If you’re unfamiliar with Pyrolee, he was widely considered the best American 3rd Strike player ever and has represented America in SBO more times than anyone else I can think of. He was actually the very first guest I ever had on the Street Fighter Podcast, so go back and listen to that for some nuggets of 3rd Strike wisdom. Enjoy and please kick down a few bucks if you can!

Update: So apparently Pyro is unable to go to Japan, regardless of his financial situation so donations are no longer needed and 5 Star has informed me that everyone is being refunded. Everybody can cool their jets now and think about more pleasant topics.

This article was kindly submitted by Woolie “ThirtyHitCheapz” Madden, community organizer, tournament director and color commentator for Montreal Street Fighter.  When I found out recently about their innovative method of building a Street Fighter community in their area without a traditional arcade, I had to know more and that you guys would get some ideas on how to do the same in your area, since that’s one of the questions that I get asked a lot.  Do you think you can use this model as a template for building a community in your own area?  If so, please post in the comments!  Thank you to Woolie for the article, looking forward to seeing what MTLSF does next!

–gootecks

Building a local Street Fighter community from the ashes of fallen arcades is an immensely difficult task. Keeping one alive and organized is an even greater challenge. The payoff, however, becomes immediately apparent when everyone comes together, leveling up, making noise and that electricity in the air can be felt: We do it for the hype.

Still, the way is paved with obstacles and roadblocks that can kill the momentum necessary to keep a Street Fighter movement alive. By far, the largest of these obstacles is the venue issue. We’ve learned from various community success stories like Keystone II and The Box Arena that with a large, generous benefactor, it can happen. But what about when there isn’t a massive donation to get things started?

Up here in Montreal, we’ve seen one console arcade after another come and go, unable to make that transition into a profitable business. We’ve suffered the community crippling effects of instability and downtime periods caused by not having a venue to play at every week. So when it came time for MTLSF (The Montreal Street Fighter community) to find a new home, we had our homework done. What started long ago as small gatherings of 20 in a sports lounge to play Vanilla SF4 had now become a much larger beast that needed it’s own dedicated space. We decided that the most sensible move was to create our own location to play. But not as a business – as a club.

What we realized over time about a console arcade is, in our area at least, if you have a central downtown location, inside of a net café, and perhaps a ton of copies of Halo and Modern Warfare, then you might be able to make a profit. Otherwise, it simply wasn’t going to happen, and no one fighting game community was going to change that in the long run. Even with support from Tekken, Smash Bros, Soul Calibur and BlazBlue communities, the income just wasn’t enough to keep it going. We realized that basically, we had to forget about profit, and instead look at stability and self sustainment as a basis.

With a little footwork we soon found a loft, sizable to our needs and affordable, in a good location, with all utilities included. We christened it MTLSF HQ, then sat down and had a think about how to go about running a club in the most cost efficient manner. The structure that we came up with was 3 price points for all players: Founders, Monthly members, and walk-ins.

Founders are the crux of the establishment. These members would contribute the largest amount, and would essentially be paying directly into the rent. The rate is relative depending on the number of active members in a given community – it shouldn’t astronomical if there are only a handful of players. But with a healthy population, it can be anywhere from 20% to 33% of the venue’s rent. In our case that turned out to be $200. In return, these founding members would be guaranteed a minimum of six months access, all day, any day, with no venue fees for tournaments. This way, it only takes 3 to 5 active players to cover the rent, and with 20-30 of these subscriptions, it becomes easy to cover a half year and beyond. If the money collectively contributed by the founders extends beyond six months, then so does the founder’s subscription, giving additional incentive. Of course, this excess should also be used towards the cost of getting consoles, setups and sticks.

Founders are also the core group of people that are also asked to volunteer as staff. There’s no hard rule about it, but chances are, the local dedicated players a friends, and can call each to open up and close the venue, and sort of manage things. The tricky part about the founder’s deal however is that all founder’s have to be on the same membership schedule, so that their next re-up months down the line comes in all at once, keeping that rent going without risking a gap for any months. Our solution to this was to have the deal available for the 1st month only, after which point, the next opportunity would be half a year or more from now, whenever the initial membership is up.

The second pricing point for the club is the monthly member. This ends up resembling gyms, martial arts classes and other standard clubs in that it’s a monthly fee that grants all access benefits as well, except obviously limited to one month. The price range for this was based on two factors: One, the amount that casual Street Fighter players are comfortable paying on a weekly basis, and two, an amount that isn’t unfair to amount the founders paid averaged over 6 months. Because the hardcore players of the scene are likely to become founders, the monthly deal is to appeal to casual players who are interested in getting better, and want to step it up from occasionally coming out for some games offline. At our previous venue, a console arcade business that we would rent out, MTLSF had 2 meet-up days per week when casual players showed up more than any other days, and it would cost them anywhere from $10 to $20 per week. Factoring this together with the fact that founders are paying average $33 a month, the logical amount to for a monthly membership to us was $40. Whatever the amount ends up being, it shouldn’t be an aggressive number. To a casual player, two twenty dollars bills is simple and doesn’t feel gouging. The collective amount generated by the monthly members should be enough to further help out with setup fees, getting some consoles, sticks and copies of SSF4.

Finally, there are the walk-ins. Monthly members sometimes decide to come out for a Friday night and bring a few friends to play with. Sometimes a player is just passing through town wants to scope the local competition out. $5 for the night, cheap, fair, and again, non-aggressive. This could be $10 is the venue is massive and looks like it’s worth it, but shouldn’t be anything beyond say, door cover charge for a live show. The walk-in cover money also contributes towards petty cash, setups, Internet bills if you have them, and things like that. There will always be a constant stream of walk ins, and so far we’ve collected more from this than from monthly members.

We’ve been able to afford many things since that help out with the clubspace: A couple of second hand arcade cabinets, a mini-fridge with snacks and beer, some couches, and miscellaneous furniture. With these 3 solid source of constant income, and the main goal being stability instead of profit, we’ve been able to create a self sustaining Street Fighter community venue. It’s a place we can rely on for our growth. While we encourage new blood and casual players to join the group, we’re not relying on them to survive. The tourney players that can be found in any city, the ones that used to pump quarters into cabinets every weekend, are the founders. These players, organized together, are all it takes as a baseline. Everyone who comes out to play beyond that, at least financially speaking, is gravy. It’s a model that I can say works, with confidence. I encourage you to get a little movement started in your area, to begin organizing the building blocks of a scene, and then sit back and let the hype take over.

Woolie “ThirtyHitCheapz” Madden is a community organizer, tournament director and color commentator for Montreal Street Fighter. His email is wooliemadden(AT)gmail(DOT)com. For more info about MTLSF HQ and the Canadian Street Fighter scene, visit http://www.mtlsf.com/.

Here are the entrants in no particular order:

• Leviathan (Hawaii)
• Arturo “sabin” Sanchez (Team Spooky, NY)
• Tokido (Yokohama, Japan)
• Genghis (The Box Arena, San Diego)
• Kyriptic (CT)
• GamerBee (Taiwan)
• RB (Taiwan)
• Chi-Rithy (Canada)
• DaggerG (Hawaii)
• PerfectSin (VA)
• EG.Marn (Pasadena, CA)
• Blockus (Papua New Guinea)
• Combojack (Monterey Park, CA)

Finals Matches from the High Roller Tournament

Here are the finals from the $100 16-man High Roller tournament.

• Winners’ Finals: EG.Marn (Dudley) vs. GamerBee (Adon)
• Losers’ Finals: EG.Marn (Dudley) vs. RB (Guy)
• Grand Finals: EG.Marn (Rufus) vs. GamerBee (Adon)

Here are the rest of the matches from the High Roller tournament minus the Finals:

Daigo Money Matches

Daigo showed up to play his $500 match against Arturo Sanchez and ended up playing a bunch of other matches against several other players to warm up, as well as after his match with Arturo ended. Here are the matches:

• Daigo vs. Arturo “sabin” Sanchez (First to 5)
• Daigo vs. EG.Marn (First to 5)
• Daigo vs. Hsien Chang (TX) (First to 3)
• Daigo vs. Kai (CA) (First to 5)
• Daigo vs. J-Pizzle (First to 5)
• Daigo vs. Killey (First to 5)

FINALLY!!!! Sorry for the delay guys, it was completely out of my hands. This match is a runback of THE match of 2009, where Arturo took Daigo all the way down to the last game last round and pulled it off! This time, it again comes down to last game last round, but I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it!

This match took place afterhours at Evo 2010 in the NorCal Salty Suite at Caesar’s Palace. Thank you to Machinima Respawn for getting it up on the channel as well as for getting a translator to translate Tokido and Eita’s commentary in part 1. Thank you to Team Spooky for streaming and recording this epic match. Also thank you to the English commentators for this match, Combojack and Chris Hu, whose genius idea it was to have the Japanese commentate for the first half.

If you haven’t seen the first match these guys played last year, check it out below:

Glenn from Get Your Tournament has an awesome statistical breakdown of the match as well. So please check that out if you want an in-depth look at some of the nuances of this match.

Will we see another runback at Evo Japan?!?!? Post in the comments if you would like to see it!

Miles and Kamasi will be performing some of the cuts from AfroShoto, a sample of which you can check out here. I’m really excited to be a part of this event because our goal is to make this spot a place where people can come enjoy watching great music and top players compete, while kicking back a few drinks.

If this works out, then we’ll be doing a lot more events like these in the future. It is 21+ unfortunately, so sorry kids, we’ll have something for you another time.

It’s free, but please RSVP to ensure that you get in! See you guys Sunday!

Confirmed Players

• Mike Ross
• gootecks
• Combofiend
• EG.Justin Wong
• EG.Marn
• ShadyK

Location

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Facebook

Here’s the link to the Facebook event if you’re on Facebook. Feel free to add me as well

My money is on at least one Alpha series character. And also that Urien will continue to be neglected, FML.

Follow GodsGarden on Twitter and check out their web site!

Get notified when the videos are up on YouTube

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• Daigo vs. Arturo Sanchez, the salty runback of THE Match of 2009!
• SoCal vs. East Coast 5v5 featuring Alex Valle, Mike Ross, Keno, OnlineTony213, Shizza, Sanford Kelly, Yipes, Arturo Sanchez, Flash Metroid, and more!
• DMG Rico Suave (Abel, East Coast)
• Keno (Balrog, SoCal)
• Ryan Hart (Sagat, Guy, UK)
• Tatsu (Vega, SoCal)
• Dagger G (Guile, Hawaii)
• Vangief (Zangief, NorCal)
• Kai (El Fuerte, SoCal)

Team Spooky will be streaming live, so when the Evo stream finishes, you’ll have this to keep you company all night.  <3  Super excited, see you guys soon!

‘

The first match we’re analyzing is between FRAMUSGOLD’s Balrog and HLPent’s Rufus. This match was recorded last week during an Endless Battle XBL session that Mike and I did that was open to whoever showed up. If you want to be part of a future episode of Cross Counter, follow me and Mike on Twitter and we’ll let you know how to get into our sessions which are normally on Tuesdays.

Here is an in-depth transcript of the main points covered. Sometimes we can’t cover everything in the show due to time constraints so we add notes to the description section on YouTube.

TIME: 01:21
NOTE: Rufus opens up with a crouching fierce clearly taking a guess, trying to keep Balrog at a distance. But that move left Rufus open for too long letting Balrog jump in on him.

TIME: 01:26
NOTE: Balrog gets a quick lead then backs off to wait for Rufus to come to him. Once Balrog gets the lead and plays defensively, he can chip Rufus with Dash Punches for free until he has meter. Once Rufus has meter, he becomes more dangerous because he can EX Messiah Kick out of Balrog’s block strings. Once he has 3 EX Meters, he becomes even more dangerous because he can do EX Messiah Kick FADC Ultra which does 458 dmg.

TIME: 01:45
NOTE: Rufus finally brings the fight back to Balrog but can’t open him up in any way, and once Rufus does finally get in he misses great combo opportunities as well as keep the pressure on Rog.

