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Omegathon Final Round Reactions
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As someone else mentioned...it totally reminded me of "The Wizard". God, I LOVED that movie as a kid!! Saw it like three or four times (if not more) in the theater. Remember the little Nintendo Power they gave you when you bought a ticket? ftw!
Anyway, it was a nice farewell to the con and made me want to revisit Super Mario Bros and Contra. good memories.
Now, if anyone is still reading this, I am one of the two winners from this year. In the final round I was doing the rad racer piece, and was the blue guy in contra.
I had a great time playing every round. Mario kart was fun even though I know the pairings occasionally made some very lopsided teams for it.
Dan (my partner) totally ruled at Geometry Wars and really was the reason that we were able to make it through to the third round. I don't own a 360, and so I'd only played that game probably twice at a friends house. Regardless I had a blast.
As for the Rock Band set, it was unbelievable. Literally a once in a lifetime experience. I'm glad that I didn't have to sing, and I don't think that there are many people that would have been willing to get up in front of that many people and sing an unknown song with NO VOCAL TRACK. I have to give mad props to both Dan and the front man of the Claptraps for doing that.
I know we had a really hard time with the song the first time because even though I grabbed the same guitar I used for practice, it was set to the guitar track instead of the bass, and we had been asked to choose the instruments that we were going to play ahead of time. I was supposed to be playing bass, and for the actual performances I ended up playing guitar. I'm glad that those in power allowed us to try again.
Now I seem to have gotten to the point that I can be on topic... The final round of the omegathon... was scary. Really scary. None of us knew what we were walking into. They bring us out on stage and reveal that there are four games and the last is a team game. They were asking who wanted to go first, and I know that whoever went first would be running two games to the second persons one game. I decided to let Dan go ahead and take the two games because I honestly felt that he had shown through all the previous rounds that he was the stronger player. Even now I would stand by that statement.
He may have had some trouble with Mario (and yes I was standing there yelling at him about what to do too, but he said he didn't hear me either) but he really did make up for it in Tetris. He had said that he had been practicing it over the last couple days, and I really couldn't believe when he started the way he did (like everyone else that was watching him, flipping out). I had no idea that there was a faster way to clear lines in Tetris, but I guess he showed us all.
For my part, I'd never played Rad Racer before... so I was glad that I didn't show my lack of experience.
As to the Contra game. Yeah we sucked. Absolutely. Was I running directly into the gunfire? Yes, I was. Was I incredibly stressed out trying like hell to win? Yes. Had I ever played that far in Contra before? No. Clearly if it hadn't been for the Konami code we wouldn't have made it. The fact of the matter is that when they got to Contra it was amazing how much faster they got through the game than we did. I've seen the clip on youtube (I'd love to see more if anyone has them) and I know that there is no way we beat them by more than a second or two.
As for the hardware lockup run. We were beat. Absolutely. There was absolutely no way we were coming back. I knew it just like everyone else. It was just bad luck for the other team that they ran into a system that was frozen. I'm incredibly grateful for the clarification of the rules BEFORE this happened. It wasn't anyone's fault. The rules were obviously clarified for a reason, but the second run really wasn't any handicap in our favor, it was just another chance to show what we could do, and that's what we tried to do.
Clearly the Omegathon is meant to make us all have an emotional reaction. Clearly this years did that for everyone. It was an amazing experience, and I will be forever grateful for it.
As for the guys that were runners up, you guys were awesome. I really did enjoy the time that we got to spend together, and it was really tough at the end to be set against you. I do wish that there was a better planned prize for you guys, and I'm really glad to hear that you guys will be coming back next year. Expect to see me there cheering you guys on.
Animus I understand you are upset, and I'm sorry if we let you down. The fact of the matter is that we got randomly selected for the positions, and we tried to do the best that we could. I hope that it was entertaining, and like I said, all we did was play the game the way the rules were at that time.
p.s. that was a killer Wave before the concert.
I know the rules were clearly explained ahead of time... but I can imagine a lot of people would still have cried "foul". Heck, to be honest... I was to the left of the stage rooting for team 1 and I got a little emotional on their behalf before I talked myself down.
But seriously... just continues to prove what I've been saying since Friday. Everyone at Pax was super kickass. 8-)
And kitties... I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't pissed off. Oh yes I was. We had it. It was right there. All we would need is a run through Contra that I probably could have done in my sleep. But at the end of the day, as the rules spelled it out, Caleb and Dan beat us fair and square. To be honest I don't like it any more than you, but at the end of the day the one with the most points (or best time) wins the game.
