Evo 2008 Addendum

In my last post, as user "trobb" pointed out, I didn't address the communities of each game as much as I have in the previous years. So as an addendum to the previous post, I'm just going to talk about each game more from the perspective of the communities, as opposed to just commenting on the game itself.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo - I don't really have much to add from the last post I wrote. The Super Street FIghter II Turbo community is actually on the rise. GGPO and HD Remix have spurred on a rebirth of the game, and I've seen a lot more people interested in playing ST that started off playing other games. In other words, ST doesn't seem to be only for old-timers anymore, which is exciting.

Super Turbo is on its way to prove itself to be THE greatest Fighting Game of all time. The players who loved the game never stopped playing it (as evidenced by the fact that old-schoolers still come back to play it at every Evo despite it being super old) unlike many other games which have even the experts stop playing after a while. And the game is so good that all the new players who pick it up cannot help but enjoy it as well, as evidenced by its recent surge in popularity.

As a result, the Super Turbo community only needs to do one thing: continue spread knowledge. For some reason, Super Turbo seems to be the one game that people love to spread knowledge about. When you need to find information, you have stalwarts like NKI who have a wealth of information on his web page translated from T.Akiba's web page (so it took two monster efforts: T.Akiba for getting all that info and NKI for actually translating it to English!). And on the SRK Forums, people love to give help on Super Turbo and spread knowledge (see sites like Nohoho's Super Turbo blog). Super Turbo is a game of knowledge, so it is one of the easiest to teach and learn. And in the end, I think, its ability to be taught so simply is what makes it so strong because, despite how simple it is to teach, it's still very fun and challenging to play.

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 - As I hinted at in my last post, I do believe this game has no more growth left in it. I do believe, as surprising as this may sound to some people, that this game has a lot of untapped potential left in it. As I mentioned in 2007, Kim a.k.a. "Ohayo1234" pointed me to some videos of a tournament they played in Japan where the Japanese players were using really oddball teams that included characters such as Maki and Dhalsim... and winning 1st place at hardcore tournament. And it was because some of these characters actually had some good characteristics that counter the fairly dominant A-Groove characters like Bison and Blanka.

The problem is that there just isn't anyone left to tap into these unexplored areas. These unexplored regions may end up in a dead end (turning out that Maki and Dhalsim and such actually just aren't good enough), but I don't think we'll ever find out. We've ended up with the same top 8 players yet again (it really boils down to a total of about 12 players) and I really don't see anyone else going to make any run at that group. Frankly, there just aren't any hotbeds of CvS2 anymore. Northern California is the only one, thanks to Keystone II and the fact that all of the good players of the game play there a lot, like Ricky Ortiz and Campbell Tran and John Choi.

But otherwise, I just don't think any other location has a strong enough CvS2 community that cares anymore. We have a lot of good players out and about. For example, one player by the name of SmoothCat has always been doing well in CvS2. But last I spoke to him, it seemed he was moving on to other games. It doesn't even feel worth it for the CvS2 fans to continue pushing the game to its limits because there isn't a significant enough of a reward. And there just isn't anyone left to push you to be better. Everyone is playing Third Strike and Super Turbo these days.

Don't get me wrong. The existing community for this game is a good community. I just don't see anyone joining their ranks. No one new seems to be getting sucked into the game, and I just don't see any chance of the game growing anymore. I think CvS2 has reached its peak, and it simply won't go anywhere from here... which is a shame.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike - Street FIghter III: Third Strike, oddly enough, has the exact opposite problem of CvS2. Instead of having no players to tap into the unknown, Third Strike has a ton of players with nothing left to discover. In this case, there is definitely not a shortage of people in the community. New people still get pulled into this game even today. But the funny thing is... well, there's nowhere left for the game itself to go!

The game itself is the limiting factor. Despite having the largest fanbase of players for any of the Fighting Games played at Evo, nothing new is being discovered. The dominant characters in that game are so dominant, that there just isn't anything that can be done about it. In fact, I feel like it has gotten worse. Whereas before, there used to be the trinity of top-tier characters in Ken, Chun Li, and Yun, I don't even feel like Ken is a factor anymore. If you recall from my previous post, I noted that 24 of the 32 possible Top 8 spots from the last 4 years have all been Chun and Yun players. I think there may have been a total of 3 Kens of the 8 players left.

