Special Guests At VGXPO (Phillyclassic)

[Xot]

Part of the appeal for me was the sense of closeness/community that the Philly Classic fostered. It was show by gamers, for gamers, and it big enough to feel big time yet small enough to be inclusive. Last year's show tried too hard, IMO, to appeal to the mainstream public and lost a lot of that feeling. With the announcement of the "partnership," I really felt like the essence of PC was gone, and that coupled with the decision to move it to November made me decide to forego the event as far back as last year. It was difficult for me as I'd been on staff since PC3 and no longer felt welcome.

 

I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome of the partnership. It's really too bad. Maybe next year or the year after there can be a true Philly Classic 6.

[maibock]

Maybe I'm missing something..

 

Last year, there wasn't any other show affiliated with Philly Classic. So, what does it matter if there's some odd thing going on? Then again, I'm assuming that the video games would be separated from the main show. I'm also assuming that the table costs are the same as last year, are they not?

 

I was never thrilled having the show affiliated with anyone else, especially a news outlet. My concern was having more riff raff walking around interfering with those who were there specifically for the games.. Not that they wouldn't show up.. Actually as a show goer, I'm kind of happy that those people would not be interested, but I understand the economics of trying to sell something. But then again, back to my previous point of it being like last year..

 

Then again maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way?

[Xot]

Maybe I'm missing something..

 

Last year, there wasn't any other show affiliated with Philly Classic. So, what does it matter if there's some odd thing going on? Then again, I'm assuming that the video games would be separated from the main show. I'm also assuming that the table costs are the same as last year, are they not?

 

I was never thrilled having the show affiliated with anyone else, especially a news outlet. My concern was having more riff raff walking around interfering with those who were there specifically for the games.. Not that they wouldn't show up.. Actually as a show goer, I'm kind of happy that those people would not be interested, but I understand the economics of trying to sell something. But then again, back to my previous point of it being like last year..

 

Then again maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way? 

952006[/snapback]

 

Well, I think the larger audience base was an important part because admission was supposed to be free, and the more expensive tables were for a theoretically larger customer base. Without the tech expo, the larger audience base is no longer. That's my interpretation, anyways.

[maibock]

Ahh I get it..

 

Last year:

PC on its own + low table costs+ admission = worth the effort of those putting on the show

 

This year:

PC+Tech Show = more interested people

free admission+more interested people = table people have the opportunity to sell more stuff, thus PC can > table costs

 

Now:

PC+lamo show = less interested people or just PC people thus < higher table costs = not worth it for table people..

 

Hopefully the arcade people won't bail out

[legeek]

I hope they dump NBC next year and figure out how to make this work

[ed_fleming]

Hi folks,

 

VGXPO is quickly approaching and I wanted to drop in a quick line about the show and clear up a few things.

 

First, VGXPO is not PhillyClassic. It really is a new show, one that covers a wide range of gaming topics, including our roots - classic games. To make the show appealing to a larger base of people we teamed up with NBC to promote the expo. Some of you have been saying that it was a mistake to mix PhillyClassic and an NBC event together. But realize, VGXPO is not PhillyClassic - it is its own show, with a new and larger mission.

 

The truth is, running a game show is hard. We've been trying to figure out how to make the show work. When we signed on to work with NBC as a partner the original plan was for NBC to run a technology event. In April 2005, their plans changed and the event became a Consumer Fest, and then in late September 2005, it was renamed to Consumer Expo. Since May 2005, we’ve been promoting our involvement with NBC10 in Philly as a consumer event. We believe that the event will bring many people out to the show. It is true that NBC hasn’t done such a good job with its website. But, I’ve been promised that it will be updated soon to better reflect what we are bringing to the show and some of the other things that the show will include (including video games and technology), not just info about money management. In addition we are doing a number of own marketing efforts, outside of NBC’s promotion. These include magazine, news paper, internet and retail POS marketing. Through these channels we expect over 250,000 impressions.

 

The reality is, we are gearing ourselves to offer a gaming experience for both hard core and casual game players. The effect is bringing more people in to our hobby, teaching them about the video game industry and warming them up to be included in the video game collecting hobby. Working with NBC is not negative, it is bring more people into the hobby who might otherwise never been part of it.

