So here we are once again eh? Facing a new year? I must say that 2011 was a really really great year for me and I can't complain. I've obtained a great deal, lost only so much but that's alright because that's normally how it goes; give and take. All the new friends I've acquired along the journey this year are truly awesome and deserve the very best. My current friends are simply a blessing in disguise, their continued support on the journey with me is completely unmatched and my returned support for them is 250% all the way. You guys know who you are! Thanks a million guys~
Special shout outs to my sponsors Planet Zero and Quantic Gaming for backing me up and having me in the current position I'm in now. I intend to continue doing my very best all the way across the board and continue to pave a new wave of things. Lots of love also to those I don't know personally but support, you guys are a huge part of the fuel that helps keep me motivated! May the new year bless you guys too!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
The Road to Southern California Regionals pt2
So here we are for part 2 kiddies so let's get right to it~
Saturday 8:45am
Woke up after a good night's rest and figured it'd be a great idea to open up with a nice hot shower right? WRONG! I turned on that shower water and waited for at least 10min for that thing to warm up and no dice. So I figured "blah whatever" and took the most shittiest shower I've had the entire year, needless to say the water was effin' cold haha. After the shower of death I figured I gotta do well now, I just had a crap shower so something has to go right after all this right?
Headed down to the lobby to catch the shuttle to the venue and met up with some of the Seattle crew. Jumped on the shuttle when it arrived and the driver and pretty much everyone on the shuttle was a gamer so the conversation to the venue was good. The driver mentioned him being good at the old Street Fighter games and competed at one point in time. He said he wants to get back into it because the exposure the new fighting games are getting and well all pretty much agreed that he should, so let's see where that takes him.
10am
Got into tournament mode and was waiting patiently on brackets to see who was in my pool for what games. The games I played were Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition, King of Fighters XIII, and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. After getting some hassle from some people on where to look at the brackets I finally got some wifi on my phone to check it out since it was all online. Great idea to do online bracketing, bad idea for the players since the wifi where we were was pretty weak and drained my battery which was no bueno at all.
In UMvC3 turns out I had Marn(California) and Ruin(Vegas) in my pool. I was on the shocked side of things to find out that Marn of all players was in my pool haha. I guess they wanted to see a Guilty Gear reunion with me Ruin and Marn or rather a Texas reunion because Marn is indeed from Texas, despite what people believe lol.
In KoF I had no idea who was who but I knew most of the top SoCal guys were in this and I'd have an uphill battle the whole way. The competition in KoF in Houston is pretty small while the guys in SoCal have a larger number by far in comparison. Up hill struggle indeed.
Now this one was a kicker, yet ANOTHER Guilty Gear reunion with Latif in my pool lol. Oh brother and to top it off I had FloE as well. Scared? Nervous? Nah not at all, but it was quite the surprise when I found out. I figure I'd just do my best and see where it takes me~!
10:30am
While waiting around for my pool in UMvC to start I checked out the Namco booth where they had Soul Calibur 5 and Tekken Tag 2 for play. I've got to say Soul Calibur 5 and Tag 2 are the prettiest non cartoony 3d fighters to date. Met up with Rich from Namco Bandai and had small talk and what not, he's a cool cat most definitely.
12noon
When pretty much everything tournament-wise began for me and I was just waiting to play my matches to get my flow started. First match was in KoF in which I took and that got me started up which after I had to play Marn on the stream setup for UMvC. In which you can see here and it starts around 1:04:00
Watch live video from Level|Up Live on Justin.tv
Unfortunately after that match I lost 2 straight immediately...I wasn't upset due to the randomness of UMvC not to mention I'm still fairly new to the game. I took it as a learning lesson and I intend to improve my skills in that game.
After going out in Marvel I was doing really well in KoF but got sent to losers 3rd round by Yoshi from SoCal. Dude was really good and I'd never seen half the tricks he was doing since well...I have no real comp in the game lol.*HOPEFULLY THAT WILL CHANGE SOON HOUSTON~* Unfazed by the lost I eagerly waited my next match all the while knowing that I now have a gauntlet to run in this game being in losers side. Halfway through KoF, SF4 started running pools and I was in pool 6 so I figured I had plenty of time to keep playing KoF. I plowed through match after match after match climbing my way to top 32 to eventually end up 1 match away from being top 16.
