TooManyGames Convention – May 6th-8th Oaks, Pennsylvania

Ive swapped a lot of emails with Paul of TooManyGames over the past couple years, so with the event coming up Im only to happy to drop a plug for them.

While I complete disagree with the name (these is no such thing as too many games and this is coming from a guy who once had 135 sealed copies of Shockwave for NES and 48 sealed copied for Bio Freak for PS1), the expo is pretty awesome.

If you’re near Philadelphia, its definitely worth checking out from May 6th-8th. The event is huge too, 80,000 square feet. The vendor marketplace alone is 18,000 and will be host to such things as the release of the brand new NESK-1 cartridge. This cart allows for the creation of musical arrangements using only your NES and its controllers! Think midiNES but better (from what I am told).

Tons of video game inspired performances are scheduled, by acts like George & Jonathan, X Hunters, Arm Cannon, Chipocrite, and more. New features this year include TooManyGames’ first computer LAN party, sponsored and hosted by The GXL. This will be one of the largest LAN parties on the east coast, encompassing 20,000 square feet the LAN party will accommodate up to 400 players and run non-stop from Friday evening through Sunday evening.

Perhaps this year’s most exciting addition is a collaborative effort with the Philadelphia chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). TooManyGames and the IGDA have partnered to host Philly’s annual Game Jam event. Dozens of game development teams from all over the USA will assemble at TooManyGames to spend 48 hours designing and developing brand new games. Games will be judged and prizes will be awarded to the top development teams.
“We’re so excited to work with the IGDA.” Says TooManyGames founder, Charles Whitby. “We’ve been looking for a way to incorporate game developers with TooManyGames and this is the perfect opportunity for them to showcase their amazing talents to a crowd of excited gamers.”

Also, the Angry Video Game Nerd will be making an appearance on Saturday and Sunday.

Other convention staples are:

• Tournaments and Contests
• Raffles
• Discussion Panels and Demonstrations
• Video and Movie Room
• Anime
• Costume Competition
• Open Play Console Area
• Arcade Games 

Check it out, May 6th-8th, 2011 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.