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A reader documents their Nintendo Fusion attendance
One of our readers from the Detroit area recently attended the Nintendo Fusion Tour there and, like the class A reader he is, caught a whole bunch of the show on film, including play time with the Wii. Of course he did, we aren't a music blog after all!So head on into the post to see the embedded videos, presented after the break.[Thanks Ali!]
Fusion Tour demonstration videos
One tech-savvy attendee of Nintendo's Fusion Tour decided to snap up some footage of a few of the available games at the event. In playing Excite Truck, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and Wii Boxing, they've filmed themselves playing plenty for you to gawk at, fine reader.As always, videos are embedded into the post, after the break.[Via Go Nintendo]
Nintendo Fusion Tour begins, no one listens to the music
Truth be told, if you're headed off to one of the Nintendo Fusion Tour in numerous locations around the country, you're probably not heading there for the music. Hawthorne Heights and Relient K may excite the plebian youth, but not seasoned and impossibly articulate gamers such as ourselves. No, we are drawn to higher forms of art and diversion. Like, you know, pretending to hula hoop to earn a green checkmark on a bright screen.In any case, the NFT kicked off with its opening act in Columbus, Ohio last night, and we've got some early impressions of the event. Wii and DS units galore, but nothing Earth-shattering, save perhaps for the mysterious disappearance of the glowing blue light from the propietary slot-loading DVD drive. It's a rather disturbing absence, as that remains on the coolest aesthetic features of the console. Is it gone for good? Read the full impressions after the jump.
HD DVD takes to the road
HD DVD's promotional bandwagon is going to take to the road after Cedia '06. The format is going to tour the country courteous of a tricked out semi loaded with more TVs and HD DVD players then the guys at Pimp My Ride could handle. You have to check out the pics of this mobile entertainment, lets be honest here, sales floor. There is a theater, laptop stations, plasma TVs, and they are all in the same place. It's almost like going to a Circuit City or Best Buy, but tent sale style. Of course there isn't anything a person can pick up and buy at this event, but the exhibitors are trying to sell you something: the HD DVD format. According to the informational page, the tour is going to travel to over a dozen cities from coast-to-coast, but the tour map only shows seven cities, so lets assume they haven't updated the map just yet. Oh, and just a warning, turn down your speakers before you click the read link.
Score a free PSP t-shirt at these events
Be one of the first ten people each day to stop by the PlayStation® Experience OR PlayStation® Locker Room Challenge Tour and show them your PSP system to get a free "limited edition" PSP t-shirt. The PlayStation® Experience Schedule Date Event City, State Venue Aug 3-6 ESPN Summer X-Games Los Angeles, CA Staples Center/Home Depot Center Aug 17-20 Vans Invitational: Dew Action Sports Tour Portland, OR Rose Quarter Aug 25-27 IRL Grand Prix of Sonoma Sonoma, CA Infineon Raceway PlayStation Locker Room Challenge Tour Schedule Date Market Retailer Address Time Aug 4-6 Hartford, CT Wal-Mart 155 Parkway North, Waterford, CT 06385 Aug 11-13 Manchester, NH Wal-Mart 300 Keller Street, Manchester, NH 03103 Friday, 2pm – 8pm Aug 18-20 Queensbury, NY Wal-Mart 591 Route 9, Queensbury, NY 12804 Sunday, 11am – 7pm Aug 25-27 Buffalo, NY Wal-Mart 4255 McKinley Pkwy, Hamburg, NY 14075 Sunday, 11am – 7pm Sep 1-3 Cleveland, OH Wal-Mart 8303 West Ridgewood Drive, Parma, Ohio 44129
Go to concert, play with the Wii
As gamers, you're probably only concerned with music composed by Nobuo Uematsu or Michiru Yamane, when in fact there is a whole world of alternatives, good alternatives out there. So do yourself a bit of good, go out into that wide world (watch out for bears) and discover things for yourself. Oh, and while you're out there, why not attend a concert and play with the Wii. Some of the bands playing in the Nintendo Fusion Tour 2006 are Hawthorne Heights, Relient K, Emery, and The Plain White T's. There's no mention as to what capacity the Wii's presence will be in at the show, but something is better than nothing, eh? For those who did not get to try the console at the yearly Electronic Entertainment Expo, this is a good chance to give it a spin before it launches. [Via Codename Revolution]
JVC HD-ILA goes on tour
JVC has hit the road and coming to a major city near you. This years "The JVC Perfect Experience Road Tour" is bringing you new HD-ILA HDTVs and Everio, their hard disk drive camcorders. They have two decked out tour buses, one for each side of the country, and they are going to run for 90 days. The tour is going to visit retail locations in 34 states to train employees and educate customers. Because of the amount of area they are going to cover, the buses are going to stop at three or four stores during the weekdays to train the employees, but on the weekends, the tents go up and the fun starts for the average Joe. The tour starts in Tampa, FL on June 23rd.
