Friday, May 14, 2010

Happy Birthday to the Man Who Started It All

I just wanted to take some to wish our founder a happy birthday. Walter Day turns 61 years young today.

Walter, you are competitive gaming's true pioneer. You have inspired me to take my favorite modern system (Wii) and some of it's games to levels not known to the "hardcore" crowd. You have paved the way for anyone who ever wanted to play for a World Record. Even if today's modern tournament crowd doesn't realize it, what you did for the last three decades opened the door for those players today.

Let us take this day to honor competitive gaming's first world champion. Happy Birthday, Walter.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Anime Castle Tournament

I went to Anime Castle in Flushing to compete in my first Super Street Fighter IV tournament. Didn't do well. I felt there were some things that I should have done differently.

My mistakes:

1: Assuming my opponent play will they the rest of you competition does

While waiting for my match I was watching the other matches play through. I saw some not-so-spectacular players. When it was time for me to play I automatically thought my oppenent would be easy to be. Actually he played a better Zangief that I gave him credit for. Caught me off guard.


2: Not switching my character when I should have

During when I lost my first fight Zangief I stuck with Sakura, only to get knocked into losers. I think I could have saved myself by picking somebody with more tools against Zangief.

3: Not playing with my own arcade stick, or one like it.

The tournament was on a PlayStation 3, a system I don't have (I play on Xbpx 360). I played my matches on a loaner stick, a Hori Real Arcade Pro 3. In my second match against Juri I played pretty well on the first fight. Just when I was about to win it...accidental pause on my side. That took away my win and killed my well-needed momentum. I still fought hard to the end but my tournament life ended early.

The stick I use is the TE FightStick from Mad Catz. The Mad Catz sticks have their Start and Back buttons on the front side where the wire comes out while the HARPs have their Start and Back buttons on the face with the other buttons. I should have asked to borrow a Mad Catz stick. I highly doubt the pause would have happened if I played on one.

I have certainly learned from the errors I have made in Flushing tournament. Next tournament I will certainly come in more focused and better prepared.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

WCG Ultimate Gamer 2 Auditions

Last Saturday I auditioned for the WCG Ultimate Gamer 2. I did quite a bit preparations to get ready for the auditions. I picked out an outfit that made me stand out from everybody else. I thought it helped me stand out from the bunch. I would have bought a Wii shirt from the store but I wound up not getting that. I didn't really "train" for the audition because of my two jobs, but I already knew what games were gonna be there because of the Facebook posts from the LA auditons. They were Modern Warfare 2 and Street Fighter IV, which I already play and consider myself enough good not to worry about it, and Forza 3, for which I simply played the demo a few times and called it a day. I was so sure I was gonna make it far I sent for a rush delivered passport so I would have it in time for the show. I was thinking about certain questions casting might ask me and coming up with some answer so I don't trip up if somebody asks me a surprise question.

When I got to the Samsung Experience and stood in line. The casting staff insisted that they were looking for people with both personality. Fine by me. I felt that I could outplay most of the crowd no matter what game were in auditions. And when it comes to personality, I'm not exactly Caffeine Free Coke. They also recommend letting your personality out when you are playing by interacting, thrash-talking etc. Huh? For starters we were playing against the computer so it was pointless trash talking. And I would LOVE to see how one would interact with somebody who is not even in the same game as you. When I play in a tournament, or during a record attempt, I don't say pretty much. It doesn't mean I have no personality. I'm just trying to put full focus into my game.

Game 1: Forza 3

When I went up to the station, the car was pre-selected for me and I was told to just start the race. I did okay with the car that I had in the demo but the car I was made to use drives completely different. Turning was a disaster. I couldn't get a good finish so I settled for finishing in reverse to give the judges some to think about... and even reversing was a hassle. Later in the day I found out that the car used for auditions was a front wheel drive and has its engine in the rear. No wonder why that thing was hard to drive.

Game 2: Modern Warfare 2

He we played a Sec-op mission O Cristo Redentor on Hardened. Casting gave us a two minute and thirty second time limit, so we had to chose between rushing in and getting killed early and waiting for shots and use up time. I managed to beat 10 enemies under these conditions. I wish I could have played against a person, but whatever.

Game 3: Street Fighter IV

Nothing thing much to talk about. Beat one computer opponent on hard. Whoopee.

After I was done with that it was time for me to get interviewed. I told them about my self and what I have been doing in gaming. I showed -- not told -- showed them that I was in Guinness Gamers Edition for Soul Cailbur IV, season 1's final game. The interview ended with the casting director saying they would call me if the wanted me for tomorrow. I didn't get that call.

I thought about making this post a gigantic rant about I how I should be on the show over person A or Person B, but there is enough of that on the web already, and I'm trying to cut down on that personally. I played my best. I answered the questions the best I could. I supposed they didn't have a spot I could fill for UG2. I all can do is wish everyone who is still in the running well and prepare myself for season 3 auditions.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition

I finally managed to find a copy of Guinness World Record 2010 Gamer's Edition. Some things about this year's book is quite different from 2009. First off, Brady Games, known for strategy guides, became is the publisher for the 2010 version of the book. The other: It's paperback. This may have lowered the price of the book from $21.95 to $15.95, but I would have gladly paid the former price if it meant not having to worry about ruining the pages or cracking the spine.

