This past Saturday my fiancée and I had the privilege of attending Video Game Day 2011 sponsored by DualShockers. We were attending not only to cover the event but to be a part of something special. When Francois stopped by MTR live this past Thursday he not only shared the good intentions of the event but also demonstrated that a unified gaming community can do great things. The event was scheduled to run from 10am – 7pm and upon our arrival we were greeted with a warm welcome and breakdown of what was going on throughout the day. Cover for the event was $5 which went to charity. We also entered a raffle that some really great prizes courtesy of some great companies like Mad Catz,THQ,Sega,Astro Gaming and others.
As I made my way through the gymnasium where the event was held Andrea and I introduced ourselves to the Dualshockers staff as well as some other members from the gaming community who were attending and assisting with the event. One of the first people I met was Joel Taveras (Co-Founder/Deputy Editor In Chief) from DualShockers who at the time was judging a free throw contest for an chance to win copy of NBA Jam. Joel told me a bit about himself and was very happy with the turnout.
After speaking with Joel for a bit I caught up with Francois and congratulated him on the event and thanked him for invitation and of course for being on MTR. I also met Al who is another member of the DualShockers staff and is an MMA fan which was cool to hear. Al shared some more info about DualShockers and we talked a bit about the free throw contest. I stepped away for a bit to test my skill in some Marvel v Capcom 3 on the Xbox 360.I have to extend my thanks to Josh Velez from Pixelated Geek for hooking me up with a controller since I foolishly left mine home. I ended playing in a two out of three round contest with the grand prize being a tournament edition joystick courtesy of Mad Catz. I didn’t fare well but it was all good as it was fun to play with some live people for a change.
After playing a bit of Marvel vs Capcom we decided to check out the Call Of Duty Black Ops tournament action which was extremely popular. Giving play by play for event and keeping the crowd pumped was Alex Mendez aka GoldenboyFTW who is a competitive gamer. Alex was really cool and excited to be a part of the event. We exchanged business cards and discussed him stopping by the show sometime to discuss the finer points of the competitive gaming scene. Keep an eye on that in the near future.
I decided to wander over to the on site concession stand that provided food and drink for the hungry gamers. Staples like taquitos,pizza rolls and other finger food were available to the many hungry gamers for as low as $1 with the proceeds again going to charity. Since I am in full diet mode I did not partake of the pizza rolls but I did drink a ton of diet ice tea which garnered questions as to why I wasn’t eating lol .
Upon wandering over the MvC 3 table again I met the Hip Hop Gamer who I have seen on twitter and heard of in various circles. He was a cool and approachable guy who embraced me as if we knew each other for years. Besides stopping by to support the event Hip Hop Gamer and Joel decided to have a friendly game of MvC 3 which was quite competitive. Joel emerged the victor after a hard fought victory.
Joel took some pics with HHG’s trademark WWE Championship belt in recognition of his victory.
We all got together and posed for a pic as well.
After we took a few more pictures and hung out for a bit it was time to go home. Andrea and I had a great time and met some really great people who love gaming as much as we do which was all good in my book. I would like to thank the DualShockers team Joel,Al, Francois for their hospitality. I also would like to say that it was great to meet Hip Hop Gamer , Alex aka GoldenboyFTW and Josh from Pixelated Geeks who were all extremely nice and very welcoming as well .
You can check out more pictures from the event on our Facebook fan page and keep a lookout for the video of Joel and Hip Hop Gamer playing Marvel v Capcom 3. That still requires some editing but will be up later this week. MTR would like to applaud the efforts of the DualShockers team not only for doing such a great event but for giving back to the community. Keep up the great work guys!!
