Orlando museum attracts record numbers with gaming convention

by Kyle Orland { Jan 22nd 2008 at 7:00PM }

Going to the science museum? Boring. Going to the science museum to play video games? Excellent! At least that's what we took away from an Orlando Sentinel article on The Orlando Science Center's third annual Otronicon gaming event.

The conference, which just closed to the public, brought in a record 3,000 game players on Saturday as part of an expected 18,000 attendees total. The throng did more than just play over 100 displayed games, though -- they attended exhibits focused on the therapeutic benefits of gaming, workshops on game development and even performances by the Orlando Magic dancers (the last of which we can only assume was somehow game-related).

Though the event is now closed to the public, some lucky youngsters will get to attend school field trips to the event over the next few days, which makes us extremely jealous. The best field trip we took in grade school was to the box factory. Or was that The Simpsons? We can't remember, honestly.

Tags: conference, convention, exhibit, florida, full sail, FullSail, museum, orlando, science

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lone Starr @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:08PM

Uncle Jack didn't make a ruckus? That's practically walking distance for him.

UltimateQ @ Jan 22nd 2008 8:08PM

I live in orlando, and within 20 minutes of this place. I never even knew about the convention.

ThornedVenom @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:20AM

Uncle Ruckus didn't make jack? That's hardly surprising.

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:09PM

By the way... RIP... I like his movies

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/23/2144369.htm

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:21PM

Yes, I just read about it and it's very sudden.

RIP Heath Ledger, and best wishes to his family.

colin @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:27PM

not to be insensitive, but i do hope dark night still releases.

Cheezeman3000 @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:53PM

It will, they're already done filming. Word is, he overdosed on sleeping pills by accident. Had to take them because his role as the Joker disturbed him so much that he couldn't sleep at night.
Scary shit.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:17AM

Cheezeman, don't believe all of that PR crap. They should be ashamed for taking advantage of the fact that he died from a possible overdose of sleeping pills. It's not right.

Many adults suffer from sleeping disorders and he probably took a few too many. Lack of sleep can lead to erratic behavior or confusion also, so maybe he wasn't aware he was taking that many pills at once.

Either way, whoever told you that "he couldn't sleep because he thought his own performance was that disturbing" is a f**king douchebag.

Radicoon @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:09PM

*raises hand* Guest blogger at the Sentinel here. We've got a lot of coverage of Otronicon on our gaming blog, if anyone wants to read more than the cover story.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_videogames

It's an unfortunate URL, but a shameless plug nonetheless. ;)