Happy Thanksgiving my friends! This is a time for me to reflect and be thankful for the many things I have. My family, my friends, my health and my fiance´and her daughter and their family. I am blessed to be working and enjoying my free time playing games and writing about them as well. To have shared so many good times and a few bad times online and not be the subject of a flame war is a refreshing experience. This post is a shout-out to my real and virtual friends as well, to show them how thankful I am. I'll actually be posting this one here, at Destructoid and Capcom-Unity. If you are a fan of Street Fighter or enjoy my rants about fighting games in general then you'll want to Permalink this page.

I am thankful for the people I've met online and in real life. Those from 1UP and Capcom Unity whose paths I've crossed in the past couple of years. It's great meeting up and just as special learning there are readers out there that I've not met. Not long ago I got an email from de BLOO, a young blogger that posts over on Destructoid. He asked permission to repost one of my blogs on Fei Long with editing changes from him. I said sure and left it at that. I had no idea that the reworked blog would have started some controversy.

I have never met FistfullOAwesome, whom also writes on Destructoid, but am grateful that he thought my work was worth defending. He had read my posts on 1UP and knew that de BLOO's post was not 100% original. He and Naim Master called de BLOO on it and let the other members of the community know where some of the content was originally from. de BLOO apologized for failing to cite his source on the previous blog, but of course not before being raked through the coals a bit more. I'm here to say that he had asked me well before he posted his blog and I approved it. I'm sorry if the Destructoid community felt mislead over it or even got divided. I am thankful for people like FistfullOAwesome and Naim Master for keeping people honest. It is humbling that there are readers on other sites willing to share links and spread my crazed rants. It also allows me to share the respect of fellow fighting game community members.

I try to cover a lot of angles when I write about Street Fighter but sometimes miss very important elements. When I talked a little bit about the Street Fighter Game that Almost Was I forgot to mention something very important about how fighting games rarely work as 3D brawlers. There was a good example prior to the Soul Calibur and Tekken adventure portions that I had failed to mention. Tobal was not only exceptional fighting series, but it also managed to create very well constructed adventure portions that never felt redundant. Those games and their developer laid the groundwork for 3D fighting to free roaming 3D brawling using the same engine. Their work went on to be used in Ehrgeiz as well as the Death By Degrees, the Nina Williams adventure game that preceded Urban Reign, Soul Calibur and Tekken's adventure portions. Thankfully Kenjiharima over on Capcom-Unity was there to add an important piece of information to my writeup.

I am thankful that there are community members out there willing to shine more light on a topic and drop the knowledge about the history of fighters with the online crowd.

I'm also thankful for those that read my random posts and have fun with them. Over in Italy, Moreno aka Brightsoul made an awesome El Fuerte mask from my template and wore it at a comic convention. He posted a pic on Capcom-Unity which I am sharing with you now.

His post was very humbling. Thanks Moreno!

I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving Weekend. Try not to eat too much, enjoy the holiday sales and try to get some gaming in!

For those on Destructoid or any other interested web follower, here is a complete list of every fighting game post I've ever written! Please visit me on 1UP (bigmex.1up.com) or read my fighting game posts on Capcom-Unity (capcom-unity.com/bigmex)


