For the past two days I’ve attended the third annual Otronicon at the Orlando Science Center here in Florida. The convention is a four day long event that showcases several simulations, exhibits, and the latest and greatest video games that have come out in the past couple of decades. I’ve attended the event for the past two years, and without a doubt, this year was probably the biggest improvement and most fun I’ve had.

Read on for pictures, text, and even a video from my adventures at Otronicon.

Note: Oh, and please excuse my poor photography.

The event had four floors of geekdom. The first floor had several Xbox/Xbox 360 consoles, a family friendly KidsTown to visit, and a “World of Warcraft Dungeon,” which surprisingly did not carry any fat and/or sweaty pedophiles as I thought it would. The floor also had local designer, Blue Orb, and their Switchblade product that allows any controller to work with a PC game.

The first floor was also the entrance for perhaps one of the most entertaining parts of Otronicon, Halo. This wasn’t any ordinary Halo gaming. The Orlando Science Center Cinedome’s giant screen was being used, as spectators and people waiting in line to play the game. Players lined up to play Halo 3 on an Xbox 360 console with four different T.V.’s, while gamers who were waiting in line sat in the huge IMAX theater, gazing at the best player’s screen. Not only did the theater’s screen help kill boredom, but the theater’s audience helped, as they cheered and applauded the man who was then currently kicking everyone’s ass. The atmosphere in this room was intense, especially during the Halo 3 tournament that was held on Monday at 8:00 PM.

Level two of the event had a Full Sail workshop registration, gaming workshops, a robots exhibit, ARTronicon digital display, and the Daytona 500 experience. The convention allowed people to attend gaming workshop classes that offered many classes and lessons, including designing the levels of a game, digital storytelling, game digital audio creation, and gaming for the web. The ARTronicon digital display were showcasing some awesome designs and creations, while the robots exhibit honored some of the best known robots ever made, as well as, for some odd reason, promoting the hell out of the movie, Robots. I’ll say what attracted the most families on this floor was the Daytona 500 experience, which featured multiple model NASCAR suits and cars. The exhibit also had a giant racecar simulator, and a couple of racing games on the next gen consoles, such as Forza Motorsport 2.

The third floor is where every single casual and teenage gamer went to when they first stepped through the gates of Otronicon. The reason? Two words: Rock Band. The game was setup in a dark room on top of a stage. Giant amps and speakers were on the stage for display, as well as a microphone holder, and a drum set that actually worked as a Rock Band drum kit. Everyone was booing and applauding each other, and even acting like a rockstar themselves, as some danced and jumped around stage. The Rock Band competition, which I unfortunately did not get to see, was probably as entertaining as the Halo 3 tournament on the huge theater screen. Not only were players judged for how well they performed, but also how they acted and got the crowd going. The band who won this competition won a chance to play at the Hard Rock Live Cafe at Universal City Walk.

In addition to the Rock Band stage, there was a room full of Wii’s and family friendly games, Dance Dance Revolution mat with a disco ball and flashing lights surrounding it, and classic arcade games. GameCube and Atari consoles were spread out around the floor too, meaning players who had left through the back exit of the Halo 3 room could play rounds of various Mario Party games, or Super Smash Brothers Melee. Gamers without friends could have enjoyed checking out Super Paper Mario or playing one of the multiple Wii games against another fellow loner. I was a big fan of the arcade games, where I played Space Invaders, Dragon’s Lair, Asteroids, Galaga, and Ms. Pac-Man for over an hour all together.

The fourth and final level of the convention held a ton of simulators, 3-D animation exhibits and booths, an outdoor Guitar Hero tent, an interesting booth from Hard Knocks combat sports arena and LAN gaming center, and a PlayStation 3 area. Most of the simulators were very realistic and all are used by actual peoples who work in the medical and military fields, so you’re training the same way the professionals do. The Guitar Hero tent included every single Guitar Hero game to release on the PlayStation 2 console, and was outside of the convention, on the balcony of the science center.

It was a great experience playing with total strangers who share the same hobby as you. The Microsoft section on the ground floor is a good example, as I played with four other players of various ages in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I did get my ass kicked by a five year old in a free-for-all deathmatch, but I will admit, even though I lost I had a blast playing the kid. The entire event felt unified as gamers of Orlando gamed with each other. Hell, even the Orlando Magic Dancers showed up to play some DDR.

This was definitely the best Otronicon yet. I left the event in a good mood after playing so much of the next gen, last gen, and old school games I wasn’t familiar with, as well as some games I’ve played several times before with both total strangers and friends. If there are any gamers in central Florida out there, Otronicon is the place to be. I will be surely be visiting this convention next year.

Categories: Articles, Convention, Event