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Omegathon Final Round Reactions
Animus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going to try and be as brief as possible, but my reaction to the Final Round of the Omegathon was pretty powerful, and I believe there are a several points worth discussing.
I'd also like to state that this was my first PAX, just in case it may provide some useful context.
Let me first begin by saying I think the idea was great. Four Classic Games executed in relay fashion, capitulating with a co-op experience.
However, I think the execution was very poor. Especially for a convention with such an immense following that yields high expectations.
First off, the initial player played two games alone and the secondary only played one before joining for the co-op experience. This is unbalanced, putting far more emphasis on the classic gaming skill of the first player of the team.
Secondly, the setup and, to an implied extent, the testing. One of the first consoles failed right off the bat. That could have been excusable in itself, as no progress had been made by either team.
But then, there was another mishap later in the contest when one team, who was clearly superior at classic games, was 3/4 of the way through, and the other team, who clearly had much much less skill at classic games, froze up later during Contra due to the 30 lives code being entered far too early.
So the final round started over ...
I didn't think this would have caused an issue, as the one team was clearly superior and more deserving to win because they -knew- and -played- classic games, but this wasn't the point.
No, team 2 - after chasing after every useless powerup and trying to go down every damn pipe in level one of Mario, had quickly learned how to get the 50 coins more quickly. A memory REAL gamers would already have.
Rad Racer and Tetris were very straightforward and have no real place in this argument. Classically trained or not, driving without hitting someone for 2 minutes, and placing shapes together so they fit, is not exactly hard for anyone with hand-eye coordination to do.
However, beating the boss of Contra's first level DOES test a gamer's skill ... only if they don't have 30 damn lives, because then it's just a test of who can run and shoot the fastest at anything that moves.
If Contra had indeed been about skill, the team that didn't even realize you couldn't break bricks as small mario until being yelled at by the crowed intensely would have had to start over the Contra level probably twice, and the deserving team would have won.
In the end, this could have all been avoided if emulators had been used in place of fickle and unreliable classic machines.
I loved PAX East. I love what it stands for and I love gaming.
But the Omegathon did not represent what it should have, it did not reward true gamer skill in the end. Rather, it rewarded a couple of guys who obviously never owned an NES in their life, and that's a smack in the face to the thousands of true gamers there who could have done it ALL.
I'd also like to state that this was my first PAX, just in case it may provide some useful context.
Let me first begin by saying I think the idea was great. Four Classic Games executed in relay fashion, capitulating with a co-op experience.
However, I think the execution was very poor. Especially for a convention with such an immense following that yields high expectations.
First off, the initial player played two games alone and the secondary only played one before joining for the co-op experience. This is unbalanced, putting far more emphasis on the classic gaming skill of the first player of the team.
Secondly, the setup and, to an implied extent, the testing. One of the first consoles failed right off the bat. That could have been excusable in itself, as no progress had been made by either team.
But then, there was another mishap later in the contest when one team, who was clearly superior at classic games, was 3/4 of the way through, and the other team, who clearly had much much less skill at classic games, froze up later during Contra due to the 30 lives code being entered far too early.
So the final round started over ...
I didn't think this would have caused an issue, as the one team was clearly superior and more deserving to win because they -knew- and -played- classic games, but this wasn't the point.
No, team 2 - after chasing after every useless powerup and trying to go down every damn pipe in level one of Mario, had quickly learned how to get the 50 coins more quickly. A memory REAL gamers would already have.
Rad Racer and Tetris were very straightforward and have no real place in this argument. Classically trained or not, driving without hitting someone for 2 minutes, and placing shapes together so they fit, is not exactly hard for anyone with hand-eye coordination to do.
However, beating the boss of Contra's first level DOES test a gamer's skill ... only if they don't have 30 damn lives, because then it's just a test of who can run and shoot the fastest at anything that moves.
If Contra had indeed been about skill, the team that didn't even realize you couldn't break bricks as small mario until being yelled at by the crowed intensely would have had to start over the Contra level probably twice, and the deserving team would have won.
In the end, this could have all been avoided if emulators had been used in place of fickle and unreliable classic machines.
I loved PAX East. I love what it stands for and I love gaming.
But the Omegathon did not represent what it should have, it did not reward true gamer skill in the end. Rather, it rewarded a couple of guys who obviously never owned an NES in their life, and that's a smack in the face to the thousands of true gamers there who could have done it ALL.
Animus on
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As far as the mario skill thing... isn't being able to learn a very important gamer skill?
Being a Gamer is all about being able to adapt and that's what you saw.
As "bad" as SMB was being played, not being able to get 10 lines in tetris wasn't great either.
Rad Racer and Contra came off wonderful and using the 30 lives code is how i played with friends and family and we had a blast.
