In the world of boardroom meetings, the topic of huge, sweaty men slamming into each other and grappling powerfully often comes up, but not since THQ has one company’s success so heavily depended on this practice. Nevertheless it has dogged the ascent of Capcom, swinging them aloft over its head and it will be there one day when they fall, to deliver the head-exploding final blow.
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CPL, CAL, MLG, WGS, TWL, ED, i38.. stop me if you’re getting bored already. Here, I will attempt to provide you all a little insight into what ‘Pro’ gaming actually is, the people– the money (or lack thereof), the fame and the failures.

2009 is the year, and we’ve got teams all over the bloody shop. MeetYourMakers, Fnatic, Complexity 20ID, Salvo, Dignitas, 4K, Reason and the list trails off into the ether with some successful.. and some less successful pro gaming teams. What does this mean? Does this mean professional gaming is now viable as a career? Can you earn money for headshots in todays world? Will I ever stop name dropping? How many commas can I write before you close this tab? Hit the jump to find out. (continue reading…)

With the recent release of Street Fighter IV, and with The King of Fighters XII and BlazBlue on the horizon, the next year is looking bright for gaming’s purest form of one on one competition.  The 2D fighting genre doesn’t garner the same respect as it’s 3D counterpart, but with the resurgence in popularity it’s sure to receive from the release of a new Street Fighter game, now’s as good a time as any to familiarize yourself with the high points in the genre’s history.  And they are, in no particular order:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Street Fighter II is the classic that truly kicked off the entire genre.  HD Remix is a gorgeous update to the best version of said game.  As most gamers are aware, this game captured the arcade scene of the early nineties, devoured millions upon millions of quarters, and nearly made “shoryuken” a household term.  While the gameplay feels understandably dated (relying too heavily on a game of meaty attacks and reversals), it’s still the best fighter of its era and remains surprisingly playable to this day.  Whether you’re a SFII virgin or a seasoned vet, it’s certainly worth revisiting to see where it all began (in glorious HD, no less).

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My apologies for not laying down any more beats just now:  I’ve been having some problems which make it difficult for me to write music.  I can still type though (Albeit slowly), so I may as well write something.

Inspired by Goldanas talking about naked ladies, I would like to talk about sex.  Video games are still a relatively new medium, especially when it comes to games with a narrative.  We’ve come a long way since ‘Save the princess’ was our only goal, our only reason for existing as a pixelated avatar.  Of course, along with narrative comes an increase in fanservice, which, considering that the market is aimed mainly toward teenage and young adult males, tends to come in the form of, well, naked ladies.

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I know everybody is all happy about how stylized this game is, but I’m not one of them. Seriously, I have no idea what the hell is going on in this trailer. Everything just seems to melt into everything else.

We’ve all seen them on either a flash banner telling us we’ll win a new ps3, or that it’s the newest craze. Truth be told ‘casual games’ such as Peggle, Luxor, and any other cursed Mah Jong game that your grandmother used to pass the time before her next assisted bowel movement are designed for about two things. An addictive nature rivaling methamphetamines, and marketing them to the half wits with the attention span of a goldfish with ADD. With an attractive price point as typically being under 20 bux and the lowest rung of demanding of your computer’s specs it makes sense to the cold and calculating money grubbing corporate business plan. In truth, most of my favorite games to date are from publishers who went the way of the dodo, or were bought out and had their creativity stomped in the name of pandering to the lowest common denominator. There are always exceptions to this whole thing. I remember when there was a flood of shit like this, back in the day and even now in some Wal Marts across the globe you’d see a disc proclaiming loudly ‘5000 fun games for windows’. And if you were ever duped into acquiring one of these insidious pieces of slime it usually came with 500 different clones of about 5 different card games, mostly poker or solitaire based, a handful of point and click adventures, some very poorly done shareware of a game scrapped together on the Build Engine, some Mah Jong tile games and a few inane Breakout ripoffs.
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So here we are, the first edition (And hopefully not the last) of ‘What Music Means.’  In this series, I will remix a song and you will hopefully enjoy it.  Or not.  Sometimes it may be good, sometimes it may be bad.  You don’t know.  That’s half the fun.  It’s like opening a box of cereal for the toy.  You might get the super-rare Shredder Power Ring, or you might get your 400th Michaelangelo.  Just be glad your mother bought you 400 boxes of cereal just so you could get your toys.

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The magic of beat/rhythm/music games is strong. Nothing makes you feel good like playing your favorite song, rocking out and getting the highest score you can. Well, not everyone knows what good music games there are out there, so here’s something that might point you in the right direction. Get ready to boogie!

Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan

If you haven’t heard of EBA, you probably need to come out of your cave. This game is totally amazing. The song selection is a bit… Odd, yes, but solid. Every second of this game is hilarious. The EBA go around the world and cheer on people who are in tough situations. How this would help someone steal back plans for their business or help a cat save a baby from a construction zone is beyond me, but I won’t complain. The game gives you numbered circles, and you have to tap them in sequence and rhythm with the playing song. Easy, right? For a while, sure, but you’ll be crying when you fail at the last stretch of “Without a Fight”. This game is on the DS only, has an American version(EBA) and two Japanese versions with different characters, scenarios, music, but that same awesome gameplay. There’s even a custom song game with gameplay very much like it on the PC called “Osu!”, but unless you have a touch screen PC you’re gonna be mousin’ it.
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There’s a lot of heat passin’ around right now about the new Street Fighter IV that will be hitting home very soon. It’s received a lot of praise about the new graphical approach its taken, and in that respect its well-deserved. They’ve done 3D exceptionally. The primary factor that drives it above the competition is that it doesn’t try to be photo-realistic or gray and brown but instead achieves a wonderfully stylized vision that suits the series’s roots.

However, this post is actually about a franchise that is also being revamped. Granted, it’s a lesser-known series, but it still has a strong following. The King of Fighters has always held a place in my heart, at least. Whether it’s the ever-changing game mechanics that are fresh in each and every iteration, the sheer amount of characters that is ever-growing still, or even the sprites and animation that each have so much care, detail, and attention attributed to every single one, this fighting series has remained a strong underdog in this shrinking market.

With the latest chapter, SNK Playmore has taken it upon themselves to finally update the graphics from the more-than-a-decade old set they’ve been using for the last 11 or so games, in addition to other titles of theirs not a part of this particular series. Rather than going into the details of the full HD rendered sprites and the soft shadow and lighting effects, here is a fat truckload (go to page 2) of videos from the first location test for the game. I feel these three are the best.
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Today I went to my favorite arcade for the last time.   No, it wasn’t shutting down like most arcades, I just couldn’t bring myself to witness it’s slow demise. Like an ailing loved one, seeing the decay of what used to be is heart wrenching.  What was my home away from home is now a husk of it’s prior majesty.

Before the lights got dim and the pickings got slim, the arcade was thriving.  The day I turned sixteen was the day I had a free pass to game town (not the name of the arcade).  It’s because of my fondness for the place I write not to lament it’s passing, but to remember it’s living; to share what I experienced, in a place few more will share, in this Internet age.

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