SCR is this weekend. I remember watching it last year and there was so much hype. With all the politics lately within the Fighting Game Community, forget about it all and see why we are who we are. Bring the noise, bring the hype, bring the salt. It’s going to be epic.

Catch the stream here.

N.B. I’m in the UK but I’m guessing the games’ll kick off around the afternoon/evening time.
N.B. Just started, 6.40PM GST

http://www.twitch.tv/widgets/live_embed_player.swfWatch live video from Level|Up Live on www.twitch.tv

Disclamer: Second part of this post, it’s not funny linking me to the likes of them. Theres a line. I know where it is. Do you?

Fushicon was this weekend just gone and I could almost guarantee it was a train wreck, from their bad PR (Fushicon Dogs, Save the world – Fushicon and Fushicon Announcement at Kitacon3), worse spelling, a high level of arrogance and more in-jokes than fucking Hipsters. Everyone I’ve talked to that enjoyed it, fair play you’ve had a good laugh and you had fun but that does not necessarily mean that it was a good convention.

A good convention relies on its attendees which according to the fushicon website broke just over half of their allocated membership (500 members only 260ish). A number of which were “Committee members”. I say “Committee members” because there was probably about over 15 of them, each with roughly the same title apart from the Head Committee member who was self proclaimed “High lord and Master”.

…”HIGH LORD AND MASTER” more like HIGH LORD AND CUNT. Bit of a joke between friends? sure, Use that as a PR video to introduce some of you committee members? I don’t think it appropriate. And thats the tip of the iceberg of arrogance. Their “manifesto” claim that EVERY SINGLE CON is running incorrectly. They was going to do it better. They were going to show everyone how a anime convention was supposed to run. Did they fuck. Cancelled events, a already small number of panels and from the pictures on Facebook for the parties an even smaller turnout.

Badly organised, lack of communication with attendees AND dealers, if this is how a convention is supposed to be run, then I’ve got to say I enjoy a badly run convention like Ayacon, Amecon, Minamicon and Kitacon; those actually have panels to go to, events to watch and a packed party with an even more packed bar.

However, I have to give credit were credit is due. Some of their ideas were different which is always welcome especially with a minimum of three major cons a year all with the same basic layout. What I’m talking about is the Masquerade, a competition/showcase for people to show off their skills at costume making or looking remarkably like a character or just being a plain troll and laughing about the whole thing. With an attendance that was at fushicon a square stage instead of a catwalk was a good idea. And in my opinion worked well for the amount or lack of people watching their Masquerade. But don’t announce that your Masquerade is going to be judged with an unknown factor (how well liked the person/anime/costume is).

In short Fushicon – lack of events and panels. everyone had fun by being with their friends. Bar the £45 fee to go to fushicon you could’ve done the exact same thing (hotel room, booze food and all) at the hotel and use that £45 for the expensive bar drinks or gone out with said friends to have a meal and then go to a club.

Now for the after-math of Fushicon. N.B – I HATE BOTH SIDES OF THIS ARGUEMENT AND BOTH CAN GO DIE IN A FIRE.

As per a feedback thread is always welcome after an event so any issues can be addressed if there’s a next time. What caught my eye was a thread by someone called CodeWarrior who mentioned that he did not like it that someone posted on his door a sign with something rude written on it on the first night of the con. The reason this was done was because he is a very large guy and as large people can sometimes be, can sweat profusely and therefore have body odour. Everyone thats been to a convention knows that theres always at least a couple of people who either forget to a take a moment to recognise personal hygiene or just plain refuse. What didn’t help his case was that he may have said some sexist/creepy/interpreted wrong things towards some ladies who was also going to the convention. Instead of ignoring him or asking him to stop, the sign was posted, the forum had a thread made.

Instead of stoping at “lets just forget about it” a 13 page thread that was unmoderated by the “committee members” of fushicon went into a full blown attack by everyone against CodeWarrior. The person who wouldn’t let it go and kept fanning the flames? A Mycroft. Now I know of mycroft as she visited the IRC channel a few times and was always complaining about being bullied and her life was horrible etc etc.

Now whats that you say? she was being bullied and didn’t like her life? She also made clear that she would commit suicide a number of times. Yes this person kept pushing and verbally attack CodeWarrior. You’d think that someone who’s been bullied would know better right? Apparently not. What really got to me is that a couple of people I know also joined in on this attack one of which has also been bullied. And both are acting like they did nothing wrong. I will not name their names but they should know who they are.

I’d be a hypocrite if I said I have never bullied a person online. However I have always offered to/have  apologised. But 13 pages of just hating and laughing at him. The thread was finally deleted by HIGHLORD AND CUNT with little to no explanation on why.

