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Hangin' with the Atlanta Nintendo Street Team

by Jon Lindemann - July 8, 2004, 9:27 pm EDT
Total comments: 9 Source: http://www.nintendostreetteam.com/index.jsp

Jon visits with the Nintendo Street Team in Atlanta and seriously contemplates grand theft auto.

I have a summer job proposition for you. Now, hear me out before you start protesting and telling me that you want to relax and kick back all summer. Here's my offer: you'll work three days a week, get paid good money, and at the end of the summer you may very well get to split a massive jackpot between you and a few other lucky people. What's the catch, you ask? All you have to do is play video games all day and get other people to play them too. Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong. Welcome to the world of the Nintendo Street Team - truly the ultimate summer job.

I recently had the pleasure of hanging out with the Atlanta Nintendo Street Team, a group of gamers hand-picked by Nintendo to attend major summer events (concerts, fairs, etc.) and demonstrate Nintendo's game lineup. Auditions were held at Gamestop locations all over the country (in addition to Atlanta there are teams in Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Chicago and Seattle), and videotaped entries were mailed to Nintendo for consideration. Winners were chosen based on various criteria, with friendliness, creativity, and sense of humor at the top of the list. Be sure to check out snippets of each team members' audition tape on the Nintendo Street Team website. I guarantee they'll have you laughing out loud.

On-hand to introduce me to the squad were Aquarius Williams, Street Team Coordinator; Carter Angus, Event Programmer from US Concepts (the company in charge of the entire promotion); and David Young from Nintendo of America, owner of the coolest tattoo ever.

The lovely and talented Aquarius Willams

Carter shows us how to advertise on street corners

David Young from NOA chats with the Atlanta team

Yup, that's Samus Aran!

These three hard-working individuals are in charge of these hard-playing individuals - allow me to present the 2004 Atlanta Nintendo Street Team.

John Harden and Justin Michael Carter: pimpin'

Laura Hamilton and Patrick Burleson just chillin'

Michael Bykhovsky and Joanna Prather get casual

Kenny Bledsoe playing the background

Your 2004 Atlanta Nintendo Street Team

And while they're all individuals, one trait these Street Team members share is a hardcore gaming addiction. Nintendo didn't just pick anybody off the street - these guys and gals know their stuff. Kenny Bledsoe boasts of being "nigh unbeatable" in Super Smash Bros. Melee; Justin Michael Carter claims to own over one thousand games; and Laura Hamilton loves gaming so much that she plans to get two college degrees (one in English, one in Computer Science) in the hopes of becoming a game designer. Who knows, one day you might see the name of a Street Teamer in the credits of one of your favorite games.

As previously mentioned, the purpose of each Street Team is to demonstrate games at events throughout their local area every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in July and August. A tall task to be sure, but luckily the teams have some serious equipment at

their disposal to make this happen. Each member has what they like to call their "Nintendo Utility Belt" - a click-on waist belt with several pouches, each containing a tethered GameBoy Advance SP. Gamers grab a GBA and start playing (titles

include Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Sabrewulf, Metroid: Zero Mission and Mario Golf: Advance Tour) while the Street Teamer answers their questions and generally hypes the product. Those of you that have been to E3 will recognize this demo style right away, as GBA games on the E3 show floor are presented in exactly this fashion.

The Utility Belts are great, but they pale in comparison to the tricked-out Street Team SUVs. Gaming nirvana wrapped in a brand-new Nissan Armada, these rides are so cool they're enough to make the rappers on "MTV Cribs" jealous!

Street Team SUV - front

Street Team SUV - rollin' on dubs

Street Team SUV - back

The two rear side windows have been removed and replaced with monitors and dual Wavebirds, all connected to two GameCubes mounted between the back seats.

GameCubes mounted in between the back seats

But that's not all. I practically lost my mind when the rear liftgate was opened to reveal a widescreen LCD display and four Wavebird controllers!

GCN, LCD and 4 controllers...sure beats a sub box

Absolutely sick...somebody steal this vehicle

You haven't played Mario Kart: Double Dash!! until you've played it at high noon in a

hotel parking lot out of the trunk of an SUV. The Street Team-mobile is one mean machine, not to mention the ultimate

tailgating accessory. I considered hotwiring it but I was too busy playing multiplayer Mario Kart. Maybe next time.

On top of all these perks, the Street Team gets paid like you would for any other summer job. $100 a day to be exact, not a

bad haul considering the nature of the work (I wish jobs like this were around when I was a kid!). As additional incentive, the six teams compete against each other for a $40,000 team prize handed out at the end of August. In order to win this prize, each team must complete a weekly "Team Challenge" (for example, getting a picture of a police officer playing a GameBoy Advance). Videos of these daring exploits will be posted to the Street Team website, where gamers then vote for the team that they felt completed their challenge most successfully. These votes are translated into points for each team, and the team with the most points at the end wins $40,000. I know who I'm voting for (GO ATLANTA!).

But what's in it for the rest of us? Well, gamers registered at www.nintendo.com are automatically entered in a random drawing for $5000 and the title of "Honorary Street Teamer" when their vote is cast. You can only vote once a week (voting begins on Wednesday, July 21st and ends at noon Pacific Time Tuesday, August 24th), but the

more votes you cast means the more entries you'll have. And I don't know about you, but $5000 in my pocket sounds mighty good right about now.

Still, the Street Team concept isn't about money. It's about gamers having fun with other gamers and everybody getting to play some great Nintendo software in the process. If the Atlanta members are any indication, each Street Team will be

staffed with really cool people that love video games as much, if not moreso, than the rest of us. So if you happen to see

them at an event in your city, stop by to play a while and tell them Planet GameCube sent you. Also be sure to check out the

Nintendo Street Team website which contains each team member's bio, as well as team appearance schedules and featured games. No doubt about it, Nintendo Street Teams are set to own the streets this summer!

Jon riding the Street Team's coattails

Talkback

Infernal MonkeyJuly 09, 2004

That's the coolest job in the history of jobby working things. ;__;
I love the funky text splashed all over the car and clothes. And that dudes tattoo. And that everything.

Uncle Rich AiAiJuly 09, 2004

That car is rad-tastic!

Would be nice if NAL did the same thing down here, but that requires effort from them.

KDR_11kJuly 09, 2004

You forgot the A before NAL...

MattVDBJuly 09, 2004

Dude, that tattoo rocks. By far the best on I have ever seen. Keep us updated on their progress Jonny!

If you can believe it, David Young told me that the tattoo artist that did that for him did almost all of it freehand, just by looking at the picture he'd brought in. Absolutely insane...I can't even imagine having that kind of artistic talent, especially in a one-take medium like tattooing.

silks

nickmitchJuly 09, 2004

This beats the crap out of cutting grass, like my job...face-icon-small-sad.gif

I should get a Luigi tattoo. Not some crappy Mario knock-off, but a Luigi tattoo

KnowsNothingJuly 11, 2004

August is coconut-milk month. don't forget.

Anyway, I first read about the tattoo. Yes indeed. Then I looked down on the third pic in the bottom right-hand corner adn saw the PGC logo on that woman's arm. That's what I though you was talking about until I saw the REAL pic. =p

This is not spam because I discussed the tattoo which was relevant, unlike red dresses.

Haha, I saw that photo and I thought the same thing - "It looks like she has a PGC tattoo!" Thankfully nobody has a PGC tattoo...yet.

silks

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