The Latest Post

Here's a little behind-the-scenes on this post on iPlayWinner. Reading through UltraDavid's article on the anti-streaming bill, I knew I had to post something about this serious issue. But, it seemed a little too serious. Frankly, it was kind of a downer. So, the first idea that popped in my head that was a little more lighthearted was Spooky being an outlaw. I asked Haunts if he could whip up a wanted poster, and he did so in about a minute. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it. So, I basically wrote that whole post just to have a reason to post that picture.

How It All Started

I was just thinking about my motivation to start this blog about a year ago. You'd never guess the number one reason: I wanted to practice writing sentences with only one space after each period. My main goal was honestly to shake my previously-ingrained two-space-after-a-period habit.

I had done some reading on the topic, and I found out that I was totally wrong about it. The way I was taught to type was a throwback to the days of typewriters and monospaced fonts. Nowadays, we have variable-width fonts that make the old two-space practice obsolete. To leave two spaces after a period makes you look like an old fogy, desperately clinging to a bygone era. When I became aware of this, after years of ignorance, I decided to rid myself of this problem. And that's how it all started!

The Medium is the Message

Blogs are a fairly new method of communication, and they require a certain format to be followed. The mark of any great art is that it does things with the medium that can only be done in that medium. A great movie shows something in a way that a still image could not, accompanied by music and dialog that fit just right. A great musical uses not just the lyrics, but also the tone and rhythm of the songs to convey its message. A great game engages the player in a way that no movie could. So what, then, could a tiny blog post on the Internet do that combines form and function?

First of all, I strive to make my posts fun to read. If the post is nothing but a dry info-dump, people will read it because they have to, not because they want to. I also try to make the image at the start of the post somehow striking or subtly humorous in context with the text, like in this post.

As with the images, I try to include jokes in the text that you'll get if you're paying attention. For example, in this post, I tried to pack in as many Seth sayings/memes as possible. In this post I wanted to repeat "Hope you like this!" at least twice, as it is repeated ad nauseum in the video. In that same post I start off with a cliche, which is usually a sign of poor, lazy writing; however, I wanted the cliche to invoke that tired, been-there done-that feeling that is similar to how people already feel about Yun. Form and function united in that lame cliche.

Mind you, all of this is being decided on-the-fly, so I worry that I might run out of interesting things to say. I've been doing alright so far and hope to keep up both the pace and quality of my posts. If you see me slacking, feel free to call me on it.

There's also the problem of plagiarism, although news reporting blurs the line of the fair-use doctrine. As I mentioned, Keits has already copied some of my stuff nearly word-for-word on SRK, without crediting iPlayWinner. Using offbeat wording can help to give a uniqueness that can't be easily copied. I found this out by accident when Keits copied my Tekken article. It would look fishy if he also called Bob a "pudgy pugilist," so he went with "the tubbiest man in Tekken." On the other hand, I've made sure to credit SRK and EventHubs, even when I just found the original source through them. I'd like to think that it will benefit everyone in the end. Be like the Macy's Santa in Miracle on 34th Street: Give your competition some credit, and they'll return the favor.

A Wild Ride

So, as you may have heard, I'm currently writing news for iPlayWinner. You can ready just my posts at this link. I'm supposed to be a news guy, but I can submit ideas for features as well. I just wanted to talk about how the job has been for these first few days.

On this site, I blogged about whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now, I may have to cover AE or Tekken 6 from time to time. Here, I sometimes tried to get a news story up before any of the big sites, but that was only for my own satisfaction. Now, speed matters. These two little changes mean that I am constantly writing news posts. I think that the original idea was that they'd throw me a link to cover here or there, but I just started searching out the stories myself. A few things happened in these last few days that made me super-proud: Keits at SRK basically cribbed one of my stories, a fan on Twitter proclaimed iPlayWinner the best and fastest at delivering fighting game news, Texas arcade-owner and gamer Fubarduck retweeted one of my stories, and Test Your Might posted one of my stories verbatim.

As soon as I get a chance, I'll post a follow-up about my philosophy as an Internet newsie.

Dante's Bold Blocking Technique

EviltoasterofFP posted this interesting video on YouTube. For those that don't know, here's a little background to explain how this works. Dante has what is essentially a special move that makes him jump. It is called Bold Move and is done with any Attack button + Special, like Wolverine's Drill Claw. Dante can cancel many of his normal attacks and even special moves into Bold Move. Bold Move itself can then be canceled into other actions. If you see Dante performing a prolonged combo, he is definitely using Bold Move cancels throughout.

What Eviltoaster shows is that the first five frames of Bold Move can be canceled into a block. Since commands can be input during any super-freeze, Dante can Bold-cancel whatever he's doing by pressing A+S while the screen is frozen. He can hold back throughout, blocking any super that would hit within five frames. This is similar to what most characters can do if they are about to be caught in a super while dashing. Since they cannot block while dashing, they simply hold up-back during the freeze, canceling the dash into a jump, allowing them to instantly air-block.

