Its now official. the 3 powerhouse companies of Evo, Capcom and Gamestop are teaming up to bring you “THE BIGGEST STREET FIGHTER TOURNAMENT OF ALL TIME”.  Qualifying rounds start on the 21st of February, which is the same week as the official launch of Street Fighter IV.  Check the official store list and head down to your local gamestop and sign up for the biggest and baddest national tournament to hit the country.

Get to practicing, and for a full list of rules and stores, head on over to Gamestop’s website.

Here and there, I’m going to do a Crossup feature on a player I’ve never met in person.  When that happens, I’ll be having guests write the introductions for these players.

“This week’s Community Crossup features a man whose shoes cost more than yours.  Chris Jones, aka True_Tech, prides himself on his ability to whiff Genei-Jin combos and recognizing exactly who that Japanese player is after seeing an entire two second clip.  Recently, True_Tech has taken advantage of his new position at a videogame store in Colorado Springs called Play ‘N’ Trade, hosting tournaments for the local scene.   He enjoys traveling out of state for tourneys, his most recent aspiration being a trip to any state that will allow him to play Blazblue.” -Skilletor

Real Name: Chris Jones
Handle(s): True_Tech
Birthplace: Savannah,GA
Current Residence: Colorado Springs, CO
Age: 22

True: I originally got into fighting games when I was 8 years old.  My dad bought me SF:CE for Sega Genesis. I was all about that game as a kid, and this was before I had the six button pad so I would try to learn combos with no punches cause you had to press the start button to switch between punches and kicks.  I grew up here in Colorado. Both my parents are former army so playing at the arcades as a kid on the army base was a daily thing. When I was about 11 or 12 I’d skip class to play alpha 3 and mvc1 at the PX.  Around 2004 I seriously got into 3rd strike and the rest becomes the man you know and love.

Keits: What is the ‘PX’?

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Super Street Fighter II HD Remix has some annoying issues, but Capcom isnt going to leave you out in the cold.  According to the news post from Capcom Unity, it takes quite some time to get the proper authorizations to even announce a patch.  So, they may have been working on this for a while.  No news yet on when this is coming, or what changes it will bring, but this writer can only hope that Akuma’s air-fireball will be copy-pasted onto each existing character, so that its fair when they can all throw them.

My Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition stick just arrived via my local Fedex driver (who by the way, I think he opened it and used it to play some STHD). Over the next few days, ill be taking it for a test drive over various networks, like XBOX Live and GGPO and backward compatible games like 3S on XBL as well. Look for a full review in the coming days.

 And the back … 

Oh its gonna be a fun couple of days, thanks Madcatz and Markman!

The latest video from IGN is showing of all the outfits that are probably going to be downloadable content. Be ready for some surprises, as these costumes will definitely be worth the money.

Street Fighter IV just took more of my money! Damn you Capcom!

Evo2k.com, the internet home of the Evolution Championship Series, has been updated with a little hint on what is to come.  According to the update, the location, date, and roster will all be revealed starting mid February.   For anyone who has or hasn’t been to Evo, this year is not going to be something you will want to miss.  Its been a long, long time since so many new games were at tournament director’s disposal, and the level and variety of the competition is surely going to be unprecedented.   Stay tuned to Evo2k.com for the news, and we will try to let you know here when any information becomes available.

I have been having a lot of fun playing HD Remix lately. However as of late, I came upon an influx of great players and have been humbled greatly into a depression. Just when I thought I had all the answers with my character, there comes a seemingly unstoppable tactic that makes you think twice about everything you knew. I am sure there are people who share my experiences and frustrations, but with EventHubs.com new HD Remix strategy guide, we have hope.

From “catalyst_nc”, webguy of EventHubs.com:

Inside you’ll find strategy guides for the characters, with combos and all of their special moves.

Also if you’re struggling with techniques like Reversals and Tick Throwing this site has sections to walk you through how to use them.

This guide will help you take your game to the next level.

