My own Examiner Application
User submitted data
First Name : Marcel
Last Name : Hoang
Email Address : samuraiblade@gmail.com
Phone Number : 714 422 6451
Best Time To Call : 2 PM - 5 PM
City you live in : Westminster
State you live in : California
What's the URL? : http://csulbgaming.blogspot.com/
URL: http://striderhoang.livejournal.com/
Select your edition : Los Angeles
How long? : 10
What's your insider knowledge? : I always take note of the local video game and specialty stores along with the arcades and public gaming centers.
Arcade Infinity in the Diamond Bar area is a popular spot for competitive gamers, especially in fight games. Because of its popularity, it's also received it's fair share of arcade games that aren't officially out in North America like Blazblue and King of Fighters XII.
Howie's is also a relatively little known chain that opened a location in the Westminster mall, letting gamers game on high end computers for a price.
I enjoy browsing the local stores for unique deals or random price hijinks and problems. I've tried pre-ordering the premium edition of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger for the 360 at 2 different Gamestops, but they don't acknowledge the existence of the the premium edition. What's funny is that their own website was advertising it one their front page.
Category : Games & Hobbies
Specific Topic : LA Video Game Examiner
What would you like to write about? : Tell them about interesting gaming spots and various misadventures as a consumer in the video game industry.
Did you know you there's an arcade where all the games take only two or three nickels? Nickel Nickel in Huntington Beach has modest selection of popular and niche cabinets, all at only a nickel or two.
How much shovelware can one customer find in one store? Go to one store, be it a big box store like Target or specialty store like Gamestop, and count how many games on the DS or Wii fit within the cheerleading/baby care/casual genre, then become depressed at the number.
Arcade Infinity to hold the Ladies of Street Fighter tournament June 27th. Some of the top players at the arcade get a lady friend and train them on Street Fighter IV (training montage not included) and test their skills against other girls in what has to be one of the only tournaments that I'd also describe as sexy.
What qualifies you? : I'm currently pursuing my baccalaureate in Journalism and planning on a master's degree as well, so I'm trained on news gathering and reporting.
I've kept a video game blog for close to a year now following my personal experience on video game news and consumerism.
I've also recently joined my school newspaper as the online assistant editor.
Asides from that, I've been a gamer since I was 5-years-old back with my Sega Genesis system I got from my uncle with a copy of Ecco the Dolphin in a bundle pack that was probably from Costco. Ever since then, I've owned at least one game system from every generation from the SNES, Playstation, N64, Gamecube, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii with memorable times in between with friends' consoles and a love of the arcades all the while.
What makes you different? : I enjoying being a bit of a shopper about my video games, so I want to keep people informed on what they can find out there is they look hard enough and the zany stuff as well like games unique to a store. For example, Target has their own version of Shaun White's Snowboarding for the Wii, which is a pretty random show of favoritism.
Distance has never been much of an obstacle to me, as I drive for 30 minutes just to go to Puente Hills mall to their Tilt Arcade.
I use Google Reader religiously and consider myself to always be on top of the news concerning video games and technology as I regularly read Kotaku, Ars Technica, LA and NY Times, and MTV Multiplayer among other subscriptions along with aggregating sites like Digg.
Article 1: Gaming on a Nickel: Nickel Nickel Arcade Has You Covered For a Penny-Pinching Good Time
Article 2: Arcade Infinity Hosts The Ladies of Street Fighter Tournament
Article 3: Is There a Such Thing as a Good Game Under $20?
Preparing, uploading photos : 5
Creating Hyperlinks : 5
Embedding Videos : 3
Online promotion through sites like Digg : 5
Your article : I've been lucky enough in my life to have working in a Mom & Pop's style used game store part-time, Gamesquare. Unfortunately, these businesses have a difficult time staying afloat with competition from chains like Gamestop and Target, not to mention the expenses included with something as touchy as used game sales. But the strangely generically named Game Place has a small hook that sets it above the rest: they have staff trained in electronic repairs.
Our consoles are getting more and more complex. 10 years ago, I never would've dreamed my console would have a hard drive on it, let alone wifi. But this increasing complexity has lead to swarms of angry gamers with malfunctioning systems. The 360 is notorious but the PS3 and Wii aren't exempt.
Located in the Westminster Center at the corner of Westminster boulevard and Goldenwest avenue, this unassuming used game dealer has shelves and tables lines with bricked 360s and down-and-out PS3s with their staff diligently repairing them, bypassing the irritating shipping and handling process to Microsoft's own repair center all the way in Texas.
Used game stores are in a precarious position. Chains like Gamestop offer consistent service at their best. On the other hand, Ma & Pa stores can give you a personal attention a chain can't. A lot make their mark in rentals, but few can offer the professional service of repairing your consoles and cleaning your discs. Here's to hoping Game Place will service the area with good games and repairs for a long time.
Game Place is at 6731 Westminster Blvd # 107, Westminster, CA. You can call them at (714) 898-4263.
Your Bio : Marcel Hoang has been attached to the video game scene since 1993. Since then, he's played his first game on the Sega Genesis (Ecco the Dolphin), been to places like Redondo Beach's massive boardwalk arcade, and read magazines like Gamepro and EGM while print journalism was still unquestionably important. Now reading blogs and sites of note like Kotaku and MTV Multiplayer, Marcel is actively pursuing his baccalaureate in Journalism and plans on getting his master's.
If there's one thing he's picked up as a reporter and a gamer, it's that getting out there and getting seeing the story beats reading about it the next day, any day. And hopefully you'll see it that way in his writing.