I kept my mental game up and stayed unfazed by any trick or gimmick I hadn't seen before. This tends to be a problem with some players that get mind blown by something they've never seen before and let it effect the following matches. I just said "bring it, I'll figure it out as I go!" and that mentality harbored my success. The match I played to get into top 16 was pretty tough. I was doing my normal "rush down" and kept getting stopped dead in my tracks. Losing the first game due to my impatience I said "ok, not going to rush it down right out the gate, slowly advance then proceed with the kill, pressure and watch'em panick". This worked out in my favor really well and I advanced into the top 16 in KoF!
4pm
Took a break from everything and made sure to double check my pool's start time in SF4 and pool 3 was going on so I figured its definitely the perfect time to just re-cooperate and collect myself. Pool 3 still going on so I had to get ready to play in the top 16 in KoF. Ready as I'll ever be I had to play the same guy that put me in losers Yoshi. I was recalling our match earlier so I'd be ready for the run back. Turns out he didn't play the same team against me in top 16 in which you can check out here at 1:17:00
Watch live video from leveluplive2 on Justin.tv
Didn't win it but I did hold my own and collected myself to do better. Maybe next time~haha good games to Yoshi he's a really strong player in that game. Afterwards I had a phone convo with a friend for about a good 15 min, hit the bathroom and I was on my way back in to check my pool for SF4. Turns out my pool started while I was playing KoF and I got disqualified from my winners match! Upset? No. Dissapointed? Yes, but I just accepted it and moved on, any further frustrations would throw off my mental game. After being put into losers I ran through my next 5-6 matches till I came across a Fei player. I forget his name but he came with Air(Canada's top Ryu) and he was coaching him the entire way. Kinda lame but *shrug* its bound to happen right? Sadly this is where my story for SF4 ends as I lost this match.
I wasn't adjusted to Fei's new changes and it messed with me during the match. No excuse though, I have a Fei player in my hometown so ultimately it was my fault for not getting games with him before leaving much less sitting in training mode learning on my own.
Wasn't upset at my performance across the board. I was totally content with it and learned a great deal from the guys I did play and talk to on all fronts. I did reflect on how I could improve those aspects and I'm in the process of fixing it all.
Sunday mainly consisted of me simply enjoying the rest of the tournament finals and making even more connections with other players. All in all a good time~!
Saturday 8:45am
Woke up after a good night's rest and figured it'd be a great idea to open up with a nice hot shower right? WRONG! I turned on that shower water and waited for at least 10min for that thing to warm up and no dice. So I figured "blah whatever" and took the most shittiest shower I've had the entire year, needless to say the water was effin' cold haha. After the shower of death I figured I gotta do well now, I just had a crap shower so something has to go right after all this right?
Headed down to the lobby to catch the shuttle to the venue and met up with some of the Seattle crew. Jumped on the shuttle when it arrived and the driver and pretty much everyone on the shuttle was a gamer so the conversation to the venue was good. The driver mentioned him being good at the old Street Fighter games and competed at one point in time. He said he wants to get back into it because the exposure the new fighting games are getting and well all pretty much agreed that he should, so let's see where that takes him.
10am
Got into tournament mode and was waiting patiently on brackets to see who was in my pool for what games. The games I played were Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition, King of Fighters XIII, and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. After getting some hassle from some people on where to look at the brackets I finally got some wifi on my phone to check it out since it was all online. Great idea to do online bracketing, bad idea for the players since the wifi where we were was pretty weak and drained my battery which was no bueno at all.
In UMvC3 turns out I had Marn(California) and Ruin(Vegas) in my pool. I was on the shocked side of things to find out that Marn of all players was in my pool haha. I guess they wanted to see a Guilty Gear reunion with me Ruin and Marn or rather a Texas reunion because Marn is indeed from Texas, despite what people believe lol.
