Back In The Saddle: Covering Live Events

As I type this up, I’m sitting in a room with about 50 (video game) fighters watching multiple fights on my school’s big screens.  The reason, Civil War VI.  Put together by Robin Palm, Civil War itself Is a fighting game tournament that plays host to a good number of competitors along the east coast.  My first Civil War was Civil War IV.  I went to cover it for the podcast I work on (then called ” All Your News Are  Belong To Us”) using a ZOOM mic and my PS Vita to grab video.  It was three days and held in a Comfort Inn on Broad st. Richmond, VA.

 

It was an amazing experience and my first real taste of large scale HYPE.  I got hours of audio interviewing fighters, merchants, and others involved in the community.  It’s also where I met Chris Bahun, how has since provided me the opportunity to write for his site “Put That Back“.  The atmosphere was energetic and the people were cool and unique. I learned all about the “Salty Suite” and crashed a hotels room and breakfast.  I got to see staples in the fighting community work and play.  People like;  BIG-E, Team Spooky, NYChrisG, Dieminion, and so many more.  I cobbled together the first day’s worth of audio into a episode but can’t even remember what I did with the rest.  Admittedly, a lot of what I got has never aired, not because it wasn’t good, but because school and other matters pushed them to the wayside.  One day I’ll get it out there.

 

Fastforward two years, to Civil War VI where I’m back at it, only this time recording for “Pixel Glitch” (current podcast, avalible on iTunes) and getting video for “M.O.D.tv” (my youtube channel still in the works).  And while I’m excited I realize that a lot has changed.  For starters, the venue.  While the tournament was held at a Comfort Inn in the past, this time around its being held in VCU’s Academic Learning Commons (which I have since learned is referred to as the MCAL building to every other student).  This is much better set up was as the building is better equipped to handle more systems and monitors.  There are also big screens in every room allowing for better/multiple viewings of the fights. 

 

The second change, my level of involvement.  Maybe its how much sleep I’ve been getting, or perhaps things in my personal life taking its toll.  Whatever the reason, I haven’t hustled as hard for interviews.  Sure Civil Wars IV & V were three days long while VI is only two, but even if that weren’t the case I did serious ground pounding the first time.  This time around I’ve got a bunch of video but not pressing as hard as I should for personal accounts.  Maybe I am tiered as I almost fell asleep in the middle of the UMvC3 finals while typing this.  Isn’t to say that what I did get won’t work, just that the more the better.  

 

Ok so the top eight finals for UMvC3 are going to start soon, so I’m going to cut this off here and try and get back to work.  Revist this post, as I’ll update it when I get the chance.

Capcom: The Big Oil Of Video Games (NSFW) [lang]

Let me start by saying that I love MEGAMAN! If my wallet allowed it, I would buy up every piece of MEGAMAN related materiel and give it its own special venue to be enjoyed by those who can really appreciate it.  Despite my passion for the Blue Bomber, the reason I choose such a harsh title is because of the choices Capcom has made in terms of some of its titles.  I’m talking Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter IV, and Strider.  Before you flip a table, break whatever device you’re using to read this, and replace it, just so you can rake me over the coals, hear me out.

MEGAMAN rolls deep.

I am a huge fan of the MvC series.  My little brother and I have been on since the first  seeing Spider-Man throw Gambit through the wall of E.Honda’s bath house[1], but I have a major problem with the latest version.  No Power Stone characters!  I mean, are you messing with me?! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, Power Stone plays like Super Smash Bros., if SSB decided it wanted to grow a pair and went free range mode on the ass whooping.  The story is center around magical stones of power that would grant you greatest desire and I just figured out were the name came from. *Puts face to palm* Anyway, the ever changing environments and the addition of a weapon creation system[2] in the second game made this a ridiculously fun game with an awesome arcade feel.  The characters represented different cutlers and styles.  Standard fair for most fighting titles, but then again I don’t remember a lot of other titles making really work at going aggro[3].  Actually, not true, SSB introduced the Smash Ball. The characters from the Power Stone Series are perfect for a game like Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, yet they give us Phoenix Wright. Really?  While it’s safe to argue character parallels with She-Hulk(technically an attorney) and his relevance, you could do the same for, I don’t know; Ben Grim [4] Vs Gunrock, Falcon Vs. Falcon, Pete Vs. Ultron [5].  That’s right off the top of my head.

