California Extreme 2009 Game Show

[ghettodish]

California Extreme 2009

July 11-12, 2009

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara

http://www.caextreme.org/

[Namco]

OOooooohhhhhh yyeeeeaaaahhhhh  . I'm already getting excited!

[Silverwind]

Sweet, now I just need to convince the wife to go. 

[Ummon]

Bay area, beach. Maybe?

[Circo]

We have to do a better job this year finding each other, hopefully the names on our badges are bigger than the 6 point font that they used last year lol.  I think i was freaking everyone out squinting at badges

[IG-88]

Woo Hoo !!!    Just booked the hotel and airline tickets! I mentioned it to the wife and was completely shocked. I think she was more excited for me to go than I was. Gonna end up spending 4 days up there.     

[TheShanMan]

I'll be there. First year of going to any arcade related event, and I'm going to the Seattle show and CAX both! What a summer!

[Ummon]

Groovy.

[1UP]

Looks like I'll be going.  Does it get crowded at all or is it pretty easy to play at your leisure?

[Paul Olson]

This will be my first time there, but I have read on KLOV that we all should be able to play all of the games we want to.

[Namco]

We have to do a better job this year finding each other, hopefully the names on our badges are bigger than the 6 point font that they used last year lol.  I think i was freaking everyone out squinting at badges

I'll be easy to find. I'll be wearing a shirt that reads "Mr. Fantastic". When you see me, just walk up behind me and grab ---my bottom--- with both hands, it'll be funny. 

[Ummon]

Man, it'd be so cool if they....or somebody....videoed the guest speaker events. Especially I'm curious to know the twelve things I can do with Mame.

[IG-88]

Well, we made it! Got a sweet room w/a balcony view. Hotel is pretty fancy too. Can't believe the weather. It actually feels cold compared to home. 70 and no humidity. Nice.

[Namco]

Man, it'd be so cool if they....or somebody....videoed the guest speaker events. Especially I'm curious to know the twelve things I can do with Mame.

They're all videoed by the CAX staff. I tried taping one for myself and they rudely tell you to shut off your camera.

[Namco]

Well, we made it! Got a sweet room w/a balcony view. Hotel is pretty fancy too. Can't believe the weather. It actually feels cold compared to home. 70 and no humidity. Nice.

Awesome, man. Welcome to Santa Clara. There's a Carl's Jr east on Tazman a little bit. Across the street to the south is Great America, take the kids on Friday. Past that a few blocks, take a right on Misson College and you'll find a Round Table, Togo's and past that, there's an AMC20 movie theater. To the north up Great America pkwy from your hotel on the left there's a Taco Bell/KFC ... what? I'm hungry okay? 

[IG-88]

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully I'll run into ya @ the show and thank you in person.

[Circo]

myself and a few friends are here, just like last year if you find me ill set you up with a free emumovies ftp account.  im wearing a black ps3 t-shirt. 

[IG-88]

I'll try to find ya.. I'm in watchin the "Atarians" right now. Lots of people here...

[Ummon]

myself and a few friends are here, just like last year if you find me ill set you up with a free emumovies ftp account.  im wearing a black ps3 t-shirt. 

---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, if I spent the cash to go to that, I'd definitely pay for an ftp account from ya....or even if not, but I don't use movies yet.

Man, it'd be so cool if they....or somebody....videoed the guest speaker events. Especially I'm curious to know the twelve things I can do with Mame.

They're all videoed by the CAX staff. I tried taping one for myself and they rudely tell you to shut off your camera.

Mmm, I wondered. Well, even if they sell them (at a resonable price of course), that's still cool.

[IG-88]

The speaking events were fantastic, I actually had a chance to talk too Steve Ritchie one on one. Nice guy.

[jimjim]

We have to do a better job this year finding each other, hopefully the names on our badges are bigger than the 6 point font that they used last year lol.  I think i was freaking everyone out squinting at badges

I'll be easy to find. I'll be wearing a shirt that reads "Mr. Fantastic". When you see me, just walk up behind me and grab ---my bottom--- with both hands, it'll be funny. 

I met you there with Circo yesterday, when we were talking, I thought you asked, "Jim, do you have a pinball?", instead you asked if I was "Pinball Jim on the boards?".  All I heard because of the noise was  "Pinball Jim......." and answered yes.  Just to clarify, two different people I don't know Pinball Jim.  Sorry for the confusion.

Anyways, had an awesome time.

