California Extreme 2010: The Floor

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

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.

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

" did jeff give his gameroom an upgrade? "

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

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

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

" @BuddyThinkhard said:

" First! "

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

AAAAAAHHH!!! Arcade machines everywhere AAAAAHHHH!!!

" First! "

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

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

Oh crazy background noise.

Shake that camera!

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

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 =\

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.

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

Do those machines take quarters or is everything free play? 

"
 

 THAT WAS EXTREME.

"

wait, no text? definite youtube spam, wtf
 
 
 
jk

" @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. "

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

Looks like people still give a shit about arcades, interesting.

Looks like the dudes with pony tails who live in their mom's basement convention.

Now i miss arcades =(

I bet that place starts to smell awful with all those people packed in there. Also, even though it's not that good, hooray for Top Skater.

So beautiful.  Should...  have sent.... a poet.

This seems like a place I would want to be.

They had Police Trainer there, right? Cause nothing says arcade to me like Police Trainer.

I want to know more about The Act. 
 
I also wish I wasn't so far away from that wonderful looking place.

Wish I were there!

It does my heart good to see that many arcade machines in one place receiving the love and attention they deserve.  I will always love Arcades, even if they are only kind-of around anymore.

I bet they had Back to the Future pinball.

I would have been all over that empty Crystal Castles machine.

7:09 Kill screen. coming up.

...Is this Heaven?

 I love how at around 4:50 it becomes an asteroids quicklook for like 10 seconds. Man, that brought back some memories of sneaking into the backroom of a family friends video store and playing an old WWF Royal Rumble arcade machine they had hooked up back there for some reason. Or playing on a Pin Ball machine and that Aerosmith light gun cabinet at a local bowling alley when I was a kid..

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

That biking one was a bit messed though XD

i just love hearing the sounds from all the arcade machines at once along with all of the people