8/22/2006
August Blow Out Sale
Dear Friends,
We are ending August with a BLOW OUT SALE. We are discounting all machines in stock up to 30% off including all used pinball machines, jukeboxes, pool tables, driving games and much more.. All new items up to 15% off including our BEST seller our Multicade Arcade Game with 30+ classics games in one cabinet plus Air Hockey Tables, Foosball Tables, Touch Screen Games, Golden T Golf and more. We need to make room for all our holiday inventory so this sale ends August 31..
List of some pins and videos up to 30% off till August 31.. Rush 2049 Driving Game, Daytona Twin, Crusin USA Twin,
Rocky n Bullweinkle, Harley Davidson, Harley Davidson 2nd Ed, Tommy, World Cup Soccer, Shaq, Tales From The Crypt, Riverboat Gambler, Roller Games, Dirty Harry, EightBall Champ, Johnny Mnemonic, Break Shot, Hurricane, Dracula, Bugs Bunny, Cyclone, Amigo, Lethal Weapon 3, Taxi, Apollo 13 and Jurassic Park to name a few.. Any of these mentioned up to 30% off. Call Now! 1-800-966-9873
Our Holiday Season is soon upon us, don't forget to order early as always, as many of our popular items get sold out. We want to wish everyone a great holiday season and looking forward to hearing from you soon...
Best Regards,
The Game Gallery
We are ending August with a BLOW OUT SALE. We are discounting all machines in stock up to 30% off including all used pinball machines, jukeboxes, pool tables, driving games and much more.. All new items up to 15% off including our BEST seller our Multicade Arcade Game with 30+ classics games in one cabinet plus Air Hockey Tables, Foosball Tables, Touch Screen Games, Golden T Golf and more. We need to make room for all our holiday inventory so this sale ends August 31..
List of some pins and videos up to 30% off till August 31.. Rush 2049 Driving Game, Daytona Twin, Crusin USA Twin,
Rocky n Bullweinkle, Harley Davidson, Harley Davidson 2nd Ed, Tommy, World Cup Soccer, Shaq, Tales From The Crypt, Riverboat Gambler, Roller Games, Dirty Harry, EightBall Champ, Johnny Mnemonic, Break Shot, Hurricane, Dracula, Bugs Bunny, Cyclone, Amigo, Lethal Weapon 3, Taxi, Apollo 13 and Jurassic Park to name a few.. Any of these mentioned up to 30% off. Call Now! 1-800-966-9873
Our Holiday Season is soon upon us, don't forget to order early as always, as many of our popular items get sold out. We want to wish everyone a great holiday season and looking forward to hearing from you soon...
Best Regards,
The Game Gallery
Sega Introduces Online Coin-Op Network in U.S.
Arcade scene dead? Sega doesn't think so. The company's Sega Amusements subsidiary is hoping to breathe new life into American arcades with a new online platform called ALL.Net, which will make its debut this fall in bars, arcades and entertainment centers. |
| Sega Amusements USA and Sega Entertainment USA have announced plans to debut Sega's new online platform, ALL.Net, in the United States this fall. According to Sega, ALL.Net is "designed as a platform for online entertainment services" and "empowers players to compete in massive multiplayer tournaments." The first game to take advantage of the online platform will be Extreme Hunting 2 -- Tournament Edition, a sequel to Sega Amusements' successful line of coin-operated hunting games totaling over 17,000 games in the market. Starting this fall Sega will offer the ALL.Net online kit for all existing and future sales of the game. With ALL.Net, gamers in bars, arcades and entertainment centers such as the Sega-owned GameWorks will be able to play against one another, enter national tournaments and check out online rankings. While new to North America, the online platform has been used in Japan since 2004 for games like Virtua Fighter 4 and Virtua Striker. In order to showcase the ALL.Net platform GameWorks is currently hosting a Deer and Shotgun Tournament August 2 - 27 at six locations: Seattle; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Miami; Minneapolis; and Schaumburg, Ill. Competitors will be able to win in their local city and the three highest scores overall will then be recognized as the national winners. The holder of the top national score will receive a first place prize that includes a 42" plasma television, an Xbox 360 and more from Sega, GameWorks and tournament sponsor, Buckmasters Ltd. While the glory days for arcades in America are long since gone, certain entertainment centers such as GameWorks have managed to survive despite arcades being completely overshadowed by the home console market. By comparison, the arcade machines in Japan are frequented far more often. Sega is hoping to replicate that success stateside. "This marks an exciting future for the amusement industry as it allows players new avenues for game interaction, gives local establishments new sources of revenue, and creates a platform from which future Sega titles can be linked," the company said. A list of future Sega games to incorporate the ALL.Net technology has not yet been revealed. |
Portland Pinball League in the News
Posted by: James McGovern
Over the year I have really come to realize that Portland is quickly becoming a pinball paradise of sorts. There seems to be loads of clubs and bars that cater to the silver ball set including the retro arcade and pinball parlor, Ground Kontrol.
