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As a constant poster -slash- lurker on the GameFaqs.com message boards.  I see many topics popping up complaining about “Lag Switchers” (mostly in the Super Street Fighter IV message boards).

Personally I was unaware as to what specifically was being mentioned here at first, although I did kind of get the jist of what was being implied, as ever since my first foray in to online PC gaming back in like 1999, I’ve been aware of what Lag is.  If you’re unaware, then see below.

Definition of Lag: In computer networks, lag refers to delays in information transmission between network nodes. Latency is the time taken for a sent packet of data to be received at the other end.

Today I came across a topic on lag switching, that linked to a video, that not only showed me what a lag switch was, but also taught the viewer how to make one.

I swiftly “thumbs down” rated that video as soon as I realised it was the real deal, and I was happy to see a lot of the recent comments on it (at the time I watched it) where hating on the guy for posting such a tutorial.

I CANNOT believe the lengths at which some pricks will go to in order to obtain an anonymous online victory.  Nor can I believe how they can climb the online leaderboards and actually feel any sort of pride in what they’re achieving.  Super Street Fighter IV is not a game where online leaderboards are seen as a true measure of skill in the first place (it’s face to face tournaments held globally where players prove dominance, in a 100% lag free environment), and it’s no wonder why when you have assholes like these “lag-switchers” in circulation.

Another example of how the leaderboards in SSFIV aren’t a true measure of skill is how the currently #1 player on XBL (in terms of overall player points) has been many a times referred to as a “rage quitter”.  I’m not going to name and shame this person in question in this blog, simply because I haven’t fought that player personally, and no one has uploaded video evidence of this on YouTube, although with so many people backing up the accusation (and with allegations of this rage quitting user dating back to the Soul Calibur IV days) it seems highly likely.

Rage Qutting: The act of exiting the game/ turning off your console/ disconnecting your internet whilst you are losing before an online game/ match is finished.  This saves you from having a loss put on your record, and causes the winning player to not receive his win.

**Rage Quitting and Lag Switching is not limited to fighting games.  It is used in FPS’s, sports games, and many others.

It would bring me great pleasure to watch, or play these players who have such glamorous online records (through cheating methods) in real life, and see them exposed for the cheating scrubs that they are.

If/ when I have children, if I ever caught them playing video games online doing tactics like the ones mentioned in this topic, I’d take away there copy of that game, or worse yet take away there online gaming privileges.  I don’t condone this kind of behaviour at all.

Video games are meant to be a source of fun/ entertainment.  If you put enough time into a game and develop great skills at it, then that’s awesome.  However, if you want to cut corners, cheat, and effectively live a lie through the game, then you’re the urinal cake of society, whom I and many others would love to pee-on.

Apologies if anyone was offended by the increase in profanity in this post, but it really is a topic that just called for it.

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Extra:

Example of online rage quitter >>here<<

A rare example of a REAL LIFE rage quitter >>here<<

Rage Quit T-Shirt >>here<<

If you didn’t know, the weekend just gone saw one of the biggest events of the year take place.

No, I’m not talking about the World Cup (kudos to Spain on that).  I’m talking about the Evolution Championship Series or “Evo” as it’s more commonly referred to as.

Evo is the world’s biggest yearly tournament on the fighting games calendar, where  every year players from around the world gather together to show there skills at some of the greatest fighting games of our time.

Tidbits:

• Held in Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas
• This year players from over 30 countries gathered.
• There were 7 brutal knock out tournaments covering 6 games (Super Street Fighter IV, SSFIITHDRemix, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Tekken 6, Blazblue, Melty Blood Actress Again).
• Thousands of people entered, Prize money was it’s biggest yet.
• Capcom showcased a mini invitational tournament for the current build of Marvel vs Capcom 3, as well as allowing the public to play it.
• People from Capcom and Namco where at the show to watch the finals and tease people on upcoming projects, as well as MarkMan23, a dedicated beat-em-up fan from MadCatz who’s brought the fighting game community some great products.

