CGE2K5 Review.....

[GrizzLee]

CGE 2005

Something for Everyone

By Lee Krueger

 

Fans of classic video games will be hard pressed to find a better event than the annual Classic Gaming Expo (CGE) held in San Francisco this year. Dubbed as CGE 2K5, it is perhaps the biggest and one of the oldest gathering of classic gamers and industry alumni in the world. Having attended every CGE event from the start, including its birth at “World of Atari” in 1998, I can honestly say that the CGE event has matured into a mainstay diet for me and many others whereby we plan our summer vacations around the event.

 

Highlights of the CGE event include a museum where one can see firsthand rare and hard to find hardware, software and video game memorabilia. Everything from unreleased prototypes to unreleased game systems, posters and artwork are on display. Each item is displayed with an information card describing what it is and usually why it is unusual or rare. For hardcore Atari fans they have everything from unreleased Computers to protos of unreleased Atari 2600 games. Intellivision fans can see firsthand, the very rare Master Component Keyboard Computer with software! While Nintendo fans can rejoice in seeing rare and oddball hardware released only in limited numbers in Japan.

 

Hand-in-hand with the CGE museum is the alumni and keynote speeches. I’ve attended most of the keynote presentations and met most of the alumni throughout the years of CGE history. Many of the alumni, such as David Crane (Pitfall) and Russ Kunkel (Electronic Games Magazine), Howard Scott Warshaw (Yars Revenge, ET) have become a staple diet at CGE. I find that these folks are always approachable and willing to chat with me. Attending a keynote speech is a learning experience that cannot be beat. In addition to gaining personal insight from the game/hardware designers of the era, you can ask questions that have been burning on the back of your mind for the past 20 years.

 

No CGE event would be complete without new games being available. This year’s event was no exception. New games for the Phillips CDI, 3D0, Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, Commodore, Sega Saturn and the Odyssey 2 were available for play and or purchase. Most notable were the multiple homebrews and “hacks” available through Packrat Video who seems to always have a large assortment of everything form Pong to Nintendo. They even had a big screen and projector to play such new games as AVCS-Tec Challenge, Atari mini-games competition cart and a new Odyssey 2 game that can best described as a mutated form of the classic 8bit game “Archon”. Additionally, they offered Pong for the Videopac and Odyssey 2, The Odyssey DVD!, Odyssey 2 Poster, Odyssey 2 Calendar, Odyssey 2 Mouse pad, Odyssey 2 Key Chains…. Geez, these guys love the Odyssey! The NWCGE booth had the newly discovered IXION Atari 2600 prototype on display for play along with Schell Electronics’ Cuttle Cart 2. Show attendees were able to receive a very charitable discount on the Cuttle Cart 2 using a special coupon code. NWCGE also had copies of the unfinished 7800 Pitfighter proto for sale along with unreleased copies of 7800 Sentinel and Klax. Also at the NWCGE booth were new Colecovision games from OPCODE. The Space Invaders collection sold out immediately as did Sky Jaguar. Yie Ar Kung-Fu was also available in greater quantities, but was also a sellout. Also available for play from OPCODE was their phenomenal version of Pac-Man, Road Fighter and Magical Tree. All these titles are top notch. The packaging of the OPCODES games is unbelievable. They do not use recycled cart cases, but use custom cases with the OPCODE logo molded into them and the manuals, boxes are better than even the original Colecovision release from back in the day. Of course, there were new Intellviision releases to play as well. First and foremost were the new games being shown by the BlueSky Rangers. These games, Illusions and Deep Pockets are very interesting and are rumored to become available later this year. Intelligentvision also had a limited box release of 4-Tris, a nicely done take on the classic Tetris game for the Intellivision, complete with color overlays and manual. Fans of more modern systems appreciated Midway’s booth as they were there demonstrating the upcoming arcade compilation, titled “Midway Arcade Treasures 3”. The previous 2 Midway collections are fantastic. This collection features classic Midway racing games (including those acquired from Atari Games) most notably, San Francisco Rush, Rush 2049, Hard Drivn’, Super Off-Road and Stun Runner. The collection is going to be a hit. As far as one could tell, San Francisco Rush was the most played game of the collection at the show. Was this pure coincidence that we were in San Francisco…. hmmm…