Video Games Live seats in Indy up for sale
Tickets are now on sale for the two Video Games Live shows planned in conjunction with Gen Con Indy Friday & Saturday, August 11-12.After a stop in Philly earlier this month, the VGL tour is moving on to Houston July 14th, Chicago August 5th, and then Indianapolis the weekend after that. More on reserving seats for the Hilbert Circle Theatre can be found on the official announcement page (via the pic to the right or the Read link below).Judging by the reviews of the Philly show so far, Video Games Live sounds like it could be a lot of fun. If they keep providing public access to Guitar Hero II, they may have sold this blogger on going already. We hope Midwestern gamers not attending the Chicago show can make a pitstop in Indy to keep Tommy's show on the road. So, yeah ... rock on.See also: Official VGL report from Philly (with some local links to boot) Video Games Live ticket purchases opened a bit early The official page for Gen Con Indy PS2 impressions: Guitar Hero II
Chicago signing for Uematsu, Aki, & Roth tonight
Are you in Chicago tonight for the big PLAY! concert tomorrow, but weren't willing to shell out $125 for the VIP meet-and-greet at the event? Well, you might be in luck (even if you're not attending), as a few famous folks from the concert will be on hand to sign autographs in Chicago proper for free tonight.From 7 to 9 PM (presumably Central time) at the Tower Records store on 2301 N. Clark St., Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, bilingual songstress Angela Aki (who wrote and sang the theme song for FFXII), and Principal Conductor and Music Director of PLAY! Arnie Roth will be signing autographs to promote the world-tour premiere of 'PLAY! A Video Game Symphony' and the CD for More Friends - Music from FINAL FANTASY.While this blogger is sadly occupied with prior engagements tonight, gamers in the area are more than welcome to mob that Tower Records and cause the store's employees much consternation and bewilderment. If you don't have any imported CDs to sign, however, don't fret: the store's web site claims to have "some awesome Japanese imports available for you to purchase and have autographed at the event." Not only that, Angela Aki will be performing live as well. Score! Anybody wanna tell us how this evening turns out when it's all sung and done?[Via The Daily Northwestern; image culled from Angela Aki's blog, Nobuo Uematsu's Squenix profile, and Arnie Roth's 2005 interview with IGN]See also: Official page for Tower Clark Street (with details on the signing) Ticketmaster site for the PLAY! concert debut tomorrow Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
News wrap-up from E3!
The industry's biggest event is now over, and while posting on the Joystiq mothership maybe have taken up all of our time, we can't forget about our Fanboys. We've got some post-E3 reflections on the way, so get ready. Here's an aggregate of the show coverage: Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Sony's PlayStation 3 E3 event PS3 impressions: Resistance Fall of Man PS3 impressions: Sonic the Hedgehog PS3 Impressions: Heavenly Sword PS3 impressions: Virtua Tennis Joystiq hands-on: new PS3 controller Joystiq Video: Resistance Fall of Man E3 Vox Populi: What are your thoughts on the PS3 prices? E3 Vox Populi: Will lack of rumble hurt the PS3? E3 Vox Populi: Who had the best press conference? E3 booth tours: Sony A look at EA's new realism tools The PS3 controller that might have been Sony's PS3 is still $600 Microsoft befriends Nintendo in fight vs Sony First look: The Club (Xbox 360 & PS3) The jacket that says "I can afford a PS3" Sony's Play Beyond campaign played up at E3 Extended 15-minute MGS4 trailer on the hour PS3 worth its weight in Uranium Dual Shake functionality tacked on at last minute Anatomy of shame: Dual Shake vs. Wiimote Sony steals motion idea, but not from Nintendo New PS3 controller loses DualShock vibration PS3 investing in tangible user interfaces PS3: A tale of 2 SKUs Clash of the Consoles: a sneak peek! PlayStation 3 in its final form The real PlayStation 3 controller revealed Final Fantasy XIII announced for PS3
NCsoft's E3 booth tour
NCsoft's booth was mostly about the games, with banks of PC stations set up for passers-by to play at. There were plenty of knowledgeable staff on hand, and plenty of t-shirt giveaways. However, the booth's main attraction was its stage -- when we visited, The Mutaytor was helping to create the post-apocalyptic atmosphere appropriate to Tabula Rasa. At other times in the day, Guild Wars tournaments took centre stage, with large crowds gathering to watch top PvP teams face off. Between this and the pyrotechnic dancing, we really managed to get a feel for the atmosphere of NCsoft's game offerings, something which few other booths managed to convey.
E3 booth tours: Magic the Gathering
These guys were almost hidden in the West Hall near our blogging setup on the show floor. But as you can see, Magic the Gathering has quite an interesting setup. During the time I checked it out, they were having a tournament for their multiplayer game.
E3 booth tours: Atlus
They're not as big as Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft, but Atlus has a cool booth construction definitely worth taking a quick peek at.
E3 booth tours: Sony
In an ongoing attempt to bring E3 as close as possible to you, the reader, here's a brief look into the Sony booth. Enjoy!