EVO 2010 from richhhard on Vimeo.

Being located in the U.K meant I was 8 hours behind Vegas time, and meant I had to sacrifice any decent sleeping pattern in order to follow the live streams over the weekend of the event.  This was the first time I’ve followed “EVO” live during it’s weekend, usually I would catch the highlights and matches on the internet the weeks after.  However I believe this has been the best year yet in terms of production value in it’s coverage.  Thanks to the guys at Level Up Series, as well as the great commentary thanks to people from SRK, Seth Killian from Capcom, and various other knowledgeable people from the heart of the fighting game community).

It definitely has the potential to be an amazing weekend of professional gaming worthy of full TV coverage if you ask me.  Unfortunately there just never seems to be enough video gaming coverage on TV these days, although Evo 2010 did get some time under the limelight as the American cable network G4TV are doing a short feature on the event.

As I’m very much fond of Capcom and the Street Fighter series, I do a lot of reading within the message boards of the fighting game community and I’ve read a number of great write ups from people who attended the event regarding their impressions of it.  So with all the great things I’ve heard and seen I am now very enthusiastic about attending my first ever EVO (as well as my first ever trip to Vegas) in the summer of 2011.

Street Fighter II HD Remix Finals:  DGV (Ryu) vs (Zangief) Snake Eyes

Super Street Fighter IV Men’s Finals – Daigo Umehara (Ryu) – (Rufus) Ricky Ortiz

Watch many more video’s here (Level Up Series on YouTube)

Here’s some other related articles of interest from around the web you may want to read

Hadoken For Realz!

David Sirlin speaks about SankeEyes incredible rise to the top at EVO2010

Hilarious Street Fighter meets Craigslist topic from SRK

Game Informer share there thoughts on who should actually win the [in game story] Street Fighter Tournament

I also personally got a reply by tweet from Yoshinori Ono (Producer at Capcom for Super Street Fighter IV) regarding a possible Nintendo vs Capcom cross over game.

I like how he smiled.  Now excuse me whilst I find how to contact Masahiro Sakurai at Nintendo on getting this project started.

Breakfast with Zangief

Time for another This & That.  An assorted bag of video game related topics.

This time I’m covering the following things:

• Competitive Gaming, and how I think it would be great on TV.
• The excitement that comes from E3
• Those annoying missions where…

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If you grew up playing video games then it’s more than likely that you have at one stage or another experienced some fun competitive multi-player with friends.  In today’s online multi-player bombarded video game market the chances to compete against other people are all to easy for us, hell, I know there are many people out there these days who will often opt for the game with the online multi-player added on over the good old fashioned 1 player game.

The point I’m getting at is that there is a lot of fun to be had with multi-player, and when you have people of an equal skill level, knowing all the ins and outs of a game and showing you all the game can offer, then you have the makings of some really entertaining gameplay footage.

In North America exists “Major League Gaming”.  A professional video game league that holds all sorts of events and tournaments on competitive multi player games to bring together some of the worlds best video game players (of specific games).  It has numerous endorsements and sponsors, so with the revenue they can offer some substantial prize money to these top players competing within “MLG”.

Sure enough there are critics against MLG and other such professional video gaming circuits, mainly due to controversies in the past (for instance, reportedly not paying people, or taking there sweet time to do so).  However I believe in recent years things have improved within these companies.

A few months back though I happened to be browsing the XBOX live marketplace and came across some MLG content that was free to download.  There are a number of downloadable videos offered on the marketplace but the majority cost a small fee to purchase.  However, THIS competitive HALO 2 match is FREE to download.  Now, I urge you if you’re reading this blog and have an XBOX Live account to download that video and give it a watch.  I was quite surprised to have enjoyed it as much as I did as although I have had many hours of fun with a lot of the Halo franchise’s offerings, I wouldn’t of thought me watching someone elses match would have been my thing, but the level of play shown, along with the enthusiastic and informative commentary and good video editing gave it a great overall production value.

