BYU Club Kickoff and First Official Meeting

Hope everyone is doing well! BYU is having a kickoff event for BYU clubs and we are going to be participating. We can show people what our club is about while also presenting a music video we made. The music video is for the song "Still Alive" found in the game Portal. Other than the video, we will be advertising and playing video games (while advertising). Everyone is welcome to come and help! We are in need of TVs/monitors and video game consoles so let us know if you can bring any, but it is fine to come without bringing anything.  Please bring any games you have that are family friendly and good multiplayer games.  The event is Tuesday Sept 13 from 11:50am to 1pm at Brigham Square.

In other news, our first official club meeting will be next week.  I will update this post with the time and location tomorrow.  There will be some refreshments so don't eat too much for dinner.  We can't wait to see everyone!

Joshua Matern

VGAME Gaming President

First Meeting of the Semester!

We will be having our first meeting next Tuesday, Sept 6, at 7pm.  We will be meeting at our Keep Guardian's house (Malia) at 444 S 300 W.  Food will be supplied but please bring drinks if you can.  The meeting will be mostly a social event where you can eat, chat, make friends, and, of course, play video games!  We have two xbox 360 consoles and an xbox to play, but if anyone wants to bring other consoles like a Wii and more monitors or TVs then please do.  We will also discuss a bit about club plans for the semester. See you all there!

Joshua Matern
Gaming President

New Semester

Hope everyone had an excellent summer!  With a new semester starting tomorrow that means we will be holding meetings and events again.  The first week we will not have a meeting so that everyone can adjust to classes again and so that we can choose a definitive time to have the meetings.  The tentative plan right now is to have them every Thursday at 7pm, but we would very much like everyone's input to know when is best for them.  We will also be drawing up a volunteer schedule for who can present at meetings and do the game of the week.  For more information on that, please visit the forums.  To let us know when you can or can't make a meeting and to let us know the best time for you, please comment here, comment at the forums, tell us on Facebook, or let us know some other way.

See you gamers later!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

First Gamer Log

Check out our first podcast!  We discuss soon to be released games, games we are playing now, and some club business.  Hear gaming news, our opinions, and the many tangents we wander.

We Have a Website!

Hello readers!  I hope you're all having a good summer.  I certainly am - my Stake President submitted my mission papers to Salt Lake, and I'm betting I'll have an announcement for you all in about two weeks!

Anyway, you're probably all wondering why I called you here tonight.  Well, if you read the title to this post, you'd know already.  Go ahead, I'll give you time to quickly glance up to refresh your memory.  Ready? Good, because I here go!

I have finally wadded through the thick waters of BYUSA bureaucracy, and we now have a working website!  Took us three months, but we've finally made it.

Anyway, if you go to vgame.byu.edu, you'll be able to see all the awesomeness that has been put together.  The site is still undergoing construction and modification, but is functional and has been deemed worthy for publication.  We a very basic blog-like announcement front page, with (this is my favorite part!) forums for all of us to chat and have fun on.

The forums are also undergoing maintenance, so feel free to shoot me an email (you can find my support email on the website's contact us page) detailing any errors or things you think the website should have.

Right now you need to create a personal account for the website to comment on any of our updates or use the blog, but we're hoping to *maybe* integrate your RouteY login information.  However, you'll need to make a new account for now.

So, if you haven't already, hurry up and head over to vgame.byu.edu, create an account, post in the forums, and have a grand old time!

Until next time,

Andrew Blomquist
Online Dude

Summer Approaches!

Well, it seems like things are finally warming up for good here in Utah.   Time for an update on everything that has been going on!

So first off, apologies about the podcast.  I somehow lost the mp3 file for it and so have not been able to post it.  I am going to have to do a thorough search of my hard drive to find it, so I'll keep you updated.  Seriously, I don't know where it has gone!  The search function is not functioning!

In other news, our resident Game Warden, Andrew, is working on getting the website set up.  He is all ready; we are just waiting for the people at BYU to sort stuff out.  Seriously, with the service we get for clubs from BYU, I am glad they are not a hospital.  Most patients would be dead!  When the website is set up, we will be moving our weekly(ish) updates to there and the blog will be an opinion and news place where we will write commentaries and, of course, reviews.  Speaking of reviews, I will be posting several soon.