It is no surprise that a pinball league exists and thrives in this environment and the Portland Pinball League chalked up some press today in the Oregonian newspaper.Check out the write up featuring commentary from league member, Jeff Weston as well as dates, times, and locations where you can hook up with the Portland pinballers. [link]Website: PortlandPinball.com
Over the year I have really come to realize that Portland is quickly becoming a pinball paradise of sorts. There seems to be loads of clubs and bars that cater to the silver ball set including the retro arcade and pinball parlor, Ground Kontrol.
It is no surprise that a pinball league exists and thrives in this environment and the Portland Pinball League chalked up some press today in the Oregonian newspaper.Check out the write up featuring commentary from league member, Jeff Weston as well as dates, times, and locations where you can hook up with the Portland pinballers. [link]Website: PortlandPinball.com
Arcade's pinball magic flips across years
By Rich Tosches
Manitou Springs
Ron Allen slid a nickel into the heavily worn coin slot, pulled the plunger and launched a shiny steel ball into the pinball machine. There was a little-boy sparkle in his eyes as his fingers flicked the side buttons and the flippers sent the ball back up into the bumpers and the glowing lights. He nudged the old machine with his hip, coaxing it to cough up the bonus points but ever-fearful of the tilt light that would shut down his fun.
It's called Rocket, a relic of a pinball machine from the 1940s, and it has stood in the same place on the old wooden floor of the Manitou Springs Arcade for some 60 years, its lights and shiny glass quietly cajoling thousands upon thousands of people to dig into their pockets for a five-cent coin.
"I'm a lot better at it than I used to be," Allen said the other day, smiling as he spoke but never, ever, taking his eyes off the old steel ball as it rattled between the bumpers and sent his score into It s cool to think we re playing the same games our parents and grandparents played, says Miles Roth, manning flippers as Jared Rieck watches. Both are 13 and from Colorado Springs. You'd certainly hope he has gotten better. Allen is 53. He's been playing the Rocket pinball machine in the Manitou arcade since he was 6.
The arcade in the small town west of Colorado Springs is astonishing, a palace of nostalgia for those old enough to have an occasional pain in the knee for no apparent reason and fascinating, too, for those who are too young to know much about creaky joints.
Take Nathaniel Brubaker of Colorado Springs. He's 22. A bright guy. Understands how a text message typed into a cellphone is flashed into someone else's cellphone halfway around the world in three seconds. But last week he stood by a massive cast-iron early 1900s-era English Football (soccer) game at the Manitou arcade and looked like a guy trying to fix a bike with a spatula.
"I just can't figure out how it works," he said. "It's all mechanical. No electricity. It's amazing."
He dropped a penny into the slot and a ball rolled onto the field. When Brubaker twisted a hundred-year-old brass knob, a 3-inch-tall gentleman in long pants - apparently shorts and those wacky, head-butting Frenchmen would come later in soccer - kicked the ball toward the goal.
"It's amazing how it must work," said Brubaker, who defeated a reporter with an incredibly lucky goal in the fourth minute of the 1-cent game.
The arcade has seven buildings and outdoor areas under a 1930s pavilion roof. There are some 250 games. Some are, well, odd. Neo-Geo, for example, was made in Japan in the early 1970s. From the introduction screen: "Long, Long, Ago, There Were (sic) A Man Who Tried To Make His Skills Ultimate."
But the penny arcade houses the real gems. There's a 60-foot row of games from the 1940s and 1950s, games such as United's Deluxe Carnival, a shooting gallery that for 10 cents gives up 25 shots from a heavy rifle. Squirrels, rabbits and ducks become deceased. There's the 1940s Drive-Yourself Road Test in which you
sit in a "car" and drive along a road that rolls by on a hand-painted drum. You lose points, as you might imagine, if you plow into the herd of cows.
