EVO Roadtrip Day 2 - Chicago, IL

Day 2 of my country spanning trip to Las Vegas and Evo 2011 was, in many ways, the true beginning of my journey. Sure, driving from New York to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh is a pretty substantial amount of travel but due to planned stops for sight-seeing, food and gaming, I never had to really buckle down and go into all out "road trip mode". But my route from Pittsburgh to Chicago was far less meandering. No famous restaurants, no arcade stop-overs just 8+ hours of driving interrupted only by a quick refuel. Day 1 felt like something of a field trip. Day 2 was going to feel like a sojourn.

And so it did. I had pulled out of the hotel parking lot in Pittsburgh at around a quarter to ten and by the time I was standing in the next hotel parking lot in Chicago it was a quarter to seven. Aside from a delicious breakfast pastry I scored from the Potomac Bakery in Pittsburgh before departing, I had only had water, some nori waffers and a granola bar to eat and I was starting to feel like it. After checking in to my hotel room, I literally dropped my bags just inside the door and hopped right back in my Jeep to go find sustenance at a place called The Honkey Tonk BBQ. Their Memphis styled barbecue fare was exactly what I needed after 9 hours of nothing but driving and snacking.

After a much needed dinner of beef brisket chili and ribs had been washed down with a few glasses of whiskey, I was finally ready to get down to business. After hearing that it had one of the largest cabinet collections in North America, I could hardly wait to get a look at Galloping Ghost Arcade (GGA) in the neighboring town of Brookfield, IL.

While I did have an awesome experience at University Pinball, I had been surprised by how small it was compared to the arcades I had frequented growing up. The four linked AE cabs were the most impressive setup of their kind that I had ever seen in person but the rest of their collection, while wonderfully kept up, wasn't really my particular cup of boba. Certainly if you love pinball, shooting and racing games, University Pinball has higher quality cabs than say a Tilt or Dave and Busters or any other chain amusement center for that matter. But I was in search of a true arcade Shangri-La where I could relive the halcyon days of the American arcade as remembered from my youth.

I feel the need to tell you right now, that if you crave the same, stop reading this, hop in a plane/train/teleportation device and get to 9415 Ogden Avenue in Brookfield, IL to see what you have been missing.

Welcome home.

Walking in the front door of Galloping Ghost Arcade, the place doesn't so much welcome you as it consumes you. A black tile walkway leads you straight to the concession/merchandise counter. The railways flanking the walkway are clearly there to ensure people go to the counter first before losing themselves in the wild forest of 80's and 90's arcade cabinets that dominate the rather substantial floor space of GGA.

Railways, barricades or no, I did not require restraining. All I could manage to do was stand there, slack-jawed, just inside the entrance as sights and sounds I had not experienced in nearly two decades flooded my eyes and ears.

"Hi, have you come in before?"

I avert my gaze from the sea of cabinets and back to the counter, where a tallish young man stands, smiling.

"Uhh, umm, no." I sputtered back.

"Ok, well it's fifteen dollars and then you just play as much as you like until we close which is usually around 2am."

My name is Vincent Lorenzo Ingenito and I am 8. I have just been informed that apparently, I have won an unlimited amount of chocolate ice cream which will never make me feel full or make me fat. I can eat as much as I like for the next 5 hours. Then I will die from happiness. The End.

I couldn't give the nice man my $15 fast enough. Until this moment, the last time I had seen a Shinobi cab like the one now staring at me from just a short distance from the counter, I was begging my father for quarters after tearing through the $5 he had already given me (yes, I was terrible at the game, sue me! I was 9. Jerk.) This was like Dad dropping me off at the arcade with an AMEX black card (which is clearly accepted at arcades) and saying he'd be back by the end of the day.

But before I submerged myself in all that golden-age goodness, likely never to resurface, I decided to check out what was on the OTHER side of the walkway, a smaller area with a row of homemade cabinets housing all of today's most popular modern fighters. While many home built setups like these tend to look really...well...home built, these jobs were really snazzy looking. Sharp, game relevant artwork and title cards adorned many of them, and all of them featured very solid construction and pitch perfect sticks.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, BlazBlue: CS, MvC3 and Tekken 6 were all present and lined up in addition to two really nice looking MK9 cabinets and the (hopefully) soon to be smash hit, King of Fighters XIII. Oddly, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition was mixed in with all the legacy SF games a bit deeper into the arcade proper. This seemed odd at first, but looking at the small group of people huddled around the MK9 machines, it started to make sense. While 6 or 7 people huddled around the two cabinets waiting to get some casuals in, not a soul was at any of the other cabs.