The thing is... it may not matter. The community for Third Strike hasn't gone anywhere. And it's not struggling. The game does not have any lack of interest. So... what's the problem? Well, the problem is that the game has simply grown stale. And not because no one is trying new things, it's because there is absolutely nothing new left in this game to try. I think the game is literally at a point where nothing new can be discovered at all.

So what can the community do to freshen the game up? Probably nothing. But again, why bother when the game is still as hot as ever?

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 - The MvC2 community has me torn. I always say there is no community like the MvC2 community, and I mean it. You cannot get a community with better hype and excitement and rivalries and such. But at the same time, I feel like the MvC2 community is flawed. And part of the reason that I feel it is flawed IS this level of hype and rivalry and passion. Simply put, in the MvC2 community, winning means TOO much. There is so much shit talking going on and so many money matches being played that no one is willing to lose. So people will win at any cost... and one of those costs is not giving away any of your secrets. As a result, there are so few players who can even come close to being the quality of player that Justin Wong is. I do not believe Justin Wong is at a level so far above everyone that no one can reach him. I just don't think the community has the ability to get as good as him because no one is willing to lose.

Remember how I mentioned in the Super Turbo section above that the community is really good at teaching others? The MvC2 community seems to be the opposite. There is very little education of the game going on. There's a wealth of knowledge amongst the experts of the game but, for some reason, they never seem to want to spread the knowledge. I've heard this complaint from members of the community itself. It's just tough to find information about this game. There's no MvC2 equivalent of the T.Akiba information NKI translated or the detailed character information you can find about Guilty Gear at Dustloop. And as a result, I think the MvC2 community has trouble growing. One of the interesting things about a community like the ST community is that experts are willing to teach other players to be good enough to beat them. But in the MvC2 community, giving others the power to defeat you seems to be taboo. So no one ever wants to help others get better (unless they are a part of your crew). So many players get good, but end up reaching a plateau where they can no longer improve. It seems the only way to get to the top echelon of players is to just be in the same area as Justin Wong. There's no coincidence that all the best players (Sanford, Smoothviper, Yipes, Demon Hyo, etc.) live around New York.

So I think until the MvC2 community learns to lower their pride (I didn't say ignore it, I just mean tone it down a bit), I do not think anyone will ever get good enough to beat Justin Wong nor even challenge him unless you live near him and have to get better simply because you are playing him a lot. I think it would benefit the community a lot if all of the experts began helping each other more and working together to bring up the overall quality of play, rather than just trying to make sure your particular crew is better than everyone else.

A couple of side notes: this is my impression. I'm not very involved in the MvC2 community, so my impressions can be completely false and I'd be glad to proven wrong that knowledge isn't shared. Also, keep in mind that I don't mind Justin Wong winning. In fact, I think it's awesome that we have someone so dominant. I mean, look at Roger Federer as a perfect example. During his streak of domination, it was a joy to watch him. He was one of my favorite tennis players and I always rooted for him. But it's really hard to argue that it hasn't become a lot more interesting since Rafael Nadal entered the scene to start spoiling Federer's reign. So while it's awesome to see Justin Wong and how soundly he can pummel his opponents, and no matter how much I root for him, I'd love to see him really have a good challenge, especially if he wins it after gutting it out.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Hmm. I'm still scared to talk about this community. I've criticized the Guilty Gear community in the past, I've just criticized the MvC2 community, and I'm about to criticize the Tekken community a bit. And I'm sure all three communities will not like it, but I somehow feel like if I criticize the Smash community here, it's gonna start some huge, gigantic shit storm of Smash players coming here and totally bashing me over the head. So keep in mind, I'm an equal-opportunity "critiquer" here. I'm not out for anyone in particular. And, yes, I do have an issue with the Smash community.

Last year, I was so complimentary of them. But this year, after all of the controversy revolving around the choice of having Items at Evo, my feelings have been slightly tainted. Keep in mind, I still love their community. Their dedication and passion for the game is admirable. But if I had to point out one flaw in their community, it's this: they have a real serious God Complex.

