Author Topic: 2011 Speakers  (Read 30770 times)

Offline Mark Birsching

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2011 Speakers
« on: June 17, 2011, 04:21:34 pm »
California Extreme will have a full schedule of speakers and features on both pinball and video topics. Here is a preview of some of the presentations scheduled (more speakers and the schedule to be announced later):

•   Jim Whitehead – the evolution of 2d space shooter games (Shmup, STG) from Space Invaders to the present.

•   "Game Show Game Show” will be back to test your knowledge of both pinball and videos!  Please see the topic "Game Show Game Show CONTESTANTS NEEDED" to sign up and for more information!

•   Screening of the movie “Dr. Kong.”

•   "Return of the "Tips and Tricks" panel (Mark Alpiger) - Learn from some of the true masters of classic video games and improve your own skills.

•   And other great presentations in the works (to be announced).

This list is subject to change and will be updated as needed.  A full schedule with descriptions and times will be posted later.  Please check back here for more updates!
« Last Edit: June 17, 2011, 04:23:10 pm by Mark Birsching »

Offline Starstew

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Re: 2011 Speakers
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2011, 10:56:30 pm »
Excited to see a "shmup" presentation at CAX -- hope there are more shmups for play on the floor this year. 

Offline Jordan

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Re: 2011 Speakers
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2011, 01:34:10 pm »
Sounds really interesting!

Are the speakers usually there for Sat. Sun. or both?

Cheers,
Jordan

jkoolpe

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Re: 2011 Speakers
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2011, 01:39:26 pm »
In the past couple of shows, we've had the speakers exclusively on Saturday, primarily owing to the logistics of having enough manpower from the staff to take care of the details necessary to maintain the talks and keep the speakers happy :) .

As of now, these speakers will most likely be set for Saturday, although the final schedule is not yet set so this could potentially change.

But look for the majority to still go on Saturday.

See you at the show!

Jon

Offline Ken Chaney

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More detail as the lineup solidifies
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2011, 02:16:44 am »
The details are still highly subject to change, but the following should be close to what will be happening at the show Saturday July 9, 2011!
Again, times are subject to change.

Video Game Tips and Tricks  10:45 AM
Mark Alpiger, Franz Lanzinger, Jonathan Koolpe

Mark Alpiger (King of Kong fame) will host the "Tips and Trick" panel once again.  Learn from some of the masters of the classics including the skills and/or tricks they use to achieve their high scores, and maybe improve your own skills.  Games that may be discussed include Atari's classics Food Fight and Xevious, and the William's classic Bubbles.


Birkball  11:30 AM
John Birk

Birkball is a game that uses chutes to propel and aim steel balls into a target ball.  Two teams simultaneously try to knock the target ball into the opposing team's goal.  Unlike pinball, players reach into the game to grab steel balls.  The presentation will  focus on the rules of play, player  styles, history of the game, the opportunity to  bring the game into companies, and the World Championship, which is scheduled for March 3, 2012.


Shoot the Core: A design history of 2D space shooters  12 Noon
Jim Whitehead, Professor and Chair of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz

From its beginnings with Space Invaders through to recent titles such as Mushihime-sama Futari, 2d space shooters (or shmups) have followed an arc from the height of their popularity to its current status as a marginal game genre. This talk provides an overview of the evolution of shmups, and then explores different ways the genre reacted to the challenge of the 2D to 3D transition. Notable shmups will be demonstrated.

Jim Whitehead has led the formation of the computer game design major at UC Santa Cruz, where he is Chair of Computer Science. Jim is the founder and president of the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Digital Games, which runs the yearly Foundations of Digital Games conference.

Laserdisc Player Replacement  1 PM
Matt Ownby, Warren Ondras

Laserdisc games hit the arcade scene in the early 80's and blew some of us away.  Unfortunately, the laserdisc technology proved highly prone to failure in arcade environments and laserdisc games disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.  Today, attempting to get games such as Firefox working are nearly impossible due to the scarcity of working players.  All of that is about to change.

In 1999, Matt Ownby, a professional software developer and laserdisc game fanatic, created the first version of the Daphne emulator.  Today, he and Warren Ondras have been tirelessly working to provide a modern hardware replacement to every laserdisc player known to have been used in an arcade game.  Matt will talk about this new laserdisc replacement project including how the Daphne project influenced its creation, and then give a live demonstration of the first prototype (using a Dragon's Lair cabinet).


The Visual 6502 Project  2 PM
Greg James

The Visual 6502 Project aims to capture and preserve accurate models of early microprocessors and computer technology.  Working directly from hardware artifacts, the team dissects, photographs, and models each component in order to create bit-accurate simulations and visual demonstrations of the hardware's inner workings. Their interactive programmable web-based simulations at www.visual6502.org have enabled better emulation, understanding, and appreciation of classic computer and game systems.  The team is actively working on more than 100 historic computer chips.

