Red Hot Witchy Read

Sat, 09/24/2005 - 4:30pm by erin

Red is For Remembrance by Laurie Faria Stolarz is the latest in her wicked new series. Laurie's stories blend suspense, romance, and the art of keeping secrets - with spicy doses of teen witchcraft and magic">spells">magic. Be sure to start with Blue is for Nightmares, followed by White is for Magic and Silver is for Secrets. A perfect way to get into the witchy season ahead...

AADL-GT Round 2: This Weekend!

Tue, 09/20/2005 - 12:10am by eli

Preregistration is now open for AADL-GT Round 2, happening this Saturday, September 24th, from Noon - 5 PM in the Basement of the Downtown Library. Doors will open at 11:30 for players in grades 6-12, so be early to get checked in and start warming up. Winners of the Sur-Prize round game will take home $70, $50, and $30 gift cards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. We'll have single-player and team events in both Mario Kart Double Dash and Super Smash Brothers: Melee, and the event will (really this time) be broadcast live on Comcast channel 18 in Ann Arbor, so be sure to bring a signed release form if you haven't turned one in before. We'll be implementing several enhancements this round, including smoother, faster registration & check-in, split-screen single player Kart for more races in less time, checkin and food and tables outside the room, and definitely more pizza. Read on for more.

We'll also be having an All-Ages DDR Tournament, Sunday Sept. 25th, from 1:00-4:00 at the Malletts Creek Branch. Open Gamecube play will be available, and prizes are $40, $30, and $20 gift cards.

One of our new features is a super-easy way to attach your clan logo to all your comments here on the axis blog. Just email me your clan logo at axis@aadl.org, and I'll add it to the server. You can then include your clan logo in your post just by adding:

[mygtclanlogo]

anywhere in your post, including in your signature! You can edit your signature on the 'edit' tab of your My Account page. Once you've added that tag to your signature, you'll never have to think about your clan logo again. Let me know if you run into any trouble or have any questions about this.

Also, it's time to announce the players who will be invited to do live, on-air commentary at this month's tournament. I will be appointing Lead and Relief Commentators for each event, with the Lead commentators doing most of the talking, and the Relief stepping in when the Leads are playing. Be aware that my goal is to produce the most entertaining event possible, so while I want to give several players a chance to do this, I will be making changes and cuts throughout the season. If I don't think you did a very good job, you won't be invited back to the 'press box' next month. So, be forewarned, and don't take it personally. Also, remember that this is an invitation. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. So, here are our commentary teams for Round 2:

Mario Kart Single-Player and Team:
Lead: Major Tom and Leinad
Relief: Muffincat and Duck

Super Smash Brothers Single-Player and Team:
Lead: Sravan and Galen (pr0 and c0n)
Relief: Black Shark and Duck

Surprize Round:
Lead: Muffincat and Black Shark
Relief: Major Tom and Leinad

A few tips for you commentators:

1) Look for the drama and build it with story, not with interjections.

Right: Wow, he's made it all the way to the final lap of the final race, only a master shell can ruin his day now...
Wrong: Oh! oh! wow! Man! Going! Going! Going! Gone!

2) Play off your partner, no matter who they are, use their name extensively, and set them up.

Right: I see she is truly dominant with DK, bob, isn't that one of your best characters?
Wrong: (in reply): Nope.

3) Remember that the audience at home may not know anything about the games.

Right: Wow, there goes Mario's Cape teleportation glitch... that's a bug in the game that's very difficult to execute, but very shocking when performed precisely....
Wrong: Oh man! Charizard!

4) Nothing impresses me more than a dazzling display of Nintendo Knowledge.

Right: You know, bob, the original Donkey Kong was Shigeru Miyamoto's first game for Nintendo, and it was built to be a conversion for thousands of unused Radarscope cabinets, as the US market had responded very poorly to Radarscope, despite it having been a smash hit in Japan.
Wrong: The Revolution is going to suck.

Anyway, enough of that. Get registered for the tournament, get practicing, and if you've got questions, now's the time. See you Saturday!

For Teens Who Want to Help Katrina Victims

Sun, 09/11/2005 - 5:57pm by K.C.

