Finally made some time to go out and play some SF4 tonight. I went with a few co-workers first to the arcade. Two of my buddies are much more into Marvel vs Capcom 2 than SF4 so we compromised and headed out for James Games in Upland. I played some pretty good people including Muffinman from the SRK forums (pictured on the right). I just had to swing by Vid94 to meet up with some of the guys and saw a bunch of familiar faces. When work calms down a bit, I really must get more practice in. With the console version coming out so soon though, who knows what the outcome will be. My Balrog is still rusty so I wasn’t able to really come up with any new stuff. Hope I’m ready for the team tourney coming up.
The demo is now available for download on Xbox Live!
Ryan, aka Gootecks, just posted another update with my Street Fighter 4 progress at his site. Check it out here. I’ve been trying to think of how I can apply Balrog’s focus attack to apply more pressure but it just has such terrible horizontal range. Going on what Ryan and I talked about on the podcast, I’ve been thinking about different ranges and gameplans for each character and hopefully I start to improve my game. The next tournament that I know of is in 2 weeks at Video 94 and is a 2v2 team tournament. ShglBMX is my partner so I’m hoping a Blanka/Balrog combo makes an impact. Man, I cannot wait for this game to hit console.
Also released today is the Resident Evil 5 demo on Xbox Live. I will be playing it all night tonight, though I think my roommates wanted to raid Naxxramas tonight as well. So much gaming, so little time. I also gotta get back out to Video 94 or Arcade Infinity and work on my EX rush uppercut loop. Oh well, first things first: Gotta make it through a day of work.
Update: I was watching Mike Ross and Keno’s match from Arcade Infinity Ranking Battle 1.6 and paused when someone came up to talk to me. The resulting screenshot?
Sagat actually has the furthest hitting focus attack, but he doesn't hit you with his elbow or knees...
Okay, so I’ve been meaning to post, but not only have I had a lot of overtime at work, I’ve come back to playing World of Warcraft. I have just been too tired to drive out to play SF4 (which I should be putting some more time into) but alas, I’m only human.
World of Warcraft: My roommates and I have a small guild and we started to run Naxxramas 10 man. Yeah, we’re scrubby, but I’m actually having a good time. We have cleared the Spider and Plague wings and are currently working on the military wing. Kewl.
I actually did make it out to Video 94 yesterday and got a few 15ish winning streaks which was surprising since I haven’t played at all and I’m usually pretty rusty. I was able to get the EX upper loop a few times. We all went to Maxim Cafe afterwards where Mr. Mike Ross tried the Watermelon juice. Hilarity ensued.
Work today was fairly normal. A day in the life. A grind of the gear. After work, two co-workers and I headed to Arcade Infinity to play some SF4. Professa K and Scottind were there and we played a few games before they left. Good times.
Thanks to a man with a dream, I had today off from work. I made sure to spend it wisely:
Sleeping
Playing Fable II
Sleeping
Eating
Sleeping
Watching Doug DVD
Sleeping
Catching up on To Aru Majutsu no Index
I gotta say, To Aru Majutsu no Index is one of the better animes I’ve seen in a while. I watched episodes 6-15 today and they were way good. Index is total loli which is super.
I spent a decent portion of my day finally sitting down to play Fable II, which is actually pretty good. Only gripe is that it only inverts the Y camera and not X. What is with that?!
I was going to make my way out to Video94 to practice up my SF4 but I am still way spent from California Regionals. I have to rest up for a week of work. I’m almost hoping there is no tournament this coming weekend. I need to recharge. But hey, if it happens, I’m gonna go and I’m gonna fight for top 8. Gotta hit the sack early so I can reajust my sleeping schedule for work.
California Regionals is finally over. Well, at least for me it is. I ended up doing fairly terribly in singles. I think my lack of practice this week tore my game up. On top of being rusty, I was beyond exhausted as Keno and I did not sleep till roughly 5:30am. In singles, I lost to an Abel player who I was beating 100% of the time in casuals. I was hating life at that point. I was starting to bring it back from losers but was finally stopped by Gootecks himself.
I am completely exhausted, back in Irvine, and going to sleep till Tuesday. I don’t want to be this tired ever again. Overall though, amazing experience. The next time I go to a major will probably be Evolution in Las Vegas.
Good games to all those I played and for the good times with the Nor Cal guys. I would have taken more pictures but my camera died.
Just got back to my hotel room from Day 1: Team Tournament Day and my brain exploded multiple times. Unfortunately, my lack of practice this week really hurt our team and the Grand Finals happened at 4:00 in the morning. There were a lot of people present at the finals and a lot of hype thanks to Team Samoa.
