The Stupid Gamer

Hey everybody, I’ll be out of town and away from the Internet until August 18th. Where am I going? I can’t say.

I’ll be in Alaska, catching some poor and defenseless fishies.

Back in the early 90s, my cousin and I used to ride our bikes to this Fred Meyer department store in Bountiful, Utah each Saturday. We did so to check out the new comics and to play the 7-8 arcade games that they had in a small room up front. The games would rotate, but the regulars included TMNT, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II, and Spy Hunter. Each Saturday for years I’d play that Spy Hunter at least once, until the store remodeled and the arcades were removed. As a kid, I was crushed.

Fast forward to 2008 and the wife and I decide to go camping down in Southern Utah to some sand dunes. Just before leaving I did my daily check on eBay, craigslist, and local ads for a Spy Hunter. BAM! There was one in Las Vegas and the auction was to end Saturday night. I contacted the seller and asked if I could pick it up if I won on Sunday, he said yes. I threw in a token bid, and we went camping.

Sunday morning we got up early, broke down camp, and made our way to St. George, Utah where we got some breakfast and I found a computer I could use in a hotel lobby. I checked eBay and…YES! I won! We started down for Vegas when the seller called and told me the directions to his house and that he’d be there all day.

We got there, crammed the machine in the back of my parent’s Yukon and rearranged all the camping supplies (and our dog) and made it all fit. Just wanting to get home, we drove the long drive back home, which is just north of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Last night as I was going over the machine, I found something really odd: a sticker from Classy Chassis Beauty Supply. This sticker came from a store that’s local to Bountiful, Utah (I googled it, it’s the only one)…and is only about 1/2 a mile away from Fred Meyer! I had somehow found my childhood Spy Hunter. I couldn’t believe it.

The machine needs some work to fix a broken trigger button, and it needs a good cleaning up, but knowing where it came from and where it’s been, I’m never letting this one go. Here’s a picture of the machine, before I get to restoring it, and before I get it down into the arcade room.

Yeah, so I’m back from vacation in Hawaii. My real job is consuming all my free time right now, so updates will start again soon. Rock!

UNSEXY EDIT (a pic):

I was at a Rock Band event last night at Sundance and they had the wireless guitars there. They played pretty much like the ones now, but, well, wireless. They still use the leaf switches (no clicky), but they felt a lot more responsive. To tell the truth, I usually use my GHII guitar when playing, but I did fine with the new guitar. I’ve got a full writeup of the event coming in the next day or two. I spotted Paris Hilton outside (blech), 50 Cent inside, and Scott Weiland inside as well. I can’t remember the name of the band that played, I think it was Incident Zero or something like that, but I’ll get the name for the writeup. And man…the things that go on in a VIP room back stage…

Here are a couple of pics:

Me looking like a dork on stage with the new guitar.

Ladies getting in on the action. That’s Jeff Castaneda, from MTV Games, kneeling down with the big grin.

Mallika, one of Harmonix’s concept artists (I got some good info on some neat upcoming RB stuff):

Sorry, but cool details about what I learned about PS2’s future with Rock Band, a possible Wii version, DLC content, and more will come in an official writeup. Just know that it was a great event and the Harmonix and MTV Games guys are some of the happiest people I’ve ever met in the industry.

Stephen Smith, a regular contributor to the Stupid Gamer team, underwent open heart surgery yesterday to repair an aortic dissection. Steve will be hospitalized for two weeks and then will spend the next six weeks in recovery at home. Obviously we look after our own, so (unknown to Stephen) we’ve taken some of the Stupid Gamer Store commissions and sent him a little care package with some DS games to help him pass his time in the hospital and at home.

Thanks to those who have emailed or commented on Stephen’s condition. I haven’t heard from his wife yet, but she’s going to be updating us later with his condition. Obviously open heart surgery is always a risky deal, so our thoughts and prayers are going out to Stephen and his wife.

Get well soon, Stephen.

So the wife and I moved into a new home last week and one of the first things we got set up was our home arcade. For the past 6 months or so I’ve been collecting, fixing, and selling arcades, but the only place I could store them in our 2-bedroom condo was in the garage. Now that we’re in a 6 bedroom house, I was able to dedicate a room to the cause. So, here are some pics of the room (details of the arcade follow the pictures).

