GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES HEADED TO XBLA

This is just a rumor for now, much like that MVC2 coming to XBLA being a "rumor" but really neither are all that far fetched given the hype surrounding fighting games at the moment.

This bit of news comes from GAMERBYTES where they dug up a screenshot detailing that MOTW has been rated by Microsoft Korea. Really the only explanation is that it would be coming to XBLA in that I can't imagine them putting this on an actual game disk.

Hopefully other SNK and CAPCOM games end up on XBLA with online play included! Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike anyone?

GUILTY GEAR XX ACCENT CORE PLUS SHIPS THIS WEEK!

Those of you who have had a hard time finding GG:AC in Gamestop, now is your chance to grab an updated version of the game. According to Amazon, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus ships on the 9th of April with a a brand new story mode and the return of Kliff and Justice.

I had a chance to play this just last week and it's a nice change from Street Fighter 4's more defensive style of play. After FADCing for months now the Roman Canceling bit made a lot more sense to me as well this time around. A great game over all, it's just too bad it's not also on XBLA or PSN for online play!

Update on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 12:43PM by haunts

Read a full review on the game on 1UP.com by Richard Li.  Richard is one of the only game journalists out there who knows fighting games so he is legit! Check it out!

STREET FIGHTER 4 ROSE BALL

Who needs to watch top level play when Rose Ball is obviously the true measure of skill? This clip was taken from the Gootecks Bar Fights that went down over the weekend. To set this up on your own, go to VS mode, set it to best of 7 rounds and set the handicap to the lowest setting. Oh yeah, pick Rose as well, that's important too.

Although I can't find the links currently, there are some clips online of people playing "Sudden Death" with these same settings. Playing that mode will make you think about how to finish off your opponent much differently since you only need one hit to do so. Try it out sometime! (PS: Akuma and Viper are top tier in Sudden Death Mode)

WEEKEND STREET FIGHTER 4 STREAMS

Have absolutley nothing to do all weekend and tired of playing jerks on XBOX Live? Well, now you can take a break and watch California players go at it locally, in that there is a Street Fighter stream going on pretty much at all hours over the weekend - Keystone Light and Cannery Dojo today and the Gootecks Street Fighter Bar Fights tomorrow!

I embedded all the streams below, but be sure to go to their actual pages and get involved with the chat room.

KEYSTONE LIGHT (SATURDAY AFTERNOON)

CANNERY DOJO (SATURDAY EVENING)

GOOTECKS BAR FIGHTS (SUNDAY AFTERNOON + EVENING)

Update on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 1:03PM by haunts

Here are the (partial) results for all the streams that went down over the weekend. Please post up and let me know if I missed anything and/or need to add anything.

Overall sounds like a great time all weekend all up and down the West Coast. I was able to attend both Keystone Light and the Cannery Dojo - both with awesome hosts and great set ups for Street Fighter 4 action. Although there was some technical difficulties with Gooteck's Bar Fights stream, it sounds like it was a total success with over 500 people showing up for the event!

Keystone Light - 12 (ish) man Tournament - Single Elimination

1. A_Rival (Chun Li)

2. Young Legend (Ryu)

3. ???

Cannery Dojo - 28 man tournament - Double Elimination

1. A_Rival - Lost to ???

2. Young Legend (Ryu) Lost to A_Rival

3. Haunts(Sagat) Lost to YoungLegend and A_rival

4. PiKiE (El Fuerte)

5. Thurst07 (Dictator)

6. tharimrattler (Sagat)

Gootecks Bar Fights - Exhibition Matches

Results courtesy of Gootecks on SRK.

Winners:
Sanchez vs. Bebop
Dae/Busta vs. Keno/fuson909
Ken I vs. Bobino
gootecks vs. Kai
somuchdamage vs. Mike Ross
Ed Ma vs. Combofiend

STREET FIGHTER 4 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT FINALS IN SAN FRANCISCO

The Street Fighter 4 National Tournament hosted by EVO and GameStop wraps up in San Francisco about two weeks from now on the 18th of April. That's of course a Saturday so if you live in the Bay Area be sure to come check it out.

According to Seth Killian's blog this will be an event not to be missed if you are a fan of the series with more details on the event to be announced soon. Street Fighter Legends such as Jason Cole and Justin Wong will be there battling it out with the other 14 contestants for the #1 spot so spectating the event should be worth the trek alone.

Here is the address to punch into your GPS or Google Maps:

Saturday, April 18th, 7pm
Fort Mason Festival Pavillion
99 Marina Boulevard
San Francisco, CA

Also, if you're in the Bay area and looking to participate in a tournament yourself, there is one going down literally every week in the month of April. Head over to the Pacific North thread on Shoryuken and check out the stickies up-top for all the upcoming events.