 

We plan to make VGXPO the main consumer videogame event in the US, and we want it to be our full time jobs. To do this we have to grow the show into something that attracts mainstream public and something that is attractive to the likes of Nintendo, Sony, EA, Microsoft, SNK, Capcom, Atari, and the many other game publishers. To do this they expect 25,000 or more people to participate in such an event, it’s a high stakes game and they just aren’t interested in getting involved in small shows. We plan to grow into an event similar to Wizard World, Comicon, DigitalLife, IGN Live, G.A.M.E, GameLive Events, and eventually Tokyo Game Show. But we are humbled by are origins – we know that we cannot grow without standing on the shoulders of others, NBC provides us that first step.

 

PhillyClassic was a great show. It attracted nearly 3000 hard-core gamers. VGXPO plans to replicate the same success, but please bear with us through our first few events. It's true that we are having some growing pains, but we are working to fix those issues. There is a lot that we want to do - and we can only do it with your support.

[Chickybaby]

Was the same bump err... generic reply really necessary by Ed in 3 threads?

 

Why not address some of us "common people's" concerns or why not comment on costs or anything else addressed for that matter? The bitch part of me says if they gave a darn about the gaming community why wouldn't they offer incentives for members of websites to join in instead of this ... ? And why does it seem like people who have put a lot of heart into the whole "Philly Classic" thing seem to be shunned - if the spirit and community got such good feedback why ruin it? Nothing like Auction Master Xot *sniffle*.

 

Maybe it'll turn out to be a lot of fun after all at the convention. I know it will be fun getting together with people at least so long as people actually come.

 

 

 

And I am sorry to the Mods and genuinely nice peeps we have met here for being such an itch in this thread.

[CPUWIZ]

And I am sorry to the Mods and genuinely nice peeps we have met here for being such an itch in this thread.

952455[/snapback]

 

Don't be.

[ed_fleming]

Was the same bump err... generic reply really necessary by Ed in 3 threads?

 

Why not address some of us "common people's" concerns or why not comment on costs or anything else addressed for that matter? The bitch part of me says if they gave a darn about the gaming community why wouldn't they offer incentives for members of websites to join in instead of this ... ? And why does it seem like people who have put a lot of heart into the whole "Philly Classic" thing seem to be shunned - if the spirit and community got such good feedback why ruin it? Nothing like Auction Master Xot *sniffle*.

 

Maybe it'll turn out to be a lot of fun after all at the convention. I know it will be fun getting together with people at least so long as people actually come.

 

 

 

And I am sorry to the Mods and genuinely nice peeps we have met here for being such an itch in this thread.

952455[/snapback]

 

 

I am sorry, I was hoping that people would see the threads, so I posted them a few times. As you can tell, I don't post on the site too often, but I feel that I needed to say something these last few days. Anyway, its not that we are huge company, we aren't we are just trying to make a fun show, but to do this, I often do not have time to go online and place messages online.

 

In regards to some of the past organizers - I worked with Mark Wolfe a lot and some of the other folks posting on this site were volunteers. In regards to the volunteer base, there are some guys that I've read on Atari Age that I didn't even know were involved in past shows. For some of them, their contact info was never passed on to me. Some guys, like Mike S., were hard for me to get in contact with.

 

You could imagine that they have full time jobs, and it wasn't easy to get a hold of them. Then with the planning for Dallas and DC it my summer schedule was full of logistical planning for those two shows. I felt particularly awful when I heard that Mike S. didn't want to participate in the Philly show.

 

In regards to Mark - he and I had a falling out. He and I disagreed about a number of things. However, since I have the sole financial responsibility for the success or failure of the VGXPO and the company that owns it, I had to make decisions that he may not of agreed with. Any offenses that he may have felt regarding me and my decisions were not intended to make him upset. I may have seemed to come off as territorial, but I made decisions that I feel were best for my future. Honestly I like Mark, I am sorry for making him upset and I hope that someday he forgives me.

 

There isn't much else that I would like to say on the matter.

[joeybastard]

Man, this thread is depressing. I've been squirreling away extra dough and doing quick freelance gigs to have some money for this show. After readiing this thread, I don't even want to bother with the 3 hour drive each way.

 

Here's to a REAL PhillyClassic next March/April like it should be be. A pipe dream but hope springs external

[maibock]

I know what you mean. I'll probably still go, being local and all, but I'm not nearly looking forward to it like I was before. I had a bad feeling when NBC's name popped up.. sheesh!