This kind of thing happens of course. Different communities latch on to different games for a multitude of different reasons. It was just surprising to see the FGC's red-headed stepchild getting all the love while the rest of the kids get no one to play with and Street Fighter, usually the class president, gets asked to stand in the corner. Curious, I decide to approach the MK9 cab for a closer look.

I'm only there a minute before I am reminded how much I love watching people play fighting games. The ebb and flow of a good match is part of it and that is something you can get from watching streams and YouTube vids. But being there, in the presence of the competitors, hearing the button slaps, watching their expressions, seeing the urgency, intensity, finesse and dexterity of their hands across the sticks and buttons and feeling the energy between them and the small crowd of spectators watching them is very powerful for me. I believe that, in it's purest form, it becomes about mastering oneself to master the mind of another. This mixture of inner and outer conflict results in a level of mental engagement that is totally unique, both in the gaming world and even in the world beyond gaming. It's one of the best reasons for arcades to exist.

Oh that, and because playing games face to face with friends is just a damn good time.

Here is a little footage that I think illustrates a lot of these points nicely. It isn't the highest level play, nor is it the most intense example of what I am speaking about but all the elements that make playing and watching fighting games in person something special are here:

A tale of souls and sticks, eternally retold.....

The rest of my evening at GGA is something of a blur. Maybe it was all the whiskey or maybe it was the warm, fuzzy glow of nostalgia that creeps into your belly once you start walking the endless rows of classic arcade cabinets. One thing that really stuck out, was that even though I messed around on 20 or more different cabinets, I never had to contend with a broken button or a bum stick. Upon talking to the gentleman at the counter again, I discovered why: they take maintenance extremely seriously at GGA.

The owner of the place, whom was referred to by patrons and employees alike as "The Professor" (repeated attempts at getting an actual name were thwarted, not even kidding) was fully trained in cabinet maintenance and he also trained 2 other employees with his knowledge. According to the man at the counter they replace the sticks on the most popular games every 6 weeks, whether they are broken or not, to keep them in perfect working order. Even now as I was playing at 1 in the morning, a maintenance man was working on an NBA Jam cabinet in the corner. Further inspection of the facility revealed a large workshop in the back where tons of cabinets sat, in various stages of assembly, with parts and tools strewn everywhere. This is an approach I wish more arcades would take but sadly, few can afford to.

Before I left, I decided to take another stroll through GGA's extensive old fighting game section. As I did, I found many fond memories returning, not so much about the games themselves as the times in my life they marked and the relationships I formed while playing them.

Killer Instinct wasn't a great game per se, but I will never forget meeting my first real girlfriend at an ice skating rink I used to frequent to play it. That same girl would later stand by me in arcades and brag to her friends about how good she thought I was at Mortal Kombat 3. Not a small thing to a guy who, to that point in his life, had never felt terribly brag-worthy.

Around that same time I met a boy from my neighborhood who liked fighting games too. We were really into Marvel Super Heroes at the time. We would walk a couple of miles to our local arcade instead of spending money on a taxi or a bus so we could have that many more quarters to play with when we got there. We spent a whole summer doing that together. He ended up being the best man at my wedding and to this day, one of my very dearest friends. It all started with Maximum Spiders, Weapon X's and Magnetic Shockwaves.

As I finished my trip down memory lane, it was approaching 2 am and the other arcade I had hoped to visit was certainly closed. After leaving GGA behind, I decided to at least locate the other place and maybe check it out in the morning before hitting the road to St. Louis. The name of the place was Black Hole Arcade Pizzeria and from the pics on the web, it looked a lot like the arcade I haunted when I was a kid, which was why I wanted to see it.