And this has come from the fact that they have so much control over their game. Too much control, if you will. By being able to tweak and adjust so many aspects of their game, the community has grown to become perfectionists, ones that are unwilling to accept anything that is less than what they want. Whereas most of the other Fighting Game communities have had to learn to deal with B.S. their whole lives (Hoyokusen / Genei-Jin, Valle CC's, Roll Canceling, Alpha Counters, Easy Mode Ken, Infinite Combos, Custom Combos, Unblockables, and on and on and on), the Smash Community hasn't. They have been lucky enough to be able to tweak their game so much that they can get it to a point where they deem it perfect. And anything different is unacceptable.

Case in point: when presented with something they disagree with heavily that they can't change, they actually still go and try to change it. Some members of the community have gone so far as to create an altered version of Smash Bros. Brawl that removed Tripping. Now, the majority of the community doesn't agree with this new version of the game, but regardless: it was done! It's fairly unprecedented in the Fighting Game community for people to go and make your own altered version of the game to fix flaws you perceive as a problem. Again, most of the Smash community doesn't agree with this, but it's a good indication of how much control they desire and how far they will go to achieve it.

And please, don't read this as telling the community they are being ridiculous for not wanting Items at Evo. I'm not arguing for or against Items here. I'm not saying they erred on their part not wanting Items. In fact, I largely agree with them that playing without items makes for a better game. And, if Smash returns next year, I'm betting there will be no items (I, for one, will push for it). The part that got to me was that they insisted that we were wrong and they were right, even to the point where they wanted an apology from Evo Staff (they had very particular reasons for wanting one, but it's still a weird thing to ask for on something that really comes down to opinion). To me, no one was right or wrong.

I still love their community because of how passionate and dedicated they are to their game. In fact, I think debating with them has given me a new level of respect for them (last year, it felt like they were this really nice, friendly casual community that had a fascinating history. This year, it feels more like there is a large amount of weight behind this community, with leaders and educaters and experts and everything). But I do hope that they can reach a more tolerant level. There are so many factors you cannot control (one being, for example, Sakurai himself and what he wants out of the game... SAKURAI!!!!!!!!!). I'm not saying they should learn to play with Items on, but if someone chooses to do so, there shouldn't be as intense of a backlash. Frankly, it was shocking for me to see the level of hatred directed towards Evo just because of that. Disappointment? That I can understand. But the level of pure, deep hatred that we received was quite something.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection - My letter to the Tekken community: "Where were you?!? Why didn't you show up? I know Tekken 6 is coming out but... it's not even out yet! Is Dark Resurrection so bad that it warranted being completely ignored? Was there no motivation to come out and play at Evo at all? Can someone please explain to me why the Tekken community bailed? I'm actually really disappointed by that, especially since I talked them up so much last year about how dedicated they were to their game and such. Is there something I just don't know? -- James"

Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core - Bravo. I think you guys already know how I feel after the last post, so I won't bother saying much more here. But let's just say all the shit I gave you guys last year has been taken back. I've eaten my words and am happy to see myself proved wrong. Bravo.

Evo 2008 Season Wrap Up

It's that time of year again!

"After another year of Evo has come and gone, I'd like to officially end the Evo Season with one final 'State of the Games' post. I've had a good month to stew on Evo and read the general community reactions and let everything sink in. Thus, I would like to sum up my feelings in one last post."

(Same disclaimer as last year: Though I am on the staff, please DO NOT use this article as evidence of any theories you have on what may happen at Evo 2009. My opinion is only one person strong, and over the course of the next few months, so many new games will come out, circumstances may change, and moods can alter so that what I say now may not even reflect how I feel half a year from now. So don't go quoting me as a source of proof that next year will feature such-and-such game or not.)

* * * * *

I love basketball. It's by far my favorite sport to watch. And it was extremely exciting to watch the U.S. Olympics basketball team take back the Gold Medal this past Summer Olympics. The team, this year, called themselves the "Redeem Team" as a play-on-words of the original Dream Team back in 1992. It's almost not fair to call them that, however, because they were a Dream Team of their own. They certainly did not blow away their opponents as badly as the original Dream Team did back in 1992, but the competition was pathetic back then compared to now. You just didn't have teams like Spain and Argentina to actually pose a threat. So, actually, I'd rather call this year's team the Dream Team Part 2.

