To say things have been stressful is a complete understatement at this point. Being in a position where you are granted what is basically an opportunity to provide for the fans is such a huge responsibility and burden to have. I fully understood this situation and still went ahead and tried to succeed in terms of running a Kickstarter campaign just in hopes that I could keep a location healthy and thriving for many years to come. There were points prior and during the fundraising process that I questioned myself and whether or not this was a wise choice in life. On one hand you have an arcade that has provided a ton of entertainment for many people both as a physical location and online through live streaming. On the other hand, it was definitely not a profitable business and was draining me mentally, physically, and financially. Ultimately I did launch the campaign and with the support and love from arcade lovers we were able to raise enough money to make a huge change here. After many months of planning and about a month of hard labor we are now looking at a project that is roughly 80% complete. Many of you that follow our blog and instagram account are up to date as far as the remodeling process and the many problems we have overcome so far. We managed to finish just about everything cosmetically that we set out to accomplish which includes redoing the flooring, patching and painting the walls and ceiling, and most importantly redoing the restroom from hell! We also added new gaming cubicles for that more professional and organized look and reworked our overhead lightning so people won't have an epileptic seizure from the flickering that used to occur. There are two items that we are still waiting on though. One being the truss metal beam system that is not only for awesome decoration but will provide us with the ability to place more lighting to create even more of a special feeling environment for everyone. Another main item that is not quite ready is the stage/stream station. This particular unit is being custom made and hopefully it will be ready within a couple more weeks at the latest.
For the most part we have received very good feedback regarding the direction we took in terms of overall appeal and cleanliness. I can honestly say that arcade is almost too bright and clean at the moment. But clean is usually good so let's hope our patrons have some respect and try not the wreck the place. The restroom has been coined as "glorious" by many and I hope my attempts to bring some class to the place haven't gone unnoticed. I feel as though my ideas and insight have transferred over from thoughts to reality pretty well. I am normally my toughest critic but I do feel a sense of satisfaction when seeing the almost complete product and with all the positive reviews we have had so far I would hope to believe that I am not senile yet. I have put in maximum effort and poured out my heart into this arcade. I am honestly doing this for the people and as I have said before, I grew up in an environment of arcades and gaming and only wish for others to have the chance to do the same. Although time changes things drastically, one thing that won't change is the positivity that comes from competitive human interaction and the importance of improving yourself.
I have put myself under too much stress in setting a date over and over for those who are waiting on our VIP grand opening party. At this point I must postpone it one last time to Friday, September 26th. By this time there is no excuse not to be 100% done with everything we have been waiting on and the arcade will be fully operational. Although we have been open for events and tournaments it is very clear that we are not equipped to operate normal business hours as we are still waiting on the delivery of equipment and more arcade machines that are being repaired. Also by setting this date a month away hopefully people can better plan and make sure they are here! As previously stated, this party will include a DJ as well as food and drink. So come hungry, thirsty, and prepared to have some fun.
Man oh man this blogpost seems to never end, but there are a couple more things that I should address. We have only been open for 4 days and already there have been things being posted and dramatized quite heavily on various forums. For starters, I would like to explain our streaming situation here and this is not a place where I am looking to chastise or single any one out. Our goals here at Super Arcade are to bring games and gaming to a wider audience. At the same time we are also seeking ways to infuse our loyal scene with increased prizes and pot bonuses. To accomplish these goals we have finally organized our own twitch channel which is temporarily under the channel superdojo and a youtube channel under SuperArcadeFGC. Eventually the twitch channel with be under "superarcade" and we will make the proper announcements once the change occurs. Until then please follow us and tune in for all the content we will be bringing to the community. You guys might ask, so where is the problem in all of this? Well first off let me say that Super Arcade and Level Up Entertainment have a streaming partnership and Level Up will still be streaming Wednesday Night Fights, The Runback, and the Melee edition of Super Smash Sundays. Every other stream will be held on our channel and we will have multiple streams available to help bring more exposure for the games that don't get much air time. Prior to this change we have had other people doing a great job providing the work required to bringing the fans and community live streams that benefited everyone. I would personally like to thank the hosts of IEBattlegrounds, Mando and Binkley, the host of our anime tourneys, Joshua Moore aka Jyosua, hosts of SoCalTekken, Vietnam Tom and JustFrameJames, and also a few others who have helped us which include Numakie, Rotanibor, and Wild Wallace. All of these people have helped the arcade and although it may seem as though we are taking away something from some of these individuals, we are striving to bring the scene to a bigger front and achieve bigger and better things for the community as a whole. To go into detail a bit further, I do understand that these people have put in hard work for the community and although they will no longer be streaming here on their own channel, their efforts have not gone unnoticed and hopefully everyone will understand our goals and help us push forward to reach them.
So thats about it for now as I will be posting our hours of operation on our twitter account. Thank you all for your continued feedback and support and hopefully we will see most of you here in the near future! Thanks for reading and talk to you all again real soon!
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Important Update for Friday Night 8/15
With the steady bombardment of issues we have come across I must delay the grand re-opening for at least 2 more days. For those of you wanting to visit us tonight and have a pass from our Kickstarter, I would like to express my deepest apologies. I will be here tonight along with my crew after we take out the people who are coming to our VIP dinner, but all other festivities are not going to happen. If you would like to stop by and hang out, feel free to do so, but do not expect a functioning arcade to be in place. I must maintain my commitment to our guests for dinner, but due to more unexpected delays, I will not be able to have an arcade ready for you all to visit tonight.
Once again, those who were invited to our VIP dinner party, this is still taking place and please arrive somewhere near 7:00-7:30 pm at the arcade. For those of you who were coming for our grand re-opening, this will not be taking place but we will be at the arcade tonight if you would like to stop by and just check out the place as it stands currently. I will definitely have a weekend set aside for you guys and most likely will make it next Saturday night the 23rd. There will be food and beverage along with a DJ so at least there is something cool to look forward to. Once again, I apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused as today's issues have hindered our ability to open.
