This past weekend I had the honor of attending Rockford’s first-ever video game convention, aptly named R2V2. It was set up and hosted by members of The Gaming Outsider which is a Rockford based group of podcasters, reviewers, and writers who cover all kinds of news and topics in the gaming world in a very entertaining way. I highly recommend you check out their website where you can find all of their content and updates on future events in the area.
R2V2 was a spectacular event. It was held at Cataclysm Games, a local tabletop games store where you can buy and play just about anything related to the genre. The convention featured many different booths and tables where you could find all sorts of neat gaming-related merchandise and items ranging from retro video games and consoles to unique and rare collectibles among many other things. R2V2 also held a raffle where you could win several video game consols like a Playstation 2 and even a Nintendo Switch.
There were even a few activities available for you to try out incredibly rare consoles and video games as well as multiple different VR stations. It was really great being able to see the younger generations experiencing the games I remember from my childhood or even from before my time and appreciating just how far games have come.
The event was centered around three special guests and voice actresses from the gaming industry who were available for print signings, pictures, and Q&A about their incredible careers. There were appearances from Melissa Hutchison who voiced Clementine in the Telltale Walking Dead games, Cissy Jones, a BAFTA award winner for her role in Firewatch as well as making appearances in video games such as Life is Strange and Destiney 2, and last but certainly not least, Courtenay Taylor who is known for her award-winning work as the female player in Fallout 4 as well as having parts in American Dad, Mass Effect 3, and my personal favorite video game of all time, Knights of the Old Republic where she voiced Juhani.
After talking to several of the organizers I was informed that this event will be an annual occurrence for the area and after the great turn out this year, the next one will be on an even larger scale. So, if you missed out this time around, don’t worry because R2V2 will be visiting us again in the near future. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for next time and am really looking forward to attending next years convention.