Got to meet Robert DeKett, the CEO of Nanotech.  He was super nice.  Talked a lot about their arcade products.  The sonic gun seems real interesting, and I am really anxious to get his optigun as my Mame machine uses a CRT.

Robert also introduced Circo and myself to David Foley who was having a good time with his son.  Seems like a really nice guy.  Enjoyed talking and meeting both Robert and David.

Got to see the Ultrapin and Multipin side by side.  I realize that they are not "real" pinball, but they are super cool and fun to play.  Kind of like comparing Guitar Hero to playing a real guitar.  Just an opinion, but it does combine two good genres and make it work.  The variety of the tables also gives it legs or depth which a lot of video games just don't have.

On a different note, I got to play a lot of different pins, and vids.  I love seeing the prototypes that never got released and playing pins that are just rare.

One game I had never seen before looked like a cartoon laser game in which it looked like you had to interact with women.  Kind of riminded me of Leisure Suit Larry.  I couldn't figure out what the person was supposed to do, but it did have a crowd.  Maybe somebody could chime in on that game as I am just curious.

[1UP]

I had no idea how to find anyone and really only had time to go on Saturday, so all I did was play.  Pinball mostly.     That was pretty awesome.  So many pins.  Both my wife and I got addicted to  Attack From Mars, that was probably the most popular table and was always occupied.  It's just such a cool layout with lots of animation and stuff to shoot.  Played a little Terminator 2 as well, both the Pin and the Game.  Monitor on the game was so dark it was hard to see WTF I was doing most of the time, but still fun.

Wish I would have realized David Foley was there.  Maybe if I would have shaken his hand hard enough, an Optigun would have fallen out...

One game I really missed was Space Ace.  Really wanted a chance to show off on that one, one of the few games I've been able to beat repeatedly.  Loved seeing all the vector games, at least the ones with vector monitors (some seemed to be using CRTs).  All the cocktails seemed pretty neglected, so I visited those when my legs needed a break.

One thing I discovered is that the stick on Satan's Hollow really does get pretty dang orange on the lighted side...

Played Discs of Tron on an original machine for the first time in 23 years, and totally sucked at it.    Hehe.  Never even got to the levels that use the up/down function.  Did slightly better at Major Havoc.

Played Computer Space for the first time ever, and discovered that it is incredibly difficult and...pretty boring.  Still nice to touch a piece of history.

And saw LOTS of games I'd never even heard of.  Nice way to spend a weekend all around except for the drive home.  The 101 to LA was $#!+.    Definitely need to bring some more friends along next time, and maybe take an extra day or 2 off for the commute.  2 days just isn't enough to drive, rest, play, go to seminars, and drive back...

[Namco]

We have to do a better job this year finding each other, hopefully the names on our badges are bigger than the 6 point font that they used last year lol.  I think i was freaking everyone out squinting at badges

I'll be easy to find. I'll be wearing a shirt that reads "Mr. Fantastic". When you see me, just walk up behind me and grab ---my bottom--- with both hands, it'll be funny. 

I met you there with Circo yesterday, when we were talking, I thought you asked, "Jim, do you have a pinball?", instead you asked if I was "Pinball Jim on the boards?".  All I heard because of the noise was  "Pinball Jim......." and answered yes.  Just to clarify, two different people I don't know Pinball Jim.  Sorry for the confusion.

Anyways, had an awesome time.

Got to meet Robert DeKett, the CEO of Nanotech.  He was super nice.  Talked a lot about their arcade products.  The sonic gun seems real interesting, and I am really anxious to get his optigun as my Mame machine uses a CRT.

Robert also introduced Circo and myself to David Foley who was having a good time with his son.  Seems like a really nice guy.  Enjoyed talking and meeting both Robert and David.

Got to see the Ultrapin and Multipin side by side.  I realize that they are not "real" pinball, but they are super cool and fun to play.  Kind of like comparing Guitar Hero to playing a real guitar.  Just an opinion, but it does combine two good genres and make it work.  The variety of the tables also gives it legs or depth which a lot of video games just don't have.

On a different note, I got to play a lot of different pins, and vids.  I love seeing the prototypes that never got released and playing pins that are just rare.

One game I had never seen before looked like a cartoon laser game in which it looked like you had to interact with women.  Kind of riminded me of Leisure Suit Larry.  I couldn't figure out what the person was supposed to do, but it did have a crowd.  Maybe somebody could chime in on that game as I am just curious.

