Forum > Blogs > Video game convention question - not E3 related at all
Video game convention question - not E3 related at all
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Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:03:16
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I've been meaning to bring this up for a while, and I figure now is as good as ever. I wanted to throw out a hypothetical question to you guys. If there were a local videogame fan convention in your town would you go to it? It wouldn't be anything like E3. It wouldn't be for the press, so no games are going to be announced or anything like that. It would be forPAC fans so it would be more along the lines of sci-fi or comic conventions, maybe like a smaller scale Penny Arcade Expo. There'd be a lot of panels regarding the history of a particular genre, a few industry people/developers would be in attendence to do Q&A's as well as maybe an author or two of some video game books. And then you'd have some of the typical convention things you always see like a dealer's room (that ultimately sells crap), costumes contests for the cosplayers, and whatever else could fall into that. Then at night you'd have some DJ's spinning and maybe a "geek band" like the Mini-Bosses playing. To top it off, you'd have a game room where you'd have some arcade games and maybe some consoles and TV's set up to let people do some playing.

So the question once again is, would you go? And if it looked interested enough, how far would you travel for it; an hour? 1 - 3 hours? More?

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Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:49:55
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Uh it would have to be really local, like 15 minutes away.

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Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:08:54
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Absolutely. If it were more than 2.5 hours away I'd get a hotel and make a weekend of it.

Assuming it had publisher support of some kind. If it's a meetup with some panels I'd likely not go. If it had game sales, like representation from local independent stores I'd be there regardless.
Edited: Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:14:18

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 02:55:28
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I went to the one in Melborune. Ddn't do anything in your post, but did play Twilight Princess, WarioWare and Red Steel. Played Red Steel isn't quite right, though. No one could work out how the controls worked, least of all the people that told you how to play. And it had the longest queue too. Hrm

Edited: Thu, 07 Jun 2012 02:55:56

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:33:00
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The reason I bring it up, is that I'm in the very early stages of possibly putting a show together. At the last convention I was at I mentioned something like this to the right person apparently, and he was very keen on the idea. He's got the bankroll to put it on, provided the right person/people got it organized. Since I've got a lot of industry contacts now due to the whole Power Level thing I think I could actually pull it off. I'm trying to gauge interest in the whole thing though. It's great to have a show, but if there's not community interest in it, there's no point in doing it. Last year I went to a convention that was focused on explotation and drive-in films of the 60's and 70's. I loved it and got to meet some cool people like Pam Grier, but sadly there was only around 500 for the weekend and it was a disaster.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:45:51
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robio said:.

So the question once again is, would you go?

No. I hate crowds, especially when DJs and/or bands are involved.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:51:08
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Well just as a note, that stuff is only on at night to give people something to do when dealer's rooms are closed and no panels are going on. Old people who don't like crowds and music can go back to their rooms and watch Matlock or play Kaboom.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:52:53
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I would go local. Not travel.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:53:41
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Kaboom is the shit!

Edited: Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:23:37

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:12:36

Given that gamers are typically anti-social/ shy, I'd say you have an uphill battle.


The conventions that succeed have strong communities already built.


For me personally, I'd go to any gaming convention if I could buy stuff or try games that were not yet released. If it's just to listen to people talk about games (who are not game producers themselves) I can do that at home (and frankly I'm sick of listening to so-called industry people who don't know shit about the industry).


My idea of a perfect gaming convention is a cross between what the Digital Press guys do (NAVA) plus California Extreme plus some publisher support, even if it was a single one, like Atlus or a local US dev.

Edited: Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:16:06

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:39:27

Yeah that'll be the trick. In cities like Atlanta and Orlando, fan conventions are a pretty regular event and I know how to offer content that would tap into those crowds. I mean there are people who will go to any convention or any kind provided they get a chance to take pictures and party afterwards. Crossing over is the trick. So I'm trying to figure out what needs to be offered to get the gamers out. There's 2 gaming cons in Orlando this summer. Small ones minds you, but I'm checking them out. One is a collector's event where people show off old consoles, arcade units, and pinball machines and another is a strict fighting game tournament. Hopefully I'll learn something there.

And should it all fall into place I can say that at this moment I've got one studio on the line that's willing to send a few members of their localization team over. Could be interesting to see if people would be into learning about how a game is translated.

Oh well, still all very far into the future if at all.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:22:03
My room is practically a game convention so unless it shows new unreleased games I probably wouldn't have much interest. Some interesting guests may be exciting as well. I would also only do local unless it has one he'll of a sneak peak at major games.
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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:59:05
Vader, you could go as a video game expert and famous Gamespoter  or VGPress podcaster.  Nyaa  Seriously, you and Robio could do a live VGPress podcast on the convention floor.
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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:58:56

I went to one in London at the ExCel centre about 10-11 years ago.  It took me about an hour and a half to get from North London to there using public transport.  It was shit.  The only thing of interest was a video room which kept showing a Twilight Princess trailer.  It was very large scale and generally awful and useless.

What you propose sounds much better fun but it's kind of a mute point as I would have to get on a plane to get to anywhere from here and unless there was also good sex on offer it would be totally not worth it however good the games con was.

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:25:09
travo said:
Vader, you could go as a video game expert and famous Gamespoter  or VGPress podcaster.  Nyaa  Seriously, you and Robio could do a live VGPress podcast on the convention floor.



That wouldbe pretty awesome. Make the covention in Miami, we have loads of gamers here.
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Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:28:55

Nahhhh it could never be Miami. It has to be a city thats somewhat centrally located. Orlando and Atlanta were the two places being discussed. lots of other cities within a few hours driving distance. Plus convention space in Miami is very expensive. So in conclusion. . . MIAMI GETS NOTHING!!!!!

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Sat, 09 Jun 2012 10:31:34
I went to a proper gaming expo in london with unreleased games. I found it pointless, its too crowded, but even if you get to play generally there are no headphones and you have to stand and there are people behind you so you can't just hog it and play.

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