What a weekend! As my first experience at any sort of gaming/hacking convention I had a great time meeting up with old friends, meeting new ones and getting the chance to meet some of the veterans of the portablizing community! I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into the event, but Noah, Shockslayer and a few others from the BitBuilt forums arranged a nice area for us which worked out nicely. The event itself also seemed well organized for it being in at a new venue. Most people I spoke with who had been going to MGC for years said it was a huge improvement over the hotel lobbies of the past.
The “Clipboard64” was perhaps my most favorite display in the BitBuilt room. Marshall’s work has been some of the most amazing when it comes to the N64 and this did not disappoint!
The one downfall to the event though is that it takes place in Milwaukee in mid April. Now normally this would be a beautiful time of year, but I had to drag my crazy ass New England weather with me and for the most part, it was shit. My flight into Baltimore and then into Manchester actually got cancelled on Saturday the day before I was supposed to leave. I was able to get another direct flight, however that was into Boston which meant I had to get from Boston to Manchester somehow. But that didn’t matter as much as getting back to the east coast which on Sunday morning looked like it was going to be an impossible task as it took a turn for the worst and climate turned from wind and rain, to sleet and ice. However the flight remained on time and Noah was kind enough to brave the storm and drive me to the airport.
We boarded on time, but were told we were getting de-iced which took the better part of an hour because there was a plane ahead of us. We were then told we were racing the clock because the weather was getting even worse and the airport was going to be shut down. From my understanding, our plane was one of the last two to take off from the Southwest terminal before they closed MKE, and several of my friends ended up having to spend another night in Milwaukee.
As I said in the video, meeting Marshall and Ben Heck were two big highlights of the trip.
And this little Mario enjoyed playing Mario 64 for quite awhile. Even though the graphics to him were a bit “blocky”. hahaha! Kid, you’re six, that game is 22. It still held up though!
But all in all I had an awesome time and look forward to hopefully making this an annual event, though kids and real life made this a stretch. If it’s planned for enough in advance it’s certainly a possibility, though I really don’t like the wild card that is the weather when it comes to flights! Is what it is though and ya gotta take the good with the bad!
Downing's Basement 