Now Mycroft, I had the hindsight to save every post she made on her tumblr and below is everything I could get before she deleted it. Oldest to newest.

One, two, three, four.
I’m the girl you all ignore.
Five, six, seven, eight.
Once you notice it’ll be too late.

I’m in so much pain writing this. Crying, wanting to cut, wanting to die, wanting someone to just care, but no-one will come forward and say “I care, I want to listen.”

Fuck the world. I hate everyone, I honestly do.

I am honestly not sure how long I can keep these urges at bay. I’m way too weak and these feelings are too strong. I’ll always be like this.

People will hate someone because they have a mental disability, but if it’s physical it’s a complete different story.

The wish to be normal will never come true. I’m sick of this!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK I’M SO RAGING RIGHT NOW.
I can’t trust anyone, you can’t trust anyone, we can’t trust anyone, DON’T TRUST ANYONE.
When you think you’ve found a really lovely person to have in your life, they turn out to be like the rest of them.
IT’S FUCKING GREAT TO BE ABANDONED ISN’T IT. OH YEAH. FUCK IT ALL BECAUSE ABANDONING ME IS SO HEALTHY FOR ME. WHAT THE FUCK DO I HAVE? WHO THE FUCK DO I HAVE? NO-ONE.
DON’T EVER TELL ME I CAN TRUST YOU, BECAUSE NO I FUCKING CANT.

Someone definitely made 4 quick taps on my bedroom door at 5.40am, because it woke me up. I’m 100% it came from MY bedroom door and 100% someone knocked on it. It had to be a person.
It was too fast for it to be the dogs wagging tail and I got up to see who it was, but everyone was asleep.
I’m definitely not hearing things. I’m definitely not going crazy.
I’m staying up now because I don’t know what the fuck is happening.

Am I the only person who doesn’t send x’s at the end of texts, or when I’m saying bye when I’m chatting on the PC?
I just don’t feel it’s necessary.

Lesbians; We might not go down in history, but we’ll go down on your sister.

One thing people don’t understand about me and Borderline Personality Disorder, is that I could be at a party and all of a sudden…
I just don’t want to talk
I feel so fucking depressed
I look down
I’m being “anti-social”
That I’m being a party pooper
etc.

I’m probably just sat in the corner, “moping” and being anti-social. This is typical behaviour of a BPD. Don’t tell me to just cheer up or smile. It is virtually impossible for me to smile if I’m on a low, even a fake one. Just let me be and I’ll cheer up when my fucking brain chemicals decide to. Even with drugs or alcohol, it’s not gonna change anything.

Fucking herp-derp stupid mental shit going on.
I currently don’t feel happy or sad, just empty. Not surprised, just another fucking symptom.
And I feel like I’m in love, but I don’t love anyone. There’s currently no-one I have the hots for (excluding Ellen Page and Angelina Jolie) so, WHAT THE FUCK?!
There’s nobody I fancy or like or remotely interested in. God it’s been a year and a month…FML.

I just want someone to love me and tell me that, but no-one ever will, will they?
Who would love this? I definitely wouldn’t. No-one even finds me remotely attractive. I’m so ugly and disgusting and I’m gonna die alone.

It’s been over a year now since my first, and last girlfriend.
I hate being single. I’m just so unwanted. :’c

My dogs will always be my best friends.
They’re always there to listen to me, because that’s what best friends do.

So now my dad wants me sectioned. FML.

People will hate someone because they have a mental disability, but if it’s physical it’s a complete different story.

I am honestly not sure how long I can keep these urges at bay. I’m way too weak and these feelings are too strong. I’ll always be like this.

I wish people would text me asking how I am.
I wish people would IM me on MSN or Facebook chat asking how I am.
I wish people would post on my wall on Facebook asking how I am.
I wish people would tweet me asking how I am.
No-one does this. I am online all the time and no-one does this. Why? Why doesn’t anyone care?
You wanna know the answer? Ask me.

I shouldn’t have to remind people to ask me how I am. This is why I don’t see people as my friends, because if you were, you would bother to care and check up on someone who is battling self-harm, suicidal thoughts and a big old mental illness.

If only people knew why I barely cosplay, why I wear clothes that cover me up. The truth is, I have scars all over my stomach, my thighs and my arms. But no-one cares about that. No-one cares I once had the courage at KitaCon to take my hoody off and bare my arms. People pointed and laughed. I have never taken my hoody off in public since.
Still, no-one will care though.
I’ve had enough. If people really want to know why I’m so fucked up, have a fucking read!

