Gaming is about sharing

     I was going to open this blog with the line "I love gaming." While that is true, it doesn't sufficiently convey how I feel.  I love sci-fi and fantasy movies, books and games. I love the crazy number of genres and sub genres. Steam punk, post apocalyptic,  anime, high fantasy, horror, wild west, zombies, cyberpunk, lovecraftian horror, mmorpgs, society simulations, ccg's, larping, table top rpg's, board games, the list goes on and on. There are movies, books, forums, blogs, clothing, games, events, conventions, toys and clubs dedicated to each specific genre. You can just skim the surface or dive in as deep as you want. You will never run out of new content.
     I read a good book at night. I look forward to my monthly fix of KODT. I carry my 3DS everywhere I go and get excited every time I get a street pass. I love watching the Walking Dead. Playing board games is a favorite past time. I regularly spend time skimming and diving into the gaming world. I find however that I still feel like it's not enough and that something is missing.
     Last night my wife and I were out and we saw a movie theatre called the  Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Intrigued we decided to head in and see what it was all about. The theatre had typical seating except for the addition of small tables between the rows. You could take your seat a half an hour before the movie started and wait staff would serve you food and drinks. Beer, wine and mixed drinks were on the menu. The movie selection was more diverse and before each movie is a pre-show video that pertains to the movie in lieu of the regular slew of commercials you get in a typical theatre. The lobby was cool and full of people.  Many of them were unusually dressed. Lot's of anime themed apparel. An announcement came over the speaker system that they were now seating theatre 7. The anime crowd gave a cheer and moved en masse. We followed along. An anime movie called Rebellion was playing. I suddenly found myself jealous. This is what I am lacking. The group experience. Sharing something I love with other fans. With people who are as into it as me and want to talk about it. Sharing the minutia. Sharing the passion.
     This wasn't a revelation for me, (I figured this out long ago) rather an important reminder. Life can often overwhelm you and dictate how you spend most of your time. Making time for what is important to you can take some real focus, planning and commitment. When you do get some time it is usually late at night after you have worked all day and got the kids to bed. You sneak in a little reading or play your current favorite video game to defrag. While this is good perhaps some of that time should be spent planning to make some time to get out there into the gaming community. Attend a convention, join a gaming group down at your local game store or head to a theatre to enjoy a movie with like minded people.  Gaming is about sharing :-).
   

Enchanted Grounds

Hello again!

I had a chance to head down to my favorite game store recently and take some pics with my 3DS.  It's called Enchanted Grounds and is located in Highlands Ranch, CO.

As you might have guessed from the name, it's a coffee shop and a game store! I have been to every game store in the Colorado Springs and Denver area, and this one is unique. The obvious difference here is the blending of coffee and gaming, however it goes deeper than that.
There is sadly a common theme that one runs into at gaming/comic stores and that is poor customer service. Game stores are by and large owned and operated by gamers and of course frequented by gamers. No surprise there. Gamers, bless their souls, have a negative stereotype that is not entirely undeserved. They tend to be introverts & not overly concerned with hygiene. Once you get to know them however, most gamers are very intelligent, kind hearted and gentle creatures. But back to the negative for a moment. Being introverted and a bit remiss on the house keeping, don't make for good traits when it comes to running a business. It is not uncommon for the employees of a game store to be engaged in some sort of game with fellow friends and patrons. The problem comes when a customer who is not a regular, needs assistance or is ready to make a purchase. Once they become aware of your existence, they exhibit visible irritation that their game is being interrupted by your need to contribute to their continued employment. The average game store also tends to be a bit unkempt with dusty shelves, old sun bleached posters advertising the upcoming release of a product that happened 2 years ago and bathrooms long over due for a good cleaning. The disorganization of the store bleeds into the admin side of running the store also with special orders rarely being filled and events not being run properly.  Some are bigger offenders than others in this category but in general these conditions exist to some degree in most game stores.

Here is where Enchanted Grounds shines. The employees are friendly and are dedicated to helping customers. The store is clean as are the bathrooms. The customer base is also diverse. There are routinely groups of business types stopping in for a coffee and a casual meeting, elderly women meeting for games of Mahjong and everyday people just stopping by to visit with friends. Amongst this mix are tables of people playing Carcassone, D&D Encounters and Magic the Gathering.

They have a good mix of RPG's, tabletop miniature games, ccg's, board games and party games. They also carry a small selection of the more mainstream comic books and have a leave one take one shelf of books. Overall this is my first choice of game stores to visit. I have yet to belly up to a table and make friends with the regulars or place a special order but I suspect I will find no issues there.
Until next time....may all your hits be crits!

Denver Comicon 2013!

     48,000 geeks descended on downtown Denver, like a swarm of zombies, on May 31st thru June 2 for the 2nd annual Denver Comic Con and I had the privilege to be there and rejuvenate my gamer soul.

