Upcoming Tournament Plans/School/misc. Thoughts

Long time no see. Sort of. I wanna keep this entry straight to the point, so here goes, as going with the first topic of the title....






Upcoming Tournament Plans


Alright, so this coming Sunday we have a local ranbat going on. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last one of the season. 2 or 3 weeks after that will be the big finale, AKA Michigan Masters, which is our biggest tournament that we hold. We usually have people from out of state come in, and most of, if not all of the players from MI come so we can determine who the best in Michigan really is. Most of the time it comes down to Alucard and Wolfkrone. Haha.

Then on the 21st, we have a trip to Columbus that we're going to make. Pretty much most of Michigan is going for that, for pretty much close to every game. We have people going for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Super Turbo, Super Street Fighter 4, Tekken 6, *I believe, any way. I know I'm going to try and enter it, as I would like to see where I'm at tournament wise, and what I need to improve on* and Virtua Fighter 5. *Definitely entering that one, as I feel that I'm halfway decent in VF* Not to mention all the other games they'll be having, but I'm not sure who's entering what. I know there's Marvel vs Capcom 2, Street Fighter 3: 3rd strike, and many more. All in all though, I'm looking to go there, play my best, and try my hardest to bring home some "fight money", no matter how much or how little. I'll play my best, and leave it all on the table. No sandbagging or messing around, I'm there to be serious to see what I need to improve on before Seasons Beatings, which leads into the next tournament.....


Seasons Beatings 5, aka Seasons Beatings: Redemption is the next, and probably the last Major Tournament that I'll be going to this year. After that it will probably just be local ranbats until spring, unless there's another major that I don't know about. I'm currently saving to go to this one, and selling whatever I have extra that I don't need/am not using to try and go. The reason? Well, it's not just because it's a Major, but there's going to be a lot of, if not all of the top players from the USA there, and some that aren't from the USA. Daigo, Momochi, and Choco Blanka *just to name a few* are going to be there, so I'm really hoping to try and get some matches in with them and see if they can help me out with what I'm doing wrong, or teach me something new. This one is in Columbus as well, and it's sometime in October, which gives me a little while to save. If I go with the people I'm planning to go with, It'll be a crew of 5 people that I know fairly well, so that'll be nice. Plus it puts the cost of everything at 20% since we'll be splitting it evenly, like a Hotel and Gas. But that's neither here nor there, more planning will be going on in the weeks to come, and hopefully we're all able to make it out.



School

Alright, I'm finally finishing up school! Yes,that's right, I'm technically supposed to be graduated already, but I had to stay a bit longer and do some extra Math that I needed to get done. I should be finishing up either tomorrow or monday, which will be nice. At that point I'll get a little time off, which is nice, but a lot of my friends are going back in just a little over a week, so next week is gonna be crazy, I can assure you. It's gonna be the last "hurrah" before they all go back, but I'm going to take advantage of the time to relax, play some more, and just take it easy before I start going to College online, which obviously is looking like the best option right now. Hopefully everything goes well. And while I have time off I'll be doing more studying and practicing with my Photography and such.



Misc. Thoughts

So I've been doing a lot of training and practicing lately, in preparation for Columbus on the 21st of this month. Been practicing in SSF4/T6/VF5. I've not only been practicing physically with learning my character(s) even further, but mentally as well. Trying to keep yourself calm is a skill in and of itself, and it's something that I've been trying to learn. Keeping calm against the computer or playing online may not sound like much, but it's still a match, and if you can keep calm while playing during that, you're already off to a good start.


But it's been weird lately, for a couple reasons. Whenever I'm practicing, I'm still playing physically, but mentally my mind starts wandering, drifting, and I start daydreaming. In SSF4, I start daydreaming about who I might fight in a tournament, what I would do if I fought this person, and before long, I'm daydreaming that it's grand finals, me vs Justin Wong/Daigo/Sanford, whoever it may be. A lot of people will say that there's no way I'll ever beat them, and right now, that's probably true. But I've started to take the mentality that nobody is undefeatable, nobody. They're all men. They're all human. Just like me, and the rest of us. Look at Evo 2010. Justin Wong didn't make it to the top 3, top 5, or even the top 8 for that matter. He came in 9th, losing to Vangief, a pad Zangief player, and Gamerbee, an unknown Adon player. IMO, they took the mentality of "I'm not playing Justin Wong, I'm playing Rufus. What should I do in this situation? What is he doing when I'm doing _____?" I understand that if I was to fight Justin Wong, that more than likely I won't beat him, but it doesn't mean I won't try. I understand that if I fight ANY type player, that there's always a chance. Always an opportunity for me to take advantage of. If I go into a fight saying "Oh I have to fight Alucard/Wolfkrone/Checkmate/*Insert Top Player Here*, there's no way I'm going to beat them", then there's no point in playing. Go over to the tournament operator and forfeit, because you've already lost the match. If you're not going to try your best, and put your best foot forward, why play at all?

I'm using Justin as an example, I know that more than likely I'll never play him, but it's just the point. So many times I hear/see people say "I'd never be able to beat *insert name*, even if I tried." What kind of a cop-out is that? What's the point of even playing then? It's just so annoying to hear that.



And then, going to my second thought. It's been really weird lately whenever I'm playing Tekken 6 or Virtua Fighter 5, moreso VF5 though. It's weird that I've played VF so much over the years that I have the muscle memory and visual clue/reaction as to what to do combo/attack wise. There's times where I do an attack, and I don't expect it to hit, I'm just playing footsies or poking, and it hits and sets up a combo. Then my fingers just automatically follow up with something. It's weird, but kinda cool. *laughs* Same with Tekken 6. I'm using Bob, and learning him, but there's so many times where I get a counter hit or a juggle lands, and then by just muscle memory and reaction I automatically follow up. I'm guessing that's a good thing to have/do, since when it comes down to where I'm in a high pressure situation, knowing that I can pull off a combo/reversal/throw escape, etc., is a good skill to have. I can sit there and just know that I can fix/follow up with whatever just happened., which I think works to my advantage. I haven't gotten to that point in SSF4 though, at least not with Honda. I haven't learned him that well yet.