Upon reaching the address I was having trouble finding it. I figured, "It's late, I'm still a bit tipsy, I'm probably just missing it." It took three trips around the block for the cold reality to sink in. Like so many other arcades in our country, Black Hole was no more. At some point, kids like the kid I used to be dragged their Dads there and met girlfriends there and made friends there, but the realities of the modern gaming scene and the economy proved too harsh to weather. For every story like Galloping Ghost or University Pinball there are ten Blackholes, Arcade Infinities and Chinatown Fairs. I knew all of this of course. Chalk it up to too much whiskey, or the nostalgia of GGA or the memories of my childhood arcade, but I found myself just a little choked up as I drove back to my hotel.

These places we still have are truly magical, but if we don't support them, they can only last for so long. If you take anything away from my story, let it be this: if you love games and you love the way gaming can bring people together, find a local arcade, spend some time and money there and tell ten of your friends to do the same. The day we stop doing that is the day the magic dies.

EVO Roadtrip Day 1 - Philadelphia, PA

"Welcome to University City" reads an overhang, as the first stop on my roadtrip draws near. It occurs to me that I have only the vaguest memories of Philadelphia, as the last time I visited I was on a day trip with my elementary school. What I definitely didn't remember was it being so CLEAN. Some older Philly residents might be quick to correct my use of the word "clean" and opt for "sterile" or "Pennified" due to the urban renewal initiatives led by the University of Pennsylvania, which calls the neighborhood home. But as an outsider, my shoulder is chip-free. From where I stand, University City looks like the best parts of Brooklyn: diverse and urban enough to have verve, but clean and quiet enough to seem sophisticated, at least at 3 in the afternoon when I showed up.

I park my Jeep on Pine Street and start walking towards South 40th. The architecture on Pine really jumps out at me for some reason. The buildings have a sort of classical charm to them that I didn't expect to find in this part of town. But I didn't come to University City for the atmosphere. Shortly after I round the corner of Spruce and South 40th, I see exactly what I came to see: the three mischievious yellow smiley faces outside the University Pinball Family Fun Center, home to some of Philly's finest Street Fighter and Marvel players.


I step inside to a familiar sight: a barred off counter, behind which a man sits, surrounded by the kinds of stuffed animals and knick knacks that seem very desirable to the 7 year old in all of us. It looks like a jail cell for escaped refugees from the Island of Misfit Toys. These furry felons are doing back to back life sentences, and the only thing that can free them is your Skee-Ball tickets. Sadly, I have neither the skills for, nor inclination towards ticket games. Sorry "big blue bat thingy", you're staying stuck in the slammer.

What I do have the inclination for, however, is some fighting games and University Pinball does not disappoint here. While UP has a great selection of fun arcadey distractions (including a row of beautifully kept up pinball tables and gun games), the highlight for many will be the fighting game quarter. There you can find, among other things, a homemade Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sit down cabinet, an old Marvel vs. Capcom 2 cab and UP's crown jewel: a row of 4 genuine, linked Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition sit down cabs.

"What do you mean 'You don't play Skee-Ball'?"

I take a seat at the only open AE cabinet. My competition consists of two young men who seem to be old hat at fighting games, and a little 8 year old girl messing around in beginner mode to keep from getting matched up with the big boys. Humorously, every now and again she would opt for arcade mode and end up in a match against one of them. There was actually something sweet about watching two hardened veterans go from being locked in a tense struggle to awkwardly trying to play in such a way that the little girl could at least have fun. That's the kind of inclusiveness that will keep the FGC strong year after year and it was nice to see it in a place where one could easily imagine (and possibly understand) the veterans getting pissy about casual players interfering with their session.

I put a stack of quarters (yes quarters) on the cabinet surface and plopped 2 in the machine. I felt my stomach tighten. This was the first time I had had this feeling since my teen years (read: forever ago). I've competed in tournaments and on line, and of course, against friends but none of that is the same. When you come in off the street into an arcade you have never been to, you are on someone's turf. And no one, especially not the proud warriors at University Pinball, wants to lose on their turf.

The games had begun. I run Dudley, usually with Ultra 1. Both of my opponents were running shotos, one Ken, one Ryu. I don't care what the tier lists say, I love fighting shotos with Dudley. Stuff those tatsus with stand or crouch fierce, bait out DP's after knockdowns for free combos, Ultra 1 fireballs or blocked sweeps on reaction...I love it. I took my first 3 or 4 matches against them, but then things got serious when the Ken player pulled an Inigo Montoya on me.