Thank you everyone for reading and more updates will definitely be coming ASAP.
Once again, those who were invited to our VIP dinner party, this is still taking place and please arrive somewhere near 7:00-7:30 pm at the arcade. For those of you who were coming for our grand re-opening, this will not be taking place but we will be at the arcade tonight if you would like to stop by and just check out the place as it stands currently. I will definitely have a weekend set aside for you guys and most likely will make it next Saturday night the 23rd. There will be food and beverage along with a DJ so at least there is something cool to look forward to. Once again, I apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused as today's issues have hindered our ability to open.
Thank you everyone for reading and more updates will definitely be coming ASAP.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
The final steps of chasing a dream......
Wow. Just F*ing wow. That pretty much sums up the past 3-4 weeks that I have spent here at Super Arcade. There's an old adage known as Murphy's Law and all I have to say about it is, "Murphy, you suck!" As most of you know we closed the doors to the old Super Arcade on Wednesday, July 9th. We then packed up some of our games and were headed off to EVO. Let's just say that weekend was very uneventful and was the first set back of many to come. To set a foreground to all this let me start off by saying I have attended EVO before it was even called that. I was a die hard Street Fighter player and competed at the highest levels since somewhere near 1992. I put my heart and soul into becoming the best and with a ton of devotion and dedication I was fortunate to achieve many of my goals as a competitor. Now with all that said, I have known the EVO staff forever and ever. I was one of those guys who helped move arcade cabinets around before everything went to console. I was one of those guys who helped set up chairs the night before the finals. I was one of those guys who carried tv's and set up tables so that the people in attendance would be able to compete and enjoy their experience at the tournament. All in all, I just loved the game, the scene, and seeing people share the same enjoyment out of all the things I had grown to love. But one thing that was different about this for me compared to many others, I did this my way. I was always very vocal about a lot of things and I was never one to stand down when my views or opinions were questioned. Sometimes I argued ignorantly and with just spewed nonsense, but most of the time I brought my views to the table and tried to generate a serious discussion in hopes of either resolving a misunderstanding, or just completely shutting down someone for spitting their own nonsense. Anyhow, this attitude is was brought me to where I am and sometimes it can be for the worse. In this case I suppose it has become for the worse as I have been segregated to an extent from being a part of many things that people I grew up with in the scene are now involved in.
I can go on and on about certain things that have happened over many years and talk about how I haven't agreed with many situations that have brought the scene to where it is today. But by me doing so, it would harm the images of some and then it would just become a childish he said she said type ordeal. So I will show that I have grown as a person and just let things go. From time to time I will share stories on stream about how things used to be and just act like a typical old fart who's talking about his youth while the 09er's just find me borderline insane in my rants :) I can tell all you youngins one thing though. When you hear an elder tell you things like "one day you will understand" or "once you get to my age this is how it will be," take that advice and make use of it. Things do change with time and it's up to you whether or not you make the best of it or if you just follow in the footsteps of those who made the same mistake prior to yours. A lot of mistakes are avoidable and procrastination or lack of care can lead to many issues, but as I have come to realize more and more, you can really only count on yourself when something needs to be done. In the unfortunate case that I am not a professional carpenter, nor am I a professional engineer, I had to rely on people to help me get work done for our remodel. Myself along with a couple others have taken care of the flooring, electrical work, painting, ceiling work, and the amazing restroom. These were all things that required hard work, a bit of experience, and just pure will power basically. Another thing I would also like to state is, for the help I required, plans were made months in advance and partial payments were made to ensure there was no loose ends on my parts. Well low and behold, all 3 parties that I needed all fell through and I was stuck here just twiddling my thumbs waiting for deliveries. My new display counter is apparently made of only the finest of wood in the rain forest and is brought in by helicopter only. My custom cubicles are designed by Albert Einstein and then hand crafted by the Keebler Elves. And the arcade machines I am bringing in.... those are custom built in North Korea and infused with only the most advanced microchips and only available to NASA. I mean gimme a break dude, how do all 3 people I am counting on fail so hard? Well, it happens lol, and Murphy's Law is a mofo. Then while working on the restroom of course we run into more problems. I order a toilet from amazon because no one in the local area stocks the special one I wanted to install. The toilet is what they call a 2-piece, but when it arrived it was in 4 pieces. Real cute right? Man, I can just go on and on about all the little nonsense that has taken place here but we almost at the end of it and no point thinking about the bad.
Here comes some useful info. We will be taking out a select bunch of people from our kickstarter to a VIP dinner tomorrow evening. We will also be having a "soft" grand opening for another group in our kickstarter project. A soft grand opening is technically a half assed opening where stuff is not complete, and this I definitely apologize for. Many things are currently not in my control as to having a time frame for completion so we are forced to just make do with what is here already. Our opening has already been delayed for a week and we need to get the wheels turning again asap. Our weekly tourneys will be starting right up this coming Wednesday and Thursday, and we will also be hosting our Friday night casuals once again. We will also be hosting our bi-weekly anime series known as "Rebel-Up" and our weekly Super Smash Sundays as well. I am going to assume everything we were promised will be here on time, but just incase it isn't, we will have our doors open to the public starting this Saturday and keep working until everything is finished. And since I still have a weekend in the schedule with no tournaments attached to it, I will probably dedicate this day for people who supported us via kickstarter. More info will be coming real soon, and thanks again for reading!
Mike Watson
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Almost there........ sort of.......