Of course, sorry. I think I made the same last year. I think everyone is pinballjim 

Last year I saw the same thing with that laserdisk game. People standing around it like it was about to dispense free beer or something. Haven't played it though.

I extensively played some great pins I haven't played before. Games like Striker Xtreme and Dr. Dude I found were AMAZINGLY good. Time Zone was good and the amazingly LOUD U.N. Orion played well, but had some crappy artwork and sound effects. Finally they had a Cyclone there, glad to play it again. I got to compare High Speed and High Speed 2: The Getaway. I still don't know which one I like better. I hate shifting and the ramp is harder to hit on HS2, but HS2 is so much faster.

I had no idea how to find anyone and really only had time to go on Saturday, so all I did was play.  Pinball mostly.     That was pretty awesome.  So many pins.  Both my wife and I got addicted to  Attack From Mars, that was probably the most popular table and was always occupied.  It's just such a cool layout with lots of animation and stuff to shoot.  Played a little Terminator 2 as well, both the Pin and the Game.  Monitor on the game was so dark it was hard to see WTF I was doing most of the time, but still fun.

Wish I would have realized David Foley was there.  Maybe if I would have shaken his hand hard enough, an Optigun would have fallen out...

One game I really missed was Space Ace.  Really wanted a chance to show off on that one, one of the few games I've been able to beat repeatedly.  Loved seeing all the vector games, at least the ones with vector monitors (some seemed to be using CRTs).  All the cocktails seemed pretty neglected, so I visited those when my legs needed a break.

One thing I discovered is that the stick on Satan's Hollow really does get pretty dang orange on the lighted side...

Played Discs of Tron on an original machine for the first time in 23 years, and totally sucked at it.    Hehe.  Never even got to the levels that use the up/down function.  Did slightly better at Major Havoc.

Played Computer Space for the first time ever, and discovered that it is incredibly difficult and...pretty boring.  Still nice to touch a piece of history.

And saw LOTS of games I'd never even heard of.  Nice way to spend a weekend all around except for the drive home.  The 101 to LA was $#!+.    Definitely need to bring some more friends along next time, and maybe take an extra day or 2 off for the commute.  2 days just isn't enough to drive, rest, play, go to seminars, and drive back...

Last year I met Frizz at the door. And while we were chatting, the throngs of people were flooding in taking all the good games.  . I decided that maybe I should've been playing rather than chatting away. I met Jim and Jeremy once on Saturday but never found them again after that.

Attack From Mars is one of the best games. I spent a half hour on Saturday playing it and a couple hours last year on it. Fast & fun. It's great hitting those center targets and taking out spaceships, and jumping aliens on the sides too. I visit LA often and agree that the drive sucks. Hwy 5 is an hour quicker but incredibly boring.

Computer space was boring for me at first until I realized you can curve the shots, then I started scoring points.

Was annoying seeing all the vector games with raster monitors, but that's just the sign of the times now I guess.

[jerryjanis]

Just curious - Was Marble Madness II there?  Did anyone get a chance to try it?

[IG-88]

Just curious - Was Marble Madness II there?  Did anyone get a chance to try it?

I didn't see it. But I may have missed it.

@1UP: I got to play that Computer Space too for the first time. And I agree, once you got that curve thing figured out it was pretty fun. Never thought I'd get a chance to try it. 

Did anyone else get a chance to play Tank 8? I was over there for a while watchin' Owen Rubin and a bunch of others play. I tried to jump in on player eight but I'm not sure if it wasn't working right or it was me. Got a Pic of him playing it tho.

I spent alot of time on Journey, Krull, Star Wars cockpit, Omega Race and all the older pins. Right before I was planning on hitting the rack I "discovered" Space Dungeon. Wow, what a great game. I got to find me one of those. (or build one)

[Ummon]

...I "discovered" Space Dungeon. Wow, what a great game. I got to find me one of those. (or build one)

It's one of those middle-of-the-road dual-stick games.

Last year I met Frizz at the door. And while we were chatting, the throngs of people were flooding in taking all the good games.  . I decided that maybe I should've been playing rather than chatting away. I met Jim and Jeremy once on Saturday but never found them again after that.

Well, that's one reason ya all have cell phones, right?

Robert also introduced Circo and myself to David Foley who was having a good time with his son.  Seems like a really nice guy.  Enjoyed talking and meeting both Robert and David.

I guess you haven't seen the top-most stickied post yet.