Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Stephen Boyer who is displayed on card number 15, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Stephen is also on cards 500, 1656, 2204, 2264. Stephen is a former Twin Galaxies referee and worked closely with Walter Day with his time there. He has been playing games since the mid 1970’s and has had many high scores on Arcade as well as MAME. Some of these games include Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. Stephen was seen at Freeplay Florida in 2014 with many other world record holder gamers. Currently he has been trying for Mario Bros. records in a multi-player setting with gaming partner Steven Kleisath.
Did you ever think when you were younger you would be on a Video Game Trading card?
Heck no! I grew up collecting Garbage Pail Kids cards along with football and some baseball cards. However, I never even thought I would hold any kind of arcade world record score besides being on multiple Twin Galaxies player cards.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Mike Iarossi who currently is displayed on card number 175, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Mike is the winner of the Powerfest 1994 Nintendo World Championships. Not only did Mike win the statue displayed on the card cover, but he also took home a Ford Mustang.Mike is a huge gaming competitor as he streams his gaming online on Twitch. Some of his go to games are Borderlands and Dark Souls series as well as Path of Exile and Tetris. One of his goals in life is to have fun and continue gaming as long as he can.
Do you prefer PC or Console gaming and why?
PC gaming easily these days. I just prefer mouse and keyboard to a controller for most things. Obviously, some games are made for controllers and work better there but even then, I would rather play those on my PC. Part of that is ease of access. I would rather not have to switch to a console to play something. I like all my games to be in one place. I still, own a Switch and a PS4 for exclusives that I can't get on the PC but that’s all I really play on them anymore and it's far less often these days than it used to be.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Travis Warnell, who is displayed on card number 171, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Travis is also displayed on card number 997. He holds world records on multiple games such as Golgo 13, Lethal Enforcers and Bang! for the MAME platform. He recalls being in the Guinness book and receiving a certificate as quite an achievement. His life motto is, “Try Something different, because if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got”. If you want to change the result, change the way you do things.
Do you believe some Video Games are too violent and lead to violence in America today?
I personally don't believe violent video games are a contributing factor to violence. If this is the case, then there must be very violent games in other countries that are in an everlasting war for years and years. Video games have nothing to do with any of that, just a scape goat to point a finger at. If anything, video games lessens violence, they give so many kids, adults, families a common goal and challenge. People play video games to escape real life, not to re-live it.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Paige Burger, who is displayed on card number 3105, from the Superstars of 2019 Collection. Paige is part of the Old School Gamer Magazine crew. Daughter of the creator and publisher, Paige has made a huge impact on promoting and signing up gamers for the magazine. She travels to many of the conferences and works the OSG booth and is always excited to meet new people and explain the positive reasons to join the Old School subscribers. Chances are when you see the Old School Gamer booth at your event, she will be there with all smiles.
Who is your favorite video game character and what makes that character special?
Henry (Hank) from FireWatch is One of my favorite characters. I’m not sure what exactly that makes him special, especially because I don’t even think of that game a lot but it might be that he is just a regular guy in his late 30s who has retreated from his messy life to work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. I honestly like simple but complex characters like that.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Donald Hayes who is displayed on card number 17, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Donald is a highly recognized retro game player who has held and holds many world records on classic games. Some of his games he currently holds records on are Centipede, Dig Dug and Joust. In 2005, Donald was named player of the year by Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard. He has also been named player of the year numerous times at the arcade “Funspot” in New Hampshire. Most recently, Donald participated in the Battle of the Arcades event and finished first overall individually and his team finished second out of the five arcades that were involved.
What are your opinions about today’s generation of video games? How do you compare them to older, classic games?
I’ve really not played much of recent video games and prefer to stick with the older classic games. The graphics today are obviously better, but it seems like a lot of modern games are so similar to each other in terms of game play. There seemed to be a lot more variety in the 80’s when new games were coming out.
