Purchase, Play, Repeat

We often tend not to pay attention to certain patterns as they surface. One such pattern is spending habits. We often give ourselves very convincing rationale as to why we spend money on things that we technically already own and with video games that rationale often times makes a compelling argument..in our minds at least.

In the case of fighting games this generation, the repurchase of games that we already own or have owned in the past makes a lot of sense due to the development of online play but it is costing us due to the way things change and emerge. 

I personally am the proud owner of at least two games that I've purchased more than once and there is no doubt in my mind at some point I'll be doing it again...and again, and again, and again. There are a few reasons why what seems to be an atrocious spending habit makes complete sense to do. 

The first being the most obvious is developer support. Xbox Live's first generation gave us a great deal of online gaming which included titles like Capcom Vs Snk 2,  Street Fighter III: Third Strike, and Guilty Gear XX Reloaded. The advent of Xbox Live's last gen console Xbox 360 fostered in the discontinuation of Xbox Live's service on the first generation Xbox and it's even fair to say that many of the titles that I spoke of earlier may have been terminated long before XBL officially shutdown.

There is fear of this occurrence again given the current generation of consoles are in full swing but just when this will happen is only speculation at this point. At least two of the fore mentioned titles made their way back to XBL but it came with a price and while it wasn't asking for much it's clear that many had to once again dig in their pockets to take advantage of what was offered...in a "shut up and take my money" sort of way.   

The presence of online play has greatly affected the urge to repurchase amongst some other bells and whistles coupled with the "new and improved" line that often times gives us a promise that things will be better this time around and in some cases they are. 

The nature of netplay and the technology used to make it better is often included in our reasoning for repurchase. It's the primary reason that convinces me it's worth it. Another reason that has now recently come into my decision making is the availability of a title on a new platform. 

Often times, the activity of one platform being greater versus the other drives our reasoning as there is a chance to play more individuals who enjoy the game making all the sense in the world and a small price to pay for the fun you will have. 

My hopes is that my repurchasing days will be few and in between and I believe this is now possible with what Steam has in mind this current generation. Steam's platform does a great job of complementing the multifarious world of PC and with their latest creation, Steam Box, an OS that is created to consolize what we know as PC and turn it into a more TV friendly device, I believe I've happened upon something that may just stop my impulse to repurchase or at least stop me from doing it as much in the future.  

While there is no sign of what will become of Xbox Live and Playstation Network for the last gen consoles, I can be confident that Steam will help quell my habits in ways that I thought were not going to be possible. With the influx of content coming from well known fighting game developers like Arc System Works, the purchase, play, repeat syndrome may slowly be coming to an end.

Saying Goodbye To Street Fighter IV

After deleting Ultra Street Fighter IV from my Steam library, I had an honest decision to make. It has been almost a year since I played the game only dabbling in it for a short period of time to create a review for the latest version.

It seems obvious that maybe letting go for the near future is best. I mean..Street Fighter V is on its' way. The PC online beta should be coming just around the corner and it's safe to say that SFIV's day in the sun is officially coming to a close.

It's funny how a game that brought so many of us back to fighting games, may fade into deliberate obscurity despite the strong resurgence it encapsulated. SFIV has received a great deal of harsh criticisms...a great deal.

The online game play was far from ideal, the game's mechanics often let people get away with mistakes, and the comebacks often times felt like an atrocity. When I first got my hands on Street Fighter IV, none of these things mattered..and to be honest, to me, they still do not.

At one point, I was willing to spend as much time needed to master the art of the focus dash cancel but some where along the line my attention shifted else where and never managed to make its' way back.

Whether it was going to be the time commitment needed to get into the more advanced nuances of the game, or just my pure lack of enthusiasm, me and SFIV were going to reach this point eventually...the point of no return.

Even though my personal relationship with playing SFIV deteriorated, watching the game being played is a whole other story. It goes without saying that the competitive nature of the game still garners a great deal of excitement and will be doing so at least until the end of this year when we finally reach Capcom Cup 2015.

We all knew this day was coming. While past Street Fighter titles still have a fairly decent following, I really don't know what will become of SFIV...I'll tell you this much, it doesn't look good. When it comes to the long line of Street Fighters titles I would like to return to, SFIV stands at the bottom of the list I'm afraid.

So many have predicted that upon Street Fighter V's release, SFIV will be dead in the water. I've already convinced myself by not hitting that reinstall button ; there isn't anything left for me and SFIV.

