Otakon 2004 Game-Room

[TheGreenMachine]

There should be water available for free in several locations throughout the convention center. We actually pay for a service that delivers and puts out water. We just need to keep riding them and make sure they keep up with demand.

The Cheesecake Factory has to be my favorite place to eat in the inner harbor. Only trouble is there are generally wicked lines.

 

[Zombie_nation]

For any interested parties

http://home.earthlink.net/~daedlus/ovg2k4/tourney.html

FYI: Here is the most up to date tournament list for the consoles. LAN and arcade tournaments are still undecided. The rules links are dead links because we haven't quite finished revising the tournament rules.

As far as water is concerned at the BCC. I bought a large bottle of water thursday morning prior to getting to the BCC. I just kept refilling it out of the water fountains at the BCC. Now don't get me wrong it tasted like something you get out of the back of your toilet tank but it was cold (ish) and did quench your thirst. I then lugged my bottle around for the next 3 days.

 

[RushedDown]

i will be at otakon again lets see if my demitri got any better from playing svc from last year

 

[Zombie_nation]

OVG Web Updates

Here is a temporary link to the Video Gaming Web Page.
http://home.earthlink.net/~daedlus/ovg2k4/index.html

The rules for the Halo and DDR tournaments are available for viewing. The video arcade, BYOPC LAN, and general game rules are up also.

The Game Room hours for 2004 are...
Friday 3 PM - 1 AM
Saturday 9 AM - 1 AM
Sunday 9 AM - 12 Noon
Game room hours may be extended or reduced as necessity dictates.

We should at least have two copies of the MVS versions of Samurai Shodown 5 and will have at least one of SvC Chaos.

_________________________________________________________________
If pro is the opposite of con, then wouldn't progress be the opposite of congress?

 

[Moon Jump]

How about we start a Who's going type post now? I haven't seen many of you that say your going, last year had alot more people saying they were going.

So if you are be sure to post.

Hey Zombie, I might bring Nightmare in the Dark with me, I'll let you know.

 

[Tron]

I've herd about the ng.com get together at Otakon for,a long time now. I do try to go,too the convention every year but this year i can't. Due to health problems i'll have to skip this year. Other then that i didn't have time to, save up for it sorry.

 

[Zombie_nation]

The was some talk about setting aside some cash to be used for reimbursement in case of broken or damaged systems but it hasn't been confirmed yet. I am still going to bring Samurai Shodown V and SvC Chaos for the MVS (my dedicated 4-slot cab is staying home though). I am not too worried about damaged/missing carts myself because the carts will be locked inside an arcade cabinet for the duration of the convention, that and the fact that I will be in the gameroom 16 hours a day for the length of the convention. Nightmare in the Dark isn't very common so if you bring it along I am sure we could accomodate you with some cabinet space.

We should have 16 arcade cabinets at the convention this year (we only had 5 last year). Among them will be a Neo-Geo 6-slot cab, Neo-Geo 2-slot cab(converted to 4-slot), and another Neo-Geo 2-slot (I think it's a stock 2-slot). Hopefully there will be something there for everyone.

How about we start a Who's going type post now? I haven't seen many of you that say your going, last year had alot more people saying they were going.

So if you are be sure to post.

Hey Zombie, I might bring Nightmare in the Dark with me, I'll let you know.

 

[Blue Steel]

I'm definitely going, pre-registered online...see you there.

 

[slerch666]

I want to find good deals on anime, I can't stand having to pay out the ass prices at suncoast

Then don't buy from Otakon. I went with the same thought in mind my first year out. Turns out everything I picked up (not much considering) I found on-line for less, even after shipping. These days you get free shipping from a ton of places on-line AND the best prices you'll find anywhere. You have access to the Internet, and if you have access to a credit card you have access to the cheapest Anime DVD stores.

If you want links to good places to buy on-line, let me know. Youc an also check out Anime on DVD.com for places to check prices. If you know what you are looking for, write it all down and check prices on-line. Find shipping quotes. Take the list with you to Otakon and check prices at every booth and if they are cheaper than on-line with shipping, pick 'em up, otherwise order them on-line.

Otakon is really only good for buying obscure items you can't find on-line or locally, like statues, CDs (and even Japanese CDs can be obtained easily on-line, check my sig!) and other odd trinkets or what have you.