So things are coming along pretty well here at Super Arcade in terms of our remodeling process. The flooring is just about complete as we have completely replaced it's 20 year old predecessor. The floor used to be an old darker blue tile and is now a much brighter and cleaner looking white tile with some dark accent in it. I was skeptical at first about the color but after laying down a few different colors, this seemed to be the best choice. The walls and ceiling are done for the most part and if you have been following our Instagram you would have seen the outcome. I think the overall look of the place has improved greatly and I am actually really satisfied that my visions have unfolded into a reality. The arcade is much much brighter already as we have painted the walls with a light gray accented by some bright blue, red, and black color. The lighting is going to be worked on this week and should take about 3 days. We currently have fluorescent fixtures in the drop ceiling that have issues with flickering and just overall not bright at all. I am still deciding on a choice of either updating these fixtures with LED or just replacing the ballast and the egg crate diffusers to maximize the output of light. Regardless, I will be testing both options out and that issue will be done soon. Now onto other issues....
So you would think that with months and months of planning and such a huge time frame in terms of giving notice, what could go wrong? Well, sometimes you have to count on people for certain things such as customizing furniture, bringing in arcade cabinets, and building a new display counter. I had originally planned on an opening date of August 8th, but now that just went out the window. On Friday I received word not only from 1 of these people i was counting on, but all 3!! What the hell is going on here? This is not only frustrating from a point where I can't open on time, but it completely throws a wrench into everything. First off, I have been at the arcade almost every day since Evo ended starting at roughly 8am and working till at least 5pm and sometimes going as late as midnight if my body permitted. I figured as long as I kept on my schedule and did my part that there would be nothing to worry about. Wrong! So my display counter isn't going to be ready till the 14th, my custom desks/cubicles won't be ready till the 15th, and some guys I was depending on to bring me some arcade cabs I had requested informed me that they were too busy to bring the cabs in by the 8th. Really great news right? Let's try not to unload so much fun on me at one time please....... So in attempts to keep morale high and not worry too much I will try and take any good I can out of this situation. During all my planning I never found a situation where I would be in a huge rush. I believe I laid out all the groundwork decently well and fit everything into a logical time frame. But since I have another week to work on things maybe it's a blessing in disguise.
Some good news here though is that our infamous restroom is about 90% done. I spent a good amount of time designing this portion of the arcade to make sure it came out that much more special. With a combination of light and dark ceramic tiles as well as some glass decor, I don't think there will be anything to complain about. The people that have seen this restroom already can vouch for me when I say, it's probably nicer than the one you have at home and compares to a nice Las Vegas hotel restroom. And when i say nice, I consider the LVH and Tropicana to be trashcans. We have an electronic paper towel dispenser and an electronic soap dispenser. We have a new light fixture that is bright, and I won't ruin any more surprises, but let's just say, the toilet we have is something you have probably never seen before. Let the rumors begin............
So all in all, unfortunate news that we are not going to be open for about another 2 weeks. Good news is that when we open we will be amazing! Thanks for reading up on our progress once again and I will post more news as soon as it comes in. Talk to you all real soon!
Thanks,
watson
So you would think that with months and months of planning and such a huge time frame in terms of giving notice, what could go wrong? Well, sometimes you have to count on people for certain things such as customizing furniture, bringing in arcade cabinets, and building a new display counter. I had originally planned on an opening date of August 8th, but now that just went out the window. On Friday I received word not only from 1 of these people i was counting on, but all 3!! What the hell is going on here? This is not only frustrating from a point where I can't open on time, but it completely throws a wrench into everything. First off, I have been at the arcade almost every day since Evo ended starting at roughly 8am and working till at least 5pm and sometimes going as late as midnight if my body permitted. I figured as long as I kept on my schedule and did my part that there would be nothing to worry about. Wrong! So my display counter isn't going to be ready till the 14th, my custom desks/cubicles won't be ready till the 15th, and some guys I was depending on to bring me some arcade cabs I had requested informed me that they were too busy to bring the cabs in by the 8th. Really great news right? Let's try not to unload so much fun on me at one time please....... So in attempts to keep morale high and not worry too much I will try and take any good I can out of this situation. During all my planning I never found a situation where I would be in a huge rush. I believe I laid out all the groundwork decently well and fit everything into a logical time frame. But since I have another week to work on things maybe it's a blessing in disguise.
Some good news here though is that our infamous restroom is about 90% done. I spent a good amount of time designing this portion of the arcade to make sure it came out that much more special. With a combination of light and dark ceramic tiles as well as some glass decor, I don't think there will be anything to complain about. The people that have seen this restroom already can vouch for me when I say, it's probably nicer than the one you have at home and compares to a nice Las Vegas hotel restroom. And when i say nice, I consider the LVH and Tropicana to be trashcans. We have an electronic paper towel dispenser and an electronic soap dispenser. We have a new light fixture that is bright, and I won't ruin any more surprises, but let's just say, the toilet we have is something you have probably never seen before. Let the rumors begin............
So all in all, unfortunate news that we are not going to be open for about another 2 weeks. Good news is that when we open we will be amazing! Thanks for reading up on our progress once again and I will post more news as soon as it comes in. Talk to you all real soon!
Thanks,
watson
Monday, July 21, 2014
Some more remodeling updates, a new tournament announced, and special thanks to a special lolzcat.