I'll never forget the first days of SFIV's release, the amazing ultra combos that were often times comedic in their approach. I'll remember those days where I spent hours online fighting against a countless number of fight requests that would never allow me to finish an arcade session...not once.

It's time for me to say goodbye to SFIV. It was fun while it lasted but I'm afraid I'll never return.

The Execution Of Execution!!

I can still recall my friend teaching me how to do my first Hadouken. I didn't think much of it then but now I liken that moment to learning a hidden technique, one that would grant me the ability to fight my friend on somewhat of an even playing field, he only taught me how to do a Hadouken after all. I could have never imagined just how far fighting games would go when it came to learning these special commands.

I and a lot of people like myself have failed to realize just how much history that someone just being introduced to a fighting game has to learn. The term newcomer often times gets misused when you think of how difficult a fighting game will be for someone just getting into playing one...it's down right underestimated and often times highly overlooked. 

This may be impart because we are in the age of information. Learning how to do a Hadouken is not as mysterious as it was in my time ; a time where people were often tight lipped on giving out information as it had the potential of limiting their turns at bat and their win ratio as well. 

With some effort, you can pick up everything that took me months(and years in some cases) to learn in a few days, although, nothing really compares to having someone show you how to do things up close and personal, something that I feel has been lost some with playing online. 

Given the amount of history I have with fighting games and the knowledge and skills that I've learned for over 20 years,  it's no wonder why fighting games are not the most popular when it comes to the pick up and play mentality. 

This years Evolution 2015 revealed Rising Thunder a game that is being master minded by 3 of EVO's co-creators. Seth Killian, who is heading the project, is without a doubt one of fighting games biggest ambassadors when it comes to speaking on just how much enjoyment and competition one can have from playing them. 

His journey has lead him from leaving his job as a professor,  joining Capcom as a community manager and combat advisor for Street Fighter IV, to now game creator for a genre that is near and dear to his heart. 

As someone who deeply understands the joy of fighting games, you would think the direction that Seth is going in for this game would be that of ole but it's far from what fighting game players have come to embrace and there is no telling the effect this may have once this game comes to its' full fruition.

With the creation of this fighting game, Seth has taken on a risk of alienating the veterans, the ones he for years sided with, the ones he appreciates deeply for the time and effort  spent to obtain a high level of mastery, to stop alienating the ones who he so wants to help understand what he loves most about fighting games..the new comers.

He plans to make this happen by doing away with the challenging inputs making special moves accessible by the press of a button. This move could easily break the foundation of what we have held dear about fighting games but not in a negative way, rather, it could break new ground in finally inviting more people to enjoy fighting games then they've ever done before.

I for one embrace this idea. I've explained in past posts that there is more to fighting games then execution and Seth is willing to place his bets on execution being the root of the problem when it comes to getting people to stay and reach that next level. Though I applaud Seth for going in this direction I also can't help but feel something big is going to be lost.

That Hadouken that I learned back then, recalling the moment I successfully executed the move seems far more exciting to me now. Now, I can easily pull off the move but it wasn't until lately that I've come to an epiphany.

My fingers move across the d-pad as if  I'm physically charging up my characters power. From there my finger pushes the button which releases the Hadouken.  Games can't often express that feeling of control over ones character so vividly and I'm afraid Rising Thunder will not be able to emulate that feeling with its use of simple inputs.

Rising Thunder may just be the future and often times what the future holds are a few relics from the past. While games like the upcoming Street Fighter V assures us that a new generation of gamer's will get to experience the euphoria of throwing that first Hadouken, there is no telling if this may change once players have a taste of what Rising Thunder and fighting games like it may have to offer...more of an engaging experience in less of the time it would normally take to enjoy what a lot of gamer's have never had the chance of experiencing.

Time will tell if executing execution will be for the greater good.

Coming To That Fork In The Road

As I've reached the half way point going into the second year of Fighting Games Online, I've had to do a lot of soul searching. Being the sole owner and operator of a website is far more tasking then I honestly imagined it would be.

I never expected that I'd be doing so much to create up to date content as I felt like the basic information was adequate enough to generate traffic and get the word out to those who may be interested.  Whether I underestimated the amount of commitment this would take, I'm still very much committed to bringing as much information to those in search of it as I can but I'm honestly reaching my limits.

At the time of my decision to go ahead with creating this website, I was at that fork in the road and the decision made sense at the time given my current situation. There is no place I would rather be then in the gaming community, especially the fighting game community. With that being said, the path in which I take to get there have so many roads to take.

