Before our Vegas-diseased bodies collapsed in post-CES trauma we had the pleasure of visiting
Otronicon in Orlando, which until now had received but a smidgeon of coverage. Now that we've been excused from government annexation and are reconnected with society we can finally bring you a handful of photos from the event. One of their interesting year-round exhibits: Videotopia.
The darkened corridor captures the essense of arcades of the 80's -- over 40 well preserved fully functional coin-op classics are lined up in rows; vector games and classic Nintendo favorites all represented. The exhibit also had a few other objects from long before biker shorts were cool: a triceratops, tyranosaurus, Atari VCS, Magnavox Odyssey (complete with the little red batteries!) and other dinosaurs.
Despite next-gen PS3, Wii, and 360 stuff around the corner we actually spent the most time here because you simply cannot find stand up arcade experiences like this down the street anymore. Yes, you can download Mame and build something ridiculous in your garage that plays 5000 games, but standing in front of the real palpable 30 year old hardware is a completely different experience.
The molded wood; the hand-drawn cabinet art, and the unique controller configurations cannot be emulated by any means. These games were immaculately preserved, worked without a flaw. You can tell the people that maintain the exhibit share a deep respect for what those games are and what they represent in light of modern gaming technology. I truly loved arcades and got all sentimental there; it was like taking a step back into a lot of wasted weekends in my past.
If you're ever in Orlando and have a few stealth gray hairs on your head, I can't recommend it enough. You'll leave without a token to spare.
Contest:
2:43 AM on 01.27.2007
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I hereby declare that place...
Shit.
Know what I traded my Microvision for?
A shitload of Bronze Age comics including X-Men #'s 94-110 and Giant Sized X-Men #1.
A smart move, right?
Yeah.
But then I sold that shit to buy a Colecovision.
Not so smart.
What, no Game & Watch?