There are baseball games from the 1960s with players - all of them look like Ted Williams - who run the bases without moving their legs. And in a corner is a risqué 1930s moving picture machine. For a nickel you can peep into The Doctor's Office and, in grainy black and white frames, see a fairly unattractive woman take off some of her clothes. (Frankly, you're thankful she stops when she does.)
There's an entire building that houses a horse-racing game, built in the early '70s in England. Patrons sit shoulder to shoulder and roll balls into holes to propel their horses down the 10-foot track. And there are the pinball machines. Rows of vintage, classic machines under glistening glass tops.
Marianne Vedros, 51, of Baton Rouge, La., took a stroll down pinball lane last week. She stopped and stared.
"These are the machines I played when I was a kid," she said.
A moment later and a dime lighter, she was flipping silver balls up into the bumpers with a flick of the flippers. Her eyes were wide. Her smile was wider.
Owner Alan Kearns has seen that look. A lot. His father started the arcade more than 70 years ago. Alan, 55, has been at the arcade almost every day of his life. He's thinking now of selling it.
"I've always loved the place," he said. "But my wife and I haven't had a summer vacation in 37 years. I wonder if I have to die here."
Ron Allen, the pinball wizard who worked at the arcade when he was 11, spent 30 years in real jobs, including a stint as a casino security officer. Last year, lured by Kearns, his boyhood Manitou friend, he came back to the arcade as its manager.
Most days he finds a moment to slide up to Rocket and work his pinball magic. In just 90 seconds last week he piled up 700,000-plus Rocket points on one ball. Only when it somehow slipped past the old, worn flippers did he look up.
"I played this pinball machine when I had to stand on my tiptoes to see it, when I was a kid of 6 and 7 and 8 years old," he said.
His eyes twinkled and he laughed. "Every day," he said, "I get to go back."
Staff writer Rich Tosches writes each Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at rtosches@denverpost.com.
Manitou Springs
Ron Allen slid a nickel into the heavily worn coin slot, pulled the plunger and launched a shiny steel ball into the pinball machine. There was a little-boy sparkle in his eyes as his fingers flicked the side buttons and the flippers sent the ball back up into the bumpers and the glowing lights. He nudged the old machine with his hip, coaxing it to cough up the bonus points but ever-fearful of the tilt light that would shut down his fun.
It's called Rocket, a relic of a pinball machine from the 1940s, and it has stood in the same place on the old wooden floor of the Manitou Springs Arcade for some 60 years, its lights and shiny glass quietly cajoling thousands upon thousands of people to dig into their pockets for a five-cent coin.
"I'm a lot better at it than I used to be," Allen said the other day, smiling as he spoke but never, ever, taking his eyes off the old steel ball as it rattled between the bumpers and sent his score into It s cool to think we re playing the same games our parents and grandparents played, says Miles Roth, manning flippers as Jared Rieck watches. Both are 13 and from Colorado Springs. You'd certainly hope he has gotten better. Allen is 53. He's been playing the Rocket pinball machine in the Manitou arcade since he was 6.
The arcade in the small town west of Colorado Springs is astonishing, a palace of nostalgia for those old enough to have an occasional pain in the knee for no apparent reason and fascinating, too, for those who are too young to know much about creaky joints.
Take Nathaniel Brubaker of Colorado Springs. He's 22. A bright guy. Understands how a text message typed into a cellphone is flashed into someone else's cellphone halfway around the world in three seconds. But last week he stood by a massive cast-iron early 1900s-era English Football (soccer) game at the Manitou arcade and looked like a guy trying to fix a bike with a spatula.
"I just can't figure out how it works," he said. "It's all mechanical. No electricity. It's amazing."
He dropped a penny into the slot and a ball rolled onto the field. When Brubaker twisted a hundred-year-old brass knob, a 3-inch-tall gentleman in long pants - apparently shorts and those wacky, head-butting Frenchmen would come later in soccer - kicked the ball toward the goal.
"It's amazing how it must work," said Brubaker, who defeated a reporter with an incredibly lucky goal in the fourth minute of the 1-cent game.
The arcade has seven buildings and outdoor areas under a 1930s pavilion roof. There are some 250 games. Some are, well, odd. Neo-Geo, for example, was made in Japan in the early 1970s. From the introduction screen: "Long, Long, Ago, There Were (sic) A Man Who Tried To Make His Skills Ultimate."
