California Extreme 2010: The Floor

Some of the ugliest people I've ever seen were in this video.

Thank you for taking the time to document the event Ryan. Looks like a cool event. I have only experienced run down Seaside Arcades in the UK, but loved them.

The first pass by the rows of pinball machines was magical.

" No-one at GB other than Vinny can hold a camera steady. He is irreplaceable. "

Ah, I had never seen one of those Asteroids machines outside of that film 500 Days of Summer.  Seems sweet.

I'll answer a few of these questions since I went today, and I'm going back tomorrow. All the machines are free to play. Some are in various states of functionality. Pretty cool to see people going around and repairing them though on the spot. 
 
No Police Trainer, I was kind of hoping to see it, but no. There are 2 Crystal Castles machines there, both are empty most of the time, I had fun playing it though.  
 
The Act looks pretty much like something along the lines of Dragon's Lair. Animated with visual cues to press buttons. They also had Dragon's Lair and Dragon's Lair II there sitting a few machines down.  
 
The noise in there is crazy, the pounding of the pinball machines, the bleeps and bloops of the arcade cabinets, it's a bit overwhelming, but awesome. Definitely found myself taking more than a few breaks at the bar to clear my brain from all the noise.  Also met Dave and Jeff at the bar, definitely seemed like cool dudes. 
  
There are some interesting folks there to say the least, a lot of parents with kids though too which is really cool. Overall just a bunch of people enjoying old games. Really sparks my interest to design a pinball machine with all the parts sellers there.
  
 Some of my personal favorites though are The Grid, SF Rush 2049, Lethal Enforcers, Top Skater, the vector cabinets definitely have an awesome look all sitting together, and of course the rows and rows of pinball.  Also there is a NBA Jam that says $200 OBO on the machine, but I hardly believe it's true.  
 
Can't wait to go back tomorrow. It's definitely all kinds of EXTREME!

" @Scrumdidlyumptious said:

" No-one at GB other than Vinny can hold a camera steady. He is irreplaceable. "

It's really, really tough to mitigate the shake on the little Kodak Zi-8 that I shot this on. Smaller form-factor means it's more susceptible to the jitters. Don't fret, though, there's some good Vinny-shot footage coming out of CAX, too! You'll just have to wait till next week for that stuff. "

wait, no text? definite youtube spam, wtf
 
 
 
jk

"
 

 THAT WAS EXTREME.

"

Do those machines take quarters or is everything free play? 

OH GOD...    MAKE THE SHAKY CAM STOP!
 
I wish I could have gone to it.  I would spend all day there.

Oh my God.  I could spend all WEEK there.
 
I'm all the way on the other side of the country (south carolina, beast coast), but part of me really wants to travel all the way out because as far as I know there's nothing like this here.

Had a blast at California Extreme today, but I do have a complaint: the number of rude players has really gone up compared to past years. When you reach the game over screen, regardless of whether its a video game or a pinball, taking a look around to see if anyone else is waiting in line is always the polite thing to do. I lost track of the number of times I totally had to "AHEM" someone out of my way after watching them attempt to credit spam something. 
 
This gets really bad with The Act. I know it's a hard game to figure out, but it's easier to just take a break and talk to someone whose good at it (WHASSUP) as opposed to just credit spamming the same sequence until someone finally complains =\

The power consumption in that place must be through the roof. 
 
Also, power stance!

Shake that camera!

Oh crazy background noise.

Aside from nearly every machine having a body on it, that looked great.

Haha this is great! Totally unexpected and totally awesome :).  Giantbomb is great for putting stuff up on a Saturday :D. 
  
Also, California Extreme is massive! So many arcade machines... So many pinball machines... So many things i have absolutely no knowledge of cause they came out before i was born! Haha :D

" First! "

AAAAAAHHH!!! Arcade machines everywhere AAAAAHHHH!!!

" @BuddyThinkhard said:

" First! "

Congrats! You win... oh wait, nobody fucking cares. "

Wow, that's amazing. Just the sounds alone were awesome.

i was just playing dig dug i didn't hack any dod servers.

What's the game at 3 minutes in, being played by the guy in an action stance?

" did jeff give his gameroom an upgrade? "

Looks fun, though I think that might be the video with the highest neck beard ratio on Giantbomb!

Even though we consoles have become the graphical showcase for video games, there's something about those old-school arcade cabinets with CRT monitors that makes them special.

That's one power station's worth of electricity right there.

More proof that women video game enthusiasts are like greens and not purples. 
Next level: stop prefixing "women" to "gamers" and treat people like people. 
Bonus round: stop prefixing "hardcore" and "casual" and treat gamers like gamers.
You have infinite continues, so keep trying until you get it. :)

Where are the broken avatars?

Awwwww... No ass cam this year. : (

Vinny's reveal was excellent.

that was a lot of pony tails.

This camera is the god damn worst.

Infinite beards!

" @Lebensbaum said:

" @BuddyThinkhard said:

" First! "

Congrats! You win... oh wait, nobody fucking cares. "

Touchy subject there, friend? "

This video would've been exponentially better if I could read any of the marquee names, because a lot of them are way blown out and Ryan moves too fast to focus on any one. Which might be the point - there is undoubtedly too much to really stop and dedicate any length of time to every specific game in a video of this style. 
 
As somebody who never really got to go to arcades except on special occasions, outside of the immediately iconic games like Pac-Man, a good 95% of this video is a blur of unintelligible nonsense to me. :p

pretty boring show by the looks

Pretty sure I saw a Primal Rage machine. Awesome.

Gluttonous =D

I want an exercise bike hooked up to a pinball machine

Motion sickness.....

kill that camera.

Suddenly, BEARDS! Thousands of them!

Man, want to be there. So many childhood memories with arcades.