As for what's inside the book, it pretty much remains consistent with the previous Gamer's Editions with the usual updates on world records and games that came out throughout the year, and of course, the Twin Galaxies high score section.

As would anyone I looked through the book to see if any familiar names. I looked through the Twin Galaxies section and I saw that I'm in the section a second time in a row (this year for Soul Cailbur IV, Original Wii Sports, and Wii Sports Resort), my name actually made it into the Record-Breaking Fighting Games section for my score in Soul Calibur IV on the Xbox 360.

I also saw that EMP Triforce made it onto the TG leaderboard for Mario Bros. (GBA), The Superman arcade game (with another EMP Jeron), and Tetris DS. And they mentioned him in the Record Breaking Puzzle Games for his Tetris score and said how the was part of "The League of Legendary Gamers" with Billy Mitchell and Fatal1ty.

And both my name and Triforce's are in the INDEX! I never thought I would have my name in the index of any Guinness Book. It's sort of nice to see your own name there.

I'm still going through the book as we speak. I will probably be tweeting about more finds in the book.

Friday, December 11, 2009

WCG Holiday Heroes

Tomorrow I WILL be going to WCG Holiday Heroes tomorrow to compete in Street Fighter IV. Wish me luck.

Friday, November 27, 2009

John Doe Has Got to Go

Yesterday. SK Gaming posted an article written by an anonymous writer only known as John Doe. This the third article on sk-gaming.com that SK has allowed without revealing the said writer. And John Doe did not come to exactly the warmest welcome, and for good reason.

In the first John Doe article, posted in April after Game Services, the company that ran the ESWC, went bankrupt, the writer claims that this type of stuff is actually good for professional gaming. The article got mixed comments. Then life went on. No big deal.

A few days after the launch of the WWFOG's website, John Doe returns to give a token bashing to not just the WWFOG but American pro gaming as well. Doe pretty much praised Europe and Asia-based leagues for simply existing while listing American leagues as "FAIL". Among the "FAIL's" was the CPL. Although it did not have happy ending, the CPL is recognized in Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition as longest-running professional tournament organizer, running from 1997 and folding in 2008. Pretty much like saying that Michael Jordan was a failed athlete because his team did not make it to the playoffs in his final season. Doe conveniently omitted Major League Gaming, which has a vice grip competitive Halo and is now teamed up with EA Sports to run Madden tournaments.

And then yesterday the latest Doe article emerges. The piece about the so-called evolution of eSports sponsorship is poorly organized badly written to be in a column for any pro gaming site. My favorite phrase is "The official prize money changed from tons of beer to tons of money". Seriously? The prize money was once beer but is now money?

But the biggest eyesores in article 3 are the cheap swipes at American gaming journalists, even using a vulgar line from a bland cable TV show. The quote was "I won't go down in history, but I will go down on your sister." Fit for the news section, indeed.

Third time is the charm. Three strikes and you're out. However you phrase it, John Doe's third article was the straw that broke the camels back. How could SK post such poorly written articles without identifying the writer? Aren't they even remotely worried how this would look to their readers? More important what would the sponsors think about this. I can't read minds, but if I saw this type of stuff posted on a website run by a company I gave sponsorship money to. I would think twice before writing them another check.

I'm not losing sleep over these articles but I do feel they need to stop. If you feel the same way don't just post finger-wagging comment on SK's site. That is clearly not working. Instead direct your outrage to the sponsors. That should get us better results.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wii Sports Resort Skydiving Walkthrough

This guide will hopefully help you boost up you score for the Skydiving game in Wii Sports Resort. Now please don't assume that reading this will make you able to pull off 200-point games instantly. Practice along with knowing what to do is key.

Game Objective:

The game is not too complicated. Once you jump out the plane you star grouping with skydivers, grabbing fellow divers and posing for a pictures. You get bonus points for each smile you catch. If your diver catches four others you the TWO photo ops, the regular one where you are to catch the smiles your screen and the second one where the diver smile for the photographer. When you fall a certain distance you will go into form up phase. You will see three rings below you. When you go through each ring your formation gets more people. After that is one last photo op.

Controls:

The controls are pretty much straightforward. The Wii Remote will represent your diver. Tilt forward to move forward, back to move back, and so on. Be careful because tilting all the way will make you fall faster.

The Plan:

The key tactic for skydiving is to go for perfect catches, doubling your photo ops. For the regular picture make sure all the divers' smiling faces are shown are your screen, and when the photographer shows up make sure you have everyone face her. The first few formations are the easiest since there are falling and the same level. But with some groups the some divers will be higher than others. Go for the highest most FIRST then work your way down. It's not easy trying to catch somebody above you.

Form Up!

When it's time to form up you will three rings. Go through all three of them in order to get the full formation. During the final photo op flip the Wii Remote buttons down to make everybody smile at the camera. Game complete.
That sums up the walkthrough for Wii Sports Resort Skydiving. Good luck on your scores.