Empire Game Expo Recap

Over the last several years, I’ve visited ConnectiCon in July. It’s in my backyard. It’s a smaller show but every year the names become bigger. It’s got a sense of community, and it’s generally become something I look forward to. Unfortunately, this year with some stuff going on in my personal life and some shake-ups at work I wasn’t able to put in for the time off this year for the 3 to 4 days to visit. It looked like I wasn’t going to be able to get out to a convention this summer.

But I unexpectedly won a ticket from Mike Levy for Empire Game Expo. And fortunately, I was able to get my schedule reworked to compensate for the one day. So I printed my QR code and directions for the trek to New York’s Capital. I hadn’t been that far into NY since I was a kid. Getting there was fairly easy for me. It was a jaunt from I-84 to I-87. A long, “L” shaped two-hours or so on the road. There’s a lot of beauty along that ride. A lot of scenery. That said, there were some really shaky moments in the early leg. I-84 needs a fair amount of work in my neck of the woods. It needs even more, the closer you get to Newburgh. But I’ve begun to ramble.

The convention was in The Red Lion Hotel in Albany, NY. The venue was actually quite nice. Clean, Spacious, and there’s even a massive indoor pool for those staying there. There was a slew of old, and current consoles set up in free play areas, as well as a rather impressive vintage computer exhibit set up where you could play on old computers.

Imagine my surprise when I saw both models of the Commodore 64, both running on vintage Commodore monitors, running C64 games. Moreover, they had other classic machines like the Atari ST and Apple II running too. If that wasn’t enough, there was a bench filled with old DOS, and Windows configurations ranging from the days of the XT to the days of the Pentium III. It warmed my heart to see the classic computer formats get some well-deserved attention.

I also got some time in with the Atari 2600 version of Missile Command and had a respectable score no less! There were many of the consoles you would hope to see at a convention, present and operational. There were also a handful of arcade cabinets above the pool area. It felt a bit anemic though as there weren’t very many games to choose from. After getting home and doing some research this wasn’t really the show’s fault. It’s whatever machines the hotel decided to have up year-round for guests.

In addition to that, there were a few games that there were tournaments for.  There were Tournaments for Goldeneye 007, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. going on. There were also Events for Tetris, Apex Legends, Fortnite, along with a couple of fighting game tournaments for Tekken 7, and Street Fighter II Turbo. Not a bad selection of titles for competitive players.

I did manage to get into a couple of panels. Mike Levy and Russ Lyman had a joint panel together talking about DIY projects, as well as going over some tips for people getting into collecting old games. Russ talked a bit more about how he made some of the cosmetic modifications to his car. Like making knobs for the stick shift, inexpensively painting the car, and how he had the custom decals made. He also brought up some simple, yet innovative ways to hang your photos, posters, and other framed art. Mike discussed simpler modifications one can do to their devices that don’t require solder jobs. He also shared some handy tips on removing used game store price tags from the DVD case overlays commonly found on games. He also brought up the importance of wrapping your wired controllers, and ac adapters properly. Both guests pointed to the episodes on their respective channels on these topics.

Mike also had the opportunity to host a panel with Rodney Alan Greenblat. A renowned artist who you likely know as the father of PaRappa The Rapper. It was a fascinating panel. Not only for fans of the games and the stories behind their creation. But because of the long body of his work and some of the personal stories he spoke of. Mike Levy will have the entire panel up on his channel in the coming days. But some of the highlights for me were his work with bands. In addition to the sculptures and paintings, he’s done prior to being involved in game development he has done many album covers for musicians and artists. Two that really stood out to me were Shonen Knife and Puffy AmiYumi. 

I did get to ask him about some of the differences between working on art for musicians and game development. And he pointed out that more than any other medium, video games were far more collaborative. While often times, a rock band may have a creative vision he or another artist has to work within, that’s about all the hands involved. In most cases anyway. With a video game project, there are artists to work with, animators to work with to ensure everyone is happy with how things move. Sound effects teams and voice actors have to have input or information to work with to ensure the voices properly portray the visuals, and mannerisms of the characters we interact with. That’s before factoring what executives and legal teams may do.

Someone else asked about the omission of a Hell-themed stage in Um Jammer Lammy. This was one such case. The executives in Japan and Europe liked how the game was coming along just fine. But the North American branch wasn’t behind the idea of a Hell level. So they pushed for it to be changed. As a result, the team was told they had to create an entirely new level for North American players. Which proved to be challenging because the game was nearing the end of production.

