Just seen this...
http://forums.delphiforums.com/THERF...es/?msg=7716.1
Real shame. I always fancied a trip robogames.
Printable View
Just seen this...
http://forums.delphiforums.com/THERF...es/?msg=7716.1
Real shame. I always fancied a trip robogames.
My goal was to attend Robogames in 2014. I can't believe it had to end this year :(
You have to ask: why?
Probably Plotniki Suing Em.
It's sad when the show like this stops, perhaps it would be good to learn as much as we can as to the reason why, and take steps to avoid the same thing happening here.
If it is politics and money, it is hard not to have divisions. perhaps we should look to what unites us rather than could divide.
Considering Jonno is now utilising the name, you'd have thought they'd be smart enough to avoid the brand Damage. Then America - Sue first ask questions later.Quote:
Originally Posted by swanaldo
It's a shame that it should come to this.Quote:
Originally Posted by JudgeDave
Happy Retirement Judge Dave. We should probably get you a small very beaten up carriage clock. I hope you enjoy the future robot combat events as a spectator without the stress of having to tun it. Oh & don't be a stranger. Keep in touch.
I have no idea why they are not carrying on, although Jonno using the Robot Wars name wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to if others would get sued for using it. Jonno isn't Robot Wars, he's a franchise. However there will be some other reason why this is the end for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by psychostorm
It wouldn't suprise me if someone else bought the arena cheap and put on something similar, albeit on a smaller scale.
Heavyweight spinner arena Grant? :)
Squeeze a bit more space at gadget show live? :P
Wow that's really crap. Wish we could find out why it came about?
Don't they run 2 events with that arena? One as part of a big expo and then another in the winter?
probably just Financially unviableQuote:
Originally Posted by swanaldo
Personally my money's on a change in personal circumstances.
I wish we could buy the arena and run HW full combat Gary. It costs us thousands to put the event on at Gadget Show Live, and our budgets couldn't stretch to buying a HW arena, shipping it over and running it! Must take a fair few lorries to haul it around....
I saw a picture of it in it's transit state, takes up an artic lorry (18 wheeler type) just for the arena, never mind any PA or sound equip.
Real shame. Pretty big blow to things, Robogames/Combots being the big-gun events in this sport. Hopefully something can slot into their place. The arena can't just disappear, unless scrapped for parts, so there's a shimmer of hope that it'll resurface in time.
Definitive answer, simply taking too much time and money, not seeing a return - I heard about this a few weeks ago, but was only just announced.
The arena takes considerable time to build btw, it takes days (literally) to set the thing up, it's a by-product of the robots that fight in them (full on heavy spinners), because we have taken a step back from all-out combat the shows are more frequent, meaning more revenue and the arenas lighter-weight so less venue/crew costs in setting them up and taking them down. One reason that we did that with XFM was around ensuring we can run frequent profitable shows.
Sadly that's not what a one-off event once a year like RoboGames had become and it was taking it's toll.
I can assure people it's not Plotniki doing anything, and it will certainly be interesting to see if anything fills the void, it's like Robots Live and Robot Roaming Wars both giving up at the same time......
Very sad for our US friends
Ed
That is exactly why we don't have many DRG heavyweight events in Europe either, the cost of setup alone is higher than whatever we get back from it. Our arena is 2 lorries full of material and takes days with the aid of a forklift to be put in place.Quote:
Originally Posted by teamstorm
Very sad indeed, and I want to thank the RoboGames organisation for doing an excellent job for all those years. Their events have given us much entertainment over the years with many awesome and brutal fights.Quote:
Very sad for our US friends
Ed
Feathers are the future of this hobby
Here you there. What ever happened to BWs?Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon_driver
No arena and the initial interest seems to have died off
If Kenny had bought the arena to events then the interest would have maintained and grown. I dare say Ants have become more popular since my arena was a regular feature.
I do agree with Gary that feathers are the future :)
A quick question about HW spinner arenas; what ever happed to 'The Vault' ? Only arena I have heard of in the UK that could demo Typhoon and Hypno disc..
Oh dear, should I get into the Featherweight v Heavyweight, and what people pay to see................................NO:proud:Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon_driver
FW is already the future :) power to weight ratio is incredible and they dont require so much space to run. People invest into the FW competition every year :)
Real shame to hear about Robo Games
Ah but the downside being are feathers profitable?Quote:
Originally Posted by james...venom
I believe part of our entry fee goes towards putting up the Robochallenge arena. Robochallenge pay the ground rent & people get in free. There's nothing there to suggest it would work as a paid event, particularly with the smaller numbers of audience & touring logistics.