Though the video makes it seem as if Dante cannot use Bold-block against certain hypers, he actually can. The examples given show only "no-brainer" scenarios, wherein you can hold back and tap A+S during the super-freeze. Something like Tron's Lunch Rush would require you to time the input a few frames after the super-freeze. It would be more difficult, but certainly not impossible.

Harada Plays Tekken Tag 2

You've got to respect a producer who is not afraid to play his own game on camera.

Stream Monsters' Ball: Best Week Ever

There is so much incredible fighting action going on this week that I decided to post a breakdown of everything just to sort it all out. Want to see the very first AE tourneys? Is MVC3 still evolving? Is MK picking up steam? One thing's for sure: This week is a great one for fighting fans!

Guard Crush 17 is going on right now at Next Level in Brooklyn. Spooky is out of town, so the usually godlike stream is being handled by someone else. Tonight is the debut of Mortal Kombat at Guard Crush.

Casuals from Orlando: Starting at 9 PM EST tonight. Spooky is actually in Orlando for CEO. Featured players:

• Eduardo Perez, "PR Rog"
• Tokido "The Murderface"
• Gameberbee, Taiwan's Adon

Wednesday Night Fights, 11 PM EST tonight: Alex Valle and Level|Up's premiere weekly event. Tonight's WNF promises to be action-packed, due to many players being in town for E3 and this weekend's ReveLAtions. Featured players:

• Sako, Cammy/Vampire Savior master
• Wolfkrone, pad Viper and arguably the most consistent SSF4 player
• ToXY, Australia's world warrior
• Laugh, O.G. player from Korea
• Infiltration, Korean rushdown/mix-up specialist
• iPeru, Fuerte that placed second in EVO Online

CEO 2011, June 10 (10 AM EST) to June 12: An official EVO Tournament Season event, hosted by Jebailey. There are currently over 250 entrants in each of SSF4:AE and MVC3, and over 100 in MK. Featured players:

• Justin Wong, needs no introduction
• Marn, the excellence of execution 
• Mike Ross, the people's champ
• JS Master, Canada's best
• Tom Brady, MK master
• Perfect Legend, another MK master
• James Chen, master commentator
• Eduardo Perez, "PR Rog"
• Tokido "The Murderface"
• Gameberbee, Taiwan's Adon

ReveLAtions, June 10-12: Hosted by Level|Up and Tournament Legacy and offering over $30,000 in prizes. Featured players include:

• Daigo, The Beast, AE's top Yun
• Mago, 2D God and master AE Fei-Long
• probably all of the above listed WNF attendees, unless they head to CEO

Street Fighter X Tekken Gameplay Details

Here I'll list any gameplay details found in the trailers and announcements during E3 2011.

Added 6/8/11

• Ken's overhead kick can ground-bounce, allowing for combos afterward
• Juggles are possible basically any time the opponent is in the air. Maximillian compares it to the pre-dizzy state in 3S
• Tag-canceling specials works like FADCing. Seth says you can combo into Ken's hurricane kick, then tag-cancel to continue the combo.
• Sagat has his kara-cancelable F+LK and F+HK.
• Multi-part throws are in and are breakable. Nina has at least one.
• Backdash appears to have some invincibility, ala SF4.

Added 6/7/11

• Cammy, Hworang, Julia, Sagat officially announced
• Cammy's "tiger-knee" dive-kick is back
• All characters apparently have a Tekken-like launcher move
• Meter is 3 bars
• You can tag mid-combo and continue with the next character (costs 1 bar)
• You can super-cancel from special moves
• Abel has an EX Tackle that causes wallbounce
• Promises "upgraded online functionality"
• Chains can be performed mid-air
• Chain combo into launcher is possible
• Whiffed launcher leaves you at major disadvantage
• Launcher -> tag -> combo -> launcher works, but you may not be able to combo after second launcher
• Whiffing normals gives some meter
• "Alpha-counter" tags are possible
• "Tech tag" possible on wakeup

Sources: Maximillian on YouTube, iPlaywinner, GameSpot, Skisonic on Twitter, Capcom-Unity livestream

SFxT Mechanics Overview by Maximillian

Maximillian (of Dr. Doom "Assist Me" fame) has the most in-depth video coverage of Street Fighter X Tekken currently available. He plans on doing further research throughout E3.

Giantbomb Preview of Third Strike:Online

Read it here. One of the game's trials is to recreate the famous Daigo parry! Also, System Direction is back. This insane option mode allows you to tweak all sorts of aspects of the game system. You can turn on chain combos, air combos, air blocking, and the ability to use all three Super Arts. Essentially, you can create a whole new game with completely different rules. I wonder if they'll be any online System Direction leagues with their own specific tweaks?

Capcom E3 News Extravaganza

Head to Capcom-Unity for all of their official E3 updates, trailers, and press releases, which all just hit simultaneously. I'll highlight some of the more interesting stuff here as soon as possible.

• Street Fighter IV: Volt is an update to the iPhone version, featuring worldwide multiplayer over Wi-Fi

Seth to Demo Street Fighter X Tekken

Sometime between 5 and 6 PM EST, Seth will be showing off Street Fighter X Tekken on Gametrailers.com's E3 livestream. Check it out here. I'm sure there will also be something shown on Capcom-Unity's livestream, which starts at 3 PM.

