THE OMEGATHON!

Moe Fwacky

The Omegathon Schedule has been released! This is a very different Omegathon than years past. No Ladykiller round this year, for one.

If you've been chosen, tell us here. As the Omeganauts reveal themselves, I will update this OP with their information (and pictures, should they provide one, say 100x100 pixel portrait shot).

For those about to compete, we salute (and envy) you!

Robert Khoo wrote: »

...this is about having fun with a selection of games that really have never seen the light of competitive play. That's what makes the competition so ridiculous and awesome at the same time. I mean, come on - Pong? Katamari Damacy? Peggle? All of these games are super fun to play and watch but you're not going to see a world championship match on G4 for any of these.

I've always felt Penny Arcade readers didn't give much thought to whether a game was "hardcore" or not - to us it's always about how fun it is, and I think the Omegathon really embodies that philosophy.

P.S. I promise it will be rad.

Round 1: Peggle
PC Area - Friday, 3:30 PM

Round 2: Boom Blox
Serpent Theatre - Friday, 8:00 PM

Round 3: Competitive King from the new Geometry Wars
Serpent Theatre - Saturday, 11:30 AM

Round 4: Rock Band
Main Theatre - Saturday, 8:30 PM

Round 5: Jenga
Serpent Theatre - Sunday, 1:00 PM

Final Round: ???
Main Theatre - 4:30 PM

YOUR 2008 OMEGANAUTS

1. (2007 Runner-up)
Name: Ben Gray (MNC Dover)

Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Age: 31
Favorite Game: A tie between Starcraft and Fire Emblem
Worst Game: Realistic Racers
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: “Beating Heavy Barrel in the arcade with only one man.”

2.
Name: Erica (BrokenAngel)

Hometown: Kennewick, WA
Age: 29
Favorite Game: Final Fantasy VI
Worst Game: Sports games
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Teaching my wee ones to play a mean game of Soul Calibur

3.
Name: Greg (Plutonium)
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 19
Favorite Game: Starcraft, X-Com,
Worst Game: Console FPS's that aren't Goldeneye

4.
Name: Thomas (Hazywood)
Hometown: Chicago, IL (and Big Ten University towns)
Age: 23
Favorite Game: Toss up between Katamari Damashi and Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander
Worst Game: Anything sports or fighting
Best accomplishment: Ability to consistently ranked in RTS games with crappy APM

5.
Name: Rae (Shugarae)

Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Age: 25
Favorite Game: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
Worst Game: Anything sports other than super mario strikers
Best accomplishment in gaming: Answering the phone when Gabe called and having the willpower not to scream at work

6.
Name: Chrissa (ServentsOfChaos)
Hometown: Portland, OR
Age: 28
Favorite Game: CoD4
Worst Game: Anything sports related
Best accomplishment in gaming: Teaching the little ones what gaming is all about!!!

7.
Name: Jason (Morgon)
Hometown: Glen Burnie, MD
Age: 28
Favorite Game: Grim Fandango
Worst Game: Anything twitchy.
Best accomplishment in gaming: MyGamerCard.net

8.
Name: Steve (rhodysteve311)
Hometown: East Providence, RI
Age: 22
Favorite Game: A tie between The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Worst Game: Anything involving a dance pad
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Having my girlfriend (who isn't that big into video games) come with me to PAX this year and last. You're the best Ali!

9.
Name: Ryan (Ryainken)

Hometown: Clarksville, TN
Age: 22
Favorite Game: System Shock 2
Worst Game: Super Smash Bros.
Best accomplishment in gaming: Never playing a Silent Hill game.

10.
Name: Kent
Hometown : Vancouver, B.C Canada
Age: 24
Favorite Game: Starcraft, Street fighter ( all of them )
Worst game: I try not to play games I suck at
Best Accomplishment in gaming: eh .. never accomplished anything.

11.
Name: Chris (darthtrevino)

Hometown: Bremerton, WA
Age: 27
Favorite Game: Rock Band/Guitar Hero, Bioware RPGs
Worst Game: any rts
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: getting my wife to play . I think one of my favorite gaming moments was when I finally beat Bark at the Moon on expert in GH1. I know that's weak sauce now, but it was frigging awesome when I did it....now that I think of it, alot of my favorite accomplishments were in GH1 and GH2.

12.
Name: Mike Friedman (mfriedman13)

Hometown: I live in Apex, NC but call Plano, TX home.
Age: 28, 29 by PAX
Favorite game: I love rhythm games, but FF3 (for SuperNes) is my favorite game.
Worst game: X-Men for the Sega Genesis
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: My favorite gaming moments are getting together with my wife (redfish27) and my friends and rocking out with rock band and following up with a little DDR. Best accomplishment might be beating Legend of Zelda with no sword or Final Fantasy I in one sitting.