So the question comes into play: which team was actually better? They ran a poll on ESPN asking people which team was better. They compared all the positions (Center, Forwards, and Guards) and asked which you would prefer. And as I scanned the choices, it was impossible to vote against names like Michael Jordan, names like Magic Johnson, names like Larry Bird. And after I submitted my choices, it was very apparent that everyone else agreed with me. The original Dream Team was better in just about every position.

But I'd like to think about that for a second. Yes, the players on the original Dream Team are amazing. Probably the greatest pool of talent ever assembled in sports history. But the one thing you tend to forget is (and I mean no disrespect to any of the original Dream Team members at that time)... well, they were OLD in 1992... some of them even past their prime. Larry Bird barely played because he could barely play at 36. Johnson had already retired from the NBA after contracting HIV. David Robinson and Scottie Pippen were the youngest players at 27. Otherwise, everyone else was 29 or older, which is late in your career in the world of sports.

Meanwhile, the new team had almost equal talent. Except that the players were young! Jason Kidd was the lone exception, being the only player older than 30 at 35. But the next oldest player was Kobe Bryant at 30. And there were five players younger than 25! And when you look at the names of those five players -- Lebron James, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh -- those are all almost guaranteed future Hall of Famers!

So can we really say that the original Dream Team was better? You have a bunch of guys who were pretty much all 29 and older vs. a bunch of young, athletic and super talented guys who were pretty much all 29 and under! So when you think about it, it's probably actually pretty accurate to believe that, maybe, the Redeem Team is a better team at the time of its existence. In fact, I'm willing to bet that if the 2008 Redeem Team played against the 1992 Dream Team, the Redeem Team would win because of their youth and athleticism and their talent.

And yet, even believing so, if I answered that ESPN Poll again, I'd still pick the Dream Team over the Redeem Team.

In every position.

Because frankly, it doesn't matter how old those players were. You simply CANNOT vote against Larry Bird, even at 36 with a bad back. You cannot vote against a Magic Johnson, even though he was already retired and 32. You cannot vote against Jordan, who was better at 29 than he was at 24. You cannot vote against Karl Malone, who was still ticking long after being 29 in the Dream Team. These names simply mean too much. If you love basketball like I do, you would pick the Dream Team in that poll even if they gathered those same eight players in 2000. I would still pick Larry Bird at 44 years old over anyone on the Redeem Team. You just can't disrespect these names.

Magic. Jordan. Bird. Malone. Stockton. Ewing. Barkley. Drexler.

* * * * *

Super Turbo. Capcom Vs. SNK 2. Third Strike. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.

Those are some more names that elicit the same feelings from me. The reason I brought up the Dream Team vs. the Redeem Team is because I feel about these games the same way I feel about the players on the Dream Team. And I bring this up because that seemed to be what the theme of Evolution 2008 was: the old vs. the new. While we played these four old games at one side of the room where Evo was held, at the other side of the room loomed all of the younger games ready to supplant the veterans. Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom were being played on the cabinets in the back. STHD Remix was on an XBox 360 kiosk. BlazBlue was being played on a special setup off of a PC laptop.

It's true that the games played at Evo 2008 feel old now. All four of those games have grown fairly stale. CvS2 never has any new players in the top 8. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is usually fairly anti-climactic because it just didn't feel like Justin Wong would lose, despite being knocked into the Loser's Bracket. Street Fighter III: Third Strike is just Chun and Yun and Chun and Chun and Yun and Chun. And Super Street Fighter II Turbo is just as old as CPU, the player who won the Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament!!! Just think about that for a minute. Even Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection felt old, since most Tekken players didn't even make the trek to Evo because they were too busy with Tekken 6. It's really easy to write these games off. In fact, my initial plan was to write about how old these games are and how nice it will be to move on to newer games, hopefully, for Evo 2009.

But I can't. I just can't. In the exact same way that I could never speak ill of a 36 year old Larry Bird, how can I speak ill of a 14 year old Super Turbo? As much as I dislike the smattering of Chuns and Yuns in Third Strike, can I discredit the game that gave competitive video gaming, including all genres like FPS's and RTS's, its greatest moment ever? As much as I gripe about CvS2's top 8 being the same players every year, can I deny that somehow those same top players always make CvS2 look extremely exciting? As anti-climactic as it felt when Justin Wong won MvC2 soundly in the final match-up, can I ever pretend that there is a game with more hype and more drama than MvC2? Even though the games are stale, they've all given us so much over the years that cannot be forgotten.