Him: I admit it, you are better than I am.
Me: Then why are you smiling?
Him: Because I know something you don't know.
Me: And what is that?
Him: I...am not a Ken player.

And out comes his Akuma.

This is a match I feel very comfy in as well, since I have a friend back home who mains Akuma. But I wasn't quite ready for THIS Akuma. I managed a round here and there but it was pretty one sided. Our third match came down to the last round with both of us at 1/3 life, ultras loaded. I was spacing and stalking for a fireball to U1 but he was wise to my game. He threw out a fireball and FADC'd backwards. I let the Rolling Thunder rip as soon as I saw the purple of the fireball. His backdash put him just out of reach for me. Then he demon'd and that was it. One second I was smiling because I thought I caught him, next second I'm looking at a screen full of Akuma's back.

"That only works if your opponent has not studied option select techs.....which I have!"

We both smiled and acknowledged one another. Then he got up, patted me on the back and left me to simmer in my defeat. Now it was just me and the little girl. I have to give her credit, she never stopped trying. After a couple of matches I felt bad though and decided it was time to hit the road. I left the remainder of my quarters on her cabinet. "Thank you, thank you!!" she squealed, as her grandmother in the corner smiled at me.

Before I left I had a chat with the warden of the plushy prison. He seemed to do it all: maintenance, janitor, ticket redemption. I asked him about business and he said things have been going well, thanks in large part to the community of players who come through to do tournaments like Eric and WorstPlayer from the Shoryuken.com boards. The other major factor, he said, was that the owner of University Pinball owns the building as opposed to leasing it from someone. As he said that I couldn't help but think of the loss of Arcade Infinity and Chinatown Fair earlier this year due to lease disputes. It's a real comfort to know University Pinball won't be suffering the same grisly fate any time soon.

After finally leaving UP I took a short 15 minute drive to Philly's famous cheesesteak corner on South 9th. Like the tourist I was, I got a cheesesteak with onions and cheesewiz from both Geno's and Pat's. Every bit as good as the hype I must say. As I climbed back in my Jeep with a stomach full of South Philly's finest meat, I thought about the spirited 8 year old girl at UP and whether she knows how lucky she is.

I hope she knows to cherish her time at a place as special as University Pinball, because like many children who grew up in arcades during the 80's and 90's she may drive by it one day to see that it's doors have shut. It's a sad thought, but one I can't help but have after seeing my local haunt in Rockland County, NY get unceremoniously replaced by a mattress store. But having now visited University Pinball myself, I have hope. With luck, it will survive long enough for that 8 year old girl to come back one day as an 80 year old woman, with grandchildren of her own to come fight the good fight, play skee-ball and help some of those stuffed critters get out from behind bars once and for all, to get a sweet taste of freedom.

EVO Roadtrip: Crossing the Land of the Free in Search of Good Fights and Good Food

It has been a long week. At the time of this writing, I sit in a nicely air conditioned hotel room in Las Vegas, NV. Eight days ago, I was pulling out of the driveway of a beautiful house in the suburb of South Salem, NY, my parents already looking tiny in my rearview mirror as they waved goodbye to me from the bottom of the hill. They do not know when they are going to see me again, and neither do I.

I am moving, you see. The Lake Merced area of San Francisco, CA is going to be where I lay my head. But as a rabid fighting game fan since the days of Yie Ar Kung Fu, this nearly 3,000 mile sojourn holds a promise of something equally exciting to me, if not more so, than a fresh start at life on a different coast: the opportunity to attend my very first EVO World Championship. Spectating and playing in the grand daddy of all fighting game tournaments, against the highest echelon of players from across the country, and the globe, has long been a dream of mine and in just 3 more days, that dream will become a reality.

The road has been very long, but equally fruitful. In the last 8 days I have stopped in 12 different cities in almost as many states in search of arcades, independant game stores, gamer meet-ups and great local eateries. I can honestly say that I found at least one reason to come back to each and every city I visited. Our country, I have discovered, is full of beauty and is not lacking for good people, good food or good gaming scenes. I ate well, laughed often, bodied some people, got bodied by even more people and even managed to make some new friends along the way. Now I am going to share all of it with you fine folks, day by glorious day.

It HAS been a long week. But it's been a righteously kick ass one too. I hope you all will enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it! Check back daily for more!

