VGXPO: Day One

As it was pointed out to numerous people, my trip entailed nine hours of driving, originating from the Toledo area, so with proper planning, I actually missed out on a day of work Thursday to cut into the trip and make the travel there a little less grueling. We had everything packed on Thursday in a decent time and head out around noon with the intent of stopping somewhere outside of the Philadelphia area and just relaxing after a most tedious drive. We hit a pretty big roadblock, however, as when going to renew littlenekochan’s state ID card, we were told that on that very day, a new regulation was passed to where you had to have a proof of residency in order to receive an ID. Of course, we didn’t have this and the resulting BS put us behind scheduled almost an hour and a half. Still we were in decent spirits for the trip as leaving the day prior allowed us to take easy and not be in a rush. After seven hours of driving, we stopped for the night in Carlisle, PA, and got a nice Mariott suite with parking, a hot tub, a pool and plenty of stores across the street, all at a much lower price than the Philadelphia hotel we ended up staying at. We managed to snap a bunch of pictures on the way as well – being from northwest Ohio, things like hills and mountains are unheard of – so in all, the first day of our excursion was relaxing and full of anticipation.

With the lead time, we were able to cut our travel time down to two hours and, as a result, we were able to arrive at the Philadelphia Convention Center one hour before the opening on Friday without having to wake up real early and rushing out the door. Finding our way to our hotel was a very simple process and it was nice to know it was a mere block away from the convention center, but once we arrived, this is when we found out the hotel had absolutely no parking. After about 15 minutes of asking random people where we should go, we settled on a parking lot a block from the hotel where some gentlemen I could barely understand charged me $60 for parking. This isn’t the convention’s fault, for sure, but after the huge chunk of change we spent on travel alone (there were a couple unforeseen costs and turnpike rates decided to hike on Oct. 1), let’s just say I’m never driving out to Philadelphia ever again.

Now that we were finally settled to go to VGXPO, the problems with the event started to surface. If there is a VGXPO 2010, please, please set aside a little bit of money and invest in some f*cking signage, banners, anything. Since the convention center and VGXPO Web sites do not provide exact addresses and no note was ever made of where to enter this building, we walked around the entire building trying to find where we were supposed to go and it wasn’t until we saw a convention hall staff member outside smoking that we were able to finally have an understanding of which direction to go. When we finally arrived at the entrance of the event, which, still, had absolutely no signage or any indication whatsoever of there being an event there, I began to wonder if others were having the same troubles since there was now almost only half an hour until the doors opened and I would generously say there were maybe 25 people outside of the entrance. After some texting, Jamie came down to give us our wristbands, which after reading other online accounts of VGXPO, sounds like a godsend now after the clusterf*ck people have described as the registration process at the event.

Walking to the exhibit hall, it was hard to shake the feeling of how spread out and empty everything seemed at the time. I shrugged it off since the event hadn’t started yet, but, obviously, foreshadowing should tell you I will get back into this topic in due time. We walked past the Nintendo booth, which got me amped, I noticed the nice Army setup toward the front, but making out way toward the back, I could see scores of empty, wasted space, empty booths and a CBS/CW tent manned by people that looked like they would rather be at a 2-week seminar about how to properly chew food than at VGXPO (here’s another aspect I’ll be returning to). After winding a couple of times through the hollow path that lied beyond the front attractions, I was finally able to see Retrocon and some hope finally coursed through my veins.

A full square of classic and current gaming goods and some extremely hard-to-find items complemented by a string of classic (and some very bizarrely picked, might I add) arcade titles – I say this not because J2Games was a part of it, but, honestly, Retrocon was one of the few places in the entire convention center I could go to and not feel depressed. I was finally able to re-meet Jay and finally meet Bill and Thomas face-to-face, which was essentially the entire reason I came to the event. Nothing on the Web site for VGXPO alone would have made me drive nine hours and I’m very proud to say I’m acquainted with everyone on the site here, so finally being able to talk to people face-to-face was a welcome change and an experience I won’t soon forget. What was forgettable was what happened once the announcer declared the expo was open and small chunks of people muddled in at a very slow pace.

