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Entries in ipw article (46)

Tuesday
Oct282014

Cognitive Dissonance: Reports of my Death...

On Dec. 16, 2014, the U.S. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax scene will die. It will join the likes of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late and BlazBlue Chronophantasma as another game tossed aside to make room for the new game of the moment, Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign-. Or at least that is what a lot of people would have readers believe.

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Thursday
Jan312013

Cognitive Dissonance: The Little Engine That...

Photo courtesy of AvoidingThePuddle.comWhen I locked the doors at 1106 East Broadway in Columbia, Missouri, on May 13, 2007, Gunther's Games ceased to exist. It was simply another casualty in what had become a long line of arcade closures in much of Missouri, but it was home to the several fighting game players of that college town. I had learned to play Guilty Gear there, and improved at Super Street Fighter II Turbo. We had a small, dedicated community, but it was not enough to make up for the lack of customers that had once filled the shotgun-style arcade. The only reassurance left after the demise of Gunther's was that there was nothing left for us to lose anymore.

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Tuesday
Jan222013

Review: Mad Catz Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition S+

When Mad Catz's Tournament Edition arcade stick was released back in 2009, it was one of the important factors to the modern fighting game scene as well as establish the framework to other arcade sticks to come. While the company is using a different arcade stick body as their standard nowadays, Mad Catz took the opportunity to bring back the TE model along with the release of Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

The TTT2 Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition S+ is an upgrade influenced by its past iterations with a new draw to keep it interesting. I loved the original TE S design and this new version makes it better, even if it's only slightly improved.

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Monday
Jan072013

Review: Crown CWJ-303A Korean Fanta Arcade Stick Lever

Joystick levers from different parts of the world are unique from each other in terms of how they are installed. Due to factors such as the joystick hole and mounting plate, a Korean Fanta lever can't be mounted onto a Japanese stick for example.

Korean company Crown is now breaking the segregated barrier by having their Fanta lever now work on Japanese arcade sticks. Now for those who want to try out the style of joystick levers played by Infiltration and many top Tekken players in South Korea on a Mad Catz, Hori, or Eightarc/Qanba stick, this is your best opportunity.

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Wednesday
Dec052012

Review: Etokki Omni Arcade Stick Version 3

During NCR 2011, the now Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 EVO 2012 champion Infiltration used a prototype stick that looked like an offshoot of Sega's out-of-production yet legendary Virtua Stick High Grade. It was soon revealed that the stick would be coming out from Korean arcade part distributor Etokki, owned by Infiltration's partner Laugh.

Titled the Omni, the arcade stick was made not only to be compatible on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 like some arcade sticks today, but also allow easy installation of many different arcade parts from Japan and Korea. Following the victories from Laugh and Infiltration at EVO 2012, Laugh began work on the third iteration of the Omni Arcade Stick. Main draws since the original release back in 2011 are still present with some more minor yet welcoming additions and improvements to make this one hell of a solid arcade stick.

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Wednesday
Mar072012

Running It Back: Why Capcom vs SNK 2 is One of the Best Games of All Time

Since the introduction of Street Fighter IV, there seems to be a revival of fighting games along with a new generation of players. This was particularly exciting, because before Street Fighter IV there was absolutely no real interest in the genre and very little games were being made. Many were out of luck in this drought and anyone who still played then had to play the same games that were out during the 90s/early 2000s. These games became long time classics that has earned their place in history

 

Now there are new games being released everywhere, including King of Fighters XIII and Street Fighter X Tekken, to meet the positive response that Street Fighter IV had. It makes me wonder who would still be interested in these older classic games of the past. I have always held Capcom vs SNK 2 (CvS2) to be one of the greatest fighting games ever made before the drought of fighting games, but have had trouble getting interest across to the newer players.

 

There are many reasons why it is considered a classic and why I personally still play this game in spite of all the new games that are coming out.

 

Capcom vs SNK 2 has one of the most diverse and competitive character rosters of all time.

 

With 48 total characters, one might think that CvS2 is extremely hard to balance and it will fall into Marvel vs Capcom 2's trap where only the strongest survive. However this is a huge misconception, there are many diverse characters that you can choose that are competitive. In this game, High Tiers and many Mid Tiers stand a chance! There are over 20 characters that are not considered top tier and still see high level play. Need some proof?

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Monday
Feb272012

Cognitive Dissonance: The Return of Guilty Gear?

