Wish Us Luck at UFGT7!

Charlie "Grog", Curtis "TopHat", Travis "Klaige", Thomas "BlankM", Mike "ShinHogosha", Sean "Murphagator", Scott "Xiang", and yours truly-- Blake "NGamer3k", will all be traveling to Chicago this weekend for one of the Midwest's premier tournaments, Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 7. It is part of the Evo Tournament season with many top players from all over the country descending upon the city including EG Justin Wong, DMG PR Rog, Wolfkrone, TS NerdJosh, BLG Juicebox, and Alex Valle. The eight of us are entered into every event between us, so check out the stream powered by LevelUp and cheer us on!

Results- Dubuque MvC3 Weekly #9, 5/24/11

1. Murphagator (Spencer/Sent/Haggar)
2. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
3. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Morrigan)
4. Indianaz Finest
5. Olli
7. Kuares
7. Kint
9. DTJB

Proposed Bill Upgrades Unauthorized Streaming to a Felony

It was reported by SRK last week that a new bill put forth by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Cornyn (R-TX) that would upgrade unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content to a felony. Specifically, the technical term is "public performance" which streaming would fall under. Previously, this was not considered a felony. The bill is gaining support from both sides of the aisle.

I actually wasn't going to comment on this, as I am far from fully understanding this, but one of my readers suggested I do. Ask, and thou shall receive!

What does this mean for the fighting game scene? Streaming has become a huge part of the community. There's always a stream you can watch out there, be it featuring top level pros or a humble local tournament somewhere. This bill will not affect the major stream runners like Team Sp00ky and LevelUp. These streams will easily obtain licenses in order to keep things on the straight and narrow. But what of the local streamer? Before you say that nothing will happen, think again. Over the last couple of years, YouTube has infracted and all-out closed accounts of "Let's Players"-- users who record themselves playing through video games, because technically they are recording copyrighted  intellectual property and sharing it. While no legal action has ever been taken as far as I know in this regard, I wouldn't underestimate the capability of our government to inhibit this sort of content.

I imagine these smaller streams will fall into an ambiguous gray area that will be difficult to enforce due to the wording of the bill as it is right now. Remember, fighting game companies are very involved with the community and are more than aware that this goes on. It would be up to the companies to enforce the law on their own behalf and I can't imagine them cracking down on the humble tournament streamer.

The thing I mostly take from this is that this is just another instance of how Capitol Hill still has no idea what they get themselves into when it comes to online content. What seems like a good natured bill in their heads, looks extremely dubious in ours. It'll be interested to see how it all plays out if and when the bill is passed and becomes law.

Results - Dubuque MvC3 Weekly #8 5/17/11

1. MysticBill (Sent/Dante/Task)
2. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Morrigan)
3. Olli (Wolverine/Zero/Task)
4. Keela
5. Kint
6. DTJB

"Kint" is the player formerly known as Jackie. An '11er? er... nevermind.

Full Results - Iowa Monthly 5/14/11, Hiawatha, IA (with videos)

MvC3 Singles (20 entrants, top 6 paid)


1. MURPHAGATOR (Spencer/Sent/Haggar, Joe/Doom/Wesker)
2. Ether Lord (She-Hulk/Task/Wesker)
3. Figgy (Wesker/Skrull/Sent)
4. Top Hat
5. NGamer3k
5. Keela
7. Vamperial 
7. Jubatuba 
9. Funked
9. Grog 
9. Xiang
9. Klaige
13. Skylar 
13. Kingfan 
13. James 
13. Kuares 
17. Chris 
17. Mark 
17. Latino Link 
17. Jackie

Winner's Finals Figgy vs MURPHAGATOR

Loser's Finals Ether Lord vs Figgy

Grand Finals Ether Lord vs MURPHAGATOR set 1

Grand Finals Ether Lord vs MURPHAGATOR set 2

Super Honda Fighter 4 Singles (8 entrants)


1. NGamer3k (Sakura)

2. Figgy (Honda, Guile)
3. Grog (Honda, Blanka, Dhalsim)
4. Kemps
5. Latino Link 
5. Top Hat
7. Jubatuba 
7. Vamperial

Loser's Finals Figgy (Honda) vs Grog (Honda, Dhalsim)

Grand Finals Figgy (Honda, Guile) vs NGamer3k (Sakura)

Results from Dubuque MvC3 Weekly # 7, 5/10/11

MvC3 (RR, KOH)

1. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
2. Olli (Wolvy/Zero/Task)
3. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
4. MysicBill
5. Keela
6. Soran
7. Jackie

I finally won one of these things. I had a lot of close matches, and I didn't have to play Mike (Hogosha) in the bracket round. People are still kind of baffled by Wesker and keep getting hit by the Chun-Li assist. I'll see you at the Iowa Monthly this Saturday.