In KoF I had no idea who was who but I knew most of the top SoCal guys were in this and I'd have an uphill battle the whole way. The competition in KoF in Houston is pretty small while the guys in SoCal have a larger number by far in comparison. Up hill struggle indeed.
Now this one was a kicker, yet ANOTHER Guilty Gear reunion with Latif in my pool lol. Oh brother and to top it off I had FloE as well. Scared? Nervous? Nah not at all, but it was quite the surprise when I found out. I figure I'd just do my best and see where it takes me~!
10:30am
While waiting around for my pool in UMvC to start I checked out the Namco booth where they had Soul Calibur 5 and Tekken Tag 2 for play. I've got to say Soul Calibur 5 and Tag 2 are the prettiest non cartoony 3d fighters to date. Met up with Rich from Namco Bandai and had small talk and what not, he's a cool cat most definitely.
When pretty much everything tournament-wise began for me and I was just waiting to play my matches to get my flow started. First match was in KoF in which I took and that got me started up which after I had to play Marn on the stream setup for UMvC. In which you can see here and it starts around 1:04:00
Watch live video from Level|Up Live on Justin.tv
Unfortunately after that match I lost 2 straight immediately...I wasn't upset due to the randomness of UMvC not to mention I'm still fairly new to the game. I took it as a learning lesson and I intend to improve my skills in that game.
After going out in Marvel I was doing really well in KoF but got sent to losers 3rd round by Yoshi from SoCal. Dude was really good and I'd never seen half the tricks he was doing since well...I have no real comp in the game lol.*HOPEFULLY THAT WILL CHANGE SOON HOUSTON~* Unfazed by the lost I eagerly waited my next match all the while knowing that I now have a gauntlet to run in this game being in losers side. Halfway through KoF, SF4 started running pools and I was in pool 6 so I figured I had plenty of time to keep playing KoF. I plowed through match after match after match climbing my way to top 32 to eventually end up 1 match away from being top 16.
I kept my mental game up and stayed unfazed by any trick or gimmick I hadn't seen before. This tends to be a problem with some players that get mind blown by something they've never seen before and let it effect the following matches. I just said "bring it, I'll figure it out as I go!" and that mentality harbored my success. The match I played to get into top 16 was pretty tough. I was doing my normal "rush down" and kept getting stopped dead in my tracks. Losing the first game due to my impatience I said "ok, not going to rush it down right out the gate, slowly advance then proceed with the kill, pressure and watch'em panick". This worked out in my favor really well and I advanced into the top 16 in KoF!
4pm
Took a break from everything and made sure to double check my pool's start time in SF4 and pool 3 was going on so I figured its definitely the perfect time to just re-cooperate and collect myself. Pool 3 still going on so I had to get ready to play in the top 16 in KoF. Ready as I'll ever be I had to play the same guy that put me in losers Yoshi. I was recalling our match earlier so I'd be ready for the run back. Turns out he didn't play the same team against me in top 16 in which you can check out here at 1:17:00
Watch live video from leveluplive2 on Justin.tv
Didn't win it but I did hold my own and collected myself to do better. Maybe next time~haha good games to Yoshi he's a really strong player in that game. Afterwards I had a phone convo with a friend for about a good 15 min, hit the bathroom and I was on my way back in to check my pool for SF4. Turns out my pool started while I was playing KoF and I got disqualified from my winners match! Upset? No. Dissapointed? Yes, but I just accepted it and moved on, any further frustrations would throw off my mental game. After being put into losers I ran through my next 5-6 matches till I came across a Fei player. I forget his name but he came with Air(Canada's top Ryu) and he was coaching him the entire way. Kinda lame but *shrug* its bound to happen right? Sadly this is where my story for SF4 ends as I lost this match.
I wasn't adjusted to Fei's new changes and it messed with me during the match. No excuse though, I have a Fei player in my hometown so ultimately it was my fault for not getting games with him before leaving much less sitting in training mode learning on my own.
Wasn't upset at my performance across the board. I was totally content with it and learned a great deal from the guys I did play and talk to on all fronts. I did reflect on how I could improve those aspects and I'm in the process of fixing it all.