Link to the Strategy Guide

Indeed, after looking around this guide is a great place for even people new to the game. It still tells you visually how to do the special moves most SF players already know, along with what they do and how it can be used. It goes a little further and singles out certain normal moves for you to know that for whatever reason, they are moves you should not neglect. Personally, I find the character overviews of their strengths and weaknesses to be most useful, because it teaches me not to play say… Fei Long like Ryu (Don’t ask how that works).

There is also a SF4 strategy guide on EventHubs as well. Check that out while you are there.

This week, I bring you the man who won Super Turbo at Season’s Beatings 3 in Columbus, Ohio.   One of the most unassuming and unintimidating people you will meet out there… until you play him.  Frustrating defense and smart reading of every move you are about to make will teach you not to sleep on even the most innocent looking players.

Real Name: Brent Werling
Handle(s): immortal, immortalbmw, Vega, Rick Roll (any NHL ‘09 players here?  just try to score on my brick wall goaltender)
Birthplace: Decatur, IN, USA
Current Residence: Decatur, IN, USA
Age: 29

Brent: I have been addicted to video games and just all sorts of games in general for all my life.  I will play anything from board games to card games and real life sports, but my favorite from the get-go was always video games.  My parents were quitting video games in their mid-20’s when I was born (games like Zaxon on Colecovision were their favorites from what I understand.)  When I was like 4 years old even before I started school I would spend time playing whatever we had around the house.  I remember Vectrex with those little plastic layers you could put over the monitor to make it look like the games had decent graphics.  Haha.  But the point is I had all sorts of old systems like the Atari 2600 and 5200 around so I played the collection of games my parents had and just got addicted from day one.

Although my parents had soon given up playing games they were such nice folks that they allowed me to keep playing and this often included trips to arcades.  Now Decatur is a small town in Indiana but about a 30 minute drive up north to our 2nd biggest city of Fort Wayne gave me the chance to play coin-op games and I’m talking the classics.  I feel fortunate to have roots in old school gaming and arcade gaming in general.  Even to this day I’m still a huge fan of the arcade, sort of like Jason Wilson who runs the Midwest Championships.  Anyway, I would play any type of arcade game as a youngster.  Pacman, Dragon’s Lair, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, NBA Jam… STREET FIGHTER (yah the original) which I remember had two different versions.  One had six buttons in the traditional layout we’ve all come to know and love but another had two bigger buttons which could sort of sense how hard you pushed/hit them.  Depending on how much force you put into it was supposed to determine what strength of attack.

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Seth “S-Kill” Killian  has been captured…  on film talking about the MadCatz Street Fighter 4 controllers and sticks!   Ha!  You thought ninjas finally got him, didn’t you?  At least for a second, I know you did.

The holiday retail rush is over, so now I have more free time to devote to bringing you features and articles again.  If only there was some way I could get paid to do this, so that I would not have to make you wait a solid month for content…   hmmm….

Today I bring you James “Humbag” Cardoni.  A man you’ve probably met if you are a midwestie, or been to a midwest tournament, Humbag is easily one of the most down to earth and likable people I’ve met in my travels.  He gives back, too.  He has run tournaments of his own, and is often seen handling a bracket at any event he attends.   Be sure to corner him if you see him and say “Hey I saw you on SRK!”, then prepare to lose to his Dudley.

Real Name: James Cardoni
Handle(s): Humbag
Birthplace: Evansville, IN
Current Residence: Champaign, IL for school and Normal, IL is home
Age: 20

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

Humbag: I have always been a videogame player for as long as I can remember. The first fighting game I remember playing has to have been Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo. There was something about two guys on screen beating the living crap out of each that got my attention. Of course I was really young so I did not get to play as much as my brothers but I did watch a great deal. Fast forward a little while to the first fighting game I was actually decent at, Killer Instinct. I was at the mall one day with my family and like usual, they dropped me off at the arcade to do their shopping. As soon as I walked in I saw a large crowd huddled around a Killer Instinct arcade cabinet. After squirming through the mass of people I finally got a look at it and was blown away by how good it looked. The characters, the combos, the blood, the music, the announcer. They were so freaking awesome to me that in one minute I had a new favorite game as a young kid.

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