He also talked a bit about his works on books and art about Buddhism. As well as his shop in Catskill, NY where he has a lot of his art on display. It’s open three days a week. He still works fairly regularly on new art and other projects. He also would love to do another PaRappa game, but due to the way, the rights fall it requires the approval of several decision makers. And many of the folks who worked on the old games aren’t with Sony anymore. Still, he holds out hope he’ll be able to get out another game in the series.

Overall, a fantastic panel. I didn’t talk about nearly everything in it, so I highly recommend you check it out for yourself when Mike gets it uploaded to his channel.

I didn’t get into any of the other panels, but Cherami Leigh and Mela Lee were there. Both of whom are well known in the realm of voice acting. Many anime titles and video games feature their work. Mela Lee was featured recently as Jade in Mortal Kombat 11.  There wasn’t much of anything in terms of food in the convention. But one vendor there was called Bard & Baker cafe, they made some fantastic pastries. I bought a carrot cake muffin which was able to tide me over until later. Their core business in Troy, NY combines a board game center and a cafe’. If you’re in that area and like having some good food while you play Stratego with a friend, check them out. 

Speaking of vendors, there was a room filled to the brim with vendors selling everything from retro games to collectibles to crafts. I picked up a couple of things while I was there. A shop called Infinite Lives was there and among the slew of vintage games they had stood one lone copy of Polaris for the Atari 2600. This was one of the fabled Tigervision games. A line of games by the company that would become Tiger Electronics. This particular one is based on the Taito arcade game of the same name. And while this game isn’t nearly as tough or as expensive to find as the coveted River Patrol, it isn’t something you’ll see very often. As such, I pretty much had to get it and the price was fair.

A couple of vendors I recognized as they were friends and acquaintances from Connecticut. Antoinette who you might recognize from The Best Spuds channel does a lot of really great art. Glossed Over was there too. They take the best looking ads from old magazines and turn them into something you can easily frame. I picked up a Japanese Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion ad, and a gorgeous Sin & Punishment: Star Successor spot from them. Russ Lyman and Mike Levy shared a booth where they had some art and retro stuff of their own for sale.

But the biggest purchase I made actually came from Underworld Gamez. This is an organization that puts fighting game tournaments together at conventions. I didn’t realize they had a lot of merchandise. However, I was elated when I found a pair of Callie and Marie plushies for well below the online prices. It was the perfect gift for someone other than myself, so I hope they’re enjoying them.

I did want to point out a couple of nice booths despite not buying anything from them because they did wonderful work. Toying Around is a store in Johnstown, NY. that deals in a lot of pop culture merch and games. But they also had some nice silk screened trucker hats. And while I didn’t see a print that worked for me, they appeared to be higher quality than I usually see at these sorts of events. Plus the representative was a rather friendly fellow. Another one was Sticky Kitty Studios. This booth had a lot of handmade crafts, but it also had these really nice custom winter hats decked out with video game graphics. If they pop up at a con near you go look at their stuff.

All in all a pretty fun time. And from what I understand this is a spin-off convention from the much larger Retro Game Con which is held further west in the Syracuse, NY. area. For an inaugural year, this was quite a nice convention. It had compelling guests, a large number of vendors, and a few great tournaments. And it had a vintage computer gaming area. Something even some larger shows do not have. I didn’t even get to mention the Video Game Trivia event, Cosplay contests, Board Game Tournaments, or that Super Thrash Bros. was there to play a show. Extra Life also raffled off some great stuff for charity.

If I were to suggest anything for next year it would be to bring in a wider selection of arcade cabinets rather than relying on the hotel’s small segment. There was an after party too, but with the long commute ahead of me I didn’t stay for that. But ultimately I had a nice experience. I wish everybody involved the best. This has the potential to become a great event for anyone in that part of the State of NY, as well as visitors to the area. If you live in upstate NY and have longed for a local show to go to, do check it out if you can. There’s at least something for everyone.

The joys of being tagged.

Recently Red Metal was tagged for a Sunshine Blogger Award article, in which they answered several questions. Give it a read, it’s rather intriguing!

