Welcome to what will hopefully be the first in great new feature series about what its like to be a tournament goer.  As big as our community was, is, and will become, the actual percentage of forum members who actually go to tournaments is fairly small.  Hopefully, these posts will give you a glimpse at the idea that going to a tournament can leave you with a lot more than just a stronger set of Street Fighter skills. The series does need a name, though, so leave a suggestion in a comment after you read.  This week’s tournament journal is from community member “DaDesiCanadian”.   The following is an introduction by him;

Hey, my name is Anant, but you probably know me on the Shoryuken forums as DaDesiCanadian. I’m also known by my IRC nickname of Jeeebus. I’m a relatively new member of the SF scene compared to the old school heads.  I started playing around 1999-2000.  It was a good time though, since that’s when the Canadian Street Fighter scene started up. Sadly the game that pulled me in was… Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter. Horrific, I know, but if it makes you feel better, I played the hell out of ST back then also. I’m 23 years old right now which means I started playing when I was around 13. I’ve been traveling to tournaments ever since I started playing. I can remember before we had our drivers licenses, we would take public transportation for 3 or 4 hours to compete in tournaments. Now that was dedication! A lot of people think I’m pretty young even now, but that’s just how the Toronto scene is. We have the old school players, but we’re constantly being swamped by new players discovering the community, even before the release of SF4. I’m probably one of the older players in the scene compared to the average right now.

A big question we get a lot about the Toronto scene is “What the hell is the “GTASF”?”

Well, what people refer to as “Toronto” is actually a group of cities and suburbs that surround the city of Toronto.  We call this the “Greater Toronto Area”. I’m actually from the city of Mississauga.  When the scene first started up, each city used to have it’s own distinct scene; Eventually the lines became blurred(mostly due to the efforts of Nagata Lock), and we just started calling ourselves the GTASF as a whole: Greater Toronto Street Fighter.  We’re probably the biggest fighting game community in Canada, surpassing British Columbia, Edmonton, and Montreal.

Jump past the break to read about his experience at “The Fight’s About to Begin”!

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The word ‘fair’ is an interesting one.  It has a large number of accepted definitions, and much like the word ‘nice’, can be used in an almost infinite number of situations.   Today, I’d like to examine the word ‘fair’, what it means to the fighting game community now, and what it probably should mean going forward.

The fighting game community is a very distinct subculture.  If you were not a part of it, but ended up in line at the airport behind two people boarding a plane for the Evolution Championship Series, what you hear may sound like a different language to you.

“That was when Daigo did a psycic DP and caught ‘Sim’s standing forward full screen”

“Yes, fierce recovers in 8 frames so you can link a low strong, and cancel that into super”

“Oh, that is so pringles”

If you understand what any of the lines above were saying, then you know that most of our subculture’s language is pretty well-defined.  Why, then, do we continue to use the word ‘fair’ (and its ugly sister, ‘unfair’) with such a broad variety of intended effects?

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There are a few few true moments that live on in never ending Street Fighter history.

I mean, those moments that are so goddamn memorable and legendary beyond belief that they scorch their way into the Street Fighter Global Consciousness and change things forever. The way we play the game, the way we see the game, the way we think about the game. All this changes because of a very few critical defining moments.

It’s like a layman’s view on Evolution (the Darwinian theory, not the Superbowl of Street Fighter that takes place in August each year). In rough rough rough evolutionary theory, you have a tiny little organism that slowly over time evolves, thanks to natural selection. The fish that swims the fastest escapes the predator the longest and sires the most kids. Those kids carry on his genetics, while the slow fish get eaten. Eventually fish get faster and more badass.

Speed isn’t the only quality that is refined and passed on over time. Other great qualities are passed on, and scrubby fish tactics are forgotten. Over time, fish get more and more and more BADASS. Then, one day, a fish decides to go on land. Why the hell not huh? (more…)

GameStop’s POS is reporting a July 7th release here in the US of A for the King of Fighters XII (thats 12, kids).  You may be wondering how SNK went back in time, taking us from a game called King of Fighter ‘94 all the way down to a paltry number like 12.   Well, it seems that the KoF games used to be numbered by the year the came out in, all the way from KoF ‘94 through KoF 2k3.  After that, the games stopped coming on a yearly basis, and the names were changed to protect the innocent…  I mean, to avoid the pressure of releasing a new one every single year.  This gave them the needed time to perform what many of us now call a ’series reboot’.

KoFXII has enjoyed a pretty public development for the last year, and has visually come a long way since the early location tests.  In recent interviews, the producer of the game has stated that they are putting on the finishing touches, and will be ready for an arcade release (in Japan) some time in April.  The shocking news that the console version will be only 3 months behind the arcade release is only made more shocking by the fact that this release includes the United States.  I’m sure Obama has something to do with making this happen so quickly.

