I have to admit, while I do consider myself a gamer, I’m more of an old school gamer. I do like some of today’s amped up shooter games, but I’m not hard core like some of my friends are. That doesn’t mean I won’t give a new-to-me game a spin, if the opportunity presents itself, though.

That’s why I was intrigued to check out Otronicon 2011, currently being held at the Orlando Science Center.

I attended Friday night and the first area I hit up was the Classic Arcade room. Galaga and Pac Man proved to be the most popular games. My roommate got a high score on Centipede, even though the track ball stuck a little.

We then checked out the Rock Band stage. Lots of young teens picking songs, so there was a lot of Miley Cyrus. It quickly became apparent that nobody knew much of the songs other than the chorus. But there were a few decent performances to check out.

Best performance that we saw was Electric Six “Gay Bar.” We tried to take photos but the flash failed to light up the stage. Even the audience was better lit.

On the way upstairs, we noticed 96.5-WHTQ had a table set up, so we went to say hello. They were giving away DVDs and we entered the drawing to win a 19″ HD LCD TV. What the heck, right?

Once upstairs, we checked out the room with the medical simulators, but we had missed the last demo by half an hour. So we went over to check out the military simulators. By far, the most popular area was the target range. The guys even groaned their displeasure when the guy running it shut it down so he could take a quick break.

On the 4th floor was the gaming room for that night’s gaming. The theme of the evening was Zombies, and at first there were none. But slow-moving as the undead are (according to George A. Romero), they eventually started ambling in.

Some of the costumes were really good and I’m sure once they started drinking the free samples of the NOS energy drink, the zombies would perk up a bit. I normally don’t like the taste of these things, but the grape one was really good.

We went back downstairs to check out the drawing for the TV. Rules were you had to be present, and as the small mob surrounded the table, they drew the first name – and he wasn’t there. The hand then went back into the box and drew…my roommate’s name. Yup, we now have a new TV in the apartment.

On the way out, we passed a couple of zombie pirates, so we made sure to guard our booty…and the TV (bad pirate joke, I know).

Otronicon was a fun event to check out and I think there’s a good chance I may get the Rock Band game in the next few months. Our neighbors are gonna love us.

If you want to experience Otronicon for yourself, the event runs through Monday, January 17. Tickets are $17 for adults, $16 for students and seniors, and $12 for kids 3-11. It also costs $5 to park.

Here are some more photos from the Orlando Science Center on Friday: Read more