Anyway, he tagged several bloggers including yours truly to answer some questions he’s posed in turn. So I’m taking some time to try to take a crack at them. Some of these are pretty tough questions to answer as they can have so many different answers or opinions. Others are things I haven’t really thought much about. So hopefully he’ll find whatever answers I come up with compelling.

Here we go!

Question 1.) What do you feel is the ideal length for a studio album (or LP)?

It’s hard to say. It really depends first and foremost on the artist. Whatever they want to do is what ought to be done. As a listener and fan of music, it’s also hard to say. Would anybody say Rock Operas by Queen are far too long? I don’t know that they would. Nearly everything they did was beloved. Conversely, The Ramones were known for breaking out simple three-chord rock n’ roll that combined the melodic nature of early rock n’ roll with the pop-punk edge of the ’70s. But over time even they grew melodically and even added various themes to their material. Really, I have no problem with whatever length the artist decides they need to roll with. Unless its something I don’t personally care for in which case the length is moot.

Question 2.) Have you ever accidentally rendered a physical copy of a game/film/album unplayable?

Actually yes. Back in the 1980’s many of us had games on computers. And back then games came on disks for said computers. If said disk came too close to a magnet? It became corrupted, and bye bye game.

Question 3.) What series do you feel has a confusing naming convention?

Star Wars Dark Forces/Jedi Knight. First came Dark Forces. Then Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. Then Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast which should have been called Dark Forces III: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and finally Jedi Academy which should have been Dark Forces IV: Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy.

Question 4.) What critical darling do you feel completely failed to live up to the hype?

Halo: Combat Evolved is probably the one that stands out most to me. Now before someone tries to beat me to death whilst dressed as Master Chief let me explain. When this game hit the Xbox I had been playing shooters for over a decade. I’d played the classic iD stuff. Catacombs Abyss, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Quake. I’d played the classic Apogee stuff. Rise Of The Triad, Duke Nukem 3D, Blake Stone. I’d played Epic’s hits like Unreal, and Unreal Tournament to death. I’d played Half-Life, SIN, and even lesser known stuff like Eradicator. Plus Serious Sam was out by Halo’s release. On consoles, I’d played a myriad of hit games on the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and PlayStation. So by the time Halo rolled around I’d seen it all. When I played Halo for the first time on a friend’s Xbox make no mistake I had fun. It had a cool Sci-Fi storyline. It had a terrific Deathmatch, and it introduced online multiplayer to consoles in a significant way. It was a well-made game that deserved a lot of the praise it received. But at the same time, I kind of had to ask myself “That’s it?” When compared to everything that had happened in the genre before it came around most of it had been done already. The cinematic linear storyline with endearing characters? Half-Life had nailed that already. Online multiplayer? Done on the PC 1,000 times over. Really it’s big achievement was bringing what the PC nailed to the video game system, but for an added annual fee. Of course, when the game finally came to the PC mouselook made it a breeze and other games had outdone the vehicular combat it had brought in. Still, I don’t think Halo is a terrible game by any means. But if you were already knee deep in the dead of FPS games back then (See what I did there?) It really didn’t do that much more to impress you.

Question 5.) Which work do you feel should have deserved more attention?

There are so many. In this day and age, pretty much anything on the Commodore 64. In its time it was the best selling platform of all time. Before the NES dominated the gaming landscape most of the North American developers had moved to it, and other computers. In fact, I wish more in the retro community realized there were video games, GOOD video games, GREAT video games on platforms that existed before the NES/SMS/7800 trifecta. That isn’t to say the majority don’t, they do. But we all love what we grew up with. I just think we should venture out to see what came before. In pretty much anything. Because it shows us the steps that lead us to what we loved. It also shows us what not to do. This can kind of be a tangent to talking about any history. But the old sayings about history often ring true.

Back on topic though, I also think there is a slew of games that don’t get the attention they deserve. For me these days they’re often in the indie space. New Blood Interactive’s DUSK is a fantastic send-up of early Quake and Resident Evil games. In some cases, it might be a game that is doing gangbusters in one part of the world but is barely recognized in another. With more, and more titles going digital, and worldwide you wouldn’t think so. But it’s true. For every, The Messenger or Shovel Knight is a Halloween Forever. So when you stumble upon one such great game, you should talk about it. It’s like the bands you love that the rest of the world has never heard of. Let the world know about them! Just try not to be a snob about it. That’s just an accident waiting to happen.

