Seth ECT3 Interview Full Audio

Here's the full audio of my first ever interview, with Seth Killian, from ECT3. Listen to the unedited interview, including Seth totally dismantling one of my questions.

Seth ECT3 Audio Inteview

Professor Killian @ NYU

This past week, NYU's Game Center held its second annual Spring Fighter series of events. This year's endeavor was sponsored by the folks at Capcom, who were nice enough to send Seth Killian to the three-day extravaganza. Though you might be aware of the tournament portion (thanks to Team Spooky's stream) or the fact that Arcade Edition was demoed on console, Spring Fighter comprised several amazing — but less publicized — events.

The festivities began Thursday with a screening of Ian Cofino's I Got Next, a documentary about the competition and camaraderie driving the dedicated Street Fighter community. The movie was not only enjoyable for fans like myself, but also would be a great introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the fighting game community. The night concluded with a Q&A session with Seth Killian and notable fighting game player and organizer "Long Island" Joe Ciarmelli. The back-and-forth chat with the audience of about 30 people focused on community. Topics covered included online versus offline competition, how to improve your game, and how games are evolving to meet the needs of the exponentially-expanding community. Seth and Joe were frank and honest in their answers, and you could feel their honest love of the games and the community surrounding them. It was clear that this was not a PR mission; this was for the benefit of the fighting game community.

Friday's session was a lecture on game theory in fighting games by Seth Killian. Professor Killian explained how he has a fondness of dissecting how competitive games are played, dating back to his days as a poker player. You see, before he was playing Street Fighter, Seth was trained in poker by none other than 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion, Huck Seed. For Seth, the transition to Street Fighter was just a natural progression. Every action in a fighting game, he said, is like a bet. You are putting yourself at risk in order to force your opponent to react. If you play wisely, your risks will pay off and your opponent's will not. To illustrate his points, Seth presented a Street Fighter 4 match between Daigo and Nemo (viewable below) and broke it down almost frame-by-frame. He had actually discussed the match with Daigo, so he was able to tell us exactly what was going through Daigo's head at any particular moment. It was a phenomenal insight into the moment-to-moment decisions made as each successive gambit was launched. Seth literally has fighting games down to a science, and he is clearly capable of communicating their allure in a very scholarly manner. After his lecture, the audience got a chance to ask questions. Just as he did the previous night, Seth truly shined during the Q&A. This session, however, focused more on the games themselves and the mechanics that make them interesting. It was once again a friendly, PR-free chat between a room full of fans and another fan — who just happened to be Seth Killian.

Seth reassured us that the fighting games we love are only going to get even better in the coming years. Despite all of the amazing games that have come and gone, he is confident that the perfect game has yet to be created. I'm proud to have Seth Killian working for us, the fans, and cannot wait to see what the future holds.

MvC3 Has Unblockables

According to Seth Killian (in this interview), X-23 has a low-hitting assist that can be combined with a high attack to cause an unblockable situation. The game doesn't even come out for several months, and the underhanded Marvel tactics are already developing. Just imagine what kind of dirty tricks will be found after the game actually gets released.

The Craziest Character Ever is Coming

According to Seth Killian on Capcom-Unity's Ustream from PAX, a not-yet-revealed Marvel character in MvC3 is "the most ridiculous thing" Capcom has ever put in a fighting game. He mentioned that the character would be completely broken, if not for clever balancing by the game's designers. Could it be a playable boss, ala Apocalypse? Is it a huge character, like Galactus, that plays more like a TvC giant? Maybe it's one of Marvel's powerful telepaths, wielding unusual telekinetic powers. With more reveals set for Tokyo Game Show next week, it shouldn't be long until we find out.

Turn the Tweet Back: Hotel Shenanigans

Tomorrow at 8 a.m. (Eastern Time), Ono and Harada will challenge each other in the European debut of Street Fighter X Tekken, likely featuring Chun-Li and Nina. They've been steadily building their rivalry with taunts shot back and forth across Twitter. The story so far:

• Harada posted a picture of his hotel room. Ono expressed frustration that he was able to stay in a nice room (source). Harada claims that the Mishima Zaibatsu is sponsoring him financially.
• Ono used the pictures against Harada, ordering Street Fighter fans to attack the room. Harada complained that people were banging on his door. (source)
• Ono went to Harada's room and tossed a Hadouken at it:

• Harada countered by buying out Seth Killian:

• Seth gave Harada the location of Ono's room so that he could put him on notice, or rather put this notice on his door:

• Harada completed his revenge with an Electric Wind Godfist:

Update: It turns out that Seth was loyal, after all. He told Harada-san the wrong room number!

How Far We've Come

Check out this footage of B5, the 2001 precursor to EVO. It's amazing how many familiar faces are present. What would these guys be doing today if we weren't in the middle of a fighting game resurgence? It's as if their purpose in life is to play fighting games.

B5 Championship from Marcus W on Vimeo.

Ahh, they were simpler times: Arcade cabinets, CvS1, A-ism Chun, and the best team in MvC2 was "Cable, Cammy, Another."