendee like the rest of us. Larry Dixon, formerly of Origin Systems, was also quietly making his way around, and I had a blast talking to him about Wing Commander (the games and the movie), and his kick-in-the-pants story about turning some guy named Rick Sternbach down on a design gig on some new version of Star Trek they were working on in the 1980s... D'OH!! Reasonable prices all round on the vendors' end of things, and stuff on display that I had not seen in YEARS. Whoever was running the Pac-Man & Q*Bert collectibles display - my hat's off to you. I drooled over that memorabilia. And the vendors were incredibly nice - I wound up having to borrow a PS1 A/V cable from Game Crazy, and that's a cable they could have sold had it still been on their table. This was a great event - full of cool stuff I hadn't seen before, cool people, and running over with that warm neighborly feeling of the southern midwest that I'm rather fond of. Oh, and Flack had THE standout table this year - outstanding presentation, and on a subject he knows really well! I went over there and he walked me through the items he had on display, and he'd been going through that same story all morning and I was just transfixed. I had a hard time staying behind my own table this year because everyone's stuff was just so interesting. Not to cast any aspersions on last year's OKGE, but this one was a QUANTUM leap forward. Congrats to Jesse Hardesty - I do believe he's landed himself right smack in the middle of the midwest's biggest gaming event! Attendance was WAY UP this year from what I saw - and lots of returning faces from last year. Big crowd in the morning, different big crowd in the afternoon. I talked myself hoarse demonstrating the Odyssey, talking about video game history, and just shooting the breeze, even giving a rather rambling interview to HawgWyld. Some shoulda warned him that I can go on and on about classic games until I foam at the mouth and fall over backwards! And of course a blast to see everyone there again - Flack, chocobokick, Albert, icbrkr, purenergy, Vespertillio and his pal Juan, MegaManFan & Mrs. MegaManFan, Carrie and Brad from Messiah, and anyone I may have neglected to mention. Rockin' show, folks. Don't miss it next year. I don't see how there can help but be a good show a year from now too! And maybe by then I will have found a DVD-R that doesn't glitch! Also, one more thing - I feel I owe a public apology to Jess because, during breakdown, I threw out some crazy offhand comment about "Wow, maybe this'll be two days next year!" and I could almost feel the poor guy's blood pressure rising because I know he's just now depressurizing from THIS year's show. I kinda felt like an ass about that, and I'm deeply sorry for it, Jess - yet another example of my enthusiasm running away with me (and admittedly me being more than a little bit tired, else I probably would've done a better job of editing my own thoughts before they escaped my mouth). It's just...that's how much I love this show. But you're right, a two-day event is probably out of reach for now in this part of the country - even AGE was, if I'm not mistaken, a single-day event. Jess and his lovely wife put on one heck of an event for all of us, but really, I'm not trying to make anyone's head explode here, so for that comment - and any implication that might have been taken from it that this one day of OKGE was in any way not adequate - I am truly sorry, because that couldn't be further from what I was actually trying to say: OKGE rocked. And now for something completely different...some more pics. It's kinda hard to tell, but the large red object in this guy's lap was his kid, completely conked out while daddy jammed on the Gamecube. Virtual Boy! I wanted the grand prize from Brad's Space Invaders tournament SO BAD. Brad, where did you get this to begin with? Must...own...one. Some of the prizes being given away every hour. Hey, for once, I wasn't the only table with a Magnavox Odyssey! I believe this 2600-era gadget was also at Brad's table - I had never seen one in person before. When you demand the lack of certainty of an Intellivision controller in your 2600 gaming, Suncom presents the Joysensor - sensing your joy slipping away as someone frags you for the umpteenth time today! But I keed, I keed - I've never tried one out! Teach your children well. This Galaga cocktail was "booked" the whole day - I didn't get a single game in! These should give you an idea of what kind of crowd there was at OKGE - a very healthy turnout considering that the bulk of OKGE's traffic is probably walk-ins. One day, two days? Doesn't matter. If you missed OKGE this year, do not miss it next time!

