Video Games Live! Austin Tickets on Sale!

After a delay in the release of tickets, Video Games Live tickets for the Austin show are now available. The show takes place on July 11 and 12. The prices for the tickets range from $24-$49. Here's the links to the 11th and 12th showings. To finish off, this is the seating map.

Tickets for Video Games Live in Austin delayed!

I am sorry to say, but the date that ticket sales for Video Games Live in Austin has come and gone, and the tickets never went on sale. Upon checking the tour page for Video Games Live, it says that tickets will be on sale in April. Hopefully, this date is concrete, and readers will be able to purchase tickets next month.

Video Games Live in Austin, TX

For those of you who live in the Austin area, or don't really care about distance, Video Games Live will be performing in Austin July 11 and 12, 2008. Tickets are supposed to be on sale this month, and I check the website frequently, so I will post when they are up.


Video Games Live is a live orchestra performance of music from video games. Usually, there's also signing booths for celebrities and costume contests. Quite the spectacle to behold.

EDIT: Included picture at the top.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Hands on Time]

Yesterday as I was on my way to my History of Rock Music course, I passed by a table set up on the West Mall. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a big cardboard game case for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, just like you see in the stores. Without hesitation, I maneuvered my way through crowds of moving people to where a small number of people were playing, and sure enough, it was Brawl. Right before my very eyes, people were playing a game that has been highly anticipated for years, and not even released yet, and it should be noted that they were playing with GameCube controllers, and not Wiimotes. It turns out that there is a student organization that is solely devoted to Smash Bros. called Texas Smash Club that put on the event. Very cool indeed. But, I didn't have a chance to play, as I still had to go to class, but I knew where I was headed once class was over.

SPOILER WARNING

Once I got back to the table, I had to wait a few rounds in order to play. While watching a match in progress at the Pokemon Stadium stage, I noticed that the text that appears on the megatron in the background was in Japanese. That's how people were able to play it here in the U.S., since our relase date is March 9th.

One of the first things that I noticed while watching the match was that players couldn't move through platforms like they could in Smash Bros. Melee. The platforms are solid objects that can't be passed through, so some strategy change is needed. The animations and graphics overall are great. The colors are deep and the animation was smooth. I especially like the animations for Final Smashes. The stage grows darker for the impeding murder that will soon happen. I was able to see Zelda's final smash in action, which is a qucik and powerful arrow of light. Poor Fox caught the end of that one, and he was soon blasted off the stage.

After the fight, I got my chance to play. I chose my usual, Samus, while my opponents chose Sonic, Link, and I forgot who else. I really wanted to play as Zero Suit Samus, so I kept my eye out for the Smash Ball the whole match. The first thing I noticed while fighting was that Samus, in her armor, had been slowed down. I think it's because they want people to notice a difference between armored and Zero Suit Samus. For whatever reason, I felt slow and clunky. Regardless, I fought on until it was only me and Link left. Unfortunately, he got the Smash Ball, but missed with his Final Smash attack. I ended up losing, but it was a pretty cool experience to play Brawl before the majority of the country had a chance to play it.

Listen to My Friend's Gaming Podcast

My good friend Chris Martinez and a couple of his friends have started up their own podcast. It focuses on video game-related news, reviews, and opinions. The great thing about the podcast is there's a few people (about five) to vary the talk and provide their input.

If you have time, you should definitely check it out.

Ludus Vobis Spectaculum

Find out if your computer can play that game.

This is not really my discovery, but Lifehacker wrote a post about a site, canyourunit.com, that checks to see whether or not your computer can run certain games. The site's catalog stretches across games from the past two or three years and is updated frequently with new games. Anything older than three years should be able to run on any fairly new computer.

Can You Run It? via [Lifehacker]

Welcome readers!

Hello all and thank you for visiting my blog, Split Screen. This blog is video game focused, and serves to bring you, the reader, info to digest throughout your day. As you can see this is the first post and it serves as an introduction to what's to come.

I have a lot of things planned for this blog, and I hope to make it into something great that everyone will like to read. Hope you all will enjoy the site and check back often for updates.