But in the end they both came close to finishing the games at around the same time.
Owning a NES doesn't make you a "true gamer" as much as being a "PC Gamer" does.
being a Gamer isn't like getting a Degree.There is no requirements other than playing whatever game catches your intrest.Plus isn't playing video games all about being able to play better than someone else? that's why we have high scores,leaderboards and multiplayer.
the important thing is they got the crowd into it.
Also there are less than 25 coins in world 1-1 so you'd have to die twice. Still may be a quicker way to do it, but didn't think of it. Couldn't remember if you lost all your coins when you died.
Dude, I felt SOOOOO bad for you guys. Hard enough you guys had to rock out in front of people the night before, but then to play in that grueling test in the final round in front of everyone shouting and yelling and having to do it multiple times, my heart went out when you guys had some struggles, particularly with Tetris. Having played it on my gameboy till lines on the screen started failing, I know it's so easy to make one or two mistakes and having to try repairing it is tough enough, nevermind having 5,000+ watching you do it.
You guys all played your hearts out and you shouldn't feel bad. You guys got to experience a PAX that so many of us would've LOVED to. I can appreciate it sucking to lose it right at the end, but hold your head high, sir...You went to the big dance when so many of those shouting from the stands did NOT. You let no one down. If you had a good weekend and had fun overall, you won and screw the rest.
world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples
of ignorance?" - John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun
but the second round it wasn't as bad... but it was so obvious he didn't grow up with mario. Trigger fingers mean nothing with retro games.. all about the thumbs lol.
Also, I'm not sure it was on purpose... but the second round when the tetris player on the right "messed up"... it's actually the right way to collect lines faster. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt... but the first round he played horribly.
Anywho... WIZARDS!!! Your not a real gamer if you didn't get what the last round was round was a tribute to
Like the OP mentioned, the team that was winning during the first play through was clearly superior when it came to classic gaming. I mean, the guy playing Mario on the other team didn't even hit the coin brick for those 10 or so coins the first time around!
When they restated the entire competition due to their own technical errors, I was shocked. My boyfriend and I felt it was really unfair to team that had been dominating the first time.
And yes, for having to wait two hours in a line for something that lasted for 20 minutes was very frustrating. They should have at least collaborated a video of footage and pictures taken during the event.
Badges [ ] Hotel [ ] Complete Pixelist.net [x] Excitement [x]
Well, The Wizard, at least. Nintendo went on to make this an actual event:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_World_Championships
Aw.. you don't just give away the title of the movie! lol
BaconSandwich ALMOST saved both our asses with is MAD Contract SKILLZ!
Anyway the last event is as much a throw of dice from the fact that we could have played any game then by the fact that the NES froze up on us. Could have been the other way around.
Now can anybody give me the original NES designer's address? I have a visit to pay! :x
Also saying team 2 weren't real gamers is unfair though. Not everyone had a NES as a kid. However to do so much better on their second time I think shows what a gamer is about. The ability to do so much better so quickly does show gaming skill. Besides they got to the final round they had to be doing something write. I don't think busting on the second team is really fair.
It was mentioned, but emulators are illegal.
However, there are remakes of all of those games on current hardware that doesn't fail.
Should have had 1 more game for player 2 for balance.
Starting 50 minutes late was balls.
All of these problems could have been fixed by playing the exact same games on modern hardware, which is completely possible.
As for the setup, it's fucking 20yr old video games that had to work live. Something is bound to go wrong and they mentioned things can and probably will go wrong the first time. Shit happens, what can u do?
I think everyone had a good time, T&G were great hosts and very entertaining. I just sat back and had a great time.
Cheers to the Omeganauts, that experience had to be awesome yet harrowing!
Fine, the games are old and they couldn't user emulators and problems are bound to happen.
However - were the rules that governed what to do in the case of a technical error of any sort a little different, it could all have been fixed.
When the second error happened, the freezing of Contra for the right team, they COULD have just had Team 1 pause, and fix Team 2' issue, get them back to where they were (which would be easy, since it was the absolute beginning) and then resume.
But no, instead they tossed all progress, and the real exhibition of talent and skill - which is meant to be your initial talent and skill (because I'm sure anyone who didn't know Double Dash didn't get a chance to learn it and start over) - out the window.
So, in the end, you can really just chalk it up to poor preparation and formulation of contingency plans.
Hey, speaking as one of the Omeganauts that got knocked out in the first round, you guys have NOTHING to be ashamed of! You did really well, and I salute you, sir! *Iron Guard Salute*
Did you see them fighting the mini-boss wall???
They stood RIGHT in front of it and died like 5 times each ... but I suppose their true skill would have been revealed if the game froze after that point and they had a chance to do it again, right?
