When: Saturday, March 11 2017, 6ish PM.
Where: Jefferson Park, Chicago (around Central and Lawrence, message me for exact address.)
Snacks: Shirley and I will provide lots of sugary snacks, some salty snacks, pop / juice, etc.
Dinner: We'll probably figure out some kind of late dinner around 8 pmish or so, so you should probably eat something before showing up.

Switch games: 1, 2 Switch, Super Bomberman R, uh... Snipperclips?
Games that aren't on Switch: Smash Bros U, Mario Kart 8, Buzz Quiz Game thingy (if Anand brings it), Towerfall, Duck Game, the usuals. And Gotta Protectors YO! And basically anything else you want to bring. I have my Switch, Wii U, and PS3 hooked up, as well as a 3DS.

URL to share (right click and copy)

@deathly_hallows My last two apartments were within walking distance of the local Portillo's, so we always went there for dinner for the game parties!

Not true anymore though, boo.

@Zero
Jesus, you're so far North now!

Hey, Brandon and Andrew (Brandrew!), which games did you guys get? Have you already cracked open 1-2 Switch? I'm waffling on whether to open my copy. (I can bring Bomberman, though.)

So, let's officially make this the 11th. I'm saying around 6 pm but honestly I have no idea what the best times for these things are, if anyone wants to come earlier that's probably fine, later fine, whatever. I'm going to eat dinner 1 at around 5 so I figure we can just get some kind of 8pm-ish dinner 2 around here though sadly the closest Portillo's is a few miles away so it's not quite as convenient but there are plenty of other closer options.

I have 1, 2 Switch and it is still unopened but unlike some people I buy games to play them so I have no issues with opening mine. I also have Zelda and Snipperclips. I do not have Bomberman though, so if you want to bring that, that'd be nice. Bomberman is probably at least like 8 players, right? So bringing a few more controllers would be nice, I just have two sets of Joycons. And bring whatever else, the usuals.

I invited a ton of people from the Chicago indie game development group, which I've done the last few years and barely anyone ever comes, but this time I think some might actually come since I live a lot closer to people now, for instance Dave (who you guys met at the Chicago meet-up thing) lives only a mile or so away from me so I think he and maybe his girlfriend are coming, some others have shown some interest. So we MAY actually have a bigger group than usual, and have to split into TV and handheld groups. However, it then dawned on me that the Switch is portable, DUH. Grouping around a small Switch probably wouldn't be the funnest, but it'd be an option... if someone else brings their Switch hint hint.

I have Bomberman (8P) and two sets of Joy-Cons. And a Pro Controller, although it might be better if everyone had the same controller. And I could bring my Switch, if someone else has Bomberman and FAST.

Ooo, we could do some FAST on Wireless LAN! I dunno how many players it supports per system in LAN, though.

Should I bring the usual Game & Wario and Buzz? Any extra controllers or consoles? I have some cool multiplayer stuff on my PS3 and PS4. And 360. We shouldn't get too crazy, though.

Yeah may as well bring them, Buzz especially is usually a hit.

For Wii U I have a Pro, 4 Gamecube controllers, and a bunch of Wii remotes, so that's probably good for most stuff, though if we tried to do Smash 8 player or something people stuck with Wii remotes might get sad. If you have Pros and such wouldn't hurt to bring them, maybe a Wii remote or two. I'm not even totally sure mine all still work nice.

For PS3 I just have 2 controllers, so if we want to play anything that needs more someone would have to bring them. But we never really play anything besides Buzz on PS3 anyway.

For Steam I have 2 Xbox 360 controllers plus a thingy that tricks my laptop into thinking my Wii U Pro controller is an Xbox controller... so if we want to do 4 player or more stuff there would need some more controllers.

Alright, I can bring Xbox controllers and some more Wii U Pros/Wiimotes/Nunchuks.

It looks like FAST only supports one player per system in LAN. But you should still get it. It's super-good!

I already have the Wii U version! I refuse to buy enhanced ports / remakes!

@Zero
It's not just enhanced. It has new tracks and cars and stuff, too. A steal!

Also, you're not going to get Mario Kart?!

Hell no I'm not going to get Mario Kart!

READ MY LIPS: NO ENHANCED PORTS / REMAKES.

Banned.

Someone needs to video this whole thing and make a Chicago Hipster version of the Switch trailer.

So this is happening right? Tomorrow? No last minute cancellations?!

I'm still good to go and got your info. Looking forward to it! No saying exactly when I'll get off of work tomorrow, but I should get there no later than 7, potentially a bit earlier.

To be honest no one really shows up at the time I schedule these things anyway. Usually Anand shows up an hour late and is the first one here.

Whoever shows up first has to play some co-op Gotta Protectors with me on 3DS though. RULE.

I just want the sweet sweet candy.

Why is flying so damn expensive? Sigh.

Today!

I honestly have no idea how many people will be here. At first I thought more of my indie dev friends / acquaintances might show up since I live closer to a lot of them, but then I realized this is Pax East weekend so a large portion of the people I know are out of town. A few new faces might show though. And a bunch of my family has ABANDONED me as well like my brother who finally has a job but it's a night shift so he sleeps all day now apparently. I think my cousin Alex may be coming though, and my brother-in-law Chris is uh... being wishy washy so I have no idea if he is coming. So it might be a pretty small group, we'll see. Sometimes smaller is better anyway.

I have plenty of snacks and drinks and Shirley baked some cookies so we're good there. As for what to bring, 3DS (maybe an extra one for Shirley if we're actually planning on doing any 3DS stuff, though I can't think of what we would be playing there instead of screen stuff outside of GOTTA PROTECTORS) and some Joy Cons / Switch Pros and a few extra Xbox 360 controllers? At this rate I doubt we'll have 8 people here but in case we do we should have 8 Joy Cons for Bomberman, right? (I'm assuming it let's you split a pair of Joy Cons between 2 people?) And any games you want to play.

I actually wanted to try Gotta Protectors (dumb name notwithstanding)!

Anyway, it was a good time, as always. Lots of candy, of course. 1-2 Switch was fairly entertaining, and convinced me to open my copy. Bomberman was pretty fun, since it is, after all, Bomberman. But it might be the most unbalanced game of all time. The level gimmicks pretty much control the entire flow of each match. In certain levels, when the clock starts ticking down, you might just be screwed, because you're stuck due to a level gimmick. But whatevs! That unfairness is, in its own way, amusing. (Also, they patched the game after the party, and the controls feel a lot better, post-patch. And more patches are supposedly coming, since it's the best-selling Bomberman game in... 20 years, or something? I don't know if that means that it's the best-grossing ($50 retail) or best-selling, but I hope they patch the living hell out of it, to the point that it becomes an amazing Bomberman game.)

Also, we totally forgot to try FAST, which, unlike Mario Kart 8, supports 4-player splitscreen at 60fps!

We also didn't end up playing any Smash or 3DS, but when you have Game & Wario Pictionary and Buzz, the second-greatest game of all-time, do you really need anything else? (I do kind of regret grabbing Tank Troopers at full price, but how many chances would we even have to get a full multiplayer TT game going?!)

Oh, did I mention Anand brought a woman? That was a surprise.

I'm pretty sure I was told who she was but I didn't hear... who was that?!

Lies, all lies.

Nah, don't get too excited. She's just a friend of mine.

I don't think I've posted at all since this shindig, for no real reason, really. But I do want to simply say that I had an absolutely fantastic time, and Andrew and Shirley were great hosts, as always. I greatly look forward to the next time we can hang out.

Also, Anand brought a lady. An attractive lady, not that it matters.