13.
Name: Tim (firestormsniper)
Hometown: Madison WI
Age: 28
Favorite Game: So many to choose from...Red Alert 2, Burnout 3, Portal
Worst Game: I just can't get into most RPGs
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: Backflipping over death lasers in Breakdown

14.
Name: Jo
HomeTown: Litchfield, OH
Age: 29
Favorite Game: Action/F.P.S./Puzzle/RPGs
Worst Game: Wait...the game I'm worst at(and D.D.R.),or the worst game in my opinion(Vampire Rain)?
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Beating Final Fantasy (NES Version) At 6 a.m., With My Friend Jason, For the First Time, Like 16 Years Ago

15.
Name: Brian
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Age: 30
Favorite Game: Most recently, Halo 3 and Warfish. Back in the old days, the King's Quest series were a lot of fun.
Worst Game: Sports games, driving games.
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Beating my sister's high score in Pacman when I was 8(?). Too bad she beat my score the next day.

16
Name: Jordan (Amandil)
Hometown: Spokane, WA
Age: 20
Favorite Game: A tie between The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Kingdom Hearts with a dash of World of Warcraft
Worst Game: Any Cereal Box game
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: My guild and I recently killed Illidan for the first time about a month ago, moving on into Sunwell!

BrokenAngel

I am indeed Sir!

Hometown: Kennewick, WA
Age: 29
Favorite Game: Final Fantasy VI
Worst Game: Any sports game
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Teaching my wee ones to play a mean game of soul calibur

Plutonium

I'm an omeganaut!

Gabe just sent me a call!

Moe Fwacky

It begins
I should have put it in the OP, but you guys should use this format

Name
Hometown
Age
Other info

Plutonium

Greg
Los Angeles, California
Age 19
Favorite Game(s): Starcraft, X-Com,
Worst Game: Console FPS's that aren't Goldeneye
Best Accomplishment: Getting my palm worn off playing the rotation games in Mario Party

Moe Fwacky

Okay, also get us some pictures people, 100x100px preferred, but post whatever and I'll crop it down (if it's over 500kb though, link it, don't post it inline).

Hazywood

Holy monkey bats... Gabe just told me I'm an Omeganaut.... (still waiting for one of my friends to debunk that)

Name: Thomas
Hometown: Chicago, IL (and Big Ten University towns)
Age: 23
Favorite Game: Toss up between Katamari Damashi and Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander
Worst Game: Anything sports or fighting
Best accomplishment: Ability to consistently ranked in RTS games with crappy APM

shugarae

Wow dang... :O!

Name: Rae (Shugarae)
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Age: 25
Favorite Game: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
Worst Game: Anything sports other than super mario strikers
Best accomplishment in gaming: Answering the phone when Gabe called and having the willpower not to scream at work :winky:

ServentsOfChaos

Soooo excited! Gabe just told me I'm an Omeganaut.... Woohoo! Congrats fellow Omeganauts!

Name: Chrissa
Hometown: Portland, OR
Age: 28
Favorite Game: CoD4
Worst Game: Anything sports related
Best accomplishment in gaming: Teaching the little ones what gaming is all about!!!

Morgon

Woot! Congrats to all, and I look forward to having my ass handed to me.
... no, wait, that's not right...

Name: Jason (Morgon)
Hometown: Glen Burnie, MD
Age: 28
Favorite Game: Grim Fandango
Worst Game: Anything twitchy.
Best accomplishment in gaming: MyGamerCard.net

Moe Fwacky

The list continues to grow. But few pictures, come on people, we must have visuals!

rhodysteve311

Congrats to everybody who got the call! Gabe called me after I got home from the Red Sox trouncing the Twins, so what more could you ask for in a day?

Name: Steve (rhodysteve311)
Hometown: East Providence, RI
Age: 22
Favorite Game: A tie between The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Worst Game: Anything involving a dance pad
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Having my girlfriend (who isn't that big into video games) come with me to PAX this year and last. You're the best Ali!

Good luck my fellow Omeganauts, it's sure to be a blast!

Ryainken

Name: Ryan
Hometown: Clarksville, TN
Age: 22
Favorite Game: System Shock 2
Worst Game: Super Smash Bros.
Best accomplishment in gaming: Never playing a Silent Hill game.

You''ll get a picture once I gain muscles.

