Random Gaming Thoughts

[SamuraiMegas]

Decided to start clearing out my collections. I'll be posting games, comics and video game related clothing soon on my BST. I pretty much only bust out my consoles for multiplayer games and I just emulate single player stuff usually so I've realized it's time to move on from hoarding stuff I don't use; especially when I'm thinking of buying a house in the next year or two.

[opa]

I've never read any tips or tricks for Golden Axe on Genesis but I know where most of the "cheap spots" are. I found a new one (for me).




In the level on the eagle's back, you come across two or three ledges. If you stand at the very bottom the enemies don't really know what to do and you can hit them from this spot. They'll stay there until you kill them. This is especially helpful considering the skeletons are real bastards.

[Note]

I ended up attending the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo this weekend and just wanted to post about my experience.

My girlfriend decided to join me for the expo on Friday, which started at 4 PM. I packed waters and snacks for us and brought a list of games I was interested in. I took the advice of various RBers and brought cash. After making a few passes through the vendor area, it seemed that most of the games at the top of my wishlist weren't available, but I managed to snag a few. Most vendors knocked off $5 to $10 if paying by cash, so that helped. My girlfriend also decided to get two Switch games.

After the vendor area, we checked out the free play arcade, console, and PC gaming setups. We played the driving/light gun game Lucky & Wild and ended up beating it. We also played Fatal Fury on the Neo Geo AES, Virtual-On on the Saturn with the twin sticks, and Tetrisphere on N64. In the PC area, we spent some time with Oregon Trail and Mario Teaches Typing. Lol. I wasn't sure if my girlfriend would like the event, but she had a really good time.

Saturday, I went by myself and figured I'd spend more time game hunting and trying to see if anything else I was looking for popped up. I came across a few things I was interested in, but there were a few games where the discs were scratched up or the price was way above PriceCharting/Ebay, so I passed on a lot, but I found a few things on my wishlist. It was a lot busier at the expo on Saturday, and the vendor area felt swarmed. I'm glad I packed food that day, because the lines for the food trucks and cafe were super long.

I attended two panels on Saturday. The first was on the history of Sega's consoles with G to the Next Level, a YouTuber/streamer, and Greg Sewart, an EGM alum. The second I attended was with Gail Tilden, who worked in Nintendo of America's marketing department from 1983 to 2007. She was interviewed by Frank Cifaldi of the Video Games History Foundation. It was a really interesting interview and cool to hear things from an insider's perspective. The panels ended up being the highlight of my day on Saturday.

Overall, I had a fun time and it was cool to finally attend a convention. I felt I was pretty prepared overall, thanks to everyone else who posted about their experiences. I'd consider going next summer if the timing works.

[ZRofel]

I was at Retro World Expo this past weekend, and it was a really interesting experience. It was my first time being a vendor at a con, which fundamentally changes the feel in a lot of ways. I found it kind of fascinating to approach a convention as a business venture as opposed to a hunt for loot. Normally at a con I tend to go into something of a fugue state and just focus on finding the stuff I'm looking for and maybe going to some interesting panels, where this time I doubled down on being friendly and approachable, taking time to chat with basically anyone who seemed interested in engaging. We had some really good merchandise at our booth, but I'm sure a large portion of our sales were because we took the time to treat people like human beings, which made the occasional non-pushy up-sell come across better.

Still, they were three looooooooooong days with very few breaks, so I was honestly kind of glad to come back to my regular job today

I did snag a few treats on the final day (paid for with a tiny amount of our profits) as a reward for being such a hard worker

[RCBH928]

I was at Retro World Expo this past weekend, and it was a really interesting experience. It was my first time being a vendor at a con, which fundamentally changes the feel in a lot of ways. I found it kind of fascinating to approach a convention as a business venture as opposed to a hunt for loot. Normally at a con I tend to go into something of a fugue state and just focus on finding the stuff I'm looking for and maybe going to some interesting panels, where this time I doubled down on being friendly and approachable, taking time to chat with basically anyone who seemed interested in engaging. We had some really good merchandise at our booth, but I'm sure a large portion of our sales were because we took the time to treat people like human beings, which made the occasional non-pushy up-sell come across better.

