Retro Computer Games Festival 9th-11th July, Surrey

edited July 2010 in Announcements
Just going to cross-plug this:

RCGF-Sig.pngClicky linky...

The last one of these was held in a pub in Aldershot, and it was pretty packed. This time he's hired a hall just over the county line. Nice to have these in the South for a change. It seems a bit short on Speccys, so maybe some people could bring some more?
Post edited by joefish on
Joefish
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -

Comments

  • edited June 2010
    Shame it's so close to both the VCF and RetroEuskal, I'll use up all my holiday at work (and empty my Retro Show budget!) otherwise I'd love to go.
  • edited June 2010
    Sounds good, although it's a shame the Speccy seems to be such a small part of it. They're planning a 16 player game of Halo 2, which doesn't seem very retro to me, but have one Speccy (a +2 at that) sharing a table with a ZX81 and a Playstation 1:

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235542&id=236196610732&l=0f6f2512d5
  • fogfog
    edited June 2010
    http://www.retrocomputergamesfestival.com/tickets.html

    they more than probably allow to buy at the door, but I wonder if it's the same price or more ?!?!

    If it's also on the Friday, I might go that day.
  • edited June 2010
    OMG! wowsers.... thats where I come from!! well... Ash Vale at any rate... ooowww... I'm so going to that one!
  • edited June 2010
    16 way Halo 2, Gamecube, PS2.... Not my idea of retro in the slightest and from the looks of the rest of the layout I might as well just go and spend 15 minutes looking round my loft. Doesn't seem to be any talks or presentations going on either.

    Sorry, not even vaguely interested.
  • fogfog
    edited June 2010
    yer well it can't be all high brow like VCF was, and you might meet some WOSer's there.

    40 mile drive each way for me.

    they are rather lacking in the 8 bit dept.. maybe a few of us can change that, but that means going for the whole weekend..hhmm
  • edited June 2010
    VCF was an exception which you couldn't just knock up at your local village hall and I don't expect anything like that.

    It's just when the centre piece is a mini LAN party for a modern game I can't see many true retro fans being there, just a lot of xbox/PS2 generation gamers who think retro means it's been out of the top 10 sales chart for a fortnight. Not something that interests me at all but, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, its just not for me. If I want to see that sort of thing I would go to E3.

    Considering I have never played any of the HALO games (they just don't interest me at all), don't play online, even with my PS3 or 360 and the nearest I get to multiplayer is the http://www.citybuildingcontests.net team events I look on it as a waste of time and fuel.


    Edit - 277mile round trip for me according to RAC routeplanner
  • edited June 2010
    ADJB wrote: »
    VCF was an exception which you couldn't just knock up at your local village hall and I don't expect anything like that.

    It's just when the centre piece is a mini LAN party for a modern game I can't see many true retro fans being there, just a lot of xbox/PS2 generation gamers who think retro means it's been out of the top 10 sales chart for a fortnight. Not something that interests me at all but, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, its just not for me. If I want to see that sort of thing I would go to E3.

    Considering I have never played any of the HALO games (they just don't interest me at all), don't play online, even with my PS3 or 360 and the nearest I get to multiplayer is the http://www.citybuildingcontests.net team events I look on it as a waste of time and fuel.


    Edit - 277mile round trip for me according to RAC routeplanner

    You're not wrong.

    its just nice to have something, no matter how small, within travelling distance for a change :)

    And I've offered to bulk out their spectrum contingent... just waiting to hear back from them :)
  • edited June 2010
    yeah modern consoles have no place at these things.

    well until later on when your half cut then suddenly 'guitar hero' looks quite inviting. :p
  • edited June 2010
    There doesn't seem to be a lot of point in arguing about how 'retro' or how far away it is - just go if you like the idea, don't if you don't! Actually, sod that, let's all have a moan about how these things are usually in some northern grimhold like Sheffield or Manchester...

    Personally I'm glad there's something going on round here, but a bit gutted that he only announced this after I'd booked my holiday in Corfu. I was going to try for the Friday, but it's just the evening, not all day.

    There's a lot of old stuff listed, not just the XBoxes, but it will be more console and game-oriented than the VCF (the clue being in the title). Though I'd agree they should at least be playing the original HALO. Shame no-one seems to be setting up some multiplayer ST/Amiga Null-Modem hook-ups like Stunt Car Racer and Lotus Turbo II. Maybe next time...
    ZX Beccy wrote: »
    And I've offered to bulk out their spectrum contingent... just waiting to hear back from them :)

    \o/
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited June 2010
    joefish wrote: »
    Though I'd agree they should at least be playing the original HALO. Shame no-one seems to be setting up some multiplayer ST/Amiga Null-Modem hook-ups like Stunt Car Racer and Lotus Turbo II. Maybe next time...