Angrytofu

Hey~ I got a call today, looks like I'm the only Canadian! hope some more Canadians get in =(

Name : Kent
Hometown : Vancouver, B.C Canada
age: 24
Favorite Game: Starcraft, Street fighter ( all of them )
worst game: I try not to play games I suck at
Best Accomplishment in gaming: eh .. never accomplished anything.

darthtrevino

I got the call at work today! It was friggin' surreal to hear Gabe on the other end, I'm sure I sounded retarded. Oh well, w00T!!




Name: Chris
Hometown: Bremerton, WA
Age: 27
Favorite Game: Rock Band/Guitar Hero, Bioware RPGs
Worst Game: any rts
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: getting my wife to play ;-). I think one of my favorite gaming moments was when I finally beat Bark at the Moon on expert in GH1. I know that's weak sauce now, but it was frigging awesome when I did it....now that I think of it, alot of my favorite accomplishments were in GH1 and GH2.

I look forward to playing with you all!

-C

MNC Dover

Looks like I'm still the senior member of this years Omegathon. At least the ages look to be a little closer to me than last year. Also, quite a bit more Starcraft love from this years crop. MMMM....Starcraft lover, tasty.

Edit: Hey Moe, go ahead and bump me up to 32. Can't deny my birthday last January, ignore it sure, deny it no.

redfish27

I got excited for a split second yesterday when Gabe called our house... but then he asked for my husband. He'll post his info soon. I can't wait to watch all of you compete!

mfriedman13

I'm in.



Name: Mike Friedman
Home town: I live in Apex, NC but call Plano, TX home.
Age: 28, 29 by PAX
Favorite game: I love rhythm games, but FF3 (for SuperNes) is my favorite game.
Worst game: X-Men for the Sega Genesis
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: My favorite gaming moments are getting together with my wife (redfish27) and my friends and rocking out with rock band and following up with a little DDR. Best accomplishment might be beating Legend of Zelda with no sword or Final Fantasy I in one sitting.

firestormsniper

Got the call. Still not sure it really happened.

Name: Tim
Hometown: Madison WI
Age: 28
Favorite Game:So many to choose from...Red Alert 2, Burnout 3, Portal
Worst Game:I just can't get into most RPGs
Best Accomplishment in Gaming: Backflipping over death lasers in Breakdown

Zyzzyvas

Angrytofu wrote: »

Hey~ I got a call today, looks like I'm the only Canadian! hope some more Canadians get in =(

Name : Kent
Hometown : Vancouver, B.C Canada
age: 24
Favorite Game: Starcraft, Street fighter ( all of them )
worst game: I try not to play games I suck at
Best Accomplishment in gaming: eh .. never accomplished anything.

Finally a Canadian Omeganaut! I was starting to think it was rigged.

I'll be cheering for you Kent, GOOD LUCK!

Plutonium

Whoo custom shirts

you Khoo!

Avid

Morgon wrote: »

Woot! Congrats to all, and I look forward to having my ass handed to me.
... no, wait, that's not right...

Name: Jason (Morgon)
Hometown: Glen Burnie, MD
Age: 28
Favorite Game: Grim Fandango
Worst Game: Anything twitchy.
Best accomplishment in gaming: MyGamerCard.net

THis guy has to be one of the coolest Omeganauts. Seriously he runs MyGamerCard thats easily one of the largest xbox sites on the internet. I've had the chance to hang with Jason on a few occassions and he is a really cool guy. Good Luck guys n' gals.

Ryainken

Ok, you win Moe.

shugarae

Here's mine... kind of an old pic, but it'll work :P



What I want to know now is where the other 7 omeganauts are...

Moe Fwacky

I know one of them one the raffle at last PAX, but I have no idea who he was. As for the other 6, who knows where they are.

Qs23

shugarae wrote: »

What I want to know now is where the other 7 omeganauts are...

They are losers... that's who they are.

(Sorry Moe, I just had to post that)

Joey Geko

Unless I am mistaken (plausible), or suffering from a hypoxia induced delusions (more than likely), I am an Omeganaut.

My evidence: 1) I talked to a(n alleged) man named (supposedly) Gabe on my cell phone.
2) I have both received, and replied to, various e-mails from someone going by the title
'Chief OmegaTech'.

Wow, typing it like that...makes it seems like flimsy evidence indeed.