Anyway, I'll be at Otakon this year, rooming with PhoenixDown and a couple of others from the board. I took too much shit last year for us to play in the room (mostly because I had to take it to my car on my own ), that won't happen this year.

 

[Kirk Foiden]

Typical rules for Otakon. Yep, the prices are usually worse than what you can get online. However, there are some things you should look for.

Pre-shop opening. (Ok, you can't buy until the place opens, but this is the highest priority item). If you are a fan of Azumanga Diaoh, then this is your time. More specifically, there's a character called Kasuga (better known as Osaka) in which there is a plushy doll for it. Out of al the characters, in the cast, this one is the most high demanded plushy in existance, right now. If there is something that's going to go in the first 5 minutes, of the dealer's room, that's precisely it. Dude, I found copies of certain rarer Saturn games including Cyberbots and a Shinobi game I never knew existed hours after any and all of those were gone. I have images, in my head, of what kind of "Jingle all the way (Sinbad/Schartzneggar)" antics must happen when the doors open, going for an Osaka doll.

On Friday and most of Saturday, you should ONLY look for rare (hard to get) things. While they are rare, there are those few times you'll find something you can't even find easily online and they just happened to have it.

Another thing you may take advantage of, on Friday and Saturday, is certain more local establishments. Except.....(Avoid the Cube, generally) Though Suncoast may be good on Friday and Saturdays IF you have a Replay account with them. They've been starting up this idea of giving out some pretty nifty deals to Replay owners specifically at the Con. Look out for it, if you have a card.

Sunday..... THIS IS THE DAY. Like the part of the bible Easter is known for, lots of good things happen on Sunday. This is when most of the shops kind of panic for getting rid of inventory (Plus, they really don't want to carry that junk back home). You see mad price drops on Sunday. Sure, all the rare stuff has been picked bone dry, but that's what Friday is for. It is on this day, you look out for those dropping prices and you can actually truly nab stuff cheaper than what you pay for online+cost of shipping. Don't buy too much. This is the time you would normally save on individual titles and such. Nothing beats online bulk shopping, though(because most online places drop Shipping costs beyond a certain cost of items). So even though it is Sunday, buying in bulk will not save you money.

 

[slerch666]

From what I understand, Sunday last year, in terms of deals, wuite simply... sucked. No one dropped prices, or only a few did, and even then the prices weren't that great. I left Saturday night (around midnight) as I didn't see anything going on on Sunday that I would even have remotely wanted to have done.

On a side note, does anyone else find it ironic that Otakon isn't accepting donations, or at least, isn't offering 'insurance' on donated items? Why is this ironic? Well, EVERY year Otakon has seen growth. This year, obviously, will be set to be the biggest yet. That means 'cash out the ass' for the organizers. Sure they have to pay all the guests, rent the place, pay for damage to the convention center and all that, but they're still making money.

How much, honestly, would insurance be on people's donations? I guess they have to pay too much for the live band this year (though I believe they are charging admission to that show as well as to Otakon... that's the rumor anyway).

 

[Moon Jump]

Yeah, my friends all waited to buy stuff on Sunday and they weren't budging on the prices. Some stuff even went higher then they were on Saturday, like the Naruto head-bands. I got mine for about 30, I looked on sunday they wanted near 60.

I even got a dirty look from one of the company reps there. My friend went to the one booth to buy the Sailor Moon first season box set and they wanted 100 bucks for it. I said, "Don't buy it here! Go on Deep Discount DVD and get it for 80!"

 

[Zombie_nation]

Otakon Dealers Room

Actually, unless you see a dvd you absolutely cannot find anywhere else I would pass on almost all dvds in the dealers room. For example: last year they were selling the third volume of FLCL with artbox and a shotglass, conventions were the only place you could get the artbox by buying it directly from the distributor. It was actually a shame to see the big names distributors like Geneon, Bandai, and ADV selling their discs at prices that were higher than my local BestBuy. Rightstuf was there but their floor prices were higher than their web prices (they usually have awesome deals on their weekly specials). There are several sites on the web that can consistently beat competitors prices by 20-30%. Sure you have to pay for shipping but if you wait and order $100 worth of stuff you make out like a bandit.

