The game did really well up at NCR. NorCal seems to have a good chunk of SNK players, but they don't seem to get together. I tried to urge a few of them to set up meets, get together and the like, but I don't know what's going to happen there. I know I met a few of you guys there, I just forgot most of the handles I was given :/
Everything went better than I expected. A couple of the things that made it better were location, event hall size and presentation. We had a prime spot, right in front of the entrance, so when people enter, it was directly to their right. The event hall wasn't as large as SCR, but seemed to have around the same number of people. The overall presentation was better than SCR. I personally like the arcade set up we had at SCR better, but these days, people feel more comfortable with sticks in their laps. 46in LED HDTV to make the game look even better some Bose speakers.
The tournament went well. The only downside is that some of the people who lost just left and never returned not paying attention to me saying it was double elim, but I guess it worked out well in the end, except for that one hairy idiot who could only mash C with Ralf

Big names who showed interest in the game (that I remember): KBeast, FilthieRich, JuiceBox Abel (entered the tourney, but was busy with the official tourney). Others watched, but didn't play. Everyone who watched it like/loved it. Those who played it loved it.
Hopefully we can do more things like this at other events. I would like to take the game to areas that don't have the game since I feel it would get more attention there, but it's all up to SNKP.