Tournament, Future Plans

What's up everybody, I'm back. Trying to stay alive on here but it's not working out too well, Street Fighter 4 and awaiting Super Street Fighter 4 has kept me busy like crazy.

So first up, I went out to a local ranbat/tournament this past weekend for SF4. I entered, did fairly well I think. Came in 5th, which isn't too bad. Highlights were watching my friend Antwan "Alucard" Ortiz use his Fei Long, which he didn't do too bad at all with. He beat me with him, so I guess that means he's pro, lol. In all seriousness, it was cool to see a relatively low-tier character come in and do some damage for a change. The most interesting part was a guy from Seattle was in town visiting on some business I guess, but this dude came in and WRECKED. Seriously, real talk. He used Akuma, and everything he did, and I mean EVERYTHING he did, was flawless. His links, his combos, his zoning, footsies, you name it, it was flawless. He dropped one combo, but even though he dropped it, he still turned it into a reset, and then did a combo after it, which just blew my mind, personally. The guy was a great player, so mad props to him. I was overall happy with my performance, being that I beat the best Dhalsim in the state, Thundercats, 2-0. Normally I never even take a round from him, but maybe all this practice I've been doing is paying off. Although there was some slight input lag being that it was on a projection screen. Who knows, though? I'll stay positive without being arrogant and say my training is paying off. :)

On that note, there was a reason that it was on a projector. Normally it'd be on a LCD Flat Panel TV or Computer Monitor, but we all got out to the tournament location in Lansing, and there was no setups. Literally. Nobody brought a PS3 or Xbox 360 for us to use. I was out at the Chinese restaurant next door getting something to eat since we had an hour and a half drive there and I was starving, but I guess somebody came through and was able to get ahold of a 360, which saved the day. Woot!


Other than that, just been practicing like crazy. Got a couple of tournaments coming up in the next month or so. First up being Michigan Masters 2, which is on April 10th, at the Game Yard in Garden City. The tournament season has come to a close, and this is the big finale. This will also be the last SF4 tournament here in Michigan before SSF4 comes out, so everybody will be putting it on the line, then going into hibernation and hiding until the 27th when SSF4 comes out. I'm hoping to do well enough to make it on the MI team for Power Up 2010 in Ohio near the end of May. I'll have around a month to practice in SSF4 for that, so there will be a lot of time being invested to learning my new character, Juri. But as for Michigan Masters 2, I have to make at least top 8 I believe, to be in the exhibition match at the end of the night between the finalists. Then I have to win 1 or 2 matches there to make it on the team. I'm pretty confident I can do it, since the last few tournaments I've been at I've placed 5th, or top 8, so hopefully I can do it. Gotta stay positive and play my best!

Then after that, April 17th there's a tournament in Ohio that I'm hoping to make it to with my buddy Mike, and possibly a couple other people from here. We wanna go out of state to try our luck and see how the competition is. Ohio is supposed to have some pretty good people, and that would be a good first step for us to test the water for Power Up 2010 and see how the general skill level is down there. But I think if we all keep our cool and stay focused we'll hold our own, for sure.


Anyways, gonna cut it short. Got a SSF4 preview stream coming on, so I wanna watch that. Later!

Dr. Chaos Interview

So what's up people? We got a special treat today, I was able to get ahold of Dr. Chaos, and get an interview in with him. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Chaos is one of the most/more famous Ken players in Street Fighter 4, and has made quite a name for himself in the tournament scene. But without rambling on, let's get into it.



Q: So first things first: Who are you, where are you from, and what do you do?

A: My handle is Dr.chaos real name Brandon. I am from Philadelphia, Pa. And im currently a part time student/part time worker and part time sf4 player lol.

Q: Where did the name "Dr. Chaos" come from, exactly?

A: In my freshman year of Highschool my friend used to always go around doing silly stuff and say he just claim he is the Evil Dr.Chaos. When coming up for a handle I just thought about that and ran with it. He told me its from southpark but I don't watch that show so I have no idea about the actual Dr.chaos

Q: What was the first fighting game that you played? What got you into the competitive scene?