So we have been at it for about a week now and things are moving along decently considering the amount of manpower and consideration of cost being implied. Against my own intuition we have chosen a color of flooring much brighter than grimey dark blue linoleum that occupy the floor of Super Arcade. I have gone with a new linoleum thats a bit of an off white and contains some dark colored streaking for texture. It looks good, but my fear is that it won't stay white for too long. But then again this blue lasted almost 30 years and considering we are purchasing the same brand, hopefully history will repeat itself and we can get some good mileage from the new flooring. This will help with our new look of making the place brighter and more family friendly along with the brighter LED lighting and cool new paint job we are about to apply. We also tore up the storage room to create more space and a larger area to store things properly. That was a mess in itself because no one has messed with that place in over 20 years it seems. I found things in there Indiana Jones would have trouble recognizing and unfortunately none of these old relics were worth anything..... Oh wells. At least there is now adequate lighting back there and it doesn't resemble a room for hiding a victim of human trafficking. If you want to follow more of our updates regarding the remodel then follow us on instagram at : http://instagram.com/superarcade
Also seeing as it is Ryu's 50th birthday today, it only seemed right to officially announce a new tournament that I have been working on for quite some time now. This year marks the 10th anniversary of a moment in Street Fighter history that not only put our beloved game in more of a public eye, but brought us one of the most unforgettable moments in competitive fighting game tournament history. Most of you have seen the regular footage recorded : Evo Moment #37 And here's another video with player cam that isn't as popular : Evo Moment #37 pt. 2. So since this is a special event celebrating such a significant piece of FGC history, it would only be right to bring back the games that were played at this event. So far the roster is to include Street Fighter 2 Super Turbo, Capcom vs SNK 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and of course Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike, There are many factors still up in the air but the things that are set in stone currently include the attendance of both Daigo and Justin. The venue for this event has already been booked and is the exact same room that this feat was performed in and none of that "Ursa Major" hall, located on the premises of California State Polytechnic University located in Pomona, California. The event dates are also set for November 21-23 so start booking your rooms now. There are a ton of options and this is an event you won't want to miss. For you new school guys we are thinking about throwing in a Ultra Street Fighter 4 tourney on the side so some of you 09'ers have something to play.
And one final person I have always wanted to thank in my blog, but due to a few personal issues and what not I never found the right time. For those of you who have attended our tourneys or hung our here at Super Arcade you have probably noticed this person helping out restocking our fridge and doing many things for Super that you probably didn't notice. This person no longer comes to our shop anymore unfortunately but I can't say he wasn't a big reason we stayed alive during the down times and he helped tremendously and sacrificed for the sake of myself and the arcade on many occasion. I didn't want to thank this person at the wrong time because I didn't want it to look like I was just doing so for any other reason than genuinely thanking him, so here it is. Thank you Rex for helping out here so many times and also bending over backwards to keep Super Arcade alive. Rex was here the day I was robbed and sacrificed his time to head up north to Sactown with me and Mando at 5am and worked until after midnight. He also bailed me out a few times financially and helped me keep the arcade open when things weren't going all that well. I'm sorry things turned out the way they have, but just know that you were not overlooked and your help is greatly appreciated.
Anyways, that's it for now guys and gals. I will try to update everyone as soon as possible and as soon as time permits. For those asking about your kickstarter rewards, hang tight, I am still working on a lot of stuff. I will be sending out emails through the kickstarter page and get everything handled in a timely manner. Thank you all for reading and talk to you all real soon!
Watson.
Also seeing as it is Ryu's 50th birthday today, it only seemed right to officially announce a new tournament that I have been working on for quite some time now. This year marks the 10th anniversary of a moment in Street Fighter history that not only put our beloved game in more of a public eye, but brought us one of the most unforgettable moments in competitive fighting game tournament history. Most of you have seen the regular footage recorded : Evo Moment #37 And here's another video with player cam that isn't as popular : Evo Moment #37 pt. 2. So since this is a special event celebrating such a significant piece of FGC history, it would only be right to bring back the games that were played at this event. So far the roster is to include Street Fighter 2 Super Turbo, Capcom vs SNK 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and of course Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike, There are many factors still up in the air but the things that are set in stone currently include the attendance of both Daigo and Justin. The venue for this event has already been booked and is the exact same room that this feat was performed in and none of that "Ursa Major" hall, located on the premises of California State Polytechnic University located in Pomona, California. The event dates are also set for November 21-23 so start booking your rooms now. There are a ton of options and this is an event you won't want to miss. For you new school guys we are thinking about throwing in a Ultra Street Fighter 4 tourney on the side so some of you 09'ers have something to play.
And one final person I have always wanted to thank in my blog, but due to a few personal issues and what not I never found the right time. For those of you who have attended our tourneys or hung our here at Super Arcade you have probably noticed this person helping out restocking our fridge and doing many things for Super that you probably didn't notice. This person no longer comes to our shop anymore unfortunately but I can't say he wasn't a big reason we stayed alive during the down times and he helped tremendously and sacrificed for the sake of myself and the arcade on many occasion. I didn't want to thank this person at the wrong time because I didn't want it to look like I was just doing so for any other reason than genuinely thanking him, so here it is. Thank you Rex for helping out here so many times and also bending over backwards to keep Super Arcade alive. Rex was here the day I was robbed and sacrificed his time to head up north to Sactown with me and Mando at 5am and worked until after midnight. He also bailed me out a few times financially and helped me keep the arcade open when things weren't going all that well. I'm sorry things turned out the way they have, but just know that you were not overlooked and your help is greatly appreciated.
Anyways, that's it for now guys and gals. I will try to update everyone as soon as possible and as soon as time permits. For those asking about your kickstarter rewards, hang tight, I am still working on a lot of stuff. I will be sending out emails through the kickstarter page and get everything handled in a timely manner. Thank you all for reading and talk to you all real soon!
Watson.
Monday, July 7, 2014
In The Groove Community and latest incident
Unfortunately there was a recent incident that occurred here at Super Arcade that left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel as though it was one of those give an inch take a yard type of ordeals and there is possibly some miscommunication involved along so I will not accuse anyone of any malicious intent. I will explain this entire situation from my side and I will also include some background in terms of the games functions and the community prior to this incident.
In The Groove is a knock off of Dance Dance Revolution and has many more functions which made this game in many ways much better than it's predecessor. There is a USB port where players can bring in their own songs and programmed dance steps they have set up. That's the good news, the bad news is that as a player you can adjust the volume to a ridiculously loud level and there is also a way to insert free credits by entering a code.
This game is very rare due to the legal battle it lost, so finding a location with it is almost impossible. As a #WNF or #TRB attendee i'm sure you have heard this game blaring loudly while you were playing a match. I had asked many times for the players not to put this game so loud but there will also be that one guy/girl who refuses to listen and just goes about things how they please with no respect for others around them. I would like to also say that I am not singling out anyone but you know who you are and I do understand that during tournament days our location is extremely packed and you do need the volume up to get the full experience, but even during these days, the game is way too loud in my opinion.
