I understand that there are paradigm shifts occurring in the videogame industry at large.
I understand that change is usually a good, if not a great thing.
I understand that people at large will most likely blindly choose convenience over sense when offered both.
I understand most of all that people are the most fickle things on this Earth, especially when it comes down to what it is that the individual person wants. I don't know if it's the way that kids have been raised, or whether it's just a horribly skewed world view permeating every single corner I see these days, but the "I want it this way, I want it my way, and I want it now" attitude has got to stop. I understand that better than most, it seems.
What I don't understand is how the Street Fighter community is divided into two camps when the subject of SUPER is brought up. You see, Capcom is doing us, the players, something called a favor. They've responded to the overwhelming turnout of SF fans (and fighting game fans in general) by giving us (GASP!) what we wanted. New characters, both original and returning. New stages. BONUS stages. New modes. Watchable replays. Tournament modes. The whole fucking lot.
The division occurs when the subject of "downloadable content" is brought up.
As in, "Capcom should have just made this DLC," "No DLC=FAIL" and treating the game with an attitude that smacks of "this is a ripoff" statements and other rampant jackassery. To these people, I have a high degree of contempt reserved just for their ilk - it's a fairly polarizing viewpoint, to be sure, and it goes a little something like this:
You stupid, spoiled children. Get over it and grow the fuck up already. Do you think, for one fucking sterling-silver minute, that the amount of content that they are WORKING on would fit the rules of anything resembling normalcy in terms of DLC? Do you want 4 GB of DLC, what with new opening and ending movies, music and probably everything fucking else that they're just crafting away on so you can get a better taste of your favorite jam come back to life at long last? Or would you rather have all of that on a simple to purchase disc, one priced twenty dollars less than the current bare-bones (by comparison) version that currently exists on your shelf? Tell me, then, does it make good business sense to price any singular form of downloadable content at the equivalent of $40 in moon banana coinage, where that alone would assuredly dwarf everything ever released as far as the simple pricing of said downloadable content goes, making it seem as it were a giant among mice? Or, does it make better sense to release it in full retail view clearly marked $20 cheaper in real, physical scrip to make it look like Capcom might actually be doing the world a....what's that term again, let me think about it....oh, yeah, that's it - A FUCKING FAVOR!?
Here's a tip to all of those who think they're getting ripped off: shut the fuck up. You're lucky, we're lucky, and to that end, the whole goddamn world is pretty fucking lucky to see Street Fighter reborn. Act like an adult, act like you know better, take what you've been given and smile, and act like you have some fucking manners for these people. It doesn't matter whether you don't like the box that the gift comes in, you know? What matters is the gift. Do you really think that a girl will give two shits about finding a 2-carat diamond ring inside a makeshift box made from a Mickey D's fry container? Could she possibly refuse the gift because it wasn't packaged how she wanted it to be, damn the cost of the precious contents? Well, sure, I guess she could...
...but that would make her a huge fucking bitch, now wouldn't it? AMIRITE!?
It's like you want Capcom to fully open the doors to nickel-and-dime tactics via DLC. At least they spared you that much, as all of this awesomesauce content would probably cost you $60 via DLC, and then nothing would separate them from the likes of Scamco Ban-DIE. Would you rather have it that way? I'm sure it could be arranged, but I think instead, they've decided to do us a...oh, hell, what was it...of course, A FUCKING FAVOR!
Goddamn, you whiny little pissants make me want to fucking puke sometimes. Just be glad that they gave enough of a flying fuck about you and the game you like to play to make an expansion in the fucking first place, like the rest of us well-adjusted adults are. Don't make me tell you twice.
This, in a sense, is a response to not one, but two different news stories that dropped just outside of a week of each other. Just let that little fact sink in for a second.
This is worrisome. Why the hell does a universal street date policy even exist if major retailers will justify its breaking just to stop "independent retailers" from getting a so-called "drop" on them? The last time I checked, not one independent retailer (i.e. mom n' pop shop) has the juggernaut of a logistical shipping force that GameStop can muster, and any independent retailer would have a snowball's chance in hell of matching the sheer amount of copies that GameStop would have its hands on at launch, and that's not to mention a MASSIVE possibility (if not certainty) of a complete re-up within 24-48 hours. At that end, why not just let the independent "little guy" have his day (and that's blatantly assuming that the aforementioned "little guy" even exists)?
Why? I think I can figure it out, using the fantastic power of COMMON SENSE!
GameStop as a corporation is most likely using "independent retailers" as a distractionary boogeyman. They're most likely trying to get/maintain a lock on what they could consider weaker markets where Best Buy and other major box retailers of its kind hold massive space and therefore massive sway, and can get their initial leg up on their major competition by conveniently blaming the elderly Asian couple (and son) that runs the oldest underground videogame shop in town.