[joeybastard]

I know what you mean. I'll probably still go, being local and all, but I'm not nearly looking forward to it like I was before. I had a bad feeling when NBC's name popped up.. sheesh!

953466[/snapback]

 

If it was local, I'd still go but between what sounds like a cruddy show and the price of gas, I just can't justify it.

[ECGXChuck]

I'm not going to attempt to hijack this thread, or get anyone riled up about anything, but for those who remember what PhillyClassic was for the first 4 shows, that's what we're doing with ECGXpo.

 

We're trying to make it big, but keep the small homegrown show feel. Keep the casual trading and selling enviornment, but bring in some extra entertainment factors. While PhillyClassic was mainly a dedicated classic show, ECGXpo has a broader span, but definately keeping it with a retrogaming feel. Ask people who have attended both ECGXpo and PhillyClassic, they'll be able to draw some similarities between the two (heck, I was one of the original 2 organizers of PhillyClassic, David Newman and myself, the second year was David, Marc Pallente, Jeff Folejewski, and myself).

 

We are most certainly not in any way, shape, or form trying to replace PhillyClassic as a whole, but we're trying to fill the gap which was left when it upgraded (for this year at least) to vgXpo. Many people prefer the smaller homier feel of the casual shows over the somewhat larger and overwhelming feel of consumer shows.

 

To show our support of PhillyClassic and vgXpo, Rob and myself will be attending vgXpo. We hope everyone else does the same. We're a community, and these shows provide us with a unique opportunity to break down the barriers that our computer monitors have put up between us. So come on down to Fort Washington for the weekend, play some games, get some free stuff, meet some of your online friends face to face, that's what these shows are all about!

 

Game on vgXpo, game on PhillyClassic, game on ECGXpo, and game on every other gaming convention!

[maibock]

I can attest to the similarities, but then again ECGX really needs to get organized, but I understand growing pains. Since I missed PC 1+2, I can only compare PC3 to ECGX and say that ECGX would be on par less than PC3.

 

Although I did pick up more 2600 carts at ECGX than I did with last years PC - could have picked up a lot more, but I can't have myself buy carts without having the prices clearly marked.

 

I'm also still dubious of having a vendor win the grand prize(boxed Vectrex) instead of an attendee of ECGX..

[Rob Toxic]

I can attest to the similarities, but then again ECGX really needs to get organized, but I understand growing pains. Since I missed PC 1+2, I can only compare PC3 to ECGX and say that ECGX would be on par less than PC3.

 

Although I did pick up more 2600 carts at ECGX than I did with last years PC - could have picked up a lot more, but I can't have myself buy carts without having the prices clearly marked.

 

I'm also still dubious of having a vendor win the grand prize(boxed Vectrex) instead of an attendee of ECGX.. 

959289[/snapback]

 

Heh. I can assure you that we didn't rig that. If we did I would have won. I wanted that Vec so bad. We gave out tickets to everyone including vendors. Our new guy Matt called the number and it happened to be a vendor. I haven't let him live that down! Perhaps next year venders will be exempt from the grand prize.

[maibock]

And maybe have some sort of official drawing, instead of someone "pulling a number off the top of his head" - it may very well have been legit, it just looked way hokey from my vantage point.

 

Again, as long as you guys realize you need to improve organization, and things do in fact improve, I'll still be coming to the events.

[Rob Toxic]

And maybe have some sort of official drawing, instead of someone "pulling a number off the top of his head" - it may very well have been legit, it just looked way hokey from my vantage point.

 

Again, as long as you guys realize you need to improve organization, and things do in fact improve, I'll still be coming to the events.

959429[/snapback]

 

Well it was an official drawing. We handed out tickets to everyone throughout the day. We called numbers randomly that had been given out all day. Some of the people who had the numbers left or didnt care. So we had to call out multiple numbers for some giveaways. That was not due to poor organization.

 

We're always looking to improve and we will. That said, i've never been to a show videogame or otherwise that was run perfectly. I didn't think there was anything so horrid at ECGXpo 2 that would give an overall negative experience. If you didn't like the way the giveaways and tournaments were organized you were free to visit the arcade or the consoles set up and play or check out our vendors. Same with any show. We tried to give people a great experience and some people really did enjoy themselves.

 

Thanks for the feedback and support! See ya in a couple days!