Now let me talk a little bit about the community. There is a handful of people that come here that are supposedly "top" players in this game just like we have "top" players in our fighting games. These guys are very knowledgeable and know how to alter the machine so they can add or delete songs, change the theme, and also...... turn the game on free play. I have trusted a few of these people and things seemed to be going fine. We have allowed them on multiple occasions to change the hard drive and alter things with our permission. They are also highly competitive so they want the dance arrows (pads) set up and tuned perfectly which is fully understandable. These are things a normal arcade would not allow anyone to do but I know how much trouble it is to keep this machine fully maintained so I put down my guard a bit for their cause. Once again, aside from the volume issue, I have never had a problem with any of these guys/girls and I feel like I have done my best to accommodate them and maintain a mutual respect between arcade owner and player.
This group set up a tournament and just like any other tournament held here, there was a venue fee charged and game was set on free play. The only difference was that this tournament was thrown to support to arcade, so aside from venue fees, the entry fee was also given to Super Arcade. That was a nice gesture and greatly appreciated. So assuming everything went well last time, there was a request to throw another tournament here, and given the past history there was absolutely no reason to say no. This is where trouble in paradise occurs. So the tourney is set to take place on Saturday, and for tournaments the game needs to be set on "Event Mode" which does not require you to put credits in and in other words, game is set to be on "Free Play." Not a problem right since we are charging a venue fee and the arcade will still be making income while also providing a venue for these players to compete. Now I will go into more detail as to what happened exactly and I really didn't want to get into it but my manager Armando aka Commando just told me people were talking smack about what happened behind our backs on Facebook. (real cute considering I do not have a facebook and maybe the overlooked the fact that Commando is part of their group and can see what they are saying.)
Okay, so here goes. Thursday night, game is set on event mode, without my consent or knowledge obviously, but the place is busy on Thursday so I don't even notice until one of our regular customers comes to the counter to tell me what's going on. I let this slide for the moment as I understand that this is the proper way to practice for the tournament and I want to see what happens at the end of the night as far as if they will tell me or offer to pay me for playing. So we are getting ready to close and a gentlemen by the name of Nelson comes up to me and tells me that the machine was set on "Event Mode" and gave me $10 to cover what the machine would have potentially made that night. Very trustworthy and kind gesture for him to approach me and I expected nothing less from that community. Friday comes, machine is set on free play again, also without my knowledge or consent again........ This day I did not open the arcade but I arrived and noticed the machine was set that way and thought nothing of it. I figured hey, they paid last night, why would they not pay me tonight without me asking? Only difference was that on Friday I didn't see Nelson there and no one offered to pay a cent at the end of the night. I let this slide because I knew there was a tournament the next day and hey, play for free for a night, even without my permission, I can live with that knowing we would be charging a venue fee the next day and I just chalk it up as maybe an oversight on their end. So here comes the best part. Saturday is here and the tournament goes on. Unfortunately I dont arrive to work till roughly 10pm as we are not running a Capcom tourney that requires my attention and the place is being run by Commando with help from GeriKuso. So as i arrive i see the ITG players leaving and I ask GeriKuso if they paid a venue fee and how much he collected. He replies he received no venue fee from them and I questioned him more than once to make sure I heard him properly. I then proceeded to find Commando and ask him the same question to which he replied with the exact same answer.... dun dun dun dun.........
Well, that's very cute. So the machine is set on free play Friday night and no one pays or mentions anything. Then the machine is set on free play the entire day Saturday and once again no one pays or mentions anything to me about it. Not a good look ITG people........ So I want to make 1 thing 100% clear here. Some people might want to chime in and make claims but I can say without any doubt, NO ONE informed me or asked me if it was okay to put the machine on free play any of the days or nights it was set. The arcade received 0 dollars in revenue from running this tournament and having the machine on the night before. So while you let this all sink in I would also like to discuss another couple of events that took place after the tournament as I am just in shock at what took place yet I manage not to kill anyone.
For starters, after the tournament the game was left on FREE PLAY still..... Were you guys planning on going to eat then coming back for some more FREE action? I'm not going to worry about this slight situation as things have already taken place and more important at the time. So we have a couple more ITG players come in and approach me at the counter. I am fuming but try to maintain my calm and ask them kindly if they entered the tourney so I can ask them a few things. They replied no and then asked me if I could put the machine on regular play so they can use it normally aka pay to play. I am steaming at this point and I tell them to do me a favor and just go play for free till i can get to the bottom of things. Before they head off to play they gladly give me about $15 in quarters that they were planning on spending anyways. I try to refuse but they insist so I take the money and say thank you. I also request them to not let anyone else play and to say they rented out the machine for the evening and to send anyone that wants to play to the counter so I can talk to them. So roughly an hour later the tournament organizer returns and comes to the counter to ask me if he can set the machine back to normal play and I tell him nope. He also asks me why they aren't allowed to play and I spend a few minutes explaining my anger over the situation and as if it wasn't any more obvious already, I said to him "The arcade made 0 dollars, the game was set on free play, how does this benefit a business?" Mind you this whole time I was very upset but never once raised my voice. I did use foul language as I said "I'm f*cking steaming over this situation" and "This is b*llshit." Not once did I act aggressively towards this individual but I was rude with very short replies to questions and wanted to show my lack of interest in speaking with him at the time.
