DEVASTATION a no-go this year

If you haven’t heard, the Phoenix New Times’ Ben Leatherman broke the news that DEVASTATION would not be happening in 2012. According to an article published late last week, DEVASTATION director Robb Chiarini confirmed that the event was cancelled and more information surrounding the cancellation would be released sometime this week.

The drop of DEVASTATION may come as no surprise to some, as many local gamers had suspected the event would not come to pass this year. Hazem Ibrahim of Team Hazmat stated in a stream discussion shortly after the Revelations 2012 incidents, that it looked unlikely that DEVASTATION would occur given the timing and lack of advertisement.

Despite many rumblings about the tournament, it still is another big event lost for Arizona; joining up with DESERTBASH, another major gaming event cancelled this year. Keep with The Pause Button for more details as the story develops.

Ed Farias says goodbye to Arcade-in-a-Box with ‘This Is It!’ event

Courtesy Arcade-in-a-Box.

As the days of online competition progress, more and more small arcade venues are struggling to get the same pull of players they used to. Sadly, Tucson’s own Arcade-in-a-Box has suffered the same plight, leading the owner and founder Ed Farias, to say goodbye to the arcade this November.

Arcade-in-a-Box is one of Tucson’s biggest gamer arcade hangouts that officially got started by Farias in 2005. Since then, the venue has hosted scores of fighting game tournaments, seen the creation of the popular web series Retro Rumble, and helped groom top level Street Fighter IV players such as Latif, second-place SSFIV: AE winner at EVO 2011.

Truly, Arcade-in-a-Box is an Arizona arcade with history behind it and Farias described the decision to step away from the venue as a difficult one. In an email interview, Farias explained that after multiple attempts to pull players in, he decided to celebrate the arcade’s ending with the This is It! event, rather than try to bolster up followers in attempts to “save” it:

Tekken Tag 2 Releases, Euphoria Gaming Celebrates with Tournament

For those of you who didn’t know, Namco’s latest endeavor in 3D fighters Tekken Tag Tournament 2 released yesterday. A successor to the PS2’s Tekken Tag Tournament, TTT2 is bringing revamped visuals paired with the tagging action that made the first Tag Tournament title such a popular powerhouse.

The good folks at Euphoria Gaming will be hosting a tournament this Saturday at the University of Advancing Technology in room 201 for all players to try their skills in the latest Tag edition.

IncreaseBlue’s Saboten Con Re-cap

Anime and game lovers alike are back to the daily grind after the exhausting 2012 Saboten Con finished up over the weekend in Glendale. This was the convention’s first dive into its new venue of the Glendale Renaissance Hotel and despite some missteps, it came out victorious over last years’ performance.

The Yamaoka-centric concerts with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn on vocals were an easy highlight of the convention.

Although Saboten Con was more so anime and video game-oriented, thus having a less diverse draw of panels and events than the Phoenix Comicon, the convention definitely made each individual event count with its guests and programming.

The new hotel was a more than welcome change, as the Saboten Con was all but bursting with attendees in its old home of the Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix. This allowed the latest Sabo endeavor breathing room to try on new things, some a step in the right direction, while others could use some fine-tuning.