Unfortunately I know I'm going to be fairly busy with work stuff, but I'm really looking forward to meeting a bunch of you and checking out the wares! 

I'm a RISK 2210 junkie, so hope there'll be another tournament this year.  Last year I made it in to the 1/4finals, but had to skip out on them to attend the ENnies (/me pouts).  This year I want to check out some of the newer up and coming stuff.  I was really lucky to have received copies of Burning Wheel and Capes (and a bunch of fabulous material) for my involvement as business manager, and have been really impressed with the production quality of BW and innovative rules of Capes, and can't wait to meet the guys behind the product!  I also want to check out the DJ Awards.

So what are you looking forward to doing at Gen Con?  Any must-see events? 

Are there any kid-friendly games going to be onhand?  I've got a 14yo and a 10yo who love sitting in on demos, who also happen to have more spending money than I do!

PS-

-Voting for the ENnie Awards ends Monday, August 8th around noon EST for the ENnies.  There are many categories where the difference between gold and silver, or silver and nothing are under 30 votes, so every ballot cast counts!  We've had the best turnout ever (last I heard, somewhere over 3,000 votes cast), thank you.  If you haven't voted yet, you're running out of time!  You don't need to be an ENWorld member either- anyone can vote.
-Voting for the Fans' Choice for Best Publisher ends Monday, August 15th around noon EST.  We've only had a few hundred votes cast for this category, so hope fans will step up and make sure their voice is heard!  Once again, you don't need to be a member to vote.
-The Awards are hovering around $2,000.00 in the red.  Since we don't have a big game organization backing us (Gen Con and ENWorld already provide lots of support, as have our corporate sponsor, DTRPG, but it's not enough), we've started up a fund raising campaign.  I'd be very interested in chatting with Andy or anyone else involved in award ceremonies of this sort to see how they get around some of the hurdles that doing such events present
-The ENnies booth is #E- just outside the Exhibitor Hall, a few booths down from the Klingon Jail.  I hope you'll drop by and check out the nominated products and say hi if you can get away from your booth.
-The ENnies Award Ceremony is Friday, August 19th at the Crowne Plaza's Grand Hall after the Exhbitor Dinner.  We anticipate it taking under two hours if we can convince the winners to limit their speeches to about 1 minute each.  Admission to the event is free with your Gen Con Indy badge.  There is a cash bar.  General admission seating will be at the back, the nominated publishers (or at least those who RSVP'd) and their guests will be seated at tables at the front (so we don't waste too much time waiting for winners to walk the length of the hall).  At the moment we've got over 60 game designers confirmed to attend (and I'm still waiting to hear from another 20 publishers)- this is looking to be a great party!  I hope some Forgers'll come support their nominees: if I can swing it, should I set aside a Forge table?

I will spend some time at the Hasbro booth checking out the HeroScape demos. I don't have any shopping money this year thanks to a poorly timed emergency, so I expect I will have my hands full with the booth and demos. Maybe I'll hit the anime room once or twice.

I am really looking forward to it, last year was great.

Last year I enjoyed the chance of sitting the very first Gen Con demo of HeroScape with the designer.  Basically, it was explained that the concept was to use it as a gateway drug of games.
The kids and I liked it a lot, but not so much that we rushed out to buy it right away- we managed to hold off about 6 months before caving.  We just don't have a big enough home to have room for tabletop mini games- although this one the terrain is pretty easy to tear down and put away.

*chuckle*

I bought my first at the con, despite the jacked up price. I've spent in toto about 400$ so far and will probably blow another hundo at the con.

I'm sick, I know.

But HS is doing a lot of things right that other games have not, and I actually enjoy playing it, so I figure it's worth it.

If you live in the Chicagoland area, feel free to tap me for a game some time ^_^

We now return this threat to it's regularly scheduled purpose.