There is also another couple players that come to the counter after my conversation with the tournament organizer and they are asking if they could play. I asked them if they entered the tourney and they reply yes. So I instantly reply no. I recognize both of them as they frequent my establishment and I feel bad for not letting them play, but I am forced to put my foot down after what has happened and just need to enforce some rules. One of the guys named Miguel I believe replies a little rudely by saying "I am a customer and want to play." At this point I am furious but I still keep my cool. I tell the both of them I will not be letting anyone play aside from the 3 people who are currently renting out the machine for the night. I also explain that I am very mad at the situation and use the same line "I'm pretty f*cking pissed about all this, and I don't want to talk about it." Miguel tells me not to curse at him in which i reply that I am not directly cursing at him and he doesn't need to stand at the counter if he does not want to hear what I am telling him. He is there with another guy who can tell you the story and I'm sure he can vouch for me in that I was telling them both my genuine feelings about the situation and sorry that I could not let them play. Now here is where the kiddie nonsense starts.
Today I receive a phone call telling me that Miguel is claiming I was yelling and cursing at him. Nope. I have multiple witnesses, one being his own friend, that can assure you this is not the case. Not once did I raise my voice nor did I act aggressively towards any of our customers or ITG players. Now also put yourself in my shoes. I am a business owner and arcade operator. My establishment has just been taken complete advantage of, and now I have people running their mouth and talking as if I'm the bad guy all over facebook and who knows where else? I have done my absolute best to accommodate this particular group and now that an incident arises to which I am 100% the victim, now I'm the one getting blasted for it? No chance guys. This incident has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I have left the ITG game off ever since and only allowed a very very select few people to turn it on to play. And as most of you know, we will be only open one more day this coming Wednesday prior to our remodeling. I have seriously considering not bringing this machine back as part of our new game line up and I am willing to sacrifice the revenue it brings in so I don't have to deal with bad situations like this. All the events I have listed are all complete and not fabricated in any manner. I have spent my day off typing this because I feel bad for the people who love this game yet are not involved in this situation. The saying holds true as it only takes 1 rotten apple to spoil the barrel. So as you read this very long post please be aware that I am available to talk to many hours of the weeks as we are open many hours. Please don't go the sissy route and bad mouth me behind my back thinking I won't see it. Keep in mind I have been very open minded and allowed you guys to mess with our machine as if it was your own and this is why you return to our establishment over and over. If I was such a bad arcade owner and rude to you, then it would be very stupid of you to continue to come back over and over right? Think about what you type and don't go blabbering on about what you wish the situation was. The arcade was slighted, you got to play for free for a couple days, and now the machine is off because of you. Plain and simple.
In The Groove is a knock off of Dance Dance Revolution and has many more functions which made this game in many ways much better than it's predecessor. There is a USB port where players can bring in their own songs and programmed dance steps they have set up. That's the good news, the bad news is that as a player you can adjust the volume to a ridiculously loud level and there is also a way to insert free credits by entering a code.
This game is very rare due to the legal battle it lost, so finding a location with it is almost impossible. As a #WNF or #TRB attendee i'm sure you have heard this game blaring loudly while you were playing a match. I had asked many times for the players not to put this game so loud but there will also be that one guy/girl who refuses to listen and just goes about things how they please with no respect for others around them. I would like to also say that I am not singling out anyone but you know who you are and I do understand that during tournament days our location is extremely packed and you do need the volume up to get the full experience, but even during these days, the game is way too loud in my opinion.
Now let me talk a little bit about the community. There is a handful of people that come here that are supposedly "top" players in this game just like we have "top" players in our fighting games. These guys are very knowledgeable and know how to alter the machine so they can add or delete songs, change the theme, and also...... turn the game on free play. I have trusted a few of these people and things seemed to be going fine. We have allowed them on multiple occasions to change the hard drive and alter things with our permission. They are also highly competitive so they want the dance arrows (pads) set up and tuned perfectly which is fully understandable. These are things a normal arcade would not allow anyone to do but I know how much trouble it is to keep this machine fully maintained so I put down my guard a bit for their cause. Once again, aside from the volume issue, I have never had a problem with any of these guys/girls and I feel like I have done my best to accommodate them and maintain a mutual respect between arcade owner and player.
This group set up a tournament and just like any other tournament held here, there was a venue fee charged and game was set on free play. The only difference was that this tournament was thrown to support to arcade, so aside from venue fees, the entry fee was also given to Super Arcade. That was a nice gesture and greatly appreciated. So assuming everything went well last time, there was a request to throw another tournament here, and given the past history there was absolutely no reason to say no. This is where trouble in paradise occurs. So the tourney is set to take place on Saturday, and for tournaments the game needs to be set on "Event Mode" which does not require you to put credits in and in other words, game is set to be on "Free Play." Not a problem right since we are charging a venue fee and the arcade will still be making income while also providing a venue for these players to compete. Now I will go into more detail as to what happened exactly and I really didn't want to get into it but my manager Armando aka Commando just told me people were talking smack about what happened behind our backs on Facebook. (real cute considering I do not have a facebook and maybe the overlooked the fact that Commando is part of their group and can see what they are saying.)
Okay, so here goes. Thursday night, game is set on event mode, without my consent or knowledge obviously, but the place is busy on Thursday so I don't even notice until one of our regular customers comes to the counter to tell me what's going on. I let this slide for the moment as I understand that this is the proper way to practice for the tournament and I want to see what happens at the end of the night as far as if they will tell me or offer to pay me for playing. So we are getting ready to close and a gentlemen by the name of Nelson comes up to me and tells me that the machine was set on "Event Mode" and gave me $10 to cover what the machine would have potentially made that night. Very trustworthy and kind gesture for him to approach me and I expected nothing less from that community. Friday comes, machine is set on free play again, also without my knowledge or consent again........ This day I did not open the arcade but I arrived and noticed the machine was set that way and thought nothing of it. I figured hey, they paid last night, why would they not pay me tonight without me asking? Only difference was that on Friday I didn't see Nelson there and no one offered to pay a cent at the end of the night. I let this slide because I knew there was a tournament the next day and hey, play for free for a night, even without my permission, I can live with that knowing we would be charging a venue fee the next day and I just chalk it up as maybe an oversight on their end. So here comes the best part. Saturday is here and the tournament goes on. Unfortunately I dont arrive to work till roughly 10pm as we are not running a Capcom tourney that requires my attention and the place is being run by Commando with help from GeriKuso. So as i arrive i see the ITG players leaving and I ask GeriKuso if they paid a venue fee and how much he collected. He replies he received no venue fee from them and I questioned him more than once to make sure I heard him properly. I then proceeded to find Commando and ask him the same question to which he replied with the exact same answer.... dun dun dun dun.........
