And Now.... TEN Years Later; THEY'RE STILL FIGHTING! tHIS IS WHY CGExpo has a hard road ahead.
Jerry Jessop <jjessop1@home.com wrote: On 16 Jul 1999 03:43:30 GMT, lonbo@aol.com (LONBO) wrote: Jerry Jessop wrote: The first part is a prior reply from John Hardie of CGExpo. "I know we're really looking forward to Nolan and Ralph Baer squaring off at the show. I know Jerry Jessop will be oiling up his machine to get it ready for the big match-up." (Loni responds below) "First of all... Nolan never consented to a PONG match-up with Ralph Baer. The only thing he agreed to was a verbal debate with him as to the origins of the videogame industry." Suddenly 2 weeks later his assistant (who was there) uses it as one of the excuses to pull out, I was dumbfounded to say the least. ******* Hi Jerry... (fyi --- I've just recently discovered this newsgroup thing --- way cool! Hope I'm doing it right...) Your doing great Loni, and it's good to see you participate in the group! Yes, I can completely understand your confusion and shock about the above, since we did all chat up the idea at the video shoot of Nolan and Ralph playing a round or two of PONG at CGE99 (which would have been incredibly cool!!!). Ralph was really excited at this! Could you imagine how cool this would have been :) But what I guess you didn't know (and what I guess the organizers neglected to tell you) was that at the end of the video shoot, I asked Keita to send me the PONG competition idea and a scheduled time for it to be held via a "written proposal" --- since Nolan leaves all details to me to follow up on. I stayed through the end of the shoot and have no knowledge of this part. I'm not challenging your statement at all, only confirming that I indeed had no knowledge of this request. As I'm not a CGExpo organizer so it's really no big deal that I was not told by Keita. You see, our original agreement with the CGE99 staff last winter stipulated that EVERYTHING they wanted Nolan to participate in was to be agreed upon "in writing" with specifics, and not just on verbals. Given Nolan's pressing time commitments, our insane work schedules, along with trying to keep straight everything he does for whomever and when --- we have made it standard practice to handle everything (not just CGE's gig, but everything!) "in writing" so that nothing is left to speculation or misinterpretation. It's just good business to handle things this way (especially since we had, at that point in time, tentative meetings scheduled in Vegas during that weekend and that the potential for scheduling conflicts were becoming even greater). But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know first hand about documenting things --- Sony is a successful company because of great products and an efficient paper trail system. I understand the above completely. Nolan's a great guy and without somebody assisting him with his schedule he could very well over-extend himself. To assume that just because Nolan was in town for the whole weekend that he would be available for whatever/whenever was not a good assumption for them to make, if in fact that is what they were doing. It would be horrible for the fans (not to mention embarrassing for everyone involved!!!) if he wasn't available for events that people were promised he would attend --- events that were not on his calendar. Anyway, we never received a written proposal, date or time --- yet come to find out, CGE was in the process of promoting the event anyway. I guess they just 'assumed' that it would happen because we had chatted about it. And they had weeks to get something to us in writing after the shoot . Maybe there is a misunderstanding on the above. I have read your private email to CGExpo with regards to Nolan's withdrawal and none of the above is mentioned. Again I'm not challenging your statement only that I'm not aware of it. Did you send a reminder email (not that you needed too) or such that was not responded too? The first response I made on the newsgroups was to "mylar" who posted that the whole Nolan at CGExpo part was fabricated to draw attendance. Clearly I had to jump to CGExpo's defenseas Nolan was committed, and sounded excited at attending CGExpo by my own conversations with him a few weeks before he pulled out. Nolan accepted a check from John Hardie at E3 for a portion of his expenses. Nolan very graciously dropped his customary speaking fee but was accepting travel expenses and accommodations for his assistant (you) and himself to my knowledge. Let's be honest Loni, CGExpo is being co-ordinated by a group of enthusiasts and not professional promoters. While some may find that bad, I actually think it's good because these guys honestly care about the games and the creators behind them. They make mistakes, have other jobs, and are human like the rest of us. I was involved with " World of Atari" last year and ALL that went right with that show was done by John and Keita, so I have faith and a past track record to go by. So perhaps this has shed some light on this one particular situation for you (since you mentioned it on the newsgroup message area) --- but it was not the primary reason for Nolan's withdrawal. It has, and I thank you for reading the group and responding. Actually, we have gone to great lengths to maintain silence about the incidents in question which led up to Nolan's withdrawal in an attempt to allow CGE to continue on with some amount of dignity (which for me personally has required super-human restraint as of late, given the horrible things that have been said and inferred about my business partner and friend with regard to his withdrawal). I have not read anything derogatory on this newsgroup or in private email regarding Nolan. I'll say it publicly as I do privately, you could not meet a nicer guy than Nolan and I owe my current career to him in many ways...... and you know I have told him so in person as well as thanked him. If your talking about Curt, well then I must use some restraint here. Curt and I were friends as you know and I was a big advocate of him being given a significant participation at CGExpo. Originally Curt wanted 4 booths to meet a certain sq footage he wanted and it turns out he did not realize that 2 booths met that requirement. Curt was