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Earlier this week, after that seventeenth-level scumbag Haunts somehow managed to blackmail his way into writing 1UP's review of Third Strike: Online Edition, David Sirlin roused himself to take to his blog and post a response. For the “tl;dr” crowd, it can be summarized thusly: everything that Capcom did with 3SOE that is similar to what I did with HD Remix — inclusion of GGPO netcode, press-to-bind button mapping — is smart and good, everything else is “shameful”.

Sirlin is, of course, notorious for being the lead dude behind the development of Super Street Fighter II: HD Remix, a game that dealt a solid groin-shot square to the American scene for the game that some call the greatest fighting game of all time. If not directly driving nails into the ST scene's coffin, HDR was definitely lurking around its grave with a hammer. Anyone who knows that and isn’t already approaching Sirlin’s opinion on the Third Strike port with trepidation is possessed of a startling naïveté.

Mr. Sirlin quotes a section of Haunts' review (dealing with the decision to leave Third Strike as-is, rather than attempting a revision that would “balance” the game) to make the point that not only was it the wrong call for Capcom to allow Third Strike onto Xbox Live and PSN with its engine untouched, but also that reviews such as Haunts’ are actually damaging to the development of fighting games in general. Anyone who feels so inclined, please feel free to take a moment to picture Sirlin swaddled in elegant lace, clutching his pearls and fanning his face.

Reading his points, the thing that became most apparent to me? This guy couldn’t find a clue if it had him in its mouth.

David uses a quote by James Chen to characterize what he calls the most-imbalanced fighting game of all time by pointing to its deep tier divide, while in the same breath completely dismissing the fact that the Japanese Third Strike scene has always featured a broader range of characters racking up wins. To him, it is inexcusable on Capcom’s part to take the lazy route and not give the fans a re-balanced version of the game if they intend on a re-release. Guys like Haunts, who are supporting Capcom’s decision, are simply setting the stage for a future where we are given unplayable, broken products.

Here’s where we smack face-first into the titanium wall of Sirlin’s bubble of cognitive dissonance. Why on earth would anyone want to repeat the disaster that was HD Remix? Here we are, years after its release, and looking back, Sirlin not only fails to see a negative reaction to his product, but he still thinks it was a good idea? An idea good enough to bear repeating?

3SOE is a response to a sizable contingent of fans clamoring for a digital release of the game that they can play over the XBL and PSN networks. The basic request is: I would love to play Third Strike online. Hence, the name. Can I get a show of hands as to how many of you have stood in arcades (or outside in a fog of cigarette smoke) and listened to friends talk about how awesome it would be to have Third Strike on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3... but how much MORE awesome it would be if it were a new game outright?

That is essentially the issue with tuning the game before re-release. You’d be creating an entirely new game, and that’s not what people are asking for. They want Third Strike, not Fourth Kick or Fourth Rusty Trombone, but Third Strike. In Third Strike, Chun Li is on PCP and can flip a car with her mams. In Third Strike, Ken does crouching forward cancel Hadoken, and if that hits, there goes a third of your life bar. Buffing Sean and nerfing Yun is all well and good, but the game in which that happens is not Third Strike.

Sirlin adopts a stance that can be distilled into disbelief that anyone would want to play Third Strike. To him, the game has no redeeming qualities. It doesn’t interest him, so it shouldn’t interest anyone else. Never mind the fact that the game that he obviously dislikes has a rabid and devoted fan-following that still plays it religiously to this day. He thinks it's unbalanced, and you know? He’s certainly not wrong. Yet while he piddles with his cards, completely oblivious, here is one of the many larger points that sail right over his head like a lead zeppelin: the fans of this game don’t care; it’s their game and they love it.

The flawed concept that groupthink and mob mentality determine if a game is "good" justifies popping a squat on the fan base of the games that the conventional wisdom labels as "bad." That, to me, is the truly disturbing trend, not this mythical “anti-progress movement” of which Haunts is apparently the unknowing champion. I love Marvel 3, but that doesn’t stop people from constantly trying to point out that the game is bad, and why it’s bad, as soon as I make the mention. I know that X-Factor level 3 is stupid. Sometimes, though, that’s why I like the game.

David argues that Third Strike is a bad game that should have been fixed. I know a guy who disagrees.

Sirlin tries to make his complaint less about the game and more about Haunts’ review, but in reality, his beef is with neither: he has an axe to grind with Capcom. It's Capcom’s name that gets thrown out most often, by far, in his blog response. He never stops to actually explain just what the “anti-progress movement” is, leaving me with the impression that he simply expects everyone to know what he’s talking about. My interpretation leaves me wondering if he’s chewing sour grapes over Capcom taking a different route for its Third Strike port than doing what he obviously believes they should have done: a Third Strike “remix.” Is the “anti-progress movement" those of us believing that it's good to leave well-enough alone with a game that’s ten years old?

Third Strike: Online Edition is out now. Do me a favor and go buy it. Even if you wish that they had re-balanced the game, if you have ever enjoyed it in its arcade state, then buy it. You speaking with your wallet is what shows Capcom there is a market for these sort of games. Supporting fighting games with your participation and purchases allows the genre to — wait for it... progress into a healthy future where we are getting a lot of great, fun games to enjoy.

I can’t think of anything less “anti-progress” than that.