Another area where I have a lot of experience in watching professional gamers play is with Street Fighter (particularly Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV).  As I’m personally a big fan of the street fighter series, and try to keep up to date on what big events have been played within the Street Fighter scene, what’s coming up, and then lurking forums and websites trying to find the videos of some of the worlds best Street Fighter players working there magic.

Daigo vs Justin (Capcom Fight Club April 2010 Part 2/2)
Online Tony vs Alex Valle (West Coast Warzone 2).

Getting back to my point though.  I really love how the internet and the communities within games give us ways to be able to watch the very best at work.  Although I can’t help but dream of how if there was a TV channel (well in the UK anyway) offering these matches, I would definitely be glued too it, and it would become to me what watching “Sky Sports News” is to the sports nuts.  Obviously it would have to cover a number of different games and genres though, to make sure everyone was happy, but I think competitive gaming [when done with commentary from people who know there subject, and with good video editing]  is just as much fun to watch (if not more fun, coming from a hardcore gamer here) than many actual sports.

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As you may well know this week has been the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or “E3″ for short).  Which is generally regarded as the biggest event in the video game industry’s calendar.

Basically it’s a gathering (mainly for the video gaming press’s benefit) to showcase what a company has planned for the coming month/ year.  The big 3 (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) generally try to raise excitement among it’s fans as well as attract new ones with upcoming games, features, and/ or hardware.  Plus you’ll have the big games publishers and developers doing similar unveils and announcements of new games, or showcasing new trailers, details, and demo’s on games not too far off their eventual release.

For the hardcore gamer it’s an exciting time of year, especially if you’re lucky enough to own more than just 1 console, as you can happily watch the majority of press conferences on show and generally be wowed by an onslaught of potential purchases.

I remember when I was growing up (we’re talking back in the mid 90′s here), when the internet wasn’t anywhere near established, in the days when it was the magazines that were THE ‘go to’ source for upcoming game information.  Over the summer months magazine after magazines would hit the shelves with big headlines on them letting you know they’d been to E3 and had a lot to show to it’s readers.  It was generally one of the most exciting issues of the year for the gaming magazines.

It’s those fond memories of the 90′s and video game magazines that made me realise, even as a kid, that E3 was somewhat a big deal.

As time passed, and the internet evolved into the “information super highway” that it now is.  We, the mass majority of gamers… the general public… have practically an all you can eat buffet’s worth of E3 coverage instantly available too us.

For the past 4 years or so now I have watched most of the E3 press conference’s LIVE, and before we was granted such great coverage, I settled with live text blogs from the video game press (such as IGN) from editors there attending the press conferences.

This year was great for me personally though, as I’m currently on a summer break from my university studies, so I had free time on my hands.  This year I hooked up my laptop screen up to my 42″ plasma, put the audio through my surround setup, and watched Microsoft, Nintendo’s, and Sony’s conferences live in HD thanks to GameTrailers.com‘s amazing streams of the show.  In previous years I’ve really let my love for video games be shown by the fact I’ve actually made arrangements in advance to make sure I could catch E3 live.  Such as either finishing work early on those days, or taking days off entirely.  That’s how much I dig E3.

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Lastly.  I was playing Bully: Scholarship Edition earlier.

In which I had a mission in which I had to sabotage a prized object of my (in game) opponents.  It was one of those missions you find in games where you have to do something fairly epic, but regardless of succesfully doing this act of sabotagery…unless you get all the way back to safety without dying it won’t count as being done.

I don’t hold much of a grudge though, as those kinds of missions are an integral part of video games, so I can accept them being there. Although on the other hand… God dammit! I did some serious damage to our foes… So what if I didn’t get back safe! I died fighting for the good of our side.  Now I have to start all over and do that whole sabotage part over again?  Jeez!

