COIN-OP TV hosts Rob Welkner and Hailey Bright ventured out to Claremont, California, once again to experience the fun of the SC3 Arcade/Retro gamer night party hosted by Steve Hertz. Steve hosts this party twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. The party is an old school backyard extravaganza in which Steve rolls out about 40 classic arcade games on freeplay with tables set up for retro consoles like the Vectrex, Commodore 64 and the Atari 2600. Two of the bigger attractions this year were the rare classic arcade game Turkey Shoot and even more rare prototype of The Act brought in by a local collector Damon.
Hailey Bright of COIN-OP TV (along with help from Hogan Carter) shot interviews and took plenty of pictures to share from the event. Mike from www.ChaseTheChuckWagon.com held a raffle in which he gave away over $1,000 worth of retro games and consoles, the Rock Band room was full the entire night and the small vendor section proved to be a worth of value to all! We had SC3 organizer Steve Hertz as a guest on COIN-OP TV LIVE episode 303 (http://www.thestream.tv/watch.php?v=1313). For more information on their next event go to their official MySpace page here: www.myspace.com/sc3videogames
(Photos: Hogan Carter, Beau Ryan, Dan Mosley, BlankLogo Photography)
Hailey Bright of COIN-OP TV at the MUTANT CHRONICLES Los Angeles Premiere! Mutant Chronicles is a sci-fi action movie stemmed from the popular role-playing game of the same name. It stars Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, John Malkovich and Devon Aoki. We had a chance to interview the celebrities at the red carpet and take a closer look at the movie! (Photo: BlankLogo Photography)
Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in Los Angeles went down over the weekend (April 17-19 2009) with not much of a scare. The Fangoria convention is meant to be a celebration of horror films both new and old with celebrities, screening rooms and panels. Celebrities at the event included Justin Long, Clive Barker and Sam Raimi. The convention was full of groovy ghouls and people dressed up in all sorts of cool outfits, however, any horror b-list actor in attendance (including Corey Haim) was strictly there to sell merchandise and charge for photographs with them. It’s a shame that the fun and excitement of going to a horror convention has been diminished over the years by people more concerned with eBay sales than they are in connecting with their loyal fans. We did manage to run into some familiar faces at the show and it was fun for a few hours but outside of that not much to scream about!
Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in Los Angeles went down over the weekend (April 17-19 2009) with not much of a scare. The Fangoria convention is meant to be a celebration of horror films both new and old with celebrities, screening rooms and panels. Celebrities at the event included Justin Long, Clive Barker and Sam Raimi. The convention was full of groovy ghouls and people dressed up in all sorts of cool outfits, however, any horror b-list actor in attendance (including Corey Haim) was strictly there to sell merchandise and charge for photographs with them. It’s a shame that the fun and excitement of going to a horror convention has been diminished over the years by people more concerned with eBay sales than they are in connecting with their loyal fans. We did manage to run into some familiar faces at the show and it was fun for a few hours but outside of that not much to scream about!
Street Fighter ‘Bar Fights‘ put on by Gootecks and Ryan Gutierrez went down at Jake’s in Pasadena over the weekend. The tournament and exhibition was an overwhelming success as for the turnout of people. Ryan sent out a teaser video weeks before the event explaining how the showcase would be full of people watching Street Fighter pro-level players ‘Ed Ma’ and ‘Combofiend’ defend their honor as masters of the recently released Capcom gem. Fans and players from all over the city gathered for a chance to take on the champs and each would-be contender fell as quickly as they arrived. The tournament area was in the backroom of Jake’s and was filled to capacity. As an all-ages event – kids surrounded the players and cheered them on like a scene from the film Fight Club. The rest of the building had pool tables and spectators in attendance and eventually the venue had to start turning people away as they attendance grew.
We had a chance to chat briefly with Peter who goes by the nick-name ‘Combofiend’ (one of the pro-players) who was very calm and confident. When asked about giving challengers a ‘break’ on the matches – he insisted that no quarter would be given as he wants young players to realize the types of challenges one would face in the real world as a competitive gamer. The entire event was video-taped and streamed over the internet – expect to see more of these pop up in your neck of the woods! Additional media can be found at – www.getyourtournament.com
The Nintendo DSi promises to usher in a new era of personalization and sharing so we at COIN-OP TV were curious to see what exciting things were planned for the midnight launch at the Citywalk Gamestop. Much like midnight launches in the past, Citywalk had a stage with G4tv ‘Attack of the Show’ host Kevin Pereira helping MC the precedings, Jon Gibson hosted the ‘i am 8-bit‘ artist spotlight and there were plenty of chances to demo the new Nintendo DSi and grab cool swag their street team.
The highlight of the night was when the band GYM CLASS HEROES came out to perform a short 40 minute set to adoring fans who waited patiently to cheer them on. When it comes to launches in Los Angeles, Citywalk at Universal is a great place for both for space and visuals. The only downside is that placement of the red carpet is right in the way of a major walking area. Our hands-on time with the new DSi was brief but we got a chance to take a photo and manipulate it around on the new (larger) screens. How will these new features help gameplay is the biggest question surrounding the new handheld. (Photo: BlankLogo Photography)
COIN-OP TV LIVE Season 3 kicks off with a live performance of
Guitar Hero: Metallica with Neversoft designer Andy Gentile!
COIN-OP TV LIVE hosts Robert Welkner and Hailey Bright welcomed Neversoft and Guitar Hero: Metallica designer Andy Gentile into the studio as a guest. Andy is considered the ‘Drum Master’ at Neversoft and the person responsible for further advancing the Guitar Hero franchise to include a double bass kick drum for the new ‘Expert Plus’ mode of the game.
Guitar Hero: Metallica was released in the U.S. on March 29th for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. The game features over 45 Metallica songs from their vast library which spans over three decades.
Andy Gentile helped answer numerous questions about the gameplay and the collaboration between the Guitar Hero franchise and the band Metallica. COIN-OP TV LIVE gives live viewers the unique advantage of asking questions during the show for guests to answer honestly and un-scripted.
COIN-OP TV LIVE hosts Robert Welkner and Hailey Bright took to the stage and were joined by Andy Gentile who showed off his Expert Plus skills on drums for a performance of the song WHIPLASH from Metallica’s debut album. Robert handled vocals and played expert on guitar while Hailey handled the bass. The performance came to a rousing climax in which fans at home and the audience cheered for an encore!
Watch the episode here: http://www.thestream.tv/watch.php?v=1297
Nyko
BusyGamer
The Megas
Darksiders & Gunnar Optiks
Artist Mr. Dandy
God of War & Tony Hawk Ride
Justin Chon from Twilight
