An evening at EVO 2008.
Yesterday was day two of the EVO Championship Series, a yearly fighting game tournament hosted here in Las Vegas. While I wasn’t a competitor (I’m a solidly average 2D fighter player), I dropped by for several hours to take in the scene, see the new games, and to watch the midnight screening of Bang the Machine, a documentary following the participants of a Street Fighter series tournament, all vying for a spot on the team that would be traveling to Japan and representing the United States in further matches.
So, the new games.
Capcom had delivered ten head-to-head Viewlix cabinets for the event, arranged in an outward facing circle near the center of the BYOC (Bring Your Own Console) play area. Eight of the cabinets were running Street Fighter IV, and the final two were builds of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, a game I hadn’t seen much of prior to last night but ultimately my favorite of the bunch. Additionally, an Xbox 360 kiosk was running Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and I’d heard that Arc was on hand the day before with BlazBlue, although it was unfortunately gone by the time I arrived.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is looking great. Something like the fighting game version of Super Robot Wars, the game pits characters from various Capcom properties against Tatsunoko Production’s lineup. So far, less than a dozen of the playable characters have been revealed, but the character select screen seemed to be built for a whole lot more. Assuming licensing talks go well (the reason there’s never been a US release of the Super Robot Wars games), it could be quite the collection. I hope Mospeada, Southern Cross, or any of the other Robotech licenses are represented.
Pictures and video after the jump!
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link love 07-04-08
Today’s the day we celebrate our independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Take that, redcoats. For the locals, it’s also First Friday!
Too many games? Michael Zenke thinks so, Sean Hollister disagrees.
Neat, a NES in a NES cartridge. [via MAKE]
Can you believe that Anarchy Online has been around for seven years? To celebrate the longevity, Konami and FunCom have released a retrospective vid.
Filed under MLP, las vegas, video games | Comment (0)Them!
The last time I saw Them! was over 20 years ago, so heading into this I wasn’t expecting much more than 50’s camp. But after last night, I’ve gotta admit: for a movie about giant ants invading LA, Them! was surprisingly solid.
Setup, just beyond the Fremont Street Experience on 3rd Street. Behind the first cluster of chairs were a handful of Cadillacs, followed by more chairs, Red Bull cars and free refreshments. Not really a drive-in at all, but still fun.
Attendance was great and all the seats were full. It attracted quite a bit of attention; people would wander over from Fremont and watch the movie from the sidelines for a few minutes at a time until shooed away by security guards.
Here’s hoping that the show was enough of a success to carry the idea beyond Cinevegas. I’d love to see them continue this monthly, either here or better yet, in collaboration with the Las Vegas Drive-In.
Filed under las vegas, movies | Comment (0)See Them! tonight on Fremont St
For the Vegas locals out there, don’t forget that tonight is the Cinevegas screening of 1954’s colossal killer ant classic, Them!.
Join me at the mock drive-in, set up just off the Fremont St Experience. The Neonopolis garage is probably the best place to park for the night.
Fremont St and 3rd St
9:00 PM tonight
Tickets are on sale at the Cinevegas Box Office at the Palms, and the screening is expected to sell out. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get these tickets online, but there will be shuttle service from the Palms to the screening location.
Filed under las vegas, movies, uncategorized | Comment (0)Video Games Live Las Vegas.
The show opened with the video of “Yuri the only one for me” by the Leetstreet Boys. This, friend reader, is one hell of a nerdy song.
The Las Vegas stop was held at the Henderson Pavilion, a somewhat intimate outdoor amphitheater with seating for 2500. The Las Vegas Philharmonic accompanied Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, giving an extraordinary performance all evening (and playing through some not-quite-extraordinary sound mixing), and pianist Martin Leung was amazing as usual. Vocal artist Dee Baker was also onstage for a segment, performing his staggering Berserker routine.
For me, the highlight of the evening was Frank Klepacki’s performance of his C&C classic “Hell March.” Great tune, and timely with the upcoming releases. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it as well, and I hope they bring him back to do more next year. I’d love to see “Divine Intervention” live.
The Las Vegas Philharmonic warms up.
Frank Klepacki rocks the stage during a Vegas-only performance of “Hell March.”
Aside from the VGL touring regulars, special guests for the meet & greet were the local folks, Westwood alumni and Petroglyph staff, and they stuck around for another hour or so after the concert to sign autographs and say hello to the fans.
Filed under las vegas, music, video games | Comment (0)Ich Liebe Comics
So the TMNT action figure bit in my last post has led to a hunt to see what back issues are going for (fairly cheap, if you don’t insist on 1st printings), if there were ever any trades released of the original Mirage issues (there were, and they are long out of print), and what the online comic book industry looks like these days. Everything in life is a potential rabbit hole to be lost in, for me.
Comics are one of the rare things I tend to always buy in person, and that’s mostly thanks to Ralph Mathieu, progenitor of Alternate Reality Comics, a shop I’ve been visiting off and on since the mid ’90s. I’ll drop by once every few months, he recommends a book or two, and off I go. Ralph reads pretty much everything and has a great eye for quality, so his recommendations tend to be pretty much spot on.
I just discovered that Ralph has a blog, an outlet where he can now share his comic book wisdom with the whole of the world. Go read through the archives, and find yourself a new gem or two.
Filed under comics, las vegas | Comment (1)link love 06-11-08
On photographing your anime and game figures. [via tomopop]
And somewhat related, taking better photos for etsy and ebay.
Also somewhat related, I’m sold on the NECA release of action figures based on the original Mirage Studios version of the turtles. My dilemma is deciding whether I want the current release or if I should wait for the black & white series 2 coming later this year.
Not counting the brief performance at the Spike VGAs, Video Games Live finally makes its way to Las Vegas this weekend. VGL is a great show, and someone we know well may be making a surprise guest appearance. Need tickets? Here’s a set on ebay going for cheap.
Update: They’ve posted the news, get ready to see Hell March live!
And finally, that didn’t take long.
Filed under MLP, comics, crap I buy, las vegas, music, video games | Comment (0)link love 05-23-08
Computer Space sells for $10,000
One of the top five cabinet designs of all time.
China’s MMOs go dark for three days of mourning.
I can’t wait to play Infinite Line. More here and here. Also, the new trailer for the unrelated Infinite Undiscovery.
In local news, tickets are now on sale for individual showings during Cinevegas. No I must see this films for me this year, but I’m sure the outdoor screening of Them will be a blast.
New additions to the regular readlist: Games Journalism or Bust!, Sexy Videogameland, & chewing pixels.
Filed under MLP, las vegas, video games | Comment (0)Better late than never - MarioKart Tour
Okay, last batch of photos from the events that already happened and aren’t really news anymore pile.
The ongoing Mario Kart Wii Driving School Tour made a stop in Las Vegas last month, and as video game related events are a somewhat rare local occurrence, we thought it’d be fun to go check things out.
I met up with Josh and his son Corbin, and the three of us drove downtown to the Fremont Street Experience, where the Nintendo crew had set up for the day.
The rest of the goods, after the jump.
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Better late than never - 2008 ASI
On the weekend of March 29th, Adam and I spent a day at the Amusement Showcase International, a coin-up vendors’ convention held here in Las Vegas. While Street Fighter IV, the primary reason for our attendance, wasn’t anywhere to be seen, we did come across a pleasant surprise or two.
Adam’s much more timely account of the event can be found on his site, and my own assortment of ASI photos, a month after any of this may have possibly been news, after the cut.
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