Videotopia review

havok69

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So I finally had a chance to go to the Videotopia exhibit at the Strong Museum in Rochester. For more information, check it out here:

http://www.museumofplay.org/things_to_see/videotopia.html

The cost of admission is the standard museum fee of $10, and you get 4 tokens with each admission fee. There is also another option to purchase a gamer's pass for $20, and that gets you unlimited access to the exhibit until they close on November 1st. This is a great option if you are local, or even plan on attending more than twice before the exhibit is up.

All the games run on tokens, which unfortunately are just generic "No Cash Value" .900 ones. I was hoping they would be custom ones so I could keep a couple for collecting sake, or even use them in my machines; but I have all .984 tokens\mechs.

You can go the regular route and go to a change machine to purchase more tokens for playing games, but a nice feature of the exhibit there is that you can go up to kiosks and answer trivia questions to get more tokens. If you answer 7 questions correctly you get three tokens, 6 questions gets you 2 tokens, and 5 questions correct gets you 1 token. Once I ran out of tokens I just kept going up and answering questions which were not just related to arcade trivia, there were also computer related questions and even political trivia on the 70's and 80's.

Now for the more interesting part: the games! Here's a game list:

http://www.museumofplay.org/things_to_see/Videotopia_GamesSheet_062209.pdf

The only game that was out of order was the F-15 Strike Eagle. However, unfortunately the games were in various states of operation. Some games to note:

The Empire Strikes Back cockpit yoke was falling apart, and convergence was off
Asteroids Deluxe was unplayable - the fire button intermittently worked
Gravitar's monitor had horrible flicker
Missile Command's panel was partially unlatched
Galaxy Rescue's joystick was terribly loose
StarBlade's display was terribly blurry
Wrong height joys on Robotron - damn I hate that!
Race Drivin's center monitor was not displaying red

I was most disappointed with Race Drivin - I was really looking forward to playing the panoramic version, and without being able to see what speed I was going (critical for some turns and jumps) I wasn't able to post my best scores. On the flip side, the seat lock, steering and shifter worked beautifully. It was still nice to play it nonetheless, and it was cool to drive the extra track that you only get with the panoramic version. However I was only able to post the 2nd highest score, due to the red issue. I'll be back in October to take the lead; I was only 10,000 points away, just have to bone up on my drive by the seat of my pants skills...

Outside of the arcade area was a nice arcade and game related display, with an actual working Pole Position (truly rare!) and older console games, along with a Computer Space and Pong. On the off chance that the Computer Space would take tokens, I dropped one in, and of course it didn't work. I wonder how many tokens will be in the cash box when they pack up the exhibit?

Now, since we're all pic whores here, without further ado...

Entrance:

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Old school corner:

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Night Driver!

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Atari row:

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Was cool to see a Starblade in person, that was a first for me. I forget what that black cab is, all I remember is looking at the game and saying meh:

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Nice cabarets, and some Tron goodness in the background:

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Williams row, and a Gauntlet Dark Legends:

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Part of the vector row:

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A blurry shot of more of the vector row:

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EDOT!!!

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Crappy game, cool holo effect:

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Don't bother playing this one:

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More vector goodness:

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Nintendo row, for you ninty fags:

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A little four player driving fun:

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Race Drivin Panorama!!!

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EDOT again, because it's that good...

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Blood Blisters anyone?

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The SW ESB cockpit looks to have a 19" monitor...you don't need to bother playing it any way.

:D
 
Here's outside of the arcade area, Pong and Computer Space:

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Vectrex!!!

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And yes - I had one of these...

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And had these too:

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Had these also:

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A working PP? Say it isn't so!

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Here you could even play the 2600:

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It was part of a that was then, this is now. On the other side was an Xbox 360. Didn't bother taking a pic of that...

A pcb - we've all got experience with that. Bonus points for whomever can identify which one it is:

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And here's one for NathanJ:

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Sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures, I had planned on using the real digital camera, however my wife had other ideas since the kids were playing in the museum, so these are from my Blackberry Storm.

All in all, I had a good time playing the games. The volume level on the games was set lower than I am used to, so I didn't quite get the arcade ambiance effect, but it is was well worth the time and money spent. I would recommend going, even though some of the games were not up to par; I mean what arcade ever had everything working anyways? So in that respect, it was an authentic experience. I'd give it a 9 out of 10. If you are even in the Rochester area from now until November 1st, take a trip - good clean family fun for all!
 
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Awesome pics!

They gave me flashbacks to the previous times I went to Videotopia. I logged three visits between 1998 - 2000, at Washington DC, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh.

Hopefully it'll show up in Columbus OH soon!

Kyle :cool:
 
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I sure as hell wouldn't nitpick like this considering the collection of games being displayed on-the-road receiving constant play by the public.


The Empire Strikes Back cockpit yoke was falling apart, and convergence was off
Asteroids Deluxe was unplayable - the fire button intermittently worked
Gravitar's monitor had horrible flicker
Missile Command's panel was partially unlatched
Galaxy Rescue's joystick was terribly loose
StarBlade's display was terribly blurry
Wrong height joys on Robotron - damn I hate that!
Race Drivin's center monitor was not displaying red
 
It's an impartial review; you get the good and the bad. Did you miss this part?

I would recommend going, even though some of the games were not up to par; I mean what arcade ever had everything working anyways?
 
It's an impartial review; you get the good and the bad. Did you miss this part?


Oh I read it, it just comes off as elitist.
Walk a mile in the shoes of the people who put on these shows
and then you can whine about a loose joystick or blurry monitor.
Tell someone AT THE SITE about game malfunctions.

I just personally get mad when I see people pick at things which, knowing
how videotopia runs, are typically fixed by the following weekend.
 
Nothing elitist meant - just stating the experience. Besides, you are paying to get in and play. There should be comments made if the games you are paying to even see are not working correctly. It's one thing if I can walk in for free and look around, but when you pay to get in, and then have to pay (unless you know arcade trivia) to play, there needs to be a certain standard to uphold.

So what kind of review should I give? Just praise and everything's peachy? I would think the majority of people here would like to know the good and the bad...

Besides, I still stand by my original statement: definitely worth going to, despite some of the game issues.
 
Tell someone AT THE SITE about game malfunctions.

I just personally get mad when I see people pick at things which, knowing
how videotopia runs, are typically fixed by the following weekend.

I did mention it, and the people there work for the museum and had no clue. It's not like I'm walking into a regular arcade where when you tell someone, and it get's fixed.

And even if the following weekend all these issues are fixed, (which I doubt) I won't be there - and this thread is about what I experienced this weekend. I'm not slamming them at all.

I liked it, plan on going again, and recommend it to anyone in the area.

Capish?
 
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