[Northern California] Norcal Crab Shack

I went to Gamecenter today to check the place out, and it seems legit. As genver said earlier, it's real close to food and there's a CalTrain station a very short walk away, so it's pretty accessible to people from out of town. There was pretty ample parking on the street when I was there, and there are several parking garages in the vicinity, which have free parking after 6pm. More info on parking here: http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/index.aspx?NID=278

Inside, there's a main area for arcade cabinets, and then a hallway with stations for consoles, and a room adjacent to the hallway that can hold additional setups. There are several cabinets housing PS3s and for a $7 venue fee you get a wristband to play as much as you like until the place closes. The cabinets have Sanwa sticks and buttons installed and are set up so that people can hook up their own sticks and pads, but I did overhear that wireless pads with USB cables aren't allowed for some reason, so that's something to keep in mind. The monitors on the cabinets are pretty slick. I didn't detect any lag (at least not any significant lag), and Myung, the owner, assured me that they'd done extensive testing and setup to make sure lag was minimal to non-existent.

Speaking of which, I spoke to him about hosting SC5 gatherings, and it's definitely something he is willing to do. He said he could set up 2-3 cabinets for us to use, and people could bring their own TVs and consoles. In fact, there was a multiple-game tournament there today and several people brought CRTs. When I left, the place had about 25-30 people and there was still plenty of room to move around. The staff were all very nice and accommodating. Depending on how many people show up, the owner is also willing to be a little more flexible with the hours.

I definitely think we should give this place a shot and plan at least one gathering there soon after SC5 is released. It already has a pretty good crowd of regulars that could also be interested in picking up the game, so it may present an opportunity to grow the scene if we have the right people in attendance *coughKrayziecoughsplutter*.

DISCUSS.
 
If ya'll are planning to go through with it, PLEASE post date in advance so I can attend! I definitely want to be a part of that greatness. :)
 
MastaKeithBeast said:
Is there any plans to meet up, uh... Before its released?
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I talked to NDK, and I may be going to Sac early January, to top off the SCIV experience.
soakrates said:
I went to Gamecenter today to check the place out, and it seems legit. As genver said earlier, it's real close to food and there's a CalTrain station a very short walk away, so it's pretty accessible to people from out of town. There was pretty ample parking on the street when I was there, and there are several parking garages in the vicinity, which have free parking after 6pm. More info on parking here: http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/index.aspx?NID=278

Inside, there's a main area for arcade cabinets, and then a hallway with stations for consoles, and a room adjacent to the hallway that can hold additional setups. There are several cabinets housing PS3s and for a $7 venue fee you get a wristband to play as much as you like until the place closes. The cabinets have Sanwa sticks and buttons installed and are set up so that people can hook up their own sticks and pads, but I did overhear that wireless pads with USB cables aren't allowed for some reason, so that's something to keep in mind. The monitors on the cabinets are pretty slick. I didn't detect any lag (at least not any significant lag), and Myung, the owner, assured me that they'd done extensive testing and setup to make sure lag was minimal to non-existent.

Speaking of which, I spoke to him about hosting SC5 gatherings, and it's definitely something he is willing to do. He said he could set up 2-3 cabinets for us to use, and people could bring their own TVs and consoles. In fact, there was a multiple-game tournament there today and several people brought CRTs. When I left, the place had about 25-30 people and there was still plenty of room to move around. The staff were all very nice and accommodating. Depending on how many people show up, the owner is also willing to be a little more flexible with the hours.

I definitely think we should give this place a shot and plan at least one gathering there soon after SC5 is released. It already has a pretty good crowd of regulars that could also be interested in picking up the game, so it may present an opportunity to grow the scene if we have the right people in attendance *coughKrayziecoughsplutter*.

DISCUSS.
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Just a question, how far is this from CD's place? Time-wise? Reno will be attending some gatherings/tournaments up at NorCal. Otherwise, for fueling a big scene, this sounds like an ideal place. Good initiative on finding a venue, Genver.
 
Speaking of game center, anybody know if they have a net setup for people to stream? I wouldn't mind chugging my equipment there (if someone can help with a ride or w/e?) for streaming or HD recording.
 
Nyawu said:
Speaking of game center, anybody know if they have a net setup for people to stream? I wouldn't mind chugging my equipment there (if someone can help with a ride or w/e?) for streaming or HD recording.
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They most certainly do. Streaming is also something that needs to be discussed in detail. Do you have any archives of your streams on Twitch.tv or Ustream?
 
I already tested some footage on justin.tv aka twitch.tv. I can broadcast and archive a test for some people of soul calibur if you want to see how the quality is.

edit: as far as HOW to do it, I pretty much have it down. All I need in a tournament is to somebody to tell me who's playing so I can put the player's names down and if somebody wants to commentate, I can switch over to the cam views, as shown in my wirecast test quoted above.

GF taking up PS3 so I can't play SC right now lol. But here's the justin.tv version of streaming footage. First link is med quality, second one is slightly better bitrate. I can up the bitrate to be true 720p if the connection allows (I can adjust it with different profiles to fit the abilities of the venue's connection)

Spoilers for Dead Space 1.
http://www.justin.tv/nyawu/b/302365604

http://www.justin.tv/nyawu/b/302365933
 
Thanks for the heads up xephukai, but I was thinking of something a little more localized. Like maybe krayzies or something. I've been seeing that Cedric and Brian and Alex have all been up there at least a couple times lately. Just thinking it would be nice to see the old crew again.
 
Looks pretty good, Nyawu. What did you have the framerate set at? It might have just been me or the game, but it seemed like it was getting a little choppy every so often.
 
soakrates said:
Looks pretty good, Nyawu. What did you have the framerate set at? It might have just been me or the game, but it seemed like it was getting a little choppy every so often.
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http://www.justin.tv/nyawu/b/302431280
The framerate for those was 25fps. I can set it higher if needed/connection's good. Here's an SC4 one at 30fps, now that my gf is away so I can use my ps3 again lol. Any studdering's on the stream side, actual recording doesn't really have any (Also dead space is like sub30fps sometimes lol). Though from the video above, it's pretty much smooth 99% of the time so it's very watch able.
 
soakrates said:
Yeah, that clip looked solid. Thanks for taking the time to record these!

Did you make the overlays yourself or did those come with wirecast? I assume you made the "SFCalibur" logo.
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I made everything except for the title overlay (which has a bunch included) where it says like "if you can read this, quality is good" parts. I can edit the text itself on the fly though. If anybody else has a logo that's better for the norcal scene in general, please provide it to me lol. It was either SF Calibur or NorCalibur, which was like.. "Nor Calibur" (Not calibur).... i'm not good with names. =(
 
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