A: One of the Sf2 incarnations not sure which one though, most likely CE or HF though. I used to play on kaillera a lot and would play a lot of Mvc1 and other older Vs. game series. But these were all old games that no one competed in anymore. I was decent in them but the offline scene for them was dead. when University Pinball (local arcade) got SF4 I just decided to play. A couple months later there was an arcade tourney I got like 9th in then @ NEC9 in December I got 4th and one thing led to another and I soon became a tournament attender/player

Q: Was there anybody in particular that inspired you to become competitive with Street Fighter?

A: Well this guy “Godja” taught me how to wave dash in mvc that ignited my initial competitive spirit. Most likely the Daigo parry got me liking the actual “SF” series and wanting to become a competitive player, because I was more of Vs game series and always considered the SF series not as exciting because of no air combos and other madness only possible in those games lol.

Q: Do you play other games besides fighting games, or no?

A: Yeah, I play a lot of other capcom games. I’m a big fan of the RE series, Mega Man X 1-5 and Devil may cry. Rpgs are among my favorite too. I enjoy a good fps every once in awhile too.

Q: And now, for the question that everybody wants to know. There's so many better characters in Street Fighter 4. Why Ken? What made you want to play a lower-tier character? And more importantly, why did you stick with him? Did you feel that you saw some untapped potential in the character?

A: When I first started playing SF4 in the arcade I had no idea Ken was a lower tier character then others. I just picked him cause he was similar to his 3s self and that was the first SF I learned to play and actually knew what I was doing. I stuck with Ken probably cause I like his playstyle and think he does pretty good against most of the cast, and it is a satisfying feeling winning with him. Right now I play more Akuma and Sagat then Ken though. Although when I was put into losers @ winter brawl I used Ken to bring me back to Top 8.

Q: As a Ken player, what would you say are some of Ken's biggest challenges to overcome during a fight?

A: Ken just starts to struggle against characters that can do more damage then him. Or ones that have real good zoning game. Unfortunately, usually the big damage guys are the great zoning ones. Its hard for Ken to make a comeback but not impossible. His worst match ups are probably Zangief and Sagat. Akuma can be tough also if he knocks you down, but that’s pretty much a given if he knocks down anyone lol.

Q: Have you had any bad tournament experiences? What are some of your most memorable moments from past tournaments?

A: My worst experience would have to be going straight to losers first round of Semis at Evo. And going 1-2 at 8 on the Break one night. Most memorable moments was probably putting Gootecks in losers @ East coast Throwdown and defeating Keno to qualify out of pools at Evo.

Q: What goes through your mind during a tournament match? What would you say for people who get upset or flustered really easily, and does that happen to you at all?

A: I try to concentrate on just winning, and maximizing every combo opportunity I get. I try to make everything 2-0 because I hate the 1-1 situation. Sometimes I play with my headphones on to zone out. However, if it’s a hype match sometimes I like to listen to other people shouting and yelling stuff. For people who get upset/flustered they should just take a deep breath and play there best, and never give up. There is always a chance to come back no matter how bleak the situation looks. And try making a tournament playlist on your ipod/mp3 device, and listen to that while you play. Also try and pick your favorite stage that usually helps. I love playing on Drive In at night that stage always brings me good luck(most of the time)

Q: Who do you feel is your best competition?

A: Champion ship mode lol.

Q: On average, how much time do you spend practicing a week? And what exactly does it entail? Do you just strictly play, or do you go online and do research, as well?

A: I play sf4 off and on but usually I just go into Champ mode and play those guys. Its probably not a good idea but its fun. I probably play sf4 atleast 2-3 hours a day. I don’t do a lot of researching, or training mode practice.

Q: Moving forward, what are your thoughts on Super Street Fighter 4? What do you think about the new additions to the roster so far, and who do you think should be nerfed/buffed?

A: Im thinking SSF4 will be good, it looks like they adjusted most of the issues wrong with SF4 trades, damage, invincibility moves. As long as they adjusted Kens walk speed, sweep and fierce srk I will be a happy camper. His new ultra looks a little corny so I may just use Ultra 1 but I will have to wait until it comes out to actually know. In SSF4 I will most likely not be using 1 strict main character but mess around with a little bit of everyone. But the 3 main ones I want to be using are Ken, Adon and Akuma.