Did World War II widows get letters back saying: “Your husband killed 14 Nazi’s, saved over 20 Jewish war prisoners, but as he didn’t make it back safe, we must declare…Mission Failed”

I guess I’ll just take it as a nod to those difficult retro games I grew up with that didn’t believe in mid-way checkpoints, and really demanded you to bring your A-game and hope lady luck is on your side.

It seems like every other article I’ve published on this blog is Street Fighter related.  Not that I’m really complaining, and it’s mainly due to the internet constantly being home to a lot of great Street Fighter related news, videos, fan tributes, and everything else…

As an example of the “everything else” did you know there is a company creating a Super Street Fighter IV themed LED HD TV? …They claim it’s the perfect TV for the Street Fighter fan, whether that is actually true I can’t say.

>>Click here for the details on the SSFIV TV<<

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Next up.  A certain Street Fighter series character ranked quite highly in a recent ScrewAttack.com “Top 10 20″.
Video >>  1 – 10 (or click here to start with 11 – 20).

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You may have heard of Kenny Omega, as the guy who did Zangief’s Ultra in a wrestling ring.  However it seems his Street Fighter love doesn’t end there.  He also does a Hadoken (close range, obviously without the fireball), and his actual Titantron video is Street Fighter IV inspired too (loops repeatedly as they wrestling intro’s generally do).

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You may also be aware of Daigo Umehara.  A Japanese video game player who is one of the greatest Street Fighter players on the planet (some may argue he is the greatest).  If you want to know more about Daigo, you may want to check out THIS video feature on him.  He became sponsored by MadCatz in April, and MadCatz will be consulting with him to create the next line of Fight Sticks later this year.

Daigo had yet another great match up with the also highly respected Street Fighter player “Justin Wong” in April at Capcom’s LA Fight Club tournament.  If you’re a big fan of the games you owe it to yourself to watch both parts of the video.
Click here for Part 1 ///   Click here for Part 2

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Ever wondered what the role entails to be a Street Fighter background character? …then check out Dorkly.com’s guide >HERE<

Also from Dorkly…Street Fighter characters on Facebook!

M Bison scored #19 on IGN’s Top 100 Video Game Villains

IGN named there Top 5 favourite Capcom game franchises, did Street Fighter score?

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I was also playing my PS3 copy of Super Street Fighter IV the other week and noticed I unlocked something for “home”.  I did some googling which didn’t turn up many results, but it seems the “Trespass” T-shirt which is what I unlocked, was for completing Arcade mode on Medium or higher without using a continue.  I’m pretty sure that is the only HOME unlock for SSFIV, although interestingly there isn’t any “Avatar” awards in the 360 version .  I also here that Street Fighter IV (vanilla) had some HOME unlocks too, although personally I only have SFIV for the 360.  Photo of the “Trespass” Tee below.

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My friend Drew got a Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition (Round 2) Fight Stick the other day.  Here’s the unboxing of that if you’re interested…

>>Humor: The “counter chart” they don’t want you to see<<

>>Humor: M. Bison does level 1-1 of Mario<<

Humor:  Zangief made the accidental Video Game Porn archive with this “handjob”

….and that’s that for now

You’ve just got to love YouTube…

Pretty much every game worth mentioning has videos on YouTube, whether official, or more than likely… by gamers themselves.

I’m personally a big fan of the Street Fighter series, and YouTube is an AMAZING source for Street Fighter goods.  Whether it be guides, great fights,  fan videos, or more…

For instance just the other day I caught some videos of some of Guy’s combos from Street Fighter Alpha.  I’m pretty weak with Guy myself but seeing the video definitely wowed me at his potential, and made me really eager to play some Street Fighter Alpha 3 again.

