Mastering the stacks Should be picking up a print copy in the morning. TWF and I are both mentioned frequently!
I'm sure you get laid at the university. Like, any girl wants to see your big stick. Anyway, good job for being one of the best western TGM players, now you're getting famous, I'm sure.
From the media coverage department, part 2: Recently I was featured on a local news channel! Here's a video link. I'll also be speaking at TEDxUofW in late April. This should be fun, and I'm hoping that it will be the most meaningful contribution I've made to the Tetris community since I polluted it by joining it.
Stuff like this is so much better than the likes of Ecstasy of Order IMO (or at least the trailer). It's far more relevant and relate-able, and does a much better job of presenting the nature of it and the competitive scene than "hey here are some crazy nutjobs that are still obsessively playing a game that everyone else stopped caring about 20 years ago". It's proper coverage, and it's the sort of respectable coverage for this sort of thing that actually properly raises the profile.
I don't see how it's better in any regards you mentioned. Or even how it is different. Seems you are not very objective.
inb4 "hey here are some crazy nutjobs that are obsessively playing a game that nobody else ever started caring about"
I was actually referring largely to the TED talk with that statement as a way of raising awareness of competitive Tetris and esports. But I think similarly so about the video. I've not seen the whole EoO film, but that's primarily because the trailer is a totally ridiculous two-minute video that instantly brings up all the absolute worst stereotypes around competitive gaming and Tetris as a competitive game. People see the likes of us as a bunch of no-life weirdos who are way too obsessed with the game and how good it apparently is, and all the quotes in that trailer just support that mentality. I was fucking embarrassed for the community having watched the trailer, and if it's a solid representation of the rest of the film then I hope as few people outside the community see it as possible. Even if the film is substantially better, the nature of it means most people are only going to see the trailer and it totally doesn't exclude the trailer being that awful. On the other hand, that video is presented in an entirely different manner and without any of the dumb hyperbole. As a two minute video it presents him as guy who is really fucking good at Tetris, not first and foremost as a guy who is totally obsessed with the thing and plays it all the time. Obviously the obsession and huge playing hours are going to be a factor in the being really fucking good, but they're not presented as the main value. Maybe it's just that Kevin interviews better than most of the EoO guys (except Kitaru <3), and if there was more commentary on top of the interview they'd basically amount to the same thing. But I don't come away from watching that video with the cringing I did from the EoO trailer.
OK, now i see what you mean. Indeed those NES Tetris people seem to be like this. But hey, they just speak about themselfs.
If anyone's interested, the TEDxUofW talk will be streaming live at www.tedxuofw.com around 3:30pm PST. TEDxUofW starts at 1pm PST, but I won't be speaking until later.
I'm not sure what's more impressive. That you come off so well in a news-produced interview, which is nearly impossible when it comes to gaming, or that you have a tgm3 cabinet in your house... I can't wait to see what tedx will be like when it's on your own terms.
The talk happened, and I think it went well! Video should be up in a week or two. Coming soon: GeekWire interview Startup Weekend Seattle talk (similar to TEDx talk, probably going to be less shaky and nervous)
It's on msn now too Shoutout to Kitaru for smackin down the haters. My favorite is the 60 year old dismissing that anyone younger than him could say anything useful.
Yeah, that happens a lot. Not everybody's all open-minded people ready to recognize gamers, I sometimes have that problem as well with some of my friends. Besides, I just took a quick look at the comments, but people seem to always be exaggerating one way or another. I guess it's better to get people interested than to make them react, so they can have a less biased opinion of your work. I personally gave up on people commenting Anyway, I enjoyed the article, you're doing great!
Probably has no significance to anyone outside the US but the Tosh.0 blog linked to my video. I didn't know that shit was so big. Mad haters in the comments.