I usually try to pick up harder to find items in the dealers room. Last year I picked up a bunch of gatchapon sets that I only occasionaly saw on ebay. I picked up a few dvd's with limited edition artboxes that were near impossible to find. Dealers room is usually a good place to get music, art books, and import manga. Especially some of the harder to find art books (limited edition).

As far as Sunday was concerned I have to agree with what Slerch666 said. If there were deals I sure didn't find any. I think that due to the huge number of people who attended the convention most dealers sold stuff regardless of price. There were trucks constantly delivering new stuff in the loading bay outside of Hall G, that and the band members from TM Revolution constantly taking smoke breaks.

Biggest laugh I had last year was based around Otakon's "weapon policy." According to their weapon policy you are not allowed to carry "real steel" (dull or sharp) or even something that looks real. Friday afternoon I see dozens of people not even in costumes with swords strapped to their backs and wonder what's going on. When I finally make it to the dealers room I find they have about six different booths selling all sorts of bladed weaponry. Rather counter-productive to their "weapon policy."

 

[Zombie_nation]

On a side note, does anyone else find it ironic that Otakon isn't accepting donations, or at least, isn't offering 'insurance' on donated items? Why is this ironic? Well, EVERY year Otakon has seen growth. This year, obviously, will be set to be the biggest yet. That means 'cash out the ass' for the organizers. Sure they have to pay all the guests, rent the place, pay for damage to the convention center and all that, but they're still making money.

How much, honestly, would insurance be on people's donations? I guess they have to pay too much for the live band this year (though I believe they are charging admission to that show as well as to Otakon... that's the rumor anyway).

Underwrighters and insurance companies can be tricky things. Otakon's insurance not only has to cover all of their property, the convention center, and basically everyone in it. They get into grey areas when you look at things like insuring other people's property that you are "borrowing" for a weekend. And another matter is most insurance policies don't cover 100% reimbursement for items that are stolen or damaged. Typical insurance policies only reimburse up to 50% for electronice equipment (fire/flood insurance would be different as they usually cover replacement cost). To get 100% coverage you would have to have all of your equipment appraised (even borrowed equipment) and then buy an insurnace policy to cover that much specifically. They used to reimburse people out of pocket until they began to look at the amount and cost of equipment in the room. Hopefully the success (or failure) of this years game room will get enough people's attention to enable us to either personally get extra money in the game room's budget to cover cost of insurance or set up a rainy day fund for replacement of lost , damaged, or stolen goods.

I have no idea about charging a seperate admission fee for the concert. I felt that $50 to get in the door should cover just about anything you wanted to do but who knows. I sure hope it's not headed down the path of a 3 day Jpop concert instead of being a anime convention...but hey that's why we the people of the video gaming room are here. We do our best with what we have to provide an alternative programing for people who don't come to see the bands. That of course is also why we depend heavily on donations to help flush out the game room. The Otakon panic meeting is this weekend so maybe they will hash out some kind of "donation reimbursement plan." If they do I will be sure to let you all know.

 

[slerch666]

For example: last year they were selling the third volume of FLCL with artbox and a shotglass, conventions were the only place you could get the artbox by buying it directly from the distributor.

Actually, it wasn't the artbox that was only sold at the cons, it was the shot glass. I actually preordered FLCL 3 from Rightstuf and a couple days later they put up the LE with the box, so emailed them to cancel the first order and ordered the FLCL 3 w/box instead. So the box wasn't con only, just the shot glass. (not trying to be an ass or anything like that at all, just pointing this out)

I understand the insurance thing for borrowed stuff, I just think it's irionic when this year is likely set to hit the 18-20 mark in terms of attendees, which means record numbers of registrations. If everyone that registers pays an average price of $40 (single day fee for Saturday give or take I believe), then they are set to pull in $720,000 if 18,000 show up (my guess is that it'll be more). This of course would have to cover insurance, damage, blah blah blah. I guess I'm finding it hard to understand why they would pull in that much money, yet not want to reimburse people who donate games/systems if something happens. And how many times have they had to reimburse people? For the most part people who were playing generally treat the gaming equipment well.

I'm not pissing on Otakon or it's rules, just pointing out it's kinda ironic that with this much money coming in they'd be unwilling to ear mark, what, $3-5000 for video game damage.

