Steve RitchiePinball Design Odds and EndsCome hear one of the legends of arcade gaming. Famous for his candor and always entertaining, a speaker not to be missed. 24, Black Knight, F-14, Firepower, Flash, High Speed, No Fear, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superman, T-2 ... find out about the creative process.
The AtraiansMike Hally produced and designed over 20 games for Atari and Midway, including classics like Star Wars, Gravitar, Indiana Jones, and Road Runner; unproduced gems like Akka Arrh; and later model hits like Area 51 and Gauntlet Legends. Mike will be sharing some stories from the experience. Mike will then be joined by
Al Alcorn,
Steve Ritchie, and
Owen Rubin for a Q&A and story telling session not to be missed!
Aaron Giles12 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With MAMEThe MAME project has been going strong for 12-1/2 years now, and like any project with a giant scope, there are probably some things about it you didn't know. Come hear Aaron Giles talk about a dozen less well-known features of MAME that are designed to appeal to the collectors, the repairers, the curious, and the technically-minded. Aaron is a 12-year veteran and current coordinator of the MAME project.
The Rock-afire Explosion Movie
Fatz Geronimo. Mitzi Mozzarella. Billy Bob (no, not Thornton). You won’t hear about the tumultuous times of these fallen stars or their powerful fan base on VH1’s Behind the Music. Which is kind of surprising actually, because the background story here is every bit as enthralling as that of Journey or Quiet Riot.
Consisting entirely of animatronic robots, The Rock-afire Explosion dazzled (and in some cases, frightened) children across America at pre-
Chuck E. Cheese child-tainment chain,
Showbiz Pizza. For those of us that don’t recall the ‘Biz (or haven’t caught the circulating Rock-afire YouTube videos), director Brett Whitcomb’s touching doc serves up a nostalgic slice from a parallel 80’s universe, focusing primarily on the lives of Rock-afire inventor Aaron Fechter, and the Rock-afire’s biggest fan, Chris Thrash.
If you love films about robots, obsessive fans and/or obscure 80s pop culture, you’re in for an absolute treat. Completely devoid of irony or condescension, Rock-afire is a colorful celebration of passionate, dedicated fandom in the unlikeliest of places.
Review:
http://filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=11309Website:
http://www.rockafiremovie.comOLD SCHOOL GAMEPLAY, NEW SCHOOL TECH Even in today’s times of modern consoles and digital distribution, the timeless gameplay of classic games will always be relevant. But gameplay only goes so far when the technological bar has been raised—bringing a dated game to modern platforms is a process that goes far beyond simply emulating or porting. Gamers today expect more, and Backbone Entertainment consistently delivers by reinventing classic gameplay with high-resolution art and smart design choices to keep the experience intact while providing the complexity required in the current market.
Join Backbone’s multi-discipline crew and friends, who will cover how the studio approaches reinventing classic games for new platforms, including Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, 1942, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, Space Invaders Extreme, and the upcoming Military Madness: Nectaris.
The experts who will discuss this topic:
Sandra Lew is the Marketing Manager at Foundation 9. Sandra has been in the industry for over five years, starting in the trenches as a tester. She worked her way up at companies like TKO and SEGA to lead on titles including Condemned: Criminal Origins, and Chromehounds. Before that, she worked in PR and Marketing roles in tech companies such as Logitech and Force Computers. Sandra has been with Foundation 9 since 2006, and has worked on numerous titles for the company including Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Death, Jr. 2: Root of Evil, and Rock Band Unplugged. In her spare time Sandra likes to speed around in go-karts, discover new art, and pursue an endless array of creative projects at home.
Tanio Klyce is a Senior Engineer at Backbone Entertainment. Tanio has been at Backbone Entertainment since 2004, building tools, technology, and games. Most recently, Tanio was lead engineer on both Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 and 1942: Joint Strike for PS3 and X360. His passion for games has expanded in the past years to collecting and fixing arcade and pinball machines, which he makes available in the Backbone Kitchen Arcade in order to encourage a solid background in The Classics for the whole studio. Prior to Backbone, Tanio worked at Motion Factory, 3DO, and Secret Level.
Norm Badillo is the Art Director at Backbone Entertainment. Norm joined Backbone Entertainment as an Environment Artist and has worked on many of the studio’s games in the past 5 years, including Lead roles the Death Jr. titles for PSP and Wii. Norm’s love for videogames goes back to the first ATARI game he owned called Adventure, and he never gets tired of going to videogame stores to watch the next generation of gamers picking up a title that his teams have created. Prior to Backbone Norm worked in several production roles at EA, Atari/Infogrames, and interned for 2D animation pioneer Bob Mills.
Kyle Tunison is a Designer at Backbone Entertainment. A gamer his whole life, starting with the Star Trek pinball table at the age of three, he decided early on that he wanted to design games. After graduating with a B.F.A in Media Arts he joined Backbone. Kyle has recently worked on 1942: Joint Strike, and the soon-to-be released Military Madness: Nectaris.