But the penny arcade houses the real gems. There's a 60-foot row of games from the 1940s and 1950s, games such as United's Deluxe Carnival, a shooting gallery that for 10 cents gives up 25 shots from a heavy rifle. Squirrels, rabbits and ducks become deceased. There's the 1940s Drive-Yourself Road Test in which you
sit in a "car" and drive along a road that rolls by on a hand-painted drum. You lose points, as you might imagine, if you plow into the herd of cows.
There are baseball games from the 1960s with players - all of them look like Ted Williams - who run the bases without moving their legs. And in a corner is a risqué 1930s moving picture machine. For a nickel you can peep into The Doctor's Office and, in grainy black and white frames, see a fairly unattractive woman take off some of her clothes. (Frankly, you're thankful she stops when she does.)
There's an entire building that houses a horse-racing game, built in the early '70s in England. Patrons sit shoulder to shoulder and roll balls into holes to propel their horses down the 10-foot track. And there are the pinball machines. Rows of vintage, classic machines under glistening glass tops.
Marianne Vedros, 51, of Baton Rouge, La., took a stroll down pinball lane last week. She stopped and stared.
"These are the machines I played when I was a kid," she said.
A moment later and a dime lighter, she was flipping silver balls up into the bumpers with a flick of the flippers. Her eyes were wide. Her smile was wider.
Owner Alan Kearns has seen that look. A lot. His father started the arcade more than 70 years ago. Alan, 55, has been at the arcade almost every day of his life. He's thinking now of selling it.
"I've always loved the place," he said. "But my wife and I haven't had a summer vacation in 37 years. I wonder if I have to die here."
Ron Allen, the pinball wizard who worked at the arcade when he was 11, spent 30 years in real jobs, including a stint as a casino security officer. Last year, lured by Kearns, his boyhood Manitou friend, he came back to the arcade as its manager.
Most days he finds a moment to slide up to Rocket and work his pinball magic. In just 90 seconds last week he piled up 700,000-plus Rocket points on one ball. Only when it somehow slipped past the old, worn flippers did he look up.
"I played this pinball machine when I had to stand on my tiptoes to see it, when I was a kid of 6 and 7 and 8 years old," he said.
His eyes twinkled and he laughed. "Every day," he said, "I get to go back."
Staff writer Rich Tosches writes each Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at rtosches@denverpost.com.
Full-tilt wizards
By Allison M. HeinrichsTRIBUNE-REVIEWMonday,
Hunched over the flashing machine, Lyman Sheats, of Chicago, pushed a button and became World Pinball Champion for a third time.
"It was really tense," said Steve Zumoff, 41, of Point Breeze, who helped organized and run the competition. "Everyone was completely silent."
Nearly 400 competitors gathered Sunday at the Pro-Am Pinball Association's headquarters in Scott to compete with the world's best pinball wizards for more than $33,000 in cash and prizes at the Ninth Annual World Pinball Championships.
The international competition drew people from as far away as Germany.
More than 300 pinball machines began buzzing, flashing and ringing Thursday morning when the competition began. The machines, which date back to 1946, are the personal collection of Kevin Martin, 35, of Shadyside.
"It's an expensive hobby," said Martin, who owns and operates Pair Networks, a Web-hosting company on the South Side. Older machines average $1,800, while new ones cost about $3,900.
Martin pays for the machines himself, making no money by donating them for use in the competition.
"That's what makes (collecting) fun," he said. "It's more fun to compete than to have 380 pinball machines all to myself,"
The winners of each of the five divisions in this year's championship received custom-made trophies featuring a magnetic ball the size of a pinball dangling from a wire. When batted, the ball bounces between three magnets the way a pinball bounces off a machine's flippers and bumpers.
The trophy was created by Pittsburgh decorative metal artist Don Bell.
"This is going to be my trophy," said Justin Ortscheid, 10, of Akron, Ohio, as he gazed up at the award for the winner of the Juniors division, which is for those 16 and younger. He finished in second place.
Ortscheid said he's been playing pinball "about my whole life, probably." His parents, Marvin and Grace, have pinball machines at home and Ortscheid said he practices at least once a day.
Bowen Kerins, 31, of Salem, Mass., credits his father with getting him interested in pinball. Kerins was last year's world champion.