How did you hear? : Other
Other? Please specify :
First Name : Marcel
Last Name : Hoang
Email Address : samuraiblade@gmail.com
Phone Number : 714 422 6451
Best Time To Call : 2 PM - 5 PM
City you live in : Westminster
State you live in : California
What's the URL? : http://csulbgaming.blogspot.com/
URL: http://striderhoang.livejournal.com/
Select your edition : Los Angeles
How long? : 10
What's your insider knowledge? : I always take note of the local video game and specialty stores along with the arcades and public gaming centers.
Arcade Infinity in the Diamond Bar area is a popular spot for competitive gamers, especially in fight games. Because of its popularity, it's also received it's fair share of arcade games that aren't officially out in North America like Blazblue and King of Fighters XII.
Howie's is also a relatively little known chain that opened a location in the Westminster mall, letting gamers game on high end computers for a price.
I enjoy browsing the local stores for unique deals or random price hijinks and problems. I've tried pre-ordering the premium edition of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger for the 360 at 2 different Gamestops, but they don't acknowledge the existence of the the premium edition. What's funny is that their own website was advertising it one their front page.
Category : Games & Hobbies
Specific Topic : LA Video Game Examiner
What would you like to write about? : Tell them about interesting gaming spots and various misadventures as a consumer in the video game industry.
Did you know you there's an arcade where all the games take only two or three nickels? Nickel Nickel in Huntington Beach has modest selection of popular and niche cabinets, all at only a nickel or two.
How much shovelware can one customer find in one store? Go to one store, be it a big box store like Target or specialty store like Gamestop, and count how many games on the DS or Wii fit within the cheerleading/baby care/casual genre, then become depressed at the number.
Arcade Infinity to hold the Ladies of Street Fighter tournament June 27th. Some of the top players at the arcade get a lady friend and train them on Street Fighter IV (training montage not included) and test their skills against other girls in what has to be one of the only tournaments that I'd also describe as sexy.
What qualifies you? : I'm currently pursuing my baccalaureate in Journalism and planning on a master's degree as well, so I'm trained on news gathering and reporting.
I've kept a video game blog for close to a year now following my personal experience on video game news and consumerism.
I've also recently joined my school newspaper as the online assistant editor.
Asides from that, I've been a gamer since I was 5-years-old back with my Sega Genesis system I got from my uncle with a copy of Ecco the Dolphin in a bundle pack that was probably from Costco. Ever since then, I've owned at least one game system from every generation from the SNES, Playstation, N64, Gamecube, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii with memorable times in between with friends' consoles and a love of the arcades all the while.
What makes you different? : I enjoying being a bit of a shopper about my video games, so I want to keep people informed on what they can find out there is they look hard enough and the zany stuff as well like games unique to a store. For example, Target has their own version of Shaun White's Snowboarding for the Wii, which is a pretty random show of favoritism.
Distance has never been much of an obstacle to me, as I drive for 30 minutes just to go to Puente Hills mall to their Tilt Arcade.
I use Google Reader religiously and consider myself to always be on top of the news concerning video games and technology as I regularly read Kotaku, Ars Technica, LA and NY Times, and MTV Multiplayer among other subscriptions along with aggregating sites like Digg.
Article 1: Gaming on a Nickel: Nickel Nickel Arcade Has You Covered For a Penny-Pinching Good Time
Article 2: Arcade Infinity Hosts The Ladies of Street Fighter Tournament
Article 3: Is There a Such Thing as a Good Game Under $20?
Preparing, uploading photos : 5
Creating Hyperlinks : 5
Embedding Videos : 3
Online promotion through sites like Digg : 5
Your article : I've been lucky enough in my life to have working in a Mom & Pop's style used game store part-time, Gamesquare. Unfortunately, these businesses have a difficult time staying afloat with competition from chains like Gamestop and Target, not to mention the expenses included with something as touchy as used game sales. But the strangely generically named Game Place has a small hook that sets it above the rest: they have staff trained in electronic repairs.
Our consoles are getting more and more complex. 10 years ago, I never would've dreamed my console would have a hard drive on it, let alone wifi. But this increasing complexity has lead to swarms of angry gamers with malfunctioning systems. The 360 is notorious but the PS3 and Wii aren't exempt.
Located in the Westminster Center at the corner of Westminster boulevard and Goldenwest avenue, this unassuming used game dealer has shelves and tables lines with bricked 360s and down-and-out PS3s with their staff diligently repairing them, bypassing the irritating shipping and handling process to Microsoft's own repair center all the way in Texas.
Used game stores are in a precarious position. Chains like Gamestop offer consistent service at their best. On the other hand, Ma & Pa stores can give you a personal attention a chain can't. A lot make their mark in rentals, but few can offer the professional service of repairing your consoles and cleaning your discs. Here's to hoping Game Place will service the area with good games and repairs for a long time.
Game Place is at 6731 Westminster Blvd # 107, Westminster, CA. You can call them at (714) 898-4263.
Your Bio : Marcel Hoang has been attached to the video game scene since 1993. Since then, he's played his first game on the Sega Genesis (Ecco the Dolphin), been to places like Redondo Beach's massive boardwalk arcade, and read magazines like Gamepro and EGM while print journalism was still unquestionably important. Now reading blogs and sites of note like Kotaku and MTV Multiplayer, Marcel is actively pursuing his baccalaureate in Journalism and plans on getting his master's.
If there's one thing he's picked up as a reporter and a gamer, it's that getting out there and getting seeing the story beats reading about it the next day, any day. And hopefully you'll see it that way in his writing.
How did you hear? : Other
Other? Please specify :