Game news!  Our game is progressing rather well.  I have the engine we will be using and it is rather simple to use.  All the female characters have been written up and we will be starting on the storyline, dialogue, events and scenarios.  The one thing we need more of right now is artists.  As of right now, Calvin has graciously volunteered his services as an artist, but we would like at least one more artist to volunteer so that things can progress quickly and smoothly.  Also, we don't want to put too much strain on Calvin!

At the beginning of June, we were contemplating on having a video game party with food.  Everyone would bring something to eat or drink and we could all play games together for a few hours.  If you have time then let me know!  Once I know who can come, I'll make a Facebook event with the date.  We can probably have it at my place in Highland/Alpine if that is not too inconvenient for everyone.

Lots of games have come out!  Portal 2, Brink, L.A. Noire, and scores more.  I am playing through Resonance of Fate so I have not gotten to any of the brand new ones yet, but if anyone else has then feel free to post a review!

All right gamers, nice talking with you and I hope to see you later! Peace.

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Artists Wanted!

We need artists for the new game we are creating! Seeing as it is a RPG/Dating Sim, we will need art for the characters, backgrounds, items, etc.  We will most likely be doing a visual novel style of game so the artwork is very important.  Anyone can apply!  If you are interested then email me, comment, or whatever to let me know.  Tell me what you think your specialties are as an artist and how much of your time you can put into this.  Thank you everyone!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Spring Time!

Well everyone, it was a great first semester for the club.  We had plenty of events, fun meetings, a speaker, commercial, podcast (which will be up soon), and even got to present at the Unforum!  Not bad for a club only 4 months old.

So for Spring and Summer we will not be having any regular meetings or events, but that doesn't mean we will never get together for gaming!  Saturday online gaming is still going on, so every Saturday from about 1pm-5pm expect at least one member to be playing online that you can join.  We will be on Xbox Live, League of Legends, Steam, and several other online communities.  Don't forget to post your gamer tags on the Facebook page if you want to be able to add everyone!  We will also occasionally hold an unofficial meeting where we can get together and play games at someone's apartment, but that depends on time and availability.  If anyone is willing to host an event, feel free to tell us!

Projects for the club this Spring and Summer are getting the club banner completely designed so that we can get it made first thing in the Fall, making our club game, trying to get tickets for a video game event (E3, etc.), and getting two more podcasts done and posted.

I have started creating our club game and hope to get it done by Fall.  For those of you who didn't come to the last two meetings, the game will be a RPG Dating Sim set in BYU.  The titular character is a return missionary who has just entered his first semester at BYU and needs to get married by the end of his second semester or be condemned to shame and bachelorhood forever!  (Yes, this game is a parody of BYU culture)  Plans have already been made for a sequel that has the main character be a girl and an expansion that involves zombies (suggested by our Game Warden).

Right now, I need to decide which engine to use to make the game.  As such, I want your opinions.  Should I use an engine suited for making visual novels (which is what most dating sims are) called Renpy, or should I use an engine that would allow for a more traditional RPG?  If we do go for a visual novel approach, I would need help with the art because I can not draw very well.  Opinions in the comment section!

Hope you all have a great Spring!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Winter Semester Almost Done!

What's up everyone?  So, if you didn't go to the speaker event Wednesday then you missed out.  It was an amazing presentation and definitely made me consider going to SMU to study how to make video games.  They did an excellent job showing why video games are a growing market and how the skills there could easily be transferred to other careers for good pay if you so desired.  You can also have a great career in the video game industry though, so don't think no money is there. The pizza and fan art were good too! I believe that everyone who attended enjoyed it, so I consider it a great success!

The Unforum dress rehearsal is tomorrow, 8:30pm at the Marriott Center.  If you want to participate in the Unforum, you MUST come tomorrow.  It looks like it will be very enjoyable and a great opportunity to advertise our club.  The actual Unforum is Tuesday, and we will need to get there by 10:00am.  Please come and help out!

Our last meeting of the semester will be this Thursday.  It is a reading day so we hope that almost everyone can come since classes won't be interfering.  We will be discussing the future of gaming, specifically what we hope will come, what we know is coming, and how we can influence future of video gaming.  We will also play some games, chat, and have fun!  We can't wait to see you!