I was able to sell a UMD for Jay before the show had even begun, so I had a little hope in being able to pitch some sales, but almost immediately, it was clearly evident what type of show this would be. Amongst the first groups I conversed with, I received this very puzzling question: “So, where are all the games to play?” Mind you, this is said as we standing right next to a full classic arcade set on free play. I tried to reply with a joking “What do you mean? I see a bunch of games available to play right here [the arcade], there is a tournament lounge by the stage, Nintendo has a booth and there are few companies over that way too.” The young group just looked bewildered like I had just answered in Japanese. “Yeah, but … where are the new games?” they retorted. I still attempted to play along by answering with “Well, I have some Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games for sale and a number of other vendors have new games for sale, the Army setup I think has Halo, Nintendo has some new games at the booth and they are playing Street Fighter IV and other newer games in the tournament area.” Reeling back like I had just devastated them, they came back with, “but where are the games that aren’t out yet? Where are all of the other companies?” To this I couldn’t say anything other than “Sorry, but Nintendo is the only company out here (this is before I knew Storm City Games, Synet and Island Officials were at the event – my apologies guys!).” The kids ran off after muttering a very disturbed “oh.” With this situation, I had finally run into the crutch you have by naming your event and “expo” – you will immediately be compared to the industry events of higher caliber such as E3 or PAX – PAX, this event certainly was not.

After uncomfortably making conversation with people who had no intent other than window shopping and asking about “that one game,” I made my way over to where Bill was sitting after witnessing scores of people staring his section of the booth over and not having any clue who Bill Kunkel was. Just as it is online, Bill was very easy to talk to and we shoot around a bunch of topics such as video game writing in general, Tips & Tricks, arcades and more and I was able to have him take a quick look at the thrown-together “resume” I pieced together for the event. While Bill left to prepare for a panel he had to kick off the event’s panels – “411 on Collecting Video Games” – I decided it was as good a time as any to check out the floor space. I found it odd that virtually half of the exhibition room’s floor space wasn’t even used and I almost expected to trip over a few tumbleweeds as probably half of the guests and featured booths hadn’t even shown up yet. After taking a lap around, I found my way across the convention center to the room where the panel was being held and sat in on it.

Evidentially, being a panel, other people were supposed to join Bill and help him run the 411 bit, however, no one seemed to show up and he was left to run the show all by himself. Regardless, it was still an interesting panel and he was able to prove a few key points in regard to games and how there doesn’t seem to be focus on collecting other game-related items. The audience participation kind of steered the conversation away from the point of collecting, but it was still rather intelligent discussion and, of course, they received Bill’s insight on the matters and I was glad to see a handful of the guests stuck around to greet Bill and thank him for the panel. Bill also did another panel later in the evening and afterwards left with an acquaintance to grab some food – that sounded good, but too bad the convention center saw fit to close all of the building’s food offerings in the early evening. Being 7:00 p.m., we decided we should look for the grand opening ceremonies … but no one could find it or even knew what it consisted of.

Instead, walking around prior to the closing of the event, I was able to get some quality time in on the Nintendo and Storm City Games booths. On Friday, all I really played was the New Super Mario Bros. title and Zelda Spirit Tracks. I still don’t think either game is really for me, though. New Super Mario Bros. is most likely something I would enjoy for one playthrough and never play again and it’s just been hard for me to get into a recent Zelda game. Although both titles are executed really well, I suppose they just aren’t a fit for what I am looking for. I was able to play the first stage of New Super Mario Bros. with some other expo attendee and it kind of bored me to see that it reflected the design of World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros. I would have liked to have tried some of the other stages as the later stages looked to be more of a challenge, but I would be distracted by other events and games. I loved the setups for the Zelda DS units though – nice red, mushroom shaped seats (that would look great in my gaming space) and a dual-screen monitor for those passing by to watch the gameplay. The train segments rather annoyed me on the demo, but, still, the dungeon and boss fights were classic Zelda. Both of these offerings were the same as seen at E3, but it was nice to get a hands-on play with them.