I've been thinking it's time to get back on the initial path I intended to walk all along.  From this month on, I'll no longer be physically covering games like I once did. This means no more reviews, test plays, or first looks for the foreseeable future. I sincerely apologize for anyone who looked forward to more video content and I hope that at some point I can get back to doing more.

I will still be updating the webpage with content but I'm afraid my general play time is over. I feel like the overall content created over the past year and a half is more then enough for now and as much as I would like to do more, focuses have to change for the betterment of my well being.

It's been a real struggle trying to keep up with the latest content that has been arriving due to my limited resources. I was optimistic that this would change but unfortunately there is no telling at this point if things will turn around but I'm still not going to give up on the site.  

So, in closing, the site isn't going anywhere as long as I draw breath but I will be dialing back the content and my activity in order to focus on the past endeavors I let go of to get to this point. I feel very accomplished despite not getting to a place where I could do more going forward but priorities must change for now.

I've always been open to extending this website to other people who have similar interests and want to be apart of creating content and that invitation is always open if you're truly interested in contributing to the site.

I can easily be contacted through my email thec0re3@fightinggamesonline.info(serious inquires please). For now, I hope you can enjoy what I've done thus far and  I'm hoping that there will be more to come once I've gotten through a few personal life challenges.

If you've been coming to the blog to read, I thank you for taking the time to read my posts and visit the website. You are the reason I believe I can still move forward and not completely give up and for that I'm grateful. Keep fighting my friends and I'll be back.

The want win, the need to lose.

I can recall the first time I made a real conscious effort to win at a video game..and funny enough it had nothing to do with a fighting game. To add insult to injury, it was the CPU I was losing to! None the less, I was determined and it just happened to go a long way when I started playing against human opponents. Losing is not an easy pill to swallow especially when you lose by such a large margin. It's during these times that define your attitude the most because you can either quit, take a break and try again, or just shake it off and keep playing. 

The latter two options, are in my opinion, the best options because if you take the first you just never know what you will miss out on. I'm beginning to understand the need to lose...I know that sounds quite crazy but I promise I'm not headed to the half way house after this post..promise. "I want to get better" can often times take on a double meaning especially when you talk about fighting games.

"I want to stop losing." Sounds simple enough, right? I can say without a doubt that I do not enjoy losing. I would be lying if I said that my sodium levels have never reached a critical mass of pure unadulterated frustration especially when you just can't seem to land a hit on your opponent that does anything remotely damaging. It can be just as depressing especially after having spent time trying to improve but why would I get depressed on something that I enjoy. Well, there are just some moments when you forget what you love about the game and I've come to realize that I don't like staying away from something I enjoy to long.

If you've taken your bruises and dusted yourself off enough, you may one day have the fortune of coming across an opponent who hasn't quite gone through the gauntlet so to speak. It's from this experience you can see how you've improved. As you play you'll notice a few things.Their execution isn't quite up to snuff, they make a great deal of mistakes, and their movement in general is slow compared to those who have put you through the ringer.

Depending on how bad you pummel them, you may come to realize that despite the feeling of victory there is something missing, something that until this moment hadn't really been apparent to you because you've agonized over so many of your losses, that is right, you are no longer feeling challenged!! Winning doesn't hold the same value because when you were losing you had to fight for every win and understanding that has definitely changed my perspective quite a bit.

It now gives me a great deal to look forward to when I face a stronger opponent because winning is that much sweeter when I can earn a victory I had to struggle for. In the past, it would blow my mind when certain players would get angry for winning or would just leave after beating you convincingly!

I still don't quite agree with the attitude but it does make some kind of sense. A win isn't as satisfying if there isn't a bit of difficulty in between but I feel we need to allow people the right of progressing at their own pace. The game is about having fun if you're not having fun because you're not being challenged enough by those around you, maybe it's time to look for a new challenge. 

I can find excitement now in facing a stronger opponent knowing that I've improved and can improve more if I continue to learn from losing to my opponent. The need to lose isn't as crazy as I once thought it to be because in a lot of ways it still encompasses the want to win..if that makes any sense. Just don't give up and you will hopefully come to this understanding.