     I arrived at the entrance to the convention center at 10:40 a.m. ready to walk in and buy my con badge. There were two lines stretching from the entrance. One was moving rapidly, the other wasn't moving at all. I quickly learned that I was to wait in the stationary line, which I arrived to the end of, two blocks and ten minutes later. The lines were even worse on Friday with many people walking away even though they had prepaid. Go here for the 9 news story of the event.
    After an hour and a half, nearly 20 street passes on my 3DS and lot's of people watching, I was in! Thousands of people were milling about, queuing at the atm or heading off to the dizzying array of speakers, games, events and vendor booths.
     Guest speakers included William Shatner, George Takei, Stan Lee, Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen and Peter Mayhew (the voice of Chewbacca) just to name a few. The celebs gave talks, had meet and greets and autograph sessions. Photos of the celebs were not allowed at the different events and when they were moving between them, the throngs of people clustering about did not allow me to get a decent photo.
      There was gaming of all types going on including RPGs, Table top wargaming, CCGs, boardgames and LAN parties. Movies were showing, symposiums on "How have comics affected your life" to the "Whedonverse" and everything in between went on all weekend. Go here to see everything you missed.
     People in costumes were everywhere and ranged from cardboard heads and pick axes from Minecraft to high dollar replicas of popular and obscure heroes throughout the decades. Go here to see the photos I took while at the con. There were so many costumes, I could have spent the entire weekend just taking photos and only captured a fraction of what was out there. As it was, I only had 4 hours to soak it all in.
     After getting my badge, my bearings and a copy of the Con guide, I decided to head to the exhibitors hall. The sheer volume of people and number of vendor and artist booths (nearly 700!) was overwhelming. 1up was there with several classic arcade games to play, including Donkey Kong with Steve Wiebe (from the King of Kong documentary) present on the machine trying to get a kill screen. Walter Day the retired scorekeeper from Twin Galaxies was also present at the con.
     At location 1230 was the Genesis booth. You could pick up your premier copy of the comic book that preludes a crowd funded, filmed in Colorado zombie movie that is due out in October this year. It's sure to be a B movie but I picked up a copy of the 1st issue for $4.20. I'm a sucker for all things zombie. I will be sure to watch the movie and get back to you on what I thought about it.
     Wandering back from the Genesis booth I heard some loud rock music being played nearby with a crowd of people surrounding a stage. It was Stan Lee on the drums and two other people in high dollar Iron Man costumes playing guitars on Rock Band. Highlarious!
     All manner of toys, comic books old and new, games and clothing were available in the exhibitor hall including some very cool dice rings!  Go here to learn more.

 There was a large variety of people at the con and many of them had a 3DS. I pulled in a toatl of 60 street passes(the second highest number of passes I have received in one day. The first being a day in the Harajuku district of Tokyo) with some memorable ones like an upside down face mii and a zoidberg mii. It was a great time and I found myself wishing I could have spent the whole weekend fully immersed in geeky fandom. Game on!

Black & Read

Hello again! One thing that I love to do is visit the different game stores on the front range of Colorado. One of my favorites is Black and Read in Arvada. I got a chance to go there recently and I thought I would take some pics and share my impressions of the store and why I like it.
Black and Read is a new & used book and music store with a small game section relative to the rest of the store.  The first thing to hit you when you walk in is the wonderful smell of old books and how messy the store is. The gaming section is only one aisle but it is long and crammed full of new and old RPGs, board games and card games. There are also many used sci-fi and fantasy novels from current bestsellers to old favorites. As I stepped around the many boxes of games and books that littered the floor while I perused all the gaming goodness, my ears were treated to orchestral remakes of classic Zelda songs. (The songs are available here  for free until June 12 2013.) Tucked away around the corner at the end of the aisle is old RPGs and modules. I have picked up the 3 core books for 1st and 2nd edition AD&D plus some old skool favorite modules over the years. They take your old games and books here for cash or store credit too if you are needing to down size your game collection.
Whether you are hunting for a copy of an old favorite that you have lost or thinking about expanding your board game base, then this place is worth a visit. If you are looking for a friendly local game store to frequent each week, meet new people and play games, then you will be disappointed.

If you have yet to tune into the Walking Dead then what are you waiting for?! Even if you aren't a zombie fan, this show is intense! 15.2 million viewers for the mid season finale set an all time viewer record for a basic cable show. I know, I am over a month late in watching the last episode (damn kids/job/remodel) but I finally did last night and it was the most intense episode I have ever watched. My heart was actually racing while I was watching it! Keep in mind I am a geek and love zombie media but even so it was very well done. Here is the AMC Walking Dead site and you can watch season 1 and 2 on Netflix. I have the season pass via apple tv and it's well worth it. We have fellow zombie fans come over after the kids go to bed on sunday nights to get our fix. Also worth checking out is the Walking dead comic book. I recommend getting the compendiums. There are two, each one thick enough to stop a small caliber bullet.

The show parallels the comic in some ways and but often goes it's own direction. It's worth reading the compendiums and watching the show. Personally I think they compliment each other. List price is $59 but I have seen it for sale for as low as $33. I checked out both volumes from the library. $free :-). I hope you enjoy as much as I do!