Sunday mainly consisted of me simply enjoying the rest of the tournament finals and making even more connections with other players. All in all a good time~!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The Road to Southern California Regionals pt1
It all starts with me having a good time and me leaving with a good time well spent. My trip to Southern California Regionals was totally worth the time and I'd gladly return to compete once again.
What is Southern California Regionals?
For those of you reading that are unfamiliar, SoCal Regionals is a fighting game tournament consisting of multitude of none other than fighting games and players from all across the nation that come to compete to see who's the next big thing in the scene. The majority of them are from California North and South that make up the bulk of the event along side other surrounding areas such as Seattle and Vegas. On to the meat of things shall we?
The Plane Ride-Friday 6:40am
Well there's not much to say about this to be quite frank haha. I went straight to sleep the second the plane lifted off the ground haha going to and from! Pretty comfortable but of course not the best of conditions. Sleep is sleep and I love to get me some good rest.
Oh man...I'm in Southern California?! SWEET~11am
After I arrived I went to the park and ride to get to the shuttle to the lovely Atrium Hotel.
Later on down the line Filipino Champ, Ricky Ortiz and Hiro came in the room as well to get some games in. I learned a great deal from playing the Utah crew. Just to add, those guys are really strong players.
Afterwards I was able to hitch a ride with the Utah crew to the venue to register. Along the way to the venue Andy insisted that I was now honorary part of the Utah crew and praised my Ibuki gameplay. Naturally I was flattered on all fronts and took him up on that offer! So I was honorary Utah/Texas it is haha!
Got to the venue while it was empty and had to wait a short while to register where I met Alex Valle and another person doing sign ups for the event. Valle and I had a brief reunion, its been years since we've talked to each other since last I was in California and he was in Texas. Mind you this dates back hella ages ago haha. So we did the rounds and pounds and on my way out I caught Huey playing Blazblue!
We briefly exchanged words and me and the Utah crew were out in search for some dinner. I don't recall the joint but it was really really tasty food. I thought it was quite ironic that half of the food was fried chicken...(insert black stereotype joke about fried chicken here) I lol'd and just ran with it because even I thought it was funny lol.
I was impressed at the reactions of both of them just playing side characters. Pretty intense stuff if I do say so, and that aside I got to kick it with Mr.Snk! Dude is so chill and its always a blast hanging with him! We had great conversation about random stuff and of course fighting game talk had to occur I mean, we're gamers right haha! It got really late 3am to be roughly exact, so I split the scene and hit the hay. I knew Saturday would be quite a long day because well...THE TOURNAMENT STARTED THAT DAY lol.
Before going to bed I thought about my game plan and strategies for the tournament in each game. I took the time to prepare myself mentally for the challenges ahead...I felt extremely confident in my abilities to put not only myself but my city back on the map at this event. I thought to myself I could definitely achieve this so long as I focus...
That's enough for now kiddies part 2 coming soon!
What is Southern California Regionals?
For those of you reading that are unfamiliar, SoCal Regionals is a fighting game tournament consisting of multitude of none other than fighting games and players from all across the nation that come to compete to see who's the next big thing in the scene. The majority of them are from California North and South that make up the bulk of the event along side other surrounding areas such as Seattle and Vegas. On to the meat of things shall we?
The Plane Ride-Friday 6:40am
Well there's not much to say about this to be quite frank haha. I went straight to sleep the second the plane lifted off the ground haha going to and from! Pretty comfortable but of course not the best of conditions. Sleep is sleep and I love to get me some good rest.
Oh man...I'm in Southern California?! SWEET~11am
After I arrived I went to the park and ride to get to the shuttle to the lovely Atrium Hotel.
Afterwards I made it to the hotel which I thought was a pretty nice place for what it was. The funny part is...the hotel is literally across the street from the airport! I literally facepalmed when I got off the shuttle when I saw how close everything was haha. I also met a player from Seattle named Mike I believe it was (a really really solid Bison player too). We talked it up for a bit before parting ways in the lobby and I made it to my room.
