Let's Play Gaming Expo : Aug 1-2, 2015 - Plano Texas

[98PaceCar]

I am extremely excited to announce the Let’s Play Gaming Expo, the newest video game convention to come to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The first ever Let’s Play Gaming Expo will be on August 1–2, 2015 at the Plano Centre in Plano, Texas.

http://letsplaygamingexpo.com

https://www.facebook.com/LetsPlayGamingExpo

Inspired by the YouTube “Let’s Play” videos, the Let’s Play Gaming Expo celebrates everything that is gaming. We will feature 80 vendor tables, 75 arcade cabinets, a Smash Bros. tournament, a special Classic Tetris World Championship Qualifier, retro game tournaments, a 4 square tournament, live music, video game panels, and of course special guests!

Mark your calendars and make the trip to Plano to check us out! There will be more announcements made on both our webpage and Facebook, so check back frequently and get ready for a packed weekend of gaming!

[robivy64]

I'll be dusting off the JP computers (X68000, etc) and setting them up at the show for everyone to enjoy.

I'll also be displaying my Astro City with several shootie PCBs changed out throughout the weekend. Hope to see some new faces there!

[98PaceCar]

I've just finished up a nice Naomi setup that's currently running Border Down for the expo. If I can get the back of the cab modded to allow me to tate the monitor in time, I'll run Ikaruga.

All told, there will be at least 75 games in the arcade including a ton of vectors. If the board set comes together for our Red Baron, we'll have every Atari vector released!

[robivy64]

Starting to get some of the junk together to haul up to Plano next week. X68000 will be the last to be disassembled and packed

[Pasokon Deacon]

It's been a month since this happened and, for a con and general meet-up, it was pretty killer. Apparently Rob wasn't able to get his machines slotted for free-play at another local event, but LPGE put the machines right in the center of their console play area for maximum exposure! This was my first time playing Rude Breaker ever (1CC'd it because it's easy), but playing Metal Force and Rusty on the PC-98 was great too. Not having good output cables meant that the MSX2 set-up wasn't too good, so I stuck with other Japanese PCs and the PC Engine. First day I was working out how to not get abused in Sapphire, second day me and HG101's Joseph Joestar played some X68k classics (Mad Stalker and Star Luster among them) + arcade ports like Butasan. Everyone else stuck either with any game Rob had selected (Broadway Legend Ellena on PC-98, Cho Ren Sha for X68k, &c.) or just went elsewhere to play the usual suspects. Volunteer staff in the console area was good, though I suspect more attention went to running tourneys, the arcade in the partitioned ballroom, and entry showcase areas. Someone did something to his Macintosh unfortunately, but I was comfortable enough with FILMTN and LHES to switch games on the PC-98 and X68k; it's tough explaining both how to work these old J-PCs and why they were so important and are still worth using for games and other hobbies, like FM-synth tracking. There was an okay panel on video game preservation/archival across the hall, but I had low expectations going in (all the other panels were either seller- or YouTube personality-related). Maybe I'll do a J-PC panel here next year.

Speaking of the arcade, that was great. The candy-cab set-up worked very well (maybe a button or two got depressed from strain of use, or I was getting self-deflective between poor runs), though I only got to play DaiOuJou on both days. Atari vector games were a big highlight! I didn't know Major Havoc and Red Baron were that fun; everyone was queuing to play Star Wars, so I hopped on less attractive stuff like Bosconian and SEGA's Turbo. Joe was all into Splatterhouse and Krull, and we tried our best at the gimped international version of Dark Adventure. Security regarding badges was tighter here than elsewhere, which meant that any technical issues got sorted out quicker (not that there were many). Just outside was Free Play Arcade's booth, housing a decent Lucky & Wild cab we jumped in on; I've got hopes for that place when it opens, and it's not far away from where I live (a half-hour drive). I definitely played DaiOuJou the most—sadly there weren't many STGs in the arcade compared to the console area, but that could improve over time. Fantasy Zone would have been great for others to try, especially since it's not far off from the Golden Age-period games showcased, and I'll say the same for Star Force. Maybe a few of the games here will show up at Free Play Arcade sometime down the line.

Ideas for next time: get Revival Xanadu (Remix package has both Easy Mode + II) on your PC-98 HD, Rob! That's a Falcom classic fully in English text, sporting a great YM2608 soundtrack, and is family-friendly. Playing them via a floppy drive emulator (HxC's expensive but comes to mind) would do the trick if you either can't find the CD version of Revival Xanadu II Remix (required HD install) or cobbling a batch file for the floppy images doesn't work. Not sure if 98PaceCar was a member of the convention staff/volunteers, but overall the con had great turn-out and crowd handling for its size. Better catering and support in the console area (a distinct station for cleaning up cartridges/troubleshooting systems) would be appreciated. You can contact me if either of y'all need to haul tech or might be low on volunteers. Hopefully there's an LPGE next year for a new meet-up!

[caincan]

pictures are scarce for such enthusiast exotic setups

[98PaceCar]

Thanks for the kind words! As you suspected, I am one of the partners that put on this show. My area of responsibility was the arcade, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. I agree, there was a lack of proper STG games, so I'm already working on that for next year. I've picked up 2 MVS, 3 CPS2, and an STV setup that will be built into games over the coming year. I'd also like to add some of the Cave games to my own collection, so if I'm able to do that they will be at the expo for everybody to enjoy. The collections that came together to fill the hall are all mainly 80's focused, so I hope to have more titles in general from the 90's for next year. No matter what, it's going to be even bigger!

We've taken a hard look at the console room and have some plans to make things work better for next year. I know Rob enjoyed having his computers there and we hope to have him back again with even more! I'd also love to hear more about the panel you want to do. I think it would be good to have some continuity between the panels and what is available to play, so your idea would be a great fit. It would be a compelling story to be a able to learn about something like the PC-88 and then walk across the hall and actually play it.

Feel free to PM me or post here if you have more suggestions. And when you get that panel ready, let me know. I'll save a spot for you!

[robivy64]

Just getting back to checking this thread!

LPGE was a blast! I loved watching people be completely surprised to walk into this 1st year show and see things like an X68000.

Those who knew what it was were amazed, and those who didn't quickly found an NES or Atari to play. There was something for everyone!