Mike Mika is a self-taught assembly language programmer of the "old school" (he brags that he still remembers all the registers of the C64's 6502 processor), Mike designed and coded several games at Backbone Entertainment, where he was once Studio Head. He was also instrumental in the development of Backbone's original property, Death, Jr., and served as creative director on that title and many others before assuming the role of studio head.
Brett Davis from
Marco SpecialtiesPinball ElectronicsA driving charter point for PinScore products is to take advantage of new technology that is available, to make replacement pinball circuit boards better and more reliable than the originals. Having said this, Brett will be speaking on some of the forensic engineering he has done to make the PinScore products a reality, and provide an overview of new products coming out this Fall.
Brett Davis is the designer of all PinScore products. He has 15 years experience in hardware printed circuit design and manufacturing. He holds a MS in Computer Engineering, 10 corporate trade secrets in association with Hewlett Packard, two international defensive publications for innovative design in RAID systems, and 1 patent for computer systems architecture.
Chris KuntzMonitors: What's up with Those Thing?
Learn the magic behind how a boiling cauldron of electrons is transformed into a dazzling delight for the eyes! Suitable for the novice and SuperTech alike.
Mark Alpiger, Todd Walker and
Franz LanzingerArcade Tips and TricksThe always-popular Video Arcade Tips and Tricks panel returns with more secrets and techniques to improve your game play.
Mark Alpiger will speak on Atari's Road Runner. Todd Walker will discuss Frogger, as ex-World Champion and member of the famous Life Magazine photo, he's sure to teach you something good. Franz Lanzinger takes on gameplay of Centipede and Millipede. He's a world class player on both games.
They will also talk a little on the history of video contests, their experiences with said contests, and how they first originated and subsequently evolved back in the day.
Lenoard TaylorMastering Video Games-Becoming a better certified pro-player as I present and discuss techniques for improving your scores.
-How do you outsmart the aliens at "Galaga"?
-My experience and techniques will help so that you too can be a winner, and earn all of your ranking at the top!
-Some Highlights of Galaga will include:
How to get double ships
How to understand the alien patterns
How to master all of the challenge stages
How to seek out the bird trio
Finding the patterns of how aliens shoot in alternate waves
Robert Welkner (COIN-OP TV) & Hailey Bright (COIN-OP TV)COIN-OP TV CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS: A RETROSPECTIVE LOOK BACK WITH FOUNDER ROB WELKNERCOIN-OP TV celebrates five years of Internet Broadcasting this summer and it all kicked off back in 2004 at CA Extreme with interviews and coverage of the event. COIN-OP TV is the highest quality independent video show on the Internet that covers the video game industry, people and events. They've gone on to produce two DVD collections of the first two years of the show and have interviewed famous gaming personalities like Eugene Jarvis, Tommy Tallarico, Nolan Bushnell, Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe and more! COIN-OP TV founder Rob Welkner and host Hailey Bright will discuss the early years of the show, people they've met along the way and screen a five minute special 'highlight' video from some of the biggest names in the industry! Stick around til the end of the panel discussion for a chance to win a special limited edition COIN-OP TV Anniversary poster and/or Rick's Hot Sauce commissioned by Walter Day and Billy Mitchell.
COIN-OP TV launched in 2004 as an independent Video Podcast with interviews from world record holders, video game developers and gaming personalities. The show has always striven to bring high quality entertainment in a field where people often forget that video games are meant to be 'fun'. COIN-OP TV was founded by Rob Welkner, who's main goal was to put faces to high score records and people behind game development. COIN-OP TV started broadcasting a live and interactive show in 2006 with co-host Hailey Bright. The live show format is much like a late-night talk show where video game industry guests join Rob & Hailey in the studio. Host/producer Rob Welkner has a background in film and television and Hailey Bright (co-host) is an actress and model. COIN-OP TV episodes/info can be found at:
www.coin-op.tv and the weekly live show is part of
www.thestream.tv network.
Alex HandyDigital Archaology: How I found unreleased console games at a flea market, and what that means for our digital history.Alex Handy found around 50 EPROMs at a flea market in Oakland, and bought them for $27. They turned out to contain 4 unreleased home console games for the Atari 2600 and Colecovision. Alex will demonstrate the games, and discuss the ramifications for our collective digital history. Are more relics of our recent past doomed to vanishing, or being lost in piles of junk?
James HakolaFrom Games to Toys: Sculpting the Arcade ClassicsJames Hakola (aka "Mr.Dandy"), is a life-long gamer, nerd and thing-maker based in Long Beach, CA. He's spent the last 14 years sculpting as a career, creating toys, statuettes and other goodies for companies including Mattel, Upper Deck, Jakks Pacific, Sideshow, Capcom USA, Heavy Metal magazine, and others, as well as figures of his own design. Some of James' favorite creations are inspired by classic arcade games, some of which have been seen on G4 TV, and at the I Am 8-Bit art show in Los Angeles.
"I was excited to create the trophy sculpture for this year's show, I hope the winners this year will enjoy having one!" (They will, James, awesome job!)
James work can be seen at
www.MrDandy.com 
Bowen Kerins and
Owen RubinThe Arcade Trivia contest will also return to test your knowledge of both pinball and videos and win prizes!
