Mid Atlantic Video Game Festival (Follow Up)
Wow, First let me say I appreciate the tremendous response. I am glad to see this many people excited about the event, even though it is a year away. Second, let me apologize if this post isn't exactly totally NEC and/or Sega focused. However, with our most recent list threads in mind, I don't think I am out of place posting this letter. Ok, down to business. I got a flurry of emails here after the first two posts. Sorry if I didn't respond to all of the emails. I'll try and cover all your questions right here. Consider this, something of a Game Fest FAQ. If I still don't answer your questions go ahead and email me again. 1.) History of the event - About 2 years ago, me and a local friend (props to you Sean if you are out there) started RoAnime, one of the Mid Atlantic's largest independent Anime Clubs. Membership grew quite quickly and we started staffing local conventions en masse. If you have been to Neko Con, Katsu Con, SheVa Con, or Anime Mid Atlantic, you've seen us staffing Video Rooms and Video Game Rooms. After two years, it seemed we had enough support for our own Con, so we founded Omake Con in February 2001. We decided on Video Games as an angle since (1) they have their own huge following at Anime Cons and (2) we needed an angle to work for us against the increasing number of Anime Cons in the USA. (There are over 30 Anime Con in the USA this year, and more in the Mid Atlantic Region than anywhere else in the USA.) Well, it became ov\bvious we couldn't compete in this area against juggernauts like Otakon and KatsuCon, so we have since decided to go full fledged Video Games. We changed the name, rescheduled the event, and here we are. 2.) What we have so far - We have a contract with the Holiday Inn Tanglewood for the weekend of September 27-29, 2002. We have all nine ballrooms secured plus three parlor rooms. The main Ballroom is roughly 15,000 ft^2 and can be split into 5 rooms. We have it split into two halves via the air wall. One half will be dealers and the other half for main events (costume show, guest panels, workshops, etc). The for smaller rooms are in pairs. We'll have two of them (about 2000 ft^2) as the Video Game Room. The other two will act as a video room (game based anime and other kewl stuff) and the last one as Con Ops. The three parlors are still up for grabs, but will probably act as an art room, con suite, LAN room, or additional space for video games or display space for home brewed and independent game development. The hallways around the main ballroom also have plenty of space for display setup. etc. 3.) Guests and sponsors - we have a several we are working on and some big names too, but like I said earlier, I can't really say much until we have worked out all the details. More info on this section as it develops. 4.) Prices and General Info - Admission to the event is $30 for a three day pass at the door. Pre-registration is $20 for a three day pass until the Monday following KatsuCon and $25 until the Monday following Otakon. The website is www.omakecon.com and it's in sore need of an update. I'll have all this info posted ASAP. Pre-registration can be sent to Captain Gamestation, c/o Game Fest, 3520 Williamson Rd, Roanoke, VA 24012. Be sure to include all pertinent mailing information so we can send you confirmation (and include an email we can reply to). The event is at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood located on Franklin Rd in Roanoke, VA. The quickest way into Roanoke is by Interstate 81. Dealers interested should contact me directly, but the current prices are $175 for one 8' x 3' table and we have room for about 45 tables. Artists or private displays wanting to setup and sell in the hallways have a fee of $20. (That is not profit. We would never profit off artists or private home brewers. However, if you are selling something at your table, the hotel is going to charge us for your table, so we have to cover our costs.) If dealers for some odd reason want to setup in the hallway, the standard price applies. 5.) Volunteers - yeah, we can use all of these we can get. We don't have anyone setup for volunteer coordination, but if you are interested, please email me privately. I will note that we are poor right now, so there are no free lunches as of yet. Just because you are Staff or a Volunteer does not mean you will get in completely free. That about wraps it up. Once again, if you have any further questions, please email me privately and all of this will be posted at (www.omakecon.com). I'd like to thank list members George, David, and Aaron who have been very helpful this far and anyone else who I am forgetting to mention. I'd also like to thank Chris Kohler who has been an immense help thus far. Everyone pick up an issue of Animerica. He writes the Video Game reviews every month in Animerica. The event is still a year away, so if you are worried about traveling long distances, you have a whole year to prepare. So here's to a big success. Joseph Yamine Captain Gamestation c/o M.A. Game Festival 3520 Williamson Rd Roanoke, VA 24012 (540) 563-4300 www.omakecon.com --- Turbo List Information --------------------------------------------- The Turbo List File server is now completely available on the World Wide Web. Access http://joyce.eng.yale.edu/~bt/turbo/turbo.cgi for the complete listing of files (your browser must be able to support tables). ------------------------------------------------------------------------