HAV, Bunkei, Skisonic and Keits sat down with MrWizard of Shoryuken.com to talk all things EVO earlier this week on AlphaISM radio. In this especially long interview, MrWizard breaks down the history of EVO, what you can expect at the event, and practically every question under the sun. You can download the podcast here. Unfortunately the last 1/3rd of the podcast was unfortunately corrupted in the recording process, but the first parts are definitely worth a listen.

Be sure to check it out if you’re a Street Fighter fan: AlphaISM’s produced by the players, for the players, and is a really chill way to spend an evening whenever it’s on. For more information on future shows, keep an eye on the AlphaISM Radio thread in the Shoryuken.com forums. Show are also announced in the #alphaismradio channel on EFnet.

In LA tonight? Looking for a party? Capcom Unity has you covered.

In LA tomorrow, June 25th? Like Street Fighter? Well even if you don’t, you should still join us at the one-night-only Shadaloo Lounge in Chinatown.

We’ll be partying in honor of the arrival of Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun Li on DVD and Blu-Ray. There will be some high-stakes fighting in the streets, some exciting give-aways, and plenty of booze to dull the pain.

Let’s do this, and remember, for tomorrow, Shadaloo is pronounced “Shadowlaw.” Because we said so! Kind of!

With this very special edition of The Dogface Show, we are coming to you from Denjin Arcade, home of one of the hottest Street Fighter IV scenes in Southern California! And that makes it appropriate that we bring you our next guests: Kai Ramond “HappyTang” Tang and Paul “SoMuchDamage” Sai, two SoCal players who have recently been making a lot of noise in the Street Fighter IV scene.

As before, we’ll be splitting up these video interviews into 10-minute segments and releasing them on a weekly basis. Share your comments here or over on the website, where we’ll be posting the follow-up segments on a weekly basis.

Courtesy of SDTEKKEN.COM…

It is NOW official!  TEKKEN 6 will be coming home on October 27th, 2009!  Make sure you preorder your copy at GameStop today!  Receive a 12 month TEKKEN 6 desk calendar and the SAMURAI PACK downloadable content bonus(while supplies last)!  The SAMURAI PACK includes a special costume for Yoshimitsu inspired by Penny-Arcade’s Cardboard Tube Samurai and special nobori (Japanese war flags) as universal items for each character.  Both these preorder bonus items are GameStop exclusive so don’t miss out!

The TEKKEN 6 Limited Edition bundle has finally been unveiled! Available for both the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 console, the TEKKEN 6 Limited Edition Wireless Fight Stick Bundle is available for preorder now at select retailers for the price of $149.99! Make sure you preorder yours today! Click below for pics of each bundle!

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Battle for the South (Saturday, June 6 2009)

Tournament report – Evan Coffey (SRK & PSN: Molander16)

Because this is my very first competitive level tournament (I made it to Round 3 of the Gamestop tournament, but I don’t really count that), I’ve decided to write a tournament report.  I have 3 goals in writing this:

1) I want to chronicle my first tournament experience so that I can reminisce later.

2) I want to show the world that there is a scene in Mississippi (albeit a small one).

3) I want to give a different perspective of a tournament to the SRK community, from the POV of an average player instead of from the POV of someone already at the top.

So.

This is one of the smaller crowds in the room, at the 3rd Strike area.

For those of you that don’t know, Battle for the South was an all-day event in a suburb of New Orleans which included tournaments in six fighting games: Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Soul Calibur 4, Guilty Gear (can’t remember which one), and, of course, Street Fighter 4.  It was paid for by Patrick Henry (Vegita-X), there was a very good turnout (from what I understand, there were over 60 players in the SF4 tournament), and it was run very smoothly.  Hats off to everybody who put the event together!
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Did you really think EVO would be the same without some TEKKEN action?!  EVOLUTION Fighting Game Championships and Namco Bandai Games bring you the hottest exhibition tournament for the CONSOLE version of TEKKEN 6!  Tournaments will be on both Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. All this happens July 17-19 at the Rio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada!  BE THERE! Click below for the full press release!