On a slightly sadder note, JS Lewis, our online steward, said he will be stepping down as an officer due to an increased work load and studies.  He has done a lot for the club and was instrumental in helping it start.  It is quite saddening losing him.  He will still be a member though so don't think that this is goodbye.  He will also soon be choosing a new online steward so if you think you might be interested then let him know.

Well, that's everything!  Have a good week and be ready for finals!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Latest Going-Ons

Hey there everyone!  Hope you are all doing well and are ready for our speaker to come.  Remember, in addition to the speaker there will be pizza and a fan art contest.  So if you want to enter, then feel free to do so!  There will be a small prize to the winner, and the winner will be decided by a written vote.  No talent required, it is supposed to be fun!

In other upcoming news, the Unforum will be occurring April 12 and our club will be part of the show.  The Unforum is basically a forum where campus culture is showcased, including clubs.  This will be a great chance to advertise our club and attract new gamers!  For the Unforum, we will be doing a small skit that will basically be an intro for clubs in general and then we will do our own skit that will be us explaining about our club in a creative way.  We are currently thinking of ideas for what we want to do and our deadline for our final plan is Thursday night, so we will be discussing it for part of our meeting Thursday.  In addition, we encourage all club members to come to an Unforum prep meeting next Tuesday at 7pm.  If you want to participate, you need to come, and we want at least 5 people to come.  There will also be a dress rehearsal  Monday April 11 8:30-10:30pm.  It will be fun, so come!

This next meeting will be led by Malia and will be about video games in fan fiction.  I am personally looking forward to this and believe it will be insightful and hilarious!  If you know anything about fan fiction, I am sure you will feel the same.  We are also advertising Mon, Tues, Wed before the speaker event so if you can help, please come!  We will be in the Wilk.  See you all tomorrow!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

SMU Speaker, Dinner, and Fan Art Contest Facebook Event

Made a Facebook event for the upcoming event.  Add yourself and invite others!  We expect ALL members to be there unless you have a valid reason you can not come and tell us beforehand.  See you there!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=546742636#!/event.php?eid=190007747708114

Current Events

What's up everyone?  Hope you are all doing well and having a great week!

Our next event and LAST gaming event for this semester is this Friday from 6-11pm in Room 340 Crabtree.  The ROTC has taken our usual spot.  This will be a CONSOLES ONLY event so bring any console and screen that you want so that more people can join the fun!  There will also be a Halo Reach Tournament with a prize for the winner, so get ready!  Please feel free to invite anyone you want to come.

We are currently advertising Monday and Wednesday from 1pm - 5pm in the Wilkinson Center every week.  We are also advertising Tuesday from 12-4, and any other day that people have time.  Seriously, there are always open booths that we can grab.  We encourage EVERY member to spend some time helping advertise, even if it is just for an hour.  We want to have as many people join as we can and get as many people to the Guildhall speaker and dinner event as possible.

Tomorrow, Thursday, is our next meeting so we hope to see many people there!  The subject will be on Professional Gaming, meaning when you play games for money.  It is sure to be very interesting and full of discussion.

We will be putting out a podcast and a commercial soon for the club so be ready for that.  We will tell you where to find them when we have them done!  We also will soon be making club t-shirts and want to know who wants one! They will probably be around $7.

Finally, a big welcome to our newest officer, Malia Beckstrand!  She will be our Keep Guardian (Treasurer) and will have all the duties and authority that come with the title, so please welcome her!  We are sure she will do an excellent job.

See you all next week and game on!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Speaker Event: Break Into the Video Game Industry

Check out the Guildhall's ad for the speaker event April 6!

Break Into the Video Game Industry

VGAME Officers

GAMER NEWS

NEW RELEASES

"Stacking," the latest game from Double Fine (the mad team behind "Brutal Legend" and the masterpiece that is "Psychonauts"), just hit the electonic shelves earlier this week. You see, it is only available for digital download on Xbox 360 and PS3. I was looking quite forward to this game and have spent a little time with the demo. You play as Charlie, the smalls Russian nesting doll around. You can jump into dolls bigger than you, taking control of them and utilizing their special abilities to solve puzzles. The cutscenes are novel and the gameplay is jolly. Anything that hearkens to "Space Station Silicon Valley," where you play a hijacking microchip of robotic animals, is a pleasantry. That said, everyone speaking in text boxes left me a little overwhelmed in crowds. Running into frequent identical dolls also was a minor let down. Still, it is getting great reviews. You can read what GameSpot had to say here.