Youth Service America's website offers a list of organizations that have mobilized to support the relief effort. Also available at this website are project planning tools and resources. Included is a downloadable project planning toolkit and easy to use tip sheets. These will help you and your friends think through the steps needed to plan and implement a successful project.

Eli Goes to PAX, and Lives to Tell the Tale

Tue, 08/30/2005 - 4:14pm by eli

This past weekend, I attended the Penny Arcade Expo. It was absolutely incredible. There were PC, console, and tabletop game tournaments, panel discussions, an exhibitor room (think E3 lite), concerts, freeplay, prizes, and the OMEGATHON II.

I went to see how truly large game tournaments are run, specifically to get some ideas on how to handle our recent influx of new players, and to do a little of what adults call 'networking'. Also, to play some games. Read on for complete details.

Leaderboard

Thu, 08/25/2005 - 5:08pm by eli

Ok, we've got some new features in our system, and we're proud to present the first ever Season Clan and Player leaderboards. There may still be a few issues here, of course, so if you've got questions, ask away. Also note that these are the only clans for which I have registration information. If your clan played last weekend, and you're not listed, post a comment or drop an email to axis@aadl.org and we'll get you all set.

First of all, we've got a bit of a surprise on the Clan Leaderboard after 1 round. With 5 Clans competing so far, the Clan Champ of round 1 is....

Skillz dat Killz!
-- Earnist da Chicken
-- J's Coolio
-- MonkeyMan
-- Doomblaze

Total Round 1 score: 4000 points

Skillz dat Killz, made up of 4 wildcards from season 1, storms out of nowhere to rack up the most points out of any clan competing at round 1. They secure their spot in the Clan Cup in december, narrowly edging out second place Turtle Clan (3940 points) and the third place Trouble Monkey Clan (3850 points). Here's the full clan leaderboard:

1. Skillz dat Killz (4000)
2. Turtle Clan (3940)
3. Trouble Monkey Clan (3850)
4. Vaccinated Monks (1360)
5. Black Shark Clan (1340)
6. Turtle Clan 2: T-unit (600)

I know there are some other clans that we didn't get registered, so let me know and I'll get you set up. Also, this is without recruitment bonuses applied; recruitment bonuses only count toward your leaderboard score, and can't help you win a single round. We'll get recruitment bonuses sorted out over the next few weeks, but we will only credit the clan that the new member says recruited them, so get your recruits online and in here to tell us that you recruited them!

So, here, also, are the top 32 players on the Individual Leaderboard:

1. Earnist Da Chicken (1785)
2. c0N (1695)
3. TurtlePerson2 (1680)
4. pr0 (1515)
5. anti snowman (1305)
6. Jimmy (1140)
7. Post (1130)
8. Doomblaze (1040)
9. Ice (905)
10. *Flare* (895)
11. Corey (865)
12. Bad driver (740)
13. Gnato (695)
14. Ion (670)
15. Monkeyman (660)
16. bbqkitten (625)
17. Chris R (615)
18. DrewE (565)
19. J's Coolio (515)
20. jlgelinas (515)
21. Duck (485)
22. zyke (465)
23. Joe S (455)
24. aaron (440)
25. D-Rex (435)
26. KingBoo (435)
27. Paul K (420)
28. John (395)
29. The Gamer (395)
30. AKIA (390)
31. Nick11 (385)
32. Balla (375)

Ok, got questions? I knew you would. Fire away, but bear in mind I'm off to PAX tomorrow morning, and may not get to all your questions until next week.

AADL-GT Round 1 Results

Tue, 08/23/2005 - 12:07pm by eli

The AADL-GT season opener this past weekend was simply insane. With over 100 people in attendance, things were fast, furious, and, thanks to the debut of Clan Noise Machine, a little overwhelming.

After everyone finally got checked in, we began the Single-player Mario Kart event with 84 players. Everyone only got two races, so we had a tie for 14th place between Black Shark, Ice, Omid, and John Durski. With a thrilling finish on baby park, Ice edged out John Durski for 3rd place and a trip to the semifinals. After resolving a scoring snafu, Ice wound up winning the event, with Earnist da Chicken taking 2nd, and season 1 veterans Doomblaze (Arjan Arora) and pr0 (Sravan Rengarajan) taking 3rd and 4th, securing their spots in the surprize round.