If you genuinely care, as so people say, as so people say they want to be my friend and be in my life and everything like that, well then understand my brain before you nit-pick at shit I can’t help!

http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/psychological/bpd.php

FUCK RIGHT OFF WITH YOUR “THROWING A TANTRUM”
People couldn’t possibly understand how it feels unless you have this illness.
When you piss me off, you will know.
But hey, that’s just Lia for you with her fucking issues as always! Such a weirdo her, aye?

Oh just fuck everything!
Leave me alone. Being lonely is actually much simpler

Being me is fantastic. Every day I fear I’ll lose another person in my life because of the way I am.
I can’t help me. Don’t judge. Don’t give up on me, because I’m not giving up on you, or my therapy every week, or life.
I hate being me.

I hate people. I hate them so fucking much. This is why I don’t like meeting up with anyone or going out anywhere. I would rather poke my fucking eyeballs out!
NOBODY IS MY FRIEND. YOU GOT THAT?

I MENTALLY MURDER PEOPLE I DON’T LIKE

Read through all that? That was the person everyone supported on the fushicon forum against CodeWarrior. Both can go to hell and I really wouldn’t care.

Mycroft, I’m calling you out. Why? cause I AINT EVEN MAD.

TL;DR – it was AMAZING.

Arnie Roth was an amazing composer, the orchestra was immense; especially the gentleman on the organ for Dancing Mad. The only complaint is about the two people sat behind me who started being absolute weeaboos and thinking they were funny and cheering for the organ. Alright its funny the first time you don’t need to repeat for EVERY SONG afterwards. While I’m writing this I’m listening to the Distant Worlds Albums (both of them can be bought from Amazon or iTunes).

As well as an amazing composer and orchestra. Mr Nobuo Uematsu was also in attendance and he was also great. With his traditional Japanese outfit and trademark(?) bandana around his head, he was well received and managed to get a few laughs out of us the attendees with a feint to sing at the end of the concert, he did however join in in singing the final piece which was “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy 7. To accompany the songs played they also broadcasted videos taken from their respective games from Final Fantasy 1 to Final Fantasy 11 (or even 14 I forget currently as I’m on a train back to London after working; travelling down from Manchester).

WIth a couple of amazing sung tracks by Susan Calloway, my personal favourite currently is the Final Fantasy XI song “Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds” from the first album and “Suteki da ne” on the second. Both albums are amazing but for tracks with vocals both of them are amazing and have a backing choir which adds to the effect.

If Square-Enix ever plan to do a Hi-Def version like HARRP by Muse, it’s going to be a must buy! Another favourite of mine was “To Zanarkand” from Final Fantasy X which was played during the concert and I’ll even admit I shed a tiny tear for the track, not because of the memories from the game (I’ve never actually finished Final Fantasy X – I think it might be because voice acting in Final Fantasy games annoy me. A lot.) but because it’s such a moving track and you can feel the sadness. Well I can, I don’t know about anyone else. With over two hours of Final Fantasy music played in the Royal Albert Hall and Mr. Uematsu himself attending, it was truly a great night and I will definitely be going back next year. regardless of if I have the money or not.

I really do urge people to go as it is an amazing experience, even if you don’t like the games, music is universal. I don’t believe anyone can truly hate music (deaf people regardless as they have unfortunately, lost the ability to hear). There are a wide range of different genres and even more variations of those genres so to say that you truly hate music. I say to you: If you have listened to every track ever released then well done, you’ve spent your whole life listening to music and if you did truly hate it all then why did you listen to it all? did you have hope that there was something you liked? You can’t possibly say that you did not enjoy at least part of a track if not all of one.

Regardless, Distant Worlds Concert at Royal Albert Hall 5th November 2011 – it was an AMAZING experience. Fans of Final Fantasy – it is a must see and you should definitely not miss out. Fans of video game music – Go, just go.

Just a few days before Distant Worlds the Zelda 25th Anniversary concert was also held in London, I unfortunately couldn’t go but if anyone wants to write a summary of their experience I’m more than willing to post it up.

Coming post: State of MY game.

Now October Expo, usually the one I miss as I had exams or was working and wasn’t fussed but now that I’m (sort of) grown up and have a 9-6 job during the week I thought I’d give it a go. Going for the extremely cheap and fun option of staying with my sister from another mother Angelaiko. Staying with her and her boyfriend/my extremely good friend. We both chilled and wandered around Expo both Saturday and Sunday, albeit on Saturday we was running a bit late which meant that she didn’t manage to get to do her make-up panel on time. She did however manage to get do another on Sunday! (or so I’m told).