Shaking hands with the devil
The future of fighting games
Who Will Rule the New Urth?
The problem with fighting game character designs
Street Fighter IV?!
Rewind to Street Fighter III and 1996
More Street Fighter IV details revealed?
Street Fighter IV update?!
The Street Fighter IV Trump Card?
Street Fighter IV screenshot...
Street Fighter IV screen breakdown...
Abridged History of Street Fighter
This is not Street Fighter IV... part 1
This is not Street Fighter IV... part 2
This is not Street Fighter IV... part 3
This is not Street Fighter IV... part 4
Bonus Round... Chun-Li
Street Fighter IV video breakdown, part 1...
Street Fighter IV video breakdown, part 2...
Samurai Spirits turns 15... and bland
New Street Fighter IV Character?!
The origins of Crimson Viper?
Problems with Street Fighter bosses...
Ryu Final, the real Street Fighter III and IV, part 1
Ryu Final, the real Street Fighter III and IV, part 2
Ryu Final, the real Street Fighter III and IV, part 3
Ryu Final, the real Street Fighter III and IV, final part
Ryu Final Thoughts...
Street Fighter IV, the World Warriors return!
The Abel breakdown...
AOU 2008 Fallout...
Oh boy! Another Street Fighter IV character nobody wanted...
Street Fighter IV vs King of Fighters XII
Street Fighter IV, SHENG LONG April Fools!!!
Capcom comes clean about Sheng Long...
A new Samurai Showdown and Street Fighter also being released...
New Podcast, New Sonic, New Street Fighter news...
The Origins of El Fuerte?!
Deconstructing Street Fighter IV's Abel...
Crimson Viper's Death Combo!!!
The Bad Girl of Street Fighter IV?
The Secret of Shadowlaw!!!
The Origins of Rufus for Street Fighter IV?
The Devil's Advocate!
(Not) The Devil's Advocate!
Por Que, El Fuerte?
A look at the Capcom stash!
4 New / Old Street Fighter Characters, AerialGroove and DIMPS?
C. Viper and Abel background info from Capcom...
Another Rufus blog...
DIMPS vs ARIKA: or Street Fighter IV, Mistrial of the Century
Street Fighter IV, coming this summer!!!
New Street Fighter IV Boss!
The Top Heavy Blog and Final Street Fighter IV details...
Street Fighter IV pre-sale fallout...
First Footage from Capcom Captivate08...
Those who cannot remember the past...
Escalation, part 1...
Escalation, part 2...
Escalation, part 2...
Escalation, final part...
Street Fight Club: Special Weekend Posting!
Capcom at the San Diego Comic Con
Deconstructing El Fuerte, Part 1
Deconstructing El Fuerte, Part 2
Deconstructing El Fuerte, Part 3
Deconstructing El Fuerte, Part 4
Deconstructing El Fuerte, Final Part
Crimson Viper was meant for us?
The Frightful Symmetry of Street Fighter
Some questions and thoughts on Street Fighter IV
The incomplete vision of Street Fighter IV
Virtua Fail 5, or what Capcom should learn from their competitors
Street Fighter IV box art, good, bad or more of the same?
Capcom, please don't dumb down Gouken
Sakura in SF IV, why isn't she older?
A question of character
The missed purpose of Fei Long... Part 1
The missed purpose of Fei Long... Part 2
The missed purpose of Fei Long... Part 3
Street Fighter Blahs...
Watching KOF XII and is Capcom stuck in the past?
Welcome to Death Vegas...
Street Fighter IV Release Party Coverage
When does Street Fighter IV come out?
Street Fighter IV DLC concerns...
King Cobra, the Street Fighter that almost was...
Jab, Strong, Fierce, a Street Fighter Tribute...
The Evolution of Graphics & Animation in Fighting Games... pt. 1
The Evolution of Graphics & Animation in Fighting Games... Final Part
The Evolution of Graphics & Animation in Fighting Games... pt. 3
Hiding Behind A Mask...
Based on a True Story, parts 1 & 2...
Based on a True Story, parts 3 & 4...
Based on a True Story, parts 5 & 6...
Based on a True Story, parts 7 & 8...
Based on a True Story, parts 9 & 10...
Based on a True Story, parts Final Part...
Growing Pains...
The Nio, Gouki, and Mr. Karate. Together at last!
Quick take on the summer of fighters...
Street Fighter IV concept art hits the web...
Street Fighter IV sprites...
A look at Terry Bogard
Who the Heck is Juri?
What worries me about Juri...
The King of Fighters Character Encyclopedia...
Compare and contrast, the sad decline of fighting game character design...
The Street Fighter IV Game that Almost Was...
Adon, Cody and Guy in Super Fanservice IV...