So that's about it for this blog entry. It was long, I know, but I've had a lot going on, and just a few things on my mind, so I figured I'd share. If you've made it this far, congrats for sticking through it, and thanks!



-Q

Joseph Gordon Levitt=SF2 Fan?

Nuf said. Watch the video. Near the end he gives a shout-out to Street Fighter 2 from his childhood.


The man knows his stuff, he speaks the truth.

Recent Thoughts/SSF4 Tourney

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog! Man, it feels weird, but also feels good to be back. I've been super busy since Midwest Championships, with schoolwork, photography, and my Street Fighter playing, as well. lol.


So basically to sum it up, I came back from MWC exhausted, but I had fun when I went. Although I was somewhat happy with my performance, I still felt that there was something that was holding me back, or something that I was doing wrong. I started researching, and searching myself to possibly figure out what that was. My conclusion? I figured that I wasn't playing with the right character. So there started my long mission of trying to find a new main. I jumped from Sagat to Rufus again, to Bison/Blanka/Balrog/Cammy/Ryu...the list goes on. I kept jumping and jumping for the next couple months...


Until a week or two ago. I was running through the trials in SSF4 to try and get the icons for each character, and I ran across E. Honda. I thought he had some nerfs, but it turns out very little, if anything at all was changed. He was doing some massive damage, and I found that I was able to naturally Piano his Hundred Hand Slap combos with little effort. I decided to give him a shot and see what I could do.


It was love at first sight. I loved the damage that I could do with him. Granted, he has a hard time with fireball characters, but I love high-damage characters, hence the reason I used Sagat in Street Fighter 4. I still use him in Super Street Fighter 4 now, but I have to play him a lot more carefully and patiently than I did in SF4. I still see some results with Sagat, but I'm really liking Honda so far. So I hit the lab, and I've kept practicing, and Honda is now my main.




So I've been using him exclusively for about a week and a half or so now, and I had my first local ranbat with him today. Overall I think I did fairly well. I went 4-2, and fought some good people. I ended fighting the top player in Michigan, Wolfkrone, for my 3rd match. It was a great match, his Viper was a beast, as usual. I thought that Honda's EX Headbutt could stop the Burn Kick mixups, but that wasn't the case. Seems that they've stopped that in SSF4, which is alright. The matchup would have been almost unwinnable for Viper at that point, if it did. The first game I just kept on doing a lot of Buttslams, which Viper seems to have no answer for, and Wolfkrone said he personally didn't know what to do when I was doing that. I mixed it up the first round of the second game, and took it, barely. I was up one round and one game, and then.....IDK. I just stopped doing what I was supposed to. I decided to try and style on him, and went to try and build meter, as to try and go for Jab --> Hands --> FADC --> Ultra 2. I went for it, when he had about half a bar of life, and it would have killed him...

...if I didn't mess it up and get EX Oicho instead. D=


Missing it killed my momentum, but I brought it down the last hits of the last round, which I was happy with. I went into losers, beat a Zangief, and then had to go up against a local Balrog/Ryu player, Rusty. I don't know the matchup with Honda vs Balrog at all, so it took it pretty convincingly. *He was rushing me down like crazy, and I wasn't sure what to do. I'll learn it over time, though. I'm just starting out with Honda.* So I went back and forth at the character select screen, wondering if I should choose Bison and play footsies with him and go with Knee Pressure, or just use my old stand-by Sagat. I decided to go with Sagat, Ultra 1. *In case I got counter crumple or FADC Uppercut. He wasn't doing much jumping so Ultra 2 wasn't beneficial in this case*


So I played it patiently, because I REALLY didn't want to lose to Rusty, no offense to him. So I turtled, turtled, and turtled some more. Played footsies, anti-aired when I needed to. It was close, but I pulled it out against his Balrog. He then rushes back to the Character select screen and pulls out Ryu. Oh boy. Here we go. "I'm done", I thought. But then I just told myself mentally that if I just played it patiently, I could beat him. I'd done it before, and I could do it again.


I got a counter crumple 2 or 3 times with FA, and went into Ultra 1 after it. Got the C. LK --> C. LK --> C. MP --> Low Tiger shot blockstring a few times. I was mainly doing that to be safe, I wasn't feeling risky enough to do uppercut, as it was 1-1 at that point, so I was being super super safe and patient. He tried jumping in a few times, and I anti-aired him rather well. I was able to pull it out, though. In Rusty's defense though, he was going from Balrog to Ryu, which is a drastic change in characters. I was happy I pulled it out though. I was all excited, then I heard behind me:


"Yo, Q. We're up next." I turned around, and behold, who was standing there?


Perfect freaking Legend. I even told him just as he sat down: "You're one of the two guys I didn't/don't want to face." He laughed, and asked who the other guy was. I told him it was Alucard. I can't deal with Rush-down Balrogs that well. We laughed, did the button check, and picked our characters. No matter what, I was picking Honda the first game. I saw him run to Akuma, which I was somewhat happy with. I felt that if I got in on him I could do decent. But as soon as I picked Honda, he ran over to Seth. 3-7 matchups ftl. Ugh. There wasn't much I could do, as I didn't know the matchup at all.


I played my best, and took a round from him, but he pulled it out that game. I switched to Sagat, since I knew the match relatively well from playing a friend of mine, PapaRhino, but there was only one problem: He didn't play anything at all like PapaRhino, so I was kind of puzzled as to what to do. It was a fun match either way, though.



So in closing, the tournament went well. I took 5th place, which I was extremely happy with, being that I had just picked up Honda and it was my first tournament with him. I wasn't upset to who I lost to, as I lost to the best player in MI, and probably the best in OH. Nothing to be upset about. I'll continue to practice, and hopefully when I go to Columbus next month for a big tournament, I'll do well there too. Honda FTW!




So that about wraps this up, I just felt like updating and talking about what went on at the tournament today. It was pretty fun, overall. Except for Rusty running his mouth when me and Perfect Legend were playing, I feel that it threw both of us off our game a bit, not that the outcome would probably have changed. *shrug* It was really annoying, man. No offense. Next time just keep it down, if you would please.




