CVGA Anniversary Week!

It's the CVGA 5th Anniversary Week! We have many fun, celebratory and hopefully illuminating events and activities scheduled:

Monday (today!): We kick off our week-long Classic Games Tournament. Show your mastery of classic video games by playing Dr. Mario, Sonic Blast, Double Dragon, Asteroids, and Paperboy. Prizes!

Tuesday: Join us at 4pm in the Hatcher Library Gallery for a panel discussion with U-M faculty in "Game On! Video Game Research & Teaching at the University of Michigan."

Wednesday: Our director Dave Carter will join AADL's Eli Neiberger in an appearance on the Comics Are Great podcast with host Jerzy Drozd in a talk about the intersection of comics & gaming.

Thursday: We debut our new online exhibition "CVGA Disassembled"

Saturday: Our big 5th Anniversary Bash! Join us at the CVGA from 1-5pm for food and fun and our Smash Tournament.

Motion Gaming Tournament at the CVGA!

Please mark your calendars for March 25th-April 6th and join us as we highlight some of the motion-related consoles and games available at the CVGA by hosting a Motion Gaming Tournament. This tournament will include the following games:

• Sports Champions: Gladiator Duel for the PlayStation 3 Move
• Fruit Ninja Kinect for the Xbox 360 Kinect
• Antigrav for the PlayStation 2 Eyetoy
• Excite Bots for the Wii
• Dance Dance Revolution X for the PlayStation 2 Dance Pad

The event will be a silent tournament that takes place over the course of two weeks (March 25th-April 6th). Participants can come in anytime the archive is open during these two weeks and play the games whenever their schedules allow. Prizes (Amazon gift cards!) will be awarded after points are tallied up at the end.

Anyone affiliated with the university (excluding tournament officials) may can sign up by providing a
valid UMICH ID, name, uniqname and email, and may sign up in person at the archive desk,
via email at video.games@umich.edu, or by phone at 763-6533.

See the full tournament rules here.

Smash Tournament 2012 Results

The results are in for this year's Smash tournament. We had over 30 people total joining in on the fun, cheering on the 17 participants. Here is the list of the top four winners, winning gift cards to Amazon:

1. James Zangshan Ma
2. Mike Song
3. Sean Douglas
4. Amine Boudalia

And a special thanks to Mike for lending us his expertise in running the tournament!

Smash Tournament 2012

We are planning a Smash tournament for Friday, March 16th from 6-9pm. Up to 32 people can sign up, and it will be a double-elimination bracketed tournament encompassing all three versions of Super Smash Bros.

Anyone affiliated with the university may sign up. You can do so at the CVGA service desk, by emailing video.games@umich.edu, or by calling 734-763-6533.

The rules for the tournament are as follows:

About the tournament:

·         This tournament will consist of 3 versions of Super Smash Bros. from various game consoles. It will be a double-elimination bracketed tournament. There will be four winners, which will receive gift cards to Amazon.com. 1^st place will receive a $40 card, 2^nd place will receive a $30 card, 3^rd place will receive a $20 card, and 4^th place will receive a $10 card.

·         Registration will begin immediately and will continue until just before the tournament, and the tournament will be limited to the first 32 people who sign up.  Participation is limited to those affiliated with the university, and excludes tournament officials. To register, you must provide a valid Umich ID, name, uniqname and email, and you may sign up in person at the archive desk, via email at video.games@umich.edu , or by phone at (734) 763-6533. All requested information must be provided in order to sign up. 

·         The day of the tournament will be Friday, March 16, beginning at 6pm and lasting for approximately 2-3 hours. 

·         The tournament will use a 32-place, 5 round, bracketed double elimination system. Essentially, 2 players will be pitted against each other and one will be eliminated each time. The winner of each match will move on to the next round.  In the final round, the 2 losers from the semi-finals will play to determine 3^rd and 4^th place. 

·         In the event of a tie (both players having the same number of kills at the end of the time period), the player with the lower percentage of health damage will win. If both players have equal health as well, they will play a 1 stock, 3 minute match to determine the winner of that round.

·         The game played will change depending on the round:

Round 1	Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii
Round 2	Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube
Round 3	Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64
Round 4	Random, among the 3 games above
Round 5	Random, not repeated from Round 4

·         During the tournament, the archive will be reserved for Smash, but may be open for others depending on how crowded it gets.

Games :

Note: Staff will be happy to give hands-on demonstrations of any game participants are unfamiliar with.

