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Guest
It seems our friends over at Aksys Games have managed to secure publishing rights to a North American version of Examu's flagship loli-fighter series, Arcana Heart 3. While the game content may raise a few brows by Western standards, there's no denying that the game is damn fun to play, and we like playing fun games, right?

PS3 only so far; no word on a 360 version yet.



Aksys Games Press Release
Guest

"Meet Your Mod" Episode 9: TaoFTW

By Guest, in Home,

This week: the man behind the :3
TaoFTW
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
- Why did you choose that particular handle, is there a story or reference you'd like to explain?

I was formerly MayFTW before I became TaoFTW. When I first started playing May, the first thing I thought of was, "Hey, I win with her so I might as well just put something like FTW." When I started playing Blazblue, I changed my handle to TaokakaFTW. Veteru suggested that I put something simple like, 'TaoFTW.'

- What is your background with fighting games...Did you start with BB or are your OG like SFII?

I first started playing fighting games when my friend introduced me to GG slash back in 2007. It wasn't until I had the rare opportunity to play with Nerina and Kennyon while they were in Santa Cruz that driven me to become a competitive fighting gamer.

- What competitive scene are you involved with? (Ranbats, Arcades, XBL, PSN, Reload Online etc.) Would you elaborate the benefits of this particular scene?

I retired from competitive gaming, but I used to play in the BB NorCal Sunnyvale Golfland Arcade ranbats and monthly NorCal Install ranbats. The best attribute about the scene is the consistency; there is always someone to play against every week.

- How strong do you feel your nation is as a whole, what is the next step to strengthening it?

I feel we are very weak as a whole. Everybody focuses on strengthening their gimmicks and execution that we lose focus of the most important fundamentals in FGs: Strong mixups, footsies, yomi, pressure and -above all- our ability to adjust to our opponents. The very fact was proven when Tokido won SCR. Second to that is that is our lack of matchup experience. The solution is simple; think about what we're doing wrong and fix it.

- Which player(s) give you the most trouble and why?

Players who are patient and never lose their cool. If I can't get them impatient, then matches comes down to whomever has stronger fundamentals and defense.

- What has been the most helpful tool while growing stronger in BB?

Playing against the best. Back when Ricky Ortiz was still playing Blazblue, I had to make my gameplay solid in order to win - footsies, mixups, yomi, you name it. If I didn't overcome this hurdle, then I would be stuck paying $20 every week for as long as I played the game.


- Is there anything you'd like to share regarding your respective character or Dustloop in general?

You can win matches with Taokaka if you just focus on mixups, gimmicks and random attacks. You can only win tournaments if you use everything she has in her arsenal to win. You can jump higher than any character and you can force them in situations no other character can do. There's no reason to be flashy and do reckless moves. If you can control the pace of the game, then you've already won.
Guest

Skullgirls Press Release!

By Guest, in Home,

For those of you that know of Mike Z's project that has been going on for a while, it seems that it finally broke through development hell and secured a publisher. You may have seen concept videos of SkullGirls, or even played an alpha version at some event, but now it has a chance to be released on next gen systems, so congratulations to Mike Z and the rest of the SkullGirls staff!

Full press release after the jump...
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Guest

BBCS featured at Evolution 2011!

By Guest, in Home,

As most of you already know, the Evolution Fighting Game Championships has been the grand-daddy of them all for the American fighting game tournament scene for the past decade, and this year's is no exception. Taking place at the Rio in Las Vegas, Evolution 2011 will be happening on July 29-31, and the main lineup of tournament games will be Super Street Fighter 4, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Tekken 6, Mortal Kombat 9, and BlazBlue:Continuum Shift.

While it's still early in the year and we have obvious existing version differences with two games on the list (Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition and BlazBlue:Continuum Shift 2), there's a chance that those games will replace the outdated version in the lineup IF the DLC/addition is released at a reasonable time before Evolution.