But that still doesn't change the fact that the general word is that the games at Evo are old and it is time for a changing of the guard. While there is still a chance that one or two of those four games may return for Evo next year, it's pretty much a consensus amongst the Fighting Game community that a bunch of new games will be good for Evo next year. Many people considered this to be CvS2's final run. Most people have already figured that STHD Remix will replace Super Turbo. And you know a ton of people were playing Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom trying to evaluate if it could possibly be the next MvC2. And quite naturally, wouldn't Street Fighter FOUR replace Street Fighter THREE? So some new pedigree is definitely welcome.

* * * * *

In the past couple of years, I spoke about each and every game individually to give an idea of how I felt about the games. I'm not sure if I can do the same this year. There just isn't as much to say about each individual game this year because there IS this feeling of change. But I will still give it a shot, but I will be fair: I'm not only going to talk about the 6 games played at Evo, I will also include thoughts on the 4 new games on display. And since I have so many games to talk about, I'm gonna keep it short for each game.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo - I think America is at an all-time high for hype on this game in the past 10 years, despite it being 14 years old. Two things have helped turn Super Turbo into the "hot shit" this past year: the awesome online play of GGPO and the advent of STHD Remix. These two things have spawned a resurrection of Super Turbo interest. And now we can add a third thing to the list: John Choi's victory. It makes us feel like America, after already having Alex Wolfe and Jason Nelson win Anniversary Edition, has reached a point where we can legitimately challenge the Japanese. It's interesting to me that the OLDEST game is the one with the biggest upswing in interest. It's a sign that this really is truly one of if not THE greatest Fighting Games of all time. And though it most likely will be replaced by HD Remix next year, at least it still lives on in some form.

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 - Last year, I said there weren't enough up and comers in CvS2. And this year was no different. Let me update my count from last year. Since 2004, the top 8 American finalists in CvS2 have been Ricky Ortiz (4 times), Justin Wong (4 times), Peter "Combofiend" Rosas (4 times), Campbell "Buktooth" Tran (4 times), John Choi (3 times), Kim-Hahn "Ohayo1234" Hoang (2 times), and Gene "Hail and Kill" Wong (2 times) with Eddie Lee also reaching the finals in 2004. On the Japanese side, we have had Kindevu (4 times), Bas (3 times), Tokido (2 times), RF (2 times), and a four others who have each made one Top 8 (Daigo, Mago, Nuki, and Dan). That means out of 40 possible spots, all but 5 of them have been players that have made it to the Top 8 more than once, and Dan has only come to one Evo, Nuki doesn't play CvS2 anymore, and Mago and hasn't been to Evo since 2005. In other words, nothing has changed. CvS2 needs some new pedigree, and I honestly don't think it'll ever happen. I will never claim that the Finals aren't exciting (this year in particular was exciting thanks, again, in part to John Choi's amazing finish in 1st place). They always are, but I just don't think there is any room left for this game to grow in America.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike - This year, in the Top 8, we had Chun, Chun, Chun, Chun, Chun, and Yun. In 2007, we had Chun, Chun, Chun, and Chun. In 2006, we had Yun, Yun, Yun, Yun, Chun, Chun, and Chun. In 2005, we had Chun, Chun, Chun, Chun, Chun, Yun, and Yun. I don't think there's anything left to say about this game.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 - Of the four "old" games I've been talking about MvC2 suffered the most by the lower turn out. Many of the East Coast's greatest players did NOT make it out to Evo. There was no Yipes, there was no Santhrax, and there was no Demon Hyo. And thus, the number of people able to make an interesting Finals were down to but a few, namely SmoothViper and Chunksta. Otherwise, there was few who could provide an adequate challenge to Justin regaining the MvC2 crown. But it goes beyond just the Finals: even during the course of Evo, the presence of MvC2 felt a bit smaller than usual. I know it is more difficult for the East Coasters to make it out to Vegas for Evo than it is for the West Coasters, so all I will allow myself to say is that I really hope that more MvC2 players will take a real consideration to make it out to Evo next year if MvC2 remains. There is no community like the MvC2 community, period.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection - Again, not much to say about this game. The turnout was around 75 or so players, which was extremely low. But Tekken 6 is where the focus of the community lies now. So this was almost a throwaway year for Tekken. I can't imagine Tekken 6 not being at Evo 2009 next year, and hopefully the majority of the Tekken community will come to Evo along with it.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - *Phew.* Man, do I really wanna talk about this game? Controversy, controversy, controversy. Evo 2008 chose to run the game with items, and as a result, the Smash Community turned away in droves. The results have been questioned by the entire community, including their champion, CPU, himself. Even after Evo was done, the drama continued online. And as a result, a lot of friction has been created between the Smash community and the Evo community. It's been argued from members of both sides, though, that Smash doesn't need Evo and Evo doesn't need Smash. But to me, that's just a lot of bravado. Because frankly, despite what a few people want to believe, Smash Bros. Brawl IS a Fighting Game. And a darn good one. And though Smash and Evo may not NEED each other, it would be beneficial for both sides to continue forward with a amicable relationship and I truly believe both sides desire that, despite the claims to the contrary. Last year and this year could not have been more polar opposite on how the Smash community felt about Evo. Hopefully, next year, we can go back to the first year's mood if Smash comes back.