 

[JHendrix]

Considering how close we're getting to the con and all I figured this thread needs a bump.

in the realm of Neo Geo MVS we presently have:
King of Fighters 97
King of Fighters 2000 (2)
King of Fighters 2002
King of Fighters 2003 (2)
Last Blade 1 (2)
Last Blade 2 (2)
Magical Drop 3
Mark of the Wolves (2)
Metal Slug X
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug 5 (2)
Samurai Shodown 4 (2)
Samurai Shodown 5

This is not necessarily a comprehensive list. Many lower sequel number games omitted. Some not as popular games ommited. Some unconfirmed propsects not yet announced.

- Jason G.

Now this list is quite nice, but after last years game room this seems to be way too many games to fit in the few available slots that the Neo normally takes up, now granted I'd love to see lots of these represented for play, but are there a few we can count on to definitely be available in multiple cabs/game setups.

In case you were wondering I was kinda hoping for MOTW, KOF2k2, 2k3, LB2, and um MOTW.

Also, any chance there's going to be some copies of SF3: Third Strike playing at the con? I know a lot of us here would love some quality competition with that game.

I'm just trying to firm things up so me and my friends know what to practice up on before the con.

Thanks for all your help BTW, it's much appreciated.

 

[Blue Steel]

Suggestions:

KOF 2001
RB2


@jhendrix, Garou is gonna be getting some heavy competition for sure. I will have to practice with some of the more unconventional characters I don't normally use.

 

[Moon Jump]

I have an MVS copy of RealBout 2 and as I said before Nightmare in the Dark for all the puzzle game fans. Let me know what I should bring. I played MOTW there last year and got my ass handed to me on the converson cab.

 

[Zombie_nation]

Game Room 2004

Ok let's see if I can answer a few things...

On the MVS side of the house there is no doubt you will see the favorites such as Last Blade 2, Mark of the Garou, and some of the non 2K3 KoF's filling slots in the cabinets. Problem is we are only going to have 3 Neo cabs which means the newer games (i.e. SSV, KoF 2003, and SvC Chaos) are bound to monopolize the most of the machine time. I sort of suspect if we have SSV in a machine plus three other carts most people will want to play SSV because of their limited exposure to it (hell most most arcades around me that have neo's are still playing SS and SS2). But on the otherhand we will have 6 projection screens instead of only 3 like last year. So chances are your going to see SvC Chaos, SSV (or SSVS if it get's delivered before the con), and KoF 2003 on the big screens using super guns. This will allow us to give some of the newest games some good face time and still let us have a decent rotation of games through the cabinet. And we can always change the line-ups during the convention depending on what people are playing and want to play.

After yesterdays panic meeting it appears that the Otakon organization is willing to back up donations out of pocket instead of using a straight insurance plan. So the good news is if you are willing to donate equipment you will get a replacement guarante if it is damaged or stolen. The bad news is because the decision was made so late in the game there will be no associates passes issued for attendees donating systems and such. It kind of sucks that we have nothing to really offer people in return but at least if it all goes smoothly this year we will already have this plan in effect for next year.

As far as games like Street Fighter III: Third Strike is concerned. Several of us staffers own third strike for the dreamcast so it is a safe bet that one or two stations will be running it. That and Capcom vs SNK 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be running in a cabinet or two so it may not end up playing on the regular tv's.

Slerch666: Thing you have to remember about Rightstuf is that Shawn has connections and often times they offer things that most stores don't have access too (like empty artboxes). I have picked up empty boxes from them quite a few times because I was only able to get the first volume of a series minus the box.

 

[Zombie_nation]

Donations

I will talk to Jason and ask him to post a list of games he would like to see donated that way we can minimize redunancy and overlap.

 

[JHendrix]

Ok let's see if I can answer a few things...

On the MVS side of the house there is no doubt you will see the favorites such as Last Blade 2, Mark of the Garou, and some of the non 2K3 KoF's filling slots in the cabinets. Problem is we are only going to have 3 Neo cabs which means the newer games (i.e. SSV, KoF 2003, and SvC Chaos) are bound to monopolize the most of the machine time. I sort of suspect if we have SSV in a machine plus three other carts most people will want to play SSV because of their limited exposure to it (hell most most arcades around me that have neo's are still playing SS and SS2). But on the otherhand we will have 6 projection screens instead of only 3 like last year. So chances are your going to see SvC Chaos, SSV (or SSVS if it get's delivered before the con), and KoF 2003 on the big screens using super guns. This will allow us to give some of the newest games some good face time and still let us have a decent rotation of games through the cabinet. And we can always change the line-ups during the convention depending on what people are playing and want to play.