Anyways, Expo, yeah…wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. I stayed in the hall most of the time just chilling and helping on the cosplay desk and admiring the entries for Euro Cosplay. Photos will be up soon on my G+ account. I played a bit of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 as well as Street Fighter x Tekken. Both games will be covered in another post coming soon this week as I have a couple of things I want say about fighting games/community/producers. But suffice to say both games are amazing, Unfortunately UMvC3 had some weird control setup on a stick so I didn’t win any but Zero is even better and I swear Nemesis teleported. SFxT was a beta and the loading times showed it but it was a really great, well polished beautiful game. I’m still not sure on my team but it’s a game I’m definitely going to buy. I have videos of people playing both and hopefully I shall get that sorted…at some point.

Usual Expo was usual and it was fun, a lot of people I normally hang out with didn’t appear due to religious holidays and/or didn’t want to. The unusual part for me was that helping out at the desk was probably the most fun I had whilst inside Expo. It may be cause I kept busy and still had time to wander the stalls (as I wasn’t officially helping out). I finally got myself a Insert Coins tee (Golden Saucer what else? )

Apart from Expo we also went to a halloween party which was great fun with some a couple of amazing Assassins Creed costumes (both self made). Again photos will be up very soon.

I’m keeping this post a bit short even though I have yet to cover Distant Worlds as well as the games that have come out/I have finished as I am extremely tired (waking up at 6 and getting home at half 7 in the evening) and am currently watching the Ducky Tie episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Distant Worlds and more coming very soon…hopefully.

Peace.

P.S – I got mistaken for Gootecks. Thats a win in my books.

Anyways finishing on Monday allowed me to rest Tuesday and pack before my friend from Ireland stayed at mine on Wednesday. Packed and ready, Wednesday rolled about and I picked my friend up from the bus stop we had a cob and I let her play Dead Space…AND IT WAS GLORIOUS, personally I still havent finished it but for me it is the current gen of scary games, it’s got the atmosphere, the music and the “wtf was that that flew across the screen?!”. As I have yet to finish the game I can’t really write a review for it and it’s been out for a few years now (it even has a sequel!) so if you really wanted to find out about the game I suggest you google it. Anyways Dead Space, pizza and a few episodes of Community (Allison Brie in the last 2 eps OMG <3) later we crashed out for Pre-con the next day.

As is tradition since I’ve been in the Midlands, I’ve tried for every pre-con to have a weatherspoons breakfast, just in case I dont have a full meal during the con. Breakfast was had and so we headed to the station to go to Birmingham to meet my girlfriend, a mutual friend + his girlfriend. All of us met up in Brum and headed on our way to Coventry station. On the way to Coventry I received a text from a friend about a job I asked about, tl;dr he asked if I could start on Wednesday (he knew I was away the weekend and wouldn’t be back till Monday afternoon). So I replied yes, and now why is this such a big deal? the jobs in Manchester. That’s right even more north! now I live 40mins out of Manchester. and I have been back an forth since Aya to move stuff across, anyways back to the con! We arrived at Warick Arts Centre and instantly hit the bar. Now this was my second Ayacon and as much as I loved the first time I came, this was a lot better! For one the SU bar stayed open all weekend and the local shop stayed stocked up. Anyways after hitting the bar we grabbed our room key dropped our bags off and began drinking while waiting for everyone we knew that was coming on Thursday to arrive. Unfortunately for me I was feeling a bit under the weather so I had to leave around Midnight.

Friday came along, we had breakfast, registered, and was killing time till the first event I wanted to go to started, and that was….Stage Clear Reunion show! For those who don’t know Stage Clear was run by a friend and an acquaintance I knew, one is a indie game developer (Perrin) and the other is a games journalist (Rob). I believe I may still have the link on the side over there somewhere. So, Rob last year had left the UK to study in Japan for a year and had just recently come back just in time to come to Ayacon in fact! 2 hours later, the Stage Clear show was done and I got a empty coke bottle thrown at me. I may sue for physical damage I’m not sure yet. The show was really just a catch up over the last year of gaming news with a little Q&A session afterwards. With that done, there was the opening ceremony which I did not go to, I hit the bar again and then went to the party for a bit in the evening, again I didn’t feel great and had to crash out early again.

Saturday rolled along and again we had breakfast, the dealers room opened so I went over to say hi to everyone I knew that was selling stuff. Helping out for a bit at Gundam Nation (check them out!) After wards I just wandered again chatting and chilling with friends. waiting my first event of the day which was the…StarCraft2 Invitational! 6 players all of which who hang out on an IRC channel we all use. Being games of best of 1 only, we had some pre-lim seeding event just before Aya. Predictably the person we thought was going to win won. With this event everyone that knew it was happening was surprised at how full the room was. We all thought it would just be everyone that is on IRC in a room playing starcraft but by the time the event started the room was full, no seats were left, people were sitting on the floor and hanging by the door just to watch. Being a Saturday at a convention, there was also the masquerade which surprisingly for me was actually quite good! There were some big groups and some really good cosplays. However there was one which currently escapes me that was entered into the cosplay competition and was extremely plain. With that done I hit the bar till the party started. Unfortunately I missed the kpop party due to a Street Fighter Tournament, the tourny started at half 8 and by the time it was 11 I had only played my second match. Seeing how long it took, I gave up, went down to the bar to meet up with everyone and played catch up. Unfortunately missing the party put me in a semi sour mood but I managed to stay out finally.