Question 6.) Do you prefer foreign work to be subtitled or dubbed in your language?

I really don’t have a preference. At least when the translation is nearly 1:1 as confirmed by most of the viewers who speak the language. Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest animes of all time because of a compelling story, and relatable characters. And in both Japanese or English versions the cast of actors do a phenomenal job. I don’t know a lick of Japanese but I can tell when one of the characters is happy, angry, or somber. Conversely, the English cast performed the voices so well there were moments that nearly brought me to tears.

That said, I can appreciate why someone would rather have subtitles. They want to experience the work with the purest experience possible. I can also appreciate why someone would prefer a dubbed voice track. They just simply want to experience the story in a way they can understand.

Question 7.) Can you remember an instance in which you managed to succeed in a game by the skin of your teeth (e.g. beat a difficult boss with barely any health remaining)?

Mega Man 10. (Normal Setting) One of the most difficult Dr. Wily encounters in the entire Classic series. Yes, the doppelganger is an obvious ploy. But the number of death orbs the real Wily shoots about the screen are enough to even frustrate the most seasoned veteran of bullet hell shooters. With this in mind, it’s no wonder I barely got out of this fight alive when I made it there on my Wii back in 2010.

Question 8.) Can you remember an instance in which you got completely robbed playing a game?

Action Girlz Racing. It was gag gifted to me, and I still felt robbed.

Question 9.) What is your favorite arcade game?

This is one of those questions where I seem to answer it differently every time. There are just so many great arcade machines out there. But I’m going to roll with Berzerk. It’s a fantastic game on a fantastic machine. The voice sampling is still great today, and it beckons you by having the robots exclaim “COIN DETECTED IN POCKET!” For the five of you who have never played Berzerk, it’s a procedurally generated action game where you’re thrown into mazes. In each, you have to survive an onslaught of evil robots that will remind any geezers like me of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. In any case, you want to destroy them all, and escape before Evil Otto shows up to corpse hump you immediately after killing you. Also, all of the walls are electrified. Good luck!

It’s a simple, yet challenging game that everyone ought to check out if given the opportunity.

Question 10.) If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Three places. I’ll likely never get to any of them as travel is expensive, and time away from my pedestrian employment has always been razor thin. But I have them on my bucket list anyway. First up: Ireland. A big chunk of my family history comes out of Ireland (along with a smattering of Scotland, and the wider UK.), and it would be nice to see where my ancestors on my Mother’s side came from. It seems like a beautiful part of the world from what I’ve seen on the internet, and it’s home to a great beer scene.

The second country I’d visit? Germany. My Father’s side of the family lineage can be traced there. But again, it would be nice to see just how different things would have been for them between living there and immigrating here to the United States. And the fact a lot of my favorite C64 games were made in Germany doesn’t hurt. Of course, before I could ever visit I’d need to learn a rudimentary amount of German to get by. My late Great Grandfather was the last family member who spoke any German so all I know of the language are a handful of phrases. Not nearly enough to make it through a week or two away. Still, the food and the beer imports I’ve had have all been wonderful. Some Currywurst, Hofbrau, European C64 exclusives, and family history sounds like a nice time away.

And you can’t be a video game fan without being remotely intrigued by a potential visit to Japan. So many of the most beloved titles came out of Japan. Plus there are a lot of cultural, and historical sites to go experience. Metal Jesus Rocks recently posted some footage of his visit there, and it just looked like a great vacation. Much like Germany however, I’d have to learn Japanese which seems like it would be quite daunting to learn from scratch. Still, it seems like a fascinating place to visit.

Question 11.) What critics (in any medium) do you find to actually be reputable?

Back in the day, I relied a lot on the world of gaming magazines. These days though? I find I get most of my info from small, and large YouTube personalities as well as blogs. There seems less of a possibility of them being advertorials. I suppose it’s still possible now and again. But ever since Gamespot let go of Jeff Gerstmann over thinking Kane and Lynch was “Okay, not great” it’s been the average video game fans picking up the webcam with the slack for many people. That isn’t to say site based critics are all bad or don’t do hard work. A lot of video commentary is based on what articles reveal. But I think the rise of great bloggers, vloggers, and content producers is something that should give these places pause. They come off as more genuine. That said, the recent rash of internet personalities being embroiled in scandals should tell everyone that nobody is flawless. Even the platforms themselves have issues that need to be hashed out.