[atariparty] Volunteer to Bring Stuff

[Bill Kendrick]

On Mon, Mar 01, 2010 at 09:08:31PM -0800, Tony Cesnik wrote:
>    One of the people in my group offered to bring a TV, I could use for the   
>    7800. I think I'll just bring Jaguar games.

Ok, a little confused -- bringing a 7800 or not? :)  If they can bring
a TV, and you can use it with the Jaguar, that might be good.

I've got two Jaguars that I'm brining, and Scott LeGrand, who worked on
BattleSphere, offered to bring some Jags, games, and Catbox to connect
them all for multiplayer BattleSphere.  I need to get him confirm whether
he actually can and will. :)


>    I do have AVP, and I think I have T2K. for the Jaguar.

Heh, I was mostly shocked at the idea of having a Jaguar and NOT having
those two games. ;)


>    Klax is for the Lynx, my mistake.

Ok. :)  (And yeah, Klax for Lynx is also one of the reasons to own a Lynx)


>    A six outlet  strip seems useful and is very light.

Yes, I'm encouraging everyone to bring strips.  I'll be bringing three,
but I've also got enough gear to fill them up.  My friend Nick said he can
bring one or two spare strips.  Sellam might be bringing some, too.
Last year, Bob Woolley saved the day by bringing a super-long strip.


>    Does anybody have the cable, cables 
>    to link the LYNX?

I have one ComLynx cable.  I have two copies of a few of the multiplayer
games: Battle Wheels, Championship Rally, Todd...Slimeworld, Warbirds.
I need a second copy of Rampart, apparently. ;)


>    I think I have something for my Game Boy Advance.       
>    I remember trying to link the LYNX's at one of the CGE's and that totally  
>    failed. The Game was too slow.

Since this is an "Atari" party (i.e., I'm not pulling out the stops
and bringing every damned game system I and everyone else owns ;) ),
I'm only bringing my GBA because I've got the "Atari Anniversary Advance"
cartridge for it, which includes some old Atari arcade games.

Do you have something similar?  (If not, no need to bring the GBA.)


>    I need to print some kind of label to       
>    identify my stuff, without degrading                                       
>    the equipment.  Any suggestions?

Last year, we mostly kept each other's stuff out of each other's systems.
(I accidentally got a couple of someone's Lynx games, and someone ended
up with my Missile Command.)  This is one of the reasons (aside from
showing off to the public: "look at how many games will be there!
Yes, your favorite, XYZ, will be there too!") that I have the logistics
spreadsheet that I'm keeping.  It makes it easy to go back and say:
"Ok, did anyone accidentally wander off with one of my carts?"


>    Do you have any particular method of     
>    marking your equipment without defacing it, or having sticky labels that   
>    won't come off?

I don't know, but see below...


>    It will be difficult to distinguish equipment.

Admittedly, last year we only had 12 game systems/computers show up, and
the majority of them were owned by a pair of us.  Everyone kinda had their
own table, for the most part.  This year, it will be a lot bigger, so
comingling will no doubt happen.

So it's not a bad idea.  Does anyone else out here have any suggestions?
I was thinking masking tape or painter's tape might be suitable.

(Oh, and that's another thing -- if anyone wants to stick anything to
the walls, like signs, you need to use low-stick tape like masking tape!
NO SCOTCH TAPE!  Please don't screw me out of the $200 deposit
that I've paid the City of Davis!)



>    I think I'll bring Soccer Kid and that Charles Barkley Basketball
>    for the Jaguar.  Those weren't on the list.

Ok, so can you give me a full list of what you can bring, including:
* systems
* controllers
* games

and I'll add you to the Big List (aka my logistical spreadsheet), and
then place your info on the website.


>    Is there any possibility or has anyone discussed doing some of this at     
>    CGExpo 2010 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas?

I went to CGE in 2001.  I only went again when it was in the Bay Area.
I was very sad to hear it moved away, but OTOH I'm running my OWN event
this year and last, and there's California Extreme, and it sounds like
Vintage Computer Festival will happen again this year (Sellam?), so
there's enough to keep ME happy. :)


>    This is the 25th anniversary of the Atari ST.

Oh, that didn't occur to me.  (Of course, I kind of stagnated in
Atari 8-bit until I got an MSDOS piece of junk in 1991, and then
a Linux box in 1998, so I know and admittedly care very little about
the Atari ST.)


>    So far only 4 vendors are listed for CGExpo 2010.  I realize it's
>    still early, but something needs to change at CGE for people to
>    come. Either cross platform versions of older games, console
>    clones, or something unique needs to be added.

I saw some of this at either CGExpo and/or Calif. Extreme when I went,
recently.  And heck, the reason my family finally got a Wii was because
New Super Mario Bros Wii was way too compelling.


>    I think you have the right idea at Atari Party. If the people at
>    Atari Party or CGE Expo 2010 are the same people who have spoken
>    before, we need to hear a new angle or a different story.

Well, keep in mind that Atari Party is a _totally_ different kind of event.
And even this year, I'm running it differently than last...


>    I love the idea of the Pacman cake. That's the kind of thing I'm
>    talking about.

... d'oh!  I wasn't planning on the Pac-Man cake or labor-intensive cookies
again this year.  (I was going to feed the volunteers breakfast during
setup, though :) )

Last year, we tried to do presentations.  It ended up not working out
so well (first ones ran longer than expected, people had trouble
paying attention), so we actually quietly cancelled a couple of the talks.

The event was 3 hours, and I had all these plans on switching games
around, and kind of highlighting certain titles.  In the end, people
often just started rummaging around for other games to play, so it
became less like "36 little exhibits"  (12 systems x 3 hours) and
more like "12 systems + 100s of games, take your pick."  So that's
what I'm doing this year.

However, this year we're also going to try do to movies and raffle prizes
(thanks to sponsors for helping with both of these!) and the event will
run 5 hours longer than it did last year.  I'm also bringing my collection
of Atari programming books and some old microcomputer magazines for
people to poke through.  (Shoot! I need to figure out where to set those up!
I might need another table!!!)


>    Vendors at CGE need bundle                                 
>    and merchandise more.

And this event is strictly no-vendors.  I think one volunteer will
have some copies of his game for people to buy, but (1) I didn't want
this to turn into "yet another CGE" where there are tables upon tables
of old games to dig through (that's fine, but it's not my PURPOSE
for this event), and more importantly (2) I'm specifically doing this
as a NOT-FOR-PROFIT event, and due to this, I'm paying the
'resident rate' for the venue.


>    Even Atari2600.com should do that.  Creativity is
>    what makes the event worthwhile. I reserved the vacation time for CGE 
>    2010, but I haven't made any reservations.  I looked at the pictures for
>    2007 and was not impressed.  There is a need for uniqueness, for
>    "coolness', a spark of energy.

Outside of events, what I'm discovering is that there's a flourishing
development movement out there.  YouTube has numeorus "works in progress"
videos of Atari 8-bit games.  A couple of years ago, Yoomp! and Crownland
came out for the 8-bit, and totally shocked me.  A few years prior to that,
Castle Crisis and Beefdrop came out.  And last year, Tempest Xtreem.

And this says nothing of all of the random 2600 games that people seem
to always be working on.  There seemed to be a big lull for a few years,
but interest (and perhaps, thanks to the web, access to information)
has grown.


Whew, long reply, sorry.  And just a reminder, please let me know
what systems, controllers & games you'll be bringing.  And bring that TV!

Thanks!!!

-bill!