Classic Game Fest and the National Video Game Museum Coverage in Old School Gamer

Classic Game Fest – Members of the Old School Gamer crew (even before we were the Old School Gamer Crew) drove 14 hours for the Classic Game Fest in Austin TX. We had previously gone to Midwest Gaming Classic, CES and other events but never another classic gaming event. And, to say it simply, we had a blast!  The whole crew that runs the Classic Game Fest did and continues to do great job at welcoming everyone to the event and making sure they feel that Texas Hospitality.  The pre-registered early line moved quickly, we all got in on the floor within minutes of the doors opening and there’s where the fun began. Our crew (Ryan, Paige and Marc) split up and started taking in what we wanted to see. I personally hit the expo floor for unique collectibles and my constant hunt for completing my Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridge collection while Paige and Marc took in the bands in the back half of the hall right next to the arcade machines. We loved all the vendors, especially Video Game Coffee Tables (videogamecoffeetables.com) who I’ve still got to get my order in with.  Of course in addition to the hall, arcade, and musical entertainment, the stage was brought alive by speakers such as Walter Day and Billy Mitchell, GameSter81, The Game Historian and others. – Read the rest of this article by clicking here!

National Video Game Museum – The city of Frisco, Texas wanted something unique for their town and no doubt they got it!  The National Video Game Museum was looking for a home and found it in a northern suburb of Dallas, Texas in mid-2016!  As Sean Kelly, Director of the NVM told me in an email “How is it possible that an industry that impacts the lives of hundreds of millions of people doesn’t have someplace where people can learn about its history?  There is a museum of salt and pepper shakers and more than one museum of carrots but nothing for video games?”

I first saw a large portion of the NVM at the Classic Gaming Expo several years ago in Las Vegas and was thoroughly impressed with the depth of material that had been accumulated for our industry.  And the same question came across my mind, also came across the minds of Sean, John Hardie and Joe Santulli’s…. “Why the heck hadn’t someone else made a museum to not only preserve the history of the video game industry but also share it with the public?”  Yes places like the Smithsonian have an exhibit that they opened Video Games for a while, but if baseball has Cooperstown, Hollywood has well…Hollywood, why can’t the video game industry which is estimated to reach over $100 billion dollars this year have a museum (Global Games Market Report).  Read the rest of this article by clicking heree!