I did not even know of the video game series "You Don't Know Jack" until now. GameSpot gave the latest a 8.0 (for "great") in their video review. It is a trivia game that gets a little a flippant about its duties (as one might suppose from the title). GameSpot is not alone in heralding the zesty game, it currently has an 84% on metacritic.

"Pokemon White" and "Black" for the Nintendo DS hit shelves two days ago (on a Sunday, I know, weird right?). Of course, it is the same tried-and-true formula with some new features slapped on, namely the 3D-ish environments. IGN gave the game a 9 and labeled it "Amazing." Click here for access to their written and video reviews. The game currently has an 87 on metacritic.

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COMING SOON

One of the games I am most looking forward to this year (third to "Skyrim" and "Portal 2") is "L.A. Noire." Made by Team Bondi and published by the ever-reliable Rockstar, it is shaping up to look stellar. Check out this interview with Rob Nelson of Rockstar juxtaposed with plenty of gameplay action. The technology behind the game (especially the secret behind those state-of-the-art facial animations) is legit. The "L.A. Noire" equation in my head? Take "Mafia," set it in Los Angles and you play as a detective instead of a gangster. I am looking very forward to May 17th.

Before Tim Burton got his hands on the "Alice in Wonderland" franchise (which turned out to be a rather disappointing venture) there was "American McGee's Alice," a macabre and bloody action game based on Lewis Carroll's books. Now, American McGee and his team at Spicy Horse are finishing the sequel, "Alice: Madness Returns," due this summer (June 14th). Here is the trailer and gameplay. I feel the twisted visuals and overall lunacy demonstrated herein surpasses what you may have seen in theaters last year and that is what Alice is all about. Still, no adaptation can surpass the under-appreciated masterpiece that emerged from Disney studios in 1951.

If I am going to buy one game this year, it is going to be "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim." The first trailer (with gameplay!) came out last week. All of the excitement that I had in the months before "Oblivion" released is coming back! It is a grand time to be a gamer. Charles and Ryan from IGN breakdown the trailer in a hearty session ofRewind Theater. There is so much to dissect herein and they do a great job (even managing to point out the nirnroot that I honestly missed!). 11.11.11 is the day.

Check out the powerful announcement trailer for yet another zombie video game, "Dead Island." It is beautiful and it is disgusting. That sounds ridiculous, I know, but see it and you will know what I mean. It left me pondering if the only way a zombie tale can have a happy ending is if you are telling it in reverse. Personally, I am sold based on a few words in the description for the game: "open world... survival on a zombie-infested island." Well, I guess the correct phrasing would be it is an "open island" game. Some dedicated journalists at IGN have recut the trailer to chronological order and analyze it in this 8-minute video. "Dead Island" is made by the folks at Techland who are otherwise noted as the makers of "Call of Juarez" series, which I have not yet played and will therefore not comment on. "Dead Island" is due sometime this year.

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EXTRA!

At the Game Developers Conference this year, Toru Iwatani (the creator of Pac-Man) spoke on the influences and development of the arcade classic from 1980. Check out IGN's entertaining and informative article, "7 Things You Never Knew About Pac-Man."

Xbox Live Arcade is one of the best platforms for gaming today. With new releases every week and with multiple 5-star titles already in the library, it is an easy sale for anyone interested in games. Besides that, every game is required to have a playable demo! Last year IGN posted their "Top 25 Xbox Live Arcade Games." My only grievance is that their placement of "Braid" is much too low... Still, their #1 is a pleasant surprise!

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GAMER NEWS as seen at THE VIDEO GAME TOME

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J.S. Lewis
Online Steward

March Video Games

FYI:  The facebook message saying to look at the newest blog post is talking about the one after this.  I am just a wee bit slow in getting my posts done.  Anyway, being the Game Warden and all, one of my duties is to keep people up to date with general gaming.  I say general gaming because I can't keep track of every freeware game that pops up, or the newest Jap-only puzzle game that came out yesterday.  So, I thought I'd start with a post showing all the awesome stuff the month of March has in store for us.  Ready?  Hope you are, because March is here whether or not you like it.