Street Fighter HD Remix / Super Turbo HD Remix / Whatever It's Gonna Be Officially Called - It'll be wonderful to bring a 14 year old game into the modern generation of consoles. Whether we play Remix Mode or not, just the fact that we can get the game on modern consoles with HD graphics and present it to a completely new audience is very exciting. With ST on an upswing in popularity already, STHD will be a real boon to the Fighting Game community. And having a hopefully more balanced game in Remix Mode will also be very welcome, injecting some new life into the game. The only shame that using Remix Mode will bring is the fact that we will then have an upper hand against the Japanese players, which is rough after such a breakout year for the U.S. at Evo 2008. If the Japanese players can also obtain HD Remix and embrace it, then it will be a better situation. But I'd hate to win ST at Evo and then skew everything so that we have the upper hand, unable to defend and prove our growth in the game on equal playing grounds.

BlazBlue - I didn't see much of the game, so I can't really say much about it. I will say that it looks beautiful, and that the things that I did see were great. The game looks like it bleeds creativity, and there are a lot of really interesting ideas in the game (not only with character specific stuff, but with things like adding full-fledged okizeme games into a 2-D fighter). So I can't wait to see more of this game and to learn more about it. And the Guilty Gear community looked extremely excited about the game.

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom - This game looks awfully impressive so far. There is definitely a lot of tweaking needed to be done for the game, but it's early in development, so you can forgive a few things like Alex's super broken combo (which I heard is already removed from the newer versions of the game). I think this game has a lot of promise and everyone playing it seemed to be greatly excited by it. Will it be an MvC2 potential replacement? Hard to say... they are both similar but still very different. Plus, the question of whether or no the game will even be released in America is still unanswered. So if you want it here, make sure Capcom here's your pleas.

Street Fighter IV - Street Fighter IV is the perfect Fighting Game. No, actually, it sucks. No, actually, it doesn't really matter at all. It doesn't matter what I say about the game, because what this game has done is shocking, to say the least. There is a level of hype for this game that I haven't seen in the Fighting Game community in a long time. We had four setups of this game at Evo, and they were being played NON-STOP. Lines were piling up to play it. And even strangers who wandered by and peeked into the hall saw the banners we had, and were sucked in and excited by it. The internet has expressed so much anticipation for this game. And I think that Capcom has done a fantastic thing. They've managed to transition the game into 3-D with a VERY interesting and unique art style while preserving core Street Fighter gameplay. Hopefully, the Fighting Game community will experience a huge boost thanks to this game, and I gotta imagine that its inclusion into the Evo 2009 lineup is all but guaranteed. (As an aside, in case anyone really DOES wonder what I think about the game, I think though it has a very basic feel to it, it has huge potential. And I am curious to see what high level play will look like once everyone grows more accustomed to it.)

