Game Gallery Amusements

Video Games Live, the acclaimed video game concert series continued its run of sold out shows last week by selling out Jones Hall in Houston, TX with the prestigious Houston Symphony Orchestra & Choir. According to promoters, the show sold out 5 days in advance and thousands of people had to be turned away prior to the event including nearly 1,000 people on the day of the show. “I’ve never seen the excitement level and crowd like this here before!” stated one proud mom who was taking a group of neighborhood kids to experience a symphony for the first time. One audience member was quoted in the newspaper the next day saying…“I’ve been to a few different game concerts now but nothing compares to what these guys are pulling off. Wow! I still can’t believe what I saw.”
The doors opened 2 hours early for the pre-show festival which included a costume contest (all entrants appeared on stage), prize give-a-ways, Guitar Hero II competition and over 20 playable games for the PlayStation 2, XBOX, XBOX 360 and GameCube including such franchises as Halo, Super Smash Bros., Kingdom Hearts, Medal of Honor, Sonic, Zelda, Tekken and Dead Or Alive, all courtesy of Game Crazy and Hollywood Video. Yet another $2,500 AMD Ferrari laptop was given away on stage to the winner of the Frogger competition in which 2 people were picked to compete in Frogger while the orchestra played the music in real-time and changed the score on-the-fly depending on the action on screen. Other valuable prizes including CD and DVD gift packs, concert tickets, movie passes, gift certificates and more (provided by the Houston Symphony, Hollywood Video and Game Crazy) were given away during the Space Invader contest in which someone from the audience was picked to come on stage to try and clear the first level of Space Invaders against the clock. However the twist was that the player on stage controlled the ship by running back and forth underneath the video screen all while the orchestra played and changed to the action!
Following a roaring standing ovation performance, the packed post-show lobby held the game designers and composers meet and greet which was open free of charge to all attendees. The meet and greet included industry legends who had worked on such projects as Halo, Warcraft, Metroid Prime, Myst, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, EverQuest II, Earthworm Jim, Unreal, Balder’s Gate, Quake, Doom, Brothers in Arms, Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Splinter Cell and God of War.
Lee Ann Leung (sister of Video Game Pianist Martin Leung) debuted her rendition of a 10 song solo piano arrangement from Final Fantasy to a standing ovation from the sold out crowd. “I was in tears after her performance” stated one audience member, “In fact there were a couple of places during the concert where I cried. I’m just so speechless right now.” Advent Rising vocal soloist Laurie Robinson was also on hand to perform with the 60 member Houston Symphony Choir.
Pictures from the event are available here: http://www.videogameslive.com/gallery/album17.

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TOKYO — Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., formed by the merger between a game-maker and a pinball company, said Friday that net profit fell 93 percent in the most recent quarter due to the dearth of new models of slot machines.
Net income dropped to 779 million yen (US$6.72 million; euro5.28 million) in the April-June quarter, compared with 10.70 billion yen a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.

Sales fell 14.83 percent to 85.72 billion yen (US$734.48 million; euro576.65 million) from 100.53 billion yen.
The drop in earnings was due to the lack of "big titles" in its slot machines during the period, said Sega Sammy spokeswoman Yuri Takehara.
Pachinko _ an upright pinball game _ and slot machine sales fell by 56 percent to 21.81 billion yen (US$188.01 million from 49.83 billion yen.
Under its "scrap and build" policy, Sega Sammy closed 6 amusement centers that were unprofitable in Japan and opened four new amusement centers for the latest quarter, Takehara said. The company was operating 460 amusement centers, as of June 30, it said.
For the fiscal year ending March, Sega Sammy kept its group net profit outlook of 75.00 billion yen (US$646.55 million; euro507.62 million) on group sales of 682.00 billion yen (US$5.88 billion; euro4.62 billion).
Sega Sammy shares closed 2.67 percent lower in Tokyo at 3,650 yen (US$31.47) shortly before the company released its earnings.
Sega, which makes Sonic the Hedgehog games, and Sammy, a pinball maker, merged to form Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. in October 2004.

July 27, 2006
NEW YORK (AP) -- Alexandra Broseus grabs a shotgun, lifts it to her slender shoulder, pumps and readies her aim. Seconds later she's firing furiously at animated deer darting across a video game screen inside Horseshoe, a popular Manhattan bar. When the shooting ends and the adrenaline wanes, Miss Broseus -- wearing a zebra-striped dress -- brings the plastic barrel to her lips, blows the imaginary smoke into the air and reaches for a nearby can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Thanks to youthful urbanites, such as Miss Broseus, the coin-operated Big Buck Hunter Pro has evolved into the hottest-selling, biggest-moneymaking video game in bars and arcades across the country. And it's surprisingly popular in liberal bastions with strict gun laws such as New York City. "It's very strange, and I've been doing games for about 24 years," said George Petro, president of Play Mechanix Inc., the Chicago-area company that designed the game. "There's some kind of hipness to it." While older versions of the game have always done fairly well in the Midwest and other deer-hunting regions, the newest line has caught fire everywhere, mainly because of changes in the design. Mr. Petro said the game has been upgraded to a PC platform, giving it more lifelike graphics. A second shotgun was added so two players could fire simultaneously, raising the competitive stakes. When the Pro version was released, "I was hooked," said 25-year-old Sebastian Baumer of New York City, who has spent about $2,000 playing the game over the past year. Players score points for accuracy, distance and the animal's weight. There are different hunting adventures in states such as Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. Players can stalk elk, antelope, big horn sheep, moose and, of course, bucks. Part of the allure: no shivering outside in the cold for hours waiting for a trophy buck to arrive. "It's distilled to the cool part, the shooting," Mr. Petro said. "The thrill is getting the kill." The fine-tuning of Big Buck has led to some unexpected success in this tough business that has been squeezed by the rapid technological advancement of home video games, said Bob Boals.