This is Q, signing off. I'll try to update again soon, and let y'all know what's going on. Peace.

MWC Results/Thoughts

So while these people in the Deviantart.com chat are taking forever to answer my questions on a camera, I'll go ahead and update my blog really quick. BTW, this picture that see over here, On the left is Wolfkrone, the top player in Michigan. He placed 4th at MWC this weekend. On the right? That's Alex Valle, who took first in the SSF4 Singles tournament. That's them fighting in teams, with a bit of editing on my part, of course. ^_^



This past weekend was Midwest Championships, a major Fighting Game tournament held in Chicago, at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Really nice place, by the way. I was able to go with a group of Michigan players, which was a blast. The drive out there wasn't too bad, but when we got lost it was pretty upsetting, since it was supposed to be about a 4 and a half hour drive, it turned into 6 and a half. Ugh. Nothing to really say about the drive itself, other than that it was full of hilarious joking/comments/statements.


We got to the hotel, dropped our stuff off in the room and took a breather for about half an hour. After we were settled in, got the bedding situation under control, we decided to go out and knock on some hotel doors for casuals and/or moneymatches. We slithered through the hallways, leaning up against doors that we thought we heard Fight Stick button presses and people talking about Street Fighter. We looked for a little while, and came across a room with a group of players from Minnesota. We went in, played a couple casual matches, but then one of their guys started talking a ridiculous amount of crap, one of the biggest mouths I've ever seen/heard in my life. It quickly escalated to a Moneymatch, where it was a 5 on 5, for $10. They won the first set, but it was obvious for a few reasons. One, we were all still stiff from the drive out there. Two, we were obviously tired from the drive out there. Three, the TV's the hotel had were lagging a bit, so we dropped some critical one-frame link combos. And 4, they had been there all evening and had been playing casuals, so they were all used to it and adjusted. We lost the first set, again, but then we ran it back and won the 2nd set, so we broke even. We called it quits and went back to the room to play some casuals of our own, and to just rest up for the tournament.


The next day, I couldn't sleep, and was up at about 7:30-8:00am. Got up and went outside, and me and one of the guys started roaming the halls looking for casuals. We looked and looked, but didn't find anything. We ended up going to the Minnesota room again, and played for an hour or so, then went down to where the tournament was going to be held to see what was up. We went in, looked around, saw nothing of interest at the moment, and went back and just waited for the 10am registration to start. I had a feeling that the day wasn't going to go right. It was the one time in my life I wish I was wrong.



The tournament registration starts, ends like a flash, it seems, and then the tournament itself starts. I planned to run Juri the entire tournament, but if I was counter-picked I'd use Sagat. Simple enough. The one thing I didn't want for my first match was to fight a Blanka, and to be on the stream. Lo and behold, my first match is against a Blanka, and on the stream. Oh boy, this day is going great already, isn't it? I beat him with ease, since I knew the matchup. The crowd was cheering for Blanka at first, but I had a lot of them cheering for me at the end, which was reassuring and invigorating. Winning my first match under such pressure boosted my confidence, so I reported the match, and waited for my 2nd match. It was against a Zangief. I wasn't too comfortable with the Juri/Zangief match yet, so I just ran Sagat, and got another win. I was on a high and on fire at that point, I felt so confident, like I was ready to take on the world. Or so I thought.



Then it happened. We had over 350 people there, in a very cramped space, and I was called to my 3rd match. By the time I got over, I was told, "You're not playing yet, if you want you can go sit down for the time being." I figured it was a pre-mature call, and I would just wait. One hour goes by. Another hour. Then they said they were starting Loser's Bracket. I wasn't called yet, and I hadn't lost a match. What the heck? I went over to investigate. Turns out the guy I was SUPPOSED to fight had gone up and reported that he played me and won. When I heard that, my heart just sank, and I felt a piece of me die inside. I knew this weekend was going to be terrible from this point on. I was right. They researched it and found out he lied, and they gave him his $10 entry fee back, and let him go on in the tournament from what I can see. They threw me up against some random guy, and I lost. Obviously, after what I'd just been traumatized with, I wasn't going to do well. I made a bunch of stupid mistakes, and because of that, was knocked into losers. I waited for my next match. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. 5 and a half hours later I finally get called, and I lose that one. You honestly expect me to win on a laggy TV after waiting for 5 hours, hungry, afraid to go get some good food for fear of being DQ'd? Sure, they had burgers and some hot dogs, and I had one, but it wasn't super amazing. I was still hungry, mentally exhausted, and my feet/legs were killing me. Playing Super Street Fighter 4 in a competitive tournament at a major was the FURTHEST thing from my mind at this point.


So now I'm out of the tournament, and I was furiously upset, ready to smash everything and anything I could get my hands on, but I composed myself, and went back to the hotel room to relax. I proceeded to tell anybody and everybody what had happened, and everyone I said that story to was just utterly shocked. The guy was a terrible player, so that just added to the fact that he didn't want to play me because he knew he'd lose. The worst part? There were no pros in the bracket, and I watched who I would have had to fight to get to the top, and you know what I found out?


I would have placed 3rd. Yep. No lie. The winner of our bracket was one of the WORST Balrog players I've seen in my entire life. He played no matchup correctly, yet somehow won. Probably because of the mental exhaustion people were under. I sat there and watched, and I knew I could have beaten him. So because of this guy lying about my match, I was not only cheated into Losers and out of the tournament, but cheated out of a 3rd place trophy, and good money as well. Yep. But that was just the beginning.



The next day, I had entered the Super Puzzle Fighter HD Remix tournament, and we entered the SSF4 team tournament, 3 on 3. Me/Mike/Keits, the runner of the tournament teamed up, since his Cody was pretty good. Mike more than did his job of carrying us. Why's that? Because everybody was a counter pick to my character, Rufus. Everybody picked Gief/Blanka/Honda/Seth/Sagat, and the list goes on. Every match I fought except for one was a counter pick. The match I fought that wasn't a counter pick I won, which was against a Vega. He was alright, but I just rushed him down in the corner and ended it quickly. We end up losing the 3v3, because we ran into a team that was all counter picks to our characters. No problem, I'll make it up in Puzzle fighter. Right?