Sunday came about and well it was pretty much a blur, mainly drinking, chilling and partying. The convention itself was a great success in my opinion and I have yet to put up the pictures I took. Reading the forum of Ayacon there have only been one or two real complaints the other complaints are just personal responses and are trying to force people into thinking like they do. Anyways I’m tired, I’ve not stopped travelling since Ayacon ended and I hope someone reads this.

People and things to follow:
Gundam Nation – Check them out!
Kairo – Perrins upcoming indie game.
Perrin’s Twitter
Rob’s Twitter

Check these people out, or not. I’m really not fussed.

So it’s been two weeks since Evo2011 and like the person I am, I’m just writing this up now. Now if you didn’t catch Evo and you’re into fighting games or even if you’re not that big on them I really REALLY recommend watching some of the fights on YouTube. Even after two weeks the stats and videos are still popping up. There were a few notable things about this Evo which made it amazing as a spectator and it only makes me want to go and see it in person next year. First of is, if you haven’t heard already the amazing player called Noah. “What’s so amazing about Noah?” I hear you ask, well for one he is 8 years old, yes that’s correct, EIGHT and he plays Marvel vs Capcom 3 with the best of them. 8 years old, fought his way out of his bracket and got to top 16(?)

http://www.g4tv.com/lv3/54743

As well as Noah playing MvC3, there was also obviously Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition which had the greatest top 8 fights I have seen in a long time, with a lot of upsets this year’s Evo season has been a great ride from beginning to end. The biggest shock this year in my opinion would have to be The Beast Daigo Umehara being knocked out of top 3 and coming fourth in the AE tournament. That being the biggest shock, also signalled a new age for offline play of fighting game tournaments. The rise of the online warrior, using the wonders of the internet means a player does not need to leave the comfort of their own home to be able to play against anyone looking for a fight, although I do enjoy the arcade scene and wished the UK here had a bigger following, it cannot be denied that, online practise will start help players professional or not to experience a wider range of characters used and their different play styles, both character specific and player habits. Both Latif and Poongko, Street Fighter players both play almost exclusively online and have dominated this year. Poongko specifically was able to take a Perfect round against Daigo, Poongko using Seth against Daigo’s Yun; Yun being without question the best character in the game currently and Seth being a mid-high tier character (n.b. tier rankings mean nothing really imo it all depends how you play).

With figures rolling in, Evo had 2 million unique viewers in total, with over 1.9 million hours worth of content to watch, it was the best Evo so far. This was made possible by dedicated people within the fighting game community such as Team Spooky, LevelUp|Live and Offcast. Evo was also broadcasted live to the Playstation Home service on the PS3, I personally did not try this and so cannot say if it was a success or not. With all the thanks to the organisers there is one issue that came up right at the beginning of the tournament and that was using a stream website which was quite lacklustre in my opinion, with better quality services such as twitch.tv or Justin.tv, Evo used ustream.com which does not allow a quality setting for the user and therefore had to use a secondary stream to view a lower quality stream.
(Source: http://bit.ly/rq2Fk8)

Ending on a positive note FOCUS, the documentary of Mike Ross was aired on G4TV allowing people to watch the whole thing online. If you have not seen it I do highly recommend it and if it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray please buy it. I know I will, it’s produced on such a small budget and is worth every penny.
http://www.g4tv.com/lv3/54396

My next post hopefully will be by Tuesday as it is Ayacon this weekend! The biggest UK summer con. Pictures and report will be done.

Again a number of people to follow:
Mike Ross – The most exciting man in Street Fighter history!
Gootecks – Apparently looks like a high Jackie Chan
Team Spooky – The original stream king
Evo2k – For hosting an amazing tournament
Bosslogic – if you havent followed him yet then you’re doing it wrong!
Cross Counter – Gootecks and Mike Ross’ project
Markman23 – Product Manager for Mad Catz and supporting the FGC

Kitacon for those that don’t know is a UK anime convention. The one that has gone was its third one and in my opinion was amazing. It was not as great as the one before it though mainly due to the location of this con, that and due to some scheduling issues the main party had to be moved to Friday instead of Saturday, this meant that after the AMAZING night everyone had Friday, Saturday and Sunday did not hold a light to Friday. Apart from the parties I also cosplayed and ran my first ever event. Cosplaying is not a foreign concept for me, as some of you may have read from Kitacon2 post I cosplayed Rock from Black Lagoon.

