I have some feedback about gaming here. Feel free to add on to this if you have any ideas.
Gaming was pretty awesome overall, but with a few hitches.
First of all, despite being told that they'd have plenty of Gamecubes, when I got there I found out there were only two. Also, despite the schedule reading that there would be a 16-player Mario Kart LAN game, little to no effort was put into implementing the LAN aspect. I brought two GC broadband adapters, but they were never used. It's not THAT big a deal, but I would rather have been told not to bother, because I was originally given the impression that obtaining BBAs was a high priority. In the future, if I attempt to secure BBAs, I'll ask about running the tournament myself (which I wouldn't mind doing).
Secondly, a suggestion: Super Smash Brothers. At one point, we had three TVs playing this game. Problem: as a 4-player game, players were taking up so many seats that some of the neighboring consoles/TVs were practically inaccessible.
SSB Brawl will also be out by next year's con. Anticipating the popularity of Smash Bros, I think we should allocate 2-4 TVs and consoles
specifically to Smash Bros, and set them apart from the other TVs, much like the adult-only gaming station (though not necessarily tucked in a back corner). Gaming had plenty of floor space, so why not? It'd be cool to see an island of 4 TVs all playing Smash.
If you like this idea, here's another thing I'd suggest: don't put Smash Bros. games up for checkout. If the lines for one of the Smash games get to be WAY too long, you can always set up another TV at the station...but as it was this year, there were usually more people playing Smash than there were people who were waiting to play Smash (which suggests that two TVs was enough for Melee, at least. Not sure what will happen after Brawl is released).
The Soul Calibur 3 tournament:
It went pretty well, but I could tell that it was hell on the person running the tournament, thanks to the problem we always have at conventions: people who leave before their name is called. I don't hold anything against those people, so it'd be best just to be prepared for it to happen. Double elimination is nice, but given the confusion, I think something else should be tried next year.
Of all the SC tournaments I've attended in the past few years, my favorite tournament layout was in 2006. Namely:
Single elimination, best 2 out of 3 MATCHES. Each match is best 2 out of 3 KOs. After each match, the winner of that match must continue using the same character, while the loser of the match may choose a different character. Once the final round is reached, in order to increase the excitement, it could be extended to best 3 out of 5 matches. (Or perhaps best 3 out of 5 KOs, instead.)
...That's it. It's pretty simple. It also means less shifting around from chair to chair and more time spent actually playing. The entrant who is pitted against the best player in the first round will be given the shaft, but I think it's worth it for the excitement and smoothness of this format.
That's all I have to suggests. Thanks for a great game room this year!