Rift, March 1st.

One of the newest MMORPGs out there.  Thankfully, this is offered via Steam, so I didn't need to look very far for some basic information.  I'd call it your standard MMORPG; quests, player-to-player interaction, guilds and stuff, but one of the big focuses for this game is its PvP action.  Why?  Because every article I read had stuff about the PvP.  The creators really like that aspect.

Pokemon, Black/White Editions March 6th

What can I say... its a Pokemon game.  Granted, I strongly avoid them because of my completion-ist gaming attitude.  With Pokemon, I ended up trying to get all creatures to level 100, then all evolutions of a creature to level 100, then each one with the different abilities.... suffice to say, I must avoid Pokemon.

Dragon Age 2 March 8th

Its Dragon Age!  Bioware is at it again, this time toting a more action-packed game than the game before it.  I found the UI of the demo much more user-friendly (I'm a PC guy, so I can't vouch for the console version) than the game before.

HomeFront March 15th 

Trailers call it the second American Revolution.  People are calling it awesome.  One more FPS to add to the list of games to play.

Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy March 22nd

Like I said in the last meeting, this game has got the weirdest name I've seen on a sequel.  I don't even try to pronounce it.  Sequel to Square's successful Final Fantasy Action/Fighter game, this one boasts more characters (to name a couple: Tifa, FF7, Vaan, FFXII, and Lightning, FFXIII), a world map, and better gameplay.  We shall have to see, just like any other game, I suppose.

Crysis 2 March 22nd

To be honest, I have yet to play Crysis, so I can't vouch for the awesomeness of the first game, but, if they're making a second, the first must have been successful enough.  However, I remember people saying Crysis made their computer catch on fire, so I can only expect the sequel to have groundbreaking graphics as well.


This is only a very small list of what is to come.  Please, please, please!  Feel free to add comments detailing opinions on above games, games that I failed to mention that you think I should have mentioned and you'll hate me forever for not mentioning, and anything else!  That's what comments are for, after all.

And... Now I need to go do my homework.  See you guys later!

Andrew Blomquist
Game Warden

Post-Charity and News

So the charity fundraiser has come and gone.  Thanks to everyone who came!  I personally had a lot of fun and was very glad to see our eminent adviser there too.  Unfortunately, not nearly as many people came as we had hoped, so we will have to try harder with advertising next time.  Still, we are very happy for all the money we were able to raise for One Laptop per Child, and we hope we are able to bless the lives of some children.

Now the main focus we have is the speaker coming April 6!  We plan on advertising that for the whole month of March to get as large a turnout as possible.  We encourage everyone to volunteer time to advertise!  Just tell us when you can and we will reserve the time for you and a partner.  We will also be having a game playing event in between, but this one will be strictly consoles.  Details for the location will be coming soon, but expect it to be in the same room as usual.  For that one, we encourage everyone to bring a screen or console!  Also, if you think you know anyone interested in attending either event, then let them know.  We want as many people as possible to come and game with us!

So about our club banner. We sent in a design for the banner to the campus design team, but they rejected it as too complicated and being copyright infringement, despite saying previously that it would not be copyright infringement.  Go figure.  So two weeks ago we sent in another, simpler design, and they said it was still too complicated for the free hour of design we get.  So basically, for the design we want, we would need to pay them for three hours of designing.  We are working out whether we want to come up with some way to raise money or just go for a super simple design that can be done in an hour, which basically means words and colors.  If you want to voice your opinions or ideas, post them in the comments!

Malia will be leading the discussion this Thursday so everyone come and participate!  Also, tell us if you would like to lead a discussion too!

Gaming news this week:  Dragon Age II comes out tomorrow and Crysis II later this month (22nd).  Pokemon Black and White came out and received a lot of positive reviews.  Shogun II Total War will be out the 15th, and for those of you interested, Alice: Madness Returns has a new, freaky trailer!  That is just a smattering of the news, but I'll let our esteemed Game Warden post the rest.