"To become an excellent player you have to see how other players play," said Kerins, who finished eighth this year. "You have to learn to push the machine and the flippers at just the right moment.
"People who don't play pinball think it's all luck," he said. "It's definitely a game of skill."
Sean Grant, 33, a stockbroker from New York City, took an interesting approach to sharpening his skills and clearing his head for this year's tournament.
"I stopped drinking for the past month," Grant said. "I'm 33 now and I wanted to have as much of an edge as I can -- this is a grueling event."
"Plus I lost 15 pounds," he said, patting his relatively-flat stomach. "I guess that's another side-effect of cutting back on the beer."
Pinball World Champion
These are the winners of the Pro-Am Pinball Association's Ninth Annual World Pinball Championships:
• Expert division: Lyman Sheats, of Chicago.
• Intermediate division: Darran Kamnitzer, 31, Columbus, Ohio
• Novice division: Mark Salas, 42, Cleveland, Ohio
• Juniors (16 and under) division: Ethan Blonder
• Seniors (50 and over) division: Rick Prince
Pinball through the decades
Pinball machines appeared in the early 1930s as countertop machines without legs and grew to become elaborate digital machines with blinking lights, sound and complicated rules. Here is a sampling of the machines featured by the Pro-Am Pinball Association in Scott:
• 1946 -- "Big Hit." This machine gave the player five balls for 5 cents and a five replays for any ball that went through the machine's center channel, when lit.
• 1958 -- "Gottlieb's two-player Gondolier." With the motto, "It's more fun to compete," this machine cost 5 cents to play and gave one replay for each score of 1,500 points.
• 1966 -- "Hot Line." This fishing-themed game gave five balls for 25 cents and the goal was to use those balls to hit various targets and light up seven lights that spell the game's title.
• 1977 -- "Sonic Mars Trek." For 25 cents, players were given three balls and could score 10,000 points by "Making Mars," or hitting four buttons with the balls to spell "Mars."
• 1986 -- "Pin Bot." This game moved beyond a flat playing surface to feature a ramp that allowed players to shoot the three balls they got for 25 cents over a robot and into a spaceship, increasing their "solar value."
• 1994 -- "Guns N' Roses." After paying 50 cents for three balls, players could shoot the balls with a rose-shaped pulley and use a fake-gun to make "skill shots" and add "band members."
• 2006 -- "Pirates of the Caribbean." One of the hottest pinball machines on the market, this game costs 50 cents for one play and requires players to shoot their ball at a sinking ship to start a battle with the "Kraken" or launch their ball into a treasure chest and "Jack the money" to get an extra ball.
Become a pinball wizard
The experts share the following tips on becoming a champion:
• Watch the other players to learn creative techniques, like keeping several balls in play at once.
• Learn to "stop" the ball with the flippers so you can stay in control and plan your strategy.
• Don't get a big ego if you are the best player in your hometown -- most of the players at the World Pinball Championships are the best in their towns.
• Don't think about the money or prizes or else you'll lose focus.
• Speaking of losing focus, reducing alcohol consumption helps keep your mind sharp.
• As with most competitive sports, practice makes perfect.
Hunched over the flashing machine, Lyman Sheats, of Chicago, pushed a button and became World Pinball Champion for a third time.
"It was really tense," said Steve Zumoff, 41, of Point Breeze, who helped organized and run the competition. "Everyone was completely silent."
Nearly 400 competitors gathered Sunday at the Pro-Am Pinball Association's headquarters in Scott to compete with the world's best pinball wizards for more than $33,000 in cash and prizes at the Ninth Annual World Pinball Championships.
The international competition drew people from as far away as Germany.
More than 300 pinball machines began buzzing, flashing and ringing Thursday morning when the competition began. The machines, which date back to 1946, are the personal collection of Kevin Martin, 35, of Shadyside.
"It's an expensive hobby," said Martin, who owns and operates Pair Networks, a Web-hosting company on the South Side. Older machines average $1,800, while new ones cost about $3,900.
Martin pays for the machines himself, making no money by donating them for use in the competition.
"That's what makes (collecting) fun," he said. "It's more fun to compete than to have 380 pinball machines all to myself,"
The winners of each of the five divisions in this year's championship received custom-made trophies featuring a magnetic ball the size of a pinball dangling from a wire. When batted, the ball bounces between three magnets the way a pinball bounces off a machine's flippers and bumpers.
