The date for this spring’s Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo has been announced, and it’s Saturday, April 10th in, as always, Oklahoma City. I’m already trying to see about being there. To be brutally honest, I might not have bothered with the show’s third year; the 2009 show was a bit… well… unfocused. I also have a job now, unlike much of last year, during which I work Saturdays. I made decent money at Tulsa’s OVGE show last fall, and made a fraction of that amount at OEGE. Those factors really had much shrugging off the initial announcement that there would be an OEGE this year, period.
I understand that OEGE isn’t, and can’t be, a “retro” video game event, unlike OVGE and CGE, but with their school backing they have some unique opportunities and some unique advantages; these guys could actually get some guest speakers and charge it to the glorious cause of Educating People. Last year I was suggesting folks like Richard Garriott, who are reasonably close to OKC, but this year’s show already has a guest speaker lined up, and I have to say I’m impressed – they really seem to be going for the gusto, lining up Ralph Baer, the inventor of home video games, to speak via Skype during the show.
Okay, I’m interested now – and seeing as my chief product for sale is a series of DVDs on video game history, which includes Ralph Baer’s wonderful invention, it’d be just this side of stupid for me to not be there selling this stuff. I’m also well known for setting up shop at both of the Oklahoma shows every year with a working Magnavox Odyssey – the first home video game system, which Mr. Baer invented – so, yeah, I think it behooves me to be there so that the “video game history” angle is out there on the show floor as well as in the lecture hall. Because this stuff isn’t dry history, it’s all still fun.
Unlike years past, I’m not going to break my back trying to get a new DVD ready for this show. I just don’t have the time right now, I don’t think I could crank out anything worth anyone’s time in just 47 days, and frankly, I still have plenty of copies of Phosphor Dot Fossils that I burned for last year’s OEGE and OVGE that still haven’t sold. I’m not planning a hugely elaborate display – just a TV showing the usual loop of the various Phosphor Dot Fossils and Classic Gaming Expo DVDs, a TV where folks can see and play the Magnavox Odyssey (not something you get to do every day), and so on. My DVDs also deal heavily with the Odyssey and its descendants, with actual footage from the machines. It makes sense for me to be there.
Hopefully all of this good news means it makes good sense for you to be there too. (If not, you can always order DVDs from me directly, hint hint!) (Previews of segments of the DVDs can also be seen if you become a fan of Phosphor Dot Fossils on Facebook – just sayin’.)
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