My team, Team Giggles and Glee, won once, then was OCV’d and then reverse OCV’d. Our last match, I was able to take down both Dentron and Misterbean, but then Kryojenix reverse OCV’d the team. My lack of experience with Viper got me absolutely destroyed.
Winners: Paul, Tatsu, and Money Mike Moval.
Runner Up: Gootecks, Ed Ma, Ken I
Wow. So this is what a major tournament is like. Last night was day zero of California Regionals. A lot of people practicing up for today’s team tournament and tomorrow’s singles. If day zero was this hype, I don’t know if I can handle Days One and Two. I may need to bring a diaper because I almost shit myself yesterday. Photos after the break. Here’s the recap:
California Regionals At Denjin Arcade
So after work, I make the two and a half hour drive to Simi Valley where I checked into the Simi Valley Grand Vista Hotel. This place is pretty nice. My room is large and spacious with a bed, couch, desk, fridge, microwave, etc. I took a shower and a small nap since I’ve been working overtime all week. After a half hour power nap, I made my way to Denjin Arcade.
The place was completely packed with every fighting game having multiple quarters posted up. It was the 90s all over again. I made rounds and talked with people I haven’t been able to see all week. I sat down to primarily watch some SF4 but the real reason I even made the trip for Day Zero was the Kai vs Fatbear 3rd Strike money match; first to 10. I had $100 on Kai and was glad I put my money on him because Kai won fairly convincingly at 10-5. Kai had lost the first two games without winning a round so I was a little afraid, but he came back 4 games in a row afterwards and the entire arcade exploded. I have never experienced anything like it. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs, myself included. It was amazing. Ryan (Gootecks) was on scene to document the event with both video and pre, post game interviews for the podcast. If this is day zero, then I’m in for a mind blowing weekend.
After the money match, I played a few rounds of SF4 and wouldn’t you know it, I’m rusty as shit. The lines to play were far too long and I made my way back to the hotel where I enjoyed some Del Taco and the latest addition to my DVD collection: Doug Season 2. I’m prepping up now to head back to Denjin for the team tournament. There are some beastly teams out there today. Gootecks, Ed Ma, and Ken-I; Keno, Fuson909, and Pigadoken; and I hear Ultradavid and Alex Valle have a team. Lots of competition out there. Best of luck to myself, MYK, and Bryant the Tyrant.
Before I start up the ol’ blogging, I want to post a picture of my sister’s dog. She lives on the east coast and bought her dog some snow clothes. His name is Bear and he’s quite possibly the best dog ever.
Okay, so I’m still at work and about to start my overtime. I’m still a bit sad because I won’t have much practice at all before Regionals. I am heading out after work on Friday to check into the Simi Valley Grand Hotel and then practice as much as I can at Denjin Arcade.
So the itinerary is:
Friday - Drive out to Simi Valley. Check into the hotel and get some practice in at Denjin. Maybe do some late night strategy discussion with Gootecks if he would be so kind. Make a morning appointment for an hour or two of deep tissue.
Saturday - Wake up to an hour or so of deep tissue. I want to lose as much tension and be as relaxed as I can. Get some breakfast and make my way to Denjin. Play in the SF4 team tournament with MYK and Bryant the Tyrant. Hope we do well. End the night with a fair amount of drinking and chatting it up. Maybe some strategy discussion with Mike Ross/Keno and others.
Sunday - Hopefully, I’ll be all out of tournament jitters and kick some ass in singles.
I’ll post pictures after every day so you can re-live my experience. Here’s hoping to top 8.
So in the interactive media entertainment industry, overtime is kind of a given. Well, overtime just happened to hit me the week before California Regionals for Street Fighter. I work till roughly 11:30pm every night. Though Video94 is open till about 4 or 5am, it would effectively kill me to drive out 40 minutes and play for a few hours to come back to another 14 hour day. My Balrog is going to be quite rusty for Regionals which sucks. MYK and Bryant the Tyrant are my teammates for Saturday’s team tournament. I hope they’re practicing and carry me.
If you follow the Street Fighter podcast with Gootecks, my friend Mike Ross the Boss is the featured guest. Check it out at Gootecks.com. Mike’s Honda has been my bane ever since I started playing. Him getting 33rd at his first tournament was a fluke I think. His Honda was beating me 100% of the time and I got 17th. Lies Mike!! Anyhow, check out the podcast because it was a really good listen.
Lastly today, I am super excited because my 2nd favorite video game franchise is getting a demo in 2 weeks! Resident Evil 5’s demo drops on Xbox360 on the 26th and I will be first in line to download it. Anyone who wants to play, hit me up!
