reviresco
While manning the EOL booth at eGames 2008 I was approached by the Internode content team, expensive video camera and all, to do a short interview about the One Laptop per Child program. Mostly it’s a rundown of the XO unit itself, but we talk about the ideas behind the project and what it might mean for Australia, too.
You can watch the whole video here!
I’ve made it back home in one piece and after sitting around in a daze for a whole day, I’m ready to make a report.
Event management seems to be a very particular and peculiar lifestyle. You’d have to have boundless personal energy and integrity to do it on a regular basis. You’d have to be interested in what you’re putting on, and interested in the people you’re putting it on with. Although this was the first time I managed to make it down for the expo it felt like, and other people said that, we’d gelled as a team as well as we could under the circumstances.
So what went down? Thursday’s “bump-in” was probably the most draining, although that could have been due to my early start (managed to get return air tickets for $96!). The cherry pickers, forklifts and army of construction people were a clear sign there were big things to come. Saturday got busy fast, the harder core of the gamers even getting up early I dare say, to attend. Every single machine/console/screen was occupied for almost all of the day (with the exception of the evacuation due to fire alarm at around lunch time.. fortunately everyone stayed calm and we didn’t have to wait too long to go back inside..) and by the end, I’d given my OLPC XO demonstration dozens of times. Sunday was bigger, though, especially in terms of the XOs. Families and groups seemed to dominate the final day, and the attendance for the semi and grand finals taking place on the main stages was good.
I didn’t have a huge amount of time to take photos, but I did get some. Pus there’s a tape’s worth of footage that I have yet to compile. Below are some of the highlights:
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| [singlepic=146,200,100] | [singlepic=155,200,100] | [singlepic=158,200,100] |
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| [singlepic=174,200,100] | [singlepic=172,200,100] | [singlepic=171,200,100] |
Naturally there’s some good phonecam footage of the evacuation on saturday:
At least it gave us a chance to have a look at the size of the crowd, and in the end everyone stayed around potentially thanks to the efforts of the guys from australiangamer.com, although the jury is still out on that one…
more post eGames links to follow…
Well you would expect a tech convention to be absolutely saturated with Internet connections, but actually it’s taken me quite some time to get online. In addition to this, for some reason my card reader isn’t reading cards, so the photos are a bit light on at this stage. Apart from that I’ve been very busy at the elroyonline booth, the OLPC XOs stealing the show. A lot of people are initially attracted by the form factor, haven’t necessarily heard of “The OLPC project” before, but most have heard of “the $100 laptop” (a tagline OLPC Inc. has abandoned). Apparently it’s all a ruse – but if the starving kids in Rwanda knew they were helping Elroy develop a spam list, they’d rest easier no doubt.
I managed to get a small amount of playtime yesterday as the Expo was packed. Red Alert 3 has some chop, and the Quantum of Solace demo was fun. I’ve been watching Wii Music on the Nintendo stage and, not content to go on the word of so many others, I may line up and see if it holds some hidden gems.
Last night I managed to seriously hurt my little toe which has now become an interesting shade of yellow. That’s going to complicate the whole walk-around-and-do-things-at-the-expo thing, which hasn’t put me in the best of moods. Still, I have a chair with wheels on it, so as long as people clear a path, i’ll wheelie-bowly my way around. Or just sit at the EOL booth.
Friday was big, Saturday was big and today promises to be bigger. If you’re in the area, make sure to come down to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. I aim to have some sort of media up today, as long as I can find working peripherals.
The eGames Expo will be in its third year when it kicks off this friday at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Despite being fairly close to the whole process, this year will be the first year I’ve been able to attend (and even then, it was touch and go!).
eGames is packing some interesting things this year. Yahtzee Croshaw, the fast talking pom behind Zero Punctuation will be hosting a gaming trivia session, which promises to be hilarious. I’m keen to see Call of Duty World At War taken through its multiplayer paces (this is taking place at the Alienware PC Zone) and what comes out of the Retro Game Challenge. When Elroy called and said there was going to be a significant N-Gage presence, I had to think a bit. Nokia’s N-Gage? That was dead and buried years ago – but they’re trying to bring it back, apparently. I’m curious as to what their second attempt is going to look like.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, really. So starting from tomorrow I’ll begin a series of regular eGames related posts, in theory video content will be included, as I jet to Melbourne to begin what’s going to be a long couple of days. We’ll be based out of the Elroy Online Booth, where you’ll be able to check out the latest Powers Cosmic and Remote Viewing caper, and unwashed computer geeks that haven’t had enough sleep. Some extra space has been donated to the buzzmoo.com element so that I can put on some OLPC XO demonstrations.
If you live in Melbourne, consider coming along!
14th-16th November
Friday 1pm – 7pm
Saturday 10am – 7pm
Sunday 10am – 5pm
Adult $18
Concession $13
Family $40
(2 Adults, 2 Children)
3 Day Pass $33
(Fri-Sun)
Children under 6 admitted free
Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank.
For further info check the official website:
The latest product out of the e-Shack has been launched today: www.idef.com.au is now live and populated with information regarding the International Digital Entertainment Festival to be held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank, from 14 – 16 November.
The International Digital Entertainment Festival (iDEF) is the platform for events and activities from an industry, educational and consumer perspective, with the support of major industry members and associations. The festival will include the Digital Lifestyle Show, eGames Expo and Develop, an ICT Symposium and Careers Expo.
The eGames Expo, as I’m sure you know, will be in its third year this year and promises to be great fun. So be one of the many thousands sure to enjoy it this year and check out .
Meanwhile if you’re a fan of community support and have a FaceBook page you might be interested in joining Computer Assistance Support & Education’s (CASE) new FaceBook page. It’ll be updated regularly and used to communicate news about special events – of which there should be a few soon!