WIN A KOFXII ARCADE CABINET - KOF BASICS TRAINING VIDEO

Remember that tournament down in LA that is being held for King of Fighters XII? Turns out there is a bit more to it than expected: it's a first come first serve 128 man tournament being organized by the same team that runs EVO - with the chance of winning an actual King of Fighters XII arcade cabinet!

Check out Shoryuken.com for the full details on this. Also, if you haven't registered yet, stop by the official King of Fighters XII website and do so!

Also, while browsing the KOFXII thread on SRK I found this gem of a movie - a training video on KOF basics by Dandy J. Very well done and extremely informative so be sure to study up!

VERSUS CITY: STREET FIGHTER 4 POWER PLAYERS

Not much has changed since last week with the heavy hitters in Japan, although Daigo and Ojisanboy are trailing Mago by quite a bit now. See what taking one week off from farming BP will do to your ranking? Okay maybe this a bit different than hopping on XBOX Live, sure, but here are the top 5 players in Japanese arcades - check Versus City for the full list!

1. Mago (Sagat) - 197,453
2. Ojisanboi (Sagat) - 190,487
3. Umehara (Ryu) - 181,819
4. RF (Sagat) - 162,990
5. Tokidokinukinkusu (Chun) - 121,894

FIGHTING GAME DOCUMENTARY: I GOT NEXT TRAILER

I found this on SRK just yesterday and this looks to be our generations version of Bang the Machine (Street Fighter documentary folowing OG's like John Choi and Seth Killian) as it follows top players, grabbing interviews from major tournaments such as Final Round and Sinsation. Very well done trailer, cant wait for the full release - check it out!

I Got Next is a free documentary on the fighting video game scene created by Ian Cofino (with much support from my friends and family). It originally started as my senior project at Purchase College, School of Art and Design, and has grown to something much bigger thanks to the dedicated and passionate players in the community. Originally envisioned as a short documentary, I Got Next has grown into a feature length production, which will see two releases, a short cut in May and a longer cut in the winter of '09.

Here's a link to the trailer: www.igotnextmovie.com
HD youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb76Sn1YvTc

iPlayWinner YouTube Channel

I've started uploading direct feed videos to the iPlayWinner YouTube channel with some of the better matches I've played with other top Bay Area players. When I first created that account I wasn't too sure what to offer -- but now that I can capture directly from consoles the majority of the videos will be some of the more entertaining matches with players in the area. Keep checking back as I'll continue to update with more videos from local tournaments and top local play.

Here is a sample - a match between top Chun Li player A_Rival showing off some Seth madness and me messing around with C. Viper for a bit.

STREET FIGHTER 4 BLOG: BAD LOSERS WALL OF SHAME

Oichi on NeoGAF found this one yesterday and I'm almost jealous I didn't think of this first because it's such a good idea - also very very entertaining. This is a blog showcasing all the ragequitters people run into online, sometimes with video but mostly with pictures of the actual disconnect. So do you have experinces with ragequitters and a video/picture to accompany? If so hit this blog up and have them expose these people who cant handle a loss!

I personally find it extremely satisfying to have someone ragequit on me after the first round. Beating someone so bad that they don't even want to continue to round two is worth far more than any amount of BP!

KING OF FIGHTERS XII PLAYABLE IN PORTLAND, OR

According to reports on Shoryuken.com, King of Fighters XII is now playable at a Tilt arcade in Portland, OR. The game is scheduled to drop in Japanese arcades on April, 9th so how this Tilt happened to snag a board is anyone's guess! Not that it matters -- if you're in the area you should go check it out! The game so far looks to be a lot of fun with a very aggressive fast pace to it.

Videos of the game are showing up online thanks to LordBBH's YouTube channel. Check it out:

STREET FIGHTER 4 DLC: CHARACTER BALANCING ON THE WAY

IMAGE COURTESY OF ANDRIASANG.COMSo last night I was talking to Oichi (VersusCity site admin) as he was translating the Japanese SF4 blog and he was telling me about some of the changes that are on the way for the  Street Fighter 4 upcoming free DLC update. The conversation mainly revolved around how the patch will handle disconnecting players but after checking Versus City this morning it looks like character balances and tweaks are also on the way.

This is something I personally did not expect, but perhaps now that the game is the hands of millions of people CAPCOM has a better idea on what to fix. Any guesses on who is going to receive some changes? Sagat is almost too easy of an answer. -Sigh-

I personally hope they don't change the attributes of the moves but instead just adjust stamina and damage output. I feel if they mess with the actual properties of the moves themselves, that has the potential to do more harm than good to the game.

Check out VersusCity for the full translation:

When the game gets updated, there will be changes to the base game and characters. What changes will be made is unknown, but the “obvious points” will be addressed. You know as much as I do on this.

KING OF FIGHTERS XII OFFICIAL SITE - TOURNAMENT IN LA

The official site for the King of Fighters XII launched earlier this week with screen shots and wallpapers that you can download. Any other info on the game is pretty sparse on the site right now, but there is a section where you can register for updates and a chance to be invited to a KOF tournament in LA.  Since very few people have had time with the game, you might as well register since your chance of winning is just as good as anyone else's at this point!