As to all the hating on the classic consoles themselves, they are beautiful parts of our history as gamers. Are they fragile artifacts of a bygone era? Sure, but a lot of the technical difficulties can be dealt with through careful and timely preparation. Unfortunately the nature and the secrecy of the Omeganaut final round does not really lend itself to that. (But it can.)
Also, I would contend that coming up a learning curve quickly is the quintessential element of being a skilled gamer. Not everyone has the money or time to play everygame under the sun. So how quickly they learn to play a game well is just as legitimate a criteria as any other for choosing a winner.
Sharingan'd for Truth.
This was my first PAX event, and I didn't see any of the other Omegathon rounds until this one. The concept was great, the set-up (in theory) was great, and the atmosphere was great. I agree with a previous poster that it probably would have been better to have an emulator version of all 4 games, but that is debatable.
I'll preface the following with a disclaimer: I absolutely know that the rules were clearly stated, followed, and (by the letter of the law) the right team won.
That said...
As soon as the contest was over, my gut reaction was one of anger/disappointment that the more deserving team (in my and mine alone opinion) lost on a technicality. There were so many other ways that the "if something goes wrong" system could have been set up that the way it ended left me with a sour taste in my mouth (which is really not the way you want to end a great 3 day weekend).
Were this tournament simply for bragging rights, I would probably have had little to no feeling about how it ended. However, when the winners get an all expenses paid trip to Germany with the Kings of PA, the fairness of the way to win it is very, very important. I don't know if you heard me yelling from the balcony, but I was calling for the team on the right to pause Tetris.
Had the first step in a malfunction been "If something goes wrong, you will be immediately told to pause the game and wait for a Go order", then the team on the left's situation would have been resolved, the tetris game would have been unpaused, and then contest would have continued.
To all the naysayers of the previous paragraph, yes, I have already admitted that those weren't the official rules, and the way it went down is technically ok. However, the glitch was absolutely to the complete disadvantage of team 1 and to the complete advantage of team 2.
I really hope, especially if the prizes continue to be so amazing, that better planning and rules are in place for future events.
But all hope is not lost! If the PA gods smile upon us, we shall return to the fair city of Boston to meet our opponents in combat once again.
Me: "Random teams for Rock Band? That doesn't seem very fair."
Tycho: "You (the Omeganauts) are here for our amusement."
Me: "Oh you suck."
Tycho: ":D"
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Also, let's steer clear of talk of "real gamers." Owning an NES doesn't make you a real gamer. It makes you an older gamer. Saying that someone did or didn't deserve to win because they were or weren't a "real" gamer sounds elitist and dickish, and it has no place at PAX, which is about community, camaraderie, and gamer culture as a whole.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
Although I understand if they use remakes for later events, but it will be a sad change.
What are you saying about me SIR? :x
And Arco, I disagree that Omegathon isn't a measure of skill. For one, it was bracketed this year, and was closely monitored. The first two rounds were announced in advance, but the main difference between this and other tournaments is the random factor, and that's what makes it so special. You have to be both skilled and lucky to get to the top.
I do agree that not playing NES has absolutely no bearing on whether people are "real" gamers. I didn't have an SNES growing up, does the fact that I don't know squat about Donkey Kong Country make me not a real gamer? Obviously not.
My big gripe is that "I was an Omeganaut" is getting me far less ladies than I anticipated
Sure, having a clean run, through-and-through, sounds like a great idea, until something happens and you think to yourself, “Man, I’m really making love to the pooch on this second try.” Having a clean run, even after a technical difficulty, isn’t a big deal if everybody knows in advance what the game is and their objectives. But when the point of the Final Round is to play an unknown game(s) with unknown objectives, then the obvious objective (from the creators’ standpoint) is to award the team that successfully completes everything on the first try without prior knowledge of what to expect. Otherwise, you are awarding the team that has enough foreknowledge to successfully complete the objectives on the second/third try, (which is what happened). And if that’s okay, then why go through all the secrecy? (Just in case it all pans out right the first time?)
… to our dismay, haha.
I would be swearing… and I’m not much of a swearer. And if I was quick enough, I would have tried getting the crowd to yell, ”Two out of three! Two out of three!”