The trophy was created by Pittsburgh decorative metal artist Don Bell.
"This is going to be my trophy," said Justin Ortscheid, 10, of Akron, Ohio, as he gazed up at the award for the winner of the Juniors division, which is for those 16 and younger. He finished in second place.
Ortscheid said he's been playing pinball "about my whole life, probably." His parents, Marvin and Grace, have pinball machines at home and Ortscheid said he practices at least once a day.
Bowen Kerins, 31, of Salem, Mass., credits his father with getting him interested in pinball. Kerins was last year's world champion.
"To become an excellent player you have to see how other players play," said Kerins, who finished eighth this year. "You have to learn to push the machine and the flippers at just the right moment.
"People who don't play pinball think it's all luck," he said. "It's definitely a game of skill."
Sean Grant, 33, a stockbroker from New York City, took an interesting approach to sharpening his skills and clearing his head for this year's tournament.
"I stopped drinking for the past month," Grant said. "I'm 33 now and I wanted to have as much of an edge as I can -- this is a grueling event."
"Plus I lost 15 pounds," he said, patting his relatively-flat stomach. "I guess that's another side-effect of cutting back on the beer."
Pinball World Champion
These are the winners of the Pro-Am Pinball Association's Ninth Annual World Pinball Championships:
• Expert division: Lyman Sheats, of Chicago.
• Intermediate division: Darran Kamnitzer, 31, Columbus, Ohio
• Novice division: Mark Salas, 42, Cleveland, Ohio
• Juniors (16 and under) division: Ethan Blonder
• Seniors (50 and over) division: Rick Prince
Pinball through the decades
Pinball machines appeared in the early 1930s as countertop machines without legs and grew to become elaborate digital machines with blinking lights, sound and complicated rules. Here is a sampling of the machines featured by the Pro-Am Pinball Association in Scott:
• 1946 -- "Big Hit." This machine gave the player five balls for 5 cents and a five replays for any ball that went through the machine's center channel, when lit.
• 1958 -- "Gottlieb's two-player Gondolier." With the motto, "It's more fun to compete," this machine cost 5 cents to play and gave one replay for each score of 1,500 points.
• 1966 -- "Hot Line." This fishing-themed game gave five balls for 25 cents and the goal was to use those balls to hit various targets and light up seven lights that spell the game's title.
• 1977 -- "Sonic Mars Trek." For 25 cents, players were given three balls and could score 10,000 points by "Making Mars," or hitting four buttons with the balls to spell "Mars."
• 1986 -- "Pin Bot." This game moved beyond a flat playing surface to feature a ramp that allowed players to shoot the three balls they got for 25 cents over a robot and into a spaceship, increasing their "solar value."
• 1994 -- "Guns N' Roses." After paying 50 cents for three balls, players could shoot the balls with a rose-shaped pulley and use a fake-gun to make "skill shots" and add "band members."
• 2006 -- "Pirates of the Caribbean." One of the hottest pinball machines on the market, this game costs 50 cents for one play and requires players to shoot their ball at a sinking ship to start a battle with the "Kraken" or launch their ball into a treasure chest and "Jack the money" to get an extra ball.
Become a pinball wizard
The experts share the following tips on becoming a champion:
• Watch the other players to learn creative techniques, like keeping several balls in play at once.
• Learn to "stop" the ball with the flippers so you can stay in control and plan your strategy.
• Don't get a big ego if you are the best player in your hometown -- most of the players at the World Pinball Championships are the best in their towns.
• Don't think about the money or prizes or else you'll lose focus.
• Speaking of losing focus, reducing alcohol consumption helps keep your mind sharp.
• As with most competitive sports, practice makes perfect.