3pm-5pm
All was good and I ended up taking a nap where afterwards I met up with Latiff and his cousin to eat some brunch at Ihop. Good times indeed! Afterwards we went into the Utah players room for some Street Fighter 4 AE casuals with Iperu(El Fuerte), 801strider(Abel, Makoto, Sagat), Scott(Cody) and Andy(Ken, Chun Li).
Left to Right
( Hiro(Blanka), Iperu(El Fuerte), Latif(Viper), Scott(Cody), 801strider(Abel, Makoto, Sagat) )
Afterwards I was able to hitch a ride with the Utah crew to the venue to register. Along the way to the venue Andy insisted that I was now honorary part of the Utah crew and praised my Ibuki gameplay. Naturally I was flattered on all fronts and took him up on that offer! So I was honorary Utah/Texas it is haha!
We briefly exchanged words and me and the Utah crew were out in search for some dinner. I don't recall the joint but it was really really tasty food. I thought it was quite ironic that half of the food was fried chicken...(insert black stereotype joke about fried chicken here) I lol'd and just ran with it because even I thought it was funny lol.
(Me, Scott *across from me*, Andy*next to Scott*, Iperu, 801 and the rest of the crew)
9pm-3am
After dinner back to the hotel where we played a bit more casuals with some other folks, I ran a streak on one of the setups and lost it to Andy's Chun, but I won the rest of the set afterwards haha. I got clowned a bit on that one but good games none the less. Utah crew and I hit up the Arizona crew's room and played some casuals with them as well. Watched a pretty long intense set with 801strider and Latif's side characters. I could tell those two were going at it intently thinking that if they played each other its going to be hell to pay on either side.I was impressed at the reactions of both of them just playing side characters. Pretty intense stuff if I do say so, and that aside I got to kick it with Mr.Snk! Dude is so chill and its always a blast hanging with him! We had great conversation about random stuff and of course fighting game talk had to occur I mean, we're gamers right haha! It got really late 3am to be roughly exact, so I split the scene and hit the hay. I knew Saturday would be quite a long day because well...THE TOURNAMENT STARTED THAT DAY lol.
Before going to bed I thought about my game plan and strategies for the tournament in each game. I took the time to prepare myself mentally for the challenges ahead...I felt extremely confident in my abilities to put not only myself but my city back on the map at this event. I thought to myself I could definitely achieve this so long as I focus...
That's enough for now kiddies part 2 coming soon!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
BEST FIGHTING GAME OF 2011? None other than King of Fighters XII!
What's that you say Gamespot?? BEST FIGHTING GAME OF 2011?
http://www.gamespot.com/best-of-2011-awards/genre-awards/index.html?page=3
KoF FINALLY getting the love it deserves!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
MLG's SUPERBOWL gets more views than regular sports?!?!
WHAT?!
Funny thing I caught this just a while ago, the last few days there has been debates about the Fighting Game Community and eSports League MLG. The article discusses how the viewership of the MLG circuit has COMPLETELY surpassed the viewership of regular sports. I think its quite amazing and interesting all at the same time. Take a read!
Check it out~
Funny thing I caught this just a while ago, the last few days there has been debates about the Fighting Game Community and eSports League MLG. The article discusses how the viewership of the MLG circuit has COMPLETELY surpassed the viewership of regular sports. I think its quite amazing and interesting all at the same time. Take a read!
Check it out~
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Made The Front Page of Eventhubs!
"Today is the second day since the 2012 patch came to SSF4 Arcade Edition, and more video content has been submitted showing new combos, glitches or tricks thanks to the adjustments. Hit the jump for all the videos.
The first video is by ShinKensou doing a rundown of Ibuki's changes."
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2011/dec/14/ssf4-ae-2012-roundup-featuring-akuma-juri-vega-ibuki/
SWEET~ Thanks Eventhubs!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Street Fighter 4 AE 2o12 is HERE!!
So the DLC update to Arcade Edition came out and after messing with my characters, Ibuki in particular, figured I give a small rundown on what I discovered.
