Not Just Another Gaming Convention: Review of SGC 2009

ScrewAttack.com, being internationally known for different hilarious and entertaining video series on either their website, GameTrailers.com or YouTube.com; finally brings exactly what g1s want. YouTube personalities such as Brentalfloss and Angry Video Game Nerd all are tied in with Screw Attack. With everything that the community wanted and more, SGC was quite a start to possibly the best gaming convention in the Mid-West. This sounds too good to be true, right? Well in a way, yes. While being a lurker of the community, I felt a little left out since this event was for the hardcore fans. It was able to get my fill, though. Was SGC enough of a gaming convention to warrant to going back next year? With more conventions this year, will it be able to stand out to the best in the game? Read more below to find out.

Nolan Bushnell

Panels:

Always at different conventions, there are panels. Whether the panels are volunteer based or having people from the particular industry, the convention is based on is depended on what the public relations committee is able to achieve. SGC had a lot of great panels that I thoroughly enjoyed. While I was able to only go to a short few number of panels, I am confident in saying every panel was carefully managed to give ScrewAttack’s Hardcore fans, g1s, the best experience they could get. From talking with Will (a g1) of Gamer-Pulse.com, the panels directed towards the SA community were exactly what they wanted and more. From an outsiders point of view, I didn’t really care to go to the ScrewAttack staff panels. Someone knew those press or lurkers of SA felt this way so bringing in such members of the industry as Nolan Bushnell, Jack Thompson and many others. With organizing each panel’s line and getting the press setup, it let us just focus on getting the information instead of worrying about having to smell some random g1s ’scent’. I’d give the panels a strong four out of five. While I enjoyed them, there was something left out for those not into the community. 4/5

Street Fighter IV

Gaming Rooms:

Outside of every event going on in the event, there was the gaming rooms. If you wanted to chill out play any Street Fighter in existence even Street Fighter Rainbow, it was there. You could organize a tournament whether it was a table top game, PC or just a simple Halo 3 2v2. The staff working in this room were always looking for everyone to have a good time. I saw a lot of happy faces leaving the room when I was coming in, so I can say everyone was having a good time. There were two core gaming rooms: the arcade and the console main room. The arcade room had some of the most leet games I have ever seen thrown into a 20 by 30 foot room. Killer Instinct, 2 different Street Fighters, X-Men, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and one of my favorites Ms. Pac-man. Even with the free play not working on Ms. Pac-man, I played a game by just putting a quarter in. TOTALLY WORTH IT! Overall though, it was fun hanging out and playing random people in any game. 5/5

Con Stores:

When you think of Con Stores, usually I just think of people trying to sell their stuff to anyone who actually looks interested or above the age of 18. At SGC, its a little bit different. Everyone except the ECA and the T-Shirt store in the right corner near the door had something that kept you entertained or interested while shopping around the different areas you could look at. One shop had music going and had their cashiers doing something behind the table to the music. The other stores sold generic con items like shirts and patches. The ‘classic gaming store’ sold games from the NES all the way to late gen Sega Genesis.  Overall, I enjoyed the shops but after going in once I didn’t need to go back. I’d give the shops a simple three out of five. Nothing special for them, but nothing bad about it. 3/5

Jamal enjoys his IMOG Victory

Ironman of Gaming:

Although I already clarified how the competition resulted with the article posted Tuesday, there is still much to report about the main part of SGC. One thing of competitive gaming that I really enjoy watching is seeing how players are able to do against each other in multiplayer matches. The only ‘main event’ game was on Sunday and it was only a single-player game. How can con goers truly get a competitive gaming event feel when a multiplayer game isn’t presented for people to watch on a big screen? You can’t! This could make players think the tournament is either rigged or rooting for particular players with the public gameplay not being shown. I understand hiding some strategies from other gamers during some games, but with only one game of 7 games. Not only was the competitive and entertainment aspects of the IMOG not sold to the con goers, but the interactivity between the staff working IMOG and players was terrible. How are gamers to find out when they are supposed to play or not player when things where going completely wrong on the second day? @OGMaster on Twitter posted a tweet about how he got DQ’d because of miscommunication. Next year, there needs to be a speaker system setup through out the convention area making sure everyone at the Con knows what is going on so there isn’t any confusion. I was really looking forward to the IMOG, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. To clear up though, there was space for gamers to watch but not a clear area making it hard for people to watch. I hope to see an improvement for next year. I’m giving a deserving two out of five to the IMOG version of SGC. 2/5

Random Con Events:

Simply to wrap anything else I haven’t talked about in previous categories, there were always random things going on all the time. Whether it was in the movie room, PC room, or any where else in the convention. To keep those busy gamers that don’t want to go to a particular series of panels, you could keep yourself busy by doing different things. None of these things seemed interesting to me or most of the press that I talked to about them. Maybe bringing more ‘mainstream’ film or video into the movie room or making it more apparent of there being a PC and tabletop room would increase the lack of interest for me. I know obviously the random con events weren’t supposed to make con goers excited, but they were time fillers. Why not put in something that would excite them? I’ll be looking to come back next year to see if this changes. With a below average score, I give this category a two out of five. 2/5

Wrap-Up:

The convention was a really fun exciting convention, to put simply. I’m looking forward to next year’s upgrade from this year’s. There are several things that must be fixed for SGC 2010 to be a successful convention for the community and a possible growth of it’s community. Putting all the scores together, it averages to slightly being above 3 out of 5. Thanks to Craig, Corey, Destin, and all the staff for helping us with everything during and for the event!

One Response to “Not Just Another Gaming Convention: Review of SGC 2009”

1. Harlem says:

   July 23, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   Yes, SGC was an awesome event. U’d better be there next year cuz original-gamer.com will be back too