The event I ran for Kitacon was a Super Street Fighter 4 tournament. Double elimination standard affair. I had fun running it but I now have more respect for organisers of the larger tournaments such as Wednesday Night Fights, Shadowloo Showdown or any major international tournament. From the feedback I got everyone enjoyed it and winners got prizes dontated by Exit-Music and MangaUK. Unfortunately in my own tournament I went 0-2 which I blame by running the tournament by myself, so more help is needed for next time! Apart from that Kitacon was fun, many laughs were had, and I do urge people who want to go to a convention that is friendly and fun to go to Kitacon. Next convention on my list is the UK’s biggest con Ayacon! Fingers crossed I’ll do a post soon after the convention itself and not four months after the event .
http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf

Other things that have happened include the aforementioned graduation from University. For those who are thinking about going to University or are currently studying. I do recommend you go, and you will hear this till you finish but work hard. Personally for my own course I did not find that most the actual degree modules helped prepare me for working/having a career in my field. I appreciate that the first year allows people to get onto a unified stand-point however in my second year it was practically a repeat of the second year and had little hands-on demonstrations dealing with servers and the like. The most I learnt was whilst I was on placement working in a real environment with real consequences if things were not dealt with correctly or in a timely fashion. My final year was probably more helpful than my first two years, this was only because I got to use software that current professionals use in the field of Computer forensics. My final year project was not something I wanted to do either. A lot of universities do say that you are allowed to choose your own project, but what they don’t say is if they don’t like your idea they will let you choose one from a list they created. Which is what happened to me. Either way I finished university and I do feel that sometimes it was a waste of time, and maybe I could’ve learnt on my own while working but the people I’ve met and the “University experience” I’ve had it’s a 50/50 thing. So those who are thinking about University, think hard about what it is you’re going to study, cause at the end of it you’re still not guaranteed a job, you will come out with a lot of debt but the experience will be amazing and as long as you work hard it’ll be fine.

Next up is Evo 2011. One of, if not the BIGGEST annual fighting game tournament. A world cup of fighting game tournaments if you will, With Street Fighter 4:AE, Mortal Kombat 9, Marvel vs Capcom 3 and BlazBlue:Continuum Shift 2 as it’s main place holders, you have the international smorgasbord of fighting game stars; the japanese gods: Tokido, Mago, The Beast – Daigo Umehara as well as others, the south korean machine: Poongko (who dominated Shadowloo Showdown 2011), the taiwan beast: Gamerbee, the UK’s prodigal son who recently just got signed onto the same team as The Beast; Ryan Hart. And we can’t forget the US superstars; Justin Wong, Mike Ross, Gootecks, Filipino Champ, Combofiend, Marn and many more. Starting this Friday (29th July) a number of top quality streamers such as Team Spooky, Level up|Live and Offcast will be on hand to provide top quality fighting game entertainment with some amazing commentary and if you own a Playstation3 it has been announced that Evo will be available to watch from the Playstation Home (if you so wish to). I will be mainly watching the Street Fighter stream and from time to time changing to catch the MvC3 stream, however I will most likely be working. so a lot of caffeine for me! And for those who do not enjoy fighting games, Starcraft 2 will also be on hand at MLG Anaheim, top players from both US and S.Korea will be battling it out for your entertainment as well as some sort of prize (cash I think).

Now for a bunch of people who I follow and you should to.
Vampybitme – Amazing cosplayer from the US
MarkMan – Mad Catz Reprentative
heycheri – Writer for Destructoid and a part of the Fighting Game Scene
Bosslogic – Amazing graphic artist user holding it down in Australia, part of Shadowloo organisation.

Well that’s it for now. Hopefully another update will be soon.

The first pimping I’ve got to do is that this blog now has a twitter account! It’ll be mainly used to deal with the blog (obviously) as well as being an open account so you guys can see what random crap I talk about, also with the wonders of wordpress there should be if not already be on the side a twitter widget so you can see the latest tweets from @0drift. For all those that know me you probably already have my personal account on twitter so there isn’t much point in adding this one too unless you really want to.

So the pimping I’ve been teasing about is from a good friend I met at my very first anime convention. She’s a bit wacky and a total disney fangirl but she’s totally awesome and I didn’t write that whilst at gunpoint, anyways her self description is as follows:

“I’m a photography student who spends far too much time on flickr and taking self-portraits when I should be doing work instead. I started doing self-portraits as a way of boosting my self-confidence but now it’s more because I just happen to be a very reliable model who is willing to shoot whenever I am. Whatever I’m shooting, all I do is aim for a pretty picture and if a meaning happens to come with it it’s a bonus.”