To add to the good news for all you new and old fight fans, the home version of KoFXII is looking pretty feature heavy.  You can already view screenshots from the Xbox 360 version of the game, and there are a smattering of shots from the PS3 version floating around as well.  Game Informer is also reporting that the home version will have additional playable characters, though they fail to hint at who or how many.  On top of that, the game will feature online versus play, including the option to watch online matches or record and post your own battles for the world to see.  A group of people will also be able to gather and create a room for team battle!  And, for the old school KoF fanboy in you, both Japanese and English language dialogue options will be available.

I simply can’t think of a reason not to go preorder right now.  Even if you’ve never been a fan of the KoF series before, I think we all owe it to SNK to give this one a try.  They have been too dedicated to 2d fighting for too long for us not to stand up and take notice.  The rest of the world did a long time ago.

I recently spoke with Jesse Gan, which you might know him in the community as UCRJesse. He asked me if he could write an article for people that claim that they can’t get to Evo events, or dont have the money to do so. I thought it was a great idea and asked him to make it happen. A month later and he dropped this interesting read off in my email box.

While you don’t have to do everything in the guide, just pick out what would work for you and revise it to fit your needs. This is how Jesse Gan makes it happen every year, and you can use it as a outline.

Grab the article after the jump.

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Great things are happening in the fighting game community today.  New games are either here, or coming very shortly.  New players, excited by the expensive marketing for these new titles, are starting to step up the plate to test their skills against other players.  Online play has become so close to seamless that a new killer player could come from absolutely anywhere.  But sadly, the good always has to come with a little bad, and today’s bad is yet another example of people failing to learn from the past.

You see, humans are unique in that we are the only species capable of learning from other being’s experiences.   If I see you stick your hand into a pot of boiling water, and then fall to the ground gripping that same hand in screaming agony, I am able to learn that I should not stick my hand into the pot.  Similarly, if I see some video game player make an astounding and seemingly impossible comeback, I should learn that such comebacks are possible and that I, as a fellow human video game player, should be capable of one.

It is here that I’ve seen a trend in some of our community’s new blood.   Why is it that so many new players refuse to fight a losing fight?  I’ve seen so many players quit mentally, and sometimes physically, in the face of a hard loss.   Either they just stop trying to win, or worse, they quit all-together.  I’ve seen Smash players just suicide their last stock or two.  I’ve seen HD Remix players stop moving completely, or just wailing on buttons.  I’ve seen players in games like TvC and SF4, designed specifically to allow dramatic and easy comebacks with their Baroque and Revenge mechanics, quit before a match was over.

I’m here to wake you up.  I’m not sure why you haven’t realized it yet, but you can learn more from fighting these losing fights than you can in nearly any other fighting game related situation.  The pros call it ‘Clutch’.  The ability to stand tall and ignore the overwhelming pressure of being unwinnably behind.   Often, when you are ahead or even in health, its okay to make calculated trades with your opponent.   But when you put yourself in a dire situation, where no trade in damage would be acceptable, you stand to learn a lot about yourself as a player, your character, and even the game as a whole.

Put yourself in your opponent’s shoes when they are dominating you.  They feel confident, and they are willing to play more carelessly because a few little damage trades won’t matter.  The game is already won in their minds.  Thats where the true tournament champions separate themselves from everyone else.  Every moment is ‘clutch’.  And they didnt learn how to play that way by quitting when the chips were down.  You won’t either.  Fight the good fight, friends, and stay in it to the very end.

We’ve all heard it.  We’ve all read it.  Most of us have taken part in it.  The Console War: an incredibly dramatic name for something so insanely dull.  Sure, we all have our favorites.  Most of us are partial to what we own.  It’s easy to decide which you prefer to play the next generation of fighting games on (when given a choice, everyone wave at TvC), but the fiery debate at hand today is “Which will tournaments use?”  Today, I bring you the definitive answer.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the new “Community Spotlight” weekly feature.  Each week, a community member will be interviewed for your reading pleasure.  The only problem is, this article needs a clever name, and I’m coming up short.  Please post here to suggest a name.  The person who submits the winning suggestion will be the subject of week two’s article.  On we go!

Real Name: Scott Bender
Handle(s): Sabre
Birthplace: St. Louis, MO
Current Residence: Phoenix, AZ
Age: 29

Keits: When/How/What got you into fighting games?