Nope. I win my first match, then the 2nd match I went up against an absolute beast of a player. He'd been playing the game since it first came out for PS1. He was considered a Veteran, and I had been practicing in the PSP version, which is pretty different from the HDR version for the 360/PS3. I struggled big time, but he won it. I'm in losers now. I win a match, then I go up against Keits, the tournament operator. He wins the first match, then I win a match, then he wins a round, and I win a round. Final round, make it or break it time, Steve. You can do this. I let him pile me up so I could just end it with one blow. We had gone back and forth, but I knew I could beat him if I tried. I finally get the piece I need, and my screen has one last spot to put it in, and if I mess up this drop, I lose. I make the drop, I win. Guess what?


My X button died, so the piece didn't rotate before I hit Up to instantly drop it, and it cost me. They did absolutely nothing about it, either. Yep. Screwed over again. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. A 10-man tournament for Puzzle Fighter and I couldn't make top 3 to bring home a trophy because my luck was so bad.



Oh, and I got Alex Valle, a veteran SF player's autograph. The problem? One of the michigan players AaronS used the stick and smudged off the name. Yep. Can't win.



All in all it was a fun trip, but it sucks that I got robbed so badly for it, especially after seeing how far I could have gotten and the money that was mine, but stolen out of my hands. There will be other Majors. There will be other tournaments. And they won't know. They won't know the beast that will be coming for them, the unknown rookie that will come in and sweep. As salty as I am about this whole thing, the trip was still fun, and I took away a good lesson:

Always be mentally prepared to face the utmost worst circumstances, and most of all, be patient, be calm, and play YOUR game. Dont' ever give up until it's over, no matter how bleak the situation. Never Back Down. So my motto after all this, the saying that I'm going to live by for these tournaments now....



"I'll Continue To Fight, Till I Collapse."


This is Q, signing off. Hope you all have a great day. :)



Shoutouts from the tournament:

Alex Valle: Shame we didn't get an interview, was really looking forward to it. Next time I'll harass you until you do it, lol.
Marn: Good to see you aren't a jerk now, or not much of one. Looking forward to playing you soon, shame we didn't.
Floe: Great Juri, really inspirational. Hope to get casuals with you as well, maybe you can teach me some things and we can compare play styles.
Wolfkrone: Hype matches, every one. You were definitely the person to watch. Good Job on holding it down for Michigan, you made us all proud.
AaronS: Good stuff as well, you did good.
DeeDogg: Was cool getting to know you, hope to run into you at the local tournaments some more and play casuals.
PersonMan: Don't wear the Pokemon hat. Ever. Please. Other than that, yeah, cool hangin' with ya.
Keits: Good job on running the tournament, I enjoyed it. Mostly. I guess. lol.
Cali group: Thanks for the stream, that was enjoyable. Hope to see the footage uploaded so I can see my one good match that I had.
Seb: Great finally meeting to you and talking to you for a sec, even if it was onoly for just as we were leaving the hotel, hope to meet you again.
Dude from my local Library, AKA Ubersaurus: Next time tell me you're going, we'll play casuals. Was great seeing you again, didn't know you were into SF! Lol!
Skisonic: Good meeting you. And by meeting I mean saying "Hi" and that's it. lol.
Markman: I didn't recognize you until you were pointed out in a picture, else I would have come over and said hi to you, and probably interviewed you. Next time!
Chauncy Talon: CHIPS AHOY!!! HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS MONEY MATCH HYPE! Good stuff, man, you were hilarious.
Mike: Thanks for carrying us in Teams. lol. You had good matchups and wrecked shop.
And lastly, but CERTAINLY not least:
Mom and Dad, thanks for letting me go. It meant more than you could ever imagine. It was super fun. :)


Anybody else, if I didn't mention you, it was a long weekend, so you know who you are, keep up the good work, and hopefully we'll cross paths soon.


And now for some photos of the event:
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Michigan Masters 2, More Plans

Sup everybody, I'm back. Alive. And mentally exhausted. Michigan Masters 2 was Saturday, and man was it CRAZY. Me and the crew went there and played, and we did pretty well, I think. Sort of. Teams was at 12pm, and our first man up, Declan, didn't do all that hot. In my honest opinion I think the tournament pressure was getting to him quite a bit, but that's alright. He lost all his matches, but it was close each time, so he's showing improvement. The first team match he lost, then I was up 2nd. OCV'd *One Character Victory* the first team, which got me quite a bit of hype. The second match, the same thing happened. Declan lost, then I OCV'd the entire team. 3 on 3 teams, by the way. I beat the best El Fuerte in the Midwest area, and a really good Ryu player. Singles I did well in, too. Held my own in that. I was able to get a couple of photos from the event. I took 2 pictures, then was called to my match, which was in teams, so by the time I was done with the match I was called over to commentate, and I forgot to take more. Sorry!






Playing for 9-10 hours STRAIGHT, and commentating the live stream was CRAZY. Yeah, turns out it was live streamed, which I didn't know about, and I was asked to commentate the matches when I wasn't playing, which was a total blast. Met a couple of people I haven't seen in a while, which was cool. Free1up AKA Lance Cryor was one of them, "Chauncy Talon", and Sheldon AKA "Darth48076", who has been doing a lot of interviews with top players as of late. Hopefully my day in the spotlight will come soon, and everybody will know who the "Q" is. :)


So 2 weeks away is the release of SSF4. The anticipation and the hype are almost too much for me to handle, I'm so excited. Mike is probably going to be having a launch event, where I'll be videotaping and we'll be playing like crazy, to try and learn our new characters, and see what changes have been made to our old favorites. It's sure to be a lot of fun. Getting all the guys together with lots of food, caffeine and a new video game is a recipe for awesome. lol. I'm looking forward to it, heck, I've even saved my "day off" for this month specifically FOR that day. Get hype, as I say.


