Meeting Report: Guitar Hero II at Beerland
The first meeting of IGDA-Austin was a huge success! The rock and roll show would not have been possible without the beta disc from Warren Spector (and Harmonix) or the projectors and PS2 test kit from Rodney Gibbs of Amaze Entertainment. Mike McShaffry of Breakaway Games provided the guitar controllers, and Nathan Regener of Aspyr was flawless as the venerable Master of Ceremonies.
UPDATE: Video of the event is here (Thanks, David!)
This was the songlist available on the beta:
- "Madhouse" - Anthrax
- "Psychobilly Freakout" - The Reverend Horton Heat
- "Shout at the Devil" - Mötley Crüe
- "Strutter" - KISS
- "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" - Stone Temple Pilots
- "War Pigs" - Black Sabbath
- "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" - The Butthole Surfers
- "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen
- "YYZ" - Rush
- "John The Fisherman" - Primus
It was the first day of the Austin Game Conference at 7pm. Thirty-seven professional game developers from all over the nation had pre-registered for the competition. After the pre-registered contestants have their chance, the competition would open up to the present audience. The format was simple: winner plays, loserleaves, next challenger picks the song. Difficulty would be up to the individual, but Guitar Hero II is a game of scoring, and the highest score wins.
Except for one thing... The PS2 Test Kit was not recognizing the disc. The MC set Guitar Hero I in the PS2 while Rodney Gibbs scrambled to the downtown office at Amaze to grab another PS2 test kit. The crowd was getting antsy. They came here for Guitar Hero II.
The night may not have ended well if not for Rodney's triumphant return with a working PS2 Test Kit that did recognize the Beta Kit. So at 8pm, the official Guitar Hero II competition of IGDA-Austin finally began.
The crowd was enthralled. Early on, it seemed as if a young scripter from Edge of Reality named Ryan Challinor was going to take the prize. He soundly defeated two contenders in a row, at one time even placing the guitar behind his back as he played. If we could award a prize for style, Ryan would definitely have taken it.
The room was full of energy as the crowd even sang along to "War Pigs" at one point.
Eventually, an out-of-towner by the name of Hector Reyes of Liquid Development took control of the stage. He was unstoppable, even defeating local favorite, Kent Hudson of Midway, in a neck and neck battle to the finish. After that, it was soon apparent that Hector could very well be the one.
Suddenly, the bar presented Hector with a gift from a "mysterious benefactor": two shots of tequila. Hector would not drink it, seeing as how he already had some beer. However, the crowd went wild and cheered for this artist to boost his performance with beer-enhancing tequila. Nobody really knew what the prize of this competition was, but it surely couldn’t be worth more than two tequilas!
And then Nathan called down the mysterious benefactor (a.k.a. Mike McShaffry) as the next contestant. Mike demanded that Hector to drink the two shots before their duel, and Hector finally gave in under the condition that Mike drink the other shot. And so it was... the beginning of the end for both of them.
Hector won.
It is said that only a ninja can defeat a ninja. The next contestant was Hector's coworker, Darrin Casler. It was never clear if the tequila was beginning to take effect, but the crowd was surprised to see somebody who was even more skilled than Hector.
Darrin stopped Hector's winning streak at five wins, and went on to defeat contender after contender, until he willingly gave up the stage so that he may rest his fingers and wear a bra. He would be back before the night is over.
During this break, MC Nathan changed the pace from competition duties to bring on casual players who would try out the co-op feature or just play the game for fun.
Mingling took place in full force as the night ensued. Ex-coworkers and strangers alike were seen talking to each other, and for one evening, Austin demonstrated to visitors and out-of-towners its unified game development community of professionals.
It looks like McShaffry had a little more than just that tequila.
The competition resumed. Lots of winners, lots of losers, but Darrin was back with a vengeance, and he took the bra off. In the finals, he was challenged by a young contender by the name of Kirk Goodman, who had apparently only played Guitar Hero I a total of fourteen times... but is apparently skilled on a piano. The format for the final round was best two out of three. The scores were breaking records. The action was fast and furious. At this point, Billy Cain of Critical Mass Interactive and Nathan tag-teamed on fast commentary as the experts played at feverish breakneck pace.
Kirk Goodman won the competition. The prize: a $50 gift certificate at Best Buy... with which to purchase Guitar Hero 2 come November.
A special thanks goes out to all of the developers and supportive directors as well as the excellent staff at Beerland who all played a part in this night of metal revelry.
Posted by KainShin on September 18, 2006 08:39 PM