Well, that's the news!  Hope everyone has a great week and I'll see you Thursday at 7!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Care Week and Speaker

Care Week starts tomorrow, but as for our club, we are having our event Friday.  It will be in the usual location in Room 365/375 of the Crabtree but the event goes from 4pm to 10pm.  There will be prizes for three different tournaments and of course there will just be casual gaming going on.  There is a $5 entrance fee which goes to the charity, but larger donations are encouraged! Something exciting for this event is that we actually have fliers now so we can get the word out much more efficiently!  There is also a Facebook event for Care Week as well which has been made by BYUSA.  I encourage everyone who is planning to go to register your attendance.  Just search for BYU Care Week and you should be able to find the event no problem.

In other news, after considering all of the responses we received, it seems that Wednesday night for dinner will be the best time to have the speaker come.  I told the Guildhall rep that a Wednesday night would suit us best, and he said he should be able to come April 6.  So mark your calendars for then!  We will start advertising for the speaker event right after Care Week so that as many people as possible can hear about it and come, but we will still have at least one more gaming event before that.

Next meeting will be led by our esteemed adviser, Dale Rowe.  He will be demonstrating how to turn a Wii-mote into an electronic whiteboard, so a $1000+ product for $25.  Remember, if you want to lead a meeting discussion, just tell us.  We look forward to hearing from everyone about video gaming subjects that particularly interest them, whether it be about FPS, the Legend of Zelda, how to optimize your computer for gaming, the history of video gaming, or anything else.

I hope everyone has a good week and we all hope to see you at the next meeting and at the Care Week event!  Game on gamers!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

News and More

Hope everyone had an excellent three day weekend!  I certainly enjoyed the club event that kick-started it and had a good time the rest of the weekend too.  Many thanks to everyone who made the club event so entertaining!

The most important news right now is that starting in March, all club meetings will be moved to Thursday.  They will still be from 7pm - 8:30 pm and will still be in Room 340 of the Crabtree.  This is to accommodate the numerous members who are starting a second block class that takes up their Tuesday nights.  Hopefully, this will allow some people who could not come to meetings before to come now.  We are very sorry for anyone who will not be able to make these Thursday meetings, but we still hope to see you at club events!


In two weeks, we will be having our charity event where we will be raising money for One Laptop per Child.  This non-profit organization supplies inexpensive, custom made laptops to children in developing countries in order to assist them in their education.  Their website can be found at http://one.laptop.org/.  We will be hosting a special charity event where we will have video game playing, video game contests with prizes, and a special marathon of Desert Bus.  For this event, there will be an entrance fee for everyone, which will be donated to the organization.  Anyone who comes is welcome to donate more if they so desire, but there will be a minimum fee.  When we have more details, we will let you know.

I am also creating a new discussion topic on Facebook where everyone can post their gamer tags if they so desire.  This will help us have our Saturday gaming meets where club members get online in the afternoon and play online together.  Your officers hope to be able to game with some of you on Saturdays!

That's the news of the week!  Look for an upcoming blog post about the speaker event for more info on that.  Later!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Speaker Coming to Visit!

Attention all club members (and anyone else reading this)!  A member of the faculty from The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has asked to come speak with us about the graduate program offered at his university.  According to them, they run "the nation’s premier graduate program for game development education" and they would very much like to come talk with us.

The topics for the presentation, in their own words, "will center around our graduate program at The Guildhall at SMU as well as a scholarship that we are rolling out specifically for undergraduate students who wish to earn a master’s degree in art creation or software development for games."  We wish all club members to come! 

SMU has graciously offered to sponsor a lunch or dinner for our club, and so we wish to get a general consensus of when is best for everyone.  We were currently considering Wednesday for lunch at noon or Thursday evening for dinner, but we want to know when is best so please tell us.  Please respond on the Facebook group wall by next Monday evening. We will let everyone know what the official date and time is when it is decided.

Also, BYUSA has made it clear that they want as many people to come to the speaker events as to the gaming events, so we have made it a policy that if you are absent from the speaking event without a valid reason that you tell us before the event, then you will be unable to come to the next gaming event.  So if you absolutely can't make it, please let us know!  Hope to see everyone there!

Josh Matern
Gaming President

Video Game Music

Thank you everyone for coming to last night's meeting!  As promised, here is a few links you can follow for music-related websites.