So in closing, that's all that's been going on. Not much, I know. Letting whatever people who read this blog know that I'm alive, and what i've been up to. I'll cut it short here, since i'm tired, and I wanna crash and go to bed. Peace.

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.

Tekken 6 Review

Hey, what's up? Welcome to my first review, and it's of a game that I've played a bit of lately, and that I've been eager for it to come out. So, was it worth the wait, or was it a complete bomb? Let's find out.

______________________

So before we get into the actual review, I'd like to talk about a couple things first. First, Tekken 6 was released in Japanese Arcades on November of 2007, so it's about 2 years old. Originally it was only going to be on the Playstation 3, because all the other Tekken games had been Playstation-exclusive. But at the Tokyo Game Show in 2008, it was stated that there would be a release for the Xbox 360, which further delayed the game into 2009. There was also a PSP release for it, as well. The PSP version will have some exclusive content that the home console versions do not. There was also an "update" to the game, which came in the form of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, which is the version that is on home consoles. There were some gameplay tweaks, and two new characters added: Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch. So the version that will be reviewed is actually Bloodline Rebellion, although the package doesn't say so.

Now that we have that down, let's continue.


Story: Oh, boy, where do we even begin? Tekken 6's story goes inwards and outwards, up and down, left and right, it's just all over the place. In a good way, though. I'm going to assume that you already know the story of Tekken and you're up-to-date. If you aren't, then you can skip this section since you'll probably be pretty clueless at some parts. Anyway, In Tekken 6, the story picks up after Jin Kazama's victory in the last King Of Iron Fist Tournament. He's taken charge of the Mishima Zaibatsu, which is a financial company that offers the winner of the King of Iron Fist Tournament control of the company, and the ability to host the next King Of Iron Fist Tournament. Since Jin won the tournament, he now has control, but he has tyrannical ambitions and ideas. Using his newly-acquired resources, he becomes a "global superpower", becoming very powerful and wealthy, and openly (and defiantly) declares war on all nations. Kazuya Mishima, in charge of the G Corporation, sees this, and doesn't particularly care for Jin getting in the way of his own plans to take over the world. He then places a bounty on Jin's head for anybody who can kill him. Jin's response? Host another King Of Iron Fist Tournament so he can meet up with Kazuya and kill him himself. Pretty good story, if not a bit predictable. Definitely enjoyable, though.



Gameplay: Now for the REAL reason that you bought and are playing Tekken 6. The Gameplay. Tekken 6 is a 3-d fighter, and easily one of, if not the most recognizable names in the genre. Tekken only uses 4 attack buttons, unlike the usual 6 button layout that most fighting games use. You might think this makes the game easy, but that's where you would be wrong. Each button is assigned to a specific limb: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg and Right Leg. The Tekken series was never known for crazy super combos like Street Fighter, or bloody fatalities like Mortal Kombat. However Tekken is more juggle and combo based, and most definitely skill-based. This isn't a game where you can pick it up at the start and be amazing at it, unless you've played every Tekken game in the past or you're some type of prodigy. Tekken 6 is very much mindgames at it's finest, where just one small flaw or one small opening can easily lose you the match. Contrary to what people say, if you place a high-level player and a button masher against each other, the high-level player will win every time. This game requires hours of dedication and practice, like any fighting game. But learning your character's strengths, weaknesses, and their combos will keep you entertained, and keep your hands full for hours on end. It truly is just that deep. Speaking of characters, Tekken 6 boasts a very impressive roster of 43 playable characters, all unlocked from the get-go. Each and every character is unique, and has their own style. Ranging from big and strong, to slow and fast, there is most certainly a character for any player here.

Tekken 6 also brings a new feature to the table, called the "Rage" system. Once your health is dangerously low, your healthbar starts flashing and glowing red, stating that you've now entered Rage mode. This makes all of your attacks stronger, and allows for some dramatic comebacks. Normally you would think this is broken, but it's been implemented in a nice way. You are stronger, but not to a ridiculous amount. It's definitely very balanced, and is a very nice addition to the series.

"Good use of your chin to block my knee."

Another gameplay element added is the "bound" system, where every character has several moves, that when used against an opponent in an aerial juggle combo, will pound them into the ground and bounce them up a bit, letting you continue the combo for a few more hits. Local play is definitely where Tekken 6 shines, but it does include the traditional online mode. While at launch, the online was absolutely terrible, and by terrible I mean you couldn't find a match without bad visual and input lag. Hit a button, and a second or so later the attack would register, making juggle combos, and just combos in general near impossible. Thankfully a patch has been released, and for the most part this has been fixed, for a great online experience, although your internet connection will be a big factor in how laggy it is.

Tekken 6 home console versions also have an exclusive "Scenario Campaign" mode, with compares with the "Tekken Force" mode in a previous Tekken installment. It's basically a 3rd person beat-em-up, but it's not quite what you think. Sure, it's the basic "Start at point A, beat up the enemies, move on the point B" type of gameplay, but as it always is with Tekken, there's a twist. You can move about freely, and pick up items to customize your character, and money to purchase items as well. But when enemies are on the screen, while you are in 3rd person mode, it switches to Tekken 6 gameplay. That's right. 3rd person view, but it's like playing local VS Tekken. This can be a bit confusing sometimes, and all in all, the Scenario feels really slapped on and rushed. I feel it could have been better, but Namco didn't take their time with it I don't think. Plus it doesn't help that the enemies are all ridiculously stupid, sometimes just standing there and letting you beat them up. It would have been nice to see an actual challenge in this mode. Sadly, all the items for your character are super-expensive, so playing through the repetitive Scenario mode is the best way to make Gold to purchase items, and unlock them.

Scenario Campaign is about as fun as it looks. And it doesn't look that fun.

And yes, I said customization. Tekken 6 features a phenomal character customization, with Hair Styles, Colors, Clothing, Accessories, you name it. Give two players the same character with all the items, and you'll never run across the same creation twice, the options are just that vast. It really is a blast being able to customize your character, and like I said, since the options are just so vast, you'll want to unlock all the items, (even if it requires grinding through the scenario mode) and want to see how everything looks.