TIME: 02:05
NOTE: Definitely a waste of meter to do the EX Galactic Tornado. After blocking the Dash Punch, it would have been better to jump HK – Snake Strike, while saving the meter for EX Messiah Kick FADC Ultra. If Balrog is in the corner against Rufus, he always has to be careful that he doesn’t get hit by a Galactic Tornado because Rufus can juggle with the Ultra. Although he always has to look out for it because he can juggle with it midscreen, but it’s a 1 frame link.

TIME: 02:13
NOTE: Misses a big opportunity to punish with the most damaging combo possible with no meter: HP xx HP Tornado – Ultra – 545dmg. But saving the Ultra for later and just following it up with another Galactic Tornado would have probably been the best option. Once Balrog is in the corner, it would have only taken two or three major openings for Rufus to have done enough damage so that he could finish him off with an Ultra after hitting a Tornado.

TIME: 02:59
NOTE: Rufus uses the EX Messiah kick and wastes the meter for a non-critical amount of damage. Notice that in the rest of the match he never gets 3 meters which would have made Balrog more cautious because he would have to be wary of getting hit by EX Messiah Kick FADC Ultra.

MIKE ROSS NOTE: I only approve of the EX Messiah because a) it hit and b) i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he threw it out there to bait balrog’s throw.

TIME: 03:27
NOTE: Technically Rufus does NOT need to go in on balrog anymore. He’s sitting on a 50% life lead and has no reason to risk losing it all. He has plenty of GET-OUT-OF-JAIL free cards in case balrog gets on. Afterall, he’s RUFUS!

TIME: 03:43
NOTE: At this range, Rufus should be able to see any Dash Punch coming and EX Messiah Kick to counter. He he not burned his meter at the beginning of the round, he would have had 3 Meters at this point and would have been able to EX Messiah Kick FADC Ultra which would have put him in the lead. At that point he would have backed off and used safe pokes to finish him off while applying mental pressure by running the clock.

Please spread the word and leave some feedback.

Edit: For those that missed it, you can now find the video on youtube!

Day 0: Activision Party @ the Staples Center

E3 started without warning on Monday (6/14) evening, as I got a call from Kent from Daft Bot that he had an extra floor pass for me.  Eminem, Usher, NERD, deadmau5 and more were playing!  Holy smokes!  So it was a pretty awesome way to kick off the E3 experience.  So thanks Kent for callin me up!

E3 2010

This was my second time at E3, but my first time with some actual business to do and a real agenda to accomplish.  Last year it was just trying to meet whoever I could meet and sneak into whatever afterparties I could go undetected at.  This year, however, I rolled with the Machinima Respawn crew: Mr. Sark, Hutch and Seananners, who host various shows on Respawn.  It kicked off with a skit that Sark came up with to introduce the audience to the coverage we were going to be doing all week which was mainly focused on Xbox multiplayer games.

During day 1, I got to check out a bunch of the Xbox multiplayer games, which was fun, but as you may know, I’m not hugely into other games that aren’t Street Fighter or Starcraft lol, so most of it was cool, but ultimately not very meaningful in the longrun.  But I’ll tell you what is meaningful is this Red Faction Exosuit I took a picture in lol:

How could I resist?  Speaking of meaningful, I also got to check out Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  Unfortunately for me, I never really learned how to play MvC2, so I’m not exactly qualified to say anything other than it looks cool, I’m sure it’d be fun to play and I hope everybody else likes it lol.  I got to play it over at the Microsoft Xbox 360 booth (which had demos by appointment for Kinect games), since the Capcom booth looked like it was super packed.  It was actually the first thing I saw when I walked into the show floor.

So lucky me, I didn’t have to wait to play it.

As day one was coming to an end, I got word of the SFX-360 party which was up the street.  I had met them last year and so was happy to come down and made some good connects.  Here’s a picture with my buddy Slasher, camiwins, Jacob Patterson and Naomi.  Good times had by all!

Days 2 and 3 we did a lot more videos including one on MvC3:

I also did an interview with Seth Killian from Capcom, but that one isn’t up yet.

Anyways, the highlight of E3 was definitely Mortal Kombat 9.  I was one of the few that got to play it (lucky me, name droppin’ Machinima everywhere lol).

I got a demo with one of the developers who showed me the engine. There are EX Meters as well as Super combos (those are the X-ray moves from the trailer). There are also Tekken-style juggle combos. I was so excited about it, it was my pick for Best in Show.

Sark (who is mainly an FPS player) also thought it was the best game he saw at E3. After his review there is a short scene of me and him playing Zumba Fitness (I think that’s what it was called).

Speaking of the Microsoft Kinect, I got to play Ubisoft’s YourShape which you can see below from the Microsoft press conference. The other Kinect games that I saw looked kinda silly to me at this point (Forza 3 with your hands on an invisible steering wheel?), but YourShape was interesting because it’s a fitness game. I wouldn’t even really call it a game, it’s more of an application. I think that’s where a lot of this motion sensor/detection/controller-free stuff will really catch on with mainstream non-gamers. The tai chi stuff was really interesting and this is actually something I’d use on a day to day basis.


On Wednesday, Miles Mosley, Mike Ross and I hosted our own afterparty at the Piano Bar in Hollywood. Lots of familiar faces came down to play casuals with us and watch Miles and his band rock the house. Since we had some success with it, it looks like we’ll be doing them on the regular, so keep an eye out for more upcoming events like that.

Here's the guys from Original Gamer, whose podcast I was on not too long ago. Thanks for coming out guys!

Jace Hall’s Street Fighter Music Video Shoot

After E3 was all said and done, I had a few days off to chill, decided not to go to Devastation in Phoenix and lucky for me, I got contacted by none other then Jace Hall, who asked me to be in his new Street Fighter music video.  He did a video for World of Warcraft called “I Play Wow” and is going to give Street Fighter the same treatment.  He asked me to round up a few players to come down, so I called up Justin Wong and Ed Ma to come down and be in the video as well.  Daigo is also making an appearance in the video (he and Justin are name-dropped in the song), so Top 3 of Evo 2009 (and little ol’ me) are in it.

Needless to say, it was easily one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had in my life.  It was shot in a wrestling/boxing ring so I got to climb on the turnbuckles and run around in the ring, as well as dance with some music video girls.  :)  Fun times! Once the video is done I’ll be sure to post it up here, it was really fun. More pix on my Facebook!

Tay Zonday, me and Jace Hall

Justin Wong with Alicia Marie

Since it’s E3 week and everyone’s always looking for something to do after the show ends, I thought it’d be cool to join Miles Mosley, who you may know from his guest appearance on LA Riots II, as he rocks the house with some awesome music. Mike Ross and I will be playing casuals at The Piano Bar in Hollywood before and possibly after Miles and his band plays.

21 and over, sorry kids! See you there!

WHO: Miles Mosley, Mike Ross and I

WHAT: E3 Afterparty with music by Miles and SSF4 casuals with Mike and I (21+ sorry)

WHEN: Wednesday, June 16th at 8PM

WHERE: The Piano Bar in Hollywood

HOW MUCH: FREE

• the SSF4 tier list
• the SSF4 hitbox movie torrent
• to counterpick or not to counterpick
• how to train at home by yourself
• our new show on Machinima Respawn, Cross Counter
• E3 News

Thank you to vVvCupcheck for editing!

Subscribe

[Standard RSS Podcast Feed]

Download

[MP3] 36min – 66mb

Listen

Watch the biggest Super SF4 major yet! Big names here this weekend including:

• Justin Wong
• Arturo Sanchez
• iloveu Joe
• Marn
• Flash Metroid
• Sanford Kelly
• Dieminion
• Chris Hu

Shoutouts to everybody here on the East Coast.  Everybody please enjoy the stream courtesy of Frame Advantage with commentary by casperOne from SF4 Answers and Chris Hu.

I’m at the Team sp00ky house in New York with a bunch of EC heads!

• Sabin
• NerdJosh
• Chris Hu
• SuperMin
• Ojay

Streaming live until our fingers fall off!

So if you are anywhere in the tri-state area, you should be at EC Throwdown this weekend. And if you’re in NY I’ll be there Thursday, part of Friday, Monday and Tuesday at various crack sessions so if you’re in there, I’ll see you there!

ALSO! It looks like I’m going straight from the airport to the Team Spooky location for some high-quality streaming of some high-quality matches. So check out their site or follow me on Twitter for updates.

So go listen to the podcast and check out the site!

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[MP3] 36min – 17mb

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Losers Finals

Grand Finals

All you have to do is sign up and we’ll send you an email with info about how to get in on the next session. It’s probably going to be first come first serve, just so you know.

Here are some videos from the first session:

And here’s on on Ibuki

Looking forward to more great videos from these guys, they really help me learn what I need to know quickly and efficiently.

Ed is learning Juri and I’m sticking with Guile. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

New Ultras demo video in case you haven’t seen them all:

Interview with us:

Dudley vs. Deejay

Let me know what kinds of videos you want to see. Gameplay? Tutorials? Combos? Execution?

We didn’t want to both play new characters at the same time for this particular match because we thought it would be better to show one of our mains and one new character in each match. So I apologize in advance for my shitty Dudley play, we had more exciting matches after I learned the character better. But either way, it was ridiculously fun to get to play it early (it’s not important exactly when we played, but needless to say it was WAY before the torrent leak and the street date breaking Gamestops). Thank you to Machinima for having us, we had a blast, and if I’m not mistaken, there are more videos on the way. Enjoy!

Update: MOAR VIDS!

This video has training mode footage of us trying various combos/setups with Dudley, DeeJay and more:

Box Arena Session Tournament this Thursday 4/22/10

Box Arena Sessions "Special Edition"

The Box Arena has decided to host a farewell Street Fighter 4 event! We know that there is a lot going on this weekend and with Super SF4 coming out poor old Vanilla will be left behind 
That being said, we thought this would also be a great opportunity to help a loved community member in need. This event will be taking place on a Thursday and 100% of all buy ins + a charitable donation from The Box Arena Members + 10% of all sales made by Frubble Tea House during the event will be going directly to Chris Hu. MadCatz will be donating some merchandise for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners as well as some thing(s) to raffle. Please take note that there is no cash prizes to be won at this event and it is for fun and love of the community!

The above was quoted from their official post on the website. Click here to get more info!

Schedule:
4PM – 3v3 SF4
5PM – SF4 Singles

Part I

Part II

The most exclusive tournament in the country is back and you can watch it live and in person this Sunday at Jake’s Burgers & Billards in Pasadena, CA.  As you may recall, Jake’s was the home of Bar Fights I and II and we are excited to have another SF4 event there.

The first round matches are:

• Shizza (Chun Li) vs. Keno (Balrog) – LA Riots I rematch: Keno – 1, Shizza – 1
• Kai (El Fuerte) vs. Combofiend (Abel/Cammy) – LA Riots I & II rematch: Combofiend – 1, Kai – 1
• Mike Ross (E. Honda) vs. Hugo101 (M. Bison) – Bar Fights @ Hooters rematch
• OnlineTony (Seth) vs. Ken I (Rufus/Akuma)

Prizes
1st Place gets $500 cash
2nd 3rd and 4th get Mad Catz Fight Sticks
5th-8th get to try again next time!

When

Sunday, March 28th – Doors at 5PM, Tournament at 7PM

Where

Jake’s Burgers & Billiards
38 W. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena CA 91105

View Larger Map

Tickets

Special Note:
All players that entered the LA Riots III Qualifiers at Family Fun Arcade on February 15th or 26th receive TWO free tickets. If you are one of those players and would like to come, please send an email to lariots@gootecks.com and we’ll put you on the Guest List.

Hi-Res Poster

If you would like to download and print out your very own gorgeous high-res LA Riots III poster by camiwins, click the image below:

(7.83 MB – JPG)

Flash Metroid (C. Viper) vs. Marn (C. Viper)

Flash Metroid (C. Viper) vs. Marn (Sagat)

Download

here

It was a lot of fun and a pretty big deal for me personally because I’ve been watching shows on Rev3 since the early episodes of Diggnation. So check it out, my segment starts at 7:05.

