Game Live tour comes to Bloomington

For the average IU student, most weekday trips through Dunn Meadow are purely for utilitarian purposes such as getting to class. However, students got something a little different Wednesday as the Union Board sponsored a gaming exposition from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the edge of the meadow. \nIU gamers got the chance to play a number of titles, ranging from the gory fighter game "Mortal Kombat Deception" to sports-based titles such as "NCAA Football 2005" and "NBA Live 2005" to the highly awaited 3-D shooter "Goldeneye: Rogue Agent." \nMost current systems made appearances in the kiosks with Playstation2, XBox and PC games all available for public use. In total, 18 games from well-known publishers such as EA Games, Midway and Sierra were available for sampling.\nGame Live Events Manager Thad McKenney said the event was part of a 20-school tour that brought the games to numerous schools across the country. \n"It's basically a promotion to let students know what's out there and what's coming out, especially with the holiday season just around the corner," McKenney said. "We do tours for pretty much the entire year all over the country. After this college tour is up, we're going to start a mall tour with the games."\nThe event brought established gamers and new gamers alike, and allowed people to sample games without having to shell out the usual $40-$50 for a game. \nJunior Martin Cox said he enjoyed the event because it allowed him to sample a game that he could potentially buy in the near future. \n"It's pretty cool; it's always nice to see games out for people to play and try out some new stuff," Cox said. "I was a fan of the original "Need for Speed Underground" game and now I've had the chance to play the second one without having to go through the trouble of downloading the demo."\nThe five-hour event drew a total of about 250 people throughout the day, McKenney said. However, the turnout was not exactly what the Game Live staff had been used to. Game Live Promotional Marketing Representative Autumn Marisa said the usual turnout at other colleges ranged in the thousands, but blamed the lack of attendance both on the muddy conditions and the relatively obscure placement of the kiosks on the edge of Dunn Meadow. \n"We usually have several thousands that come through because we're usually in a very highly populated area like a lunch area or a dorm," Marisa said. "This isn't our usual turnout because we were supposed to be in your student union, but the kiosks were too big and couldn't fit in the building and this was the only other option that we had."\nMcKenney said the most popular games of the tour were the sports-based games and a new game called "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude." "Leisure Suit Larry" is a sequel to the popular adult-themed PC games of the mid-90s that follows college-aged loser Larry Loveage through risque missions in order to reach his eventual goal of "scoring" a spot on a dating show. McKenney said the game's popularity on college campuses came mainly from its low-brow sense of humor. \n"'Leisure Suit Larry' is one of our most popular because it's one of our more risque games and that seems to appeal to college students," McKenney said. "The EA Sports games are also among our most popular and those are pretty much the hot ones, but everything's pretty popular."\nThe game even inspired some of the organizers' dress as Marisa wore a costume inspired by the women's outfits in the game. While the costume wasn't exactly Marisa's usual attire, she said it was par for the territory in her profession. \n"They originally wanted me to dress like on of the (Leisure Suit) Larry girls but you can't wear a costume like that on a campus, nor would I personally dress like that," Marisa said. "So they toned it down to a school girl type of look and with any promotional marketing, you always have a girl out handing out things." \nCox viewed the gaming kiosks as not only a shameless advertisement for upcoming games, but also as an opportunity to bond with other gamers and unwind after a hard day of classes. \n"It's a good opportunity to get together, meet some new people who are into games and beat their asses in Mortal Kombat," Cox said. "It's a fun diversion, I should be writing a paper, but, hey!" \n-- Contact staff writer Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.