DEVASTATION’s Robb Chiarini discusses event cancellation with The Pause Button

DEVASTATION, the gaming event that hosted several thousands over the course of an October weekend in Phoenix last year, was undoubtedly one of the biggest gaming events the state has seen. Since then the event team had gone quiet, player rumblings and rumors of payouts circulated, and very little information was given on whether or not the tournament would make its return in 2012. On Wednesday, DEVASTATION director Robb Chiarini made a public announcement that the event would not be happening this year.

In the announcement, Chiarini explained how the 2011 event had failed to pay out some winners due to a sudden sponsor drop out and that his own efforts to rectify the situation by selling his comic collection had resulted in further issues.

Chiarini also elaborated in the video that he and his team have worked to contact unpaid players and eventually settle all the loose ends from the 2011 event. Shortly after the video was released, Chiarini spoke with The Pause Button further on the announcement and what this would mean for the team, the players, and the future of the event.

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.

DEVASTATION 2011 Re-Cap

Did you happen to miss DEVASTATION last weekend? Well The Pause Button‘s got you covered with our video recap complete with several awesome interviews and funny asides we caught at the event. Check it out below!

DEVASTATION: A Few Words With Jedirobb

DEVASTATION is only a few days away and the event is loaded and ready to go. The Pause Button got the chance to talk to the event coordinator Robb Chiarini (aka Jedirobb), and get some details, as well as thoughts on the upcoming tournament.

Courtesy of DEVASTATION.

The event is set to officially begin on Friday October 7th and continue through Sunday at the Phoenix Convention Center. A multitude of competitions will be held for numerous first-person shooter, fighting, sports, rhythm, and strategy games throughout the weekend.

DEVASTATION recently suffered the loss of Team Sp00ky due to the alleged confiscation of their equipment by Homeland Security. Chiarini confirmed that there are three other stream broadcasters lined up for the convention including LevelUp and local boys Team Haz-mat to run the fighting game shows, with Beyond Gaming to cover the PC side of the competitions. They will broadcast on three separate channels through Twitch.tv: TwitchTV/DEVEVENT, TwitchTV/DEVASTATIONEVENT, and TwitchTV/BeyondGaming. according to the official event website.

IncreaseBlue’s Saboten-Con Re-cap

The 2011 Saboten-Con occurred over the weekend in Phoenix at the Squaw Peak Hilton Resort. The event played host to numerous voice actors such as Sean Schemmel, Reuben Langdon, and Johnny Yong Bosch, as well as offered up a fair amount of panels and activities for attendees.

Not only were there tons of anime events to attend, but also steampunk, gaming and various other genres were present in the programming. The Pause Button’s own IncreaseBlue was able to attend Saboten and offers her thoughts below about how it went.

Countdown to DEVASTATION, get your practice in!

The huge DEVASTATION event is a mere two weeks away and this Saturday will yield a nice platter of events for Arizona gamers to get in the last smidgens of practice before the big competitions kick off.

Courtesy Team Haz-Mat

First off is Team Haz-Mat with their DEVASTATION Boot Camp event on Saturday. The boot camp is $5 for a venue fee and $5 entry fee for each tournament being held at Team Haz-Mat‘s spot in Laveen. Competitions will start at 7 p.m. with Marvel vs. Capcom 3, then continue with Street Fighter III: Third Strike at 9 p.m., and finish up with Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition at 10 p.m.