Killng Combos

Oh combos, how I love thee...so, I enjoy combos. After I saw Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, I wondered why the game did not have combos that looked as amazing as I saw in the film. Not to long after, Street Fighter Alpha was released and you immediately saw the influence from the movie. From the way the characters were drawn to...the combos, that is all. Unfortunately Street Fighter fanatics didn't quite see the joy of chain combos and so developers opted out on it during the next offering in the series.

I don't know what it is about combos that have me so caught up in doing them. I guess I just enjoy the fluid nature of them. Take a look at any combo vid, like this one, and you just can't deny that there is something awesome about them..that is until you get hit with one during a match then it becomes something that you might just deplore.("you filthy combo!") The big thing about combos is that they take good execution. The better your execution the more combos, the more combos, the more stylish it looks, and in some cases, the more stylish it looks, the bigger the damage.

Unfortunately, not all of us are incredibly dexterous. While I can admit I haven't consistently kept my muscle memory combos on point, I have been working on them on a regular basis. I haven't lost hope completely but I definitely wonder if I'm just not physically/mentally equipped to belt out the combos that I really want to execute...I mean gawd they can be so beautiful but damn it if they aren't hard to pull off sometimes. It can also be heart breaking when you've made some great decisions, and you have the life lead only to have it taken from one mistake. To sit in disgust while your opponent combos your life bar away mercilessly can be painful to watch, especially when the combos are extra long. 

I often find the longer a combo is the more it can take you out of the game mentally but given the difficulty of certain combos, it's hard not to advocate on the side of reward for those who can do them. Now, I'm not saying that combos should be done away with but I can agree that maybe it would be a more engaging experience for everyone if they were shorter. I can understand that part of the love for fighting games are their execution difficulty but we all know that there is so much more to a fighting game then just execution.

There are mixups, there is spacing, mind games all sorts of things that I believe if focused upon will bring a lot more people into fighting games and I for one am all for it even if that means that combos have to take a hit. Recently, the combo system for the new Tekken 7 was explored noting that shorter combos could effectively create more damage. Some aren't to elated about this idea but others seem to be enthusiastic about this direction.

Make no mistake, I don't EVER want to see an end to combos. I believe they have their place in fighting games more then anything else but I can honestly say that getting hit by touch of death scenarios can be quite bothersome sometimes. I want a happy in-between and if that means killing combos is the solution, then I say it's worth at least trying this time around.You can always bring them back the next time around but if you don't try to bring more people in we may never see fighting games gain a bigger audience.

Character Crisis

Often times choosing the right character in fighting games is a hard decision. The reality is your character, the one you thought looked the coolest, could ultimately let you down. After all, balance is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to fighting games and some characters unfortunately end up receiving the short end of the stick. Despite what seems to be a harsh reality, some individuals choose to stay loyal to their character making a commitment to use the characters strengths to beat their  opponents. It is a valiant effort to say the least but what happens when that character you loved so much, the one you stuck with through thick and thin doesn't make it to the next generation?  Will you stay, will you go?!

Recently, Charlie Nash, a returning character from the classic Street Fighter Alpha series was shown in action. You could almost hear the melody "reunited" starting to go off in the heads of those who greatly missed his absence in the latest reboot. It's funny to think that it all started with just 8 playable characters. Ultra Street Fighter IV, ended the series with 44 playable characters to date! Out of these 44 characters only 6(7 if you want to include Cammy clone Decapre) original characters were introduced to the series. It goes without saying that the character accumulation within the street fighter universe has grown quite large and with V coming just around the corner the fear is starting to creep slowly into players wondering if their cherished character is going to make the cut.

It's a development dilemma, at least one would think, to have to decide who stays and who goes. You risk alienating players, angering fans, and the possibility of losing a next gen convert. After all, it is not unusual for a player to stick with the previous game in the series. Even today, players are still enjoying Super Street Fighter II Turbo which was the last version of its' series.  It would seem that character crisis is a two way street for both gamer and developer in a lot of ways.

The hope, for me at least, is that the new Street Fighter promises the same increase of characters that the next Mortal Kombat is promising to provide its' fans. Even with some of the old guard returning, the latest trailer shows that a new generation of champions is upon us.  The ideas in the latest version of MK are grandiose to say the least and I genuinely hope that it can please both the casual and competitive end of the spectrum adequately.

It may be to early to start talking of disappointments though I was honestly disheartened when I saw a very young looking Ryu and Chung-Li in the first reveal. I would have hoped that Capcom would have made changes to these characters but I can't be to quick to judge until I've seen more.We all want to see old characters return. We also want to see something fresh as well. Where is the happy medium?!