Posts Filed Under: la

Previous rumors aside, Mike figured out a way to swindle Kotaku into flying him out to TGS again this year.  I was informed too late to book my own travel arrangements, so I’m completely depressed holding down the fort here in LA.  To make the best of it, I’ve found some local things that may pacify my yearning to be checked into the Cerulean Tower with the rest of the Kotaku crew.

I visited Waraku on Abbot Kinney Blvd. this afternoon.   Not quite the same as shopping in Ginza or Takeshita-dori in Harajuku, but it is definitely a taste.

Speaking about taste, we have an oddly flavored candy, newly introduced in the States, that would give any bizzaro-candy in Japan a run for its money (who am I kidding?  Japan makes burger shaped chocolate-filled cookies called EveryBurger.)  The item I’m referring to is Ice Breakers Iced Tea Lemon flavored mints.  It’s like mainlining a spoonful of Lipton Iced Tea mix.

And with a couple clicks, I was perusing some homegrown videogame cosplay that will tide me over til I get back out to TGS (or Mike posts some of his pic’s).  This anonymous 4chan’er is creating quite simply a masterpiece with his version of Tyrael.

I’ll be hanging out on Sawtelle Blvd. a lot this week, drowning my sorrows in sake if anyone wants to join me.

Okay, we get it.  You liked Mario as a kid.  You played the crap out of Super Mario Bros., and even got to second base with Liz Pratt while it was playing in the background.

But there are other games, people.  Some artists at i am 8-bit even showcased a few gems outside the Nintendo universe.  How about some Elevator Action, Earth Worm Jim, or Rampage?

It was an excellent show last night with some pretty inspired art, though we suspect the window displays may have added to the two hour line to get in.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Johnny!  It’s good to see a fellow Bostonian migrate over to the West Coast and open up shop.  It’s amazing we’re still welcome after what the Celtics did to Kobe.

Johnny Cupcakes’ new shop on Melrose Ave. is really worth a trip.  It had better be, people lined up 4 days in advance for the Grand Opening.  What they were treated to inside was an extra helping of attention to detail, with a side wall of vintage ovens opening randomly while releasing steam, and refrigerated display cases housing fresh shirt designs.

Dave and I have done some stupid things together in the 17 years we have known each other, but we were both wondering if this crossed the line.  Blindly following the GPS, we found ourselves driving out past Skid Row in LA, at dusk, behind some random warehouse.

We were heading to Capcom’s own real-life version of Fight Club.  Dave was joining me because this was going to be his first chance to play Street Fighter IV.  SF II Turbo was the game of choice during high school, and into college.  Many a night was spent at Grand Prix in Massachusetts owning noobs even before the term existed.  Dave’s Ryu was close to unbeatable.

The scene was great.  Run down warehouse, door men with tasers, caged off areas with pristine Street Fighter IV arcade machines straight from Japan.  They still even had the 100 yen stickers near the coin slots.

(1st and 2nd photo by Jared Rea)

SF IV played smooth and fluid.  I know this because if it didn’t, Dave would have been livid.  Years of training would have been wasted if the fighting formula had been tampered with.  The matches played out like all good fighting game matches should: the cream rose to the top.  The order of the the night was dethroning some expertly played Ken and Zangief.

Dave was good, but it seemed other Street Fighter fans had been practicing on the off season.  Dave would win a couple matches here or there, but the years off showed.  I think it stemmed from the sporadic Geek Night attendance, and something to do with being married with newborn twins.  Dave wasn’t able to run the 10-15 win streaks he could do in high school, but he still looked semi-pro on a game he had technically never played before in his life.

That rocked.  Capcom knocked it out of the park with Street Fighter IV.  Looks-wise the game was stunning. Playability was solid and balanced.  And this promo event made me feel like destroying something beautiful.

Kotaku had their annual pre-E3 party at the Golden Gopher last night in beautiful downtown LA.  While attendance more than doubled this year, the bar staff shrank to a single tender.  If not for Leigh Alexander’s womanly assets charm, the Kotaku inner circle would have been left dry and sober.  But alas, 7 & 7′s were flowing like Cresente’s beautiful mane.

Thanks for the drinks, guys!  Now on to some hungover liveblogging of Microsoft’s E3 2008 Press Conference.

Consider this opportunity missed. I’m about as interested in hanging out with the anime obsessive set as I am visiting another convention center. Don’t get me wrong, I was raised on Robotech and Tranzor Z — aka The Super Dimension Fortress Macross + Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross + Genesis Climber Mospeada and Mazinger Z — and the Los Angeles Convention Center cafeteria is one of LA’s gastronomic delights, but my anime interests pretty much start and stop with giant robots. That said, I’m currently kicking myself for not making the trip for this weekend’s Anime Expo, pretty much because the above needed to be photographed far more than once. And seriously, where else but LA do you have access to ripped cosplayers? Nowhere is your answer.