1.       Super Smash Bros. Brawl

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Nintendo Wii

                                                             ii.      2 Gamecube controllers or Wiimotes

b.      Rules:

                                                               i.      4 stock, 8 minute match

                                                             ii.      No items

                                                            iii.      No handicap

                                                           iv.      No stalling, glitching, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc.

                                                             v.      You may bring your own controllers, or use one of ours (Wiimotes fine too)

                                                           vi.      Stages will be chosen randomly from:

1.       Battlefield

2.       Yoshi’s Island

3.       Smashville

4.       Lylat Cruise

5.       Pokemon Stadium (Melee)

6.       Final Destination

7.       Castle Siege

2.       Super Smash Bros. Melee

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Nintendo Gamecube or Wii

                                                             ii.      2 Gamecube controllers

b.      General Rules:

                                                               i.      4 Stock, 8 minute match

                                                             ii.      No items

                                                            iii.      No handicap

                                                           iv.      No stalling, glitching, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc.

                                                             v.      You may bring your own controllers, or use one of ours

                                                           vi.      Stages will be chosen randomly from:

1.       Yoshi’s Story

2.       Fountain of Dreams

3.       Battlefield

4.       Dream Land (N64)

5.       Final Destination

3.       Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Nintendo 64

                                                             ii.      2 N64 controllers

b.      Rules

                                                               i.      4 Stock Match

                                                             ii.      No items

                                                            iii.      No handicap

                                                           iv.      100% damage ratio

                                                             v.      No stalling, glitching, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc.

                                                           vi.      You may bring your own controllers, or use one of ours

                                                          vii.      Stages will be chosen randomly (coin toss) from:

1.       Hyrule Castle

2.       Dream Land

Halo Reach Tournament this Friday!

The Computer & Video Game Archive is working with the Ann Arbor District Library to hold a Halo Reach tournament, where Ann Arborites can battle each other to win some great library swag and bragging rights.

We're also working with AADL as they continue their Arcade Master Series, so come ready to play some classic games and prove your skill with them as well!

The event will take place this Friday at North Quad in Room 2435 (entrance off State St.) from 6-9pm.


Clarifications: Pre-registration is not required. This event is available to the general public, and affiliation to UM or AADL is not required either. Just come and enjoy!

Ridding the World of the Undead Threat

The zombie horde.

They've invaded our movies, corrupted our books, swept through our apocalypse dramas, and plagued our video games. One day, they may invade our homes. Will you be ready?

Help the archive develop weapons to quell their numbers before they wreak havoc on everyone. Our special Anti-Zombie Development Authority, or AZDA, has developed several prototypes and strategies to use against them, including conventional guns, loud music, harsh typed words, and our personal favorite, flamethrowers.

Which weapon will be the nemesis of these pesky undead? The truth is out there, and you'll only find out by participating in our AZDA tournament over the course of next week. Help us determine the best anti-zombie weapon, and win gift cards to Amazon for taking out the most undead.

The zombies will be waiting.

Zombie Game Tournament!

Looking for a way to celebrate Halloween in style? Join us for our Zombie Game Tournament, taking place during the week leading up to Halloween, and earn Amazon gift cards! Sign up now.

See details below.

About the tournament:

          In recognition of Halloween, this tournament will consist of 5 zombie-themed games from several consoles. It will be a silent tournament, taking place over the course of an entire week rather than all at once. There will be four winners, which will receive gift cards to Amazon. 1^st place will receive a $40 card, 2^nd place will receive a $30, 3^rd place will receive a $20 card, and 4^th place will receive a $10 card.

·        

      Registration will begin immediately and continue throughout the tournament, and the tournament will be limited to the first 50 people who sign up.  Participation is limited to those affiliated with the university, and excludes tournament officials. To register, you must provide a valid Umich ID, name, uniqname and email, and you may sign up in person at the archive desk, via email at video.games@umich.edu , or by phone at 763-6533. All requested information must be provided in order to sign up.

·        

      The week of the actual tournament will be October 24-29th. Participants may compete during the hours that the archive is open.

·        

         During the week of the tournament, participants will be allowed to play practice runs before they must make a real run. The real run must be declared beforehand and observed by a tournament official.  After the first official run, they may also elect to do a second run. If they choose this option, the score from the second run will be the official score, regardless of whether it is higher or lower than the first. Note: the decisions of the tournament officials are final.

