Gamercamp? Yes, Please!
Posted on Nov 16, 2009 by Lori in Events
Want a great first-date idea for this Saturday? Want to make your significant other shiver in antici…pation? Just lean over and whisper the one word that will turn knees to jelly and cause hearts to flutter…
Gamercamp…mmm, baby…Gamercamp…
Okay—so it may not be every couple’s bag—but if unlimited old-school arcade freeplay and listening to Nathan Vella speak turns you on (and why shouldn’t it?), you might want to venture out to the ironic wilds of Ossington Avenue this weekend…
When I first heard about Gamercamp (was it from NextGen Player? Toronto Thumbs? I think it was both), I filed it away in the back of my head as something Dave and I might want to check out. But when co-organizer Jaime Woo contacted me directly to discuss the details, I took a bit more time to check out the Gamercamp site—and the more I saw, the more interested I was—so I decided to ask him and his co-organizer, Mark Rabo, for a bit more info about the event…
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Mark: Both Jaime and I are pretty big gamers and we saw a lot of events that were on the technical or business side of the video game industry. This city has some great talent that is definitely getting notice. Nathan Vella of Capybara Games will be speaking, and the company’s Critter Crunch was a phenomenal critical and commercial success.
Jaime: What inspired Gamercamp.ca was finding a new way to tell the story of Toronto’s gaming community: we wanted to show the creative process of developers, to get into the brains of the people who made these games and discover what clicked to make their games so addictive and fun.
Mark: And so, for example, Mare and Raigan of Metanet are talking about how they approach making videos like a rock band rather than as a movie studio. We think the topic is interesting and relatable to anyone who does creative things.
Jaime: We think there’s something for everyone at Gamercamp.ca. In addition to speakers [including Michael Todd of Spyeart as well], we also have demos for some very cool projects coming out soon, and people can see the Torontron, the indie arcade cabinet created by the gamer enthusiast association Hand Eye Society. People can also learn about the Replay Arcade Museum, which is set to be Canada’s first gaming museum—and it’s about time Canada got one.
Mark: We also have 1UP, our after-party, which we are throwing with Replay. We’ll have our own onsite arcade made up of over 20 legendary arcade games like Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, Mortal Kombat II, which attendees will have unlimited free play of for the night. It’s gonna be awesome.
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Awesome, indeed. I know of one couple who will be there with bells on.
So if you want to spend this Saturday hanging out with myriad gamers (including Dave and me), snacking on snacks and hearing Toronto-based indie developers talk about their projects—and let’s not forget the freeplay-fest to follow—check out GamerCamp.ca for more info and tickets or, if you’re still not convinced, watch this extremely hip trailer below (or gaze indefinitely at the gratuitous crotch-shot thumbnail…whatever floats your boat).
All photos courtesy of Jaime Woo from Gamercamp.ca.