♪Jack & Jill go up a hill to throw down right-n-proper…♪

Let’s move on to a different fighter.  Ahh, the Street Fighter series, great memories and fights to this name for sure.  Hell, my bro and I still run 3^rd Strike.  I’ve even uploaded fights from my PS3 to YouTube.  I cannot however, continue to support a franchise that puts out three of the same game with some changes.  I mean, sure it’s their modus operandi, but nobody has the money for this shit.  I pre-ordered &  bought the collector’s edition of SFIV vanilla.  Capcom later dropped Super SFIV, Super SFIV Arcade Ed(free to PlayStation Plus users). and a 25^th anniversary set of the series featuring four different versions of the game and a plethora of swag. Now I hear they’re dropping Ultra?!  I’m not buying any of this shit till they drop V.  No one else feels like they’re being taken advantage of here?  Being a diehard fan of this series can be comparable to an Apple early adopter, willing to pay whatever, for a crack at the latest unfinished product.  Don’t even get me started on the DLC.  It’s like when you meet that really cute girl that seems into you especially after you take her out to a nice place, but starts to loose interest when you can’t dote on her by buying the latest spring(?) fashion.  I’m not saying Capcom’s a gold digger, but clearly they aren’t associating themselves with people of low income.

http://www.alvinleeart.com/2009/05/street-fighter-street-jam/ Also Blanka should’ve been in MvC3

Then there’s Strider. Actually, this game looks great!  A nice fast paced side-scrolling, hack-n-slash, platformer is the change up my library needs. BUT WHERE THE CHOCOLATE COVERED CHRIST IS POWER STONE[6]!  We are at the dawning in a new age of console gaming and you pull a side-scroller?!  Why the hell would you even bother putting that out on the next gen?  At least with Power Stone you have an open space, a huge array of objects and enough crazy in your story to justify pretty much whatever you’d like.  For fucksake, the mega buster was a weapon in the game!  The level potential is insane, and the character power modes?!  Wang-Tang dragon mode all day son!  Sure Strider is relevant thanks to his edition to MVC3, but why his game?  Why not Ghosts’ N Goblins?  Arthur was brand new to the series as a fighter.  Strider’s last appearance not counting a fighter was a mobile phone game released in 2010(in Japan), which was basically a port of the original.  Power Stones 1 & 2 was released together for the PlayStation Portable, the same time Strider was packed in the Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed for the PSP and PS2 (2006).    In fact why didn’t you bother to port Power Stone to PS3?

Also featured on Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed. Probably still has a better chance of coming out than Power Stone 3.

If you were to ask me the first five series to come to mind, I’d say,

“Easy, MEGAMAN, Power Stone, Street Fighter, Dead Rising, Resident Evil.”, the three most prevalent being, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Dead Rising.  I use the word prevalent, because those are the series Capcom turns out the most.  You might have thought of those three plus; Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, or Lost Planet. Yet, how many of you are aware Capcom turned out a fighting game called Battle Fantasia?  Set in a fantasy universe, with characters ranging from seriously badass, to sickeningly adorable, this is a fighter with a lengthy story mode for each of its twelve characters, but I didn’t find out about this till last year.  The game hit PlayStation Network in December of ’09. So clearly, Capcom is about taking a chance on an IP and promoting the hell out of it.  [7]  So one might argue that if you were going to pick a series or franchises that bordered on obscurity, why not Rival Schools, JoJo’s Bizzarre Adventure, or even The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, seeing as how that particular game sells for bank on eBay.

Then again, if I had a game that let me enjoy these little guys for hours, I’d probably drop a half a grand.

 

The point I’m trying to make is Capcom is at that too big to fail level in the industry.  We have developed a dependence on two of their major fighting series and they know it.  They listen to their community enough to update and tweak their games, but it feels like after that they just kick back and let the revenue from DLC and merchandising run auto-pilot on the company.   I have a small sliver of hope that the series will comeback.  I plan to fore feed Capcom emails till it happens, are try and get a job with them (which totally an option after posting this) and make it happen from the inside.  At this point, the one game I want from them more than anything, other than a new MEGAMAN Legends, is Power Stone 3: The Flawless Eternity Gem (feel free to take that one).  So I challenge you Capcom.  Play through those games again, take a poll on it, put it out for free to PS+ members, have a side competition at the next EVO event.  Just take a good hard look and this series, then look me dead in the eyes and tell me that there is absolutely no, zero, so finite that the impossibility gains density and becomes a black hole that sucks up even the outside chance of  being a potential hit.

Tell me none of these characters have no place in the market today.

[1]If you throw an opponent into a wall at least two times, you’ll move to another room. That’s right, secret stage, wooooh!

[2] The weapon creation system in Power Stone 2 required you to play through adventure mode collecting weapons and recourse in order to make new weapons.

[3] The key to the fights are the power stones that would pop out throughout the stage. Collecting three stones transforms the fighter into a stylized power house with amped up base attacks and two super attacks.

[4] Grimm got a hammer during the Fear Itself storyline and he’s played poker with fucking She-Hulk.

[5] In light of the Marvel Comic Con news.

[6] While was looking up a video to demo both games I found this. I had know idea this was a series!  I am currently watching through all of them!

[7] Since this has been originally posted, this piece can also be viewed on Put That Back.  It has been pointed out to me that Arc System Works is responsible for this title.  I have no idea why I kept picturing the Capcom logo. Sorry for the confusion.