2012 Incoming at LAN Speed!

Whether we like it or not, 2011 only has a few precious days to eke out its existence before it’s swiftly pushed to the side in favor of the bigger and badder 2012. If you’ve made resolutions (or failed to keep a few) you can ring in the new year at LAN Speed Games Saturday night.

Image courtesy of LAN Speed Games.

The crew at LAN Speed Games in Peoria are throwing a huge New Years’ Eve bash to welcome 2012 with open arms, as well as prizes, giveaways and ridiculous amounts of gaming.

AZHP Breaking in the New Year With Taiyou Con

Kicking off 2012 proper will be the AZHP hosting tournaments at the Taiyou Con anime convention the first weekend of January.

Photo courtesy of Taiyou Con.

The event will be taking place on January 6-8 Taiyou Con at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa hotel.

AZHP will be hosting tournaments throughout the weekend. As per usual practice, the crew will host open and casual gaming throughout the event as well, but their tournament schedule is as follows:

JUST ANNOUNCED: Konami’s Akira Yamaoka Coming to Saboten Con 2012

Saboten Con representatives officially announced Monday night that longtime Konami composer Akira Yamaoka would be attending the event in 2012.

Photo courtesy of Saboten Con.

Yamaoka is a composer for the studio most widely known for his compositions featured in the Silent Hill series of video games, most notably Silent Hill 3. His most recent sound work includes the 2011 demon shoot’em up title Shadows of the Damned. Yamaoka will join fellow video game guests Phil LaMarr, the voice of Vamp in the Metal Gear series, and Troy Baker, voice of Vincent in the game Catherine, at the convention.

[UPDATE: Saboten Con officials further announced that Yamaoka, along with Troy Baker and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, will be putting on a Silent Hill music concert on the Saturday of the event. Your mind blown yet?]

Get ready for the last battle!

The last of Team Hazmat’s bi-weekly tournaments for 2011 will take place this weekend, meaning it’s one of your last chances to get in all your competitive action before the end of the year.

The team plans to host two tournaments on Saturday at their hangout spot in Laveen.

December Kick Off: What Will You Play to Keep Warm?

Although this winter in Arizona seems to have hit particularly hard in only a few days, the season is upon us and force many a gamer to make the difficult choice of either going out in the cold to do stuff or stay inside and keep warm next to that video game console.

"Alright guys, we win this match and I'll buy the first round of hot cocoa. Deal?"

Many will likely choose the latter, as the Pause Button’s own IncreaseBlue has opted for in this chilly weather. She’s gotten the chance to peruse some of winter’s biggest titles and offers her thoughts below on what might entertain during those harshly cold days.