StreetPass Princeton Event #4

Not every meeting can be as planned, especially during Hurricane season! August's StreetPass Princeton's fourth event happened to be one such event, even though it turned out to be a fun time regardless of the situation.

StreetPass Princeton is a group of Central-New Jersey gamers who share their delight in the Nintendo 3DS and its games, including the usage of StreetPass, a proximity-based data-swap feature unique to the new Nintendo handheld. For the last few months, StreetPass Princeton has held events dedicated to the 3DS community: an early get-together at Panera Bread, a Dead or Alive Dimensions tournament at the local Gamestop, and most recently a Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D event at a small park in Princeton.

August was not the best month for 3DS owners, particularly with minimal releases to fill the gap. Without any new product to push, a retro event was planned at an apartment in Princeton but was shifted to Panera Bread as the date grew nearer. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irene prevented such an event from happening, so an online gathering on Google+ was created quickly as a substitute event.

The Google+ chat event was very much like most chatrooms, where people were able to use a text chat or camera and mic setup for more vocal and visual communication. While it could have focused on the older DS online titles, most of the conversations remained either 3DS-focused or drifted off into humorous obscurity.

The most recent retail release at the event was Devil Survivor: Overclocked from Atlus, although discussion on it was brief. Without much multiplayer to experience, all that could be expressed was how good it was, even if it is a port of the DS game. Meanwhile, Dead or Alive: Dimensions matches were fought over the Internet, and Friend Codes were swapped through the text chat in order to help spread StreetPass Princeton's community. The group even had someone from New York involved!

A screen of the chatroom, complete with Devil Survivor boxart!

Over the course of the event, a couple of the members downloaded and started playing through a new GameBoy Virtual Console game: Gargoyle's Quest. From my time playing it, I can say it is not the ordinary (or easy) platformer one might expect! Finally, before the event ended, I asked for impressions on Nintendo Video. Most were not positive; some had removed the application entirely by now. The general consensus was that the new R&B video was poor and the College Humor videos demonstrated the best use of the service, thus far.

Looks like someone is going to Comic-Con!

Hopefully hurricanes will stay away from the next events from StreetPass Princeton. On September 17th, SPP will be back at the Quakerbridge Mall Gamestop to hold a Star Fox 64 3D tournament (complete with a Dead or Alive: Dimensions bonus challenge for the brave). Taking preparations one step further, StreetPass Princeton is already setting up its October event; on October 22nd, a cosplay Halloween party is expected, including a fun run through Just Dance 3. At least one of the heads will also be attending this year's New York Comic-Con, although it will not be an official event for StreetPass Princeton. Still, bring around your 3DS, and who knows who you'll StreetPass?

Those interested for more information on StreetPass Princeton can check out its Facebook page, its Google+ Page, or its new Forums!