Feather's can and have been very profitable, It all depends on what you want to do with events. For us, full combat isn't the sort of thing that you can host every month like you can when putting on a "show" because the robots getting broken too much. The work and time involved in selling tickets and advertising for an event is massive, and even with selling out we didn't feel it was worth our while. Feather's will sell tickets as much as heavies if done properly, but that's not what we as a company want to do.
We put on the competitions now to attract people to our brand and put on a spectacle, which is why we spend alot of time and money to put an event on at the Gadget Show Live.
The "vault" arena that BTP built I believe was bought by Roaming Robots. From what I understand they used the polycarb and weighed in the rest of the arena. Again, a similar situation where the arena was so heavy it required a huge amount of time and effort to set up.
Sad news about robogames, credit to any EO who manages to keep going and moving forward- we really are lucky here in the UK...
Are there any photos of this "Vault" anywhere?
Feathers do very well if they are run on their own. When you mix it up with heavy competitions Feathers get lost in the vast space of the heavyweight arena. What also happens at heavyweight events is just chucking all the feathers in one round, and that makes the fight confusing and the audience doesn't get to pick a favorite. The way feathers are run on DRG events, Robochallenge events and I assume in the past XFM events are just as entertaining as heavy events are. As long as you scale everything, not just the robots.
The vault was an arena for Robot Crusade I believe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYIg8sQaAjM
Indeed as Leo says you have to scale everything
The bottom line though is that the Feather events just don't make the money that the heavy events make, you can't get as many people around the arena, and the tickets just don't command so much money. So if people want to run the events for fun as opposed to make a living out of it, feathers are the way to go, but to make a living out of it the feather events just don't cut it. Also remember we have one (at most 2) full combat feather events a year at the moment ..... would people still invest as much if they were attending 10 a year and getting the cr*p kicked out of them ?.... XFM's experience tells us that people wouldn't.
At the moment I think we have a good balance, the feather events are in-frequent enough for people to invest heavily and produce some great machines. The heavy events are there providing the funding for a few individuals to make a living out of this which is great.
The wise person realises that diversification is the answer to survival in almost any situation, to say 'the future is in feathers' or 'the future is in heavies' might mean that's where you see your future, but to see it as black or white isn't the answer.
Anyway - let's not get dragged off topic, this is about the sad situation in the US, not about re-igniting the same ground-hog day debate about feathers vs heavies.
Ed
If I might make the observation, assuming that James Cameron and Mark Burnett's Robogeddon has not fallen through, the minute that series airs in the United States the entire sport will have a massive "shot in the arm," as they say.
It is quite a pity that Robogames didn't last long enough to see it, though.
As far as I'm aware that isn't going ahead - however there's not alot of info about.
Well, that would be rather dreadful if it's true. If I may ask, what makes you think it's been cancelled?Quote:
Originally Posted by grant_ploughbot
(And if it was cancelled, then what was that mysterious request for heavyweight robot information about a month back all about? I had figured that was laying groundwork for Robogeddon without getting them flooded for their first season...)
Just because I know a number of the people who were contacted directly about it all, and since the early talks about it all everything has gone silent. There's a couple of other reasons to imply it too but I hope not!
Are there any other events in the US for heavies or even feathers to attend anymore?
There's a good number of events for featherweight robots, though mostly in the eastern US.
Well, I really hope you're wrong, and it's just a production delay.Quote:
Originally Posted by grant_ploughbot
That said, I guess the big question is whether or not somebody picks up the slack in the U.S. The British model does seem to work and be economical (although at the price of losing the heavyweight spinners), so I wonder if a transplant of the model would be effective...
The lack of spinners has more to do with Health & Safety and insurance rather than a policy. There's no guarantee America would be under identical rules.Quote:
Originally Posted by Garwulf
If USA could have spinners, you might be able to get away with less powerful spinners for tours.
That having been said a touring format is something Americans could consider.
I attended Robogames this year and have attended in the past. Dave has stopped running it because it was taking up too much of his life. He and his wife Simone are key to it and they have 3 year old daughter. It's not just the 2 weeks surrounding the event, it is the other 50 weeks of work to keep it going as well. Dave told me that he is trying to sell the arena to someone who will carry on so perhaps it will resurface in a different form.
Any idea on the amount ?
............No........