I'm not saying that it's true, as there's no way to find that out - those decisions are most likely made behind closed doors concerning arbitrary monetary amounts you and I will most likely never see in our lifetimes. But I'm saying that from the moves I've seen them make over the years, it's probably highly bloody likely. And I think that practice is a despicable load of bullshit, or else why would they as a company have approved not one, but two consecutive breakings of street date within a week of each other? The fact remains: most folks are either 1.) too thick in the skull to think it out, or 2.) don't give two shits in the first place, as that's 72 hours in where they got a leg up on their competition vis a vis GameStop's exact same tactical choices.
Either that, or they believe that if they break street date policies and sell it early anyway, at least they know that the likelihood of somebody getting robbed at (sometimes theoretical) gunpoint in their stores over something as fucking trite as a goddamn video game will plummet. Which, in that case...it makes their logic sound pretty damn smart, actually.
This is just for a quick headcount - who here on Dtoid is from the Central Florida area? I'm counting everywhere from as far north as Jacksonville to as far south as Orlando, to Gainesville and Tampa headed west.
I'm based out of Daytona Beach, and if I'm going to be hosting videogame tournaments, I would love to have my Dtoid fambliee represent for a bit of competition and a whole lot of face-to-face meetups, from NARPs to paid tournaments. Who here is repping the middle bit of the Gunshine State?
My passion is gaming. More specifically, competitive gaming.
So, one day some friends of mine and I decided to start up a website dedicated, nay, devoted to bringing this competitive spirit to the masses via local tournaments in the Central Florida area.
So, without further ado, here it is. Anyone from Jacksonville, to Gainesville to Orlando should be able to make it out here for the proceedings, the more that show, the prizes GROW!
Come on out and support the fine arts on December 3rd.
- EL
(P.S. - It's listed under "Multi-Platform" because "Self-Whoring" wasn't an option.
They'll probably fix that now.)
So, I've tried to adjust. I've tried to accept that things in life aren't always what you want them to be.
I want to believe that it is something to overcome, like a hurdle - by surpassing the thing that holds you back, you must somehow become better than you were before. It's like Piccolo and Goku training with weighted clothes, right? That must be it.
But here, at the end of my near-infinite patience, I find no such solace. No rainbow pointing the way to a pot of gold filled with immeasurable skillsets. No pearly, gilded gates forming the border of what separates perfect reason from perfect madness. Not even a card in the mail detailing how the last 2 years have been a giant joke played on me by a faceless corporation who thinks that I and my ilk are second-class controller-jockey citizens.
In short, I have fucking had it.
Playing fighting games on 360 is great, it's got the online experience I have always wanted, with little to no hiccups, never mind outright drops. It's the controller that ruins. It. ALL.
Sure, I could go and pick up a Mad Catz Fightpad. But I wasn't a huge fan of them when I did use them, as they felt too much like playing on a pad of butter changing physical state on a hot baked potato. I am in no way, shape or form a rich man, so blowing money on a decent fightstick isn't that much of an option, especially that faptastic Tournament Edition SFIV kit.
But, I play on a default D-Pad on the controller I have been supplied. And I have made do.
But no longer, damn it. No fucking longer.
After playing...let's see...SSF2T:HDR, SFIV, MVC2, KOFXII, GAROU, SAMSHO2, BATTLE FANTASIA, BLAZBLUE and SOULCALIBUR4 with this piece of shit, I've finally hit my breaking point with TEKKEN 6. Tekken-fucking-SIX. I deserve a goddamn medal for putting up with this, and so does anyone else who's trudged through the sea of bullshit that Microsoft has so conveniently placed in between fighting game fans and a small island called "fun."
See, I do fine on PS3. The D-Pad makes sense, and it's functional as hell, and may very well be the finest control apparatus I have ever used. Simplistic and trustworthy, like an aging dog who just wants his daily walks. I'm more than happy to oblige that kind old friend.
But the 360 D-Pad is anything but. I have no animal to equate it with. I imagine it would be something that pisses in your detergent bottles, shits in all of the beds and clean towels, and tries to outright rape your houseguests in any orifice it finds handy at the time, snarling all the while. It's not like putting it to sleep would do any good. It won't even be stopped by bullets. It demands an official fucking exorcism to truly be rid of its unholy taint.
Microsoft, you need to fucking fix this. You just can't play fighting games on this piece of shit pad. It breaks the laws of natural physics, for anyone's sakes, be it Christ, Buddha, Ieyasu Tokugawa for all I fucking care. This ends now.
It's as if you placed a giant dinner plate upon a toothpick and asked me to perform a symphony on it.
You fucking assholes.
I am the Everyday Legend, and I am a male, 27-year old, Florida native and videogame addict.