Here’s the video in question:

There are a ton of helpful videos on YouTube for the recent Super Street Fighter IV also.  Not too mention how YouTube added to my eager-ness to play SSFIV when people were releasing videos of gameplay with the new character and new ultra’s in the days and weeks before.  You can learn a lot about a character simply by watching others use them, I’ve even had new found respect for characters I didn’t gel well with simply because I’ve seen them used properly and it’s motivated me to get better with said character.  Not to mention the fact that when you’re watching some good gameplay footage you get really amped to play the game…so I think my Dreamcast (especially) owes a lot to YouTube when it comes to spontaneously firing the system up to play some Alpha III or 3rd Strike after catching a glimpse of some good user videos that I’ve seen online.

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Then you’ve got fun little fan videos like YT user mmmramen’s Day in the Life of a Street Fighter.

Oh I should definitely link to the Street Fighter Retrospective whilst I’m linking to Street Fighter videos too…  It can be found on YouTube, but the guy who put this together put it on GameTrailers, and has the complete lot on there, where as YouTube has it put up by a fan of his work, and is missing the latest parts.  So below is the GameTrailers embed.  Click the link underneath to check out the full lot over at GameTrailers.

>> Nostalgic Gamers User Page / Complete list of Street Fighter Retrospective parts <<

Here’s something you’ve probably not watched before…a little news report/ interview with Van Damme/ Raul Julia on the Street Fighter movie.

I can’t believe it actually took me till the other week (I’m 23 years old by the way) when watching some clips of the Street Fighter movie (a film that’s so bad, but still I guess…a classic) is the fact that Guile is pretty much the most American character in Street Fighter II yet Van Damme portrays him with his usual heavily European accent  Although I was smart enough as a kid to realise the story of the film didn’t make sense alongside the characters stories in the game had.  I’ve still not bothered to watch the apparently dire “Legend of Chun Li” movie, and it depresses me that Neal McDonough (who is awesome in Band of Brothers) was somehow thought up to be a good M. Bison (Dictator).

Oh, and if you don’t know why I put ‘Dictator’ in brackets then you need to brush up on your Street Fighter history, but in brief, Vega/ Bison/ Balrog had a name switch before the Street Fighter II game left Japan, M. Bison was the original name for the Boxer character (whom is based off the real life boxer Mike Tyson), and Capcom didn’t want to get into a lawsuit over licensing rights and what not…

Anyway, I hope you’ve been inspired to do some more YouTube searching, or perhaps gone on a journey of watching a load of ‘related videos’ from one of the videos I posted above.  I’ll leave you now with a random match I found on YouTube from Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii) because it seems quite rare (at least unless you perhaps follow the TvsC scene) that you’ll see a TatsuCapcom match video.

The links below are from a topic I posted on “Street Fighter Preston” a Facebook Group I set up to round up Street Fighter Players in the UK town of “Preston”, and neighbouring areas.

Street Fighter: The Later Years
—> http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1711287

Street Fighter Legacy:
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2ZXSzaUIBQ
I Got Next:
—> http://www.igotnextmovie.com/

Justin Wong (chun li) vs Daigo (ken) –> Famous SFIII EVO tournament match
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5peqApgUA&feature=related

Street Fighter Anime Boxset (£9.99 from HMV)
—> http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280%3B0%3B-1%3B-1%3B-1&sku=987489

Angry Video Game Nerd – SF2010 (covers some other (proper) SF games too):
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/60452

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Forums (other than this little FB group) to talk to more SF players…good to share and learn tips:

http://www.shoryuken.com/

http://www.streetfighter4forums.com/

http://www.gamefaqs.com/

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Fan made SF version videos

Cat vs Printer
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okgo__l3_Oc

Pacquiao vs Hatton
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XEbmVgu3qk

Breakdancer kicks baby
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGKqGwzhb0

Edgar Falls (STOP IT!!!)
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG3SANQZNwM&feature=related

Paramore vs Guile’s Theme
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pv8IFadiHU&feature=related

USA Street Fighter Cartoon series making Bison seem like a right pleeb.
—> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0j0lO7uQBo
(somewhat of a popular internet meme)

If you have any other good Street Fighter videos you’d like to add, then please post links in the comments section

With Super Street Fighter IV pretty much eating the vast majority of my game time at the moment (and no doubt many others too) I figured I’d round up a few handy links and videos for new players, specifically those playing stick.