Character customization in action. It can range from something sweet like this...

...to just plain weird. Depending on your taste, anyway.

Closing the gameplay section, Tekken 6 is fast-paced, and definitely a lot of fun to play, although it takes some time to pick your character and then learn him/her, but it's a lot of fun all the way. It may seem very intimidating to you if you're a new player, or wanting to get into Tekken, but believe me, once you sit down and play it, and give it an honest shot, you'll be glad you did.



Sound: The sounds in Tekken are pretty good. The blows sound good, the subtle sound effects from moving around and during the attacks are very nice. The soundtrack is fitting for each stage and location. The majority of it is electronica/techno based, I'm guessing, but all in all it's fitting for the stages. Whether it be the calm snow level, or the high-energy Electric Fountain, it all works together nicely.



Graphics: Keeping in mind that Tekken 6 is a 2-year old game, the graphics are beautiful, really. The character models look great, each character flows smoothly and fluidly, and they just look great. From Zafina's creepy bug-influenced fighting style, to watching the graceful Elbow and Knee blows of Bruce, Tekken 6 truly is a treat for the eyes. Until you see it in a nice-sized HDTV, you can't really judge it or give an honest opinion. As the saying goes, seeing literally is believing. The stages look great, from the rustic mountain dojo, to the high-energy Electric "Light Show" Fountain. The ripples look great when you move through the water, it's just all so smooth, and just a true sight to behold. Keeping in mind that this game is 2 years old, the graphics are great.

No amount of still shots can capture the beauty of Tekken 6. It must be seen in motion.

Replay Value: With tons of unlockables, and the amazing depth, there's no reason why you couldn't sink hundreds of hours into this game. If you're a casual player, you do have online to play other people around the world with, and the unlockables, but in all reality, if you're playing Tekken 6, chances are you've either thought about playing in tournaments, or you ARE playing in tournaments, in which case it increases the replay value even more.



Final Thoughts/Closing Comments:

All in all, Tekken 6 is the complete package. It's got something for everyone here. A casual player can pick it up and enjoy it, but if you're not going to spend time with it, then put it back on the shelf, and go play Thomas The Tank Engine. Because only when you start learning a character and the entire game itself does Tekken 6 truly shine as a great fighting game. The visuals are great, the gameplay is smooth, and the entertainment factor is there. But a rushed Scenario Campaign, overpriced items that force you to play the pretty Scenario Campaign are a bit of a downer, and the online should have been great to begin with, not making you wait for a patch. Thankfully the patch actually worked and the online is pretty good now, but the fact that it wasn't great from the get-go is a disappointment. Step it up, Namco, we know you can do better.


Pros:

-Great Visuals
-Incredibly Deep Gameplay
-Customization has been improved


Cons:
-Only hardcore Tekken Fans will get their money's worth
-Rushed Scenario Campaign isn't that much fun
-Can be a little intimidating for new players at first




Rating: 9.0

Stick Building/SSF4 Update!

So first up, I've been busy lately so I haven't been able to update, unfortunately. Something called Life has been keeping my time occupied. So a week or so ago I acquired a new Fight Stick case in a trade, so I figured I'd just gut my current Madcatz Standard Edition Fight Stick and swap everything into the new case. So let's dive into a little bit of the process and what all transpired.

So it finally came in the mail today. Super happy about that, being that this is my first "custom build". Normally I've just swapped parts, so this is the first one I'm putting together. Anyways I immediately jumped into building the stick, but it wasn't without some hiccups. I'll post the pics first and then elaborate. Here it is, still not 100% finished though.

Pic #1

Pic #2


So first up I ran into a problem mounting the joystick. 2 of the screws on the mounting bracket were pretty badly stripped *thanks to madcatz's professional craftsmanship, lol*, so I couldn't get it off. However, it was just a hair off of slipping through , so I filed part of the wood down really slightly, and it slipped through without a problem. The screws wouldn't actually fasten for some reason, so I just pushed them in and left the plexi on. The plexi is putting enough pressure on the screws to keep the stick nice and secure, so it's all good. And lastly, it's a bit cramped inside, so i'm going to do a bit of re-adjusting and moving, if I can.


My final to-do list:

-Add some artwork. *You can view what I plan to have on it. Click Here. I wanted a simpler layout, and trying to have the cards "shooting" out of the buttons.*
-I gotta get a pink balltop, since it's a stock Madcatz stick the pink balltop I have doesn't fit. :(
-2 extra buttons on the way to fill the Start/Select, got a couple green ones on the way. I don't have them wired up, because the start and select buttons were soldered, and don't have QD's. This stick will be strictly for tournament play anyways.


Kind of amateur, but I'm really happy with it so far. ^__^


Then I've been busy trying to take care of things while dad was in the hospital. He's been holding fluid for a long time now, and it's been making life really really hard for him. He was having a hard time breathing, walking, and just doing his daily routine. Finally he went to the cardiologist seeing if there was anything else to be done, but there wasn't anything else to do except either A.) Go to the hospital and get the fluid drained, or B.) Go home and die. He went with option A, and went in. He was in for about 8 days, and lost a grand total of around 110 lbs of fluid. His clothes no longer fit him, and he looks really different. Better, really. He's out of the woods, and he's on the road to losing some more weight, and we're all here to support him and be there for him when he needs it. We're trying to be more on the lower-sodium diet with him, as well. It's not too bad, but if it helps him, then it's worth it.


Next up we got a new trailer for Super Street Fighter 4. This trailer confirms the inclusion of Cody, Guy and Adon. So combined with Dee Jay, T. Hawk and Juri, that's technically 6 of the, and I quote from several interviews with Seth Killian ,"8 ish new characters". So far the rumored list is coming true, so this would leave Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, and one new character that's rumored to be another grappler. Like SSF4 needs more grapplers. Pffft.