We were then almost a full two hours behind schedule, and we had to rush to catch up. First, a single-elimination Team Mario Kart Race event, with 33 teams producing 4 winners: Korm (Aaron and Ion), Monkeys of Doom (Doomblaze and Monkeyman), Evil Sunflower (Super Sunflower and Evil Bus Driver), and T Team (The Savage Brothers).

Then, on to the Super Smash Brothers: Melee Single-PlayerEvent, with a whopping 91 players. Everyone got two battles, and after eliminating down to 40, then down to 16, we had 4 final battles, each sending a player to the prize round. To save time, these 4 didn't face off directly, so each gets the full point bonus for winning an event.

Ion, Nick11, and Balla were defeated by Turtleperson2,
Flare, PaulK, and J's Coolio were defeated by pr0 (Sravan),
DrewE, Gnato, and Doomblaze were defeated by newcomer Post,
and Lightning, Zyke, and MiniKinLin were defeated by Corey Atwater.

With the seconds ticking down, we proceeded to the Super Smash Brothers Team event, with 40 teams facing a brutal, 1-stock, single-elimination slugfest. After eliminating down to 10 teams, the event produced 5 winning teams for the surprize round: Team Ramrod (Post and Jimmy), Melee Masters (Turtleperson 2 and AntiSnowman), Trouble Monkeys 2 (Sravan and Galen), Toasted Kittens (bbqkitten and Flare), and FlipForever (Gnato and Chris R).

Then, at 4:50, we were on to the Sur-Prize round. Round 1's Surprise game was Bomberman Generation. We had 20 players qualified for the prize round, and 5 preliminary battles:

AntiSnowman defeated Corey, Gnato, and Flare,
Jimmy defeated Monkeyman, Post, and pr0,
TurtlePerson2 defeated ChrisR, bbqkitten, and Ice,
c0n (galen) defeated Bad Driver, Evil Bus Driver, and Ion,
and Earnist da Chicken defeated Super Sunflower, DoomBlaze, and Aaron.

We then did a bit of a round-robin to eliminate 1 player before the final prize round, and after a truly intense series, Season 1 Grand Champion TurtlePerson2 was eliminated. The final prize round was very close, with veteran Galen Gong taking home his first $70 giftcard, and newcomers Earnist da Chicken taking the $50 second prize, AntiSnowman (Bryan Li), taking third for $30, and James Detlefs taking home the lousy aadl.org t-shirt.

What remains to be determined is what clan scored the most points. We can calculate that as you tell us who your clan was represented by on saturday. Future tourneys, this won't be a problem. So, click comment below and let me know the up to 4 players present at last week's tourney who were playing for your clan, and we'll post the clan and individual leaderboards soon.

We've also got a lot of ideas to streamline future tournaments if we get such a large turnout again. We're going to move video production, commentary booth, food, and registration outside the room and provide a TV to watch the tournament. We may very well limit registration to a certain number of preregisters and a certain number of walkins, stay tuned for details. We will also go split-screen on Mario Kart so that 16 players can play at one (2 separate races). Of course, we'll also order more Pizza. What are your ideas?

AADL-GT Round 1: Registration Now Open

Wed, 08/17/2005 - 10:03pm by eli

Our new registration is system is ready to go! Here's how it works.

First, login to aadl.org if you're not already logged in. If you don't already have an account, you should register for an account first, as an aadl.org account is required to preregister for tournaments, and to track your stats later!

Once you're logged in, just go to aadlgt. You can first set up your player info, including your full name, nickname, age group, and short 4-character version of your nickname for Super Smash Brothers.

You'll see the upcoming events listed on that page. Just click register below the ones you want to register for, and POOF, you are preregistered for that event. Know that you still have to check in when your arrive so that we know you're there.

To register for a team event, you'll see a link to create your team. Enter your team name, and choose your partner from the list of registered players. That means you won't be able to preregister your team unless both players have already registered for a single-player event. So get both teammates registered, then one of you register your team. You can create different teams for each event.

UPDATE: Clan registration is working now too. If all your Clan primaries are registered for an event, you can create your clan. Email me at axis@aadl.org your clan logo, and I'll upload it.

AADL-GT Season Opener: This Saturday!

