Shannon Cottrell

Playing in Uncle Scrooge's gold depository on opening night of "Entertainment System" at iam8bit.

See also:
*Entertainment System at iam8bit (Pics)

Were you the type of kid who raced home from school to catch DuckTales? Did you have the theme song memorized? Did you spend hours playing the video game? Then maybe you should head down to iam8bit's Echo Park headquarters and go for a swim through Scrooge McDuck's pool of money.

For "Entertainment System," the latest retro-gaming themed art show from iam8bit, the group created a real life representation of the vault where Uncle Scrooge would dive head first into a sea of coins. "We are huge fans of the DuckTales game," says Noah Lane, the senior project coordinator at iam8bit, referencing the 1989 adventure game based on the series. "We've been researching and working on it for months."

The Echo Park firm worked closely with Capcom to bring the vault to life. Capcom, the video game company responsible for a slew of hit games, was behind the original DuckTales video game and recently announced DuckTales: Remastered. The new version of the old game will be available for multiple systems later this summer.

More »

Titanfall

This year's E3 was as big and bombastic as ever. A giant, 18-foot robot from EA's (Electronic Arts) upcoming Titanfall stands ominously in the lobby; Activision erected a semi-circle of giant, trailer-spewing screens around an open forum, welcoming the masses into its fold like the loving arms of St. Paul's Cathedral; Microsoft corralled actual zombies to moan and groan in a small corner dystopia to promote the undead slaughter-fest Dead Rising 3; and more media outlets than even last year broadcasted and podcasted live from the convention floor.

You can almost smell half a year's worth of marketing budgets in the air. But what really stands out this year is how high the walls are. The sides of booths at E3 have always crept skyward, but in years past, from an elevated vantage, you could at least gaze over the entire floor. Now, the steel-frames adorned with expansive sheets of plastic stretch nearly to the ceiling, blocking any trace of other exhibitors. They make it feel less like a gaming community (an illusion that my inner child should perhaps have released decades ago) and more like isolated pods of explosive glee.

Nevertheless, video game professionals -- and those who managed to finagle a badge out of a video game professional -- soak in all the bright lights, hyper-kinetic screens, booming tones, circus-like barkers, and busty seasonal models that characterize the annual event.

More »

Liz Ohanesian

The calm after the Stream-A-Thon

See also:
*Family Fun Arcade Prepares to Close After Four Decades
*10 Best Arcades in L.A.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, the Granada Hills shopping center that is home to Family Fun Arcade was so full that guys in neon raincoats were directing traffic. But the crowd wasn't here for gaming action -- they were ready to attend church services. The arcade itself was closed, despite the fact that the Arcade Relief Stream-A-Thon, a video game marathon intended to raise money for FFA owner Ralph Sehnert's medical bills, was set to go on for another hour. Posted on the locked door were the arcade's regular hours and a recent L.A. Weekly article about the FFA's impending closure.

Two hours later, I returned, this time with an old friend. We were set on making one final, small offering of quarters to the arcade gods at the video game haven of our youth. Still, the venue was closed. A couple people were waiting outside as well. One guy tells us that the Stream-A-Thon was shut down sometime in the middle of the night. He was there, he said, and it was crowded.

More »

Loot Crate

A gamer box in all its glory.

See also:
*10 Best Arcades in L.A.
*L.A. Startup Club, Offering Counsel and Commiseration for Silicon Beach

Birchbox for geeks. Dollar Shave Club for techies. Gamer swag. Interested? Meet Loot Crate, a Hollywood-based startup that's a subscription service for boxes of tech and video game-themed stuff.

For less than $20 a month (shipping and handling included) you get six to eight hand-picked items, like energy gum, game-controller grips, posters, stickers and gift cards. Swag includes items like Captain America cologne and Super Mario energy drinks. Think the finer things in a gamer's life.

More »

Liz Ohanesian

Jake Kaufman, Cristina Vee and Tommy Pedrini singing the Hey Ice King! theme at The Game Stop in West Hollywood

Wondering about that line in front of The Game Stop in West Hollywood the other night? What's up with all those white hats and blue t-shirts? It's Adventure Time, of course. The popular Cartoon Network series just spawned a new video game.

Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!!, available for Nintendo 3DS and DS, hit stores Tuesday evening. To celebrate, The Game Stop hosted a bash that included a signing with Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and game director James Montagna, plus a concert from Jake Kaufman, who composed the music for the game.

There were Finns and Fionas galore inside the Game Stop, plus one pair dressed as Marceline the Vampire Queen and her genderbent counterpart, Marshall Lee. The Flame Princess made an appearance, as did BMO. They had stood in line for at least an hour for a chance to meet Ward, who has become something of a superstar amongst animation fans. He thanked the fans right before the concert and then left quickly, a crowd of fans in the back waving and exclaiming, "Bye, Pen!"

