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EVO Roadtrip is going to be a series of articles detailing the trip of long-time fight fan and upcoming freelance journalist, Vince "W.K." Ingenito.  After a difficult year, both personally and professionally, he decided to pack as much of his stuff into the back of his Jeep as he could and drive across the country from New York to California to make a new life.  On the way, he takes a look at how the fighting game community has grown and spread, both in huge metropolises and small one-light towns. 

The trip reaches it's climax at the 2011 Evolution World Championship in Las Vegas.  What follows is just a quick intro.  Be sure to check back regularly to get more and more pieces of this unique, personal look at fighting game culture.

It was a long week. At the time of this writing, I was sitting in a nicely air conditioned hotel room in Las Vegas, NV. Eight days prior, I was pulling out of the driveway of a beautiful house in the suburb of South Salem, NY, my parents already looking tiny in my rear view mirror as they waved goodbye to me from the bottom of the hill. They didn't know when they were going to see me again, and neither did I. 

I just moved, you see.  San Francisco, CA is now where I lay my head. But as a rabid fighting game fan since the days of Yie Ar Kung Fu, my nearly 3,000 mile sojourn gave me the opportunity to do something equally exciting to me, if not more so, than a fresh start at life on a different coast: the opportunity to attend my very first EVO World Championship. Spectating and playing in the grand daddy of all fighting game tournaments, against the highest echelon of players from across the globe had long been a dream of mine. For me, the reality of attending the Evo surpassed the dream by an order of magnitude.

The road was very long, but equally fruitful. In my 8 days of travel I stopped in 12 different cities in almost as many states in search of arcades, independent game stores, gamer meet-ups and great local eateries. I can honestly say that I found at least one reason to come back to each and every city I visited. Our country, I discovered, is full of beauty, and is not lacking for good people, good food or good gaming scenes. I ate well, laughed often, bodied some people, got bodied by even more and managed to make some new friends along the way. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to share all of it with you fine folks, day by glorious day.

It WAS a long week. But it was a righteously kick ass one too. I hope you all enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it! Check back regularly for more!

Next up: Day 1 - Philadelphia, PA 

Vince "W.K." Ingenito has been loving and playing games of all kinds longer than he has been chewing solid food.  He currently lives in San Francisco while writing his blog, More Than "Just" A Game.