And before I stop, I need to add one more paragraph here:

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - Talk about your turnarounds. After the disaster (my words) involving the Guilty Gear community and the Finals at Evo last year, this year showed mw that this community is not only still alive and kicking, but more dedicated to their game than I thought. I challenged them last year to prove themselves, and after Guilty Gear was revealed to not be in the Evo 2008 lineup, I challenged them to make it out to Evo anyhow and show me how dedicated their community was. So did they do it? They did and how! They ran two tournaments that weekend (a singles and a team tournament) and both had high numbers (the singles tourney had more players than one or two of the official Evo games). Both were run well and both had a lot of hype. And they did not interfere with the main Evo tournaments at all (outside of Hellmonkey stealing a TV without asking me... ~_^). So I have to give this community their props. I like what I saw. I can't guarantee anything for next year, especially because so many new games are coming out, but I can speak for myself when I say I took notice. And that makes me happy because, as I admitted last year, I am a huge fan of Guilty Gear.

* * * * *

So maybe it is time to say adieu to a bunch of older games, but I will definitely never forget how great those games have been to Evo in the past few years. They can be considered the Dream Team, much like the 1992 U.S. Basketball Olympic Team. But after a year that people have been claiming that the Fighting Game genre has been growing stale, maybe it's time for us to get our own Redeem Team as well. No, scratch that. There is no redemption here. What we need is the Dream Team Part 2.

Here's to looking forward, already, to Evo 2009!

- James

Evo 2008: For the Love of the Game

It's been a year since I've written anything on my blog. And to be truthful, this was not an accident. Evolution 2007's recap was my last article written for a reason: that event took the life out of me. I over-exerted myself in 2007, so much to the point where I was super stressed out and ended up super burned out. I'm talking really burned out. And yes, so burned out that I needed a year to recover. So I took an unannounced hiatus from my blog (and from making a DVD trailer and such) to give myself a good year to relax and recover and take care of other, more important personal businesses. Such as being the best man at my brother's wedding and actually taking, for the first time in my life, a real vacation where I traveled and did nothing but eat, sleep, and relax. So it was a very good year for me. Very relaxing.


In fact, so relaxing that Evo 2008 pretty much snuck up on me. At some point in time earlier this year, it suddenly dawned on me: Evo 2008 was only 3 weeks away!

The last two years, Evo West and Evo East were good ways to prepare for Evo Finals 2008. But this year, there were no qualifiers, so I ended up relaxing so much that I had forgotten to really get myself mentally prepared for Evo. So when Evo weekend rolled around, I didn't know what to expect at all. I knew everything that was gonna happen there, but unlike last year, where I had given myself so many expectations and so many goals, this Evo was like a blank slate for me. So while that could be scary, not knowing what to expect, it can also be an exciting thing! Sometimes the best experiences occur when you leave yourself room to be surprised. So now that the weekend has come and gone, how did I feel about it?


It was wonderful.

Two years ago, my post about Evo2006 was all about Evo growing up. It was the first year it felt like the scene was truly maturing, but that's not a good enough goal. In order to continue to succeed, you must not be content with growin up... you must continue to grow and mature. And even though there was every reason to falter and regress this year -- no major sponsor this year, only one new game and lots of really old games -- the scene proved it could survive and thrive and grow stronger without those things. It proved that Evo's biggest strength is still the thing that made earlier tournaments like B3 and B5 so successful: the communities that play Fighting Games.

Yes, the turnout was slightly lower than previous years with very low numbers for games like Tekken. Yes, there was a huge clash between Evo and the Smash community regarding the rules used for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Yes, the Tropicana was not even close to being as nice as Green Valley or Red Rock (we'll know better next year when we try to make it back onto the strip). But it didn't matter. Because one of the main lasting memories of this year's Evo, for me, was that, at several points during Friday and Saturday as I walked the Evo grounds doing my usual FOB thing of taking pictures, I noticed that the place was packed. From the actual tournament stations down to the Bing Your Own Console area down to the Street Fighter IV machines down to the BlazBlue setup, there was nary room enough to walk without trampling over over people.

And everyone was having fun.