Video Games Concerts Growing
In 2001 when Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall created Video Games Live, no one knew whether audiences would be interested in a concert of videogame music or whether the videogame generation actually go to an orchestral concert. However, in July 2005, the critics were silenced when the first concert filled the famed Hollywood Bowl making it the biggest videogame concert in history. Subsequent performances in venue after venue continued to sell out along their newly scheduled tour. Major corporate sponsors jumped on board, and in the beginning of 2006, almost five years after Tallarico and Wall’s first ideas were set to paper, they announced the first videogame music world tour.Success, of course, breeds competition. With other concert producers trying to create VGL-like concerts, Tallarico and Wall are more focused than ever on their original vision. “We want entire families to be able to come to the show, and we make sure that even if you don’t play video games, you’ll have a great time,” says Tallarico, who hosts the concerts personally. “We’ve tried to keep the ticket prices low and the entertainment value high so that there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”Indeed, VGL’s ticket prices are significantly lower than other game music concerts. A quick comparison of ticket prices in upcoming shows in Toronto reveals that VGL’s concert is about one-third the cost of other events in the same area, with VGL ticket prices raging from $39 to $59 CDN while the competition’s tickets start at $65 and go to $155 CDN.When asked about emerging rival concert tours, Tallarico says that they welcome the other concert events. “I think it’s great that people are really excited to hear videogame music,” he says. “Each of the other concerts has their own angle, whether it is music from only one game or a concert focused on reaching a more high-brow audience that doesn’t mind paying high prices for tickets. Video Games Live is a completely unique experience than anything else out there for a lot of different reasons and it’s important to make sure that people don’t get confused about what each has to offer.”Tallarico goes on to explain some of the details surrounding the VGL events, which help to differentiate it from other concerts. “As part of the VGL experience we have a lot of free pre- and post-show activities, including costume contests, previews of upcoming games, game competitions and meet and greets with game designers and composers. Other game concerts are charging up to $155+ to meet composers after the show. We definitely don’t subscribe to that mentality. How is that helping to further our industry? We want as many people as possible to come to our shows and experience what the videogame industry has to offer, especially families. Last year at the Hollywood Bowl ticket prices started at $1.”As far as the concert itself is concerned, VGL is the only concert that features constant and synchronized gameplay footage on big screens, synchronized lighting, special effects, classic gaming segments and on-stage interactive segments where selected audience members play games while the orchestra accompanies them live. Other events and prize give-aways also take place during the show including a $2,500 laptop each and every performance.Because Video Games Live is the only concert put on by the videogame industry itself; companies such as Bungie, Blizzard, Kojima Prods., Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Sony, UbiSoft, Sega and Disney have all personally helped out in creating and producing exclusive video segments for VGL.Video Games Live also works with the local Visitors Bureau and Board of Education as well as the "Grammy in the Schools" program to raise awareness of the arts, music and culture by inviting classes to come down during rehearsals for a tour and "behind-the-scenes" look at the show as well as speaking with industry professionals. Video Games Live also partnered with Alfred Publishing to bring VGL music arrangements to over 75,000 schools across North America.“I feel that one of the biggest things that differentiates us from anything else out there is the combination of each and every element of production we use,” says Jack Wall, fellow game composer and concert conductor. “It’s the excitement and energy of a rock concert, the power and emotion of a symphony and the stunning cutting-edge visuals, technology, interactivity and FUN that videogames are all about.”Wall adds, “The key is that we’re actually a part of this industry, so we make sure that the concert experience reflects the love and passion we all have for what we do and create.”More information about Video Games Live is available at www.videogameslive.com. Upcoming world tour dates including the return to the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 21, 2006, can be found at www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates
Fun And Cure With Video Games
Video games are now being considered seriously as a medical option in taking on the growing list of maladies ranging from obesity and dementia to cancer.In the United States, several video game developers have collaborated with medial workers and government policy makers to launch their ‘games for health’ project in September at Maryland. Their intention is to promote video games as a treatment option by incorporating it into the current protocol. Richard Tate, of Hope Lab, the company that created the innovative 'Re-mission', for children undergoing treatment for cancer, is very hopeful that the potential of these video games as a medical ‘tool’ is immense. 'Re-mission', a video game that targets children, has an animated nanobot character called Roxxi that searches for, and eliminates, cancer cells. According to Hope Laboratory, people who played the games were more diligent in taking their medications and undergoing therapies, as they genuinely believe that they could overcome cancer. The biological accuracy of the games has resulted in the Hope Lab receiving 30,000 orders, from 55 countries, since the launch of 're-mission' in April this year. The company is now working on games designed to treat other disorders like autism, depression, sickle–cell anemia and childhood obesity. Medindia on Video Games Reduces Surgical Errors – A Study A new study suggests that people preparing for surgery needs to play surgical errors. Dr. James ‘Butch Rosser said, surgeons who warmed up by playing video games like ‘Super Monkey Ball’ for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not.
