2016 ReplayFX Arcade & Gaming Festival, Pittsburgh, PA

[mstulir]

The American Classic Arcade Museum is pleased to announce that we will be conducting some speaker sessions at ReplayFX in Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, July 30th that should be of interest to most everyone here.

 

 

Ed Fries, Former Vice President of Gaming at Microsoft
Saturday, July 30th • 6:30pm

Ed Fries created his first video games for the Atari 800 in the early 1980s. He joined Microsoft in 1986, and spent the next ten years as one of the early developers of Excel and Word. He left the Office team to pursue his passion for interactive entertainment and created Microsoft Game Studios. Over the next eight years he grew the team from 50 people to over 1200, published more than 100 games including more than a dozen million+ sellers, co-founded the Xbox project, and made Microsoft one of the leaders in the video game business. In 2004, Ed retired from his Microsoft Vice President job to continue his work in the video game business as board member, advisor and consultant to a broad range of publishers, independent game developers, and media companies. In 2007 Ed launched his own startup, FigurePrints, an innovative company that uses color 3D printing technology to bring video game characters to life. In the summer of 2010 Ed released “Halo 2600”, a “demake” of the Halo video game series for the Atari 2600. In 2013 “Halo 2600” became one of the first two video games to be added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

 

 

Steve Golson, Co-creator of the Atari 7800 ProSystem Console
Saturday, July 30th • 7:45pm

The Atari 7800 ProSystem console was not designed by Atari. The people of General Computer Corporation (GCC) of Massachusetts created this console for Atari with an intended release in 1984, but it did not officially hit the market until 1986. Steve Golson, one of the original developers of Ms. Pac-Man at GCC, also worked on the Maria graphics chip for the Atari 7800. Join Steve as he discusses the creation, history & legacy of this amazing backwards-compatible gaming device. Steve worked for General Computer of Cambridge, MA. from 1981 through 1985. He created the hardware design for GCC’s arcade enhancement kits Super Missile Attack and Ms. Pac-Man. Steve also contributed to various other arcade game projects at GCC such as Atari’s Charley Chuck’s Food Fight. Steve is a frequent contributor to ACAM’s education projects, and participates with ACAM at gaming events on a regular basis.

 

 

Warren Davis Creator, Q*bert
Saturday, July 30th • 9:00pm

From Q*Bert to Us Vs. Them to Exterminator, Warren Davis has created some of the most fun & unusual games found in the arcades during the “classic” era. Join Warren as he discusses his career in game development with inside stories about his popular games, info about some unreleased games & a look at video digitizing technology used in arcade gaming. Warren Davis is a former arcade video game developer who worked at such manufacturers as Gottlieb & Midway. Warren’s most popular game was Q*Bert, a quirky & amusing game released by Gottlieb late in 1982. Warren helped develop other popular arcade games as well including Joust 2, Revolution X featuring Aerosmith, Terminator 2 & Exterminator. Warren also developed the video digitizing technology used in such arcade games as the NBA Jam series and the Mortal Kombat series. Warren’s laserdisc game, Us Vs. Them, is a popular attraction at ACAM, and attracts huge crowds when ACAM has presented it at game conventions. Combining computer-generated graphics with live-action filmed sequences, the alien invasion-themed Us. Vs. Them is a fantastic example of technology & fun gameplay during the short-lived laserdisc arcade game fad of the mid-1980s.

 

 

Gamers behind the Replay Foundation & PAPA are taking over the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA and filling it with more than 750 arcade and pinball machines, over 2,000 retro console games, tabletop games, a showcase of new products by game developers, magicians, live musicians, balloon artists, face-painters, competitions offering over $110,000 in prize money, and more!

The ReplayFX Arcade & Video Game Festival will feature the largest public collection of working pinball, arcade, tabletop, and console games anywhere in the solar system, and all games are free to play with the price of admission! Attendees are also invited to attend a series of seminars dedicated to gaming and its associated tech-culture, browse merchandise in the marketplace, watch the world’s greatest pinball wizards compete in the Pinburgh Match-Play Championship.

 

For information about the convention, please visit: http://www.replayfx.org

For more information about the ACAM speaker sessions, visit http://www.classicarcademuseum.org

[+Cafeman]

I am anxiously awaiting this year's Replay FX show. I attended Friday and Saturday last year, I loved the games of course, but meeting the Kong Off guys and the seminar folks like Steve Golson and Eugene Jarvis was awesome too. Even though Jarvis' buddy George Petro mocked my request for tips to get better at Robotron!

 

This year I am looking forward to hearing Ed Fries and Warren Davis, and hearing Steve Golson talk about Crazy Otto becoming Ms Pac-Man gain is cool too. I might go Thu-Sat this time.

[PacManPlus]

Damn. I wish I had known about this a while ago... I'd love to go and hear Steve Golson, and possibly talk some 7800 with him.

[Place Logo Here]

Cannot wait for this. Went for the first time last year and only went a day. Going all four days this year.

[+Cafeman]

I am joining the replay world championship this year, although I liked last year's games more. Next week!

[+Cafeman]

Well, I am not used to the difficulty settings of these games like Dig Dug and Time Pilot, si my scores are terrible!

 

Having an awesome time playing games, consoles and pinball!

[+Cafeman]

http://atariage.com/forums/blog/618/entry-13199-replay-fx-is-over/