Then And Now: Feelings On The Fighting Game Genre

Fighting games are back! Or are they? Moreover, should I be nervous that less-than-stellar clones are not to far behind?

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Commercial Break: I Missed Evolution This Year

I live a life of no regrets and I try to keep minimal secrets. While shooting Season's Beatings this year and playing fighting games with some of the best people on the planet, the thought had entered my mind as to what else I was missing this weekend. Evolution is one of the bboy community's biggest events. There are other battles and competitions that rival it, but Evolution is a little bit more special. Much like Season's Beatings, Evolution still has a homegrown appeal to it, that I've been looking for in a larger type of jam/competition to travel to. Maybe next year right?

Season's Beatings Redemption: The Aftermath

Momochi & ChocoBlanka Say, "Hai" From Season's Beatings Redemption.

Before I give my take and list the results I have to get the thank you's in. I don't know how EVO or SBO works, but I have been to every Season's Beatings here in Columbus, Ohio and seeing the hardwork that Fugee and Ghaleon [Godlike Entertainment] put in beyond impressive. Huge thanks to Team Spooky for keeping up a quality stream. I thought I saw him grow six extra arms. Seeing the man edit and switch angles on the fly all while responding to the chat on the stream was dizzying. Props to the sponsors, MadCatz and Hori. The commentators: Skisonic, NerdJosh, James Chen and Chris Hu with a special rotating guest list.

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Season's Beatings Redemption: Photos

Season's Beatings 2010: Team USA vs. The World

The event just ended. Literally minutes ago and I've been hard at work uploading photos. Expect a more formal wrap up tomorrow of the event [sorry, I'm incredibly exhausted]. What you should know is that Team USA beat Team 'The World' in an incredibly close match 13 to 12. Yipes beat Chris Schmidt in a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 exhibition as well as the official Marvel vs. Capcom 2 tournament. Daigo was eliminated earlier than expected in the Super Street Fighter IV by Andre. Gamerbee ended up winning in the grand finals against Momochi, so the Super Street Fighter IV character tier is kinda wide open. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Super Street Fighter II, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, Blaz Blue: TS and more -- were all played, I'll try to gather as many results as possible.

In the mean time. Be sure to check out the photos here! Season's Beatings Photos!

Super Street Fighter IV Review -- History Repeating?

Super Street Fighter IV has ushered in a new community of fighting game fans and continues to cater to us old schoolers. So why do I get the sneaking suspicion that we could be on the cusp of yet another fighting game flood?
Within the week of me writing this I’ve had the pleasure of: purchasing my first arcade joystick, arranging plans with friends to attend a fighting game tournament and review a long-time competitor in Tekken 6. Needless to say, I’m suffering from a frame counting overload. Imagine my surprise when I opened up a little envelop in my mailbox and out popped a shiny new copy of Super Street Fighter IV. Looking at my stack of growing games I rarely play, I noticed a dusty copy of the original Street Fighter IV which was released a year prior. My joy slowly waned as I questioned whether Capcom was repeating history and gouging its fans by flooding the fighting game market with sequels and spin-offs.

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Tekken 6 Review -- What Happened To Tekken?

Here lies Tekken 6. A fantastic fighting game that never wants you to play it online. EVER.
No matter how many times you adjust your collectible head gear and change outfits on your favorite polygonal fighter, it won’t bring back the one you love. For the past three iterations of the once illustrious 3D fighting Tekken franchise, the series has been balancing the art of evolving and correcting previous miscues. Where this current Street Fighter community had the ability to grow two-fold thanks to this new age of online play and console connectivity, Tekken fans will still yearn for an online system more sophisticated than the one found in this game. The biggest issue with Tekken 6 currently, isn’t so much the robust fighting system and the well-realized graphics engine, but how it presents these features to a varied audience of hardcore enthusiast and newcomers.

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The Social Network Review -- I Wanted To Hate It

Who knew the history of Facebook rested on the bathroom sandals of such a neurotic prick?

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Video: The Only Two Games I'm Looking Forward To

Thanks to Gamefly and a little luck with friends of this site, I've been able to play a handful of games I've been looking forward too this year. Go ahead, click the games tab on the left of the site and peruse my let downs and my surprises. 

However, I typically like to keep games I want to be surprised by, out of my internet gaze until their release. The game above, Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows and the game after the jump, Enslaved are two games I've been interested in for two very different reasons.

Castlevania: LofS I've been interested in simply because I'm not a Castlevania fan [the only Castlevania game I liked was Symphony of the Night and I own most of the console released games]. The game looks powerfully Japanese [and how could it not? Its a Kojima joint] with the haircuts and gothic clothing, not to mention the overly expository 'talky' scenes, but it all works and looks appealing. Weird, considering, usually these are all things that turn me off and a contributing reason why I don't watch game trailers.

Enslaved is a game I've been keeping an eye on since Edge's interview of Ninja Theory earlier this year. That and I've recently caught myself up on the book the game is based on [Journey to the West]. Plus, I'm a fan of underdog games. Castlevania and Enslaved games aint gonna get the push a Gran Turismo 5 or Halo: Reach is going to get in the holiday season so, I figured a little post like this may bend the ear of a reader or two.

I'm going into these games knowing that they didn't have the money that a God of War or Devil May Cry may fetch. So seeing a couple reviews on 1up has me thinking that barring some minor annoyances, my want of these games could be justified.

After the jump, the Enslaved trailer

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Commercial Break: The New Age Of Headspins

 For the people who know me in real life and think I 'do the spinny thing'. No, I don't, I use to. In this clip you'll see Aicha [Japan], Lazer [Korea] and my personal favorite Boom [Korea]. Three people [barring the legendary Storm] who are responsible for evolving one of the oldest powermoves in the bboy community. Enjoy.

Commercial Break: Elephants, They Be Painting

Glorious. Magnificent. And possibly a result of some good ole fashioned animal torture in order to produce an anomaly in the world of animal sociology. Geez, that wasn't called for at all was it? This is kind of my double-edged sword for posting this. 

Its easy to be a pessimist isn't it? Even something as odd and kinda cool as an elephant touching up a painting [one can only assume] he/she had been working on, could be the result of something negative. At the same time, its also double-delusional to think this creative little pachyderm dropped out of the womb with a the itch to get his Bob Ross on.

I'd prefer to think positive in spite of my cynical brain's negative leanings.