As you can see above she takes some AMAZING photography and has some great skills in touching them up too. So I do urge you all to check out her flickr as well as her blog, I also believe this little lady has a facebook page as well so if you do like what you see I do urge you to “Like” her page if you haven’t already and give her an ego boost (which in my opinion she doesn’t really need!), she also has a twitter account so if you’re that way inclined just give her a follow.

Another website which I’m going to pimp out but haven’t been asked to do is one my current flat-mate is involved with a great deal and is also sponsoring the Super Street Fighter IV Tournament at Kitacon this year! Anyways back on topic my flat mate is currently the editor of Exit-Music. Exit-Music is a webzine with free-lance writers covering a range of topics from TV shows to music and culture, however I do believe they do not cover games as she already writes her own personal blog which covers that. All I can say is check them out, they’ve also got the usual facebook and twitter links so grab it however you like!

Of course even though I don’t think there’s any need to pimp this next one out I’m going to anyway, one of my FPS buddies and another good friend is DefConTwo with a new layout and an extra writer, they’ve gone from strength to strength and I do urge you readers to check them out too, if you don’t already. There’s not much to say about these guys apart from they deliver a good read and cover a variety of TV shows and video games.

Now for some more pimping. I was told last night that at the time of writing there is just over two weeks till KitaconIII, I do believe there are still some spaces left if you wish to go so go register now before reading the rest of this article! Right, done it? good, carrying on. Kitacon is now in it’s third year and is being held at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham. Running for three days (April 1st – April 3rd) I can almost guarantee that you will have an amazing time, with parties covering a wide variety of music by DJ’s Piloru, Snap, Chez, LastKnight and the Alcon famous ShennyUK of DefConTwo! (jpop/kpop to d’n'b and chiptunes) to panels and events with special guests like voice actors from popular anime shows as well as cosplay experts. Of course there is also the SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV TOURNAMENT which is being held by yours truly (:D) with prizes kindly donated by Manga as well as Exit-Music. I’m also currently in talks to hopefully get an exclusive prize for this which I won’t announce just yet as nothing is confirmed.

Even though it’s being run by me I do hope you guys can make it as the bigger this gets, the more incentive I’ll have to create more tournaments which will hopefully include the new Marvel vs Capcom 3, BlazBlue and of course Super Street Fighter IV! Becoming an tournament organiser is sort of turned into my hobby, hoping to topple the monopoly of fighting games in the UK that is Neo Empire. My hope is to create fun tournaments at anime conventions first before creating a full on tournament which may hopefully bring the fighting game world cup that is Evo to this side of the pond, and maybe even an old-school international rivalry; East Coast v West Coat? forget that! let’s go back to independence – US v UK! Here’s hoping one day anyway.

Hopefully I’ll have time to make another post soon before Kitacon but if not there’ll be a write up about Kitacon and how my event went. I hope to see some of you there so grab me and say hi!

Anyways a final shout-out is to Kode-Logic, I don’t know him personally but his art is amazing! With a deviantart and a website I really urge you guys to check out the stuff he does. Hailing from down under he’s the creator of the “HyperReal” street fighter series, my personal favourite below:

He also has created the SF:Tron series which I do urge you to check out. His latest work is designing the art for the Cross Counter Guide to Ryu Feat. Air which I recommend to anyone who plays Super Street Fighter IV, even if you don’t play Ryu this is an amazing guide and I think is worth every penny. So thank you Bosslogic for the art, Mike Ross for the interview with Air and Gootecks for producing an amazing product. Check it out!

Peace.

Why am I promoting this UK Convention? Cause I’m gonna be running an event! Yeah thats right, During the convention I’m going to hopefully be running a SSF:IV tournament, rules are simple.

1. Each round will be 99 seconds long.
2. Each fight will be best of 3 matches.
3. HOWEVER the final will be best of 5 matches.
4. Player 1/2 seat will be decided by a coin-flip. – The winner gets to decide which side they want to play on.
5. Counter-picking IS allowed. HOWEVER only the losing player can change character. – Once a player has selected their character they cannot change it.
6. Maps will be chosen at RANDOM
7. Turbo buttons are NOT allowed. However KKK and PPP are allowed if your pad/stick allows it.
8. No ghost picking! Both players will have to tell the ref discreetly which character they want to open with before the match. – This eliminates players waiting for a character to be chosen before picking their own.

Link is here for the tournament so please sign up and go check out the forums. For everything else about this con.

So games I’ve managed to play since last post include: Fallout: New Vegas, CoD:BLOPS, BlazBlue:Continuum Shift, Dead Rising 2, Dragon Age, Another Century: Episode R and Valkeryia Chronicles.
Unfortunately the last two games mentioned have been the least played games as I just don’t seem to use my PS3 as much.