After yesterdays panic meeting it appears that the Otakon organization is willing to back up donations out of pocket instead of using a straight insurance plan. So the good news is if you are willing to donate equipment you will get a replacement guarante if it is damaged or stolen. The bad news is because the decision was made so late in the game there will be no associates passes issued for attendees donating systems and such. It kind of sucks that we have nothing to really offer people in return but at least if it all goes smoothly this year we will already have this plan in effect for next year.

As far as games like Street Fighter III: Third Strike is concerned. Several of us staffers own third strike for the dreamcast so it is a safe bet that one or two stations will be running it. That and Capcom vs SNK 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be running in a cabinet or two so it may not end up playing on the regular tv's.

Slerch666: Thing you have to remember about Rightstuf is that Shawn has connections and often times they offer things that most stores don't have access too (like empty artboxes). I have picked up empty boxes from them quite a few times because I was only able to get the first volume of a series minus the box.

Is there anything that you guys are in particular need to have donated?

 

[jeffkun34]

ota....

As far as systems go we can always use the latest systems. Xbox, GC, PS2.

I also need to clarify the replacement policy that Zombie mentioned. We are not offering replacement on out of production systems, such as the Neo and Dreamcast. I'm not mentioning this to dissuade anyone from donating neo stuff because we have a great check-in/out process and awesome lockboxes. Just letting people know what is up with our policy.

Post away any other questions you might have.

 

[slerch666]

Slerch666: Thing you have to remember about Rightstuf is that Shawn has connections and often times they offer things that most stores don't have access too (like empty artboxes). I have picked up empty boxes from them quite a few times because I was only able to get the first volume of a series minus the box.

Sorry for the late reply.

True, true. But I distinctly remember this (FLCL box) being listed on Amazon as well. Synch-Point's distribution is... limited to be polite. The only thing that wasn't available anywhere else was the shot glass. The only way to get the box, either through RS or Amazon, was to buy it with disc 3.

 

[TheGreenMachine]

Who the heck cares about the dealers room? You're all just coming for the game room right? Right?!

Seriously there are good deals to be had on certain items from the dealers room, but in general they will be hard pressed to beat deals you can get online. The best shopper is one who is well informed and shops around.

Pass on the stuff you can get cheaper and just look for the harder to find items or items where the cheaper online cost is balanced out by shipping fees.

game room stuff:

Anyway we will do our best to accommodate people on what carts they want to play in the Neo Geos. The trouble is the non-hardcore Neo Geo plebian masses will also be there and we need to try and accommodate everyone to a degree. So bring your carts if you want to play something not on the list. Ask and we'll do our best to swap them in for you. This is something we'll need to do as some sort of consensus since we won't be swapping new carts in every 10 minutes. More like every hour or two.

To that end, let me get a more comprehensive list of Neo carts we will have available for you. That way you can know for certain what you should or should not bring.

Flawed or not I will have Samurai Spirits 0 Special playing on my AES on one of the projection screens. We will have one more free projector so maybe we can put something like KOF 2003 on that.

Sorry on the donation stuff. We found out we would get coverage waaaay too late in the game to be able to offer associates passes in exchange for loan of equipment. We can accept equipment loans/donations at convention, but we will not be able to offer an associates pass.

As Jeff said coverage will be limited to non-limited edition and currently in production consoles/equipment only.

*update* limited edition consoles will only be covered to the replacement cost of the non-limited production version of the item. I.e. a special HALO edition X-Box would only be replaced with a regular X-Box.

- Jason G

 

[slerch666]

Who the heck cares about the dealers room? You're all just coming for the game room right? Right?!
- Jason G

No actually, I go for Anime news/information first. The Game Room is stop gap between things I want to do. Last year, even though I roomed with some of the people from the boards and they spent most of their time in the GR, I was on my own, doing as I pleased. They didn't seem to be upset about it as they went for the games, I went for the Anime.

I'm an Anime fan first, a gamer second.