First up, a common problem I have faced when using my friends “Square Gate” MadCatz SE stick is using Shotos characters on it.  I’m currently a MadCatz Fight Pad user, so I’ve experienced the challenges of playing on a stick.  Although sometime in the next few months I’ll be looking to get a Tournament Edition MadCatz Stick.

“Shotos” – Shotos are characters that have a fireball, an uppercut and in most cases a hurricane kick, all using the same command input to pull off these moves.  In Street Fighter’s case you have: Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Gouken, Sagat, Dan, Sakura.  Other Capcom games have had characters with this style too, for instance Morrigan from Darkstalkers.  I think some people won’t accept that Sagat is part of the Shotos definition due to his in game history and what not, but I’m not here to debate that, I’m just trying to help people get an understanding of what “shotos” characters are.

The problem with shotos characters to new stick players is a common problem across the majority of the fighting scene.  In terms of the command motion, Shotos characters are quite easy to pick up on a standard D-Pad controller, hence why you’ll see a lot of those players online.  Although that’s not to say those characters are cheap, as they’re still just as deep as the rest of the roster and a pro shotos player (such as Daigo) will school a scrub shotos player.

So, when moving from control pad to stick (with a square gate restrictor plate), a lot of people struggle in getting a good grasp of control over there once favourite character types.  This is partly due to the fact that when you move from control pad to stick you’re hands are in a different position, so you have to re-learn the muscle memory of using the controller in such a concentrated matter as you do in competitive beat-em-ups, so naturally you will need to put the time in for your hands to adjust to that.  Still, it’s not as if you’re going back to square one in the game, as all your experience on match up types, your characters move set, and so forth are all in tact.

Some people choose to change the way there arcades control stick works by changing the restrictor gates.  The “Square Gate” which you’ll have if you buy most Japanese made arcade sticks (or the MadCatz SFIV sticks) are the most common in the fighting game scene.  Although some people struggle with the square corners and feel it slows them down, and others feel as though they don’t have the best idea of where they’re stick is with square gate in regards to doing rotations.  So to make things a bit easier for them to learn they’ll opt for an octagonal plate (sort of like what you get with the GameCubes analogue sticks).  Helping them to ‘feel’ were they’re control stick is.
Below is a video on the different kinds of restrictor plates, if you’re wanting to buy a new plate, I suggest either looking on eBay, or perhaps having a look on LizardLick.

Now, having done my research on sticks and stick users, there is an important tip to share that some new users may not be aware of…
This being that advanced players are not relying on those corners to tell them were they are, they know there stick, and they know when there stick recognises a direction, so they save valuable milliseconds by not having to go the full way across there stick in order to pull off a move.  Over extended use, and numerous visits to training mode with your input display on you’ll probably pick this up, but knowing this in advance may benefit some.

Back to Shotos players though (in Street Fighter IV/ Super Street Fighter IV).  I came across what I believe to be a very valuable video aid for new “square gate” stick users, regarding the Dragon Punch motions.  I don’t currently have a stick myself to try this on, but it’s a clear video showing how it works and that it does in fact work.

From what I can gather this may well be a design implementation that Capcom added to the SFIV series though, so I’m yet to confirm if this works in SSFIITurboHDRemix or other beat-em-ups that use the same F, FD, D, DF, F command you’d do for a Shoryuken move.

Lastly here is a video that on Hadokens that some may find helpful, he also talks about stick grips if thats something you’re still trying to figure out.  Once again, I haven’t been able to test that myself, but the comments from new players seem to support the videos advice so hence me sharing it.

Don’t underestimate the power of YouTube as a source for tips and video guides, there’s a great community of SF players on the internet and a lot of people have generously offered to help new players get into the game with thanks to video tutorials.  YouTube has many of them, ranging from beginners help, to characters trials, and even some really nice albeit hard to do combo’s.

