Monday, May 18, 2009

Video Project

So my friend and I made a bet where I had to lose 15 pounds by the middle of May. I decided to do a short video on that. The bet was, if I don't lose 15 pounds, then I would have to spar one of our friends without any fighting gear. I decided to choose the most trained of our friends, Jay.

Here's my video for final project:



It's been a month and a half that we made the bet and since I didn't reach my goal. I will be facing this man:

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Capcom at E3

Every year around June, the biggest show of the video-game industry takes place in Los Angeles. This year, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 2 through June 4.

E3 used to be open to the public but is now invitation only. In 2005, 70,000 attended E3, and 60,000 in 2006. Since it is now invitation only, the attendence averaged 3000 to 5000. This year, E3 is opening up and now including employees with purchasing power on the retail level.

The show is used by many game developers and publishers to show off their new software titles and game-related hardware. Unlike most video game conventions, E3 has a "Best of" awards session (see post on pre-E3 Judges day).

So what does Capcom have in store for E3 this year? Here's our line-up:

At the show, Capcom will be focusing on the following games:
Dark Void (PS3, 360, PC)
Lost Planet 2 (currently 360, PC)
Dead Rising 2 (will be "behind closed doors")
Spyborgs (Wii)
Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles (Wii)
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)
Marvel vs Capcom 2 (digital release for PS3, 360)
Fate Unlimited Codes (digital PSP release)
Street Fighter IV (PC)
Bionic Commando (PC)
Mega Man Star Force 3 (DS)
Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (Wii)
Capcom Mystery Game (playable in booth!)
plus games from Capcom's mobile group, Capcom Interactive!

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Pub Night

During the Game Developer's Conference last March, we hosted a "pub night" showcasing our upcoming title, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The reasoning behind the "pub night" was to allow press to get their hands on the latest installment in Capcom's most popular series, Monster Hunter.

The first pub night we had at 111 Minna was a great success that we are planning to host two other pub nights before the game releases next month. This week, while my supervisor is in New York City for a press tour, he will be hosting a pub night there.

Our next pub night will bring us back to San Francisco and will take place at Twenty-First Amendment next week, May 20. Since I couldn't make it out on the NYC press tour, I will definitely be at the pub night next week. What better way to celebrate the end of finals than drinking and showing off my favorite game to local enthusiast press?

Maybe I'll update this post with pictures after the event.

Capcom's Pre-E3 Judges Day/LA Press Tour

Last weekend, I was down in Los Angeles for Capcom's pre-E3 judges day and LA press tour. Pre-E3 judges day is an event where companies that will be attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3, show off their games to the judges for awards. The reason behind having a judges day a month before the actual show is so that companies can show the judges their upcoming titles in a more intimate setting. During the show, there is so much that is going on that the judges would be distracted from checking out the titles.

Some of the games that we showed off to the pre-E3 judges are:
Lost Planet 2, Resident Evil: the Darkside Chronicles, Dark Void and a game that I can not mention since it is under embargo until the show.

Other games that we showed off to the Los Angeles press were: Spyborgs, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Fate, and one of our most anticipated downloadable games, Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Usually I bring my camera with me on business trips/trade shows, but this time around I forgot to bring my camera. Otherwise I would have posted some pictures.

Street Fighter IV Tournament Finals

On Saturday April 18, Gamestop held their national Street Fighter IV tournament finals at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Eight of the nation's best Street Fighter IV players came out to compete to see who is the best in the nation at Street Fighter IV. Not only did they win an actual Street Fighter IV cabinet, arcade machine, the winner of the tournament, Justin Wong, got to battle Korea's national champion, Japan's national champion, and Japan's legendary Street Fighter player, Daigo Umehara.













My friend Vina and I at the event.

My staff badge.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

My First Press Tour

A couple of weeks ago, I went on my first press tour with my supervisor. We visited two media outlets, IGN.com and Future Media Publishing's Playstation The Official Magazine. The purpose for our press tour was to do an enthusiast media reach out for Capcom's upcoming title, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, out on June 23.

Our first stop was at IGN where we met up with Greg Miller. My supervisor and I brought along with us, four PlayStation Portables, PSPs, and four copies of the game. First off, we showed Miller the single player aspects of the game while in-game play footage was being captured. After showing off the single-player game, we all sat down together and did some questing together. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite supports up to four players but since there was only the three of us, we went without a fourth player.

While playing, my PSP was still hooked up to the capture station, capturing in-game footage of the three of us playing together. We went on various quests, and fought many different kinds of monsters. Although we failed in completing the quests, Miller said, he enjoyed playing it with us a lot. The in-game footage of our play session can be seen here.

After our play session ended, we joined up with Chris Roper and recorded a podcast session. It was my first podcast so I was a bit nervous; you can hear my nervousness in the podcast. We chatted for about 20 minutes talking about Monster Hunter Freedom Unite trying to get IGN's podcast listeners aware of the upcoming title.

You can download the IGN podcast off iTunes. The podcast is titled, IGN's Podcast Beyond! Episode 87, or you can just get it here. Our chat session starts at the 13 minute mark of the podcast.

After our visit to the IGN offices, we went across the street and stopped by the offices of Future Media Publishing. We met up with Eric Brachter of GamesRadar.com and Teresa Dun of PlayStation: the Official Magazine or PTOM for short.

Again we sat down with them for an hour and showed them the game trying to generate awareness. Only difference is, there was no capture station for them to capture any in-game footage.

It was a good press tour, not to mention my first press tour. With this bit of experience, I can't wait to go on another press tour in the future. Next stop, Los Angeles for the pre-E3 Judges Day.