I was unable to find a demo of Hey Ice King! to play, so I can't give you insight into how this latest adventure for Finn and Jake unfolds. It is, as the title implies, a quest to get the garbage that was stolen by the Ice King. Montagna describes it as an "action-adventure with light RPG elements." He also notes that there are new characters in the game, many of whom came from the pen of Ward.

More »

See also:
*Family Fun Arcade Prepares to Close After Four Decades
*10 Best Arcades in L.A.

Ever get the hankering to play some classic arcade games, but, alas, you're nowhere near your arcade? Or your go-to place is Granada Hills' Family Fun Arcade, which is set to close?

If you have an iPhone, you have plenty of gaming options for those long stretches of time spent in waiting rooms or in the passenger seat of a car. Some companies, like Atari and Capcom, offer Arcade apps that allow you to purchase multiple classic games. Some fan favorites are available to purchase alone. Occasionally sample versions are available for free download.

Below are five arcade staples available in iOS form.

More »

Liz Ohanesian

You can play Michael Jackson's Moonwalker at Redondo Fun Factory

See also:
*Family Fun Arcade Prepares to Close After Four Decades
*10 Oddball L.A. Museums Worth Seeing
*10 Best Standup Comedy Shows in L.A.

For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and '90s, arcades were an integral part of our childhood and adolescence. They existed inside malls and in shopping centers, waiting for us to fill up the storefronts after school and on weekends. Occasionally, we would have to stand in line waiting behind players who were genuinely skilled at the hot game of the moment. We challenged our friends to games like true fighters. Sometimes we were actually good. Other times, we proudly sucked. Either way, we vented out our teenage frustrations with joysticks and attack buttons and, in the end, we left exhilarated and broke.

The era of the arcade has long since passed, and some today face hard times -- in fact, two of the great stops on this list are set to close by year's end. For right now, though, they still exist, so take the time to enjoy them while they're here. And even when they go, there are plenty of other places where you can watch the best-of-the-best compete in tournaments hear friends screaming "Don't shoot the food!" during games of Gauntlet

Below are ten of the best places to play games in the L.A. area. We tried to make the list all-inclusive, so there are spots here that specialize in retro video games, others for fighting and rhythm games, and a few good Skee-Ball joints.

More »

Drew Barillas

After 40 years, gamers will have to go somewhere else.

See also: *10 Best Arcades in L.A.

Bathed in the glow of the flashing CRT screen, Jon "Jesus" Lemerand yanks his joystick back and slaps a button, letting loose a 2-D punch. A handful of onlookers hoots and claps. It's Friday night at Family Fun Arcade, or FFA, and a motley group has gathered to play Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, cheering each other on over the cacophonous blare of machines.

Lemerand, 26, has spent countless nights hunched over fighting game cabinets since he started playing here in 2005. But back then, he recalls, the scene was different: Mobs of spectators would crowd the screens for a glimpse of the action.

"It was a lot more lively then than it is now," he says, looking around at banks of vacant games. "There's not a lot of new blood coming to arcades anymore."

That's one big reason FFA will soon shutter its doors after nearly 40 years in business, according to longtime proprietor Ralph Sehnert. One of the oldest surviving video arcades in Southern California, the Granada Hills venue might stay open into January, but could close as early as Dec. 31. The future of Japan Arcade in downtown L.A., which Sehnert also owns, is uncertain.

More »

Topless Robot, home for "nerd news, humor and self-loathing" is looking to immediately hire a new chief blogger and editor.

Yes, really!

More »

Michael Lamont

Build opens at the Geffen Playhouse on October 24

When Michael Golamco began researching Build, his play about two frazzled, lonely guys on the brink of releasing a revolutionary video game, the writer bought a book on how to program MMORPGs -- massively multiplayer online role-playing games, which you play with other people on the internet. He read a few articles on the subject too. More importantly, he delved into the mother of all MMORPGs, World of Warcraft. He joined a guild, got himself a snazzy guild tabard and embarked on raids.

Then Golamco became engulfed in writing the play. He dropped off the virtual world for a few months, then ventured back into the game, only to find out that his guild had dropped him.

"That people I had never met...disowned me felt really bad," the playwright confesses inside an office at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. "Those human feelings will always exist."

Programming and video game culture are embedded deep within Build, which is in previews at the Geffen right now and officially opens on October 24, but this isn't a 90-minute thread of geek in-jokes. The play, directed by Will Frears, centers around an Odd Couple-like pair who have been building games together since college. Will (Peter Katona) is clean-cut and on-the-ball, trying to keep the sequel to the team's breakthrough hit alive. Kip (The Newsroom's Thomas Sadoski) is a pizza-chomping shut-in who has just developed a game engine that could change the industry. Sharing their workspace in Kip's Palo Alto home is a female A.I. (Laura Heisler) -- i.e., a robot -- whose mere presence indicates how much the two have disconnected from their previous lives, pre-fame and pre-tragedy.

More »