Mon, 08/15/2005 - 8:55pm by eli

This weekend marks the start of the 2nd AADL-GT Tournament Season for grades 6-12, with the opener starting at Noon Saturday, 8/20/2005, at the Downtown Library. This event will be broadcast LIVE on Comcast channel 18, from Noon-5 PM.

Because the event will be televised, you will need to bring this release form, signed by your parent or guardian, or you won't be able to play! Don't forget it! If you participated in last season's Grand Championships and already turned in a release form, you don't need to do it again.

AADL-GT Season 2 will include single-player and team events in Mario Kart: Double Dash race mode, and Super Smash Brothers 2-stock battle. The prize round will be a mystery game, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize round winners take home $70, $50, and $30 giftcards respectively.

Registration for this event will open Wednesday Night, 8/17/2005. You will be able to register your handle, sign up your teams, and create your clans.

Creating a clan will involve entering the four nicknames of your 4 primary clan members. Clans must have exactly 4 primary members. At each tournament, for your clan to score points, you must roster exactly 4 players, and at least 1 of those 4 must be a primary clan member. You can get subs to fill out the other spots. Subs can only be primaries of other clans if their clan is not rostering at that tournament. While it's in your best interest to figure out who your subs will be ahead of time, there will be time at the beginning of the event to come up with clan subs.

Bonuses will be awarded to clans for recruiting players that didn't play last season. These bonuses will be applied AFTER each tournament is over, and won't be included when determining the clan winner of each tournament.

If you have a clan logo, email it to axis@aadl.org, and I will upload it for you after your clan has registered.

Any questions? Now's the time. Hope you've been practicing, the competition is going to be intense.

AADL-GT Season 2: Schedule, Scoring & Prizes

Wed, 08/03/2005 - 1:45pm by eli

Here is the complete AADL-GT Season 2 Schedule:

Round 1: Saturday, August 20th, Noon - 5 PM
Round 2: Saturday, September 24th, Noon - 5 PM
Round 3: Saturday, October 22nd, Noon - 5 PM
Round 4: Saturday, November 26th, Noon - 5 PM
Grand Championships: Saturday, December 17th, Noon - 5 PM.

All events should be broadcast live on CTN. Rounds 1 - 4 will each award 4 individual prizes:

1st place: $70 giftcard
2nd place: $50 giftcard
3rd place: $30 giftcard
4th place: consolation prize

I'm working on something better than 7-year old highlighters as the consolation prize.

The Grand Championships will feature 4 individual prizes, as well a 4-person prize for the clan that wins the clan cup.

Clan Cup Winners: 4 iPod shuffles

4th Place winner: Nintendo GBA-SP
3rd Place winner: Nintendo DS
2nd Place winner: iPod
Grand Champion: Sony PSP

Stay tuned, or read on for more.

GT Preseason Weekend Results

Sun, 07/31/2005 - 5:20pm by eli

The preseason is behind us now, and after some amazing matches, the glory of 32 players playing super smash brothers at the same time, and the splendor of a crabby eli trying to sort out glitches with pencil & paper, we now begin the long wait until Round 1, which is Saturday, August 20th, from Noon - 5:00. First, the tournament results.

The single player kart event featured some intense competition, but ended with four seasoned veterans - Duck, Miniblin, Sravan, and Galen - on top. We then moved on to the Co-op team kart event, where the Troublemonkeys, this time represented by Troublemonkey Clan members Sravan and Galen were victorious, along with new teams Masked Monkeys, JonnyBean, and the n00bz.

Single player Super Smash Brothers: Melee saw the increasingly unbeatable Sravan again among the top four finishers, along with season 1 4th place finisher John Durski, and newcomers Badger and Tofu.

The Team Melee Event, with the troublemonkeys stepping aside to save time, found many newcomers earning the first trips to the surprize round, with emerging contenders the n00bz, the Gamers, the Badgers, and the Tridents winning the event.

We had 17 players qualify for the Surprize Round, and our mystery game this month was Madden 05 Two-minute drill. When the dust cleared, newcomer Balla walked away with the $50 giftcard first prize, beating out returning player and button-masher Omid, who took home the $40 second prize. Rookies tournament graduate LimaBean proved he can play with the veterans, beating out Galen for the $30 third prize.