MadCatz Making SFxT Fightsticks

Capcom-Unity posted this image of a prototype being shown at E3.

New Street Fighter X Tekken Footage

From testyourmight.com

Nintendo E3 Press Conference Highlights

• New System: WiiU, coming 2012
• Controller has a 6.2" screen, as expected
• Dual analog sticks
• D-pad
• 4 face buttons
• Camera, microphone
• 4 shoulder buttons
• Touchscreen
• Play on TV, then switch to controller screen
• Works as motion controller
• Provides alternate views
• Works with Wiimote, Balance Board
• Browse on controller, then send content to TV
• Devs talkinng WiiU
• EA Sports
• Vicarious Visions
• THQ
• UBISOFT
• WB Interactive
• 5th Cell
• Namco-Bandai (Harada)
• Irrational (Ken Levine)
• Warren Spector
• Games for WiiU
• Darksiders 2
• Batman: Arkham City
• Tekken - with highly-customizable characters
• Assassin's Creed
• Ghost Recon Online
• Metro 2033 sequel
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• New Super Mario Mii coming to WiiU
• Smash Bros. coming to 3DS and WiiU, interoperable between the 2 versions
• Zelda: Four Swords is a free download for DSiWare, coming September
• Zelda symphonic concerts going on a world tour this fall
• 3DS versions of franchises coming
• Luigi's Mansion 2 - several new mansions
• Mario Kart (Holiday 2011) - underwater, hang-gliding sequences shown
• Star Fox 64 (Sept. 2011) - uses camera and voice for in-game, multiplayer HUD
• Super Mario 3D (2011) - looks like hybrid SMB, Galaxy gameplay; Tanooki Suit
• Kid Icarus (2011) - looks great, unlike original game; 3v3 competitive multiplayer; AR Card battles
• Third-party 3DS games
• Tetris
• Tekken 3D

AE DLC Now Live on XBL - PSN Tomorrow?

Get your $15 Yun booster-pack today! Supposedly, the PSN version may not be available until tomorrow.

Sony Conference Highlights

• Jack Tretton apologizes for PSN outage.
• New Sony PlayStation TV that does 3D or a special dual-view for 2 players wherein each player sees a different image while looking at the same screen.
• New Sly Cooper for PS3 in 2012
• BioShock Infinite supports Move. Blu-Ray will have BioShock 1 on disc.
• NGP name confirmed as Vita. 3G via AT&T got laughs and groans from the crowd.
• Vita $249 for Wi-Fi, $299 for 3G (Source)
• SFxT on Vita. Cole from inFamous as guest character.

Third Strike: Online Out This Summer for $15

Coming Summer 2011, Third Strike: Online Edition will use the best networking code known to fighting games today. With real online support, I expect Third Strike to enjoy a long and exciting resurgence! I almost can't believe that this is actually happening. Capcom is obviously doing this for the fans. Check out the trailer below, featuring sick new music by Adam Tensta.



Price listed at 4Gamer.

Third Strike: Online Screenshots

Check out the revamped UI. The titles and meters look sharper, and the character portraits are changed.

Unfortunately, that means that Urien's ape-like portrait is no more. There's some sort of mission tracking that goes on in the sidebars when in non-widescreen mode.

This shows off a scanline mode that gives the game an authentic arcade monitor look. I think this might be my preferred look, at least from what I've seen so far.

Images courtesy of Andriasang.

Skullgirls - Peacock Character Walkthrough

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Skullgirls - E3 2011: Peacock Character Walkthrough HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Highlights from Microsoft's E3 Press Conference

I'm not expecting too much other than shooters and Kinect games, but watch this space just in case anything interesting happens.

• The first demo paused with a "Please reconnect controller" error.
• Live TV with DVR functionality on Xbox
• Halo 1 remake has graphics so good, you can see cracks in the ground.
• Minecraft Xbox console exclusive, uses Kinect
• Kinect getting finger tracking and "object capture"
• Dance Central 2 allows true simultaneous multiplayer.
• Halo 4 announced as start of a new trilogy

E3 2011 Starts Tomorrow

Technically, the Electronic Entertainment Expo runs from June 7 to June 9 this year, but all of the big press conferences start tomorrow. Throughout the week, I'll be keeping abreast of all the latest news and sharing the stuff I find most interesting right here. Keep it locked!

Expect Third Strike: Online news Tuesday, June 7 at 3 PM Eastern.

Jill Tactics

Pulsr posted this video showing a bunch of Jill's dirty tricks. I knew that she had at least a bit of the proverbial juice, but some of this stuff looks borderline overpowered.

The PSN Store is Back!

Don't panic! You'll be able to download Arcade Edition on June 7, unless PSN goes down again.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Third Strike Online to Have Graphical Smoothing

Yoshi Ono just posted the above image on Twitter. It appears that Third Strike: Online Edition will feature a graphics filter to smooth out all those pixels. Here's hoping that it's optional for those who want to see the original, untouched art.

Justin Wong Owned in Bio FREAKS

From UFGT7's mystery-game tournament, this is Justin Wong versus DarkSidePhil. There's a ton more footage that was taken by DSP.