Greg James began the Visual 6502 project in the summer of 2009, in part because the chips inside his Atari 2600 were getting hard to find.  He works as a software engineer in San Francisco for the film industry, has a degree in Physics, worked for eight years in the semiconductor industry, helped maintain a megawatt laser at Stanford, and was an intern for the Getty Museum.  He loves putting things together just as much as taking them apart, and was very happy to learn about acids that can take microchips apart.

Doctor Kong: Cutting Up the Competition  2:30 PM
Screening of Alexis Neophytides short documentary.

Blood, boobs and video games in a feel-good comedy!

The film follows New York plastic surgeon Hank Chien’s year-long journey as he challenges the Donkey Kong world record. Dr. Chien’s successful crowning as 2010 champion makes the Guinness Book of Records amid media and fan explosion. The classic gaming world scores high points with this affectionate homage.

Atari Filmfest  3 PM
Scott Evans

Scott has put together an unrivaled collection of commercials, shorts, and broadcasts from the glory days.  Relive the pinnacle days in terms of fashion and hair styles, all cast through the point of view of the arcade in this informal review.


Game Show Game Show  4 PM
Dan Amrich, Greg Dunlap, Dave Hallock, Bowen Kerins, Gene Lewin, Todd MacCulloch, Owen Rubin, Graham West and a cast of thousands (of escaped lunatics)

The Arcade Trivia Contest continues to evolve as Game Show Game Show - the ultimate test of your knowledge of pinball, video games, and the poor taste of pop culture!
This year features the return of the laugh along Match Game with a celebrity panel, and the premier of Win Gene Lewin's Money - your chance to go up against a top rank arcade trivia expert!
We'll round out the initial part of the show with a 1 vs. 100 type game.  Winners from all these games, 10 in total, will qualify for the fast finger round in:

Who Wants to Win an Arcade Game hosted by Dave Hallock
An awesomely realistic recreation of a popular game show with full audience participation via Wi-Fi!  Bring your smart phone or any Wi-Fi enabled device with a web browser, and you can log into the network and vote on every question as we play!!  10 players will begin by competing against each other with answer keypads, and one-by-one, the players with the fastest fingers will play a 15 question trivia game for the chance to win a 4-player Simpsons arcade game.  With each correct answer, many other prizes can also be won.  Using 3 lifelines, the players will be able to see the audience's Wi-Fi voting results, phone an expert for help from a list of notables who will be waiting for our call, or eliminate 2 of the 3 wrong answer choices.  Complete music and dynamic lighting effects make this a must-see!


rockage showcase  7 PM
Eric Fanali

CA Extreme has gone musical.  Rockage Showcase will be a music festival featuring ten acts from arcade relevant performers of chip tunes, sentiment from back in the day, and general game tribute.  Be sure to bring your glow sticks, space helmets, sexiest nerd glasses, etc.

7:00 -7:30 Jean Baudin
7:40-8:10 Survival Guide
8:20 - 8:50 Gnarboots
9:00 - 9:30 A_Rival
9:40 - 10:30 The Phenomenauts
10:40 - 11:10 ComputeHer
11:10 - 11:40 8 Bit Weapon
11:50 - 12:40 The Megas
12:50 - 1:20 crashfaster
1:30- Awkward Terrible (formerly The Munitionettes from Milwaukee, WI)


How to Play Pinball -- Seminars given by the pros!  Some time Saturday
Pinball Professors Bowen Kerins, Andrei Massenkoff, Keith Elwin, and Rick Stetta we be there to teach you how.

How do you think they do it?  I don't know - what makes them so good?
Learn from masters of pinball as they teach their art and techniques.  Basic to advanced methods, strategy development - learn how to play your best.


Cinelabs' CCPU - Throughout the show on the exhibition floor
Mark Shostak will be demonstrating Cinelabs' new prototype CCPU on an FPGA.
Look for the new FPGA based Vector Videogame Central Processor, powering California Extreme's TailGunner II cockpit.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2011, 11:49:46 am by Ken Chaney »

Offline Kody

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Re: 2011 Speakers
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2011, 01:35:36 pm »
California Extreme will have a full schedule of speakers and features on both pinball and video topics. Here is a preview of some of the presentations scheduled (more speakers and the schedule to be announced later):

•   Jim Whitehead – the evolution of 2d space shooter games (Shmup, STG) from Space Invaders to the present.

•   "Game Show Game Show” will be back to test your knowledge of both pinball and videos!  Please see the topic "Game Show Game Show CONTESTANTS NEEDED" to sign up and for more information!

•   Screening of the movie “Dr. Kong.”

•   "Return of the "Tips and Tricks" panel (Mark Alpiger) - Learn from some of the true masters of classic video games and improve your own skills.

•   And other great presentations in the works (to be announced).

This list is subject to change and will be updated as needed.  A full schedule with descriptions and times will be posted later.  Please check back here for more updates!


This sounds like a great time! I wish I could have been there. I will definitely have to try and make it to the next event. I am a avid game and toy collector, and this seems to be right up my alley. By the way, if anyone knows where I could pick up a really cool Toy box for storing my collection, please let me know. I have been looking everywhere, and haven't seen anything that I like yet. Thanks.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2011, 01:34:20 pm by Kody »