promised 1 booth and a second adjacent if available at a latter date. I disagreed with this and thought he should have been given 2 right off the bat but the reasoning was sound, they wanted diversity on the vendor floor and were trying to keep it from being too Atari skewed. Curt was a vendor and not an organizer, no more, no less. The CGExpo guys are my friends but trust me, it's their show, their money, and they don't at all listen to me. I'm OK with that because it's not personal and indeed it's their show. I could go on, but I'll stop right here. | CGE's dignity at the expense of Nolan's reputation --- doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it? I don't know where this statement comes from Loni? CGE has never made a negative statement regarding Nolan. I posted in response to the Pong story and recently I responded to a private email to Curt where I mentioned something that might have been perceived as negative, but no details were given and it was private. For whatever reason, the CGE staff was unwilling to own up to mistakes, to take responsibility, to try to right some of the wrongs, or to even apologize to Nolan (which might have helped in making some headway in bringing him back to the event). Nolan deserved that and more, given some of the things that took place. I'm pretty certain (make that I know) the CGExpo staff would have apologized to Nolan personally (on hands and knees) had they known honestly what they needed to apologize for. I read the emails and I'm not certain what it really is either. I don't quite understand --- there is always honor and no shame in admitting wrongs (but perhaps youth and inexperience prevents them from knowing that to be true). And why they would presumably attempt to discredit the man (or have others unwittingly discredit him on their behalf), the man that basically created the industry which they intend to celebrate in August --- well, it is completely beyond my comprehension. Saving ones own skin at the cost of someone else's is never a victory. I don't understand why you say Nolan is being discredited. If your talking about the Pong story I just passed along what I personally witnessed at the film shoot. So to make a long story short --- I just wanted you to know how badly I feel for you, given what they have apparently done to you too now --- how they only provided you (and others) with a "cut and paste" version of the situation --- and how they have somewhat used your voice in the classic gaming community to portray themselves and the CGE as the "victims" in this unfortunate situation. Perhaps in light of the fact that you are part of the family of "former Atarians" --- maybe they felt they could use that (and you) to their advantage to some end. Who knows........ If I have been scammed by CGExpo Loni I will get to the bottom of it! But honestly Loni you (or Curt) have offered me very little hard evidence to support your claims. I am going by my copies of emails I was included on. I have to the best of my knowledge complete emails and not "cut and paste" versions. I can assure you that if I have been misled I will publicly apologize and turn anti-CGExpo here in a second. I have a totally open mind and willing to entertain any facts people send me. You know I have no vendetta at all against you or Nolan. Now to Curt Vendel. You have neglected to mention his fake posts, forged posts, forged emails, and forged cancellations of messages for a week after Nolan withdrew from the event. My emails were forged, admitted to by Curt, he put up an apology page on his site. All of this by a person who claims to be an employee of Nolan, how can this be Loni? Does this not suggest that something "strange" was up. I'm not going to tolerate this by anyone. This was illegal and completely crossed the line. I guess you have taken quite a stand of support on their behalf, huh? Frankly, in my opinion --- they are quite undeserving of your loyalty and friendship. Thank you Loni. I'm basing my opinions based on the facts I have and friendships are very secondary here. Have the CGExpo staff made some mistakes, sure! Were any of these malicious and intentional, not to my knowledge. The thing that really upsets me most is that this is some stupid huge misunderstanding between two parties. I honestly think all these issues could be resolved in a 15 minute sit down meeting......hey there is an idea! Anyway, I just wanted to pass my thoughts on to you --- and even though you came down kind of hard on me in your newsgroup message --- I don't hold you personally responsible for the words you said. It isn't your fault. It appears you are just simply another unknowing victim among a continually growing number of CGE99 casualties. I don't remember coming down hard on you or Nolan, Curt yes. Please hold me personally responsible for all of my actions, they are mine and mine alone. The only CGE99 casualties I know of are you, Curt, and Nolan. And with no disrespect intended it, was a self inflicted wound based upon the facts I have. Please take care and keep in touch --- hope everything is going well for you. Thanks Loni, and of course I wish the same for you and Nolan. I would be happy to meet with you personally at anytime (the sooner the better of course) to see if we can resolve any of the above issues either between us, or CGExpo directly. Clearly we cannot discuss everything here on the newsgroup or via emails. If it would help to have Keita Iida and Don Thomas there that can be easily arranged. I'm probably the only person that went up to Nolan at that 25th Atari party to thank both him and his wife Nancy for everything they have done for me. He went way beyond the call of duty opening up his home to Glenn Saunders for almost 16 hours to shoot his "Stella at 20" video. Nolan's a stand up guy and that's what hurts, I know he want's to be at the show, the CGExpo guys want him, and more importantly his fans and want him there. Curt can pass along both home or work contact numbers for me if you need them. Best regards, and I truly hope we can speak soon. Jerry Cheers... Loni Reeder VP, Creative Media p.s. --- congrats and kudos on your mention on the Hasbro release --- Digital Eclipse did a great job, huh???

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