It began a brisk fall morning and late enough for all to witness three geeks leave their respective haven’s and venture forth into the bowels of Portland. Hello everyone, it’s Matt from GWW and I just wanted to drop you a line about our trip to the expo this year.
We saw Solid Snake as soon as we walked in and the creative juices or some kind of juice was flowing and I ended up taking a scandalous photograph next to him, which left him rigid with embarrassment and also made a few people laugh around us. 
The venue, first off, was way better than the past 3 years. If you were not aware it was held at the Convention Center this year. Walking in and of course past Solid Snake off to the left was an arcade, surrounded by tables of fans and retro consoles. Arcade games created a labyrinth amongst the middle of the arcade section and the cacophonous call of music being played in the background brought a nice atmosphere to an already welcome sight… another year of gaming goodness!
Tables of goodies, games, memorabilia just laid strewn about on tables, hanging off of grid fixtures and even being carried by salesmen in cos-play. Mario and Link were among the brave and Luigi held his post as socially awkward sidekick. I have to ask though, why was Lara and Chun Li not present? So sad!
We met a cover girl from Seattle that was at the Seattle Retro Expo, long live classic games! They were very cool and were selling all kinds of items plastered with their gorgeous models and of course it was all in the name of gaming! 
After an hour we found Stu and wandered aimlessly looking at the things we couldn’t live without and unfortunately led poor Stu into a tizzy trying to find a manual for Final Fantasy VII. We mistook his question for “strategy guide” and the poor guy was heartbroken. By the way, if anyone out there has a loose one and it is in good condition Stu will give you 7 red coins or 800 Rupees.
We also met a gentlemen that was featuring a fascinating product we will provide more detail on in an upcoming release from GWW pending further study, product review and testing. We were all floored by what it could do and it may have a place on our list of things to acquire this year.
The artists were back and let me tell you after talking to Joe and Josh, this was our favorite part of the expo. Several tables featuring maps of our favorite games, pixel art, comics and more were just phenomenal this year. We spoke to them about doing some personal work for us during the holiday’s and not only did they agree, they seemed thrilled to be asked for freelance work. I will post their information below if you are interested in seeing portfolio’s and potentially finding someone to do some work for you. I am going to commission a comic artist to create something for me as well as one of the pixel artists to make a whole scene from Final Fantasy.
Josh found new and old games at every turn and fought tooth and nail not to drop all the cash he had at once. I am proud of him as I likened it to Frodo resisting the ring’s charms. Ok, he may have not looked that desperate but you get the idea. He did disappear a few times though. Speaking of which, even with all the extra space, this place was relatively busy, even early in the morning.
We ran around one more time and alas this alarming time came, lunch! Check back later for more info on the mysterious piece of hardware and updates as the show comes to a close tonight.
Thank you to everyone that came to support us, retro games and all the vendors and sponsors for making this year’s venue the best one I’ve been to.