With the game coming out in the next couple months here I'm sure they will continue to add more to the site so keep an eye on it! I'll be sure to update on any details on the tournament as well.

DAIGO WATCH 2009

Since Daigo fell from the #1 spot in the top 20 players in Japan this list is more about what's going on with Daigo than the actual rankings of other players. This week he dropped to #3 apparently due to not playing for a week or so falling under Sagat player Ojisan boy who is still trailing top placer Mago. According to Mago's blog, Daigo is back in the game, beating Mago 9-12 just recently so maybe next week we will see him back on top? Who knows, but here is the top 5 power players in Japan, check out Versus City for the full list and other interesting details about Japan's top players!

1. Mago (Sagat) - 188,116
2. Ojisanboi (Sagat) - 184,767 (+1)
3. Umehara (Ryu) - 177,915 (-1)
4. RF (Sagat) - 156,262
5. Tokidokinukinkusu (Chun) - 117,635

Update on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 11:38AM by haunts

Correction: The score between Mago and Daigo was 9-21, not 9-12!

SF BAY AREA SF4: FUDDRUCKERS TOURNAMENT RESULTS

The tournament at Fuddruckers here in the Bay Area went down yesterday, with over 80+ entrants in Street Fighter 4 making this tournament unexpectedly as large as some majors. A lot of intense battles yesterday with emotions running high, making it one of the more drama filled tournaments I've attended so far in the Bay.

All in all, when the dust settled everyone seemed to have a good time and there is now talk of making this a monthly event to whip NorCal into shape before EVO later this year.

Here are the top 8 for each game - check the thread on SRK for full results.

STREET FIGHTER 4
3/22/2009
128-man bracket

1 LPN (Bison)
2 ryan tucker (Bison)
3 Micheal A. (Sagat)
4 Haunts (Sagat)
5 edg3
5 Jack W. (Ryu)
7 sean H.
7 Patmonsta (C. Viper)

Click to read more ...

VERSUSCITY: SF4 TOP 20 POWER PLAYERS

VersusCity has been going nuts with the updates, so be sure to check out their site for more info about Japanese arcades! For now, here is a preview of the top Japanese players in street fighter 4. Looks like Daigo is still trailing Mago for the top spot in Japan with Ojisanboy, another amazing Sagat player right on his tail.

Here is the Top 5 and check out VersusCity for the full list:

1. Mago (Sagat) - 185,253
2. Umehara (Ryu) - 177,915
3. Ojisanboi (Sagat) - 176,851
4. RF (Sagat) - 152,166
5. Tokidokinukinkusu (Chun) - 115,172

SHOTOS BEWARE: NEW BALROG GLITCH

So this is pretty cool and the applications could be endless depending on how players end up using the technique. This is a glitch that allows you to absorb two hits with Balrog and only use one stock of EX meter in the process.

Fellow Sagat player KenSK pointed out how to actually input the command: it's Charge Down-Back, Down Forward + PP and then Forward on the joystick. You're basically Kara Cancelling the Dash Low into a Dash Straight.

Check it out:

BLAZBLUE: RELEASE DATE AND HD TRAILER

We all know BlazBlue is coming to consoles this summer, but it turns out the exact date is June 25th which is just a week or two before the release of King of Fighters XII which drops on July 7th. So this summer is looking great for fighting game enthusiasts, and with Tekken 6 coming out this fall, 2009 looks to be the best year for fighting games to date!

Below is a new trailer for BlazBlue to get you hype about the game!

WCG: Ultimate Gamer feat. Virtua Fighter 5

So if you haven't heard by now, WCG: Ultimate Gamer is a reality show about "pro gamers" who battle it out in different games ranging from Rock Band to... well, Virtua Fighter 5. Out of all the games they could choose I'm surprised they chose VF5 since it's one of lesser recognized games out there compared to say Street Fighter or Tekken. Still, with me being a huge VF fan it's good to see it get this kind of exposure.

In the clip you'll see that most of these "pro gamers" really have no skill with fighting games (okay maybe I'm just jealous I'm not on the show!), but there is an appearance by top player and true pro gamer AdamYUKI who I've had the pleasure of playing last year in Southern California. Looks like he was training some of the players there trying to level them up.

Pretty corny show but also very entertaining so check out the segment below!

Thanks to SEGA Nerds for the heads up on this clip!

1UP.COM STREET FIGHTER 4 FIGHTCAST

This past Friday 1UP.com had a bunch of top California players roll through to play and talk about Street Fighter 4, and if you happened to miss the actual stream, they uploaded all the madness just yesterday! A lot of solid play through and through (you have to see the MAGUS1234 C. Viper Special) and of course plenty of shit talking in between! Check it out!

1UP Specials: Street Fighter 4 FightCast with Top Players