Name: Jo

HomeTown: Litchfield, OH
Age: 29
Favorite Game: Action/F.P.S./Puzzle/RPGs
Worst Game: Wait...the game I'm worst at(any D.D.R.),or the worst game in my opinion(Vampire Rain)?
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Beating Final Fantasy (NES Version) At 6 a.m., With My Friend Jason, For the First Time, Like 16 Years Ago

Moe Fwacky

Moe Fwacky wrote: »

Name:
100x100 pixel picture of yourself
Hometown:
Age:
Favorite Game:
Worst Game:
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming:

edit: man, everybody's editing everything while I make posts tonight

BrokenAngel

Joey Geko wrote: »

Unless I am mistaken (plausible), or suffering from a hypoxia induced delusions (more than likely), I am an Omeganaut.

My evidence: 1) I talked to a(n alleged) man named (supposedly) Gabe on my cell phone.
2) I have both received, and replied to, various e-mails from someone going by the title
'Chief OmegaTech'.

Wow, typing it like that...makes it seems like flimsy evidence indeed.

Name: Jo
HomeTown: Litchfield, OH
Age: 29
Favorite Game: Action/F.P.S./Puzzle/RPGs
Worst Game: Wait...the game I'm worst at(and D.D.R.),or the worst game in my opinion(Vampire Rain)?
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Beating Final Fantasy (NES Version) At 6 a.m., With My Friend Jason, For the First Time, Like 16 Years Ago

wait various? cause I've only gotten 1 email >.> am I missing something?

Edit: Wait I lied! I got 2

nonjapikachu

I got the call from Robert! Omeganaut numero 20 I believe. Good luck to all the other Omeganauts, unless you are playing against me. Then you won't need luck.

Name: Brian
HomeTown: Oakland, CA
Age: 30
Favorite Game: Most recently, Halo 3 and Warfish. Back in the old days, the King's Quest series were a lot of fun.
Worst Game: Sports games, driving games.
Greatest Accomplishment in Gaming: Beating my sister's high score in Pacman when I was 8(?). Too bad she beat my score the next day.

Moe Fwacky

Actually you get number 15 because we still haven't heard from 5 of them. Seriously, people, last year we had heard from 19 of the 20 before they announced them on the front page. Slackers, this year.

Kedri

Moe Fwacky wrote: »

Actually you get number 15 because we still haven't heard from 5 of them. Seriously, people, last year we had heard from 19 of the 20 before they announced them on the front page. Slackers, this year.

Is it wishful thinking to ask if that means there might be more contests?

Moe Fwacky

Extremely

Kedri

What happens if some don't respond?

Moe Fwacky

The calls have already gone out. This one was only put up for contest due to family emergency. There's no rule that says all Omeganauts have to post here. And those that don't will be entered into the OP when Gabe or Tycho announces them on the front page anyway. Trust me when I tell you that right now there is no chance in hell you can be chosen as an Omeganaut. All 20 are chosen, even if we only know the names of 15 of them.

Kedri

Heh, thanks. Just wondering. '-'

dyaballikl

Moe Fwacky wrote: »

The calls have already gone out. This one was only put up for contest due to family emergency. There's no rule that says all Omeganauts have to post here. And those that don't will be entered into the OP when Gabe or Tycho announces them on the front page anyway. Trust me when I tell you that right now there is no chance in hell you can be chosen as an Omeganaut. All 20 are chosen, even if we only know the names of 15 of them.

so, what happens again when the tour bus carrying half of them meets its fiery demolition at the bottom of a ravine? (btw, i'm of course speaking of the half that BA isn't a part of!)

Moe Fwacky

What tour bus? What ravine? Seriously, I don't know what you think is going on here, but I don't think there's anybody riding a tour bus into a ravine with the Omeganauts on board. Unless they've got some sort of vengeance shit to work out.

dyaballikl

Moe Fwacky wrote: »

What tour bus? What ravine? Seriously, I don't know what you think is going on here, but I don't think there's anybody riding a tour bus into a ravine with the Omeganauts on board. Unless they've got some sort of vengeance shit to work out.

you're catching on to my evil plan, i must dispose of you, but no one can know!


[edit] DAMN! foiled again!

parabola

Angrytofu wrote: »

Hey~ I got a call today, looks like I'm the only Canadian! hope some more Canadians get in =(

Name : Kent
Hometown : Vancouver, B.C Canada
age: 24
Favorite Game: Starcraft, Street fighter ( all of them )
worst game: I try not to play games I suck at
Best Accomplishment in gaming: eh .. never accomplished anything.

Whoo Vancouver represented! I'm backing you mighty Canadian Omeganaut.

You need a new winning attitude though.

Joey Geko

I'm nervous as a bride on her wedding night circa 1143 A.D. I fear that my inordinate amount of self doubt will lock my thumbs down, causing my early exit from this august institution. Blarg...