So get your practice on, plan your vacation days, show up, and GET HYPE!
Guest
Hey everyone, I've been banging my head against some walls and finally have added a stream calendar on the front page of dustloop! If you'd like to have your stream featured, follow the instructions here.

If that link doesn't work go to the Event Announcement Section and find the stickied thread about Streaming events!
Guest

Reading and Using Frame Data Part 1

By Guest, in Home,

4r5 has written up a guide for those of us who don't know how to use the frame data we have on this site! Here's part 1.

When you look at frame data, you're going to see a lot of numbers. I know some people are deathly afraid of numbers or just go mentally numb when they see the huge tables, but it's all really simple. You don't need anything beyond a first grade education to derive meaning from these numbers. Hopefully this guide will help you make some sense of what they all mean.

Have you ever seen frame data? I think many people skim over these charts and see the +'s and -'s and think to themselves, "+'s are good and -'s are bad." And for the most part, they are right, but they don't take that extra step to understand how these numbers relate to each other or how they work in specific situations. Before we dive in to the tiny details of what all this information means, I think it would be useful to start off with a simple and basic example.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]


Case Study 1
Brief Introduction to Frame Advantage, and Why Knowledge is Power


Let's take a look at a situation. You're Ky and you're fighting Jam. Jam does her 5H and you block it. What can you do afterwards?

Let's look at Jam's 5H data:



Jam's 5H data, from Dustloop's frame data guide. (Jam's 5H is a three hit move. Number in parenthesis represent the number of frames between each hit.)


Startup: 13
Active: 3(3)3(3)3
Recovery: 15
Static Difference: +1

What we want to look at is the static difference on Jam's 5H. It's +1, a positive number. This means, if you block Jam's 5H, Jam gets to "go first." She recovers one frame before you recover from blocking her 5H. Now let's say that after the 5H Jam follows up with her 5K.



Jam recovers from her 5H one frame before Ky recovers from blocking Jam's 5H


Here's Jam's 5K data:

Startup: 5f
Active: 4f
Recovery: 7f
Static Difference: +1f

Here, the important bit is the startup, which is 5 frames. After blocking Jam's 5H you need a move with 3 frames of startup to beat the incoming 5K. It's 3 frames of startup, instead of 4, because you are starting one frame late. 4 frames of startup is needed to trade, and anything 5 frames or more will get beaten out.

Looking over Ky's data we see that 2P is his fastest move, at 4 frames of startup. In this particular situation, Ky can only trade with his 2P or risk a Vapor Thrust.

Now you might be thinking you didn't need to look at a bunch of boring charts to figure this out, you could just play the game and come to the same conclusion. And yeah, you could. But how long would that take, and would you even arrive to the same conclusion? How do you know when you solved the situation? There are a lot of variables in a match. Human execution alone adds a lot of noise to experiments. I know for people without access to framedata, or refuse to look at framedata, tight situations like the above, they sometimes conculde Ky can beat out Jam's 5K if he gets his 2P out early enough. But with the data, we see that early enough doesn't exist. Should Ky ever beat out Jam's 5K then it is due to an error in execution on Jam's part.

But we do have the data, so let's take an even closer look at this situation. Reviewing Jam's data we see that 5K isn't even her fastest move. 2P is 1 frame faster. What if she followed up her 5H with 2P instead of 5K? That means that after a 5H, against a 2P, Ky would need a move with 3 frames of startup to at least trade. But Ky doesn't have any move faster than 4 frames. What about the Vapor Thurst? It just so happens that Jam's 2P also recovers in time to block a Vapor Thrust.



The truth laid bare. Top row: Jam's 5H, 2P frames laid out. Bottom row: Ky's blocking and reversal Vapor Thrust frames.


In actuality, Ky has no options after normal blocking Jam's 5H. And we learned all this without even fighting the matchup!



Poor Ky.