Oh man. I need to digitally replace my crotch with Jar Jar in this picture or something. It ain't pretty! I came home last night, ate, played with my dog and my cats, and promptly passed out in the floor of the living room. Literally. Anyway, I came to a little whle ago and sorted through my disks and disks of pics...and discovered that I snapped something like 150 shots at OKGE! My sincere apologies to Kent, who manned the PDF table with me - I had no idea I'd left him stranded back there so much. But there was so much to see... Avast, ye mateys! Pirate Captain Flack (Rob O'Hara) shows off his warez!...erm...wares. GREAT setup - the most distinctive display at the whole show by miles. Brad Prillwitz, aka Purenergy. Brad had a SWEET Vectrex setup with one of the coolest controllers I've ever seen. I think someone had to drag me away from it. And then pry the controller out of my hands. I want a Vectrex now... Brian Green, aka icbrkr, demonstrated for me the gleefully distrurbing "Torture Mode" of Creatures on the C64. He enjoys this far too much! Brad and Carrie Strahle (PlayMessiah and DeliverMessiah, respectively) of Messiah, makers of some very slick controls - I'm sure neither they nor their product need any introduction by now. But what's up with the following pic? What the hell's wrong with people? Man, the odds were VERY good of walking away with the raffled-off Messiah proto controllers at OKGE! Jesse Hardesty, aka Crossbow, sweats the details and announces another hourly prize drawing. Someone's taking pictures of Albert taking pictures...seems like anytime I've pointed a camera at Al at OKGE in the past couple of years, he's been pointing his own camera somewhere else. Wise man! The OKGE arcade: all working. Suh-WEET. I haven't played Battlezone in years. Or Gorf! And where else can you spot Carrot Top playing a Neo Geo cab? This Gorf cab was beautiful. And it kicked my ass in sixteen distinctly different directions simultaneously. And speaking of beautiful coin-ops: A super-duper-rare Joust cocktail for ONLY $1,400. I tried to trade the owner what's left of my soul for it, but he really only wanted cash. Guests expected: the Fat Man! I gotta say, the nifty bluesy jam session, which wandered through everything from Pipeline to Secret Agent Man to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds to - my favorite - Word Up (!!)...this was some world class entertainment by some excellent musicians. Worth the price of admission alone. Guests unexpected: Larry Dixon, formerly of Origin Systems, graces the PDF table with a visit! My partner-in-crime Kent got his copy of Wing Commander II autographed by both Larry and the Fat Man - and hastily withdrew it from his otherwise enormously successful buck-a-game PC DOS game sale. Methinks he's a-gonna keep it now. Kent mans the PDF table. Displaying and playing the early history of video gaming at the PDF table. There were treats for Tron fans aplenty at the PDF table this year - and take a look at the pic on the left. The lighting was absolutely perfect for that particular display. Sorry, just had to brag! Games and toys go hand-in-hand in PDFsville. Vintage game soundtracks and remixes from Japan on display, and Crazy Climber set up to play - with two joysticks, the way God intended us to play Crazy Climber. Classic gaming and sci-fi collide at the PDF table: lots of people commented on the Doctor Who pinball backglass (and one guy offered me a heap of cash for it, but I politely declined) and the Sega Star Trek poster. And I brought the Intellivision poster along to add the Fat Man's signature to the proceedings. The family that plays together stays together. (P.S. What can brown do for you?) Wide shot of the PDF area. Okay, okay, end of brag. I was really proud of our setup this year. Virtual Boy goodness at one of the other tables! Another what-the-hell-is-this!? photo: people attending another event peek in from an observation window that I didn't know was there on the second floor! What the hell! Buy a ticket like the rest of us, people! LOL AtariAge: getting the next generation hooked early. The first play's free, kid. The next hit'll cost ya. Great show - we actually made a buck this year, and after doing some buying and trading myself, came home with the much-coveted Platinum Gamecube (I've been wanting any color GC for about a year now), a 1541 drive from icbrkr, two working 2600s (for the past year and a half or so, I've had none!, more vintage video game toys than I brought with me (thanks to Lynda's Action Figures, who gave me the first crack at what VG-related goodies she had), and...a few select items from the AA table. Amazingly enough, after all this wheeling and dealing, I broke even on the trip and brought home $51 to Mrs. PDF...who had loaned me $50 for the show the day before. We had a blast meeting everyone - well, almost everyone, I'm not sure if I met Sauron or not, or at least may not have known who he was with regard to the forums - and the show was GREAT this year. I'm ready for next year's. Well, I'm ready for a nap first. And I'm sure Jesse is too! Many thanks to all involved.

Well, they've gotta burninate the EPROMs first, ya see...

Man, this is getting ugly. Don't s'pose we wanna, y'know, wait and see what they're going to do? Curt's been dropping some tantalizing hints in the Atari Flashback thread in the Classic Gaming Forum. I guess I'm kinda surprised by the harshness of the reaction.

Brad, if you need, I can bring the GBA and GC-GBA connector cable with me. I've been trying to gather the pieces necessary to play Pac-Man Vs., I just don't have a 'cube yet. Pathetic, eh? I'll also bring that PS1 import I mentioned earlier that happens to be a blast. My only problem is having to get back home at a decent hour on Saturday night, because there's always stuff that needs to be done on Sunday. I'm also the ride home for a friend of mine who'll be running the PDF table with me, and I'm not sure if he has to work Sunday or not. But I'm sure we can stick around for a little bit.

Especially the "twilight titles." Today's Easter Bunny PS1 game is tomorrow's Chase The Chuckwagon. And probably about as good!

With just a few days to go, here's a sneak peek at my top secret project that I've been working on for OKGE. I'm working on this one right down to the wire, as a matter of fact! PDF:TV is an audiovisual history of the early years of gaming, from Odyssey through the dawn of the NES era. Game-in-action shots galore of vintage arcade and console games, rare glimpses of classic video game commercials and cartoons, and much more, all in chronological order. Also featuring music by 8-Bit Weapon and some brand new tunes by Tony Fox NYC (thanks very much to both of them for permission to use their sounds!), and this is no Powerpoint presentation - it's all in motion, and produced on some real live video editing gear. It'll be repeating throughout the day so you can go check out the other exhibits and come back to it any time you like! Chances are, you haven't seen anything like it before.

