Posted by For the eleventh year now, Classic Game Fest 2018 swept into Austin Texas this July 28th through 29th. It was hosted in the Palmer Event center located off of Barton Springs Road in Downtown Austin. This special two day event was filled with vendors, cosplay, live music, panels, and much more. Temple of Geek was in attendance on Saturday. Here is the breakdown of the convention.
THE VENUE
The Palmer Event Center is the perfect venue for this convention. The convention center has multiple rooms for various events. Classic Game Fest utilized the two exhibit rooms that make up the majority of the conventions center. Both of the rooms combined total 70,000 sqft of usable space. The main exhibit room was 45,000 sqft of vendors and other gaming goodness. Exhibit room two, featured freeplay arcade cabinets, a video game museum, and a stage for music and panels.
THE GUESTS
This is a convention about video games, so when we speak of special guest, we are not talking about big name movie stars! These guests are stars in the gaming world! From game designers to record breakers and even musicians, Classic Game Fest had something for everyone.
In the game developing world, we got not one, but two legends in the field. John Newcomer was the creator behind the classic game Joust. Newcomer told Temple of Geek that he wanted to create a “flying” game that differed from the space shooters that was out during that time. Joust was unique as it offered two player simultaneous gameplay.
The next guest designed one of gamings most unique characters. Warren Davis is the creator of Q*Bert, the orange creature with the snout that jumps on a pyramid grid to change colors of the tiles. Davis, during his panel on Saturday, stated that it Q*Bert wasn’t a game until the color changing tile aspect was added. He also showed old pictures during the development and even showed the original arcade placard that removed the tile and replaced it with the cussing word ballon that Q*Bert is known for.
We also had Joust’s current record holder, Lonnie McDonald, doing a live record attempt on Joust. Lonnie McDonald currently holds first in two records,1st Man Challenge – Highest Score where his score is 935,050 points and Points [Marathon/Doubles], where he and his partner Steve Sanders racked up 40,120,150 points! He is currently second place for Points [Tournament Settings/Single Player] with a not to shabby score of 1,134,000 points.
Musical guests were Megaran (appeared on Sunday), 88-Bit, DJ Rockman, Bitforce, Creative Mind Frame, and Descendants of Erdrick!
THE COSPLAY
What better place to see cosplay related to gaming then at a gaming related show. There were all sorts of characters in attendance. Sadly, most of the cosplay was on Sunday when the cosplay competition was happening. Take a look at just some of the cosplay from Saturday below.
The stand out cosplay for us was Cy Gilbert in what can only be described as a feat of engineering. She was a dressed as a gaming system. She wore a television on her head that actually displayed a working game. She walked around the convention floor allowing people to play her games. Absolutely the most creative cosplay I have seen in a while!
THE CON FLOOR
There was so much to do and see at this convention. If you collect classic games or just want to pick up some awesome swag, then you were probably seen in the vendor hall scoring some must have gems. Maybe you like to kick back and play games, then you were mostly hanging out in the arcade or one of the various televisions and classic console that was setup for play. There was something for everyone at this con. Take a look at the gallery below for some of the cool things that could be found on the showroom floor.
OVERALL
Classic Game Fest is really a great convention. You can find so much do there in the two days that it takes place. The staff is always amazing and friendly. The vendors always have a wide selection of merchandise for you to choose from. I mean, I witnessed a con goer drop over $600 dollars on a complete Snatcher for Sega CD! You will more than likely find what you are looking for at this convention. Check out their website, classicgamefest.com, for information about next year’s show!
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