I saw people using their badges as "tokens" on the SFIV machines to mark whose turn was next (and every machine had tons of badges on them). I saw Dark Geese doing his usual thing of making sure SNK was represented, and watched a match he ran between Tokido and Sabin for the KOF Ultimate Match Championships. I saw Hellmonkey, one of the most vocal people angry at Evo over the choice to drop Guilty Gear from the main lineup, doing his best to run a great and hyped up and organized Guilty Gear tournament... one on each day. I saw a gigantic horde of people gathered and screaming around a T.V. to watch J.R. and Ryan Hart compete in a Third Strike moneymatch. I talked to one kid (actually, he wasn't a kid, he just looked like one... he told me he was actually in his twenties, but I swear he looked 15!) who said he came specifically to play Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, and he looked like he soaked up every minute he could of that game. I saw the crowd give support to special surprise guest T.Double a.k.a Turbo during his very first live stage performances ever. I saw Kugler with a notebook feverishly writing down every bit of juicy information he could about BlazBlue to share with the community who weren't there. It probably sounds weird to say that seeing these types of things bring me a lot of joy, but it's true. And it was just as great as it had been in the past few years with no drop off at all.

And that's when it hit me: the thing that makes Evo so great is that the people who are there are there for Evo. Regardless whether or not the prize money is 5 grand or 700 dollars, the players are there to enjoy Evo. There are other competitive gaming organizations out there that may appear to have as big of numbers as Evo does, but I guarantee you that the people at those events do not have even remotely the same amount of dedication and love that the Fighting Game community has.

We can use the Smash drama as a perfect example. The Smash community was livid at the Evo staff for choosing to go with items. But why were they so mad? It's because they love their game, they love the gaming community, they love gaming events, and they had high hopes, after last year's successful Melee tournament, that Evo would become the main Smash tournament of the year... the Wimbledon of Brawl, so to speak. So it's natural for them to be so frustrated that we chose to go a direction they do not approve of. Am I angry at the core Smash community for being angry with us? For trying to brush Evo off as a "joke" tournament after our decision to play with items? No, not at all. I know where they are coming from, and it's coming from the love of the game.


Same goes for the Guilty Gear community. After long threads full of mostly flames and angry bitching from both sides, the Guilty Gear community showed up in full force and, despite Accent Core not being a main game in the lineup, and they showed Evo that their community is no less deserving than any other community. Last year, I said the Guilty Gear community wasn't strong enough. This year, they showed me they were.

So the main thing that stood out to me about this year's Evo was that the people there wanted to be there. They were there for Evo, because they love the games and nothing more. They don't need things like prize money as motivation to go. No, they were there because they love the games they love, and they were there to have fun.

(This is not to say that people who didn't show up don't love the game just as much. I know a lot of people who did not show up because of other more important things to attend or because it just wasn't financially feesible... I'm sure if they could have made it, they would have.)

I am probably extremely biased when I say this, but I truly believe, thanks in large part to this year's Evo, that no video game community can rival the love and passion of the Fighting Game community. Sure the RTS communities and the FPS communities and the MMO communities and such are out there and they are strong and have equally as dedicated fans, but the Fighting Game community has every reason to drop off the map, especially because there have been so few major Fighting Games released recently. But despite all of that, the Fighting Game community still holds strong, and that's the feeling I got from Evo this year. It's truly a magical thing to have so many people gather at one event like Evo just because of how much they love the games they play and how much they love the community. And so, I have only one thing to say to the Fighting Game community:

Thank you. ^_^

- James

P.S. Up next, my annual "State of the Fighting Games" article.

P.P.S. Nothing can symbolize how much fight there is in the Fighting Game community than the story of what one person had to go through. I have to make a mention of this in this blog post, because to me, it's not only a moving story in the Fighting Game community, but it's a moving story for any community.


By now, everyone in the Fighting Game world has heard about John Choi's success from Evo this past year. Even though Choi has been a respected top player for years and years, it may come as a surprise that Choi has never, ever made 1st place in an Evo tournament since we changed to the "Evolution" moniker. So to win two games this year was huge. To win two games typically dominated by Japanese players by defeating Japanese players in the final matches was extremely huge.

But what makes it especially incredible is the obstacles Choi overcame to make it to Evo to compete at all. I won't tell his story. He does a better job of telling it himself. I urge everyone to read it. It is truly inspiring stuff. You are the best, John!