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."

Comments

Re:Simply a product of the fad?

[chrispyman]

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.

No it's hardcore classic gamers

[veganjay]

I can understand what you are saying. In Hot Topic, and other stores you can buy all those old school Nintendo shirts. So, yes, some are cashing in on classic gaming as a fad.

But I went to the convention last year. There were are a few kids who probably never played Donkey Kong in the arcade.
But, for the most part, it is old school gamers (like me) who are now in their thirties, who are more entertained by games like pacman & tetris, than doom 3...

In fact, there is a huge online community for classic gaming. Check out my previous slashdot posting:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=109823&cid=932 5051

--
jason
2d activist/enthusiast

Re:Simply a product of the fad?

[kingsmedley]

Fad? I disagree. I've been involved in the classic gaming community (what we called it before the term 'retro' became common with the kids) for several years now, and many more people have been doing this for at least 15 years or more. Some guys I talk to got started back when Pong was new and simply never lost interest in their early consoles.

And in the retail mainstream, emu packages have been available for about ten years now. This is not a fad, just a way for people to play the games from the past on modern platforms.

Besides, most (dare I say all?) of the people attending this expo or going to be enthusiasts and collectors, not the Average Joe consumer that gets sucked into the latest fads. The CGE convention itself has been an annual event for about 5 years now, in addition to several regional shows.