SF4 in MLG will mean more prize money for players which means more players that play full-time and that means better competition overall. So you can say what you want about them, but the fact of the matter is that money talks and increases competition.

Sign the petition here, it only takes a sec!

Arcade Infinity Ranking Battle #3.4

scottind, the man behind the Arcade Infinity YouTube Channel has decided to make the most recent AI Ranking Battle from last weekend available as a download as well as his usual upload to YouTube.

The matches included are:
Combojack (Sagat) vs. Ken I (Akuma)
Richard Nguyen (Sagat) vs. Evil Elvis (Sagat)
Kai (El Fuerte) vs. Hugo101 (M. Bison)
Keno (Balrog) vs. Hugo101 (M. Bison)
Keno (Balrog) vs. Ken I (Rufus)
Ken I (Rufus) vs. Mike Ross (E. Honda)
Combojack (Sagat) vs. Keno (Balrog)
Combojack (Sagat) vs. Ken I (Akuma)
Mike Ross (Blanka, Ken, E. Honda) vs. Combojack (Sagat)

There is also commentary by myself and AI commentary fan-favorite Sanchez!

Download via Bit Torrent

Rather than watching all of the videos on YouTube one by one, you can download all of the matches together in one big file via Bit Torrent.

Watch

Winners Bracket: Ken I (Rufus) vs. Combojack (Sagat/Ryu)

Note: The first of two matches between these two, who faced each other in AI Ranbat #3.3 in Losers Finals.

Losers Bracket: Kai (El Fuerte) vs. Hugo101 (M. Bison)

Note: Loser Ties for 7th

Losers Bracket: Evil Elvis (Sagat) vs. Richard Nguyen (Sagat)

Note: Evil Elvis’ first appearance in Top 8 at AI. Loser Ties for 7th

Losers Bracket: Hugo101 (M. Bison) vs. Keno (Balrog)

Note: Rematch from LA Riots Gatekeeper Qualifier #1, loser gets 5th Place.

Winners’ Finals: Mike Ross (E. Honda) vs. Ken I (Rufus)

Note: Great match, surprise ending!

Losers’ Finals: Ken I (Akuma) vs. Combojack (Sagat, Ryu)

Note: Rematch from Losers Finals of Ranbat #3.3. Loser gets 3rd Place.

Grand Finals: Mike Ross (E. Honda) vs. Combojack (Sagat)

Note: Mike goes through a myriad of characters to go up against Jack. Jack must win two sets of 2/3 to win the tournament.

Results

Top 8:
1. Combojack (Sagat) +8pts
2. Mike Ross (Honda, Ken, Blanka) +7pts
3. Ken I (Rufus, Akuma) +6pts
4. Keno (Balrog, Sagat) +5pts
5. Hugo101 (Bison, Rufus) +3pts
5. Evil Elvis (Sagat) +3pts
7. Richard Nguyen (Sagat) +1pt
7. Kai (El Fuerte) +1pt

Updated Point Tally
30 – ComboJack
15 – Keno
14 – Ken I
13 – Mike Ross
8 – Hugo 101
8 – Gootecks
7 – Kai
7 – Mr. KOF
6 – Joe Dubbs
6 – Vicious
4 – Richard Nguyen
3 – Dj Divine
3 – Killa Kai
3 – Combofiend
3 – UmeShoryu
1 – Coffee
1 – Ironfist
1 – E$

Arcade Infinity is located at:
1380 Fullerton Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748-1248

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If you would like to submit a question, send it to justinwong@empirearcadia.com.

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Special Warzone Hotel promo: Get free internet access if you book by March 12th! Rooms are $89 a night with group code: WCWWCWA. See you guys there!

Hey Guys i’m posting the next episode of Question Fighter 4 here with episode 6. This question comes from a Viper player in Texas.

How do you surpass your own ability when one lives in such a small fighting game community?

If you would like to submit a question, send it to justinwong@empirearcadia.com.

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So sit tight, there’s lots of stuff on the backburner and I apologize if you were really looking forward to Saturday as I was. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive, this really came out of nowhere, but it’s nice to see that people were as disappointed as I am about this turn of events.

Where exactly do you stop analyzing and begin to condition your opponent during a battle?

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Should I be able to hold my own online in laggy conditions?

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I wanna be a pro gamer but no one supports me at all! Do you have any advice, Justin?

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• Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Shizza (Chun Li)
• Ken I (Rufus)
• Kai (El Fuerte)
• Justin Wong (Rufus) – Qualifier #1
• Mike Ross (E. Honda) – Qualifier #1

When: February 26th at 6PM (Facebook)

Rules

• beat both Gatekeepers and get into the Qualifier Tournament in Winners’ Bracket
• beat one Gatekeeper and get into the Qualifier Tournament in Losers’ Bracket
• beat neither Gatekeepers and you get to try again next time
• 5th-8th Place of LA Riots 1 & 2 get free entry into the Qualifier Tournament in Winners’ Bracket (ComboJack, Jayce the Ace, ShadyK, Yeb, Combofiend, Keno, gootecks)

Prize

1st and 2nd Place receive invitations to LA Riots III, the most exclusive high-level SF4 event in the country.

Registration

The tournament entry fee is $10 and if you beat both Gatekeepers, you win $10. Pre-registration is available! Capped at 24 players.

The following players can enter the qualifier for free because they are past LA Riots Players:

• ComboJack
• ShadyK
• Jayce the Ace
• Keno
• Yeb
• Combofiend

Location

Family Fun Arcade

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Facebook

If you are planning to enter or just come watch, please RSVP on the Facebook event page and check out our page:
LA Riots

What are your thoughts on El Fuerte? What are you looking out for when playing Fuerte?

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Topics tonight: Schools spying on kids, FCC-mandated superfast interwebs, no more porn apps on the iPhone App store.

Today’s question is from Robert from SoCal!

What do you do against Zangief with Rufus?

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Pre-Order Super Street Fighter 4

• Beat one of the Gatekeepers and get into the Losers Bracket
• Beat both of the Gatekeepers and get into the Winners Bracket

The only players to beat both were OnlineTony213 and Hugo101. Here are videos of both:

Hugo101 (M. Bison) vs. Keno (Balrog) [1/2]

Hugo101 (M. Bison) vs. Keno (Balrog) [2/2]

OnlineTony213 (Seth) vs. Keno (Balrog)

Two players beat one Gatekeeper, Joon & Warahk:
Joon (Ken) vs. Mike Ross (E. Honda)

Warahk (Guile) vs. Mike Ross (E. Honda)

Here is a channel of all the videos or watch them in this player:

More to come including the 8-man bracket featuring Justin Wong & Combofiend!

FTA:

Justin went 4-0 in the tournament, but the only time he swept a match (plus-4) was in the finals against Mike. And oh my goodness, I hope you all get to see the video where somehow Justin busts out an ultra a split second after Mike does a torpedo, from close range. This wasn’t an across-the-screen move; it was almost point blank.

Also, he has a great breakdown of how many games were won/lost by Gatekeepers Keno and Mike Ross. Thanks for an awesome recap Glenn!

Thanks to IGN.com for the Screenies

This isn’t even a rumor. Capcom is OFFICIALLY bringing SFIV to the iPhone and iPod touch as a push to promote the console release of Super Street Fighter IV. And according to IGN.com and confirmed by Capcom’s twitter feed, Street Fighter IV for the iPhone isn’t some cheesy port, ready to disappoint handheld gamers, but a beautiful translation of our favorite fighter that won’t disappoint.

Thanks to IGN.com for the Screenies

The iPhone version, even from the sceenshots, looks great. Multiplayer over Bluetooth too! Moneymatches have never been easier.

As for controls, IGN gives us some hope:

Now, hardcore gamers coming into Street Fighter IV with lofty expectations are understandably concerned about whether or not Capcom’s virtual pad will offer the same, precise controls needed to truly master the game. That’s fair because to competitive players, Street Fighter is a contest of exactness and finesse. To alleviate worries, Capcom offers a number of control configurations so players can find their favorite position, button transparency, and set-up. Street Fighter IV also includes a Dojo Mode for training, giving you ample opportunity to get used to the controls before heading into a tournament or into a multiplayer match.

With Apple’s launch of the iPad coming at the same time as Capcom’s release of SFIV, could we possibly expect a full version of Street Fighter IV for the iPad?

All I’m saying is that Madcatz better get on a Fightstick with a 30-Pin connector. Seriously, MarkMan, get on it.

If you haven’t read the rules already, please do so here. I believe I have created a fair and efficient system, where the best players are rewarded for their skill and recent wins, but it’s fairly complex so please read it!

LA Riots III will be held Saturday March 6th, so if you get 1st or 2nd place, you’re invited to go up against Top 4 from LA Riots II:

• Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Shizza (Chun Li)
• Ken I (Rufus)
• Kai (El Fuerte)

Prizes
1st Place: LA Riots III invitation & special guest on [GTFO.tv] on Monday night at 10PM and +10 points.
2nd Place: LA Riots III invitation & special guest appearance on [GTFO.tv] on Monday night at 10PM and +7 points.
3rd Place: +4 points
4th Place: +1 point

The points accumulated will be used for LA Riots IV Qualifiers in April, where one invite will be given to whoever has the most points that doesn’t already have a spot. This will come in handy if you got into LA Riots once and then got eliminated because you’ll still retain the points you’ve earned in the Qualifiers.

The players invited back to LA Riots III are the Top 4 placers from LA Riots II last month:

• Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Shizza (Chun Li)
• Ken I (Rufus)
• Kai (El Fuerte)

That means there are four spots remaining and these will be filled by having two qualifying tournaments:
- Monday February 15 (President’s Day Holiday) at Family Fun Arcade
- Friday February 26 at Family Fun Arcade

Schedule

1PM – Registration & Warmups
2PM – Gatekeeper Pool Play
5PM – LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

Family Fun Arcade is located at:
10363 Balboa Blvd
Granada Hills CA 91344

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HOW TO QUALIFY

You must win 1st or 2nd Place in either Qualifier in order to secure your spot in LA Riots III.

In the interest of promoting efficiency and effectiveness, we are using a custom format developed specifically for LA Riots.

The LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

The Qualifier Tournament is FREE to enter and only available to the following players:

Entry into the Qualifier is FREE for LA Riots I and II players as well as Gatekeepers.

The LA Riots A-Tier Gatekeeper System

Gatekeeper: A player that was eliminated (5th-8th place) in either of the two most recent LA Riots tournaments.

Qualifier #1 Gatekeepers: Keno (eliminated from LA Riots II) & Mike Ross (eliminated from LA Riots I)

Entrants will be placed in the bracket based on how well they do in the LA Riots Gatekeeper System.

The Gatekeeper System consists of a reverse round robin format, whereby each entrant plays a standard 2 out of 3 game set with Gatekeepers A and B. Gatekeeper A plays each entrant of Pool A, while Gatekeeper B plays each entrant of Pool B. Once everyone has played their match with their Pool’s Gatekeeper, the Gatekeepers switch and play the entrants of the opposite Pool, resulting in each entrant playing one 2 out of 3 game set with each Gatekeeper.

Possible Outcomes

Defeating both Gatekeepers results in getting placed in the Winners Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament and a refund of your entry fee.

Defeating one Gatekeeper results in placement in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament.

Defeating neither Gatekeeper results in NO PLACEMENT in the Qualifier Tournament.

Example: Johnny Donuts decides to try his luck against the best of the best. He is in Pool A waits his turn and goes up against Mike Ross and loses. After everyone else in his pool plays Mike, they move on to play Keno, where his luck turns around and he wins. Johnny Donuts is now in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier, where if he loses once more he is eliminated completely. If he makes it to Grand Finals, he has secured his spot in LA Riots III.