NEW YORK -- Alexandra Broseus grabs a shotgun, lifts it to her slender shoulder, pumps, and readies her aim.Seconds later, she's firing furiously, gunning down the animated deer darting across the screen of this video game inside a popular, hipster bar in Manhattan called Horseshoe.When the shooting ends and the adrenaline wanes, Broseus, wearing a zebra-striped dress, brings the plastic barrel to her lips and blows the imaginary smoke into the air."Yeah (expletive),'' Broseus says, reaching for a nearby can of Pabst Blue Ribbon.Called Big Buck Hunter Pro, the coin-operated machine has evolved into the hottest-selling, biggest-moneymaking video game in bars and arcades across the country thanks to youthful urbanites like Broseus.And the game has become surprisingly popular in liberal bastions like New York City that have strict gun laws and where the idea of real hunting repulses many residents."It's very strange, and I've been doing games for about 24 years. There's some kind of hipness to it,'' said George Petro, president of Play Mechanix Inc., the Chicago-area company that designed the game.While older versions of the game have always done fairly well in the Midwest and other deer-hunting regions, the newest line, Big Buck Hunter Pro, has caught fire everywhere, mainly because of changes in the design.Petro said the fifth and latest version of Big Buck uses a PC platform, an upgrade that let designers install modern graphics, giving the game more lifelike features. Petro also added a second shotgun, so two players could fire away simultaneously, raising the competitive stakes and bragging rights."The pro came out and I was hooked,'' said 25-year-old Sebastian Baumer of New York City, who has been playing Big Buck for about a year and has spent about $2,000 refining his skills.Baumer is one of the most lethal shots on the East Side."I've been beaten obviously, but on a consistent basis? No,'' Baumer asserts from a bar in the East Village, which has four of the games within several blocks of one another.Big Buck players score points for accuracy, distance and the animal's weight. There are different hunting adventures in several states such as Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. There, players can stalk elk, antelope, big horn sheep, moose and, of course, bucks.Just like in real life, a head or neck shot instantly brings down the animal. Gut shots take two or three rounds.Slaying an innocent ewe or doe is forbidden. The gun locks up and the other player gains the advantage."That's the kiss of death,'' said John L. Less, a 35-year-old consultant who played the game for the first time recently at ACE bar.When blasted, the deer tumble to the ground; the birds explode into billows of feathers, the bunny rabbits into a cloud of fur. Bonus rounds include shooting frenetic turkey, rampaging boar, thick cow paddies, whiskey jugs and ducks.The machines spit out endearing lines like this one: "That's some nice shootin''' and other catchy commentary.But more importantly, this form of hunting is relatively easy. The hunter doesn't have to shiver outside in the cold for hours waiting for a trophy buck to arrive. And favorite hipster pastimes such as drinking beer are permitted, making this an urban draw."It's distilled to the cool part, the shooting,'' Petro said. "The thrill is getting the kill. That's what we distilled in the game.''The fine-tuning of Big Buck has led to some unexpected success in this tough business that has been squeezed with the rapid technological advancement of home video games, said Bob Boals, "We are very stunned,'' Boals said. "It's doing extremely well in the Northeast and West Coast. It's been so well received in all the different locations. We did not see this in the prior buck hunters.''Big Buck came out in 2000 and sold a modest 6,200 machines in about six years, Boals said. But when the pro version hit bars and arcades in February 2006, the game started goring the competition.Betson expects to unload 6,000 pro machines this year, and Boals projects he'll easily move a total of 10,000 over time. Betson is the only company that sells pro hunter _ either directly or through distribution partners. According to the July edition of RePlay Magazine, which tracks the industry, distributors voted Big Buck the best upright video game, 12 spots above bar-legend Golden Tee.The machines sell for over $6,000, earning $350 week on average, 80 percent more than rival Golden Tee, Boals said. One of the country's top Big Buck machines generates nearly $3,000 a month at a Connecticut casino, he said.Broseus says there's no mystery to why New Yorkers crave Big Buck."It makes perfect sense,'' she said. "It's the whole thing of going out and hunting in the city. Part of the appeal of New York is going out and doing anything. In the same night, you can go hunting and smoke a hookah.''But not every city dweller approves."I am a friend of the animals,'' said Lucy Knight, a vegetarian, who has worked as ACE's manager for two years. "I find it disturbing for people to get so much pleasure out of it.''Will this start a trend? Will hipsters start taking to the woods en masse with Remingtons and Mossbergs?Hunting purists hope not."I thank god they are doing it in a bar,'' said Russell Thornberry, Editor in Chief of Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine in Montgomery, Ala. "I'm not sure I'd want them hunting anywhere near where I was hunting. They'd be a danger to me and the deer.''