The arcade consists of:

• Donkey Kong - fully restored
• Asteroids - 90% restored (needs a little work on the control panel paint)
• Ms. Pac-Man - 100% restored (will still do a cap kit on the monitor though)
• Jurassic Park pinball machine - 100% original in A+ condition
• Neo Geo MVS 4-slot system in a Japanese Candy Cab. Games include:
• Metal Slug
• Metal Slug 2
• Metal Slug X
• Metal Slug 3
• Metal Slug 4
• Metal Slug 5
• Samurai Showdown II
• Ghost Pilots
• Ninja Combat
• Aero Fighters 2
• Strikers 1945 Plus
• Garou Mark of the Wolves
• Puzzle Bobble
• Magical Drop III
• Baseball Stars 2
• Shock Troopers
• King of the Monsters 2
• SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos
• Neo Mr. Do
• Andro Dunos
• Blazing Star
• …more on the way

• MAME cabinet w/ 25″ horizontal display, 2 player setup, spinner, trackball, and thousands of games (you name it, it’s on the machine)

The green tint you see to everything is due to the lighting I have. I have both a black light and green fluorescent bulb in the arcade. In person it looks great, especially with the dark blue paint on the walls. I still have room for some more cabinets, but right now I’m happy with it as it is. If the right game pops up in local listings however, we’ll see…

A video clip of a short walk through the arcade is available here (1 minute 8 seconds): http://youtube.com/watch?v=6wzsT7SuJdc

Sorry for the shaky footage. I was using a digital camera, and they aren’t the most stable things in the world to film with.

With the Halo theme coming at me from two angles (a car playing the OST loudly and a goofball strumming it out on a guitar) and a crowd of about 350 people strong surrounding me, I stood outside my local Gamestop last night and waited eagerly for them to call my number and let me in to pick up my copy of Halo 3. The sights of the launch were all very interesting. The crowd was a pretty diverse mix of kids trying to look 17 or older, parents waiting with their kids, older teens congregating in groups, mid-20s guys who seemed to only want to get the game to go back to bed, and the 30+ crowd that was all amped up to be reclaiming a bit of their youth again, even for just one night. There were skateboarders looking like idiots packing the parking lot and making everybody that drove there fear that a rogue board might slam into the side of their ride. It was quite the crowd to see.

As midnight neared, I finished up the article I was reading on The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters in GameRoom Magazine and started checking with the people around me to see if I was in the right spot in line. I found that I was about 30 people back from where I should be, so I hopped up to my correct spot and watched as people filed into the store empty-handed only to come out with a goofy grin on their face and a copy of Halo 3 in their hands. The line moved quickly, and despite being 108th in line, I was still home a little before 12:30am to unpack my Legendary Edition box and get some time in with the game.

The first hour and a half of the campaign were enjoyable, but it’s all I could manage to get in before responsibility took over and forced me to get ready for bed. I checked my friends list on Xbox Live and noticed that Halo 3 had taken them hostage and was most likely going to keep them up much later than I was willing to. All in all, it looks like the launch of Halo 3 was quite the success.

Impressions and more to follow.

Xbox
360, Xbox (Age 16 months)

On Sunday, August 5, 2007 of Bountiful, UT; beloved console of Jeff Rivera; rival of Wii and PS3; successor to Xbox; all of Bountiful, UT. Microsoft will receive notification of dead 360 on Monday. A closed casket burial will be held at the local UPS office in Bountiful, Utah. Xbox 360 is survived by roommates Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, HD-DVD drive, and many more members of the electronic world. Friends and family are encouraged to send money in lieu of flowers that will be donated to the Awareness of Crappy Manufacturing of Xbox Products Foundation. Online condolences can be expressed to

http://stupidgamer.com

I’ll be out of town starting today until Sunday and won’t have access to the Internet. Please try to live on without me.

In other news, two new writers have been given access to the blog, so when you see one of them post, make sure to give them a nice welcome.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Ok, so I’ll admit it, I’ve got some love handles, more than just a bit of a belly, and a nice layer of padding around my body. I’ve had it for years, actually. So what I’m going to try to do here is track some weight loss progress by just playing DDR a minimum of 4 times a week for the next month. I play soccer once a week, but it’s not enough to have an effect on weight. The only additional exercise I’ll be getting is maybe some pushups here and there. If I manage to lose weight, it will truly be the DDR. It might be the geekiest way to lose weight, but that’s ok by me.
Right now, on June 7, 2007, I weigh 205 lbs. For every pound I lose, I’ll find a way to incorporate into some sort of site contest. For example, if I lose 8 pounds, maybe I’ll give away at prizes or something like that.

Here are some current pics of me that I’ll have to compare myself to in 30 days. I took these right after a soccer game. I don’t typically wear soccer gear around. By that, I mean never.

A look at the belly:

A look at my calf to see if there’s improvement in tone or definition:

IT’S HAIRY! There, now you don’t need to post it.

Wish me luck!