LA Riots S-Tier Gatekeeper System

S-Tier Gatekeepers: Justin Wong & gootecks

The S-Tier Gatekeeper System is geared toward fans of LA Riots and those who are interested in having an exclusive session with Justin Wong and myself. It is limited to only 8 players and the format will be adjusted as follows:

Each entrant gets TWO 2 out of 3 sets with both Gatekeepers for a total of 4 sets, which means you get double the chances of the other entrants.

Additionally, each entrant receives the special bonus noted below:

Possible Outcomes

Defeating both S-Tier Gatekeepers results in getting placed in the Winners Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament and a refund of your entry fee.

Defeating one S-Tier Gatekeeper results in placement in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament.

Defeating neither S-Tier Gatekeeper results in NO PLACEMENT in the Qualifier Tournament.

WATCH LA RIOTS III IN STUDIO

Each entrant in the S-Tier Gatekeeper System will receive an exclusive ticket to be a part of the studio audience for LA Riots III. You cannot buy these, this is the only way for you to see LA Riots III live in studio!

Schedule

1PM – Registration & Warmups
2PM – Gatekeeper Pool Play
5PM – LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

Prizes

1st and 2nd place in the Qualifier win spots in LA Riots III on March 6 and will be featured as special guests on GTFO.tv at 10PM immediately after the Qualifier. There is no cash prize because LA Riots III is where you can win the cash! In addition, Top 4 will also receive points as follows:

1st – 10pts
2nd – 7pts
3rd – 4pts
4th – 1pt

These points will be used for LA Riots IV in April, where one of the four spots available is filled by the player with the most LA Riots Qualifier points who hasn’t already secured a spot.

Reserve Your Spot

The entry fee is $25 to play the S-Tier Gatekeepers and only $10 to play the A-Tier Gatekeepers. Remember that defeating both Gatekeepers gets you a refund of your entry fee!

For those that are not familiar, KSK is one of the best Alex players in 3rd Strike history in addition to owning Gamer’s Vision, one of the best arcades for fighting games (both 3s and SF4), where they host and stream the God’s Garden tournaments.

FTA:

iPW: What do Japanese players think about Super and will they continue to play SF4 if it is console only?

KSK: I think they are looking forward to see SSF4 and play SSF4 in the arcade. The fact that SSF4 won’t be in arcades, some players may keep on playing SF4. For instance, even though SF4 for console is now released, arcade players keep on playing SF4 in arcades — they don’t think of Cammy, Sakura and other console characters when they think about Street Fighter 4.

What it comes down to, and why they choose to play SF4 in arcades is that there’s something to play for. Now, there are so many events for the players — Super Battle Opera, Nagoya Street Battle and Godsgarden. There are so many people and events to give a boost to arcades, but when they disappear, SF4 in arcades will disappear. Obviously no one wants things to be like that, so I decided to organize Godsgarden.

Check out the rest of the article on I Play Winner and visit God’s Garden and follow them on Twitter: @godsgarden_jp

Topics today: Lady Gaga & the BlazBlue Continuum Shift leak!

Special Street Fighter 4 Secrets Promo

UGTL is having another one of their kickass events on Saturday and WOW, it’s written about on the LA Times web site! Not quite sure when the last time competitive Street Fighter was written about on the LA Times (which means I don’t think it ever has), so high fives to them and Alex Valle for being quoted on the article as well as our friends at Get Your Tournament.

From the article:

The event, equal parts party and competition, starts at 2 p.m. with a three-hour open bar (there’s a $10 cover), a taco truck, DJs, artists and retailers, and it goes on until about 10 p.m., when a victor is crowned (and paid). There is also a separate $10 registration fee, from which the last UGTL winner was awarded $350. More people are expected to enter Saturday, and the pot will grow.

There’s a lot going on,” Marquez said. “There’s music, there’s art to look at — I did it to make sure I appealed to everyone and to everyone’s five senses.” There will even be a casual gaming lounge hosted by gaming site Get Your Tournament, where old-school games can be played on original Nintendo or Sega systems.

Please Digg the article if you’re a Digg user, thanks!

They are adding an all-female tournament to the roster and so the controversy begins. You may remember that over the summer, Arcade Infinity hosted the first Ladies of SF tournament and that was all fun and good but ultimately, nothing really came of it after it was over.

Gaming industry expert Jared Rea has a really interesting blog post about the whole thing that pretty much sums up the way I see it. From the article:

While I can sort of understand the idea of nobility behind wanting to open the door to female Street Fighter players by giving them an accessible taste of what competitive play is all about, at the same time you’re essentially regulating them to a sideshow in the worse sense of the word. You’re saying that because they were born with a vagina, they’re clearly inferior and not competent enough to compete with the boys and this type of thinking — whether its intended or not — is bullshit and a slap to the face to all the women currently playing the game to even suggest this.

Head over to his site to read the full article:
Foxy Boxing: A Terrible Idea Then…

Also, Shoryuken and Evo co-founder inkblot has posted a thread on SRK about it.

UPDATE: After thinking about it, I have a suggestion and haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else. It’s so obivous now in retrospect, I don’t know why I didn’t think about it sooner. But in my opinion, if you really want girls to enter, you have to treat them like any other target market you’re trying to cater to: you give them a discount to try your product. Maybe the solution is to have some sort of “ladies get in for half price” type of promotion like you would see at a nightclub. That way, they’re getting the same product and experience and they aren’t being put in the spotlight or objectified and they are competing with the same level of players as everyone else which solves the equality problem.

New podcast!  Quick background: Justin Wong has been doing Q&A on his web site for the past several months.  Judging by the length of some of his past entries, it seemed like it took a lot of time, so I thought it would be easier if I just read him the questions and he answered them.  Here are some of the topics that made it:

• “who is your favorite streetfighter 4 character and why?” – Thurman Mitchell
• “What does Rufus do in the Balrog matchup besides get owned? How do you and Gootecks approach this match?” – Blacks
• “I’m wondering what you’re working specifically to win against Daigo. Of course you’re hungry to beat him. Do you see weaknesses in your game that are holding you back from defeating him? Maybe looking into other character matchups that will give you the edge? ” – fooyee
• “A while ago, I believe there was going to be a documentary about you called “King of Chinatown”, what happened to that? I was pretty psyched about it, is it still going to be release? In dvd? I’ll buy it if it comes out.” – Derek Ren
• “If you could divide the high level players into different arch-types according to their style of play, what would be those arch-types? How one can find out which arch-type he is and find a suitable character for it?” – Nadav N

If you want to send Justin a question, please send it to justinwong@empirearcadia.com.

Enjoy!  Oh and here is a picture of Momochi:

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For those that didn’t know, I do a show on Monday nights on TheStream.tv with @camiwins and @2kamra where we talk about e-pop culture! This weeks topics include Tesla’s $465 million loan from the government, hacked PS3s and reduced RIAA filesharing fines. And when I say this week’s topics, I mean those were the topics that I brought to the show. No, it’s not really Street Fighter related, but you did come to gootecks.com and gootecks is in this one.

If you missed LA Riots II this past weekend, here’s your chance to catch all the action you didn’t get to see!  LA Riots II is now available to download in its entirety!  LA Riots is the most exclusive tournament in the country, only 8 players are invited, Top 4 from LA Riots I and Top 4 from Bar Fights @ Hooters last month.

Players

1. Combofiend (Abel)
2. Keno (Balrog)
3. Kai (El Fuerte)
4. Shizza (Chun Li)
5. Alex Valle (Ryu)
6. Ken I (Rufus)
7. Yeb (Gen)
8. Jayce The Ace (C. Viper)

First Round Matches

So as to not spoil any of the results for those who enjoy the suspense, I’ll only list the first round matches so you don’t know who wins or loses.

1. Combofiend vs. Jayce the Ace
2. Shizza vs. Ken I
3. Kai vs. Alex Valle
4. Keno vs. Yeb

Photos

Thank you to Kelly Bracha from GYTNews for these pics!  You can view more on her flickr.

[View with PicLens]

Distribution Methods

As I mentioned in the LA Riots I post, we are trying out different distribution models for LA Riots and this is an opportunity to try another one.  I found out yesterday that there is a 3 GB file size limit for all the torrents on MiniNova.  LA Riots II is 3.4 GB, putting it well over the limit.  Because of that, LA Riots is available to download in two forms: free via Bit Torrent and via direct download for $2.99. If you don’t want to download the whole thing, it’ll be on YouTube soon so sit tight.

Free Bit Torrent Download

As with LA Riots I, Bar Fights II and Arturo vs. Daigo: Match of 2009, LA Riots II is available for download via Bit Torrent for free.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, the file size limit is 3GB, so I had to split it into two torrents.
Download Part I
Download Part II

Direct Download

Also available for your convenience is a direct download option for $2.99, which means you:

• don’t have to mess around with the downsides of Bit Torrent (firewalls, slow download speeds, BT clients)
• get LA Riots II in one big file instead of having to wait to download it from two separate torrents
• directly support LA Riots and help us cover our costs which will allow us to do future LA Riots events

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Unexpected results, great matches and plenty of surprises, LA Riots 2 was quite a show!  Here are the quick results:

1. Alex Valle (Ryu)
2. Shizza (Chun Li)
3. Ken I (Rufus)
4. Kai (El Fuerte)

Those players are invited back for LA Riots III which will be announced soon.

5. Combofiend
5. Keno
7. Yeb
7.  Jayce the Ace

These players are eliminated and won’t be in LA Riots III unless they make Top 4 at the next Bar Fights qualifying tournament which will be announced soon as well.  :)

Shizza had a great run, defeating Ken I in winners and losers bracket as well as LA Riots I winner Combofiend.  Combofiend was then eliminated by Kai’s El Fuerte, extracting some revenge for losing to Combofiend last time.

Jayce the Ace, who was a last minute addition, subbing in for Shady K, put on a good show but unfortunately went 2 and out against Combofiend and Ken I.  Yeb also went 2 and out, losing to Keno in winners.  Thanks to those guys for playing, better luck next time!

Wrap-Up Posts & Images

Please check out Xensin’s flickr for pictures and Coin-Op TV for their wrap-up.  Thank you to TheStream.tv for having us, Coin-Op TV for production assistance and interviews and Mad Catz for kindly providing stick prizes for the winners!  :)

Thank you to everyone who watched at home, our numbers were huge!  LA Riots III info coming soon!

Combofiend Winning For A Second Time

Alex Valle’s Debut

San Diego’s Yeb Invades LA Riots!

Our Hero, Ken I

Anyways, Ken I is back again on LA Riots after going 0-2 and getting eliminated from the tournament last time.  He regained his spot by getting 2nd Place at Bar Fights @ Hooters last month, and was narrowly defeated by Alex Valle.  Last time he tried out his Akuma, but he’s been playing his original main Rufus ever since so he is definitely one to watch!

Jayce The Ace

LA Riots, SoCal’s most exclusive high-level tournament, is back again for round 2!  This time, we have three new competitors, as well as five returning ones to complete the line-up (and one guy who got eliminated and then got his spot back!).

New Players

The new additions to the LA Riots line-up were the Top 4 finalists from Bar Fights @ Hooters last month, where Alex Valle, SoCal’s #1 player, defeated Our Hero Ken I, the Legend of the Orange Sweatshirt to win his spot at LA Riots II.

Also joining them, from way down south, San Diego’s favorite sons ShadyK and Yeb!  ShadyK, who teamed up with LA Riots I competitor and Arcade Infinity Ranking Battle Season 3 point leader ComboJack this past weekend at The Box Arena’s Duael 2v2 and placed 2nd out of 42 other teams. His Akuma placed 5th at Evo 2009, so we’re really excited for his LA Riots debut!

Yeb beasted his way to LA Riots II by placing 4th at Bar Fights @ Hooters last month, beating out over 60 other competitors with his infamous Gen to secure his spot at LA Riots II.

Returning Players

Ken I, who went 0-2 last time with Akuma and was eliminated, is back because he got 2nd Place at Bar Fights @ Hooters last month. His Rufus came really close to beating Alex Valle’s Ryu in the Grand Finals, but ultimately Valle clutched it out for the win.