    \o/

    isn't there an F1 amiga game where you can have 22 players, although i think you all just takes turns to set a lap time.
  • fogfog
    edited June 2010
    crammands f1 gp you could on pc.. and prolly miggy as well.. either play via IPX / TCP or it used to time share the race between folk, maybe thats what your thinking of Mile ? :)

    I wish they would make a new decent one, but no one has the license for it..

    micro machines you had errm 16?

    I'd like to play 10 player bomberman on saturn :)
  • edited June 2010
    fog wrote: »
    crammands f1 gp you could on pc.. and prolly miggy as well.. either play via IPX / TCP or it used to time share the race between folk, maybe thats what your thinking of Mile ? :)

    I wish they would make a new decent one, but no one has the license for it..

    micro machines you had errm 16?

    I'd like to play 10 player bomberman on saturn :)

    yeah that sounds about right.

    or maybe have 3 guys playing super mario brothers 3. :)

    (with one being slightly retarded)
  • edited June 2010
    California! California!
    Every night is curry night!
  • fogfog
    edited June 2010
    California! California!

    whats that? your inviting us over AND paying for the plane tickets + the 5 star hotel? for some retro show which will be full of Altairs and errm Ti 99/4a's ? :)
  • edited June 2010
    Hello all I'm the organizer of the Retro Computer Games Festival. I got told about this thread so I thought I'd come and answer some comments.

    Melissa from this forum has kindly offered to bring some more Spectrums along. So as long as that pans out there will be more of a Spectrum showing at the event.

    Just to answer some of the comments on how 'retro' the event is, please bear in mind that this is a charity event raising money for the hall that it is taking place in. The hall needs ?90,000 worth of building work done to it. I want to get as broad a range of people interested in the event as possible so to raise the most amount of money possible. The Halo 2 multiplayer has generated a lot of interest and so achieves that objective. Indecently the original Halo only has 4 way system link that why it's Halo 2.

    I'm not sure filling the same area with Spectrums would get as many people through the doors I'm afraid. I'm trying to get a good local crowd not just people from the 'retro community' so the list of systems needs to be recognisable to the layman. Also I've bough most of this stuff myself and don't have an endless supply of money unfortunately!

    It's a shame when I see this and other events like it criticised for one reason or another. Until you've tried to organise one of these events you wont realise the amount of time and energy that goes into it (I sure didn't!).

    Anyway I'm sorry if this is a bit moany and I'd love to see as many of you at the event as possible. Especially as there should now be a lot more Spectrums

    Matt
  • edited June 2010
    There is indeed some mileage in non-retro games being the bait to bring people in. Taken as an extreme example, RetroEuskal takes place in Spain's second largest LAN party (Euskal Encounter) with some 4096 network ports and probably around 5000 visitors. Although Euskal Encounter itself is no way a retro show, it brings in a big crowd into RetroEuskal's area and exposes people to retro gaming who may never have thought about it - people who may then discover that many of the old 8 bit games are a lot of fun and it may just get new people interested.

    So I don't think it necessarily hurts to have something as a draw to non-retro gamers. Now how much is too much in an event that's explicitly a retro event, well, I don't have the answer to that!

    Also retro events I think really depend on people bringing stuff along. If there wasn't a lot of Speccy presence until Melissa offered to bring some I suspect it was simply because there wasn't enough offered, the organizers can't have a mountain of every bit of kit that people are interested in. I try to get to as many northern retro events as budget/time will allow, and when I do I try to bring something along with me. I hope to go to the one in Blackpool in November, and if I do I'll bring at least a couple of Spectrums and TVs and Spectranets with me. If I lived in the south of England, I'd do the same for this event, too.
  • edited June 2010
    Melissa is going to be bringing some more speccys along as well as the 'Your Sinclair Rock and Roll Years' documentary. Thanks Melissa it's very much appreciated.

    I've got a divide board for the +2 I've got as well which I forgot to mention.

    You can by tickets on the door for the same price as on-line btw
  • edited June 2010
    Melissa is going to be bringing some more speccys along as well as the 'Your Sinclair Rock and Roll Years' documentary. Thanks Melissa it's very much appreciated.

    I've got a divide board for the +2 I've got as well which I forgot to mention.

    You can by tickets on the door for the same price as on-line btw

    Need to thank NickH for the Rock'n'Roll years! Worth the door cost on its own! :D
  • edited June 2010
    I've got a divide board for the +2 I've got as well which I forgot to mention.
    You should probably grab a copy of my latest Buzzsaw demo then...

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29824
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited July 2010
    joefish wrote: »
    You should probably grab a copy of my latest Buzzsaw demo then...

