GameSetWatch - GameSetReport: UT's Game Fundraiser

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

GameSetReport: UT's Game Fundraiser - The Pics

[Following our previous special report from Richard Garriott's fund-raiser for The UT Videogame Archive, J. of Damned Vulpine fame has also contributed a gallery of pictures from the event.]

For those confused, or who haven't read the full report, here was our pre-show post about this fundraiser: "The Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin is kicking off our new UT Videogame Archive with a party and fundraiser at Richard Garriott’s estate on Lake Austin."

Below is a full (and slightly high-bandwidth, sorry dial-up folks!) gallery of pictures taken at the slightly damp but extremely successful event, which took place on the night before Austin GDC kicked off:

The arcade tent had Breakout, Gauntlet 2, Ms. Pacman, Donkey Kong and Joust in arcade cabinets, as well as the following consoles with games loaded: Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Intellivision, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo, Dreamcast, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube, NES, and a replica of a prototype for the Brown Box itself, the Magnavox Odyssey.

Tents shade the items for the silent auction, along the main road.

The table tennis game set up for the Magnavox Odyssey stumped most players who assumed it was Atari's Pong. Design differences: Balls aren't served by the “player” boxes, rather from behind them and off screen; the balls can be served out of bounds if not volleyed back; and there is no obvious score for either player.

Captains of the Chess Team, nerd rockers your mom warned you about.

The grounds of Richard Garriott's castle has been under near-constant renovation for years. He might be building secret tunnels.

A chef prepares hors d'oeuvres for the crowd.

George “Fatman” Sanger enjoys a drink while other guests get their grub on.

Chris Grant of the Texas Juggling Society shows the fruits of a misspent youth. Other jugglers in attendance included Scott Kurland and Roy Paterson.

Guests wait to get their grub on, including meatballs in Asian-style sauce and classic chips and queso upgraded with Gorgonzola cheese.

Richard Garriott, master of the house, trades his cowboy hat for a helmet after coming off a ride on a Segway.

More from the Texas Juggling Society.

The Paw of Kilrathi Prince Thrakhath, main badguy in Wing Commander III, as used in [EDIT: Wing Commander III], goes up for auction as preserved in glass by the Origin Museum. Sold for $600.

Not all the items up for silent auction had much to do with games, including a Kinky Friedman inaction figure.

This mandolin signed by George “Fatman” Sanger was among the items for silent auction, including items from Sigil Games' Vanguard.

Richard Garriott picks out items from his “Garriott Anthology” box of stuff auctioned as a single item, including first-run copies of all the games ever released by Origin Systems, and a rare copy of Akalabeth on floppy disk, most signed by himself and other staffers.

Auctioneer Michael Hanley gets help presenting the package of Rock Band, with all the instruments and signed by the crew at Harmonix, three months before it hits shelves. Gamasutra news editor Brandon Boyer won this with his $500 bid.

Not too many people wanted to ride Segways on rain-wet grass.

Tents protected items up for the silent auction, and the people bidding on them.

Warren Spector of Junction Point Studios (and Origin Systems, way back when) addresses the crowd before the auction.

Leah Stoddard tries to get people to sign up for Tazeezuzah, a game made up by George “Fatman” Sanger involving wearing propeller hats and shocking people with little zappers that looked like mutant cigarette lighters. Only one person supposedly signed up to play, go figure.