LA Riots I winner Combofiend, is back to defend his title and see if he can make it two LA Riots wins in a row with Abel. He and Valle teamed up this past weekend at The Box Arena’s Duael 2v2 to win the whole thing. Thank you to The Box Arena for letting me do commentary with Viscant and Killer Kai, it was a lot of fun as always! If you haven’t been to one of The Box Arena’s events at the Miramar Speed Circuit, you should go because in addition to a fun tournament, there is also go kart racing, which is where the Our Hero, Ken I image came from.

Keno has been doing well for himself recently, placing 7th with teammate Mike Ross this weekend at Duael. Last time he was sleep-deprived from The Specialists event at House of Cicada in Moreno Valley, CA and STILL managed to get 2nd, losing only to Combofiend with Balrog.

Kai’s El Fuerte is sure to be a crowd pleaser, as he had an exciting run last time, defeating Shizza’s Chun Li and Combojack’s Sagat to finish 3rd. He recently got 4th place this weekend at Arcade Infinity’s Ranking Battle #3.2, beating out over 50 other competitors, including Ken I, owning him pretty hard with a double Perfect in Top 8, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

Finally, Shizza, the up and comer from the inner city, is back with his Chun Li. He placed Top 8 at the Bar Fights @ Hooters tournament and he is the only pad player on the line-up. If you play on pad in favor of a joystick, this kid should be your role model!

Live On Saturday at 2PM

We’ll be streaming live on TheStream.tv, starting at 2PM. If you missed the first LA Riots, you can download the first half via Bit Torrent or Hotfile.

Commentary will be provided by myself, Mike Ross and West Coast Warzone co-director John Rog!

Thanks for submitting this article, Brock! Looked fun, wish I coulda been there, but at least I got to play the following day in the Mad Catz suite!
–gootecks

The  Super Street Fighter IV Capcom Fight Club, held inside a private suite at Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, was the first hype event of 2010. An invite only event, many familiar faces in the fighting game industry were in attendance, including Seth Killian, Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar, Mike Watson, DJ Wheat, Justin Wong, and Super Street Fighter IV producer himself, Yoshinori Ono.

The night started off quickly, when all of the patiently waiting players were finally let inside the suite. After entering, every person there was rushing to a station to play the latest build of Super Street Fighter 4. It seemed as the first thing everyone wanted to do was try out the new Ultra combos. The selectable Ultra system is very similar to the Super Arts in Third Strike. After selecting your character, you are given a choice as to which Ultra Combo you want to use. It seemed as though all the new Ultras had a purpose beyond doing major damage. For example, Abel’s new Ultra is a throw Ultra, that has armor on it, and can be held for a few seconds until the Abel player decides to release the Ultra upon his opponent. It seems it can be used as a very nice anti air or after baiting what would normally be a safe poke. Another example would be Blanka’s new Ultra, “Shout of Earth.” There are two versions of the attack that can be chosen by the buttons you press. By using a 3p version, the move becomes a very solid anti-air attack that hits in full, and can be held down and release at a time of the players choosing. The other version is an “anti-ground” attack (and it literally says that in the command list!). That version of the move can actually punish fireballs at fullscreen!

The main event of the night was the first Super Street Fighter IV tournament held by Capcom. Just about everyone in the room was competing in the tournament. Some of the braver players used new characters, while other we’re more conservative and stuck with their main characters from the original Street Fighter 4. The tournament was very competitve, but in the end, two Las Vegas locals were in the finals. Daniel aka ruiN and Todd aka Rice151. The match was best 3/5 games. After a quick 2-1 lead by ruiN, Rice151 made a clutch comeback with great footsies and was constantly pressuring ruiN’s Akuma and forcing him into the corner. In the end, ruiN put up a great fight, but Rice’s Balrog was too much, and he completed the comeback to win the first official Super Street Fighter IV tournament.

The entire event was amazing to be at. Hype matches and new Ultras were all around, as well as smiles and laughs. Capcom is definately making the right steps for Super Street Fighter IV. There were already lot’s of tweaks to almost every character, but the main gameplay component that seems to be new to Super IV, was that connecting an Ultra Combo off of a focus attack dash cancel seemed to almost cut the damage of the Ultra by about a fourth of the total damage, or maybe even more. Sagat has the ability to connect his new Ultra, the Tiger Cannon from Tiger Uppercut xx FADC xx Ultra. When the Tiger Cannon hits by itself, without using a FADC to connect it, the Ultra seems to hit for about 500 damage. When it was used and after canceling with a FADC from Tiger Uppercut, the damage was noticeably smaller. Could this be one of the nerfs applied to Sagat? When I asked Seth Killian if this was a new feature to the game, the only reply I got was “Maybe!” with a big smile on Seth’s face.

With that being said, all that can be done for more confirmation on new game features, is to wait patiently. There are still four new characters yet to be revealed, and several months before Super Street Fighter IV is expected to be released. The build that was played at the Fight Club was far from finished, and much more will be done with Super IV before it’s release date. Keep up to date with gootecks.com and the other great Street Fighter related sites out there like I Play Winner and Event Hubs!

As you may have noticed, I’m not posting a whole lot of screenshots and info on SSF4 because frankly, that’s I Play Winner and Event Hubs‘ department, not mine and they do a way better job than me at that stuff. Also, I can’t really stand the anticipation, so I try to ignore it as much as possible because I WANT THIS GAME TO COME OUT ALREADY!

That said, holy crap! Finally something worth posting! New wacky costumes, finally debuting selectable Ultras, Ryu’s Shin Metsus Shoryu!! ad;lkfjas;dlkfja;sldkfj;alskdjf;lakdfj!!

High five to the creator, polarity55, for making these wacky vids. Apparently there is a thread in the Tech Talk forums on SRK that explains how to do this with a hex editor, but SRK is down right now so I can’t link you.

More vids after the jump including some crazy Guile videos…

In this match, Arturo challenges Daigo to a $100 money match, first to five wins. This was the same day as the Evo Street Fighter 4 finals, where Daigo went on to beat Justin Wong in the Grand Finals to win the whole tournament, beating out the 1,000+ other competitors.

What makes this match so special is that it’s not a tournament match so the set is longer, there are no cameras flashing, no stage, no sponsors, no multi-thousand dollar prize pot, no nothing. Just two of the best players in the world playing a set for a hundred bucks. This is what it’s all about.

Download the full video in 720p after the jump…

For anybody whose aspiring to be the best they can be, think about this match in 2010 when you’re going up against your toughest competitor. It proves that it doesn’t matter who you’re up against, winning is never impossible and always within reach with enough patience, determination and knowledge.

How To Download

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Credits

Also, for those wondering, the video was shot edited by Ian Cofino, the creator of I Got Next, with the help of Jason Oestreicher from Interactive Distractions.

ALSO INCLUDED! Matchup Analysis by Arturo

Listen to Arturo break down the match and discover how he was able to beat Daigo.  We talk about the following topics:

• the mentality of going up against one of the best in the world
• Proper Ryu vs. Dhalsim spacing
• How to stop Daigo’s Focus Attacks
• Adapting during the match
• Baiting out uppercuts
• Key points in the match that won it for him
• Daigo’s awesome Fireball game
• Daigo’s biggest weakness
• Being down 4-3
• Throwing EX Fireballs
• and more!

Arturo is also on Twitter: @nycfurby

Topics covered include:

• Dreamhack Winter 2009
• The overall lack of players in Sweden
• How to level up when you have little competition in the area

Video from the Dreamhack Finals, pics from Sweden and download links after the jump…

Apologies for the poor audio quality, only had one mic to work with,  my bad.  :( If you’re living in Sweden and aren’t playing at Dragon’s Lair or didn’t know there was a community for SF4, you definitely need to check out Bitter Harmony, Sweden’s fighting game portal.

Here is the Top 4 from Dreamhack Winter ‘09, where Yagami got 3rd:

Here are some pics from Sweden:

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[MP3] 43min – 12mb

If you like what you hear, all you have to do is subscribe to his mailing list to get his most recent album for free!


For those in the LA area, he’s performing at Bar Sinister in Hollywood on January 16th which is also the date of LA Riots II. I’ll be there for sure afterwards (can you say after party?!), so maybe I’ll see some of you there.

As part of our upcoming 3-year anniversary next month, we’ll be hosting a two-game tournament on Dec. 19 at Denjin Arcade in Simi Valley.

The first game is Street Fighter IV; it’ll be a double-elimination tournament. Entry fee is $5, and we’ll do a 70/20/10 payout to the top three finishers. The other game will be Mario Kart Wii. The entry fee is $1 and it’s only a single-elimination tournament, with winner-take-all.

We’ll have a cake and some other goodies to share with everyone that comes to the tournament. You won’t go hungry if you show up early.

I’ll be there, see you guys there! RSVP on Facebook if you’re going.

Dreamhack Winter 2009

This podcast was recorded at Dreamhack Winter 2009 last month in Sweden after the SF4 tournament which Ryan Hart won.  I asked him and the UK’s other SF4 shining star Zak Bennet to be on the show to talk about how things have changed since 3rd Strike, the future of SF4, the Dreamhack tourney, etc. This tournament was pretty epic in terms of scope and prize money with about $7500 on the line and Swedish TV broadcasting the event.

For those who aren’t too familiar with the UK scene, Ryan Hart and Zak are the UK’s best players and I’ve had them on my show way back when they came out to Evo 2008 last summer so it’s good to catch up with them again.  Anyhow, topics of the show include:

• limitations of SF4
• esports teams
• impact of Dreamhack & big money tourneys
• training mode tips

Vids, pics and download links after the jump…

Here is a video from SVT, one of Sweden’s government-funded public TV channels (think of it as their CBS, NBC, ABC, etc), who broadcasted all of the esports finals including SF4 (which camiwins and I did the commentary for onstage, but unfortunately they didn’t use our audio, they had the Swedes commentate in their own language lol)

Click here to check out the rest of the esports finals videos on the SVT site.

SF4 Results:

1. Ryan Hart
2. Xian from Singapore
3. Yagami from Sweden (whose on the next episode of the podcast)
4. Zak Bennet

Where’s The Podcast Been?

Wow it’s been a long time!  Apologies for the hiatus, it’s been quite a while since the last episode.  If you’re wondering how come I haven’t been doing the show, it’s pretty much come down to the following reasons:

• I was burnt out
• I ran out of ideas
• I wasn’t as interested in talking about the game itself anymore

What it all boils down to is that over the past few months I’ve been focused on organizing events, putting out high quality videos and taking SF4 to the next level.  That sucks for everyone who really enjoys the strategy talk but hey, what can I say?  Part of why I enjoyed doing the show is because I enjoyed asking other players how they thought about things and to be honest, at least when it comes to SF4, I felt like I’d done about as much of that as I could.  Not to say that there aren’t other players out there that I could learn from, but talking to someone over Skype just isn’t the same.

I feel like I’ve done a podcast with pretty much everybody in driving distance as I could and so that was one of the things that sprung me into action to record two podcasts, including this one.  The next episode is already recorded and features two more players not in driving distance, Sweden’s #1 and #2 players, Yagami and Skatan Milla.  That’ll be out soon!

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[MP3] 1hr11min – 41mb

Pics by James Bardolph

James Bardolph aka Worst Gief Ever has a comprehensive blog post about the UK guys’ trip to Dreamhack and (surprise) I’m in it, along with my GTFO.tv partner in crime camiwins. Hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing his pics! I guess this also serves as a Dreamhack wrap-up post.