The homepage for OverClocked ReMix.
The homepage for OverLooked ReMix.
The homepage for the Bad Dudes.
The homepage for Metroid Metal.
The homepage for the Video Game Music Archive

After the presentation, someone asked where I had obtained the Distant Worlds CDs, so I'm providing a link here.

Someone also mentioned Beyond Good and Evil as a great game for music/story/etc.  So, being the PC gamer that I am, I looked it up on Steam/Games for Windows, etc.  And found it on Steam for 10 bucks.  I plan on getting it, and I thought it would be nice to let you all know it is readily available as a DD.

If I forgot any links, or you want to share you're own, go ahead and comment!  That's what the button is for, after all!

Andrew Blomquist
Game Warden

Gaming Award News

The 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards has taken place and news about which games got awards is now out.  This award ceremony celebrates creative games and those who create them and is sponsored by The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).  So basically it is an art and science award ceremony for video games.  Their pick for 2010 game of the year is none other than Mass Effect 2!  Congrats to that game and its creators! That is also more evidence that I need to play that game as soon as I can.

That wasn't the only award of course and many other games received a nice collection.  Red Dead Redemption, although missing out on game of the year, scored 5 awards this year.  Heavy Rain also made a strong show and received several awards.  A bit more of a surprise was that Angry Birds won an award as well as Limbo.

For the full list and article go to http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/114/1149224p1.html


I am glad that there is recognition such as this for video games as art and mostly agree with the awards they handed out, although sometimes it is nice to see awards given to games you wouldn't have given them to and find out why they chose that game instead.  The only fault I can find is that Halo Reach is not mentioned at all.  Seriously, what is up with that?

Josh
Gaming President

What's Update

Last meeting went well if I do say so myself.  It was fun and informative looking at all the new games coming out for 2011.  For those of you who want a list, one of the best ones I found is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_in_video_gaming

It has the title, platform, and date for games that have release dates announced.  Check it out!  Too bad more people did not bring games for the bazaar, but props to those who did.  Our next meeting will be about music in video games and will be led by our very own Game Warden, Andrew.

The next event is all lined up for next Friday!  It will go from 6-11pm this time and we expect to have a Wii, two Xbox 360s, and 40 PCs.  It is in the same room as the first event.  Your officers hope that everyone can come!  The more, the merrier!

We will also soon be getting business cards and will hopefully have more time to advertise soon.  Also, we have put in the paperwork for our banner, so expect to see that soon too!  In addition, we now have a twitter account for the club.  Look for vgamebyu and follow club tweets.  Get the latest news!

Have a good week everyone and don't let those midterms get you down!

Josh
Gaming President

Multiplayer Gaming Event!

In case you didn't hear, the first event for the club will be happening today from 6 to 10pm in room 365 of the Crabtree.  Brings screens and consoles if you want, but games will have to be cleared by officers and the adviser, Dale Rowe.  Also, if you are planning on playing on the computers, bring headphones or ear buds.  Game on!

Josh
Gaming President

VIDEO GAME BAZAAR

WHO: you & me
WHAT: game swap
WHEN: Feb. 9th @ 7:00 PM
WHERE: The Crabtree / Room 340
WHY: cuz we gamers

For next Tuesday's club meeting we are going to be having our first (of many) Video Game Bazaar!

Here's how it's going to go down:

We all bring games that we are willing to trade. We each set up our own little station (or if you prefer to act as a traveling tradesman). Then, we go nuts (as civilly as gamerly possible) trading the night away.

Trade for keeps or trade temporarily... the choice is yours! However, please do not bring $. This is not an auction or sale, it is a trading market.

Feel free to bring a laptop if you want to show trailers or clips of a certain game to help your pitch.

Trade on your own terms. VGAME is in no way responsible for your dealings. I recommend getting your fellow trader's contact information should anything go awry.

Please feel free to leave comments on this post (announce a special title you are willing to trade or perhaps a list the games you are looking for).

The more hype the merrier.

Cheers.

J.S. Lewis
Online Steward

Freeware

So, I promised to post the links for the Freeware websites on the blog and I am making good on that promise. Here they are!

http://playthisthing.com/allgames
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FreewareGames
http://liberatedgames.com/
http://freegamer.blogspot.com/
http://rpgmaker.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freeware_games
http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Downloads/Free/

In case you want to play any of the games I showed at the meeting Tuesday, I will put those here too. Almost all of them can be found at the tvtropes.org link.