Well, that's very cute. So the machine is set on free play Friday night and no one pays or mentions anything. Then the machine is set on free play the entire day Saturday and once again no one pays or mentions anything to me about it. Not a good look ITG people........ So I want to make 1 thing 100% clear here. Some people might want to chime in and make claims but I can say without any doubt, NO ONE informed me or asked me if it was okay to put the machine on free play any of the days or nights it was set. The arcade received 0 dollars in revenue from running this tournament and having the machine on the night before. So while you let this all sink in I would also like to discuss another couple of events that took place after the tournament as I am just in shock at what took place yet I manage not to kill anyone.
For starters, after the tournament the game was left on FREE PLAY still..... Were you guys planning on going to eat then coming back for some more FREE action? I'm not going to worry about this slight situation as things have already taken place and more important at the time. So we have a couple more ITG players come in and approach me at the counter. I am fuming but try to maintain my calm and ask them kindly if they entered the tourney so I can ask them a few things. They replied no and then asked me if I could put the machine on regular play so they can use it normally aka pay to play. I am steaming at this point and I tell them to do me a favor and just go play for free till i can get to the bottom of things. Before they head off to play they gladly give me about $15 in quarters that they were planning on spending anyways. I try to refuse but they insist so I take the money and say thank you. I also request them to not let anyone else play and to say they rented out the machine for the evening and to send anyone that wants to play to the counter so I can talk to them. So roughly an hour later the tournament organizer returns and comes to the counter to ask me if he can set the machine back to normal play and I tell him nope. He also asks me why they aren't allowed to play and I spend a few minutes explaining my anger over the situation and as if it wasn't any more obvious already, I said to him "The arcade made 0 dollars, the game was set on free play, how does this benefit a business?" Mind you this whole time I was very upset but never once raised my voice. I did use foul language as I said "I'm f*cking steaming over this situation" and "This is b*llshit." Not once did I act aggressively towards this individual but I was rude with very short replies to questions and wanted to show my lack of interest in speaking with him at the time.
There is also another couple players that come to the counter after my conversation with the tournament organizer and they are asking if they could play. I asked them if they entered the tourney and they reply yes. So I instantly reply no. I recognize both of them as they frequent my establishment and I feel bad for not letting them play, but I am forced to put my foot down after what has happened and just need to enforce some rules. One of the guys named Miguel I believe replies a little rudely by saying "I am a customer and want to play." At this point I am furious but I still keep my cool. I tell the both of them I will not be letting anyone play aside from the 3 people who are currently renting out the machine for the night. I also explain that I am very mad at the situation and use the same line "I'm pretty f*cking pissed about all this, and I don't want to talk about it." Miguel tells me not to curse at him in which i reply that I am not directly cursing at him and he doesn't need to stand at the counter if he does not want to hear what I am telling him. He is there with another guy who can tell you the story and I'm sure he can vouch for me in that I was telling them both my genuine feelings about the situation and sorry that I could not let them play. Now here is where the kiddie nonsense starts.
Today I receive a phone call telling me that Miguel is claiming I was yelling and cursing at him. Nope. I have multiple witnesses, one being his own friend, that can assure you this is not the case. Not once did I raise my voice nor did I act aggressively towards any of our customers or ITG players. Now also put yourself in my shoes. I am a business owner and arcade operator. My establishment has just been taken complete advantage of, and now I have people running their mouth and talking as if I'm the bad guy all over facebook and who knows where else? I have done my absolute best to accommodate this particular group and now that an incident arises to which I am 100% the victim, now I'm the one getting blasted for it? No chance guys. This incident has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I have left the ITG game off ever since and only allowed a very very select few people to turn it on to play. And as most of you know, we will be only open one more day this coming Wednesday prior to our remodeling. I have seriously considering not bringing this machine back as part of our new game line up and I am willing to sacrifice the revenue it brings in so I don't have to deal with bad situations like this. All the events I have listed are all complete and not fabricated in any manner. I have spent my day off typing this because I feel bad for the people who love this game yet are not involved in this situation. The saying holds true as it only takes 1 rotten apple to spoil the barrel. So as you read this very long post please be aware that I am available to talk to many hours of the weeks as we are open many hours. Please don't go the sissy route and bad mouth me behind my back thinking I won't see it. Keep in mind I have been very open minded and allowed you guys to mess with our machine as if it was your own and this is why you return to our establishment over and over. If I was such a bad arcade owner and rude to you, then it would be very stupid of you to continue to come back over and over right? Think about what you type and don't go blabbering on about what you wish the situation was. The arcade was slighted, you got to play for free for a couple days, and now the machine is off because of you. Plain and simple.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Let the games begin: Evo hype and the final days before the overhaul.
With so much going on currently at Super Arcade it has been just a struggle to keep up with the normal everyday activities that we provide week in and week out. Ultra Street Fighter 4 launched a couple weeks ago and we have received almost 100 entrants in back to back weeks for our Wednesday Night Fights tourneys. Not a bad turnout for a game that has been patched a ton of times and received endless complaints from the fans and community eh? Just goes to show, the community and competitive drive of the FGC are more important to the players than some minor flaws. We also just finished one of craziest weekends to date and I don't think my crew and I can survive too many more of these. So aside from WNF, TRB, console casuals, which all run till 3am by the way, we also hosted our bi-weekly anime game series known as Rebel Up and then more madness followed. Soon as that tourney ended roughly at 11pm on Saturday night we immediately started clearing out the arcade and cleaning up for the next event we were holding. A 24 hour Smash Brothers extravaganza!