[View with PicLens]

Download links & pics after the jump…

Distribution Methods and Naming Conventions

I’m trying out different distribution methods for LA Riots.  The first is using Bit Torrent to distribute via MiniNova for free and the second is direct downloads via Hotfile.  The advantages of distributing through Bit Torrent and MiniNova are:

• no bandwidth costs
• faster download speeds
• visibility to a new audience

The disadvantages of Bit Torrent are:

• some ISPs throttle Bit Torrent downloads
• sub-optimal download speeds if not configured properly
• requires additional software to download i.e. uTorrent (Windows), Transmission (OS X)

The advantages of distributing through Hotfile are:

• no bandwidth costs for the distributor
• no Bit Torrent knowledge necessary for the downloader
• faster download speeds for premium users

The disadvantages of distributing through Hotfile:

• slower downloads (capped at 150k/s)  for free users
• one download at a time for free users

So that’s the difference.  These are the two methods with which we are able to distribute high quality videos for free at no cost to the downloader.  Other distribution options include DVDs and charging per download, both of which may be additional options in the future.  For now, these seem to be the best methods for distributing free downloads without having to pay for additional bandwidth.

Why Not Just Use YouTube?

YouTube is great for discovering new videos and watching short tutorial/combo videos, but not so good for distributing longer videos.  The goal of LA Riots was to produce a tournament with a run time that people will actually watch (sorry, I refuse to believe that anybody watches all 20 hours of a 2-day tournament).  Due to the 10 minute length limit, YouTube is not the best place to distribute long videos.  Yes, we can cut them up into 10 minute segments, but I want people to have the option to download the videos in a format they can store on their hard drive (h.264) or take with them on their portable devices (iPhone/iPod format).

If people are downloading the videos and adding them to their iTunes/Winamp/whatever library, I feel like they have more staying power and more value because they’ll be treated with the same respect as MP3s and downloaded movies.  In addition, these videos that we are putting out have a fair amount of production effort put into them and so I would rather they be distributed as they were meant to be seen (in one big chunk or sitting, not in 10 minute bites).

Do you prefer:

• one large file release (total runtime is 2hrs30min approximately at about 2GB file size)
• two releases of halves (this part is 871mb, part 2 should be about 950mb)
• weekly releases of approximately 40 minute files
• one large release of the matches cut into individual files

I’m leaning toward the last option so that we would have the files named as such:

gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509 (folder name)

• 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.nfo
• 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.m3u
• 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.sfv
• 01-Intro.m4v
• 02-Keno_(Balrog)_vs_Shizza_(Chun_Li)-wb.m4v
• 03-Kai_(El_Fuerte)_vs_ComboJack_(Sagat)-wb.m4v
• 04-Ken_I_(Akuma)_vs_Combofiend_(Abel)-wb.m4v
• 05-gootecks_(Balrog)_vs_Mike_Ross_(Honda_Zangief)-wb.m4v
• etc etc

WB stands for Winners’ Bracket and LB would stand for Losers’ Bracket.

The naming convention is derived from scene MP3 releases, which I believe are organized and packaged very efficiently and effectively.  The reason for splitting up the matches is very simple.  I’m viewing this event as a “video album” where each track is an individual match, rather than putting out one long album without tracks.  This way you can load them into iTunes, Winamp or whatever you use to watch your videos and be able to transfer them to your portable devices easier.

Of course this is probably going to have to wait until LA Riots II (January 16th, 2010 BTW) or at least until part 2 is finished.

Line-Up

• Keno (Balrog) vs. Shizza (Chun Li)
• Kai (El Fuerte) vs. ComboJack (Sagat)
• Ken I (Akuma) vs. Combofiend (Abel)
• gootecks (Balrog) vs. Mike Ross (E. Honda/Zangief)
• Kai (El Fuerte) vs. Shizza (Chun Li)
• Combofiend (Abel) vs. Mike Ross (Zangief)
• ComboJack (Sagat) vs. Keno (Balrog)

Photos

These photos are from Coin-Op TV

[View with PicLens]

Download

via Bit Torrent

[h.264] 871MB – 1hr20min
[iPhone] 900mb – 1hr20min

via Hotfile in RAR archive format

[h.264] Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
[iPhone] Part 1 - Part 2

Special thank you’s of course to Mad Catz for providing sticks to play on as well as a stick for our Match of the Night Winner, Jason! Also, thank you to Justin Wong and TriForce from Empire Arcadia for coming out as well as San Diego’s The Box Arena crew for coming out and bringing their fiercest competitors, Shady K and Yeb.

Thank you as always to Get Your Tournament, for providing excellent coverage. You can check out an interview Glenn did with the show stealer himself, 15 year old Jayce The Ace.

Full results, pics and vids after the jump…

Results

1. Alex Valle (Ryu)
2. Ken I (Rufus)
3. Shady K (Akuma)
4. Yeb (Gen)
5. Jayce The Ace (C. Viper) <- Match of the Night Bonus winner
5. ComboJack (Sagat)
7. Hugo101 (M. Bison)
7. Shizza (Chun Li)

1st-4th place, in addition to winning the entrance fee pot and bonus $200 pot, also received LA Riots II invitations as well as Hooters gift cards! Actually 5th place got Hooters gift cards too, so thank you to Jeannie from Hooters for making that happen.

This means that the LA Riots II (Saturday January 16th) player lineup is:

• Combofiend (Abel)
• Keno (Balrog)
• Kai (El Fuerte)
• Shizza (Chun Li)
• Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Ken I (Rufus)
• Shady K (Akuma)
• Yeb (Gen)

Photos

Thank you to Kelly from Get Your Tournament for taking these awesome pics! You can check out more of them on her Flickr.

[View with PicLens]

Videos

I apologize for the shitty quality of these. I screwed up the direct HD footage that we recorded, so instead we have the ustream recorded clips. Sorry about that, my bad. More videos on the way as they are uploaded to YouTube.

GRAND FINALS: Alex Valle (Ryu) vs. Ken I (Rufus)

LOSER GETS 4TH: ShadyK (Akuma) vs. Yeb (Gen)

LOSERS FINALS: ShadyK (Akuma) vs. Ken I (Rufus)

LOSER GETS 5TH: ComboJack (Sagat) vs. Yeb (Gen)

*Match of the Night*LOSER GETS 7TH:
Shizza (Chun Li) vs. Jayce the Ace (C. Viper)

LOSER GETS 7TH: ComboJack (Sagat) vs. Hugo 101 (M. Bison)

Just wanted to give a quick preview of the first match from LA Riots this past weekend held at TheStream.tv.  It was an 8-man invitational tournament that we streamed live featuring some of the best players in SoCal!  We are currently in the process of editing the entire video in preparation for a Bit Torrent release, but in the meantime, you can download the first match here to whet your appetite for the rest of the video which will be coming out very soon.

Download link & stream after the jump…

Download

[MP4]   15min – 233MB (via HotFile)

OH YEAAAAH! The LA Riots stream may be the best place to watch matches live, but I’ll be covering the matches liveblog style here on gootecks.com.

Thanks to Coin-Op TV and Evo Energy Drink helping to bring you the LA Riots Street Fighter 4 tournament at the highest quality by TheStream.tv!

Hooters Bar Fight Tournament coming this Friday. West Coast Warzone coming in early April.

That’s right, you can check out all the grainy iPhone photos I can take and all the trash talk you can’t hear on TheStream.tv. Here’s your first sneaky stalker pic of the warm up room.

Pics & live updates after the jump…

UPDATE 2:12pm: Shizza and Keno up first. Alex Valle not going to make it but gootecks is taking his place. I’m about to post some studio pics so you can see how crowded it is in here.

Update 2:14:pm:

Update 2:21 pm: Shizza says he will NEVER give up using the pad. Stream is a bit delayed because “Alex Valley” isn’t showing.

Update 2:28pm: Here’s some studio shots to get a feel for what’s going on:

Update 2:34pm:

Update 2:41pm: Ken I vs Combofiend in the warm up room. Kai almost punched Jared the cameraman in the face.

Update 2:46 pm: There are so many electronic things I feel like my sperm count is lowering. Thank God for Evo Energy Drink, which boost sperm count apparently.

Update 2:50 pm: I love how Combojack always wears a blazer and hunches over. It’s his signature.

Update 2:52 pm: John Rog said Combofiend is the comboiest guy alive. Kai just beat Combojack and says he doesn’t even care.

Update 2:56 pm: Gotta love Ken I’s Hang Loose hat. Mike Ross says he’s playing Abel. Ross and gootecks up right now. Everyone is scared.

3:04 pm: The chairs look extra comfy. Jacket’s off, Ross playing Gief.

3:08 pm: It’s ridiculously cold in this piece. Cameraman Jared is telling Mike Ross and gootecks to stay seated… nothing happened. Jared’s pissed.

3:14 pm: John Rog and gootecks commentating

3:26 pm: The Control Room

3:31 pm: Main Event Set Up

3:35 pm: Warm Up Room

3:39 pm: Spectating

3:46 pm: Mike Ross’s jacket is hurting my eyes.

3:48 pm: gootecks vs Ken I. Ken I playing Akuma, and gootecks promised us an ass whooping if he did. Oh he did, and gootecks is administering punishment. Also, Black Nerd had his Mc Rib. Typical.

3:50 pm: No one is remembering to stay in their seats after the match. Cameraman Jared just gave Ken I the stink eye.

3:55 pm: The talking head guy keeps playing commercials made with GarageBand stock music. Mike Ross and Keno up now. Ross has the jacket back on. Guaranteed he’ll take it off.

4:00 pm Instead of taking off the jacket Ross switches to Gief. I hear button mashing. Is Sagat banned yet? 1 and 1, Keno sticks with Sagat. Mike says it’s  a 12:2 matchup.

4:06 pm With both guys playing their secondary characters, Keno takes loser’s bracket match eliminating Mike Ross 2 -1. Shizza vs gootecks right now.

4:11 pm: If gootecks loses I think he’s going to throw the TE stick through the soundproofing foam. He won’t lose though so bummer. Wanted to see that.

4:14 pm: Kai keeps saying it’s gootecks time. gootecks loses first game to the clock. Two random ultras by Shizza so far. Both players running out the clock.

4:18 pm: Shizza throw the third random Ultra and loses 1st match. “The best part of waking up!” -Kai

4:21 pm: Shizza missed perfect opportunity for wake up Ultra as pointed out by Mike Ross.

4:23 pm: gootecks loses “by a pube” overheard in the spectating lounge by host of The RadNerd Show. Random Ultra wins Shizza the match. Shizza jumps up and screamed “That’s Inner City, Dog!” (Dawg?)

4:25 pm: Keno and Shizza up now. I’m pretty sure the loser of this match takes home a MadCatz Stick. I know Shizza needs one. People keep calling that cat “Pad Warrior Princess.”

4:35 pm: Kai just called the spectators lame for being here. He hurt three people’s feelings. Rolling up to this place, I thought I was going to lose my kidneys. Shady.

4:37 pm: Combofiend and Kai up now.

4:39 pm: Combofiend Interview

4:43 pm: Kai pulls a perfect in 1st game but still loses. Kai loses 2nd game too. Combofiend is saying hurtful words in the interview. Keno vs Kai in Loser’s Finals.

4:58 pm: John Rog is apparently in the Overpass stage. Keno takes Loser’s finals. Kai wins a Round Two TE Stick and never wants to play Keno again.

5:02 pm: Grand finals happening now. Keno has to win 2 sets of 3 out of 5.

5:04 pm: Block string after block string from Keno. “Now we’re playing the game!” -Mike Ross. Combofiend takes 1st  game.
5:05 pm: Combofiend takes game 2. Keno switches to Sagat.

5:09 pm: Combofiend takes it in 3 straight!

Interviewing the Champion.

5:16 pm: Congratulations Combofiend! Such domination on a high quality stream. Get that Torrent!

OH FUCK YEAH!  We have another big Street Fighter 4 event in the making and it’s only two days away!  Sorry for the short notice, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter because you don’t have to do anything but sit back and watch on your computer at 2PM PST on Saturday December 5th.

Full details after the jump…

Who: Myself, Coin-Op TV and Evo Energy Drink are super proud to bring you the very first LA Riots Street Fighter 4 tournament, broadcasted live in super high awesomeness by TheStream.tv!

