Another year, another Portland Retro Gaming Expo is in the books. I’ve been going to these things since at least 2011, and the vibes this year felt a bit lower than usual. A friend of mine said the overall feel of the show is “exhaustion,” and I honestly agree. Definitely felt a bit underwhelming compared to last year.
Mostly because I didn’t see as many folks as I wanted to see there, as costs made things unattainable for some of my friends to attend. Even the $90 price for a weekend pass was a sticker shock for me, after usually seeing that be about $60 or so in previous years.
There was also a bit of issues I had with the con as a whole, but I’ll save that for after the roundup of stuff I bought. I did walk away with a few interesting things, but mostly cruft and stuff that I could afford without spending oodles of cash I don’t really have.
With that out of the way, let’s get started.
So Saturday only netted me two purchases, at the same booth for $5. It was in the same booth as Pat Contri’s, so I assume they shared it. I didn’t catch the name of the person who was running it, but they seemed really nice and friendly. Those were the only purchases I made that day, as seeing common games go for more than they’re worth caused me to lose interest in looking after a bit. My partner, however, was more accepting of what was on offer, as she netted a good chunk of gaming stuff.
Def Jam Rapstar (Xbox 360)
Ah yes, another rhythm game that requires singing. I keep running into those.
I remember an old, old Giant Bomb video where Brad Shoemaker and Jeff Gerstmann rapped to Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” which was pretty god damn hilarious. While I probably won’t hit the highs of that performance, I’m definitely curious to see what songs are on the base setlist. This game also had a feature where if you had an Xbox Live Vision Camera or a PlayStation Eye, you could post your performance online to be graded by the community. Sadly, those online services shut down a few years after release, so you won’t get to see hilarious videos of people rapping to Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice.”
Over the past few years, I’ve gotten Karaoke Revolution Vol. 2, Get on da Mic, and now this game. All games that require me to sing. I still have an old Rock Band USB microphone around, but I get extremely self-conscious whenever I sing in these games. Maybe one day I’ll play these and not feel immense guilt for singing into a microphone like a dingus.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition (Xbox 360)
The second attempt to revive the Medal of Honor franchise. I’ve already said my words about the 2010 reboot, so my expectations are really low. Funny enough, since this is a late-era Xbox 360 game, the multiplayer and single player are on separate discs, though this time the entire game uses Frostbite 2 and not the weird two-engine hybrid system the previous Medal of Honor did.
All I know about the campaign for Warfighter was a door-breaching mechanic where, similar to Modern Warfare 2 (classic), you’d breach a door and unlock unique breaching methods for getting headshots. I know this thanks to Miracle of Sound’s music video for the game, affectionately called “Medal of Honor Doorfighter.” Can’t wait to kick down doors and take out generic middle-eastern soldiers.
Oh, this also has digital unlockables and a beta key for Battlefield 4 that no longer works. Our Digital Future™, baby!
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