Still, they were three looooooooooong days with very few breaks, so I was honestly kind of glad to come back to my regular job today

I did snag a few treats on the final day (paid for with a tiny amount of our profits) as a reward for being such a hard worker

Was it worth it?

I see all those vendors and I wonder if the profit margin + sales volume is big enough to do the travel time+costs+personal time invested in it. I think most of them are there more like a hobby and participate with the community than a "for-profit" business.

[ZRofel]

I was at Retro World Expo this past weekend, and it was a really interesting experience. It was my first time being a vendor at a con, which fundamentally changes the feel in a lot of ways. I found it kind of fascinating to approach a convention as a business venture as opposed to a hunt for loot. Normally at a con I tend to go into something of a fugue state and just focus on finding the stuff I'm looking for and maybe going to some interesting panels, where this time I doubled down on being friendly and approachable, taking time to chat with basically anyone who seemed interested in engaging. We had some really good merchandise at our booth, but I'm sure a large portion of our sales were because we took the time to treat people like human beings, which made the occasional non-pushy up-sell come across better.

Still, they were three looooooooooong days with very few breaks, so I was honestly kind of glad to come back to my regular job today

I did snag a few treats on the final day (paid for with a tiny amount of our profits) as a reward for being such a hard worker

Was it worth it?

I see all those vendors and I wonder if the profit margin + sales volume is big enough to do the travel time+costs+personal time invested in it. I think most of them are there more like a hobby and participate with the community than a "for-profit" business.

Yeah, I think so. I was in kind of a unique position since I was working at a friend's booth (he has a brick and mortar store) selling off a large collection he and I had purchased together, so I didn't have a whole lot of overhead outside of like, parking, gas, food, and the like. The overall take-home was decent, and my friend still has a lot of inventory left over that he can now sell in his store. We didn't have to go that far either, which I think helped. If, for example, we'd had to drive several states away, get a hotel, etc. it probably wouldn't have been worth it.

As far as the time investment, yeah, it was fairly significant. But like you said, it was mitigated a bit by the fact that I'm engaged with the hobby, so it seemed like less of a "job". Also, the novelty factor of having a new experience helped a lot. I think if I did this kind of wheeling and dealing all the time as my main source of income I'd probably find it kind of an exhausting slog.

[Gucci]

Finally hacked my PS Vita. Now it joins the ranks where my PSP, DSi, and 3DS hang out. Honorable mention goes to the GBA with an Everdrive.

The Vita was a simple job. I needed a PC for the other portables, but not for the Vita.

Nothing else to really add. It’s simple, doesn’t require a PC, and I can play all of my digital purchases on a giant SD card with one of those adapters and I don’t have to worry about swapping very expensive proprietary memory cards.

[glynnahab]

I haven't posted here in over a decade and I'm in disbelief that my profile still exists. Holy crap I was practically a kid the last time I logged in. Hopefully I'm not as much of a dumbass but probably not.

Where's Mozgus?

[Ziggy]

Hey, welcome back!

There was a funny meme that someone posted, and I wish I could find it now. But the gist of it was that when you were 25 and looked back on yourself at 15, you realize what an idiot you were. Then when you were 35, you looked back at yourself at 25 and realized what an idiot you were then. So on. So you're an idiot now, but you just wont know it until 10 years from now.

Mozgus randomly popped up a few times. The last time I seen him post was a couple of years ago. He bumped a really old thread of his with an update, then I haven't seen him since. He hasn't been a regular for many years now.

So what gaming stuff have you been up to? I know a lot of us have felt the same way about getting older, with more and more adult things to do, and less time for gaming. Feel free to post a new thread about it if you want, new threads are always welcomed! Or if you don't feel like it, feel free to post in this thread. That's cool, too.

Anyway, hope you stick around!

[Note]

Happy Dreamcast Day for all the fans of the system originally released on 9/9/99 here in the States. Can't believe it's been 25 years!