I suppose the idea of avoiding large red pulsating bullets is a bit too much for a first time Contra player to grasp, seeing as how they don't instantaneously hit you like in FPS's
Also, I still stand by the fact that having unlimited lives ruined the element of skill in Contra, and rather turned it into a matter of who could run and shoot at everything that moves or glows the fastest.
Who cares about avoiding bullets, exploiting weaknesses, using the right powerups, finding safe spots and, oh yea, TEAMWORK!
By the way the real story is this:
Back in the green room we decided "jokingly" to flip a coin for victory and be done with it. Caleb (right-side, team 4) called heads and won the toss. Thats probably where/when it was decided.
Also we did get to chat for a few minutes with Jerry and Wil. That's pretty much the coolest thing you could wish for at Pax!
Congratulations team 4 on your win!
I only wish it was something longer, especially considering most of the time was due to restarts.
Great job to the folks who played though!
It happened not once but twice for our team that something was wrong and we had to reset. In Geometry Wars there was an issue with people getting the wrong controller and we had to force a reset to get everyone on the correct team. On Rock Band, our first run was miserable because Christian was playing the note chart from the side that he had been playing on our practice run. We were mercifully given another chance there.
I agree that we had the clear advantage the first time through the final round, but our rival rock band had the advantage as well our first run through The Gambler.
Thanks for making me more depressed than I was previously for not making it past the Rock Band round. With as much as the crowd was cheering for us, it was hard to believe that we didn't win.
It does suck about the technical difficulties in the final round, however, that's just part of the game. Same reason the Mario Kart Double Dash round went from 4 race Grand Prix to a hectic and terrifying round of a single sudden death one on one race.
That being said, I applaud the way you responded to what happen, regardless of the stated rules. Hope you get to represent our PAX East 2010 set of Omeganauts in the future if you are invited back, and I hope I get to join you in battle as an Omeganaut if random chance again graces me with the amazing opportunity.
FYI: I was the loud, talkative Omeganaut who was wearing all the Sonic shirts for all my rounds, if you need to remember which loser you beat.
EDIT: You posted before I finished typing.
Wow, with that one statement, you don't know how much that makes me feel better about how we performed. I guess a reason for that is that our team practiced last and performed first, so we knew which guitars to pick up. The length of time between the two performances could have caused the issue.
But that's why I checked which side I was on while the crowd booed our Medium difficulty setting, just to make sure.
Still a great feeling to perform as a fake guitar player in front of thousands, as I'm sure you two both know. Glad to see you were able to recover from the shock of failing out quickly.
Team 16: Guitarist for The Clap Trap
I think that pausing it and allowing the Team whose console froze to simply get back to the point they were at makes more sense. Especially in this case since it froze right at the beginning of Contra - all they had to do was have the first team pause their Contra run, and then reset the second teams Contra console.
Really? Now there's an astute observation I hadn't noticed.
I may have been too busy yelling and cursing to have, though.
Double Dash. I would have much rather top half'd a giant grand prix than get scrubbed out of the first round by a single heads up race with a partner that never played the game.
Not that I'm complaining, the omeganaut badge made my weekend magical.
I would have enjoyed playing the original game on its original system than playing every retro game on a current generation console. Adds more excitement and fun to the competition as a whole in my opinion.
Besides researching common hardware problems associated with a game and its console, I'm not sure what else you can do than what was done during the Omegathon already.
Even though I survived that round, I agree that it would have been a lot more entertaining with an 8 team Grand Prix. Not sure how that would have worked in the room we were assigned with only the one projector and Gamecube. But like technical problems in other rounds, you have to work with what you have been given.
Team 16: Guitarist for The Clap Trap
True, and this may be the final year we use old systems. But honestly think of the rage people would spew if we just went to new systems, people have emotional attachments to the old systems, and just leaving them behind is as bad as them freezing up. At least if we abandon the old boxes now people will understand why we did it.
This year was our first attempt at a Bracket system, and at making an Omegathon where you actually have to win your game, not just avoid coming in last. The move from Seattle to Boston threw a lot of wrenches into the system that could only be ironed out after an actual run of the Omegathon.
Could we have approached a system lock up better? Yeah, the idea of pausing or giving a head start to the team in in the lead might have been better solutions to the problem. But we talked about those, and we really wanted a clean run through of the 4 games, like we got on the final round.
Bacon and Bear really were good sports about how the final round went down, part of that is, I am sure, due to the fact that a rules clarification got them through the concert round, and allowed them to have a shot at the final. We will be looking at how the Omegathon ran and refine it for next year, we will also be deciding if we bring the runners up back for PAXEast like we do PAXPrime.
If any of you attended the very first PAX you would know that the Omegathon now is very different than the first Omegathon. We change things each year, and we will for PAXEast too. Give us your suggestions, just remember it is a learning process.