Today I went to the E For All Expo ( http://www.eforallexpo.com ), expecting to see thousands of attendees there but only seeing hundreds. I came in during the last two hours of the show, walking around with my PAL C64 DTV in its hexagonal packaging and my PAL VIC-20 with PET-style keys.
Success! Several attendees noticed either machine or both. Some said that they still have their VICs/C64s. Some thought the VIC-20 was a C64; I corrected them. Some had never seen the C64 DTV and were intrigued. It was a chance to talk about Commodore history and current events, to promote our user group, to inform that Commodore aficionados are still around in the world, and to describe the DTV and its capabilities. As usual, I did not have a business card to hand out but wrote my contact info on scraps of paper. In the middle of all the modern gaming was the semi-retro All Games Radio ( http://www.allgames.com ) area, which was broadcasting live and had a good audience of attendees seated in front of the 4 hosts. Surrounding the AGR area were cool, classic arcade machines, like Berzerk, Defender, Donkey Kong, Spy Hunter, and Missile Command -- all set on free play. I set down the VIC-20 and C64 DTV on an unused podium at the perimeter of the crowd; those who passed by had a good look at the equipment, posed their questions, and took close-up photos of the equipment.
I met with Rob Welkner, host of http://www.coin-op.tv, and Hailey Bright, his lovely co-host. I had met both of them at last weekend's SC3 Arcade Party (well, I had previously met Rob at the Sept. 2007 SC3 Arcade Party). I had missed their live broadcast by about an hour. Rob had grown up with VIC-20's and C64's. I also met with Elliott Thomas, freelance writer for gaming websites/magazines; he too had a VIC-20/C64 heritage, and we talked long about Commodore, computer shows like CommVEx, the SC3 Arcade Party, and the C64 DTV. Being out-of-the-Commodore-loop for quite some time, he did not know the latest, and I was glad to bring him up to speed with what little time we had.
After the Expo, I cruised up the freeway and visited 2 SCCAN members -- Jason and I spoke about gaming in general, and farther up the road, Joe and I talked about the next SCCAN meeting, and he showed off his new MMC Replay.
Next up... sneaking Commodore into the AmiWest Show in 2 weeks!
Mission accomplished,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/