What: This is going to be an 8-man invitational tournament with a $500 cash prize for the winner!  The players were hand selected by myself and seeing how it’s called LA Riots, only LA players were eligible.  Sorry guys, next time

When: Saturday December 5th at2PM broadcasted live on TheStream.tv

Where: TheStream.tv

Why: To showcase only the best,  most exciting players in Los Angeles!  In my opinion, it’s easier for a wider audience to sit down and watch a shorter event (such as an 8man bracket) from start to finish than it is to watch an alllllll day super long stream.  So the idea is that by cutting away all the preliminary rounds, we’re left with only the 8 best players in Los Angles, which is pretty much who would be left anyways if we ran a big tournament and had all these guys show up.

The confirmed players are:

• Alex Valle (2nd Place NCR, 2nd Place West Coast Warzone, #1 in SoCal)
• Mike Ross (the People’s Champion )
• Combofiend (3rd Place NCR)
• Kai (the most hated man in SF4 and the man who hates SF4 the most)
• Ken I (the Legend of the Orange Sweatshirt)
• Keno (Arcade Infinity Ranking Battle Season 2 Winner)
• ???
• ???

So that’s what’s on the agenda, see you guys Saturday.  :D

Anyways, Top 4 is going to be broadcasted on svt, one of Sweden’s TV channels as well as on the DreamArena site. The remaining four players are:

• Ryan Hart
• Zak “the Beastman” Bennet
• Singapore’s Dreamhack Qualifier (don’t know how to spell his handle)
• Sweden’s #2 ranked player (don’t know how to spell his handle either sorry)

The tournament’s organizers asked me and my GTFO.tv partner in crime camiwins to do commentary on the matches so please check it out at 1:30PM EST today which is very soon.

Here are the links, one of them is bound to work:

• svt
• DreamArena

Enjoy!

The plan is to do more frequent events so that we will have a constant pool of high-level players that can be utilized for even bigger events in the future, such as LA Riots.  Even the WWE has Raw on every Monday night, but Wrestlemania and the Royal Rumble only come along once a year!

Why Hooters?

Why NOT Hooters?  The Anaheim Hooters location has recently been upgraded to all HD TVs and they are down with Street Fighter 4, so we thought it’d be a great place to run an event.  Bar Fights I and II combined booze with Street Fighter 4, but now we’re upping the ante by bringing hot Hooters waitresses to the table.  :)

Entry fee: FREE $5 if you’re entering the tournament (the tournament bracket is full, but please come to spectate!)

Payout: $250 BONUS added to the pot which will be split: 1st: 70%, 2nd: 20%, 3rd: 10%, 4th-7th will get other prizes to be determined

• 1st Place: 60% of pot + LA Riots II Invite + $120 BONUS
• 2nd Place: 30% of pot + LA Riots II Invite + $60 BONUS
• 3rd Place: 10% of pot + LA Riots II Invite + $20 BONUS
• 4th Place: $25 Hooters Gift Card + LA Riots II Invite
• 5th-6th Place: $10 Hooters Gift Card
• 7th-8th Place: Entry fee back
• $50 BONUS TO BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT

Where:
2438 E Katella Ave
Anaheim, CA 92806-5901
View Larger Map

When: Friday December 11th at 8PM 7PM, but please arrive earlier for registration!

Format:2/3 Rounds,2/3 Games, Double Elimination, 99 Seconds, No Handicap

Console: We will have a mix of Xbox 360s and PS3s, but Top 8 will be played on Xbox so we can record and stream it.

Buy 1 Entree Get 1 Free: Hooters was kind enough to provide us with a special coupon exclusively for the tournament.  The coupon gets you a free entree with the purchase of an entree which means you and a buddy get to eat for half price!  Click here to print the coupon.

Pre-Registration: We are asking everybody to please pre-register for the tournament because it will allow us to make the brackets BEFORE everyone shows up so that no time is wasted on signups.  We are capping entrants at 64 due to time constraints, but anybody can come watch for free!

UPDATE: The bracket is now FULL, but please come to watch because you can’t beat SF4, beer and H( *)(* )TERS girls!

RSVP on Facebook!

Note from gootecks: This is TuboWare’s first article here on gootecks.com.  He’s one of Las Vegas’ tournament scene regulars and submitted this article about their Halloween tournament at Game Over_ that featured the city’s newest SF4 arrival, Marn.  Please leave some feedback in the comments if you enjoy articles about local Street Fighter scenes because I’d like to include tourney reports from all over the world if you guys like them.  If you’d like to submit similar articles, hit me up on Twitter or send me an email: gootecks *AT* gootecks *DOTCOM*.  Also, I have no idea what the picture is supposed to be, but I decided to include it anyways lol.

Las Vegas.  A city known for gambling, fast money, glitz, and glamour, yet one thing Vegas isn’t known for, is it’s fighting game community.  That might be something that changes very quickly.  Las Vegas has a new resident and fighting game expert. Martin “Marn” Phan is the new king of the Las Vegas fighting game community, and the great majority of fighting gamers in Vegas are very excited about this news.  When I asked Sonny “CarTooN” Lopez on his thoughts of Marn moving to Las Vegas, he replied, “I think Marn can help our community grow, but only if we aren’t afraid to lose. That’s the main problem we’ve had here. People will play and get beat, and then stop playing instead of trying to learn from mistakes.”

On October 31st, 2009, local game store and Street Fighter 4 training ground, Game Over_ had a Street Fighter 4 tournament.  With around 30 entrants, and first place taking home five hundred dollars cash, second place winning a new Playstation 3, and the third place player taking any game of his or her choice in the store, the stakes were high.  All of the top Street Fighter heads in Las Vegas showed up, including Daniel aka ruiN-, Josh aka Trophy Club, J-Ma, and of course Marn.  People started popping into Game Over_ several hours to get in casuals before the tournament started.

I asked Jordan who is more known by his Shoryuken.com forums name of “Mno” what he though would happen if he got matched up with Marn in the tournament he replied “Yo just know that if Marn bullshits me and doesn’t play for real, I’m going to smash him.”  Luckily for Jordan, he didn’t have to prove himself right, and never had to play Marn during the tournament.

As soon as everyone signed in, the tournament started. Many spectators were watching the matches, but no matches were watched as much as the ones between ruiN- and Marn.  RuiN- and Marn first met in winners finals.  Marn took the match 3 win to 2 wins, and even made an interested “counter” pick against ruiN’s Akuma when he picked Rose. It didn’t work out as planned though, and ruiN tied the match up 2-2.  Marn then proceded to pull out the big guns with Sagat and dominated the last game in winners finals.  The rest of the tournament had some great matches in it, and Tropy Club ended up taking 3rd, losing to ruiN- in losers finals.  RuiN and Marn met again in the grand finals, but Marn pretty much took it to ruiN- and won the tournament.  Top three: 1st- Marn, 2nd- ruiN, 3rd Trophy Club.

After the tournament I got a chance to catch up with one of the owners of Game Over_, George.  When asking him what he thought of the Las Vegas community as a whole he replied “Well, I love the community.  Game Over_ is here for everyone to get together and play all games, not just Street Fighter, and we hope to be here for every for a long time.”  I also asked George if the though we would level up now that Marn is around and he responded with a great amount of insight by saying, “See, the thing is, people can’t be scared to play him.  You have to treat people that are better than you like the school bully.  You can’t just be scared of him.  Sometimes you just got to hit the bully in the face, and yea, you might get beat up after that, but you’ll learn how he fights and what he likes to do.  It’s no different in fighting games.  If you’re scared to play someone, how can you ever beat them?  You can’t.  I also feel that sometimes casuals can be too casual.  If you come to play for real every time, you’ll learn much more than just messing around and not trying to win.”

With Marn taking his first local Las Vegas tournament, I only see the community here growing.  With the high level play of Marn and ruiN, Las Vegas has no where to go but up.

Winners Finals: ruiN- vs. Marn

Grand Finals: ruiN- vs. Marn

From the description:

0:11 The first hit of Ryu’s j.MP creates a free juggle state every time, so if you can avoid connecting the second hit, you can follow up with anything. Dhalsim’s j.LP is a useful setup because it allows you to hit him at the top of his arc from the end of yours. It would’ve been nice to juggle with a Focus Attack but it’s too slow, so i went with Ryu’s c.HK instead. Juggling sweeps is always cool.

His most recent video is the first of a series of combo video challenges, again focused on Ryu, where he tries to get Ryu’s Ultra damage scaled down to 5 points each:

Great work Maj!

Guile’s Options Against Vega’s Rolling Crystal Flash

01:09 - Guile's options against a HP Rolling Crystal Flash:

1) Super
2) Ultra
3) FADC backdash (vega must not have claw equipped)
*cannot punish vega

Due to the small amount of Vega players, it’s interesting to see the options against the HP Rolling Crystal Flash because a lot of people fall for FADC Walldive into Super. These options prevent and/or punish that.

Kirisuto (Rufus) vs (^__^) (Guile) {Block A} [Kanagawa Machida Cup]

00:24 - "Apologies for not showing the life bar or super meters. 
However, it is not necessary to see the point of this video"

The Guile player (^__^) also goes by the name Nico Nico Mark or Fujisawa. He’s known for getting 20 air throws every game. In this video he lands a lot against Rufus. If you watch the last 30 seconds, he shows that you can air throw rufus out of his EX messiah kick.

Fei Long Option Selects Tutorial

After a forward throw:

1. vs. Dhalsim Teleport
   Fei Long can do a jumping MP option select w/Chicken Wing if Dhalsim teleports.
2. vs. Blanka EX Up Ball
   Fei Long does a crossup MK. If Blanka does EX upball, Fei Long gets hit but can punish it with HP Rekka.
3. vs. Balrog
   Fei Long attempts a jump-in and Balrog does EX Headbutt. Fei Long can punish with option select EX Chicken Wing. However, if Balrog does EX Dash Upper, the dialogue box suggests using Rekkas to punish.
4. vs. Rufus
   Fei Long can do an ambiguous safe jump-in MP to either hit from the front or use as a crossup. Also, the last jump proves that it is a safe jump against Rufus because he is able to block wakeup EX Messiah Kick.
5. vs. Vega’s Backflip
   Personally I think this one is just a joke because as you can see, Fei Long does option select into Rekkas but goes the other way and completely misses Vega. But it’s Vega.

Also, we are holding a Q&A in the forums. Any questions about Street Fighter you want answered will be answered on a video or podcast by Gootecks. Go over to the forums and go to the Street Fighter 4 discussion area.

The winenrs for XBL are:

1. jdambro1284

2. heishin concept

3. Ross

The PSN winners are

1. Moshtoba

2. EliteOwner

3. Nagual84

Congrats to you guys. They battles through a 64-man bracket and made it to the top. These top 6 are very good players, and definitely deserve there position. To first and second place, you should be contacting me via PM on the forums so that i can hook you up with your prizes. I would like to give a shout out to all of you guys who put your matches on youtube. If you are interested in watching some of the matches, go youtube search it. Free1up i know has a lot of videos up, and many others.

Huge shout out to my friend Pacifist. Without him the XBL brackets would have been nothing. he really made sure this tournament was not a piece of crap, so honors to him for making it work that much better.

It was a lot of fun hosting this tournament. And for all of you wondering when the next one will be, i have some info.

The next tournament will be split into 4 tournaments. We will have East Coast and West Coast, and XBL and PSN. All people in central, you will join whatever is closest. It will be hosted on one day (so each tournament will be held on a separate day.) Think after thanksgiving, and we will break before Christmas, and resume shortly after (if we even go into the holidays.)

So go over to our forums and vote for what coast and console first! It will be located in the tournament sections.

The Main Event is New York City’s Empire Arcadia vs. SoCal:

• Justin Wong (Rufus)
• Arturo Sanchez (Dhalsim)
• Sanford Kelly (Cammy)
• iloveu (Sagat)
• Marn (C. Viper)

The SoCal Team:

• Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Ed Ma (Akuma)
• Combofiend (Abel)
• Mike Ross (E. Honda)
• Ken I (Rufus)

Download

[mov] – 38 min – 1GB

iPhone version coming soon!