Sabre: Well,  I started playing SF1 back in 1987 at a local arcade when I was 8.  I noticed it when I saw a huge group of people playing it, and it had these 2 ginormous buttons.  It seemed wild, to be able to be allowed to hit the cabinet/buttons as hard as you wanted.  For a child, that was awesome.  Then 1991 hit, Sf2 came, and it changed everything.  I never seen anything like it.  I was instantly hooked.  I was so hardcore, that I used to steal money from my mom’s purse to go play, on a daily basis.

Keits: wow, thats dedication.  from your mother?  I have to ask, did you ever tell her?

Sabre: Lol, no.  I think she knew though.  I never stole from her before, but SF2 was that serious crack.  All the newer gen players seriously cannot fathom what the feeling was like back in 1991, in the arcades.  It was surreal.
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Experience the hottest moves and most devestating combos from the world’s largest open fighting game tournament! With over 2000 top competitors from Japan, Europe, the US, and more, Evolution 2007 was the true world championship for all of today’s most popular fighting games.

Head on over to www.evo2k.com/dvd now to order up a copy!

As Evo Finals comes to a close, we have to say that was the best Evo event to date. A special thanks goes out to all the competitors that came out and made Evo extra special and exciting, and to the staff for putting together the awesome show everyone has come to know and expect. Without further delay, here are the top 8 for each game.

 Check out this video from the MvC2 finals this past weekend in Las Vegas.

Marvel vs Capcom 2

1st: Mike ‘IFCYipes’ (perfect)
2nd: JWong (loses to Yipes and Yipes)
3rd: Erik ‘Smoothviper’ (loses to JWong and Jwong)
4th: Chris Schmidt (loses to JWong and Smoothviper)
5th: Brandon ‘Demon Hyo’ (loses to Showstopper and Smoothviper)
5th: Loren ‘Fanatiq’ (loses to Yipes and Chris Schmidt)
7th: Sanford Kelly (loses to JWong and Brandon)
7th: Harold Jay ‘Potter’ (loses to Smoothviper and Chris Schmidt)

Tekken 5

1st: Arario (Jack)
2nd: Spero Gin (Eddy, Paul)
3rd: Bronson (Ganryu, Julia)
4th: Kane (Devil Jin)
5th: Filthyrich (Heihachi)
5th: Slips (Eddie)
7th: Mr Naps (Devil Jin)
7th: 725 (Steve)

Street Fighter III: Third Strike

1st: Nuki (Chun-Li, never lost)
2nd: Tokido (Chun-Li, Urien, loses to Nuki and Nuki)
3rd: Alex Valle (Ken, Ryu, lost to Nuki and Tokido)
4th: Mike Wakefield (Makoto, lost to Valle and Tokido)
5th: Fubarduck (Chun-Li, loses to Tokido and Tokido)
5th: AznHitler (Necro, Ken, loses to Mike Wakefield and Mike Wakefield)
7th: Ricky Ortiz (Chun-Li, Ken, loses to Nuki and Fubarduck)
7th: Ed Ma (Ken, loses to Amir and AznHitler)

Super Smash Brothers Melee

1st: Ken (Marth)
2nd: Hugs (Samus)
3rd: Mango (Jigglypuff)
4th: PC Chris (Falco/Fox)
5th: Chu Dat (IceClimbers)
5th: Eddie (Ganon)
7th: Chillindude (Fox)
7th: DieSuperFly (Shiek)

Capcom vs SNK 2

1st: D44 BAS A Vega/Bison/Blanka 2
2nd: Ricky Ortiz – A Vega/Sakura/Blanka 2
3rd: Justin Wong C Vega/Chun-Li/Sagat 2
4th: Kindebu – A Sakura/Bison/Blanka 2
5th: Tokido – A Sakura/Bison/Blanka 2 (lost to Gene Wong and Justin Wong)
5th: Buktooth – N Iori, Chun-li, Hibiki 2
7th: Combofiend K Ken/Sagat/Cammy 2
7th: John Choi – C Guile, Sak/Ken/Sagat 2

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

1st: Tokido (Vega)
2nd: John Choi (Ryu, Sagat)
3rd: Graham Wolfe (Balrog, Vega)
4th: Afrolegends (Dee Jay, Balrog)
5th: David Sirlin (Honda, Bison)
5th: NKI (Chun)
7th: Alex Valle (Ryu)
7th: Nuki (Chun)

Guilty Gear Accent Core

1st: Team Yossan
2nd: Team Shittalk
3rd: Team Kabuki
4th: Team Matlockdown

Virtua Fighter 5

1st: Itazan (Shun Di)
2nd: Nuki (Aoi, Pai)
3rd: Otome (Jacky)
4th: Tokido (Pai)
5th: Ino (Kage)
5th: Myke (Kage)
7th: Renzo (Brad)
7th: Sean Howard (Brad)

 Thanks to Preppy for compiling and stealing the brackets. Appreciate it!