Any of you ever heard of Buktooth? Let me paraphrase him:

"Match experience can replace knowledge, but knowledge can often let you come to conclusions that would otherwise require match experience."




Definitions


Intuitively, I think we all understand that attacks take time to hit, have a time when they hit, and a have a time when you just can't do anything. We call these periods of time: startup, active, and recovery. All moves transition though these three phases in that order. And these phases are measured in units of time that we call: frames.

Frame

So what is a frame? Television, movies, games, videos and such are all like flip-books. Just a series of still-images shown in rapid succession to give the illusion of smooth motion. A frame is one of these still-images. You don't need to know how this magic trick works. For fighting games and understanding frame data, you just need to know that a frame represents the smallest unit of measurable time. Regardless of how much real-world time a frame is representing, 4 frames will always be less time than 5 frames and 2 frames will always be more time than 1 frame.

Startup

Startup is the time starting from when a move initiates to the first hitting frame. With a move initiating when you press a button (or complete the motion/command).

Active

Active frames are the frames during which a move's effect can occur. For attacks, these would be the hitting frames where the attack can hit, be blocked, or be caught.

Recovery

Recovery are all the frames following the active frames. These are the frames remaining till you are free to move again.


In the frame data on this site, we use the time-to-hit convention. Startup will list when the move hits, a point in time, which is different from Active and Recovery, durations of time.

If a move is said to have 5 frames of startup, it actually has 4 frames of startup and hits on frame 5. This is so you don't have to do any extra math to figure out when a move hits. When calculating the total animation time of a move, remember to subtract a 1.

Most frame data for other games use this same convention, but some may list startup as true-startup. So beware of this if you notice your calculations are always off by 1.

Blockstun and Hitstun
Blockstun is the period of time after blocking an attack where the blocking character is stuck in a guarding animation.

Likewise, hitstun is the period of time after getting hit by an attack where the character is stuck in a reeling animation.

Static Difference



Formula for static difference.


Static Difference is the difference in recovery time between the aggressor's attack and the defender's blockstun, assuming you blocked the move on the first active frame. People often use this interchangable with frame advantage.

Frame Advantage



General frame advantage formula.


Frame advantage is a situation in which you can act before your opponent can. Frame disadvantage is when your opponent can act before you can. Even, or neutral, is when you and your opponent recover on the same frame.

Meaty



Formula for maximum potential frame advantage.


A meaty is when you land your attack midway through its active frames. When an attack hits, it still has to transition through its remaining active frames, plus its recovery frames before it completes. By landing your attacks as meaty, you recover sooner, giving yourself more frame advantage. The most common way to meaty an attack is to knockdown your opponent and have them wakeup midway in to your attack.

Calculating Frame Advantage

Static difference is the frame advantage you would have if you land your attack on the first active frame; in other words, it is the worst case scenario. A perfect meaty is when you land your attack on the last active frame -- the best case scenario. The frame advantage of a move is not a single number, but a range of numbers.


FAQ and Stuff

Q. What can't frame data tell me?
A. Frame data is information on timings. Sometimes there'll be additional information like attack effects and such. The major thing frame data lacks is the positional data. It can tell us when a move will hit, but it can't tell us where the move will hit. We can see if there's enough time to do a move, but you still need to go back to the game to make sure the move is relevant, spacing-wise.

Q. Are frames different from game to game?
A. Yes.

Generally, fighting games run at roughly 60 frames per second. That is, one frame is shown for a 1/60th of a second before procedding to the next frame.

This isn't always consisten within a game. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, for exmaple, runs at a slightly higher than normal framerate on Zangeif's stage, and a slower on T. Hawk's stage. Guilty Gear exhibists momentary slowdown when large amounts of speacial effects are on the screen. Console ports sometimes also have speed differences, Guilty Gear Accent Core, PS2 Capcom Vs SNK 2, and PS2 Third Strike all run faster than their arcade counterparts.

