Date:	June 30, 2001
	Location:	Milwaukee, WI
	Hosts:	Dan Loosen, Gary Heil, Goatstore.com

Just home from JagFest 2K1!

By Kevin Mosley

Hello everyone!
Well, Jagfest 2K1 far exceeded my expectations. A Great BIG thanks to Dan and all the others who did so much to make this year's fest a great success. In my opinion it definitely lived up to being the best yet.

There were a lot of great things to see and some cool protos to play, (Brett Hull Hockey, Slam Racers, Total Carnage, Protector SE, and others), but I'd have to say that my favorite part of all was meeting all the really great people. It was really nice to put a face with the names I've seen around online. That was truly an honor. I'll never forget Micah... everything just seemed to have such an unlucky twist for him that it was almost comical. ; ) But, only because he took it so well. Of course, meeting the man who has given the Jag new life most recently, Carl Forhan, was a pleasure. Thanks to all the rest of you who attended... Eric Armstrong, Randy Femrite and his wife, Ted Rusniak, Fard Muhammad, Clay Halliwell, Clint Thompson, Chad Tindle, Jason Data, Terrance Williams, Dan@AVC, Max and the Goat crew, Dan and Gary... and everyone else who I can't think of right now. Everyone was so nice. Obviously, the Atari community could not be so great without such great people in the community.

There were many items of interest. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a working Jaguar VR there. Unfortunately, by the time I played it, the tracking was terrible, making it very hard to control. I guess so many people handling it and putting their fingerprints all over it caused its performance to drop.
There was a Library of systems from Pong and Odyssey, to Amiga, Mac, and todays newest systems. That was a really cool trip down memory lane. I had never gotten to play a Vectrex before, or even seen one in operation.
The Nuon was pretty cool, but I wasn't overly impressed with IS3, (there weren't many improvements from the Playstation version), and I still like Tempest 2K better than 3K.... (oops, did I say that? Just don't tell Jeff) : O
Micah Rowe had Brett Hull Hockey and a really cool collection of Atari Jaguar and Lynx reviews, articles, and ads from different publications over the years (including the ads and reviews for the newest games released by Songbird).
Speaking of Songbird, Carl Forhan kept stirring up excitement by announcing a different prototype for display every little bit.
It was great to be a part of the 10 linked Battlespheres. The Jaguar I was seated at failed to connect over, and over, and over, showing me a mocking, stuck out tongue a few more times than I cared to see. After checking all the connections, switching Jaguars, Catboxes, and Battlesphere cartridges, it seemed I was the only variable remaining. Finally, it was discovered that the wrong kind of cable was used on mine, and I was relieved to know that my Jaguar didn't have a personality that I had ticked off.
Lastly, I had a few things for display that I was very pleased to see a few people taking interest in, (mainly Phaze Zero and AVP for the Lynx). I had really hoped to contribute something to the fest this year and I feel like I accomplished a little of that regardless of how small.

As for my trip, I spent a total of 53 and 1/2 hours without sleep. This made for many of you at the fest receiving some blank, "no one's home" stares from me throughout the day. This has been a vacation that has really worn me out. I started by driving from Dallas, TX to Chatanooga, TN, then Lexington, KY to visit my parents. From there, I went to Eastern KY to visit more family and back. Then it was time to make the 8 1/2 hour drive from KY to Milwaukee. By the time I arrived at Jagfest I was out of it... totally hopped up on "yellow jacket" pills. A special thanks to Carl Forhan and Max for helping me unpack and pack. That was a major help. It wasn't until about 10:00 pm that I started feeling somewhat normal again. I apologize if I seemed like a zombie throughout parts of the day. ; )
Tuesday night, I drive back to TX where I'll immediately go to work when I arrive Wednesday evening. It's been a demanding vacation, but it was worth it. I would do it all over again.

Until next time........

Take Care,
Kevin Mosley