So the first Northwest Majors is done and I think it went really well. I?d like to plan the next one for Summer at around the same time. I really want to know what you guys want to see at the next tournament and what you think would make it unique and great. I also really want everyone to feel as free as possible to get involved and be a part of the planning. If there is something you really want to be a part of the tournament, then post up and we can start working on it.
My two biggest goals for the next major right now are
300 person attendance (registered players)
Obtain a sponsor(s)
There are a lot of other goals, but these are ones I feel are most important to achieve.
There are also a few things we can start working on.
Setting a tenative date
Looking for a venue that will meet our specifications
Start talking about other goals and figuring out a timeline
I would also like to write up a mission statement. Something that says exactly what we are trying to do. This would really help for getting sponsors when they ask us what we are trying to do and why they should sponsor us, and it will help give us direction in planning the tournaments.
So with ten months to work on it, I think we can do a lot if we start now. If people really want to get involved with the planning, we should start to meet up in person and figure out timelines and delegate tasks. There is a lot to decide on, so meeting in person is best. If anyone is willing to meet up, post up and we?ll figure out a time.
I am going to start posting up planning ideas, but I want to hear what you guys think first.
I think allowing vendors would be very cool. However, I can see there might be some issues with it.
Space. Vendors are going to need to set up their own table at least, and that’s a table not used for games. That might require a venue larger than what we’d otherwise need. If so, I think vendors should be expected to pay a fee in order to set up a table. Would they still want to? What would it cost? I don’t know. What would a vendor be happy paying? Like, would a vendor be willing to pay $50? $20? Nothing?
Rules. Not an issue for some places, but it couldn’t have been done at the first PNW Majors, because of UW policies. I think.
As far as sponsors go, I can see that tying in with vending.
Like, what if we could get some game shop to set up a booth selling sticks or converters or whatever. Hell, posters and t-shirts. Maybe they’d be willing to pay us in order to be the sponsor and only vendor of X at the majors.
It’s a little bit of a stretch, but food could also be lucrative or simply convenient if you could find some place to set up there. But there are probably a lot of rules about food in some areas, and obviously these guys would require a lot of space, ventilation, etc.
Finally, it might be interesting to consider PAX. PAX is August 29 - August 31 this year, and I don’t know if next year’s schedule has been decided.
There are probably many people going to PAX who would potentially be interested in a fighting game tournament. However, PAX is probably going to run Fri-Sun, and I’m not sure if we could get PAX people to leave PAX for a day to come to our event. Holding the PNW Majors on a weekday is probably no. People are unlikely to stick around for a week to go to a different event in Seattle.
So: Nevermind, as long as they’re not on the same weekend. It would be awesome if we could get some hype on the PA forums, though, or main page if possible.
Hype from:
SRK, other gaming forums (tekken zaibatsu, dust loop, etc., I don’t know)
PA forums, main page?
Stranger? (Don’t know if many people would be interested)
Craigslist (I put up an event thing there last year, don’t know how many people saw it)
Fliers at arcades? GameWorks, that place in Tacoma, where people play. If possible.
Where else?
Just generally getting a date set ahead of time and having a long time to do pre-registrations and get the word out could help a lot, I think.
How many games will be ran for this? What did we have for PNM 1? VF5, T5:DR, MvC2, CvS2, 3S, GG, ST? Were you looking to have the same games this time around? I know that there are going to be a slew of games coming out before next summer, will some of those games take the place of these ones here? Also Brent I would be down to do commentary just let me get some practice in before the big show lol. And I think this should be put on DVD this time around, and maybe sold to those that didn’t come? Or maybe provide each person that registers a copy of the DVD when it gets released.
Questions about Vendors and Venues are going to be tied together pretty tight. Some places don’t allow outside catering or vendors, and some have a minimum service fee tacked on, or require you to buy catering from them just to use the room.
When we are looking for venue’s these are some of the questions we’ll have to consider. They are loosely sorted by priority.