You can view the trailer here:



2 things I'd like to note:

-It sounds like they've remixed all of the character's original themes from the older games to go with SSF4. Nice touch.
-The English voice acting. I'm kind of disappointed with Dee Jay and T. Hawk, for a couple of reasons. I guess I should've expected Dee Jay's voice, but it just seems unfitting to me for some reason. T. Hawk just sounds too young, IMO. You see this massive tower of muscle before you, and he sounds like my older brother when he was a teenager. Terrible. I'm sure it'll grow on me as time goes on, but for the moment i'm kind of disappointed. The other characters so far sound pretty good. Adon is still sounding great, Cody sounds like a cocky street punk, Guy sounds cool, and Juri sounds good as well. Pretty satisfied with those voices, and the animation of the attacks look really nice as well.


As for my thoughts on the "new" characters so far:

-Guy. I'm really hoping that he isn't a pile of trash, and that he'll be actually usable. I think Alpha 2 was his best version, from what I heard, *don't quote me on it, though* so hopefully they bring that version back. I'd really like him to be usable, since he's really cool to watch when he's fighting.
-Adon. Sounds really cool, and he looks relatively stylish. I'm guessing he'll be pretty strong, or at least hoping he will be. I really liked using him in Alpha 3, he was a rather unique character, I thought.
-Cody. Good to see he still has his knife back in SSF4. I heard that his second Ultra will only be able to be used if he has his knife. We've seen the one where he doens't have to use it, so hopefully it'll be somewhat useful. Throwing rocks was his projectile, and his uppercut, when used as a jab version wasn't too bad. EX version should be pretty good, I'm guessing that it will be something like a combination of Sagat's EX Tiger Uppercut and Ryu's EX Hurricane Kick.

Can't wait for spring of 2010. And let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that Dudley, Ibuki and Makoto are in! ^_^

So I'll leave it at that, I'm happy that Dad's fine now, and everything is good at the moment. I'll have a review of Tekken 6 coming up soon, as well, since I played a lot of it the past week. :) Lastly, I'm hoping to get to one of the local Street Fighter 4/Tekken 6 tournaments soon, so I can try and get a video interview of Alucard, one of, if not the top SF4/T6 players in the state. We'll see how it works out, hopefully I'll be able to go.


Stay cool.

Inspiration

So I know I just made a post, but I ran across this, and I wanted to post it up and share it since I think it's so awesome. Let's get going.


So first up I was on EventHubs.com reading the latest posts, and there was an interview from this girl Tara, who interviewed Justin Wong, Daigo Umehara and Seth Killian. She was from the site/group called "AbleGamers", which is a group for videogamers with a handicap. She asked them if they had played any people with a handicap, and what they thought about them trying to compete. Needless to say they were all for it, and were very supportive. In the interview a couple of the big names mentioned were "The One Handed Terror", and "The Real NOM4D". The One Handed Terror is just what he sounds like. He was born with only a right hand. His left hand didn't fully develop, so he has a bit of a stump for a left hand. Somehow he figured out how to use a fightstick with it, and he's done pretty well competitively. Went out to Evo and got to play with the best players there. He's hung up the towel on the competitive scene, but honestly, I hope he goes back into it. It's such an inspiration to see him play. On a random note, I think I played him on XBL before. His name sounded really familiar. Anyways, here is a video of him introducing himself and giving a bit of his backstory:




Next up is "TheRealNOM4D". He was born paralyzed from the waist down. Sound impossible to play? Think again. He uses his face. Literally. He took an interest in video games, and he just "evolved" with each controller that came out, and figured out how to use it. Here's a video of a news spot he had on TV:



Quick little note. The NOM4D layout in COD4 was actually made specifically with him in mind. Kinda neat, actually. But all in all, I find it really inspiring to see people like these going strong, and being able to compete. It makes me want to push even harder to try and get better. Seeing these guys work with these two handicaps is just amazing, and again, I'm sure it's inspiring for a lot of people out there, myself included.


So that's about it. Nothing else to report, so I'm gonna go crash for the night. It's a new week, with the possibilities of new thrills, frustrating situations and just plain laugh-out-loud moments. This is Q, signing off. As usual, Robo-Ky says "Stay Cool."

My hand hurts...

So I got to hang out with Micaiah today, which was pretty cool. We decided to play Marvel Vs Capcom 2, since I brought my TE fight stick over. At first it was a bit boring, because all Micaiah was doing was complaining that I spam the same move with Sentinel. Which I do, since I don't know any combos with him for the moment, lol. I decided to switch it up and start picking random teams, obviously picking the better characters, but then I started mixing in some terrible characters for kicks and giggles. I ended up using Magneto/Juggernaut/Storm, which isn't too bad of a team, since Magneto and Storm are two "God" tiers in the game, but I don't know how to use 'em too much. That all changed today.


Micaiah went a few rounds, then decided to take a break and let the others play. They were just gluttons for punishment. I figured we'd play a few rounds each, then we'd move on to something else to do. Nope. After winning 55 straight rounds they finally quit, but we weren't without our battle scars. Timmy ended up getting a blister on his left thumb from using the D-Pad so much, and my left hand was just killing me from going crazy on the joystick. Using Magneto gets a bit rough after a while. Needless to say, I now have a basic idea of how Magneto should be played, after all this. Although it's not like I'll be going competitive with it any time soon.


Granted they aren't the best marvel players, but it was still fun, all in all. It's always fun chilling with friends and having fun. :) Anyways, that ought to do it for now, I guess.


Q signing off. Robo-Ky says "Take It Easy." lol.

I Got Next/Online Tournament

So I just recently watched a documentary called "I Got Next". It's been out for a month or so now I think, and it's really good. Essentially it's a documentary on the fighting game scene. It primarily focuses on Street Fighter 4, and what it's single-handedly done to bring back Street Fighter competition, other than the two big tournaments in the USA. *Season's Beatings and Evolution* It was created by Ian Cofino, who originally started this as a school project, but the hype and the support from fans, friends and family grew and turned it into much more than just a simple documentary. You can check out the trailer below.