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Many thanks to the YouTubers who put these videos online.  I urge you all to click the YouTube button on the videos to check them out on YouTube and “like” them, or perhaps thank them in the comments.

Hope this post helps a few people, and helps speed up the transition from control pad to stick.

Time for the 2nd entry into the “Did You See” series on here.  Like I said in the first post, these are basically short overviews and exposure on TV/ Movie/ Web shows and such that would appeal to gamers.  Naturally some people will have already seen some or a lot of stuff that will get mentioned in this on going feature here, however some people will not have, and it’s those people that will probably appreciate this type of thing.

Soo…onto Did You See #2!

“I Got Next”

Excerpt from official website:

“I Got Next is a free documentary on the fighting video game scene created by Ian Cofino (with much support from my friends, professors, and family). It originally started as my senior project at Purchase College, School of Art and Design, and has grown into something much bigger thanks to the dedicated and passionate players in the community. Originally envisioned as a short documentary, I Got Next has grown into a feature length production, which will see two releases, a short cut which premiered June 26th on ufrag.tv and a feature length cut spring 2010.”

I personally came across this documentary either around Christmas last year or January this year, I can’t specifically recall.  However I do know that from the moment I heard about it, I was very much interested.  Mainly due to the fact I’m a big fan of the Street Fighter series of games, as well as being a big fan of documentaries that cover video games and specific areas within the video game world.  So I downloaded the torrent (as it’s offered for free from the official website), and gave it a watch…

After watching I was certainly left entertained, educated, and eager to turn on my 360 and play some SFIV.  The documentary basically covers the competitive fighting scene that’s built up around Street Fighter, more specifically Street Fighter IV (seeing a it’s still a fairly new game, and would’ve been around the time of filming the documentary).  It features a lot of the respected “pro’s” in terms of skilled SF players, and let’s you in a bit on there lives, there personalities, and for some…there sacrifices they’ve made to become committed into making a living out of Street Fighter tournaments and such.

Personally I loved how it captured the hardcore community of players that the Street Fighter games have, and at times I could definitely relate to the tensions and competitive (friendly or not) nature that can come with some intense battles etc, but overall it was just a great insight into a sort of underground group of competitive gamers that a lot of people would never have witnessed or even heard about unless they had perhaps already been hardcore Street Fighter fans, constantly browsing internet message boards regarding Street Fighter games and such.

One thing important though is that you don’t necessarily need to be some hardcore Street Fighter fan to appreciate this game, I’ve watched this a couple of times now and shared with some people whom aren’t massively into Street Fighter and they’ve had a kick out of watching it too, as I think anyone who’s ever played a multi-player game (and who hasn’t?) will be able to relate somewhat, plus it doesn’t really dive deep into SF lingo or anything that would alienate any casual viewers.  Plus the free torrent is only about 45-50 minutes long or something around that so if you are a casual viewer checking it out from sheer curiosity, you won’t feel buried by it.  People whom are already keen on Street Fighter or beat em up games (like me) will no doubt be looking forward to the extended length DVD version that is expected to be released later this year.

To download “I Got Next” go to the official website at Igotnextmovie.com

Further links for those whom enjoyed I Got Next:

• Gootecks website – Great source for catching some pro matches uploaded, tips, and news on the SF scene.
• Gootecks on Twitter
• Justin Wong on Twitter
• Justin Wong’s website
• Shoryuken.com

Also, any GameFaqs.com message board users, if you check out the boards for any games you’re playing you can generally find some decent like minded users on there, whom can help you learn a few things if you’re evolving as a player.

Also, anyone living in Preston, UK whom may happen to come across this post…make sure you become a member of “Street Fighter Preston“, a group set up to try and gather together the Street Fighter players/ fans in the Preston area.  Should hopefully allow some local tournaments to be set up, and just gather some local gamers together.