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Iowa Aims to Establish International Video Game Hall of Fame
eldavojohn writes "Anyone who's seen King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters knows that Ottumwa, Iowa is the Dodge City of video games. Yesterday, 3,500 people showed up to the kick-off speech that announced the intent to build the International Video Game Hall of Fame right there. Radio Free Iowa states Ottumwa's desire to become the 'video game capital of the world' and held a Halo 3 and Guitar Hero tournament there yesterday. Will this town of 25,000 residents secure the title?"
After all, there's not much else to do in Iowa.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
May have a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up...
This is akin to Flint, Michigan's attempts to attract tourism with Autoworld, which was a horrible failure.
Posted by Kabbalah God
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Video Game capital of the world? Iowa? Are you kidding? What about Japan, California, or Washington State? Those seem like better candidates.
that Ottumwa, Iowa was a real place.
I thought it had been made up for MASH. You know, like Toledo, Ohio.
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
They'll probably do it. They get three tries for a quarter.
rewriting history since 2109
There are 3,500 people playing video games in one room at quakecon right now. Could they have picked a worse inaugural weekend to do this? Anyone who's anyone in the videogame press is at Quakecon, home to iD software, the SMU Guildhall and countless other software houses. Not to mention 2 hours south is Austin, where at any one point there are probably 3,500 people playing halo in the dorms at UT. Good luck with that.
moox. for a new generation.
I went to school just south of there in Missouri. Went to Ottumwa, Iowa for fun, usually involving the water-park. Also, the home town of Tom Arnold, whom I ran into there once.
Also has the worlds only UN-denominational church I've ever seen.
Also had a Wild wood cola factory ( the softdrink of my childhood).
Shouldn't this be done in the birthplace of video arcade games -- Sunnyvale, CA?
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Iowa?
...just to see the VG Hall of Fame.
Maybe if they had a corn hall of fame.
Bad move Ottumwa, once you've mined up a little ore you don't use it to build a hall of fame, your gonna need vespene gas for that. No, what you do is you use the ore to build more workers, that way you can mine ore faster. Otherwise how are you going to defend against the initial zerg rush?
Are you telling me Ottumwa, Iowa isn't proud enough that it's the hometown of Walter "Radar" O'Reilly? That's not enough for them?
This sig is false.
As a game developer, i believe I speak for many of my kind in saying: FUCK IOWA.
Good white joke? You, you failchan reject trash.
Your sig sucks and so does mine. Now watch my videos.
Leroy Jenkins
I live in nearby Omaha Nebraska (No i am not a farmer and there are other things in Nebraska besides corn) and this seems pretty sweet especially since I'd be able to go see it in person.
makes about as much sense as locating the Hockey Hall of Fame in Rio de Janiero or calling Des Moines Surf City USA.
Here in San Francisco we have the completely ignored "Walk of Game" in the Meteron which was heavily advertised but no one really cared, because its fucking dumb.
Here's the kicker, its within walking distance to Bungie and probably and 4-5 large game publishers like Lucas Arts (well a cab ride anyway).
Here's the Problem...Games are not Hall of Fame material that would dumb, only Gamers could be hall of fame material. (Kinda like the real HOF)
However, gamers are the least interesting people in the world. Reference The Image Comment http://xkcd.com/621/
If you want to make something people would actually give a shit about, make a museum gallery (not historical, more like MOMA style) that goes beyond button mashers and shows the interesting, weird, and beautiful games that never made it to the masses, that would never be seen unless a someone who knew where to find them was and put them on display to play.
"Get them before they get....
The trick is that the Museum must be populated with as many arcade games as possible. It has to have every good console game in existence. I'd pay 10$ every day to go to an arcade/museum just to meet other gamers and talk about video games. This is actually a dream of mine to do myself, but I don't have the funds. All I can do is emulators. But if I let anyone come play and someone rats me out to the feds, it will close down rapidly.
God spoke to me.
Remember that to most Americans, 'The World' is just the 48 States that makeup continental USA. Even Alaska & Hawaii are often perceived as 'foreign' places.
Where are the European, African, Asian & South American teams in the 'World Series'?
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
Entering Iowa on the Interstate the new signs will read "FINALLY! We have more than corn! Giant statue of Mario on Exit 3"
"They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
This Iowa thing is an absolute joke. For those who do not know, there is a REAL museum that really exists as something other than a pipe dream.
http://www.classicarcademuseum.org/
It is located at the Funspot Family Entertainment Center in NH. It has been rated as the largest arcade in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.
http://www.funspotnh.com/
I'm actually from the Ottumwa area originally and thought I'd share some more info with everyone to help put this in context.
There seems to be a major divide in Ottumwa between reality and the city government. For years the economy has been slowly declining there. The two major employers are John Deere and a meat-packing plant (Excel). Through Excel there has been an ever increasing Hispanic community that's causing a lot of racial tensions. Now I think the recession has hit John Deere while mostly avoiding Excel which isn't helping matters.
Previously, to get from central Iowa (Des Moines) to most places in SE Iowa and upper/eastern Missouri (St. Louis area) you were required to drive through Ottumwa. Recently a bypass has opened that completely avoids ALL businesses there. Hell, I don't even think you can see a single building from the highway. This has put several places out of business already and has killed what little "tourism" they had. The only retailers that seem unaffected are the local Wal-Mart Supercenter, Target, and grocery stores because they service the locals.
So, faced with all of this what's a city government to do? Well, obviously, there are many options. Unfortunately, they've chosen the route of childish attention whoring. It began with construction of a multi-million dollar events center that would re-vitalize the economy. Turns out the most popular events are cage-fighting and it hasn't done anything to bring in outside revenue. No surprise really: http://www.bridgeviewcenter.com/index.php
So, on to plan #2. "Hmm...I know! We have bridges in this city. Four to be exact. Let's call ourselves the 'City of Bridges' and light one of them up with giant blue floodlights. We'll be f'ing famous!": http://iowa.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/jefferson-street-bridge.jpg
Fail...again.
I imagine this is how the next decision making meeting went (being generous here and assuming, for the sake of amusement, that somebody had a level head):
"We need a new plan!"
"Bingo! I remember as a kid some obscure video game high scores being set here. Let's call ourselves the 'Video Game Capital of the World'. We can't go wrong this time. People will flock here! Maybe from as far away as Illinois if we're lucky."
"But, we only have one game store here and it's only been here a few years."
"Shut up."
"We don't even have any software development studios here. Let alone any that make games."
"Shut up!"
"The self-proclaimed keepers of video game world records, Twin Galaxies, aren't even here. They're 25 miles away in Fairfield."
"Lalala...can't hear you voice of reason."
"Our only arcade went out of business too!"
*twiddle thumbs in annoyance*
"You know, we don't even have a very big population of gamers here. Hunting and meth are the biggest pass times here."
"Dude, you're fired. So, it's decided. Let's notify the AP and make some signs!"
This is just their latest tantrum at attention-grabbing. This is a passing phase that will obviously fail...and epically. There is, quite literally, nothing to see here. Move along.