Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Rick Barretto, who is displayed on card number 3242, from the Superstars of 2019 Collection. Rick is an all-around gaming enthusiast. He is a collector, author, inventor and an industry entrepreneur. In 1998 Rick invented the first PC-based video arcade for home/office use. Rick also owns a LAN Network company that trains eSports team and players. One of his alumni is Tyler “Ninja” Blevins of Fortnite fame. In 2013 Rick and his wife Cara created a gaming charity called “Video Game Palooza”. This charity motivates interest among you in STEM education and video game careers. Video Game Palooza was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame on October 5th, 2019.
Do you see a need to educate new developers on the historic games and the foundations they laid?
YES! This is one of the reasons we created Video Game Palooza. They can’t just focus on the $10 million-dollar titles with all the state-of-the-art graphics – they need to focus on GAMEPLAY by studying what the 80’s games were like and what they were able to develop in such a small memory and performance footprint.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Next Saturday, October 5th, 2019 the International Video Game Hall of Fame will be inducting its new members into the Class of 2019. One of these inductees is Jeff Peters. Jeff is a well-deserved inductee as you will read below. His gaming history goes back to the early 1980’s until today. Please join us in Ottumwa, Iowa next weekend and witness the new class of 2019, along with some other fun activities for the weekend.
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Jeff Peters who is displayed on card number 395, from the Superstars of 2012 Collection. He is also featured on cards 929 and 3152. Jeff is a multiple world record holder and various titles from the Golden Age of gaming. Some of those games include Pole Position II, Domino Man, and Time Pilot, just to name a few. Along with his partner, Steve Harris, Jeff created the popular magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM). After EGM Jeff worked for multiple companies, such as Electronic Arts and SNK. He founded the modern day USNVGT (United States National Video Game Team) with Steve Harris (joint partnership) in the mid-1980s. He has also worked on such notable properties and franchises such as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Madden, Tetris, Monopoly, Metro 2033 and Tiger Woods. Currently Jeff is one of the co-founders of the Utah Digital Entertainment Network (UDEN), whose mission is to connect, inform and grow the local communities of Utah's growing digital entertainment industry.
Why Videogames?
Why not? For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by entertainment in all its forms. When this new video game thing came around, it changed the equation from passive entertainment (i.e. film, tv) to interactive entertainment where you control the outcome. It was you vs the machine where the goal was to beat the programming or beat the machine. When you don’t really have a frame of reference for going into battle with an artificial intelligence, this was definitely something new and being the naturally competitive person that I am, the concept of getting better at these games, just like other more traditional sports, or beating the machine, definitely became appealing pretty quick.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Brian Colin, designer of many fan favorite arcade games, will be inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame this October. This week we will look back at the Trading Card Spotlight I did with Brian in May of 2017. Please join us in Ottumwa, Iowa on October 5th, 2019 to see Brian being inducted into Hall of Fame.
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Brian Colin who is displayed on card number 2363, from the Superstars of 2015 Collection. His Brian Colin Collection Cards are featured on 2603, 2609, 2612, 2615, 2617, 2634, 2636 and 2637. Brian has worked on over 60 games in the gaming industry, which his most popular titles being Rampage, Arch Rivals and Xenophobe. Brian has been in the industry from the early 1980s and still is working hard today. He started his career with Bally/Midway and is currently the CEO of the company Game Refuge, Inc. Brian loves meeting with gamers all over and is kind enough to make appearances and sign autographs for fans as well as talk history about his games. You can see Brian this July at the Video Game Summit in Villa Park, IL.
What does it take to be a Video Game creator, and what advice would you give a person today who would like to get into the industry?
REALLY Complex question; simple answer: Watch the documentary "SO, YOU WANNA BE A VIDEO GAME DESIGNER…? It has interviews with a number of classic game designers (Me, George Gomez, Ed Boon, Eugene Jarvis, Jeff Nauman and many, many more. (Walter has a copy that he's shown at several Events (You can find it on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/GameRefuge or purchase the DVD on the Game Refuge Store. https://squareup.com/market/game-refuge-inc
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Roger Blair “Rogerpoco” who is displayed on card number 3183, from the Superstars of 2019 Collection. Roger is a multi-platform world record holder. He is at the top of this list on such consoles as Super Nintendo, Sega Master System and Vectrex among many others. His proudest accomplishments are on the Intellivision and Atari 2600. He was awarded the PC/Console Gamer of the year award recently and takes pride in this highest honor. You can find and chat with Roger on the Twin Galaxies Forums. Many of his thoughts and ideas are posted on the site.
Do you believe some video games are too violent and lead to violence in America today?
Some games are more violent than I think they should be, but I wouldn't go so far as saying "too violent", knowing I'm a bit prudish. I don't know that those games lead to violence, but I imagine they aren't a good influence on someone already predisposed to antisocial behaviors.
Written by Todd Friedman on . Posted in Trading Card Spotlight
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Dan Tearle who is displayed on card number 671, from the Superstars of 2014 Collection. Dan is also featured on card 1153, 1326, and 1352. To say Dan is an artist is an understatement. Dan is very talented and has displayed his artwork in many different genres such as sports, Star Wars and of course video games. He has created the artwork for various gaming t-shirts, posters and logos for gaming websites. Dan is also a big competitor playing most of his gameplay on MAME and recreating the memories of the retro games when he was a kid. Dan has also created some very cool Walter Day trading cards for the collection. Some of these cards can be seen at this link, click here.
Are you still involved with drawing, and what role do you play?
Very much involved; along with my sports art, I work on trading cards for several companies such as Topps, especially their Star Wars sets. I do hand drawn one off ‘sketch cards’ which are inserted into packs as ‘hits’. It’s very cool to say my work is licensed by Lucasfilm, as the cards have to pass a strict approval process first.
