Posts Tagged ‘Video Games’
UPDATE
The event has been postponed due to the state of emergency in Medicine Hat from the flooding. The new date is Saturday, July 20th, 2013.
Medicine Hat Fan Roundup is back this year and is happening… tomorrow! The event is a one day expo in Medicine Hat for fans of anime, fantasy, sci-fi, video games, card games, board games, and pretty much anything else geeky.
You can expect lots of game playing, lots of anime, art, vendors, and plenty of presentations and workshops. You can kind of think of it as a mini Otafest.
Guests for 2013 include Force Start Comedy, The 404s, and featuring (as the special guest): James Davidge (of Driftwood Saga fame).
Details
Saturday, June 22nd
10am – 8pm
Medicine Hat College
S Wing/Centennial Hall/B Wing/Lobby
18+: $10
5-17: $5
5 and under: Free!
Section of the Medicine Hat Gamers website
Recently launched side project/website, Medicine Hat Gamers offers gamers around the city (in any form) a comprehensive guide to buying/selling/trading within the city – as well as offering an informational tool at a look into the past with events or other things that no longer exist (kind of like the concept of arcades). I want to focus on that kind of stuff for the site; however, I have only lived here for 5 or so years. So if you have a story, business, event or anything in the past that is gaming related, please send it over – I would love to chronicle it over this new medium. Please also let me know of anything else I may have missed.
Empire Gaming has been open for about a week now. We’ve checked it out and it’s a pretty nice set up. Each XBOX360 comes with its own television. It didn’t take long for us to notice that you probably won’t be playing beside the friends you came with, unless you’re on a team with them, or don’t care that they are cheating by looking at where you are. Anyway, here’s a listing of tournaments scheduled for September 12th, 2009:
Rock Band 2
9:00am – 12:00pm
Gears of War 2
12:00pm – 5:00pm
Halo 3
12:00pm – 5:00pm
Halo Wars Limited Edition XBOX game up for grabs and bragging rights. No fees to enter, only regular hourly rates apply.
Previously posted about, Empire Gaming, is now officially open. It will be open all day and until around 9PM tonight (or later). I won’t re-iterate what was said in the previous post, but for those of you that don’t know, or forgot (it was quite awhile ago), Empire Gaming is a new business in Medicine Hat dedicated to video gaming. There’s a ton of high-end PCs, lots of Xbox360’s, and a Wii on projection all for you and your friends enjoyment. Dusty and I went there today and played some Call of Duty 4 on the Xbox360 and joined in with some others who were playing.
More information will come over time about tournaments, events, and other special things going on. Today, ROCK 105.3 is on location there and they are serving BBQ hamburgers outside sponsored by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Medicine Hat. If you go in and play for an hour you also get a chance to enter a contest for a free mini-laptop or a Playstation 3. Go down there and check it out!
Empire Gaming is located at 104-7 Strachan Bay SE (across the street from the Walmart, kinda).
The Post is a non-profit, second-hand store located in Downtown Medicine Hat that primarily focuses on clothing and furniture. All proceeds that are made go to Metal Health organizations and The Post is primarily staffed by volunteers, some with health conditions who are getting experience to get back on their feet and perhaps find their way into the work-field. They usually have a wide selection of clothing for all ages and sizes and at least a dozen couches, chairs or tables at any time.
Other objects that can be found include lamps, footwear, sporting and fitness equipment, sometimes video games, board games, televisions and computer monitors and much more. They also offer a small section of VHS, DVD and CDs.
Some cool finds I have seen in the store include a bow and arrow set (which I accidentally broke and then fixed) and a couple archaic Sega Genesis games in their original factory sealed packaging which Vaughn bought (and were worth 3 or 4 times the amount he paid, I think).
Donations can be made in front of the store, which can be identified by the usual overflowing bins by the doorway.
The Post can be found at 410 South Railway Street SE.
Richard Rose with fiancé Shirma Dewis and daughter Mikyla - Photography by Ian Sorensen, Medicine Hat News
Richard Rose is taking the steps that too many people thought would be a good idea but never dared to tread. He has big plans to open up a video gaming center in our own Medicine Hat, up till now there has been no such thing combining all the latest consoles and PC gaming, and even in bigger city centers like Calgary or Toronto, places that do both console and PC gaming are rare.
The name of this establishment will be Empire Gaming and its location will reside at 104-7 Strachan Bay SE, with an anticipated opening date of mid-August. There is currently a Facebook group, “Gamers of Medicine Hat”, which will have updates on progress and upcoming events. The fee is expected to be around $5 an hour, and a yearly membership can be purchased anywhere from $50-$70 which will give special offers and discounts – it does not offer free play. The hours of operation will be 9:00AM – 9:00PM every day of week for the first couple weeks, after such time, changes will occur. There will also be all night events and tournaments scheduled later on.
Carrying all top of the line consoles, there will be 2 Wiis, 2 PS3s, 13 Xbox 360s and 20 PCs. The reason for these ratios is due to the amount of games per console dedicated to multi-player gaming. It is definitely an all-out experience, the Wii’s will have 92″ projector screens with surround sound and sub woofers.
So far all the feedback has been positive and encouraging except for one remark to the effect of “Why pay for something you can do at home for free?”. Well, I’m certainly not rich enough to afford all the consoles or even the high-end gaming computers they have, but it isn’t even so much about that. I’m certain with the opening we will see that gamers really are social people and just haven’t been given the proper opportunities. As a gamer myself, I think it’s very difficult to find friends with similar interests simply because – all those people are in their basements gaming themselves to play on a common stereotype.
Last updated November 28th, 2008
It seems that a joke from the popular cartoon South Park titled “Kick A Ginger Day” got taken too literally
on November 20th in Medicine Hat and across the country. Teachers across the nation were warned by school boards to be on the lookout for attacks or out-of-hand jokes towards red haired children.
Throughout the day, My96FM describes that Facebook, one of the most popular social networking websites, also sported a public group declaring the event over a national scale. Continually throughout their “Free Speech Friday”, people have been calling in, discussing their thoughts on how Facebook and television is to blame.
In Medicine Hat, “Kick A Ginger Day” was accompanied by few students at various schools, including Medicine Hat High School, McCoy High School, Crescent Heights High School, refusing to go to school on November 20. In other cases, one student was allegedly kicked over 200 times, while in another case, one student was allegedly hospitalized after being kicked so hard.
South Park Ginger Kids
*UPDATE*
It seems as though the situation and comments were blown out of proportion. It was reported in the Medicine Hat News (days later) that no student was kicked 200 times and no student was ever hospitalized. The police were never called about any assaults. While kids were reported to have been kicked, it was clearly only in a friendly, jokingly manner.
This kind of behavior, like with most semi-violent or violent situations, brings up the irresolvable questions that asks if television and video games provoke violence. Do they? Personally, I believe that if kids are raised poorly, it will have a good effect on their judgment and consciousness, and to determine properly what is right and what is wrong. There are, indeed as we all know and have heard the media report, some cases in which youths of well-standing families turn awry and do things unexpected and violent.
* Click THE JUMP below to continue reading about how television, the Internet, and video games are not responsible for violence committed by youths.