Despite my best efforts, I still arrived at the second day of SeGE 2019 almost into the afternoon. My resolve to sleep in defeated my resolve to have more time for looking around. However, I was in enough time to eat lunch there.
Which brings me to my one major gripe about the new location. The concession food and beverages are way expensive. I can almost justify a fully loaded hot dog being around $5-6, but I am completely flabbergasted at the notion of $4 for a 20-liter bottle of soda. One could argue that I'd pay that much eating out anywhere, but at least restaurants offer combos with fries and refills on the drink. And I suppose the other gripe is that it feels short, but that's not a very strong complaint.
Whining done.
I did get more time to look around, although it was essentially reduced because in the last 0:30 of the day, most vendors were getting ready to pack or were already packing stuff away. Still, despite the larger size of the Greenville Convention Center's large room, I was still able to see everything - even if I wasn't able to play much of the free play stuff. The spread was the usual combination of video game stores, individual game sellers, art people and a few non-gaming booths, like a display with a drawing for Hilton. Some of the art was really cool and tempting, but owing to the size of the perler-on-canvas and burnt wood stuff, I would have no place to display them.
Mainly I looked around, but I did attend one panel: a publisher called Limited Run Games was holding a panel on their history and origins. I'd already purchased a game from them the day before, so I was interested to hear about them. They're a publisher that takes mainly digital-only games and gives them a limited physical run (hence their name). It was a most interesting panel, delving into why he and his compatriot decided to start it in the first place, how they managed to make it big publishing for the PS Vita, and other dealings they'd had. We even got heads up on a few future releases.
Also, there was a games giveaway - the people who asked questions played rock-paper-scissors to narrow the field - and I managed to snag Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (for the PS2 for the PS4) from it. By the time the panel was over, I went back to trying to find some good deals.
At the end, I was scrambling to find the Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes and Star Wars: Episode I Racer I'd seen; I managed to negotiate the former from $15 to $10, and found the later for $5. I already have Racer on Dreamcast and PC, but I wanted to see how it compared to the other versions. Triforce Heroes I was just curious about. Oh, and I got another over-sized Lantern ring, this year being the orange "Greed" one.
The only thing I regret missing was a loose Gameboy Advance SP that I could have either cleaned up and used, or opened up, looked at, and possibly fixed if it was broken. My overall budget was fairly limited, but I wasn't looking to add too many games to my collection, and I wouldn't have been able to get much of any hardware.
It was still a fun time. As always, I am resolved to do better in the cosplay contest next year. I'd also be interested in other cons happening at the GCC in the future - despite the risk of giving in and buying more comics than I need, for an example. I'll definitely keep this space posted if I do go to another convention in the future.
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