Last weekend the 2010 Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo (OEGE) took place. My friends Charles (from New Mexico) and Brian (from Arkansas) drove out to attend the show and hang out for house over the weekend.
OEGE continues to be a small and fun yet somewhat disjointed show. First and foremost, the show is an advertisement for the college’s electronics department (and specifically, their video game development course). That means large portions of the “video game” show are dedicated to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash, and 3D CAD development. My friends and I counted nine vendors at the show. Only one vendor (video game author Brett Weiss) was selling video games. A second group brought six arcade cabinets, which were both for play and for sale. Best Buy was there with a fairly unimaginative display (three flat screen televisions connected to modern consoles) as was Vintage Stock. These were surrounded by several non-gaming-related vendors. New World Comics is a great comic book store, the artist who paints scenes from movies was extremely talented, and I’m sure the gothic magazine people were very friendly, but what they were doing at an electronic gaming expo was unclear.
There were also two or three different areas dedicated to LAN gaming tournaments. I didn’t really go within 20 feet of any of these areas so I couldn’t tell you any details other than it appeared that LAN gaming was taking place.
The only tournament I entered was for the Donkey Kong high score. Did I mention I won the Donkey Kong tournament?
The highlight for me was the live chat (via Skype) with Ralph Baer, the father of video games. There were a couple of minor technical difficulties and at times it seemed as if Baer was just going through the motions, but it was a great opportunity to hear him speak, even virtually.
Great to see you at the show, Rob!
Ralph Baer – the true father of video games. Although, Nolan Bushnell thinks he is.
A few years ago while at an event celebrating the Commodore Pet, the group had the opportunity to talk via Skype to Chuck Peddle (6502 inventor). I was a little disappointed in that Chuck didn’t actually show up for the event though.
What didja get in Donkey Kong to take the trophy?
I think Rob scored around 29,000 or so, which beat my 23,000+.
Yeah, I think I was at 29,500, which isn’t a great score for me. On a decent day I’m usually in the high 30’s, but that joystick was a little wonky.
That joystick was making me nuts. It would stay pointed in one direction after you let go of it.