Platinum the Trinity and CS2 Available Now! (For Xbox Users)

Good news to for Blazblue and loli fans this morning. Completing the triumvirate of DLC characters, Platinum the Trinity has arrived for 560 MS Points. She brings along with her the Continuum Shift 2 arcade update that has been long anticipated by console users allowing them to try out the new gameplay tweaks and character rebalances that have been available in Japanese arcades and the PSP for weeks. With PSN still being on the fritz until the end of the month, Platinum will have to wait a little longer to make her debut on PS3s. Owners of the embattled system can still grab the update patch though.

Although the Blazblue series is all but dead in this state, yours truly has regrettably signed up for this game for UFGT in Chicago in two weeks. I'm going to go practice and see what this loli can do.

Results - Event 52 (Midwest West Circuit Event 2.1), Lawrence, KS, 5/7/11

This tournament was the first event of season 2 of the Midwest West Circuit hosted by DeLux. Iowa had a good volume of players that attended. Yes, Mew2King was there. Why? I have no idea. 


FYI - Once again, I am unsure of the characters used. What I do have listed, I am guessing. Someone please contact me. I want/need to know! I've also taken the liberty of bolding the Iowans.


Melee Singles

1: Mew2king
2: Arc
3: Jace
4: Jbm
5: Cue
5: z
7: Tyser
7: dmac
9: Massive
9: Strong Bad
9: Sinister
9: Smeesh
13: Phat
13: Bert
13: Buddha Lova
13: Tempest
17: Quote
17: Ybmp
17: Honda
17: Duck
17: Joemotion
17: Zantetsu
17: Bolun
17: Rob
25: Sherman the Tank
25: Drewbear

Melee Doubles
1: Strong Bad & M2k
2: Arc & Jace
3: Barksdale Crew (z & dmac)
4: Cue & Jbm
5: Massive Phat
5: Smeesh & Tyser

Brawl Singles
1: Mew2king (MK)
2: Domo (MK)
3: Ensis (Toon Link)
4: Holms
5: raphael de la getto
5: Clel
7: Jalorda
7: Johnny Deadshot
9: Zeton
9: Trent
9: Nicole
9: Joker
13: Rockstar
13: Fource
13: Rob
13: Rick
17: Nom
17: Bpow 
17: Heyden
17: Stealth Raptor
17: Dillan
17: Luke
17: Aura
17: DeLux
25: Thugz
25: Wang
25: Tempest
25: Dream
25: Scrub
25: Quote
25: Daniel
25: Duck

Brawl Doubles
1: Ensis & Domo
2: M2k & Fino
3: Mr. Doom & Holmes
4: Zeton & Clel
5: Fource & Joker
5: Bpow & Nicole
7: Stealth & Scrub
7: Dillan & Daniel
9: Mitchell & Denton
9: Legalize it

Justin Wong Accused of Throwing Match - Disciplined by Evo

Big news went down yesterday, as Tom Cannon, one of the organizers of Evo, announced a ruling against Justin Wong regarding his dubious performance in the losers finals of the MvC3 Singles tournament at PowerUp this past weekend. He is being accused of intentionally underperforming in order to help his opponent and good friend, Noel Brown, place higher.

"In our judgment, by not making a good-faith effort to win, Justin intentionally underperformed. As a result, he forfeits the prize associated with the EVO 2011 Tournament Series portion of this event: his placement points. "

Justin was also issued a yellow card for this violation, meaning any further rule violations during the Evo tournament series this year will result in a full disqualification from the Evolution World Championships in July.

"Since we do not have any clear evidence of collaboration between players, we can only penalize the player whose performance reflects intentional underperformance. Noel Brown will still receive points for fighting his way into the Loser's Final match, as matches up to that point do not reflect evidence of any collusion or intentional under-performance. We feel the recorded evidence is clear, and internal action on this matter began immediately following the match."

On one hand, this decision is good for the spirit of competition. It shows that Evo will not tolerate this sort of action from anyone including top players like Justin. It sets a solid precedent for future occurrences.

On the whole however, I do not like this decision. They have no real proof besides the video of the match, which in my viewpoint is not enough to conclude that Justin was doing anything more than screwing around. Evo's case comes down to the strategy Justin chose to employ for the first match by putting Phoenix first and not even knowing how to properly combo with Skrull. However, Justin actually won the first match of the set with this moronic strategy. If anything at this point, Noel should be investigated for throwing this first game in order to make their match look closer than it should have been.