A little more than a week ago, on February 15, my social media feeds were glutted with reactions to the news I was not sure I would ever hear again: Guilty Gear was getting another arcade release. A day later, when the release was also announced for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, the online chorus grew louder. While details are currently scarce about the upcoming release of Guilty Gear: Accent Core+, the only sure thing is that all across the fighting game community, people are salivating to play GGAC and compete. But, can the game — will the game really come back? The answers to those questions are a bit harder than a simple yes or no.

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Wednesday
Feb222012

The Salty Runback: Nelson Muntz

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Street Fighter, Capcom has announced that they intend to flood the tournament circuit with over 500,000 dollars in prize money in 2012. Understandably, people are excited. Yet, for some, this announcement should be less something over which to get hype, and more something from which to feel vindication.

Earlier this year, Sir Scoots, of Evil Geniuses fame, infamously delivered this jab at the arcade game community, wherein he proclaimed that, “You’ll probably get exactly what you want in 2012... your pros will never make a real living... but it’ll be cool, it’ll be raw...” Et cetera.

Damn. This is sorta awkward...

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Monday
Aug012011

IPW Topic of the Week: What Was Your Favorite EVO 2011 Moment?

EVO 2011 has come and gone, and like every previous event it has too many epic moments, stunning upsets, and hype matches to count!  So, of all the amazing things that happened at EVO this year, what was your absolute favorite moment?  Was it a comeback victory?  Was it a particular player?  How about one of the grand finals matches or a specific match from earlier in the tournament?  If you had to pick one favorite out of them all, what would it be? 

Image of MvC3 champion Viscant holding up the trophy, couresty of SRK.

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Monday
Jul112011

IPW Topic of the Week: What Would You Like To See In An Update To Marvel vs Capcom 3?

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is an amazing game, but I don't know that even the most passionate fan would argue that the game is pretty bare-bones in many aspects -- not to mention a little unbalanced, to say the least.  With Street Fighter 4, Capcom reminded us that it isn't afraid of releasing updated versions of its fighting games.  Marvel vs Capcom 3 is almost a no-brainer for an updated release.  It sold very well and there are many ways that it can be improved.

That said, there has been very little talk of any updates or changes to the game until recently, where it sounds like over the next month -- between Comic-Con and Evo -- we may get some news on a potential update. 

So, what would you like to see in an update to Marvel vs Capcom 3?  Any new features? Balance changes? New characters?  Share your opinion!

Monday
Jun202011

IPW Topic of the Week: What do you think of Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition?

The Arcade Edition of Super Street Fighter 4 has been out for a week or two now.  Although there are only four new characters in this version, the number of balance changes across all characters in the game makes Arcade Edition a unique beast.  Because of this, we decided to wait on asking for your opinions.  Now you've gotten some playtime with the game and there have been several major tournaments which have featured the game, allowing you to see how the top players are handling the changes.

So, what do you think of Arcade Edition?  How has it affected your favorite character?  What do you think of the game's new replay features?  Are you liking the new characters? Share what you think!

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Thursday
Jun092011

UFGT7 Highlight: Character Auction Tournaments!

UFGT7 went down a few weekends ago, and as expected it was a terrific event with lots of surprises.  One of the biggest surprises for me were the Character Auction Tournaments.  I watched the one for Super Street Fighter 4, and as someone who has watched a ton of streams it was a breath of fresh air and a great change of pace.

In this article I run down some of my personal highlights and my thoughts on this exciting spin on tournament play!

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Monday
Apr182011

IPW Topic of the Week: Is the Fighting Game Genre In Danger of Over-Saturation?

Regardless of what you personally think of the game, you have to give Street Fighter 4 the credit it is due.  The fighting game genre was on life support for years, and with it's success came a whole new wave of enthusiasm for the genre from publishers and developers.

Now we have a ton of fighting games.  This year we have Marvel vs Capcom 3 already released and Mortal Kombat is days away.  In the pipeline we have Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (DLC and Retail), Street Fighter 3: Online Edition (DLC) , King of Fighters XIII, BlazBlue: CS2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Skullgirls (DLC), Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken X Street Fighter, and who knows what else will be announced.

This is great for the fighting game fan, but do you think that the market is in danger of over-saturation?  Are there any parallels between what is happening now and the decline of the genre in the late '90s and early '00s? Does the fact that some of these games are being updated via DLC change the equation? Are you getting tired of these games or are you in heaven? Discuss in the comments!

Note: To see a pretty cool graphic timeline (shown partially above) of the genre's history from Kotaku, click here.

