NYAF/WCG

I was at the New York Anime Festival on Saturday in order to check out the WCG. I must admit that it was a last-moment decision so I didn't really get to take too much advantage of the event as I should have.

When I walked the first thing I noticed was the Sega booth. I played a demo of Beyonetta. It was a nice demo. I might buy it once it comes out.

I spent a good amount of time at the WCG booth checking out a match now and then. The WCG Ultimate Game cast members that were at the US Invitationals plus one more (Dante) showed were also there. I played some casual matches. The Street Fighter IV line was packed so I didn't get too many matches in. But I did get to play some Gears and Halo.

The was a lot of stuff at the con. DVD sellers, autograph booths, Artists selling their work and drawing on the premise. I saw an interesting DVD for $5.00 but didn't buy it. I later found out that they it sell for over $20.00. Just perfect. I also saw redesigned Wii Classic Controller. I know the sellers store so I kept that in mind. I learned a big lesson. If you go to a convention with intention of holding on to your money. You won't really enjoy it as much as you should.

The NYAF was okay but I felt I should have enjoyed it more. I learned a few thing about attending conventions though:

• Never go to a convention broke. (Golden Rule)
• Know all the events going on beforehand such as contests, tournaments, autograph signings, etc.
• Try to attend all the days of the convention.
• Bring a buddy with you.
• Don't be shy to take pictures.
  

Figher Mania!

The last few days have been been quite hectic when it comes to fighting games, Street Fighter IV to be more specific. And the following days will only add on to the pandemonium.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Justin Wong won the GameStop Nationals this past Saturday. On that same day he had won exhibition matches against Pungko and Iyo but lost to his rival Daigo Umehara.

A few days ago WCG Ultimate Gamer contestant Ciji "StarSlay3r" Thorton announced in her blog that she would retiring from her specialty of rythim games to focus more on Street Fighter IV. She even became the newest apprentice of Bar Fights founder Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez. best of luck.

Today, both Justin Wong and Gootecks will speak to Slasher on Live On Three tonight at 7:00. Go to DJWheat.tv to tune in.

And of course, this weekend is gonna be big for NYC fighting game scene. WCG is hosting an event called Fighter Club at Samsung Experience. I would say a bit more but why when I can sow you this:



And yes, I will be competing in all four games.

RLW Blogs Update (March 8, 2009)

The last few day have been interesting on a few point. Did a few thing. Found out about a few things.

I'm have been playing Gears of War 2 for a month now. I'm not claiming to be an expert but I do think I have improved fairly considering my experience. When somebody asked why didn't my rank have yet to improve. Personally I don't really believe in online ranking systems but whatever.

I went to Brooklyn for to play Street Fighter IV and Soul Calibur IV. I spent some time in training more to practice Ryu's Shoryuken then EX Focus Dash into Ultra Combo. I keep trying it but my left hand keeps on messing up on the fireball motions. I kept on doing Dragon Punch -> EX Focus Dash Cancel -> EX Fireball... Dragon Punch -> EX Focus Dash Cancel -> EX Dragon Punch... The closest I got was a finish with a Super Combo, something that can't be done in a real SF4 game because the EX focus cancel empties two stock of super. I just wish I had a good arcade stick at home so I can practice.

I have posted a Capcom-Unity blog about people who jack up the prices of arcade sticks on ebay. It got a comment from Sven the mod and stated that new shipments of Mad Catz FightSticks will be coming soon. At least somebody listened to me.

I found out that the WCG US team will be holding online qualifiers staring April. I really want to qualify for Virtua Fighter 5 but I still don't have the arcade stick I need. I hope I can find one decently made decently price stick by next month.

They have put up the bio's and audition videos for all the contestants in WCG Ultimate Gamer, including Prod1gy X and on of the newest VOA Mrs Violence. Prod1gy mentioned Empire Arcadia in his audition video. Good job in representing in the show and the show hadn't even started yet. I signed up at the Ultimate Gamer forum at SciFi.com hopefully more people will give the show the push it needs.

I went to Chinatown to play Street Fighter IV. I first started out with Ryu but then I gave Balrog a try. I hadn't really played with Balrog but I think I can do good with him. I think I will pick him up.

I have a few things I need to attend to this coming week so we'll see how those go.

- Lance

5 WCG Games Announced

Yesterday I went the World Cyber Games website and found out they made an announcement for some of the games for 2009. The games they have so far are Counter-Strike 1.6, StarCraft: Brood War, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Virtua Fighter 5.

I'm thinking about going for at least one of the events, specifically Virtua Fighter 5. I haven't played the RTS's in ages but I would like to brush up on at least one of them. If I'm not mistaken, there hasn't been anyone who had place top 3 for multiple titles in a single WCG World. I'm not saying I'd be the one who'd do it but it would be nice to see somebody do that.

In March WCG will announce the rest of the titles for this year. I'll make sure I stay tuned for that a relay the info here.