Space/Floor Plan - 300 people + Equipment
Cost
Available Equipment - Chairs, Tables
Electricity/ Number of Circuits/ Outlet Positions
Sound
Water/ Bathroom and Faciliities
Vendor/ Advertising Policy
Catering/Outside Food Policy
Availability
Sound Level Restrictions
Location
Overall Look of Building
Parking
Nearby Lodging
Easy to Find?
Kitchen?
Most places will have all these policies and info layed out, so if you call around to places, they’ll usually have all this ready.
As far as the games go why not just have the following…
SFIV
Remix
Marvel
CvS2
3S
Tekken 6 (if it’s out by then)
Not too sure for a seventh game
But yeah it’d be dope to have a bunch of matches recorded this time around, not just big screen matches. That along with commentary, interviews, etc would be good for a dvd I’m thinking. Maybe a setup like last time where we ran two games at once, and have someone dedicated to recording games at each station?
I agree though, Frank definitely needs to be a commentator.
perhaps you guys could jump onto the penny arcade thingy next year that would obviously increase attendence and it would perhaps gain you a sponsor. but i don’t really know much work would be involved in obtaining this not too mention asian girls right?? >.> we all know how important that is!
not only that but it might be a more convincing reason for people to come from out of state. shrugs
i will volunteer to commentate for 3s i’ll have a few drinks before to up the entertainment value haha =)
I’m glad to see that so many people are up for discussing it and already have so many ideas. I’ve been jotting down ideas on paper for a long time now, so I have a lot of huge lists of all sorts of things to discuss, but I didn’t just want to throw them all into the first post and bombard everybody with a shit storm of things to do and decide on.
I also want to hear what everybody else has in mind for the tournament, because I think its important that everybody who works on it has a hand in shaping it, and if I throw out my huge plan, its could affect how other people see it.
I do want to say that when planning this, we should all keep the future in mind. and I mean as far ahead as three years from now. The vendors/sponsors that we decide to go with for this tournament may be the people who we have next year. The sponsorships we recieve this year may be given on the understanding that they will be asked to return or have a given spot in at future tournaments. We can’t just drop a small sponsor who gave us our start if the tournaments takes off and becomes something more, so we should be sure to choose sponsors we would be happy to have in the future.
i think one of the first things to do when looking for a sponsor is to contact anyone who would be interested and might have a mutual gain from the tournament. i’m sure you all know of pink godzilla, they import games from what i’ve been told so if we could get them on board we might be able to get some games that are “harder to obtain” IE games like blaze blue t6 if it’s not going to just be a download for the ps3 VFr if it hits console in jpn i know all VF enthusiast are dying to get a bite at that game. so we (the community) should make a skeleton of all potential sponsors to get in on this we can start with the big-wigs and work our way down right? so what options do we have?
they sponsor evo perhaps we can get these guys on board.
Capcom
udon
not to mention you have some leading game companies in or near seattle.
Nintendo
microsoft
and then local games stores / chains.
gamestop + every variation of that stupid monopoly
game crazy
as mentioned previously pink godzilla
i don’t really know many places out there so as far as those stores i will let you guys decide.
there are also companies who thrive or at least have alot banked on gamers.
MLG
bawls >.>
and then you can also see if there are any independent game devolopers in the are.
Making this a 2 day event isn’t out of the question at all. I think its a great idea. Nothing is out of the question right now. If there is something that you think would make the tournament better, bring it up.
I do want to say that we really cut all game discussion, or if people really want to talk about it, put it in another thread. There are a lot of other things to decided on and talk about right now.
Games are really important. They are the reason for the tournament and are going to decide a lot of things (who shows up, equipment) but discussing what games to have isn’t going to get us any closer to making the tournament happen.
We have a lot of time to discuss games when we get things more planned out, and when we get a clear picture of when new things will be released, which won’t really be for months.