Also, if you are so inclined, we have t-shirts and posters available at the Bar Fights II store!  The plan is also to do a DVD release of the whole thing, but we wanted to get the main event out ASAP so please spread the word.

West Coast Warzone Street Fighter 4 Top 8 Videos

Also, feel free to put these on your own site, YouTube account or whatever, doesn’t matter. Just tryin’ to spread the love.

We are offering FREE General Admission tickets as well as VIP tickets for those that want to skip the line. Please check out the ticket page for more info or use the form below:

Download a high quality version (12mb), suitable for printing.

New York City’s Empire Arcadia:

• Justin Wong (2nd Place Evo 2009, #1 player in USA)
• Arturo “sabin” Sanchez (beat Daigo in a money match at Evo)
• Joe “iloveu” Ciaramelli (2nd Place East Coast Throwdown)
• Sanford Kelly (4th Place Evo 2009)
• Martin “Marn” Phan (1st Place West Coast Warzone)

Representing SoCal:

• Alex Valle (2nd Place West Coast Warzone, SBO 2009 Qualifier)
• Ed Ma (3rd Place Evo 2009)
• Combofiend (SBO 2009 Qualifier, 9th Place Evo 2009)
• ?
• ?

The remaining three spots will be filled by the winners of three qualifying tournaments, one at Arcade Infinity and two at Denjin Arcade, which will be held the weekend of Bar Fights II, October 9th and 10th.

This match has been brewing for quite some time now because of the East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry. At Evo 2009, a regional 5v5 exhibition tournament was held, with 8 regions across the country sending their best players to compete for bragging rights for best in the country. The grand finals was expected to be the SoCal team vs. Empire Arcadia, but that didn’t happen because SoCal lost to the Wild Card team. Empire Arcadia ended up beating the Wild Card team so nothing got settled until just recently.

At West Coast Warzone, Marn, one of the East Coast’s best players blew through all of the West Coast and beat Street Fighter legend Alex Valle in the grand finals to win 1st Place. Bar Fights II is a chance for both coasts to prove who is at the top of the game right now as well as a chance for Alex Valle to get his revenge on Marn.

Aside from the main event, we have a very exciting undercard with matches involving several of SoCal’s rising stars such as UTJ and NorCal’s Filipino Champ, both of whom play Dhalsim and placed Top 8 at Warzone.

In addition, we will be streaming the entire event for free via UStream so that people who can’t make it out to the event can still take part in the hype.

Bar Fights II is going to be October 11, 2009 at Jakes in Pasadena, CA. The line-up is coming soon.

The plan is to release the other games (3s, BlazBlue, MvC2) as we finish them which will be over the next few weeks. The matches that are up right now are:

• Alex Valle (Ryu) vs. EMP Marn (C. Viper, Balrog, Rufus) – Grand Finals
• Alex Valle (Ryu) vs. EMP Marn (C. Viper) – Winners Finals
• Alex Valle (Ryu) vs. Ed Ma (Akuma) – Losers Finals
• Yeb (Gen) vs. fLoE (Sagat)
• Yeb (Gen) vs. UTJ (Dhalsim)
• Ed Ma (Akuma) vs. Filipino Champ (Dhalsim)
• Alex Valle (Ryu) vs. Eric Choi (Rufus)
• Ed Ma (Balrog) vs. Eric Choi (Rufus, Sagat)
• EMP Marn (Rufus) vs. UTJ (Dhalsim)
• Ed Ma (Akuma) vs. Yeb (Gen)

Enjoy!

As for the other videos, they’re coming along nicely, due to the editing efforts of Cami. Those will be posted on West Coast Warzone Videos within the next few days so please sign up for the email list to get notified when they’re released. They will be available for download in H264 and iPhone format. If you’re subscribed to my podcast, then you’ll have gotten this video in iPhone format. Whee!

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Download

[h.264] – 160mb – 8min
(right click and select “Save Target As”)
[iPhone] – 100mb – 8min
(right click and select “Save Target As”)

Calculating risk/reward in Street Fighter 4 is critical to winning against good players.  This is because during the course of the game, we are put in many situations where we have to calculate whether it’s worth taking a risk in order to land more damage to end the round or gain a substantial life lead.  Considering multiple options as well as your opponents options are and what he thinks you will do should lead you to making better decisions during the game.

The most common situation where both players must calculate risk/reward is when a character with a good wakeup Special Move gets knocked down.  These special moves include Uppercuts, Flash Kick, EX Messiah Kick, Headbutt, etc.  When you knock down one of these characters, you put yourself at risk by getting close enough to them for the opponent to consider doing a Wakeup Uppercut.  Calculating the risk/reward payoff is crucial to winning.

Here are some factors to consider when calculating whether to Wakeup Uppercut/Headbutt/etc…

• Are you up one round/one game?
  If you’re up one game or one round, you may be able to afford to take more risks because you are in the lead.  Conversely, your opponent may be playing more cautious so they may not be willing to attack as aggressively because they are already down one game/one round.
• Do you have enough meter to FADC?
  Having two EX Meters is basically a Get Out Of Jail Free card and let’s you take risks with very limited downside.  For example, Ryu can Wakeup Uppercut xx FADC and back dash to safety pretty much anywhere on the screen except the corner.  This means that if you get knocked down with two meters and an Ultra, it is probably in your favor to go for it because you can FADC back dash if they block the Uppercut.
• Do you have a life lead?  If so, will you still be in the life lead if your move whiffs/is blocked and your opponent punishes with the most damaging combo their meters (Super and Ultra) can allow?
  If you have a substantial life lead (maybe 35% or more), you can usually afford to take more risks because if your risk doesn’t pan out, you will still either have the life lead or be at even if they block and punish with their most damaging combo.

  For example, if you’re playing against Balrog and he has one meter, his most damaging combo using that meter would probably be the EX Upper Loop (LP, LP xx EX Upper, LP, LP xx Headbutt), so a wakeup Uppercut when you’re in the lead probably wouldn’t lead to game-ending damage if he blocks.  Conversely, if you’re Balrog against Rufus anywhere near the corner and you do a blocked Wakeup Headbutt, you are probably going to eat way more damage after Rufus lands a combo because you are going to be in the corner where he has the advantage.  Once Rufus gets Balrog in the corner, it’s a tough fight because he has so many ways to land the Ultra and the Dive Kick can be overwhelming.  Before doing a Wakeup Headbutt in this situation, you have to consider your position on the screen and the danger of being in the corner, not just your life lead.

• Is there a safer alternative?
  Wakeup Uppercuts can be great sometimes, but wouldn’t it be safer to throw out a D+LP?  Usually on wakeup, you’re trying to get your opponent off of you so you can regroup and a well-placed low jab can be all you need to back dash to safety or link into something else.  The risks of a low jab are usually pretty small (think of it as a 2 on a risk scale of 10, with 10 being a non-FADCable Uppercut) but buying yourself a split second and an inch of room to breathe can be the difference between winning and losing a round.
• What does your opponent expect you to do?
  If you’ve done a Wakeup Uppercut earlier in the match, maybe he’s looking for it again which may make him more likely to block and punish with a big combo.  It may sound obvious to a lot of players, but some people aren’t considering these things before they do Wakeup Uppercuts.

  Even if you haven’t done a Wakeup Uppercut before, if you’re Sagat and have two EX Meters and an Ultra, he’s probably looking for you to do a Wakeup Tiger Uppercut FADC Ultra, so he probably won’t be likely to attack which means you may want to consider not doing it.  Of course if he knows that you know that he knows that you’re looking for it…well now things just turned into a complicated Rock Paper Scissors game!

  Because going for the Uppercut in this situation isn’t very risky for him because he can FADC out of it, maybe he’ll go for something completely unexpected and just wakeup and throw.

• If it hits, will you win or at least give yourself a lead you can sit on?
  If you take the risk and it connects, will you win the round?  If not, maybe it’s not worth going for unless the life lead you’ll gain will be easy to sit on.  For example, in the Balrog vs. E. Honda matchup, if Balrog gets knocked down, Honda may want to try an Oichio Throw as he gets up.  If Balrog has an Ultra stocked, a life lead and the Headbutt -> Ultra connects, he will be able to reduce his risk by backing away to just outside sweep distance from Honda.  It’s extremely difficult for Honda to get in on Balrog (and vice versa) so he should be able to keep him out relatively easily and slowly whittle away his life with safe, low-risk attacks.

THESE ARE NOT BIG DISCOVERIES! If you’re a Sagat player, I’m sure you know all of these, so this article is not for you.

That’s not really what this post is about though, but one of the things that I did think about in terms of character mastery was that you should at least be able to go through all of said character’s combos in Trial Mode. Not to say that all of the combos that Trial Mode makes you do are good or useful, just that if you have mastered your character’s execution, you should be able to do most of them relatively easily.

So I went through Trial Mode with Sagat (or at least tried to until I got to Stage 4 on Trial Mode Hard lol) and realized that even though I’ve played a million of them, there was still a lot to learn about him and I realized some of it while playingTrial Mode.

More after the jump…

1. Super links into Ultra in the corner
   Who knew? This was one of the Trial Mode combos and in retrospect, it makes perfect sense because the last Uppercut of the Super looks the same as an EX one. Not a very practical combo by any means (and I don’t remember how much damage it did), but I hadn’t seen it done before as far as I know. This is useful because of the second item on this list:
2. D+HP links into Super
   The Trial Mode combo was Jump in HP, D+HP, Super and I tried to cancel the D+HP a few times to no avail. Then I tried linking it and it worked! Not only can you link it, but it’s really easy to do, to the point where it’s a really easy hit confirm (I’m talking 3rd Strike Ken D+MP xx Super easy).

   Again, I don’t know how practical it is, but if you could create some sort of Counterhit setup with D+HP (D+LK, D+LK, hesitate, D+HP), you would be able to link into Super and then Ultra in the corner off of one hit.

3. D+LK links into D+MP
   This one seems way more practical because you can do the Sagat Dream Crusher combo off of it (D+MP xx Low Tiger Shot xx FADC xx D+MP xx HP Tiger Uppercut xx FADC -> Ultra). If you have gdlk execution then one D+LK leads to huge damage. If you don’t, well now you have something to work toward!
4. Close LP links into standing HK
   Not sure how useful it is, but still good to know.
5. You can EX Focus Attack in a combo and it’ll crumple
   Excuse my ignorance of Focus Attacks in combos, but I haven’t seen it used in a match like this. I’m not even sure it’s a good idea, very practical, or a good use of meter, but this post is about things I didn’t know, not useful Sagat things I didn’t know.

   In Hard Trial Mode stage 4, you have to do D+MK xx Low Tiger Shot xx EX Focus Attack, D+MP xx Tiger Knee. I thought I was supposed to FADC the Tiger Shot, but you actually have to hold it long enough to make them crumple. It took me a long time before I gave up and looked up a video on YouTube that showed how it was supposed to look. Then I had to look at a post on SRK for tips on how to make the Focus Attack crumple. I landed it a few times, but it’s still hard. Not sure if or why it would be useful, but all game knowledge is good game knowledge when you’re trying to learn a new character.

The moral of the story (aside from me being a Sagat noob) is that spending a little time in Trial Mode can help your overall game knowledge for characters you’re either struggling against or trying to learn. What have you discovered in Trial Mode recently?

• Ed Ma (Akuma) vs. Filipino Champ (Dhalsim)
• Eric Choi (Rufus) vs. Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Marn (Rufus) vs. UTJ (Dhalsim)
• Ed Ma (Balrog) vs. Eric Choi (Sagat/Balrog)
• Yeb (Gen) vs. UTJ (Dhalsim)
• Yeb (Gen) vs. Ed Ma (Akuma)
• Winners Finals: Marn (C. Viper) vs. Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Losers Finals: Ed Ma (Akuma) vs. Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Grand Finals: Marn (C. Viper, Rufus, Balrog) vs. Alex Valle (Ryu)