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KOF XII’s Official Site has updated again with another Combo Exhibition featuring KOF ’96’s own Mature. She’s been around since ‘94 and plays a big role in the first KOF arc until she’s brutally beaten by a crazed Iori Yagami. But regardless she is back as one of the console exclusives for KOF XII and even though she’s sans a move or 2 doesn’t mean Mature isn’t anymore deadly then she ever was. As usual I post this for educational and hype purposes only. Get ready and learn something new. KOF 12 will come out in the US on July 7th in the US.

Think you’ve got what it takes to keep an unruly mass of tournament players hungry for victory in line? The EVO staff has just put out the call for dedicated individuals such as yourself to become official Tournament Judges at this year’s Evolution Tournament Championship Series. If you’re interested, be sure to visit the call for judges thread in the forums and fill out an application.

The longest running yearly fighting game tournament is taking place once again this weekend (June 12-14) at Nickel City in Northbrook, IL! Over 15 games will be included as tournaments in the always exciting festival of hybrid arcade and console setups that have now become the staple for the annual event. Since 1993’s Super Street Fighter II Championship that pitted Mike Watson vs Jessie Howard, countless top players have been in attendance over the years; a Who’s Who of fighting game players in every category, and this year is no exception. The top 2 players in each game announced as a tournament at EVO will be able to bypass the pools this year at the EVO Championships in Las Vegas!

Can Justin Wong take another major in Street Fighter IV after his success at Final Round and the GameStop National Championships? Or will Midwest upstarts Ari Weintraub and Antwan Ortiz have something to say about that? The 5 on 5 Official Midwest SF4 and HDRemix teams will also be decided this weekend! For more information, please visit the official thread.

Mike Ross Comeback!!

1)CaliPower(RY)/COMBO FIEND(VI) – Team West Coast Rushdown Kings

2)Ed Ma(AK)/ Ken I. (RU) – Team Ed I.

3)Sabin(DH)/iloveu(SA)  - Team East Coast

2009 Sbo Qualifiers for Street Fighter went down at a packed Denjin Arcade in Southern California on Saturday, June 6. Livestreaming provided by ufragtv,  brought many of us who couldn’t make it out right into the action with hundreds of screaming gamers.  The picture above shows just one of the night’s highlights, an amazing Honda comeback by Mike Ross who had just pixels left against a half life Sagat. A few buttsplashes, pokes, and one very psychic ultra later, and you can see the amazement. BELIEVE!

Impressive showings from a number players, among them:  UTJ – a Denjin Arcade Dhalsim who displayed great zoning and techinical abilities.  Dae – a SoCal Chun Li that employed a wide range of mixups and fearless attitude.

Trashtalk wasn’t enough to carry Team EC, Sabin and iloveu to the finals. Top-level Dhalsim play and clutch Sagat combos helped them plow through the field of otherwise West Coast players, but they were ultimately double eliminated by team WC Rushdown.

Grand finals went down to the wire, with Combo and Sextaro trading shots down to the last blow. Sextaro’s methodical Rufus picked apart each opponent, ready with an EX Messiah or j.RH juggle at almost every opportunity. It wasn’t enough though, for Combo’s insane Viper rushdown. He was nearly unstoppable all day, decimating all contendors losing (maybe?) only a single match until grand finals. Ed Ma’s Akuma wowed the crowd with impeccable footsies, hard-hitting combos, and strong execution, indicating early that his team would be the one to beat.  Perhaps the story of the night is CaliPower’s transformation in the grand finals. Initially playing few games due to his partner violently running through competition, Valle took a few sets to warm up and had observers wondering if his recent reluctance to speak implied a lack of skills. Just as he seemed to be dead weight, he snapped back into classic form winning 5+ matches straight in the Grand Finals, as he and Combo rushed team Ed I. down to secure their spot to SBO.

Also congratulations to Rom(YA),Ricky Ortiz(CH), Emphy(UR) for winning the concurrant 3S Qualifiers. Good luck to this team of Norcal players as they represent us in Japan.

Thanks to Ufragtv for providing streaming, as well as all the people who kept the party jumpin’ with hype commentary.

Check out ufragtv for High Def VOD of the event as it becomes available!

Special thanks to eboNics aka glove girl, from whom I stole the above pic! Check out more of her work at karaface.com , or follow her at twitter.com/karaleung. C.S. lessons, Kara??

Don’t forget to see her, mike ross, and more fools like those pictured above that will always BELIEVE this July at Evo2k9! You won’t want to miss this year!!