When thinking of frames, it's best to think of them as just that. Avoid associating them with real world time. 1 frame is always less time then 2 frames, but 1 frame in SF4 isn't 1 frame in GGAC.

Q. How many frames per second can the human eye see?
A. This question isn't so simple to answer, and perhaps even the question is incorrect. But I can tell you that back when First-Person Shooters and 3D hardware were getting big, I could absolutely see the difference between 15fps, 30fps, 60fps, and 100+fps. As we kept managing higher and higher frame rates, there was never a point where it felt like my eyes/brain were missing frames. Though there was definitely a point where I was missing money.

If you're interested in the topic, there's google.

Q. How many frames can people react to?
A. I would say the better question is: How do I get people to get hit by a move? But since there do exists some absolutely horrible moves that people never get hit by (e.g. Cammy's Spin Knuckle), then there must also be a margin where people just won't get hit, but will in fact hit you.

Over many years, and many games, and many people, the rule of thumb I found is 15 frames, or 250 milliseconds, give or take. At that point, I expect everyone, down to even the loneliest noob, to at least be able to block the move on reaction. Moves slower than that and I expect people to start hitting me on reaction.


Applying Frame Data




Case Study 2
Creating Frame Advantage: Meaty Setup, Okizeme


May's 5K data:

Startup: 9
Active: 6
Recovery: 9
Static Difference: -3



A poorly timed meaty, -3 frames. And a perfectly timed meaty, +2 frames!


When May knocks you down, she can run up and do a 5K with near impunity. Her 5K is throw invincible, affording novice May players an easy reversal-throw-safe okizeme. And is relatively safe against many backdashes. But when not meatied, 5K is frame disadvantage on block. Many novice May players improperly meaty their 5K, requiring them to chain to other moves to create space, or burn meter to avoid a frame-disadvantageous situation.



"Johnny, you idiot!"


With a proper meaty 5K, May keeps her throw invincibility while also becoming reversal-safe against a large majority of the game's reversals and topping it all off with a +2 on block. The frame advantage gained from a meatied 5K aids her command-throw game.






Case Study 3
Meaty Setup, Traveling Hitbox


Many moves are in-place: their hitboxes move no where and you must forcibly position your opponent to take the attack midway through. This is how meaty setups done on okizeme work.

The second way to meaty a move is to make use of a traveling hitbox. Any character with a run can use the momentum from their run to cause their attack to travel and hit midway through its active frames. Some attacks move by themselves: Axl's green chain is a good example of this, along with Zappa's f.S and Slayer's 2D.

An example of using dash momentum to induce a meaty is with Ky's 2D. Ky's 2D, in most instances, is punishable on block, if it weren't for his ability to jump-cancel or special-cancel it. But canceling 2D to a jump or a special move carries its own risks.



Running 2D.


By running, putting the attack out early, and then using the run's momentum to carry the attack into your opponent on its latter active frames, you can make 2D safe, or even frame advantage, on block.



Ky's 2D hitting on the last active frame.


Slayer's 2D is a more common example of a traveling hitbox. It's also easier to do, the attack has built-in movement. Should Slayer's 2D be blocked from a close range, your opponent can probably punish it: you hit early in the active frames and you now have more recovery.



Slayer's 2D hitting on the first active frame.


But if you space yourself further back, you'll hit with the late frames and have less recovery and be safe, but at the cost of more startup.



Slayer's 2D hitting later.


Case Study 4
Relative Advantage


Chipp's 6K data:

Startup: 19
Active: 7
Recovery: 3+3
Static Difference: -1



"Too slow!"


You don't always need frame advantage to be in a positive situation. Chipp's 6K is -1 on block, but even so, against a slow character like Axl he still maintains relative frame advantage. Chipp's fastest attacks are 4f startup. Axl needs a move with at least 5f startup to trade, but Axl's fastest normal is 6f. Even though Chipp is at frame disadvantage, this is still a "frame advantage" situation. Axl is forced to risk a catch-counter or take the pressure.