I think the sheer amount of unnecessary vitriol in the Atari Flashbavk Unit thread demonstrates that there are still plenty of classic gaming crazies out there.

It could also be that certain parties on AA are being engaged in a consulting capacity and may be bound by non-disclosure agreements... hence the silence. Best just to sit and wait. Patience and diplomacy might buy us a better chance, as a community (and possibly a goodly chunk of the buying public for their offerings), of forging a good relationship with Atari that might make hacks on cart do-able again at some point in the future (maybe, and maybe not). I doubt very much that we'd be able to accomplish that by screaming for their heads. Just a thought. And a lot of guesswork on my part too, I'll admit.

Just because of the names, if that's the case.

Wait a minute, what does this mean for AA's distribution of Saboteur on cartridge?

There's a whole bunch of factors in play here. The fact that Atari didn't scale back the 2600 market, and couldn't do anything to influence third-party software outfits to scale back on production of 2600 games, meant that the 5200 was competing with its older brother the whole way, competing not only for market share and for marketing. It was only common sense that Atari would spend its ad dollars on what was already known to be a cash cow (the 2600). Which brings us to point #2...Atari lagged way behind Coleco in getting an adapter module out to allow 2600 games to be played on the 5200. Coleco had Expansion Module #1 out right alongside the debut of Colecovision itself...and so for gamers (and their parents) who didn't want to have blown a ton of money on games that wouldn't work on their new system, Colecovision was a shoo-in. And I'm not sure what did more damage - the controllers themselves, or, less directly, the bad press from the controllers. Electronic Games Magazine was unrelenting in its criticism of the 5200 joysticks. That sure as heck turned me off. But I think the fate of the 5200 is really down to the first two factors.

Doing a bit of other research, and found that Antarctic Adventure is also a licensed title. So...yep. We've got what's on mcgrail's list transcribed from the colecovision.com site. Woohoo! Campaign '84!

Tarzan - nope, they'd have to license it from the Burroughs estate. Too much $$. Bet it won't happen. Cosmic Avenger - they'd have to license it from Universal. See above. Lady Bug - another Universal license. Smurf Rescue - they'd have to license it from the Smurf copyright holders. Bet this won't happen either. Mr. Do - another Universal license. Gorf - a Midway license, one which in itself has its own baggage with some use of Taito and Namco's classic games. Won't happen. Zaxxon - a Sega license. Don't count on it. Choplifter - a Broderbund license. Wouldn't hold my breath. Donkey Kong (I have a warm spot for the CV version!) - it'll never, ever happen. Nintendo isn't going to farm a star property out for a second-hand license. Antarctic Adventure - this is about the only one listed that'd have a snowball's chance in hell of showing up. I think we can expect to see Super Action Football, Super Action Baseball, etc. etc.; if the Atari and Intellivision X-in-1 games have been any indication, don't hold your breath for any arcade licenses. The Colecovision site lists a bunch of non-licensed games like Campaign '84 and so forth, and I think that's exactly what we can expect, for better or worse.

Aha! So someone else is losing money. I knew it couldn't just be me. Maybe this speaks more to me being a total square than anything (hey, that much I admit!), but at CGE 2003 I strayed very little from the show itself, and only spent about 45 minutes at any of the after-show parties. As ubersaurus says, the show's the reason we're there.

Gambling is cheap? You must be better at it than I am.

Sorry, not looking to sell. It was hard enough for me to find those - let alone Museums 4 & 5 - as it was! But I'm up for letting you try 'em out in the meantime.

MMF - if you're referring to Namco Museum Encore, I can bring that to OKGE if ya like. I can also show ya the Japanese version of Namco Museum 2, which has a different game that's not on any of the US volumes. Or, you can read all about 'em here: Namco Museum Encore Namco Museum 2 (Japan)

FYI, this isn't a case of someone trying to make an "instant collectible" out of something - the decision really wasn't in John's hands. And that's all I'm gonna say unless he decides to say more.

Um...I think you drop three bucks at the door for the tickets. But in all seriousness ya need to ask Crossbow about that.

As if you need another reason to game in Green Country: OKGE will see the first public appearance of the ultra-rare Odyssey2 trackball controller by Wico. Apparently made in very, very small numbers only - this is one of only two known to exist - the Odyssey2 Command Control trackball puts a different spin on some old favorites on this system. This will be the first public appearance of one of these controllers at a retrogaming show, and it'll be set up for play at the Phosphor Dot Fossils table. These are photos of the item as seen at least year's OKGE - and also, it's an indication that you never know what's going to walk in the door. An attendee at least year's OKGE happened to have this item with him, and allowed me to borrow it and try it out. As a result of that test drive, I've acquired this one and added it to the permanent PDF exhibit. So let it not be said that you won't run into any holy grails at this show! Roll on into Tulsa on September 18th and have a ball at OKGE!

Classic Gamer Magazine - all that's missing is the paper.

Man, I hope that the other people running tables are eligible for that contest. Suh-weet! Man, I hope I can get away from my table long enough to play Space Invaders for three minutes.