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Game On For Classic Gaming Expo 2004
jm writes "The Classic Gaming Expo 2004 kicks off this weekend, with over 60 industry guests. This year the CGE is being held at San Jose's McEnery Convention Center, August 21st & 22nd. Learn about the origins of the video game industry, straight from innovators like Al Alcorn and Steve Wozniak. Check out new games for classic consoles, plus the latest retro game offerings from SNK, Konami, Midway, Digital Eclipse, among others. Also this year is the CGE 'swap meet', where you can buy and sell classic gaming goods, with table proceeds going to the Special Olympics. Another favorite is the CGE Museum exhibit, where you will find all kinds of rare video game console hardware on display. For those into arcade gaming, there will also be coin-ops in free-play mode, plus of course tournaments."
I wouldn't quite say its a long lasting fad. For instance, if you look at the average price of the arcade game Centipede (which most can agree is a popular game, but not cult-popular like Pac Man or Space Invaders) for now vs 10 years ago, you'd easily be able to see that a game like that was much cheaper (even taking into account inflation) 10 years ago compared to now. Even if you look at Nintendo and their NES-style Game Boy and the NES ports, you can see that this is simply a retro fad. Games like Pac Man and Space Invaders always have been popular and probably will be for a long time. But that's true of any popular game, and I doubt that many people forget games like Mario Kart 64 or GTA3 for a long time, if ever.