Robot2600 Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 @Gabriel: there were 2x 5200s with a bucket of carts to chose from. Personally, I played Missile Command and my girlfriend played Adventure II. Man, of all the Homebrews, Stay Frosty had what looked to be the most action. I don't think I ever saw it NOT being played. If you missed the expo, have no fear. It's been going on for like 12 years now, so it'll be next year too I have no doubts. I was there for 10 hours, but next time I'm getting a hotel so I can stay for every single minute. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 What was running on the 5200s? @Gabriel: there were 2x 5200s with a bucket of carts to chose from. Plenty of homebrews and other custom carts in that mix, too. I took a pic of the highlights. Mistyped that, the person I saw was on level 10, not 9. Might have been FujiSkunk, depends on when he was there. I was there from 12-4, and the person I saw was after my presentation so it was sometime between 2-4. Sorry I missed you. I had my run to level 10 around 2:30 on Friday. I didn't make it back on Saturday until about 4. Man, of all the Homebrews, Stay Frosty had what looked to be the most action. I don't think I ever saw it NOT being played. Space Rocks got plenty of action too. It was a good expo for SpiceWare games. If you missed the expo, have no fear. It's been going on for like 12 years now, so it'll be next year too I have no doubts. Oh yeah, this thing isn't slowing down. This was actually my second HAAG Expo. My first was all the way back in 2006. At that time there were plenty of arcade and pinball games, but no home consoles, no seminars or presentations, and barely any dealer presence. As much as it's grown since then, I'm sure they already have the hotel booked for next year! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 (edited) This was my first time coming down to Houston... I got there at 1 on Saturday from Austin, caught SpiceWare's talk, then hung out on the floor most of the day. Stay Frosty 2 is coming along very well, and will be a must buy. I really likes Space Rocks, but I think I'd want to play it with a Genesis controller instead of a CX-40 as the backwards "special action" detection seemed very twitchy. I found myself hyperspacing unintentionally a lot. Star Castle Arcade was great, but it took me a few games to realize that both difficulty switches were set to A making it insane. I also liked Frenzy, but really wished it had a feature to disable the voice, as the show floor was too loud to hear it, so it just seemed like the game hung for no reason. The game also really needs a S-Video connection to the TV for the fine detail to look it's best. The trivia contest at the end of Saturday was a lot of fun. It's inspired me to write up a set of early console trivia questions -- they had a good set for pinballs. for early arcade video games, and for post-NES consoles, but almost nothing for the 2600-era devices. I still ended up winning ST:TNG Pez dispensers and a giant stuffed dragon which now is being loved on by my 9-month old boy (while supervised). As for the arcade and pinball games -- I fell in love with the arcade version of Reactor once I finally got the hang of repulsing the particles, and I discovered ColorDMD displays for the first time, which replace the yellow dot matrix displays with RGB LED ones to really nice effect. There were both ST:TNG and Medival Madness pinabll machines with this setup, and I really felt it improved the game a lot. The new boutique pinball machines were very impressive, especially Wizard of Oz, but I never got to play them as they were always mobbed. I finally got to play Major Havok with the horizontal spinner, and it really made control a lot better than the Tempest-style spinner. Edited November 12, 2013 by bcombee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 (edited) Star Castle Arcade was great, but it took me a few games to realize that both difficulty switches were set to A making it insane. Ouch! I hope you left the game with BB settings. http://www.flickr.com/photos/atariage/10802501615/in/set-72157637560360394/ Game 4! Edited November 12, 2013 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot2600 Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 I put that Kaboom! cart into the system xD not pictured: me. I'm in the background playing Robotron in one of the pictures tho. My camera broke two weeks ago at the Texas Renaissance Festival, so I don't have any pictures of my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 This was my first time coming down to Houston... I got there at 1 on Saturday from Austin, caught SpiceWare's talk, then hung out on the floor most of the day. Stay Frosty 2 is coming along very well, and will be a must buy. I really likes Space Rocks, but I think I'd want to play it with a Genesis controller instead of a CX-40 as the backwards "special action" detection seemed very twitchy. I found myself hyperspacing unintentionally a lot. Thanks! You might like to track down a Starplex controller. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 12, 2013 Author Share Posted November 12, 2013 Thanks! You might like to track down a Starplex controller. I intended to bring that to Houston, but I seem to have cleverly hidden it after I got back from the Portland show. I still haven't found it. That's assuming it actually made it back with me from Portland.. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 I intended to bring that to Houston, but I seem to have cleverly hidden it after I got back from the Portland show. I still haven't found it. That's assuming it actually made it back with me from Portland.. ..Al Go back and check all of the photos for a guy with a bulging pocket or a guy who is packing too much meat or a guy who has a very lumpy butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Here's my presentation (36.1 MB Keynote) from the expo. Also available as a PDF document (6.3 MB) or PowerPoint presentation (6.4 MB). Also here's the complete source (23.2 KB) with ROM and output from DASM for the sample program. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 What was running on the 5200s? Like Robot2600 said, there was a bucket..... I put out as many 5200 carts as Albert had. As this was my first time ever to this show (and any arcade show like this) and can't wait for next years show! I had never seen a 5200 console, controller and cart in person......ever! (and 7800, Colecovision, Apple II - all brought to the show by AA) I tried Pac-Man, Sinistar, Super Pac-Man, Jungle Hunt, Joust (bad port), Donkey Kong, Tempest (using the trak-ball) , Dig Dug (thought it would have been better), Moon Patrol, Berzerk, etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot2600 Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 (edited) The Apple II was a great treat. I rarely see them anymore but grew up with them in the classroom and library as a young kid. Soon they were replaced with DOS IBMs and then eventually Windows 95. It's got a really great Galaxian port, that was a nice choice to display. I wish I could have played Ultima on it, and I know you are an Exodus fan because of your profile, Albert. From the facebook page. Yes, again, that high score is mine and it was up all day. Edited November 14, 2013 by Robot2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 I didn't actually bring the Apple II or the Dreamcast next to it. I did bring everything else, though. The guy who brought the Apple II brought it last year as well (and perhaps years in the past, I don't recall). Would be cool to have Ultima III running on it, but it's not a very accessible game for random people to play at a show like this. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I'm gonna write a longer piece bout the entire experience this week. Did you ever get around to writing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot2600 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Yea I did, just forgot to post back here: http://8bitcity.blogspot.com/2013/11/robot-does-2013-houston-pinball-arcade.html If you've read the topic you probably won't get much new info, but still I had a lot of fun and was feeling like I was at Disneyworld or something while the expo was going on. Better than Disneyworld. It was more like being able to ride a T-Rex that also could fly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Nice update to iWork. theres a new view-only option that you can use when you share documents but dont want viewers to edit anything So here's a link to the presentation that can be viewed online. Per this support page: Supported operating systems OS X v10.8 or later Windows 7 or later Supported browsers Safari 6.0.3 or later (OS X) Internet Explorer 9.0.8 or later (Windows) Google Chrome 27.0.1 or later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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