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29824

    Yes, I will do :smile:
  • edited July 2010
    Here's some quality simultaneous 8 player action that'll get everyone clustered around that speccy..! :-)

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0002563
  • edited July 2010
    Well, for what its worth, the charity event in Ash this weekend was an awesome weekend out? for most.

    For me, on the whole it was a total and utter disaster.

    The bad news.

    First of all? my other half took his sweet time getting ready so we didn?t get out until 10 in the morning? not too much of a problem as it only takes about an hour to get there?

    Oh dear, five car pile up on the M3, everyone rubbernecking to goggle? great? then some dozey plonkler in a ka changes lanes without looking causing Chris to do some pretty fancy evasive manoeuvres to miss him? everything in the car gets relocated. Marvellous.

    Get to the hall at around 11:30 ( half an hour to doors opening )

    Open up the boot? oh joy? chris?s 1 gallon water bottle has leaked out over everything.

    Even bigger joy, the WOS / YSRNRY flyers I printed out are now soaking wet? humm? bubblejet ink and water = instant tie-dye papier-m?ch? effect? cool...

    STILL, we?re not going to let this get us down are we!

    Go inside and meet Matt, nice chap, then set up a couple of speccies. Had two of my machines running ( Cobra and a Bond gun game ) and they already had a Speccy with Divide on and a ZX81 going. Put out some more machines for display, some Your Sinclair?s and Crash mags and other bits n bobs for people to get hands on with?

    Now for the finale, got the 21?? widescreen out the boot with the built in DVD player to show off the YSRNRY dvd by the bar! Fantastic, refreshments area where people can sit and mellow out to Speccy goodness and sounds of the 80?s?

    Yeah, sounds good huh? well, my weekend wasn?t going to allow for it. Plug in the telly, turn it on and? oh great, the screen?s been smashed on the way up.

    Fan-bloody-tastic.

    SO? no flyers, no DVD? disaster? well, that was my own personal disaster? the actual event was REALLY good. Nice selection of machines, some old school arcade machines? the table with all the XBOX?s linked up was awesome?

    Matt did a fantastic job for a small local hall charity event, great day out, met some fantastic people? wonderful. If I get invited to contribute to any future events they throw I will certainly do better :)

    Probably even have the Spectrum Cocktail Cab finished by then too :)

    OH, and also met another great guy? I?m now embarrassed as I?ve forgotten his name!! sure he said his handle was wood related on the retro gamer and WOS forums though? anyway, great guy and a personal hero of mine as he let me have his boxed 16k rubbery for ?20! What a star! Thank you!

    So, all in all it was a great event and a personal disaster? Sorry to the boss and NickH, let you down there? but I?ll do better next time! :)

    OH, and I did get a few photos before the batteries went out on my camera too? I?ll upload them later :)
  • edited July 2010
    Oooh, bad luck - but glad you enjoyed the day!
  • edited July 2010
    NickH wrote: »
    Oooh, bad luck - but glad you enjoyed the day!

    What I experienced of it was great. Just can't believe so much went wrong... now I need a new telly for the bedroom :(

    and I sadly didn't get to stay as long as I wanted as I had to go to my mother-in-law ( to be's ) birthday BBQ... so all in all I felt a bit robbed and deflated... I wanted to stay there for the duration... I kept hearing Dig Dug in the background and wanted to get a go... but didn't get to :(

    OH - and the decent wood related chappy was ' Woody.cool ' :) what a star!!!

    and here is a link to thl83's photo album with more piccies than I took, so go looksy :)

    http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x119/thl83/Retro%20Computer%20Games%20Festival%202010/
  • edited July 2010
    ZX Beccy wrote: »
    First of all? my other half took his sweet time getting ready so we didn?t get out until 10 in the morning

    Are you married to a woman (no offence), a bloke faffing about getting ready later than his other half ?!?

    The person who you mentioned is Woody.Cool who posts on the RG forums, top lad and i've met him quite a few times at various events.

    Glad you had a good time, was gutted i couldnt go to this one, bit too far for me sadly but sounds like Matt did a good job sorting it out
  • edited July 2010
    psj3809 wrote: »
    Are you married to a woman (no offence), a bloke faffing about getting ready later than his other half ?!?

    I got to stick up for him... a bit, he's rather a poorly bunny who can only eat specially prepared things, so it was all faffing with what he could eat for the weekend and setting up his portable fridge in the car...

    BUT he knew what needed to be done so he could have got up early!!!

    And yes, Woody.cool is a top bloke! I will take good care of his 16k speccy :)
  • edited July 2010
    ZX Beccy wrote: »
    OH - and the decent wood related chappy was ' Woody.cool ' :) what a star!!!
    Ahhhh bless! I've been called far worse than a 'star'
    It was great to meet you :)
Sign In or Register to comment.