Now, that's not an addict in the sense that some people are addicted to drugs, gambling or World Of Warcraft. I'm an addict from the standpoint that I am a dyed-in-the-wool controller jockey, and to back that up, I can honestly say that I own all systems that have had an American release save for six: Magnavox Odyssey, ColecoVision, Atari Jaguar, Philips CD-i, Panasonic 3DO and the SNK Neo-Geo (the last of which is the only one I'd consider punching a baby in the face to own). Every home console system outside of those six I physically own at the present time - NES (original and toploader), Sega Master System, SNES, Sega Genesis (with Sega CD and 32X addons), Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft XBOX, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBOX 360, and Sony PlayStation 3 - all of which can be powered on and played at will, and they are all played very regularly.
I consider myself a connoisseur of videogames, which is a really fancy way of saying that I'll play just about anything I can get my damn hands on. However, I do refer to my collection of assorted titles with a fair amount of pride, as while I might own a lot of things purely for their collectible value, I only spend dedicated time playing the gems of a particular console's library.
I got into gaming when I was 5, and my Aunt and Uncle had an NES that they had bought because they thought it was the coolest thing ever. As a matter of fact, they weren't too far off of the mark. I was introduced to Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt (naturally), and soon followed up with the very first Zelda. I remember the very first game I beat - Megaman 2, in 1988. I was 6, and by the time I had achieved that monumental feat, I was already leagues beyond the other kids I grew up with in terms of sheer skill with a D-Pad. I was getting phone calls in the late afternoons/early evenings to come over to a friend's house to help older siblings get past certain parts of games. I remember one time in particular - it was a Friday night in late 1990, so I had no school the next day, and one of my best friends called me up to come over and help his 14-year-old brother beat something. I went over to see what was going on, thinking that it would be a quick thing to learn and get through. The trouble was, he was playing Final Fantasy on the NES, and he was running into WarMech on the bridge to fight Tiamat late in the game. Long story short, it wasn't a quick cut-and-dry process - I ended up staying the entire weekend trying to level grind his characters and beat WarMech, only to not have him show up the next time we tried to cross the bridge, 20-25 levels of progress later (it wasn't until later that I found out that there was only a 1/250 or so chance of fighting him on that bridge).
Shortly after that, I played Street Fighter II for the first time in a local skating rink and was hooked. Bad.
I remember playing against the college kids that would come in there to hang out and chill - there was a lounge connected to the place that you had to be 18 to get in - and a lot of these guys used to come in and spend a ton of time and money on playing SFII. I learned how to play from these guys, and within a year, I had become just as good as they were. I was hanging out with people almost twice my age, and conversing with them on their level about a mutual passion - and that's where I've been ever since. Videogames don't make up my entire life: I cook, I paint, I write, I sing (now just for fun, but I have been in 4 different bands), I have a full-time job and am still attending college. Oh, and I drink when I can - nothing beats a good trip to a good bar where they serve good beer and have a good selection of good tunes.
Oh, and I really, really love sushi. I can put away amounts of that stuff that some may label as borderline criminal.
But, it does comprise a lot of who I am and what I have become. The header image that is there above the blog now is of the Megaman 1-Up head - the same image that is tattooed into the entirety of my left shoulder blade.
As for tastes, this is what I consider to be the short-short, Cliff's Notes version of my must-play list:
Chrono Trigger
Megaman 2
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy IV and VI (fuck VII and VIII)
The Guardian Legend
Crystalis
Contra
Okami (for the love of whatever god you choose to serve, play this game)
Viewtiful Joe
God Hand (not the best game, but it had serious potential)
Any Street Fighter-related game (from Capcom - accept no substitutes, except...)
Mark Of The Wolves (SNK's finest hour)
Samurai Shodown
Rival Schools/Project Justice
Rez (if you haven't played it, you're pathetic, because you really have no excuse)
Virtual ON
Guardian Heroes
Gunstar Heroes
ActRaiser
Soul Blazer
Onimusha
Toejam & Earl
Super Turrican
Gradius
Ikaruga
Axelay (Mode 7 was f'n sweet)
Sin And Punishment
Panzer Dragoon (especially Saga, oh, and Orta)
Radiant Silvergun
StarTropics
Samurai Warriors 2 (a guilty pleasure)
Tech Romancer (for the Mecha Anime buff in me)
F-Zero
Gran Turismo
Lumines
Dr. Mario
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Yoshi (the puzzle game)
Puyo Puyo
Motherfucking Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Motherfucker
Mr. Driller
Star Wars Arcade
Star Wars: KOTOR
Ninja Gaiden
Any Capcom game with "Versus" in the title
The list could and should go on for longer, but I'll let you slide on that one. Boredom can be fatal.
So, that's it for now. That's all I have to say, and if you want to hit me up, my XBL gamertag is Everyday Legend, my PSN ID is Everyday_Legend, and the site that I run with a few friends of mine (that we're still trying to get off of the ground 3 months later...) is bkin-ubf.com - geared specifically towards the Central Florida area competitive scene. Hoping to throw a MAJOR scale tournament very soon - (UPDATE!) like December 3rd soon, for starters. Show up, fightans fans.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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