Next up: Day 1 - Philadelphia and Pittsburgh

Now It's 1984. Knock, Knock At Your Front Door.....

I know that after this weeks watershed ruling by the Supreme Court, we are in a celebratory mood about how the government percieves and treats our community, but we are far from out of the woods folks.

Enter: bill S.978 aka the "Ten Strikes" bill. Should this bill be passed (and apparently it has a good chance to) acts such as uploading a video of you playing a game to YouTube, streaming a video game tournament, or just posting a video of yourself lip syncing to Lady Gaga will be punishable by IMPRISONMENT! What's more, the bill is so broad that with a evil good enough lawyer, a copyright holder could put people in jail for a dizzying array of completely innocuous actions involving their copyrighted work.

I could write volumes on why this bill is such a gross overreach, and how it could effect gamer and internet culture, but someone already did. David "UltraDavid" Graham is an entertainment copyright lawyer by day and a valued member of the competetive fighting game scene by night, participating in community events, casting tournament matches and writing pieces for www.Shoryuken.com.

If you have, the time, give the whole thing a read. If you don't, scroll down to the bottom for the TL;DR version and click the link to "Demand Progress". By filling in your name and email address there, a letter will be sent on your behalf to your law makers to oppose this bill. Go do it before the suede/denim secret police come for your uncool niece!

The Long Road to EVO

Hey all! Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what I have cooking because I am really excited about it. In around 3 weeks I am packing up everything I have and driving cross country to a new life in San Francisco. But, OBVIOUSLY, no road trip west in July would be complete without attending EVO 2011 so I will be making a stop in Las Vegas. On the way there though, I plan on taking the opportunity to visit as many local arcades as I can in the cities I stop in. As I make my way across the country to my first EVO World Championship ever (to get blown the fuck up in spectacular fashion) I will be blogging about the arcades I visit and the degree to which they reflect the state of arcade culture in America. It should be a lot of fun to write and I will make it as fun to read as I can too. So stick around people! It's gonna be a long road to EVO and I am bringing all of you along!

The Blow Up: A Scrub's Eye View of East Coast Throwdown 3

It's about 4 in the afternoon and I've just gotten my pool assignment. By this time, I've been on my feet since 9am, shouldering a laptop bag, and the two MadCatz Fightpads, the comics and the Nintendo 3DS within it are getting heavier by the minute. My new tourney pal, Rob, suggests we take a load off in the lobby of the hotel, the monolithic Hyatt Morristown in Morristown, New Jersey and the site of East Coast Throwdown 3.

As we slide through the sea of people who have converged on the hotel's Terrace Ballroom, I see Mike Z looking on stoicly as wave after wave of new players crowd around the monitors he has set up to demo his upcoming 2-D brawler, Skullgirls. Say what you will about Mr. Zaimont's persona, he has a lot to be proud of. In a room full of enthusiasts and pro players, more people seemed more excited about Skullgirls than Street Fighter X Tekken which was being demoed at the same table by Seth Killian himself. While I won't name names, more than one pro player I spoke with thought SFXT was even scrubbier than MvC3 (apparently that's possible).

Mike Z staying hungry while players devour the latest build of Skullgirls

Much like it did at PAX East, Skullgirls' distinct art style and posh HD sprites washed in full 3-D lighting impresses. I can almost see Mike Z's tourney sharpened mind crunching data as he watches people play. Even though I've been playing fighting games since Karate Champ, I can tell just from his eyes that as he watches people experiment with his game, he is seeing things I could never see. I continue to shuffle through the crowd.

Rob and I get out into the lobby where it immediately seems 10 degrees cooler. I find a table flanked by several cushy lounge chairs and plop down, giving my feet their first break in 7 hours. As I look over my right shoulder to see where I might get a $10 burger 0r a $3 water I spy Tom Brady sitting with a few buddies, just out of ear shot. He seems to be having a much better time than he was some 6 hours prior, when some random guy started getting at him right outside the ballroom. The man was talking all levels of shit at Tom while him and his crew just stood there smiling and shaking there head, the way one does at that one guy in paradise who finds a way to not have a good time. And speaking of paradise.....

My view of Tom Brady and friends is suddenly and pleasingly blocked by a leggy brunette standing about 5 foot 10 with a plucky smile. She looked like she would have been right at home on a runway or a men's magazine, but she was dressed like a business woman. Her name tag gave away that she worked for the hotel. She begins introducing herself and her voice completes the package: she is clearly too attractive to not be tasked with selling something to gamers.

