Midwest Gaming Classic 2007 Write Up
The 2007 Midwest Gaming Classic was held at the Olympia Resort and Spa in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on June 9th and 10th. To find out more about exactly what went on at the event, read on!
Classic Gaming and Computing Museum
The Classic Gaming and Computing Museum expanded in 2007 with a better overall layout and new displays of many of the systems at the show. The museum also gained a few additional systems this year, making it one of the most comprehensive displays of gaming in the world!
Events within an Event
At the 2007 Midwest Gaming Classic, the Underdog Chamber and Jagfest returned while a new event celebrating the Turbografx appeared for the first time.
Underdog Chamber
The Underdog Chamber decided to change up the networked game that was being run, and debuted a six player Apple network of the game Quake for people to play. The game was as popular at the Midwest Gaming Classic as it was when it was first released, and there were often lines for it throughout the entire day.
The Chamber also expanded to play a larger role with more of the neglected and under-loved systems of the past, with displays and playable systems honoring the legacy of many of the consoles that weren't number one from the past.
Jagfest
Atari Jaguar Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in style at the Midwest Gaming Classic! While the 2007 Jagfest wasn't as big in the way of consoles as the 2001 event was, the spirit of this console lived on with displays featuring some of the Jaguar's unique and fun advertisements, some rare games such as BattleSphere and Protector, and the system's standout games such as Tempest 2000 and Alien Vs. Predator.
Turbofest
NECs Turbografx 16 may have been the third place console in the US when it came to "16-bit" consoles, but you wouldn't know it with the enthusiasm that people still have for the console! All of the NEC consoles were shown off with tons of the greatest games from all of them! Whether you loved Alien Crush from back in the day or just wanted to find out why Blazing Lazers was known as such a good game, this was a great section to go and find out what was up!
Tournaments
The 2007 Midwest Gaming Classic featured a bunch of tournaments! Read on to find out what was there.
Pinball Tournaments
In 2007, the pinball tournament had become so popular that two full divisions of competition were created for people to play in, as well as the return of the popular children's and women's division. The tournaments were highly competitive, and people played for every point on the games Surfers (1967 Bally), Aztec (1976 Williams), Galaxy (1980 Stern), Jurassic Park (1993 Data East) and Star Wars Episode 1 (1999 Williams). The tournament came down to the last ball of the last game, with all four players still in the hunt, and for the second year straight Josh Sharpe ended up crowned as the Midwest Pinball Champion!
Hybrid Tournament
The Pac-Mania hybrid tournament returned, and was a great success! Players competed on Ms. Pac-Man (arcade video) and Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man (arcade pinball) to determine who was the best hybrid player!
Worldwide Shmup Open
Using a similar format to the Midwest Pinball Championship, the Worldwide Shmup Open was introduced in 2007 and immediately players jumped at the chance to compete to try to prove how skilled they were over multiple 2D shoot-em-up games! After a fierce battle, Ian Hawkins was crowned the first ever Best Player!
Other Tournaments
Besides these great tournaments, other tournaments were conducted throughout both days. Whether it was two friends challenging each other to a game of pinball or a more structured setting with a vendor or other group, playing and competing always makes the Midwest Gaming Classic fun!
Speakers
The Midwest Gaming Classic had another great line up of speakers, and this year the show also featured an amazing documentary for people to watch! Here are just some of the people and what they spoke about:
Josh Sharpe, IFPA / Midwest Pinball Champion 2006
Josh Sharpe who was the winner of the first ever Midwest Pinball Championship conducted a demonstration for all of those people who thought that pinball playing was just luck. He explained his techniques for attacking a game, and things that you can try to learn on all games to better your skill so that novices could become good, and good players could become even better!
Madison International Game Developers Association Chapter
The Madison chapter of the IGDA held a meeting at the event, and invited people who were interested in becoming future game developers to the first part of the meeting where the group discussed the pros and cons of working for independent game studios and the big players.
Gene Cunningham, Illinois Pin Ball Company Owner
The man behind the game Big Bang Bar, and the owner of many different rights to manufacture new pinball parts (known as "repros") was at the show to explain how he came to purchase the rights to the machines that so many of us know and love, and what his plans are for the future with the rights that he has secured. Considering that in his first speech in 2004, Gene revealed his plans to produce the game Big Bang Bar, this was another speech not to be missed, and we all found out that it might just be good to be the King(pin)!
Vendors
Every year the Midwest Gaming Classic has been held, it welcomes more and more vendors, and the 2007 year was no exception! AtariAge released some brand new games for people to play and enjoy on classic systems, pinball services were very popular with people showing off their touching up and clear coating ability, and you could even buy hundreds of rare import games for your favorite import systems!
The show also offered many different pinball and arcade video games for people to play, with nearly 100 games in attendance and many of them for sale!
Summary
The Midwest Gaming Classic continued to grow and evolve in 2007, with the show starting to branch out and experiment with new and unique tournaments, events and more while refining the already existing ones. People and groups traveled from all over to hang out together, play games and have tons of fun!