Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition August 9!

For more info CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE.

A semi-amusing video of me unboxing the advance copy of my new book, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987: Watch the video

You can pre-order the book HERE.

Thanks for watching and reading!

Twin Galaxies Promo Poster

Video Game Trading Cards & Posters at the ICON Gallery in Fairfield, Iowa

The 2nd annual edition of this ART GALLERY EXHIBITION at the ICON Gallery in Fairfield, Iowa, will feature more than 1,000 colorful video game trading cards posters that have been created by Twin Galaxies over the last 31 years. This year's theme will be "The 1,000 Faces of the World of Gaming," as Twin Galaxies will have finished its 1,000th video game trading card in time for the Exhibit. The Exhibition will last from August 1 thru 10, 2014, but the big event will be the GRAND RECEPTION planned for Saturday, August 2 at the ICON Gallery with an evening FILM FESTIVAL and AWARDS CEREMONIES scheduled for the elegant Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts on Broadway Street, in Fairfield, Iowa. Many of the celebrities appearing on the trading cards will be in attendance to receive awards and to see their trading cards revered as "works of art' in a professional-level art gallery showing. Walter Day, Curator of the Event and creator of the trading card set will join Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy and Ottumwa Mayor Tom Lazio in co-emceeing the event and co-presenting the awards along with numerous guest co-presenters.

THE "OFFICIAL" PAC-MAN WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE

On Friday and Saturday, August 1-2, 2014, as part of the First-Friday ArtWalk, the "official" Pac-Man will be visiting the ICON Gallery to participate in the trading card exhibition. Pac-Man will be available for photographs and autographs and times will be posted at the Gallery. This is the "Official" Pac-Man who is based in Chicago.

SPECIAL MEET & GREET THE CARD CELEBRITIES

On Friday night, August 1st, the ART GALLERY EXHIBITION will be one of the featured events during Fairfield's August 1st First-Friday Art Walk, which will see between 2,500 - 3,000 people coming in to see the display and meet the celebrities featured on the trading cards.

ON SUNDAY - RECREATING THE 1982 PHOTOGRAPH FROM LIFE MAGAZINE - AND RALLY IN OTTUMWA FOR THE IVGHOF

Attendees are invited to participate in a mini-rally in support of the International Video Game Hall of Fame. The featured activity will be a re-enactment of the famous LIFE magazine photograph from 1982. Different famous arcades are bringing copies of the original arcade games from the 1982 photograph so as to make the photograph look as authentic looking as possible. Groups of people will travel to Ottumwa and pose for this group photograph in front of the site of the original Twin Galaxies Arcade, at 226 East Main Street, Ottumwa, at NOON time, on Sunday, August 3, 2014. These activities are in support of Ottumwa's International Video Game Hall of Fame, now under development.

This Gallery Showing will examine the history of the global video game culture as commemorated in these posters and trading cards. The Twin Galaxies Video Game Trading Card Set was created to commemorate the history of the global video game culture, honoring the iconic industry pioneers, the video game personalities, the world champions; contest winners and the landmark events and historic milestones. The more than 200 Twin Galaxies posters were created between August, 1982 and 2009 to honor important events in the history of competitive eSports. Walter Day, founder of the card set, says: "The vision of the card set has transcended the world of card collecting. We strive to use the cards to create an historic tapestry that can fulfill the artistic and educational needs of Art Galleries and Museums, as well as the study of history in the modern classroom."

Attendance to this event is free of charge.

Produced Eric Tessler

For the 2nd straight year, this art gallery exhibition was funded through contributions from Eric Tessler, of LaHabra, CA. Mr. Tessler is an acclaimed member of the arcade restoration community in California and is a distinguished supporter of video game cinema. He is the Executive Producer of two video game documentary films slated for release in 2013-2014. They are The King of Arcades (Directed by Sean & Krystle Tiedeman) and The Video Craze (Directed by Dave Danzara).

Iowa Contemporary Art (ICON) Gallery

Iowa Contemporary Art is a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 to give the gift of the fine art experience to the citizens of southeast Iowa...and beyond. Through its gallery space, lectures, workshops, art forums, video nights, and weekly radio show, ICON has gained national recognition and ICON exhibitions have set standards of excellence for the art community.

The new ICON gallery, which opened in the heart of the Fairfield Cultural District in 2007, has become the center of the growing Fairfield art scene. Fairfield has established a reputation as one of America's premiere renaissance communities and is one of the nation's artistic crossroads.

Iowa Contemporary Art (ICON) is an IRS 501(C)3 not-profit educational charity that is managed by a nine-person board and supported by hundreds of members, donors and volunteers. Located at 58 North Main Street, in Fairfield, Iowa 52556, ICON can be reached at 641-469-6252 and can be found on the internet at www.icon-art.org. For more information, contact Bill Teeple at bill@icon-art.org.

John Wesley Shipp, a.k.a. The Flash

One of the friendlier celebrities I've met, John Wesley Shipp, who played The Flash in the 1991 TV show. I met him a couple of years or so ago at Dallas Comic-Con. I'm glad to hear he's got a role in the new Flash series airing this fall, playing Barry "The Flash" Allen's dad.

My New Business Card

This is my new business card, designed by my lovely and talented wife. 

ScrewAttack Game Convention

ScrewAttack Game Convention is coming to downtown Dallas July 11-13. It's the wildest and craziest video game convention in the country--72 straight hours of fun!

This year's special guest is Mega Man co-designer Keiji Inafune.

http://www.sgconvention.com/

Here's the official info:

SGC is a gaming convention like no other! It's a three day party where gamers from around the world can come together and share their passion for video games.

Event highlights include the following:

A massive dealer room with up to 80 vendors.

A huge main stage that can accommodate over 1500 attendees comfortably for large panels and concerts that is streamed live to the Internet!

Two additional panel rooms which can each accommodate hundreds of attendees!

An expansive game room and arcade featuring consoles across all generations and a robust lineup of arcade cabinets!

Tons of guest speakers and YouTube celebrities, including The Angry Video game Nerd.

An open call for other gaming websites to compete in a “ScrewAttack vs the Internet”!

The 8th annual Iron-Man of Gaming Tournament!

Live concerts of amazing video game related bands and DJs!

Table top gaming. We’re going old school!

80,000 square feet of convention space!

The Sheraton Dallas Hotel - 400 North Olive Street Dallas, Texas 75201

(The photo is of me meeting Nolan Bushnell at ScrewAttack a few years ago.)