Q: What would you say to newcomers onto the tournament scene, or people who are interested in being competitive with Street Fighter, or Video Games in general?

A: Don’t let your first impression of everyone get to you. Most people can come off as jerks in the fighting game community (or atleast EC) but deep down everyone is cool (usually) lol. Also don’t give up just keep practicing until you can beat people you couldn’t before or place higher then you normally couldn’t. If that doesn’t work don’t be afraid to switch characters and learn someone else. Some characters aren’t for everyone.

Q: What would you say are some necessary qualities of a great SF player

A: Just being smart, creative and able to keep your cool.

Q: In closing, where do you see the Fighting Game Commmunity going from here? Do you see it going more mainstream, and possibly even televised? And how do you think the
community as a whole has changed over the years?

A: Well I have only been active in the offline community for about 1 year even though my Srk join date is 2005, I’m more like an 09er lol. But every tournament I go to, I see more and more new faces even though I am sort of a new face myself. I can see fighting games being televised and becoming more mainstream. Whether or not it would be best of the fighting game community I have no idea. I hope for the best though.

Alright, that about wraps it up! Any other final words that you would like to say to the readers?

A: Thanks for reading the interview. Hoped you guys enjoyed it ^_^

Update!

Whew, what's up everybody? Haven't updated in a while. There's been a lot of stuff going on, primarily me being grounded for several different things, so that's not only affected me being online, but me being able to practice in SF4. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes, I guess.


So as for what's been going on since i last posted...I've gotten quite a collection of fight sticks, which I now am selling off/trading off for things I can sell, since I need the money to keep my phone bill paid, and to have some backup cash when I need it. Plus, I need to be able to put in my percentage of gas money when we go to tournaments and such. :) In case you haven't guessed by now, I had to quit my job working at the corner store. I started working around early december or so, but my boss was overworking, underpaying and was underappreciative of me, so I just decided that it wasn't worth the stress that I was receiving. lol. I've stepped up my Street Fighter game quite a bit though, since I've been playing with several of the top players in my state. Some refer to me as the best Sagat playing in Michigan, but we'll see, I have a few other fellow Sagat players that I would have to beat in a tournament to prove so. Kind of cool to see that some people think that highly of me, though. It's definitely inspiring, and helpful to see that I have some support.

So while we're on that note, Super Street Fighter 4 is coming out next month! April 27th, I believe. I can't wait for that. Going to be taking the day off of school and having some friends come over to celebrate the launch, and to just play as much as we can so we can try to figure out what new tweaks were done, and to try and start learning our new mains, which for me will be Juri, all the way. I'll dabble with Dee Jay and Ibuki a bit, but Juri just seems really interesting to play as, and I really love her character. As for Hakan, the other new comer, not too much info has been released concerning him, but I feel that he's a bit of a cop-out from Capcom's side of things. I mean c'mon, really, guys? You're going to throw in yet ANOTHER grappler to the series? How about another all-new character like Juri? Do something we haven't seen before. Oil wrestling is essentially just another grappler, do something new. We have Zangief, T. Hawk, Abel and El Fuerte. With Hakan added, that's 5 grapplers. C'mon, son.

But enough of that. On a sad note our church that we were going to had to close it's doors. We just didn't have the money to keep it running, and the pastor had been having some problems with the wife and family as a whole, so he stepped down and we closed the doors. We're still looking in the local area for somewhere else to go, but it's so hard nowadays to find a good King James Bible Believing church. And then there's so much more after that, concerning the doctrines and beliefs. So complicated, lol. I'm sure God will work it out in the end, though. For sure. :)

So as for right now, that's about it, just wanted to let everybody *or whoever actually reads this blog* know that I'm not dead, and that I'm still very much alive and kicking! I'll keep it updated with more random stuff as life goes along, but when Super Street Fighter 4 comes out, I'll be doing a review and probably a couple "My Thoughts" videos, since I have a tendency to ramble on, and there will be quite a bit that I will like to talk about, I'm sure.


Until next time, this is Q signing off. Stay Cool.