After a quick break and set up, we opened the door at 12 am and people started bringing in their set ups to play some Smash. Being it was Father's Day we were a little concerned that the turnout would be low, but we also had some special guests for our tourneys and not 1, but 2 pot bonuses provided by Twitch.tv for our event, so that probably helped. As 3am rolled around we were getting ready to start our singles tourney and amazingly we had over 60 entrants. 60 people at 3am?? We can't even get 60 people to enter our Marvel tourneys as of late and this community brought out that many players at this crazy hour of the morning? Just unreal and huge props to Smash players for continuously supporting and loving their game. There were a few players who showed up and seemed unhappy, and unfortunately their issues could not be resolved due to the fact they were so "Amazingly Shocked" that there was a venue fee and couldn't grasp the concept of being charged a measly $10 for 24 hours of play........... go figure. Regardless, a few sour apples couldn't ruin the atmosphere and the tourney went on without them. As 10am rolled around we once again cleared out the arcade and kindly asked everyone to go outside and get some fresh air so we could clean up once again and set up for the next tourney. So aside from the already super tough competition that the southern California already has to offer, we were being visited by the best player known as Armada and another recognized player known as Mew2King. It's always nice when locals get to play top players from other regions since not everyone has the luxury to travel and compete against the best this is a huge opportunity for the fans. This tournament wound up gathering a total of over 115 players and included many highlights that were both streamed and enjoyed by everyone in attendance. All the festivities came to an end roughly at 11:30pm Sunday night and after being open for over 36 straight hours, Super Arcade finally closed and my crew and I were able to go home.
Monday is here and now I'm able to finally catch up on some more planning and also if you guys haven't been keeping up with Super Arcade news, we have a booth at EVO! Our booth isn't your standard booth where people just sell stuff and have meet and greets. At our booth we will have arcade machines for you to play if you want to take that break from console gaming and we will also have some shirts for sale like any other booth. I am also proud to announce that I was granted permission to have an official "EVO" shirt that we are selling along with our own designs. You can see all 3 designs that will be available at Evo here at our wesbite : http://superarcade2014.com/
So aside from the typical things needed for a remodel which include color scheme, floor design, and restroom renovation, I have completed the designs for a new front counter which will now be a glass display case where you can purchase all things needed for stick repair and upgrade. There will also be clothing offered from various brands associated with the FGC and other various Super Arcade branded items. I have also purchased a few more arcade machines that will fit in with our new line up and hopefully be fan favorites for years come. With EVO less than a month away there is a ton of excitement building up and we here at the arcade will be working hard the day after we get home. I believe we can accomplish just about everything we need to do for our remodel in roughly 3 weeks, so take that time off you need after the biggest tourney in the world, and then get ready to return to action once we get the doors back open here. It should be a great place to hang out and continue to be a strong foundation for all of casual and competitive gamers.
Thanks again as always for taking the time follow up with our events and plans here at Super Arcade and talk to you all again real soon.
Watson
After a quick break and set up, we opened the door at 12 am and people started bringing in their set ups to play some Smash. Being it was Father's Day we were a little concerned that the turnout would be low, but we also had some special guests for our tourneys and not 1, but 2 pot bonuses provided by Twitch.tv for our event, so that probably helped. As 3am rolled around we were getting ready to start our singles tourney and amazingly we had over 60 entrants. 60 people at 3am?? We can't even get 60 people to enter our Marvel tourneys as of late and this community brought out that many players at this crazy hour of the morning? Just unreal and huge props to Smash players for continuously supporting and loving their game. There were a few players who showed up and seemed unhappy, and unfortunately their issues could not be resolved due to the fact they were so "Amazingly Shocked" that there was a venue fee and couldn't grasp the concept of being charged a measly $10 for 24 hours of play........... go figure. Regardless, a few sour apples couldn't ruin the atmosphere and the tourney went on without them. As 10am rolled around we once again cleared out the arcade and kindly asked everyone to go outside and get some fresh air so we could clean up once again and set up for the next tourney. So aside from the already super tough competition that the southern California already has to offer, we were being visited by the best player known as Armada and another recognized player known as Mew2King. It's always nice when locals get to play top players from other regions since not everyone has the luxury to travel and compete against the best this is a huge opportunity for the fans. This tournament wound up gathering a total of over 115 players and included many highlights that were both streamed and enjoyed by everyone in attendance. All the festivities came to an end roughly at 11:30pm Sunday night and after being open for over 36 straight hours, Super Arcade finally closed and my crew and I were able to go home.
Monday is here and now I'm able to finally catch up on some more planning and also if you guys haven't been keeping up with Super Arcade news, we have a booth at EVO! Our booth isn't your standard booth where people just sell stuff and have meet and greets. At our booth we will have arcade machines for you to play if you want to take that break from console gaming and we will also have some shirts for sale like any other booth. I am also proud to announce that I was granted permission to have an official "EVO" shirt that we are selling along with our own designs. You can see all 3 designs that will be available at Evo here at our wesbite : http://superarcade2014.com/
So aside from the typical things needed for a remodel which include color scheme, floor design, and restroom renovation, I have completed the designs for a new front counter which will now be a glass display case where you can purchase all things needed for stick repair and upgrade. There will also be clothing offered from various brands associated with the FGC and other various Super Arcade branded items. I have also purchased a few more arcade machines that will fit in with our new line up and hopefully be fan favorites for years come. With EVO less than a month away there is a ton of excitement building up and we here at the arcade will be working hard the day after we get home. I believe we can accomplish just about everything we need to do for our remodel in roughly 3 weeks, so take that time off you need after the biggest tourney in the world, and then get ready to return to action once we get the doors back open here. It should be a great place to hang out and continue to be a strong foundation for all of casual and competitive gamers.
Thanks again as always for taking the time follow up with our events and plans here at Super Arcade and talk to you all again real soon.
Watson
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