Without clear proof that Justin wanted to intentionally lose, how can you possibly fault a player for their actions in game? If Noel and Justin both wanted to pick Random for their entire set, what then? Where do you draw the line? Justin had been picking Adon throughout the SSF4 tournament at PowerUp, even during top 3. He clearly would have had a better chance with his other characters, but he chose to stick with Adon. In my estimation, Justin was not trying his hardest to win here, he was simply testing his Adon in a tournament situation. If Justin had not been playing Noel in the losers finals, I believe his actions would not be an issue. The closeness of their set should also be taken into consideration. If Justin was trying to lose on purpose, I find it hard to believe he could make it look so close.

Results from Dubuque MvC3 Weeklies #6, 5/3/11

1. Hogosha (Ryu/Storm/Haggar)
2. Keela (Mags/Tron/Chun)
3. Olli (Wolverine/Zero/Task)
4. MysticBill
5. Chevy
6. DTJB

Post Mortem: Missouri Gaming Championships and the Death Weekend

I realize this post is a little late, but bear with me. As you know, about two weeks ago, I endeavored to attend two tournaments in two days in two states while still working the night in between. Surely, I had a death wish, yet here I am-- still alive. As it turns out, the weekend was not as grueling as I and everyone had anticipated. It would have been different if I was the one doing the driving, but I was spared of this task (one I usually take on) by my good friend Bill. As such, I "caught up" on sleep in the car. However, I only ended up sleeping around a total of seven hours over the course of the weekend.

How did I fare? Hard to say. That's not just because of my performance on both days. The Missouri tournament, if it can even be called that, was truly pathetic. There I was, traveled over four hours, about to give up a kidney in order to pay for gas, only to participate in a "tournament" with less than ten entrants and still getting bodied! Two of Missouri's best players and in my opinion among the best in the Midwest, aks216 and Rex0r,  came to this event. They were expecting the same thing I was-- tons of Marvel scrubs from the University. Alas, no one was happy when the reality of the situation became apparent. I didn't get to play against a vast array of players, and aks216 and Rex0r didn't get to make good money. There was enough salt in the room to open a mine.

Although MvC3 was the only traditional fighter that was on the tournament schedule for the event. There was more interest in the air for SSF4, and not all of it was coming from me. A SSF4 Round Robin tournament paying the top 2 was thus spawned. It was decided that it would be run first because ironically it had more interest than Marvel. Seven people entered including myself. The guy that drove Rex0r to the event from St. Louis, a Rose player named "Peaceful" was the "more interest" I was talking about. Understandably, he thought his only obstacles to the money were Rex0r and aks216. We did 3/5 game sets. I beat Peaceful 3-1 with my Sakura and 3-0'd everyone else outside of Rex0r and aks. In my matches with those guys, I looked pretty free and failed to take a game off of either of them. I was of course disappointed, but it's good to be reminded of how far I still need to go.

Marvel went the pretty much the same way. Peaceful decided to sit it out, which made me question whether or not I wanted to donate to aks and Rex. I bit the bullet of course out of the spirit of competition or whatever, and proceeded to get touch of death comboed by aks' Magneto. I took a game off of Rex by zoning out his Wolverine, but was beaten pretty soundly in the other two games.

Although the tournaments were a wash at best, I did attract the attention of both Rex and aks with my Street Fighter play. They witnessed how well I did against the others and Rex would later say he enjoyed being challenged in an otherwise very weak field of players. After he had collected his  "prize money," I went up to aks and asked him if he still mained Ryu (I knew this from seeing him on SRK), because he counterpicked the entire Round Robin. He replied that he mains counterpick now and no longer plays one character. He added the addendum that he would play me again in a money match against any character of my choosing. I explained that if I didn't already know how good his Ryu was, I would quickly accept a Sakura vs Ryu money match. He was intrigued at my confidence, and thus a 2/3 $1 match was eventually forced out of me (I would have put up more, but had to still pay for food and gas). The match was close. I would eventually come out on top, drawing a response from aks during the match: "I don't think I like this." We played again and he would win his dollar back in another close match. I must have gained some respect because after that he said we could just play the matchup without money at stake.

I did end up having a lot of fun in Columbia, however I can't say it was worth all the money I spent to make the trip. As always I received a lot of compliments regarding my arcade stick and the people there are very sociable, perhaps more than any other place I've been out of state. If the community recruits some more players and I'll be back for sure.