 

Not to be outdone in the software department, there was plenty of new hardware on display for play and purchase. By far, the biggest hit of the show was the new NES compatible game machine from Messiah Entertainment, dubbed “Generation NEX”... This impressive Nintendo clone is only 1.5 inches high, sports a footprint slightly bigger than a regular NES cart in classic faux NES style and colors. It plays booth Japanese FAMICOM and US NES games! The really neat part was that it features crystal clear A/V outputs and built-in wireless receivers to be used with Messiah’s 2.4 GHz wireless controllers. It also comes with an NES style game sleeve which looked like a game but then you pull it out but… WOW! It is actually the system manual. These guys really put their heart and soul into this. Dream Arcades were also on hand to display and sell various forms of their custom made arcade cabinets. PortableSystems.net was there displaying their incredible portable Jaguars, Dreamcasts and Nintendo units. Using PSONE LCD screens and homemade molds, they do an incredible job of making portable systems that look like they are commercially made. They are reasonably priced and well built. Retrozone was on hand showing that any and every classic gaming controller can be adapted to be used on a PC via a USB connector. Of course I was there again displaying my Colecovision Jr sporting my homemade Jaguar-to-Coleco controller which always gets a few oohs and aahs. My wonderful wife also sent along some fantastic embroidered console dust covers for the Intellivision, Dreamcast and the Atari 2600. Dean, aka, D-Lite, also had a table that was always crowded. He was selling highly modified classic gaming systems to bypass regional lockouts and/or provide A/V outputs. This was all very good stuff indeed.

 

No CGE experience is complete without attending the CGE auction. CGE without the auction would be the equivalent of having warm cookies without milk. It is a nice way to cap out a fun, but busy day. John Hardie is the auctioneer God when it comes to classic video games. No CGE auction is complete without beer. And John knows how to drink, be merry and sell you a piece of gaming history. Among the most interesting items at this year’s auction included Howard Lincoln’s briefcase, a pair of Nike “Gran Turismo” running shoes and 2 mystery “boxes-crap-crap” (One box turned out to contain an original copy of a rare 2600 game, “Magic Card”… sold for $100!!). Of course, to truly get a high price for any item in the auction, it must be displayed in a tasteful and appealing manner. I’m sure the organizers had this exact thought in mind when they asked the beautiful Carrie from the Messiah booth to display the auction items to a bunch of salivating gaming geeks drinking beer.

 

So we all heard about the party and the limited invitations given out. Unfortunately, I arrived late only to be told that due to fire marshal restrictions, no one else was allowed in. Thankfully, I was able to bribe my way in only to find that bar closed minutes before. It was wall-to-wall people in there and I found it hard to move around. I did score a commemorative CGE 2K5 shot glass. When I heard that there would be no strippers, I found my way to the door and went back to my room and crashed from exhaustion.

 

So that about sums up the CGE experience. The Hyatt was a fantastic place for the show and the special show price made it all worthwhile. Afterwards, many of us met up at the Elephant Bar restaurant down the street on the waterfront where we enjoyed a fantastic meal to conclude our CGE experience. As always, the organizers of CGE have always kept it interesting, whether it be the infamous Dig Dug drop, the zany CGE auctions, the parties, live bands playing classic music renditions, to the friends we all have made over the years, CGE has become more than a show, it is a pilgrimage to meet up with a community of gaming geeks and collecting nerds of which I am proud to be a part of. My thanks go out to the organizers for putting on another great show. I eagerly await the 10th anniversary expo.

[Vic George 2K3]

Well, here's a belated thanks for giving a rundown of this year's event, given that there wasn't any mention of it made in the mainpage of this site or even Digital Press, like there was for the previous years' CGEX.