SC3 Arcade Party - Saturday, September 26

[RobertB]

---------------Forwarded message--------------
From: Steve Hertz

The next meeting of the Southern California Classic Collectors is scheduled for September 26, 2009. The schedule will be the same as prior meetings: the party will last from 6:00 p.m. until "sometime after midnight" at the normal location: Steve Hertz's place in Claremont, [California]. We hope to see you there!

We don't yet have many announcements ready regarding specific attractions at the event, but you can expect your favorites: MANY arcade games, console games galore [including Commodore and Amiga], a killer Rock Band setup, and all the rest. This event will feature the debut of two games we are very excited about: Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band! Watch this space for details as they become available!

We have launched a new registration (RSVP) system for SC3 events. The RSVP system for the previous event was somewhat confusing, so we have ditched that in favor of a new, easy-to-use registration form. When you want to register, just head over to the form, provide your name and contact information, and press Submit. If your registration is accepted, you will be informed via email. Simple! We also encourage you to join the SC3 Forum to keep up-to-date on the latest announcements.

As always, registration for this SC3 event is FREE -- but we MUST have your prior registration to ensure an accurate headcount. Space is limited, and we need to know who's coming! And please remember: since SC3 does not charge admission, we rely on your donations to cover our operating expenses and electric bill (which is always rather high for some reason). The suggested donation is $10 per adult attendee. Thank you very much for your continued donations -- we wouldn't be here without them!

Highlights from the Last SC3 Meeting

April's meeting was by far the most successful event in SC3's 10-year history. Over 140 attendees made the trek to Claremont, where they got to experience over 600 Rock Band songs, rare arcade games including The Act, the ChaseTheChuckwagon.com raffle of vintage console goodness, game trading, movies, pizza, Rickey's famous hot sauce (courtesy of Pac-Man champ Billy Mitchell) and much, much more! With a little help from our new friends and donors, September's meet will be just as good, if not better!

Who Are We, Exactly?

If you aren't familiar with SC3, we're just a friendly group of videogame enthusiasts who like nothing better than to get together to talk, trade, and play games. We've got a soft spot for games from the "classic" days of the early 1980s, but we love games of all eras, from Pong to PlayStation 3. If you love videogames, you're welcome to attend!

SC3 has made a point of keeping our meetings relaxed and informal, but the atmosphere will include some beer drinking and there may be some R-rated game content. This is an adult get-together where supervised minors will be accepted. Parents should take this into account and please let us know if you have questions.

SC3's new website...

http://www.sc3videogames.com/

Check out all the pics (400+) that we collected from various people that attended...

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/57...t=entertainment

Highlights from our new website are here...

http://www.sc3videogames.com/highlights/2009_04_25.php

[RobertB]

     After the hugely successful* showing of Toni Westbrook's Shredz64 (Guitar Hero for the C64) and PSX64 adapter at the Vintage Computer Festival East last weekend, I head out to the SC3 Arcade Party on Sept. 26.  Join me (and the ever-present Hollywood film crew of Rory and Jerold) while I let the SC3 attendees try their hands on Shredz64.


*By hugely successful, I mean that there were dozens and dozens of VCF East attendees who wanted to try out Shredz64 at my exhibit table.  Many others took photos and video, and various Internet reporters were there, scribbling notes about Shredz64 and the PSX64 adapter.  Toni Westbrook... you are the man! 

                 Truly,
                 Robert Bernardo
                 Fresno Commodore User Group
                 http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                 The Other Group of Amigoids
                 http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                 Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
                 http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

...while I let the SC3 attendees try their hands on Shredz64.

Murphy's Law struck with a vengeance at me during the SC3 Arcade Party.  Organizer Geoff did not bring his SX-64 or Amiga computers... a surprise!  I scrambled to see if I had the makings of a C64 set-up in my car.  I dug out an untested brown C64, an iffy 1571 drive, and a 5-pin video cable to hook into a 1701/1702 at the party.  One heavy-duty p.s. did not work, but I had another which did work.  Shredz64 loaded, but it did not load completely, i.e., the menus were corrupt and missing information, like song titles.  Ack!
    Charles Gutman of 8-Bit Designs was there and tried to diagnose the situation on the spot.  With the toolkit out of my car, he opened up the C64, blew out the dust, and found a space bar which did not return but constantly remained depressed.  He opened up the 1571 but could not find a reason why the disk drive activity light would not come on, though the program would load in.  Quick analysis... the constant contact of the space bar was hindering the program running correctly.  (Later at his place, he tested out the C64's 6526 chips and found them to be working correctly.)
     Without Shredz64 working on a good C64, I set up my working VIC-20 with the Eslapion Behr-Bonz 30-games multicart.  Several attendees played with that system.  Several others came up to me saying, "I really wanted to see Guitar Hero running on the Commodore 64."  I had to tell them that they'd have to wait until the next party in the spring.
     Otherwise, the party was a good one... a warm night with lots of attendees (many young men and women in their 20s), plenty of pizza and drinks and cake, several Internet reporters, a raffle of game carts and posters, constant movies on the projection screen, and plenty of classic game consoles and stand-up arcade machines.  I met up with friends Rob Welkner of Coin-op.tv (though Hailey Bright did not accompany him this time) and R.W. Bivens and John Anderson of the former Oldergames.com

                 Next time I will be better prepared,
                 Robert Bernardo
                 Fresno Commodore User Group
                 http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                 The Other Group of Amigoids
                 http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                 Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
                 http://www.sccaners.org