EA at AVGC 2017
This September 2017 was the 3rd show of A Video Game Con in Parsippany New Jersey. September 9th and 10th was a grand salute to all things video game related; game development, arcade cabs, video game related internet personalizes, gaming cosplay, video game collecting, video game inspired crafts and gaming music.
Early Hours
We arrived early at the convention to check out the set ups and squeeze in some quiet arcade time. Like a kid with a pocket full of quarters, we jumped around arcade machines while there wasn’t a line. The whole place was set to free play, so we got to play endless rounds of DDR, Pinball, TMNT & Turtles in Time, and our favorite blinking cube, Jubeat.
We would come back to the arcade floor many times, but the early morning hours got us a few warm up rounds before we started taking on high scores and fighting random people in Street Fighter Alpha 3. Like any good athletic, you have to build yourself up before you can crush the competition (Even if it is a 8 year or a veteran e-sports champ).
Showfloors
In vendor hall, all sorts of gaming gems could be found. AVGC drew in vendors near and far, bringing a whole lot of goodies to buy. We spent time searching through bins to find hidden gems and games we didn’t know we wanted until we saw them. You never know when you will see that one game you haven’t thought about owning, until you see bargain price for it. From game collections, indie artist, and one of those random boxes full of games, the vendor hall had every nerdy item that geek would like.
Back at the Arcade and Music Hall, we also checked out a couple of indie game developers that came to showcase what they’ve been creating. It’s always fun to chat with the indie devs to get a real perspective of how a game is made and what steps it took to get it playable. Unlike a AAA game studio, you won’t talk to a intern forced to be at the booth. You get to talk to the actual game developers that have poured hours into their projects and will gladly strike up a conversation.
We stopped by Good Night Games and tried Plunder Kings, a mobile vertical shooter. The game throws waves of enemies that drop loot when you destroy them, collect enough loot and the player ship is up-gradable to do more abilities and easily take on more challenging enemy waves. You can see our review of Plunder Kings here.
Not too far away, was Luna Wolf Studio. They were showing off their early prototype of Paralily, an adventure puzzler that is a plays with the concept of switching planes of reality. The game has the player pop in and out of different realities while platforming around the area. Paralily is in the early stages of development and only had three levels playable, but these guys are working hard to get this game out the door for everyone to try.
Panels
Talking small break between all the shopping and playing games, we visited a few panels. AVGC held multiple panels through the two days, discussing many different topics and even a cosplay contest for a SNES Classic.
Musical Acts
Starting from 11 AM Saturday all the way to Sunday at 4pm, AVGC had live bands and DJs performing for anyone to come listen. Musicians came every hour to perform a set, performing famous nerdy songs and fan favorite hits through the day.
We spent the two days taking in the sights, masking buttons and finding hidden gems in the vendor room. We met a lot of great people while we played in the giant console room filled with all eras of systems and even got to play Steel Battalion with the control that looks like audio board fused with a flight sim controller together. Overall, AVGC 2017 was an awesome time for a gamer looking to revisit the memories of chilling with friends playing games all day.
Other Reviews
We know we are late to this review (About a month later after we attended, oops). However, our friends have posted their footage and opinions about AVGC 2017 and they are worth a view to see how others spent their time there.
TechGeek
James Reiner
Taco Ramen & Friends
Adam Koralik
Candi’s Classic Game Shrine