Fallout: New Vegas
So, when Fallout 3 came out I gave it a go, however it just didn’t entice me like it did with everyone else. I’m not sure why so I just left it on the side going back to it whenever I felt like giving it another go but each time I did I just wasn’t fussed. But when I picked up Fallout: New Vegas something was different for me. I’m not sure what but I managed to do a bunch of side-quests and finish the game with it’s three different endings (I still have to finish the fourth) and then maybe get the DLC. Now the night before New Vegas came out I did a run through of Fallout3, from start to finish it took me about six hours, something which my flatmate can attest. It’s not the best way to play a game as large as Fallout but I felt if I wanted to play New Vegas I might as well finally finish 3. Now the mechanics of New Vegas are similar if not exactly the same to 3 as it’s built using the same engine. However your perks and stats affect how the game treats you quite dramatically. Such as if you don’t have high enough repair or science you definitely cannot get past some parts of the game unless you go trekking around exploring for the bits and pieces you need. Either way I loaded up my speech skills to 100 and went on through the game talking my way out of trouble (much like real life) and killing everything that moved.

Call of Duty:Black Ops
The yearly Call of Duty game, this one however is made by Treyarch, the people who made World at War…yeah they’re the bastards for that game. There really isn’t much to say about this game apart from the fact that Treyarch have done a very good job with the single player as well as multiplayer. The single player is a lot better than the new Medal of Honor game in my opinion as the story is just WTF whereas MoH tried to “keep it real” which I’m sure it does do but if I want something realistic I’ll play ArmA or actually join the army. Replacing MW2 for the year, I can’t wait to see what comes out this year.

BlazBlue:Continuum Shift
Another 2D fighter, beautifully drawn, amazing soundtrack (although I prefer the original CT opening music). A lot of changes and some new characters make this an interesting game for me, as some of you may know I play Super Street Fighter IV almost religiously (although I’m not very good). With different mechanics and each character having their own unique style, this game is a lot more complex for people picking up this game. My main gripe about this is that although I understand delays happen and the guys at Arc Systems’ HQ did a great job and gave everyone who ordered a CE or the FE a code to download one of two available DLC characters within Europe. Asking for more money and releasing the second DLC character a few days after finally releasing the game to the public. Instead of offering the people who bought the CE or FE a code to get Valkenhyne for free, they instead give a free mousemat to the customers who ordered a FE. Why, after dropping £60-70 for a Fan Edition (basically a CE but with a little plastic doll as well), get the game delayed, do I need to pay to get another character for the game not even one week after the game is finally released? Instead I get a mousemat which is not sitting in a drawer, gathering dust.

Dead Rising 2
Zombies, zombies, more zombies! A fun game although hindered by your child in game. Some achievement seem a bit crazy to get however I’m glad there’s no 360-killing achievement like there was in the original (24 hours real time anyone?) Seriously, this may have replaced my hang-over game of Dynasty Warriors (mindless button bashing and not caring what happens). Story is interesting and DLC is coming out which includes the protagonist from the original: Frank West! (He’s covered wars you know!)

Dragon Age
From the behemoths that gave you Mass Effect, Bioware released this a while back and I’ve got to say after playing it, I’m not too fussed. Swords and magic is all cool and all but I just didn’t really get captivated like I did with ME2. Didn’t get why girls like Alistair (although not being a girl has something to do with it I guess). Yeah not fussed. I’ll give DA2 a whirl though.

Another Century: Episode R
Mechas, lots of them. Gundam, Macross, Code Geass, SRW, Full Metal Panic, to name a few series’ which this game includes, I’ve not had a chance to play this yet however I will once I can find a guide as well. Unfortunately I had to import this game from Asia as this game will probably never see the light of day over here in Europe.

Valkeryia Chronicles
My friends have given this game a lot of food reviews and some have even cosplayed from it. So I thought I’d give it a go. That and a sequel is already out on the PSP with a third one of the series coming very soon.

In other news, I’ve also picked up a couple of MMORPG’s (“oh no!” I hear you shout) yeah unfortunately I thought with it being my final year of University I may as well fail in the time honoured nerd fashion and play World of Warcraft. I also picked up Final Fantasy XIV. When I have some more playtime I’ll talk about both but from what I’ve played I’ve had no interaction with other players in WoW and in FF:XIV, you can choose whether to do a quest in a party or not (I assume if you choose to do the quest in a party, the difficulty increases and the drops are better). I’ve already spent some time chatting and doing quests with randoms.

I’ll try and keep updating this blog when I can, however with Uni work and Work I have little time to do much else.