By Bob Colayco

　　Design by Marty Smith

　　A modest CGE banner greeted guests to the San Jose Convention Center.

　　The seventh annual Classic Gaming Expo was held in San Jose on August 21 and 22, 2004, at the San Jose Convention Center. The yearly convention attracts some of the world's most hardcore classic games collectors and enthusiasts. Decades-old video games, equipment, and arcade machines were on display at this year's event, and vendors were also on hand to sell classic gaming software and hardware to the retro-minded gamers who still haven't quite shaken off "Pac-Man fever." Those who were looking for items like brand-new Atari 2600 joysticks, Intellivision games, or cards for the PC-Engine were likely to find a great selection at this year's Classic Gaming Expo with its assortment of vendors hawking their wares in booths, as well as convention-goers trading items in the swap-meet area.

　　GameSpot at the Classic Gaming Expo.

　　Aside from numerous vendors selling old video game equipment, the exhibitors at the expo included a number of recognizable companies, such as Konami, who was showing off all iterations of its classic shoot-em-up, Gradius, including the upcoming Gradius V. Midway was on hand to showcase its upcoming Arcade Treasures 2 collection. Intellivision, one of the pioneers of the video game industry in the 1970s and 1980s, was also on hand to show off its products, such as compilations for the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Intellivision co-founder and president Keith Robinson was also kind enough to give us an interview, which you can view by watching the streaming video on this page.

　　Another main draw to the expo was its list of speakers, which included many of the cofounders and original designers from Activision and Vectrex and, most notably, Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer fame. Most of the speakers chose to regale audiences with interesting anecdotes from their heyday and took questions from the crowd. Rounding out the attractions at the Classic Gaming Expo was the CGE Museum, which featured more than 1000 items covering quite a bit of gaming history. Prototypes, rarities, and other artifacts covered rows of tables in the museum area, taking visitors back in time to different eras of video gaming. The next page includes photographs of many of the items.

　　While it wasn't the most well-attended convention we'd ever seen, Classic Gaming Expo 2K4 succeeded in bringing together classic games enthusiasts for a couple of days of fun and trade. Click over to the next page to see more photographs from the museum and the event!