Chipp does 6K, then 2P vs Axl blocking then 5K

Guest

Got Hype? Let's Build It!

By Guest, in Home,

Got Hype? Let's Build It!
TaoFTW's guide to setting up successful tournaments and communities


Did you ever want to mash more than SF4? How about blazing your friends blue like candy? Or, perhaps, you want to level up accidental core colleagues with Guilty Gear? Oh wait, "My friends don't play Fighting Games and I don't know how to find other people that play the same one. Oh well, that's life!"

That's wrong; if you have two people playing, and one person watching, then you can build your local fighting game scene. The purpose of this article is to tell you how to construct your FG community from scratch and organize successful, non-trollworthy tournaments.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Where Do I Begin?
From Super Turbo to Streets of Rage; from Darkstalkers to Blazblue; from King of Fighters to Naruto; from Guilty Gear to Street Fighter; every gamer needs to answer this question, ‘Why do I like the games I play and what should I do to make the best of it?’ If you can respond to this question, then you are ready to begin your journey; let’s build some FG hype!


But wait, I Don’t Have Any Friends To Play Against
I am oblivious to most of quantum physics and, likewise, I’m oblivious to what you do at home. But if there’s one thing that I learnt from people who are socially inept, then they embody themselves with their own anime pillow and/or have out-spoken obnoxious personalities. So here’s my tip for you, ‘Learn how to interact with another human being; you’ll need it.’ Go on twitter, facebook, dustloop.com, shoryuken.com or –even better- call your friend over to check out that Blazybloo.

Find a friend that likes to play the same games you like and/or dislike. We live in a world where you can build social networks within your very home, so make the best of it. If you can’t get past this step, then I don’t know how else to help you.


I Wish Everybody Played the Same Game as Me
I wish everybody were created females so we could make drama hype. But no, we live in a world where having an opinion –supposedly– matters. Here’s the crux; nobody else will play your favorite game unless you show him/her. Find a friend and play a game you both can mash happily together. In more ways than not, you’ll probably beat your buddy. So be very constructive and patient. Not everyone is born to be a champion, but a champion is born when they have opposition.


What’s Wrong with Playing Online? Everybody is Doing It!
Life is short, but it’s even shorter if you eat garbage; online is garbage. I understand that you can build that social network to escape your loneliness, but the online play does the following things:



- Escape accountability; you can always rage quit to minimize your losses.
- No direct confrontation; you can’t ask the person next to you why you’re losing or have them give –direct- feedback.
- Build bad habits; no need to explain.

Granted, playing casually is the only exception to playing FGs online. But if you’re doing it because nobody else plays the game in your hometown, then you should reconsider your options.


Alright, meanie, what do I do now?
The answer is simple; play a fighting game with your friends. Don’t make it a onetime gig, but be consistent (perhaps a bi-weekly ranbat or a casual session at your friends house). Be creative and name your little event, “BroCarolina Gamelock.” Well, probably nothing that cheesy, but you get the point.

Your fighting game scene will not grow unless someone takes initiative to build it. The needs are different, but the game is the same. So it’s up to you to develop that hype!



---


Getting Started



Step 1: Decide What Games You Should Run
Find a game you want to play and run it back!


Step 2: Secure a Venue
From the depths of your basements, to the spare outlets in the parking garage, to the spare Snapple machines across from Safeway, find a place where you can play with others everyday - every way. And if you do, then invite everyone you know to come and join the festivities.

But There's No Venues Where we Can Play Our Games
Do you know of a local PC cafe or a pizza shop nearby? Buy a suit and learn how to make a first impression! All you have to say is, "Our friends and I would like to rent your party room to host our event. We are willing to pay you for your services and help to give you business incentive." Or perhaps you have a local university next door. Reserve a room+date through Administration several weeks in advance through a Club Officer (e.g.: Comp Sci Club or Gaming Club). There is always an opportunity for you to find a place to play your games. If you scrounge a few dollars from your buddies to help cover the registration, then you can play anywhere within your means. Just don't be a scammer or a troll like Blanka707. If you are going to be the face of your community, then rep it like it's your life.