·       

          The top 10 scorers of each of the 5 games will get points that accumulate for their final score, which will determine the winners. Points are awarded for each round as follows:

1st place	10 points
2nd place	9 points
3rd place	8 points
4th place	7 points
5th place	6 points
6th place	5 points
7th place	4 points
8th place	3 points
9th place	2 points
10th place	1 point

·        There will be a 6^th game set aside for tie-breakers, which will be a sudden death match. The competitor left standing will win the tournament.  Competitors may compete for any of the tournament games during any of the days of the tournament week. If any of the competitors do not complete all 5 games by 5pm at the end of the week on Saturday, October 29, they will be disqualified from the tournament.

·       

          During the week of the tournament the archive will be open to everyone as usual, but stations with tournament-related consoles must be forfeited immediately in favor of those who wish to compete.

Games (subject to change as needed):

1.       Rock of the Dead (Xbox 360)

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Xbox 360, guitar controller

                                                             ii.      Available on Station 1

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Press start > Story > 2^nd Chapter > Normal Difficulty

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      Press buttons and strum as per Rock Band

                                                             ii.      Blast: Hold Green+Red+Yellow+Blue and strum

                                                            iii.      Shield: Tilt guitar or press Back

d.      General Rules:

                                                               i.      No points given on Game Over, so try not to die!

                                                             ii.      2^nd chapter only

e.      Tips

                                                               i.      No rhythm is needed except against larger creatures, so just go through the notes as quickly as possible

2.       House of the Dead Overkill (Wii)

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Wii, Wii remote, Pistol peripheral

                                                             ii.      Available on Station 6

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Select Profile: AAEL > Story mode > Fetid Waters Chapter

                                                             ii.      Choose default AMS Magnum as weapon > Hit Player 1 Play

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      Menu selection with A button, shoot with pistol trigger (B button)

d.      General Rules

                                                               i.      Reports score at end of level or upon death

                                                             ii.      If you die, DON’T continue – final score is reported from death screen

3.       Burn Zombie Burn (PS3 Download)

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      PS3, PSN access, controller

                                                             ii.      Available on Station 1

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Press Start > Single Player > Arcade Mode

                                                             ii.      Level=Graveyard, Mode=Free Play, Difficulty=Normal (Ranked)

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      X=Fire, Triangle=TNT, Square=kick (TNT, exploding zombie heads, etc.)

                                                             ii.      L1=hold down to auto-target, R2=hold down to strafe

                                                            iii.      R1=fire main weapon, R2=hold down to use fire weapon (flamethrower, etc.)

d.      General Rules

                                                               i.      Read more here:  http://faqs.ign.com/articles/108/1081706p1.html

                                                             ii.      Get the highest score you can before game over or 10 minutes passes

e.      Tips

                                                               i.      Set zombies on fire to gain multipliers, and use main weapon to kill zombies and rack up points.

                                                             ii.      Letting zombies gather into a horde and then taking them out all at once will get you more points than by taking them out individually.

                                                            iii.      Best way to gain points: gather TNT & upgrade it, raise fire multiplier to x30-45, blow up fiery zombie horde.

4.       Typing of the Dead (Dreamcast)

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Dreamcast, keyboard

                                                             ii.      Available on Station 9

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Arcade mode > Story mode > Chapter 3

                                                             ii.      When you play through Chapter 3, report score and continue on to Chapter 4

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      Use keyboard to type out words as they appear on screen to kill zombies

d.      General Rules

                                                               i.      Each chapter will give you a score when you reach the end of it

                                                             ii.      Add scores from chapters 3 and 4 to get your final tournament score

e.      Tips

                                                               i.      Final score is based on typing accuracy, speed, and completing missions

5.       Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES)

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Super Nintendo, controller

                                                             ii.      Available on Station 17

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Play the game for 10 minutes or until Game Over, and report final score

                                                             ii.      Scores accumulate over levels, so don’t report each level’s score

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      + Pad: Movement, Y button: Fire weapon, X button: Use special item

                                                             ii.      B Button: Switch weapon, A button: Switch special items/Check key inventory

                                                            iii.      L & R buttons: Toggle victim radar on/off

d.      General Rules

                                                               i.      Get highest score you can by racking up points and going through levels

                                                             ii.      At end of 10 minutes, pause game and report final score

6.       Ghosts and Goblins (NES) - Tie-breaker Game

a.       Equipment

                                                               i.      Nintendo, controller

                                                             ii.      Available on Stations 14 & 16

b.      Instructions

                                                               i.      Start game normally

                                                             ii.      You automatically start with 2 hits per life, and 3 lives

c.       Controls

                                                               i.      A button: Jump, B button: Attack, + pad: Movement

d.      General Rules

                                                               i.      Sudden death match: whoever can accumulate the most points before dying