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Monday
Apr042011

IPW Topic of the Week: Would You Want SF3: 3S Online to be Rebalanced?

Over the weekend, Yoshinori Ono revealed at the Ultimate Gaming Championships in Italy that Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online wouldn't come with any balance changes.

Reactions to the news seemed pretty mixed, so I figured I'd ask all of our fine readers just what their thoughts on the matter are. Additionally, with news from Captivate expected in the coming weeks, what kind of new features for SF3: 3SO would you like to hear about?

Do you have an idea for a future topic of the week? Send your suggestions to tips@iplaywinner.com!

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Monday
Mar282011

IPW Topic of the Week: Are You Hype for Mortal Kombat?

Mortal Kombat is set to be released on April 19th.  In just a few weeks, legions of players will be uppercutting opponents and showing no mercy with gruesome fatalities. 

Are you hype for Mortal Kombat?  What makes you excited for this next installment of the series?  If not, why aren't you on the hype train, and is there anything that might be revealed for the game that might get you back on?

Do you have an idea for a future topic of the week? Send your suggestions to tips@iplaywinner.com!

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Wednesday
Mar092011

Marvel vs Capcom 3 Online Play: Baffling Design Choices and Omissions

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is an amazing game.  The gameplay is everything I hoped it would be. It’s fast, fun and full of great characters with many unique playstyles.  It's a bit broken, but that's part of its charm.

Its got a lot going for it, but the online component of the game is pretty baffling.  I can understand why there is no spectator mode, so I’m not going to spend time lamenting about that here.  I don’t like it, but I can understand it.  For a game as fast as this one, lag is a huge concern.  It’s even more so than Super Street Fighter 4, as Super is a slower-paced game by comparison.  I'm also not going to mention the near-broken state of finding ranked matches outside of using fight request.  I'm hopeful that Capcom will patch this.  These two issues have been beat to death elsewhere, so we're not going to touch on those here.

But there are other design choices and omissions that just make no sense. 

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Monday
Feb212011

IPW Topic of the Week: What do you think of Marvel vs Capcom 3's Online?

Marvel vs Capcom 3 has been in the wild for a week now (longer in some lucky areas!), and many have been enjoying beating down friend and stranger alike.  The focus of today's topic is the game's online multiplayer.  In today's gaming environment, the strength of a game's online modes are extremely important, especially if you don't go to tournaments or have a group of friends to play against on a regular basis.

Many of you out there have seen the image on the left many times, and Capcom is working on the issue.

But what do you think of the quality of Marvel vs Capcom 3's online play aside from that? What do you like? What do you not like? Are there any modes or changes that you would like to see?

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Monday
Feb072011

IPW Topic of the Week: Memories of Marvel vs Capcom 2

The much anticipated release of Marvel vs Capcom 3 is almost here, and as such we would like to give players an opportunity to give a shout-out to Marvel vs Capcom 2.  Regardless of what you personally think of the game, you have to respect the fact that Marvel vs Capcom 2, along with Third Strike, was one of the pivital games that fueled the competitive fighting game scene for over a decade.

So, with this week's Topic of the Week you have the opportunity to share your thoughts on the game, maybe some of your favorite personal moments or memories, some of the most hype tournament matches you've seen, or some of your favorite features.  How will you remember Marvel vs Capcom 2?

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Saturday
Dec252010

SSF4: AE and the Return of the Arcade Scene

It's all too easy to forget about the arcade scene with the ease and convenience of playing online and well, the fact that SSF4 was only on console to begin with, leaving Vanilla SF4 and the arcade scene in the dust. With the release of SSF4: AE, everything has changed, and once again, players both old and new get to experience that "arcade feeling".

Playing at MGL a few days ago reminded me of one crucial factor about playing at arcades: you simply level up much faster in this sort of atmosphere. 

But why? Isn't online or even local casual play just as effective? 

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Monday
Nov292010

IPW TOPIC OF THE WEEK: Are Tier Lists Created Too Early?

There's no denying that tier lists are an integral part of the fighting game community. Every player in the community has their own opinions on how strong their character is in relation to others. It's a topic of debate that not one day passes where someone in the community is talking about it.

That being said, do we as a community create tier lists far too early? Even us here at iPlayWinner released a SSF4 Tier List just a few months after the game was released. How long should we wait before we begin to rank characters and look at match-ups? Do you feel this is detrimental to new players who simply want to learn a character they enjoy, but are discouraged after seeing said characters on the tier list? 

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