-Iji
-the white chamber
-I Wanna Be the Guy (IWBTG) (By the way, I found out you can unlock the kid in Super Meat Boy. Naturally, he is the hardest thing to unlock)
-Yume Nikki
-Eversion
-Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden
-The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Hope you begin to enjoy freeware games as much as I do!

Josh
Gaming President

Facebook, Volunteering, and Events

Because of the large number of people having trouble finding the Facebook group, here is the direct URL:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=148623178497351

Unfortunately, we are unsure how to change the URL to be vgame instead of this long random number sequence, so if anyone knows how to do that, please comment!

We are currently welcoming any volunteers who would like to help with advertising or would like to lead a discussion for one of the meetings. Tell us when you can advertise and for how long, and if you want to do the discussion, tell us your topic and give us a brief outline. You can send the info to one of the officer's e-mail addresses or to the club e-mail vgamebyu@gmail.com. Our current schedule for advertising is this Wednesday 3-5, next Monday 3-5, and Tuesday 12-2, but send us when you can do it and we will reserve booth time accordingly.

Our event is coming up! Next Friday! We plan on having two projectors (for screens), two x-box 360s, an N64, and possibly a Wii, as well as about 40 computers. If you would like to bring a console or, even better, a screen then please tell us! You will have to sign a waiver that we (the club) are not responsible if anything gets broken, but if it does then take it up with the person who broke it. The more screens and consoles we have, the better!

Also, thanks to Jared for the excellent discussion today at the meeting, and thanks to everyone who came. We will be getting that xbox live guild set up as soon as possible, and we will get the Saturday online gaming routine established soon too. Hope to see even more people next week!

Josh
Gaming President

GAMER NEWS (Nintendo DS)

I already have "Plants vs. Zombies" on my iPhone, Mac and Xbox 360 (bought them in that order). Now I can get it for my Nintendo DS too! The graphics are noticeably worse (with a weaker frame rate too), but "PvZ" will always have some of the best gameplay around. The game has an average rating of 82% on gamerankings.com. Here is IGN's review.

Speaking of Nintendo DS, the next iteration (the Nintendo 3DS) has been given an officially release date! It will be available in the United States on March 27th for $250. At that time all Nintendo fanboys will be able to play as Mario, Link or whoever else they showcase, in 3D! Nintendo is also offering a selection of movies to watch on the handheld device. As they do with anything worth awaiting in gamedom, GameSpot has given the 3DS its own launch center.

J.S. Lewis

Online Steward

Advertising, Meetings, and Gaming

Next week we will start advertising!  Look for us Monday and Wednesday at 3 and Tuesday at 11 at the Wilkinson Center on BYU campus.  We plan on setting up a game console so if you just want to come and play some old school games a bit then come on by.  We should be advertising for two hours at a time.

On top of that, we will be having regular meeting in Room 340 at the Crabtree building from 7 to 8:30 every Tuesday.  The time and location may be subject to change, but, for right now, plan on it being there and at that time.  Meetings will consist of briefly discussing club business, a video game related discussion led by a volunteer, and general socializing, gamertag swapping, and the like.  We will be trying to make the discussions as interesting as possible and will be posting the subject of the next meeting on the Facebook page every week.

Also, our first event is being planned for February 4 at 6pm.  More details coming soon.  Hope to see everyone at the meetings and online!

Josh Matern
VGAME Gaming President

Happy New Year!

Well, a new year has come, and a new semester with it.  Time for us to get our game on!  This year we will finally start having official meetings (hopefully weekly) as well as activities (hopefully monthly or more).  Also, we will be advertising the club on campus as soon as possible so that we can start getting as many members as possible!

Going along with all of that, I will be working with BYUSA to get our official club emblem (yeah, they really do that) and I am hoping to make it as cool as possible.  Also, expect to see club jackets and t-shirts available soon!  More details when those come.  Officers will also be regularly posting on the blog and elsewhere reviews, news, up-dates, and activity dates.  I hope we can all make this a great semester!

Joshua Matern
VGAME Gaming President