Posts by Val Waldron

The results are in for this year's Smash tournament. We had over 30 people total joining in on the fun, cheering on the 17 participants. Here is the list of the top four winners, winning gift cards to Amazon.

Here is our list of games played most often in the archive for the month of February.

The PlayStation Vita has arrived! Here are some pictures of the unboxing...And a picture of the games that have arrived so far for the game system:Stop by after Winter break and check it out when you get a chance!

The archive will be closed next week (February 25th - March 3rd) for Winter break. We will be reopening on Monday, March 5th. Enjoy the week off from classes!

UM is hosting a two-week game design boot camp at the Computer Science Building on North Campus, led by award-winning game designer Sid Meier and UM EECS professor John Laird.It will be held May 7-18, and is targeted at undergraduates in their junior/senior year or recent graduates, with previous class-related or independent game design experience.

We are planning a Smash tournament for Friday, March 16th from 6-9pm. Up to 32 people can sign up, and it will be a double-elimination bracketed tournament encompassing all three versions of Super Smash Bros. Anyone affiliated with the university may sign up. You can do so at the CVGA service desk, by emailing video.games@umich.edu, or by calling 734-763-6533.

In preparation for our upcoming Smash tournament in March (details to follow), the archive has expanded its Super Smash Bros. hours from Friday evenings to all-day on Fridays.This change takes effect starting this Friday. So drag your Smash buddies in earlier on Friday and practice for our upcoming tournament!

Matt Gilgenbach, an alum of UM as well as the university's game development group Wolverine Soft, has been featured in a guest editorial on Kotaku.In it, he discusses his soon to be released game Retro/Grade, which is designed to be played with a guitar controller, although a game pad will suffice as well.In the editorial, he discusses the lack of new game material designed for the guitar controller, which he believes is a major determinant in its gradual decline in popularity over the past few years.

Here were our top games played in the archive for the month of January. Once again, a board game makes the list, along with the game that no one can seem to agree on how to pronounce, BlazBlue.

This week, the archive received a donation that was a special treat, a glimpse into our local video game industry from almost a decade ago: Alter Echo.Alter Echo was the last game developed by an Ann Arbor-based company called Outrage Entertainment, which developed games in Ann Arbor from about 1997-2004. And the generous donor of said game? None other than one of the testers of Alter Echo, Tod Schlegelmilch.The game isn't yet available for play, but keep searching Mirlyn to stay up to date on its status. I'm sure it will be a game well worth checking out!