I would like to amicably argue this point. As a member of the rivaling team (The Claptraps), I don’t understand how we had the advantage. We didn’t get a sneak peak of the song’s opening like you guys did. I’m not saying you guys didn’t deserve a second chance, because you did – there was clearly a technical mix-up. However, you guys were playing for at least 20 seconds (not sure exactly how much more; that’s at least 10% of the song), which could be more than enough time for the drummer and singer to figure out what’s going on and what to expect the second time around. I’m not saying what you guys did was intentional, it just gave you an unfair advantage over us. At the time, before we went on stage for the final scores, we were told that you guys had failed out super-fast, in 10-15 seconds… arguably not enough time to give you an advantage… but that wasn’t the case. What would have been fair would have been to have each band play a new song and see who won, or play best two out of three. I think there was so much pressure on time that the mindset was to just call you guys the winners and move on… much like with Round 4. I'm not bitter about losing, I just don't like the idea that things weren't given a fair shake.
I saw your face, and I totally agreed with it.
Hahaha. The Protomen were like, “What the f*** is an Omeganaut?” Omeganauts need more PR next time around, hehe.
Maybe you’re right and there are people who would care about whether the games were being played with original hardware, but I don’t think the majority would care. My friends and I all agreed that emulators or current systems should have been used. Sure, playing with original hardware is a lot of fun when you're with your friends having a good time, but when it comes to a serious competition, you need to remove all potential problems so that shenanigans don't occur. If the original games were at PAX, using emulators would have been legal (assuming keeping digital copies of original software that you own is still legal). Ultimately, people are looking at the screens, not at the hardware, and reducing technical difficulties due to old hardware would be a boon to us all. I hope the Omegathon moves forward in this direction. I understand that there are hiccups that can occur and you need to make quick decisions. I think inviting back the runners-up would be a good tradition.
There is a burning desire to know what this is all about? Is it in reference to the restart, or something else?
I partially agree. You're right that the Omegathon isn't intended to measure pure "gamer skill" (whatever that may be), and it is more of a tournament for entertaining the masses (as MNC Dover pointed out), but I don't think it's a straight-up toss-up, as you are implying. Yes, the players are picked at random, but only from a pool of people who voluntarily wanted to compete – that’s the same as people who voluntarily sign up for any kind of tournament. (By the way, anybody know how many people put in Omegathon tickets?) Most Omegathon games are not a mystery – usually, all of the rounds except for the final one are announced before PAX begins (as it was with PAX East). This allows prospective Omeganauts to hone their skills before the expo, giving them an advantage in the beginning rounds. And it takes some modicum of skill to best your competitors. If no skill was involved, then they could have just selected winners by raffle tickets. Instead, players are bested by better competitors – what makes that different from any other type of tournament? Skiball is a game, and this is a gaming exposition – it’s not like they were asked to guess what number Jerry was thinking of between 1 and 10. The Omegathon at PAX East was bracketed, it did have a (somewhat) clearly defined ruleset announced in advance of us actually playing the games, and there were judges there. By the way, tournaments don't have to be bracketed in order to be "real".
Respectfully,
Andrew (part of Team 6 and The Claptraps)
I don't think that's what I was implying. I never said it was a toss-up, or that it was based on pure luck. I also never said that skill wasn't involved. Skill being involved is a given; skill is involved in pretty much anything, or at least the argument can be made that it is.
Also: saying that the Omegathon doesn't measure skill is completely different than saying that there's no skill involved in the Omegathon. The former in no way implies the latter. That's like saying that because gymnastics doesn't measure strength that there's no strength involved in gymnastics. Saying that the former implies the latter is simply fallacious reasoning.
My post was a response to the OP, who seemed to be treating the Omegathon like a competitive gaming event in the vein of, say, a StarCraft or Modern Warfare tournament; and the point of my post was to indicate that it is not. What I said was:
a) The Omegathon does not measure gamer skill.
b) The Omegathon is not intended to measure gamer skill (and thus, point a does not indicate failure or lack)
c) The Omegathon is a lot like Double Dare.
I stand by all those points; especially c. I'm very proud of that comparison, and Double Dare rules.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
I totally agree with this logic. But the way you formed the rest of your argument implied that winning had little to do with skill, which I disagree with.
I understand what you're saying, I do. And I agree that the overall intent of the Omegathon is not to "measure skill" per se; however, whether or not there's an intent to measure skill apriori, everyone's skills are measured regardless (e.g., person A is better than B, is better than C, etc.). A better comparison might be Legends of the Hidden Temple
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
The final round of the Omegathon should be the temple run from Legends of the Hidden Temple. After all, PAX is about more than just video games, and it involves physical and mental challenges, and strategy to boot! And just how freaking hard is it to put that silver monkey together? We all want to know!