Classic Gaming Expo UK 2005

[squirmelia]

Step right into it- a room of retro cuboids with tiny power lights glistening. Faded logos haunt the cardboard packaging, amongst a jumble of dusty plastic crammed onto shelves. Graphics twisting in vectors, swirling, ancient. Cassette tapes clutter almost everywhere. The crazy feeling of loyalty to the ghost of a company, t-shirts gathering, logo text crackling. Eyes flicker, then fixate on the dazzling bolts of pixels. "I used to have one of those", they all say, excited, sating their nostalgia. Arcade machines glowering, whirring, squeezing out a few primary colours. Players gaining high scores, on games they never play anymore. Lights dim, crowded hall merges into darkness, as the Knight Rider theme tune is strum above.

Comments

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

The major celebrities that I wanted to meet (Matthew Smith - Manic Miner, and Jeff Minter - Llamatron) didn't turn up, but Archer MacLean was there. Unfortunately, I had been misled in my childhood to believe he was simply a pool champion.

I overheard people at the bar talking about magazines printing code listings, so it was obviously a popular topic.

The "select obsessive few, who may or may not be overweight and may or may not have hygiene issues" seemed rather attractive to me, but then maybe there is something about a CDTV t-shirt that could make anyone look cool?

Light guns, ergh.

You'll be glad to know that Rob Hubbard is composing the music for the mobile version of Pinball Dreaming (http://www.cgeuk.com/forum/index.php?s=6c9dafd651459f7f56f32d7adcd204fe&showtopic=244&pid=695&st=0&#entry695).

[cerebros-vivos.livejournal.com]

I read a lot about Jeff Minter when I was younger, he appeared a lot in magazines. I have to admit he is kind of cool in a not cool kind of way, if that makes sense.

I confess I hadn't a clue who MacLean was, so I just researched him. He did IK+, respect!

Thanks for the Rob Hubbard link. He is apparently originally from the Hull area, and I think I read that he moved back around these parts after leaving EA. I don't think I would recognise him if I saw him though.