*Be sure to click the black "HD" button once the video starts! Helps increase the quality.*



I also recently competed in a small online tournament for Street Fighter 4. One of my buddies from a forum that I used to be on got ahold of me on PSN, and said he was holding a tournament with a bunch of the members that used to be competitive with SF4 on the forum. Winner got a brand new fightstick. I think the number of entrants were around 15 or so. Everybody in the tournament thought that I had been slacking off and not playing competitively, or just playing in general. They thought I had washed up. They were wrong. I came in and swept the competition. As for the fight stick I won, I was pretty excited after finding out which one I was getting. A Hori Real Arcade Pro 3, or an HRAP3 for short. It's the Special Edition, which means that it's all Sanwa parts instead of the terrible stock Hori parts. Meaning that I don't have to do any modding whatsoever, which is a plus.


Also I received my Tekken 5 Hori Stick in the mail a couple days ago. The circle button doesn't work, probably from a bad connection/bad soldering, from what I can see. I need to go pick up a soldering gun to get this taken care of, otherwise it's just an over-sized paperweight, or I got a nice Blazblue Stick, lol. *Since Blazblue only uses 4 buttons* Either way I really got to fix this, 'cause I also got that Hori EX2 stick coming in that's gonna need to be modded.



Alright, so that just about sums this blog up. This is Q, signing off.

Tournament Edition Stick/SSF4 Info!

What's up people? Q here, and guess what? Decided to get a blog. Figured it'd be a good way to rant and rave for the things that I enjoy, or the things I disagree with, and to just post my daily drama that I sometimes have to go through. Plus it's a good way for me to practice web design, I guess. Go me. Anyways, let's cut to the chase and get on with a massive first blog entry containing all sorts of stuff that you guys probably couldn't give 2 cents about.


So I got my Tournament Edition Fight Stick today. Hooray. Bad rhymes, I know. *I swear, it wasn't intentional. Seriously.* I got it for free, actually. Back when Street Fighter 4 came out in February this year, I got a message from some guy that was on the forums I was on, wanting some tutoring help. I went along with it, and helped him out for a few weeks. He had a tournament in his area that he was going to compete in, and he ended up taking top 3. For appreciation, he said he was going to send me a fight stick since he knew I wanted one. Awesome, right? Nope. He ended up getting kicked out of his apartment with his wife and kid, so I told him not to worry about it, and just send it when he could. Well, that was back in March/April, but then I got a message from him a week or so ago, saying he was back on his feet and moved into a new apartment/condo. He said that he got my Xbox Live message to all my friends, stating that I had traded in my Xbox 360 for a PS3. He had bought a Tournament Edition Fight Stick for the PS3 to send me, and he was sending it out. Totally cool with me.

So it finally gets here today. I open it up, and plug it in, all ready to test it out. Well, being that I live in "John's World", *fancy name for the "Twilight Zone", basically. Where nothing EVER goes as planned* I had a feeling it wouldn't go right. Of course it didn't. The guy had tried out some arcade parts he bought on the stick, and re-installed the joystick improperly. So out comes the toolbox to take this sucker apart. Re-positioned the joystick, but was only able to fasten 2 screws instead of the 4 required, because the mounting plate for the joystick wasn't meant to be put in the position it's in. But hey, it works, and it's solidly mounted, so it's not going anywhere. Time to test the buttons. Yep, you guessed it. He re-wired the buttons incorrectly. Away to the forums we went looking for the original wiring setup. Found it, and yet again, you guessed it. He re-wired it differently from the default wire setup. So after a few hours of trial-and-error, I finally got the right wires to the right buttons, and all was well. We did have a casualty, though. My hand accidentally slipped, and one of the quick disconnects came off the wire, so now I have to re-crimp the wire. I just swiped a same-color wire from the Xbox 360 fight stick I already have to make sure this works. Gotta head to the hardware store to try and replace it, or else it's a dead duck.



So that's taken care of. Now I got a Hori EX2 Fight Stick coming in for the Xbox 360 that I'm going to try and mod, just to see what I can do with it, and to try and learn how to solder, possibly. Who knows. Also got another message from the guy above, and he said he's sending some extra arcade parts for the trouble I had. Awesome. Good thing I kept my laptop box. That's right, I'm going to try and turn my laptop box into a fight stick, since I know for sure it's possible. If people can use shoeboxes and tupperware containers, why not a laptop box? Even has a convenient carrying handle.


In other news, picked up a Fallout 3 GOTY Edition Strategy Guide at Gamestop today. Over 800 pages big. It's like a bible, seriously. Everything you could possibly imagine is covered. Also, I had heard rumors of Super Street Fighter 4 being able to be reserved, so I asked the store associate. I was happy to be informed that they WERE taking reserves. I reached in my wallet and slapped down $5 faster than you can say "It's MAHVEL BAYBEE!" *inside joke, you probably won't get it* Turns out that store employees get first dibs, so other than the manager reserving his copy, I'm the first person to reserve it. Looks like their nickname of "The Street Fighter Kid" for me is living up and going strong.




Speaking of Super Street Fighter 4, we do have some quote-on-quote "Unofficial" character portraits of the new characters:

Dee Jay


T. Hawk


Dee Jay and T. Hawk were requested to be in Street Fighter 4, but never made the cut. Due to the demand for another Street Fighter game, and several petitions and hundreds of thousands of e-mails requesting that they be released as Street Fighter 4 DLC, they were a no-brainer to include in the cast for Super Street Fighter 4. Now for the new girl:

Juri


She seems to be an interesting looking character. Judging by the trailer, which you can see below, she seems to have the same "Psycho Drive" that M. Bison *AKA Dictator for you hard-core fans out there* has. Plus she's all kicks, so she'll be an interesting character to use, to say the least. Couple of things to point out from the trailer below:

At 1:47 she seems to have an attack that's similar to Dudley's "Cross Counter" from 3rd Strike. Interesting. That Ultra Combo she does at 1:52 looks pretty nasty, as well.

Here's the trailer showcasing all 3 characters:


So that should wrap it up. If you've managed to last this long and have read all of this, I applaud you. So in closing, I have 2 words:

GET HYPE.

This is Q, signing off. Robo-Ky says "Stay Cool."