I almost cut her off before she asks Rob and I if we are at the hotel for the tournament. I humor her with a smile and a "yes", and brace myself for the innevitable sales pitch. Instead she asks me what game I registered for. "Marvel", I answer. Her eyes grow wide with a hint of nervousness as she replies, "Oh I can't play that. I like my fighters fast but it's just a bit too fast and random for me."

Ok, I think to myself, she's good. She has learned a little about the "nerds" her manager told her to sell to this weekend. As a former salesman, I can give her some credit for that. But fun time is over, it's time to derail her obviously pre-rehearsed word track. I grin and ask, "So what DO you play?", fully expecting a blank stare or some "clever" deflection. She answers without hesitation, "Guilty Gear Accent Core. I mostly main Jam and May."

Mind. Blown.

After we finish our discussion about the differences between the flow of Guilty Gear and Blazblue, and her theory about how Taokaka might be a tranny, she bids us farewell and saunters off with that extra pop in her hip that reminds you that she is used to men watching her leave. If she was selling something, I never got to hear about it but I sure as hell would have bought a hundred of them. Rob and I cool our heels for a while longer and head back into the tourney.

The Marlin Pie Fan Club

As I re-enter the ballroom, which is now so packed with the 500+ tourney entrants, I spy Chris G at his pool waiting to play. I had run into him earlier and had asked him if he was going to hold it down for the east coast at the East vs West Marvel event at EVO. Unaware that 64 EVO seeding points were 24 hours into his future, he smiled humbly, replying, "I'm gonna try bro, I'm gonna try." I asked him who his teammates were but apparently, NerdJosh still hasn't decided who the rest of the team is going to be. I'm guessing he will make his decisions once he gets back from his extended tour of Cali and that the results from ECT 3 will play a big factor in that process.

I am almost to my pool station when I hear a familiar voice booming over the house mic, "KILL THAT BITCH, KILL HER!!!" followed by an eruption of laughter from the front of the room. I look up and there is L.I. Joe, getting hype on the mic as someone on the stream sends Amaterasu packing in brutal fashion. Joe cheers and smiles at the crowd, affable as always. From all the spring in his step and the contagious energy and enthusiasm he was throwing off, you would never know he was in a motorcycle accident just over a week ago. But clearly it takes more than that to keep "iloveujoe" from helping to run a succesful major tourney, and everyone in attendance was thankful for that, as evidenced by the many people who approached Joe to wish him well on his recovery.

LI Joe being LI Joe

And finally, it came time for me to play, and as it often goes in Marvel, things happened pretty fast and none of those things were good for me. It's hard to put a finger on it, what makes the players at a major so different from the on-line rank and file or the people you happen to play with locally. They play at a speed that, even if you are a dedicated and knowledgable player, is overwhelming to experience and deal with. However fast it seems when you watch from stream-monsterland, it doesn't prepare you for facing it.

Spooky, the high ruler of Stream-monsterland surveying his kingdom

I am a long time fighter junkie and I watched every match vid of MvC3 from pre-release, played it from a week before it came out, stream-monstered it up every chance I got and practiced 4-6 hours per day for a month prior to this tourney in preparation and I still got bodied hard by players who don't even have a name in the community. While they may seem very mortal and approachable as people, they are, quite literally, god-like when you step in the ring with them and I can tell you first hand as a life-long "best on his block" player, no ammount of training mode or sessioning with friends can prepare you for it (unless your friends happen to have "EMP" or "EG" before their names). Unless you want your feelings hurt and your sodium levels at maximum, come to these tournies with the expectation to learn and have fun.

But DEFINITELY COME because it is oh so much fun. It's unlike anything else. I have been to several smaller events like Guard Crush and Battlefield Arcadia but this was my first major and after experiencing it, I am literally counting the days until EVO. The sense of community is so powerful and I don't think there is another competitive community, "e" or otherwise, where the big names are so accessible. You can walk up to Evil Rahsaan and chat about the rumored X-factor and Phoenix nerfs, you can holler at Yipes to get on the house mic to do commentary and you can grill Ian Coffino about when we are finally getting the feature length cut of his documentary I Got Next. You can even meet people who won't call you a pedophile for liking Arcana Heart 3 (no, seriously). And best of all, you can do all of this while leveling up your game and making new friends. Great tournament, great experience indeed!