Ibuki
The new fwd+HK on counter hit leads to more combo opportunities:
-fwd+HK, st.Lp, st.MP, st.HP, into any ender of choice be it SJC U2(super jump cancel), Spin Kicks, or Neckbreaker (difficult)
-fwd+HK, cr.LPx3, st.MK, Spin Kicks, Neckbreaker, or either U1 or U2 (too easy)
-fwd+HK, cr.LPx3, cr.HK, st.HK, SJC Command Dash for mixup (semi difficult due to the SJC)
-fwd+HK, st.MK, Spin Kicks, Neckbreaker, or either U1 or U2 (semi difficult)
New U1 blast stays out longer making for some new interesting combos:
-cl.HK, U1 possible for 306dmg. Very much so welcomed to increase usage of this Ultra:
-Anti-Air b+MP, Command Dash, cl.HK, U1 (anywhere on screen) 261dmg
-Anti-Air cl.HK, U1 (anywhere on screen) 256dmg
New Juggle Properties on U2 lead to some kill combo situations:
-Anti-Air b+MP, HK Command Dash, U2 (anywhere on screen) 150dmg
-cl.HK, U2 (anywhere on screen) 230dmg
I was unaware they sped up her b+MK and man is that thing fast haha! It can be used to snuff things from afar better now with the speed increase so its going to be an even bigger part of her game. Along side f+HK for frame traps and crushing lows to get that counter hit will be really good, however f+HK is -3 on block meaning it can be 3f punished with things like Shoryu's and the like so has to be used sparingly or from roughly mid to max distance.
All in all her strategy is about the same of course, it's mainly having her Ultra's as an extra utility outside of netting a clear punish or a SJC combo. I think she was already a threat to begin with since her introduction into the SF4 realm, now they just fortified her even further with better options to seal the deal. I think she has the ability to be roughly an A rank character at best while sticking at around B+ rank in the meantime.
LET'S GO IBUKI!
Ibuki
The new fwd+HK on counter hit leads to more combo opportunities:
-fwd+HK, st.Lp, st.MP, st.HP, into any ender of choice be it SJC U2(super jump cancel), Spin Kicks, or Neckbreaker (difficult)
-fwd+HK, cr.LPx3, st.MK, Spin Kicks, Neckbreaker, or either U1 or U2 (too easy)
-fwd+HK, cr.LPx3, cr.HK, st.HK, SJC Command Dash for mixup (semi difficult due to the SJC)
-fwd+HK, st.MK, Spin Kicks, Neckbreaker, or either U1 or U2 (semi difficult)
New U1 blast stays out longer making for some new interesting combos:
-cl.HK, U1 possible for 306dmg. Very much so welcomed to increase usage of this Ultra:
-Anti-Air b+MP, Command Dash, cl.HK, U1 (anywhere on screen) 261dmg
-Anti-Air cl.HK, U1 (anywhere on screen) 256dmg
New Juggle Properties on U2 lead to some kill combo situations:
-Anti-Air b+MP, HK Command Dash, U2 (anywhere on screen) 150dmg
-cl.HK, U2 (anywhere on screen) 230dmg
I was unaware they sped up her b+MK and man is that thing fast haha! It can be used to snuff things from afar better now with the speed increase so its going to be an even bigger part of her game. Along side f+HK for frame traps and crushing lows to get that counter hit will be really good, however f+HK is -3 on block meaning it can be 3f punished with things like Shoryu's and the like so has to be used sparingly or from roughly mid to max distance.
All in all her strategy is about the same of course, it's mainly having her Ultra's as an extra utility outside of netting a clear punish or a SJC combo. I think she was already a threat to begin with since her introduction into the SF4 realm, now they just fortified her even further with better options to seal the deal. I think she has the ability to be roughly an A rank character at best while sticking at around B+ rank in the meantime.
LET'S GO IBUKI!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Quantic Gaming!
I recently got picked up by a tier 1 gaming group here in the city of Houston called Quantic Gaming. These guys are simply amazing at what they do and they're stepping into the arena with me as there very first fighting game player. I'll let the article do the talking for itself! Big shout outs to Planet Zero, Quantic Gaming and all my friends and family that support me on this new venture. It's going to be quite the adventure for sure! I'm going to be doing my best! Wish me luck!
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