I was much more interested in the Storm City Games booths, which featured Island Official’s Hands-On! Tangrams and a tent displaying the upcoming DSi-only cart title System Flaw. Tangrams featured some challenging puzzles based on the puzzle game of the same name. I was struggling to make zoo animals out of set shapes, but it was a fun experience nonetheless and I hope the title does well. System Flaw is one of the more original titles I’ve seen lately and it’s good to see a game making extended use of the DSi’s functionality. The title uses the DSi’s external camera to display your playfield and enemies will surround the player, which must spin the camera view to see the beast and fire away to destroy it. I expect this to be a popular game and it seems the company knows it has it potential hit on its hands with telling me a few things they could hope to do in a sequel.

The remaining time whittled down with me checking out the span of offerings at Retrocon, which featured a great mix of imports and classic titles, systems and gaming-related items. I didn’t pick anything up the first day, but toward the end of the first day, food was definitely on my agenda. After meeting up with Chris, we were able to deposit our belongings in the hotel and we headed down to Chili’s to meet up with Jay.

It was a nice dinner with the company of others as our group joined another group that had a booth at the event. We just chatted away and enjoyed bacon cheeseburgers and called it a day. On the way back, littlenekochan forced a stop at the nearby 7-11 to complete her Domo-Kun cup and straw collection. To unceremoniously end the night, I pretty much crashed as soon as we returned to the hotel. My one thought on the first day was definitely one of hoping the second day, the day that everyone stated would be the “big one,” shaped up far better and had more to offer than the first.

Will We Ever Lose Our Thumbs?

This morning wasn’t the most splendid way to start off the work week, but, at least I’m still alive and earning a paycheck. Just shy of 8 a.m., I was using an apple corer and slicer and I would have to imagine this particular one was of the cheap Wal-Mart variety. Upon using my amazing strength to push down on the apple, the plastic completely broke from the blades and the downward force sent my hands crashing down to the table. The blades, of course, stuck in the apple, sticking out and giving me small gashes on the outside of both of my hands as physics took over and brushed my hands across them. It’s a trivial, mostly annoying injury for sure, but it got me thinking today, how it could have been worse and how I would cope with not having opposable digits. Obviously, not having thumbs would be the bane of any console gamer’s existence, so would you be inclined to agree the gift of thumbs is something we tend to take for granted?

Perhaps the only thing I’ve ever experienced in being “disabled,” was fracturing my arm, very near the growth plate in my right shoulder. Since it was high on my arm, my mobility in my wrist and such was never in any jeopardy. Still, I remember looking pretty goofy going to arcades in a coat in colder weather with my forearm protruding out through the gaps of my coat’s buttons. I received a few questions about my setup while playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it was understandable – I wasn’t going to let a crack in my bone stop me from enjoying video games.

However, given where video games are heading, are thumbs still going to play a part in our hobby? I could obviously get by using a joystick and button setup without a pair of thumbs, but you really aren’t going to need them, it seems, with items such as Project Natal. Given the evolution of controllers and gaming, I’ve also noticed you really don’t see as many mentions of “numb thumb” or hand calamities that saw the release of specialized accessories and even gloves that aimed to relieve these ailments. I’m sure there are some people who don’t know when to quit and waggle their appendages down to the bone (I’m pretty sure we took a look at one such instance on the forum here one time), but you just don’t see magazine print ads selling such items anymore. Although, I do wish I had a pair of those gloves for the original Mario Party on the Nintendo 64 – winding up the toy Shy Guy burned a friction hole in a few members of my childhood gaming group and remains as one of my most crippling gaming injuries.

Obviously, I’ll survive, but, perhaps the injury leads me to take another look at the many things in gaming we have taken for granted over our time. What would gaming controllers look like if we didn’t have thumbs? It would have been quite the interesting evolution and, who knows, maybe we would have still arrived at the same point as Project Natal. Thumbless gaming just seems foreign to me as even the wagglacious Nintendo Wii still banks on people having thumbs for the most part and the Playstation 3 motion wand would be a whole new ball game if we didn’t have thumbs. I have nearly 30 years of gaming experience in these two bad boys and I know I’ve got many more in me – hopefully thumb-based gaming won’t go the way of the dodo, but that would be hard to believe for this generation. As it is, I’m amused at the premise of today’s children not knowing what cassette and VHS tapes are, but I suppose I better start thinking of ways to explain a time where video games didn’t synchronize directly with your brain.