Portal Pontifications

Portal, as a franchise (which I feel certain I may identify it as, having just completed Portal 2) is a pretty big deal. That realization, that we were experiencing an incredibly significant moment in our industry's evolution, did not dawn on me the first time I traversed a 100 foot wide chasm by walking three steps through a blue portal on one side and out a red one on the other. I'm a bit too old and have seen a few too many promising gameplay mechanics gimmicks to be so quick to call anything "the next big thing".

When a trusted friend of mine would go on extolling the first game's virtues to me as if he were a disciple quoting scripture, I would always argue against him. I only believed in the arguments I made partially. For the most part, I just enjoyed being the devil's advocate. Challenging people's viewpoints often leads to learning and just as often (or even more so) to them being pissed off, both of which are good fun.

Truth be told, I wasn't just playing the role of devil's advocate. I had some issues with the first Portal for sure. No issues that ruined the game for me or kept me from thinking it was one of the most enjoyable games that year, mind you. But I had my gripes. I kept them to myself mostly. There was such a positive and optimistic spirit in the community of gamers that congealed around it and I didn't want to ruin that with what I saw as my own critical over-reactions.

After all, its rare in gaming for a game to come along that everyone seems to love TOGETHER as a unified community, sans all the fanboy, flamewar bullshit that clogs up most popular gaming forums. As the subset of people known as "gamers" continues to diversify, such universally enjoyable works will continue to become more scarce. Who wants to be the guy who walks up to a 12 year old SDCC show goer with a plushie companion cube strapped to their back to tell them you think their favorite game is an overrated tech demo? I sure don't.

The truth is we need more Portals, which is to say we need more out of the blue games from optimistic, passionate newcomers that get financed by forward thinking publishers and end up becoming runaway successes that engender love and enthusiasm in the people who play them. Why rain on the parade when it feels so much better to march along with it?

That sentiment changed for me while attending New York Comic-Con (NYCC) in 2010. I was attending a panel whose purpose was to make a definitive list of the 10 greatest games of all time. The process was interesting. It began with one panelist creating their list. Then the list gets passed along to the next panelist, who could then either swap the positions of two games already on the list, or take a game off the list entirely and replace it with one of their choosing. The games on the list are irrelevant to this post. About halfway through the panel, one of the panelists removed a game from the list and replaced it with Portal and was practically met with a standing ovation from the audience.

I remained seated.

The only other panelist decision met with close to that level of approval by the audience was when a panelist removed a Madden game that had snuck on there and replaced it with Earthbound. I hope that helps paint a clearer picture of just how much this crowd approved of the notion that Portal is in the same echelon as Super Metroid, Tetris and Starcraft. I was truly stunned. Not only was I unable to fathom how someone over the age of 18 could put Portal on a list of the ten greatest games of all time, I was blindsided by how unanimously this opinion was accepted. That is when I realized that Portal was, as it turns out, a pretty big deal.

At this point, despite truly loving Portal, I felt the need to step out of the parade. In a future post I will go into more detail about the grievances I had with Portal. I wanted to see it as the revolutionary game-changer my fellow enthusiasts believed it to be, I really did. I even replayed it to see if my experience with it would change for the better if I understood it's shortcomings going in. To my sincere dismay, it didn't. My feelings about Portal proved impossible to change.

And then I played a little game called Portal 2.

Now, to be clear, I am not ready to put Portal 1 or 2 on my top ten of all time list. I probably never will. But I must admit that playing Portal 2 has totally changed the way I feel about Portal as a whole. It has even cast the original in a fairer light for me, which may sound kind of preposterous, but is true just the same. Not only is Portal 2 a better game than its predecessor, but it completes it in crucial ways by giving it a context that I felt it lacked. My experience with it has left me to ponder many things, ranging from the magic of sound design to the nature of power, art and sentience.

I am hoping to share some of those musings in this blog in the coming weeks. Regardless of the validity or specific nature of these thoughts, the fact remains that Portal, as a property, has ignited them in me. In my book that is certainly a big deal, maybe even big enough for me to step back in line with that parade and start marching again.