[game_preservation] Some notes from today's IGDA heads meeting

[Martin Goldberg]

Just an FYI for anyone from this SIG coming in for the 2011 Midwest
Gaming Classic (10th Anniversary Show).

Here is the listing of speakers and personalities that will be at the show:

Ralph Baer - "Father of Video Games" best known for, well, creating
this whole video game industry with his "Brown Box" game console. His
exact involvement with the show will be announced at a later date.

Eugene Jarvis - The creator of arcade classics like Defender, Robotron
2084, Cruis'n USA, and the founder of the current arcade developer Raw
Thrills. More details about his and Raw Thrills' involvement in the
show are incoming.

George Gomez - He's responsible for co-developing several classic
arcade games and hardware including Tron, Satan's Hollow and Spy
Hunter, as well as co-developing the Pinball 2000 platform and the
games Batman and The Lord of the Rings among others.

Jack "Jersey Jack" Guarnieri - Veteran pinball distributor and author,
he will be at the show I believe Sunday to talk about his new venture,
Jersey Jack Pinball, a company that will specialize in producing
premium pinball games such as their upcoming Wizard of Oz game.

Dennis Nordman - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing
games like Pirates of the Caribbean, Elvira and the Party Monsters,
and the upcoming Wizard of Oz.

Joe Balcer - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing
games like The Simpson's Party Pinball, Star Wars Trilogy, and the
upcoming Wizard of Oz.

Greg Freres - Veteran pinball artists responsible for games like
Medieval Madness, Revenge From Mars, and Monster Bash.
Keith Johnson - Responsible for designing the software behind several
pinball classics like Revenge From Mars, The Simpson's Party Pinball,
and Lord of the Rings.

Roger Sharpe - Veteran pinball designer responsible for co-designing
games like Cyclopes and Global Warfare. He's also well known for
helping to legalize pinball before the New York City Council based on
his play.

Jeri Ellsworth - Famous designer and electronics hacker best known for
her "computer on a chip" design for the TV plug & play Commodore 64
controllers. She will unveil her "As Seen on TV" pinball machine at
the show as part of the Pinball Wars exhibit in the BenHeck.com
Experience room.

Ben "BenHeck" Heckendorn - Famous designer and electronics hacker best
known for his portable game systems, controllers, and even an amateur
film maker. He will also have his Bill Paxton Pinball as an entry in
Pinball Wars exhibit, as well as a first look at his Lost pinball
machine and upcoming "Tesla VS Edison".

Josh Sharpe - President of the World Pinball Player Rankings and an
extremely good player in his own right.

Marty Goldberg - Programmer and Designer with Legacy Engineering
Group, co-founder of the Midwest Gaming Classic, and my co-organizer
in the museum wing of the MGC among other things.

"Trickman" Terry Minnich and Ken "Sushi X" Williams - of Electronic
Gaming Monthly fame.

Jim Schelberg - Veteran author, publisher and editor of the venerable
PinGame Journal.

Lloyd Olson - Veteran author and owner/operator of one of the oldest
arcades in North America, SS Billiards in Hopkins, Minnesota.

The International Game Developers Association, Wisconsin Chapter - The
IGDA will once again hold a meeting at the Midwest Gaming Classic
which I believe will mirror the open format they held last year.

Also to add now -

My friend, Atari Co-Founder Ted Dabney, and I will be doing a live
Skype chat/interview/etc. at this year's Midwest Gaming Classic. It's
scheduled for Saturday the 26th at 3:30pm central in the E2M sponsored
Museum room (consoles '72 to present, vintage computers).


For those not familiar with the show, it's a 2 day fan based trade
show (rather than industry sponsored/based) that covers consoles,
computers, video coin, and em/pinball from past to present.  We're up
to about 35,000 sq. ft. this year (events, displays, tournaments,
vendors, speakers and panels, etc.)

Also unique this year, we're doing a special Friday "Arcades: Factory
to Floor Tour" which includes guided tours of Chicago arcade
manufacturer Par-Tec, Inc (Raw Thrills, Play Mechanix), manufacturer
Stern Pinball, Inc, the Chicago GameWorks.

Marty