Step 3: Choose a Date
There are two things to consider when choosing a date. First don't have it clash with, or be very close to, another major event. Second, ideally you want to choose 3-day weekends but those get chosen first by all the other major tourneys. You want ample time for people to plan their school/work schedules around. - Courtesy of Zenmetsu


Step 4: Market! Advertise! Market! Advertise!
Spread the word like your selling hotcakes! Build connections with local FG advertisers: Broketier.com, IPW, Capcom, or MadCatz. Running a event with big names under your belt will give you legitimacy and stronger incentive for a bigger turnout.


Step 5: Execute!
Have all the rules, date, venue address, and time schedule for your tournament listed concisely when you make your post on DL [, SRK and/or MeltyBread]. For example, when does the venue open/close? When does registration time for each respective game end? You asked how I established my integrity for hosting a tournament, but well, it's not really possible until you actually do it. If you want a good turn-out the key is a lot of good planning, communication, and advertisement. - Courtesy of Zenmetsu

Part of running a successful event requires thoughtful planning & consistency. Running bi-weekly or monthly sessions will strengthen community, but you'll get lower turnouts and burnout. So regardless of where you are with your community, NEVER forget this rule;

ALWAYS Work Within Your Means
Never bite more than you can chew. And if you do, then chew it till there's nothing left. Nobody wants to play under a scumbag or scammer, so clean up your act before you run legit events. Even if you have the venue; even if you choose the right date; even if you advertise the right games; prove that you can run events. And if you do, then people will want to attend your sessions.

Tournaments such as WCW1, Triple Threat and Blanka707 were notorious for people working outside of their means. When you have two people busting their ass off to organize a 120 man bracket while handling registration; when you have one person managing a 60 man bracket while stealing fight money; when you have a group of disillusion people handling registration on their iPhones; then you are bound for ultimate failure - know your limits and work accordingly.



---


Tournament Rules and Logistics



Basic Tournament Terminology
Below are a list of links to help you understand the significance of the following the most common tournament terminology:


- Double Elimination
- Round Robin
- Qualification Pools
- Seeding


Estimating Duration of Tournament
Think about the number of games you are going to run and make estimates for what you need in terms of resources. Think equipment needed to run multiple tournaments (CRTs/LCDs, consoles, copies of respective games, power strips, floorspace, TIME). You should do worst-case scenario time calculations. Take BB for instance. Worst case scenario for running a Double-Elim, 2 out of 3 rounds, best out of 3 for a 32-man bracket can be calculated by multiplying the maximum number of seconds per match and multiplying this across total number of matches necessary to determine a winner. About 44 matches takes place in a 32-man DE bracket, so:

(99sec/round)*(3rounds/set)*(3set/match)*(44matches) = 39204 seconds, or 10.89 hours.

Thus, if you only had one console it will take you almost 11 hours to complete a BB tourney if every match went to the last set and every round was won by a time-out. Notice, however, that if you have two setups you can divide this in half to 6 hours, and even better if you have three setups because now it only takes 4 hours. Three setups is ideal, any more is better. You should also allot 1 hour before each tournament for drawing brackets. Granted, your tournaments shouldn't be taking 4 hours to complete since these are worst case scenarios, but this is a good way to get estimates when you are building your schedule - Courtesy of Zenmetsu.

Running a Tournament is About a Community Effort
If you forget everything I've written, then do not forget this one, 'Running an event is done by the community for the community.' You should never handle everything by yourself, but you should look at empowering individuals to do their job right. My motto towards running a tournament is, 'I'll provide the space as long as you provide the hype.' Can't run brackets? Empower someone who has the experience to handle it! Don't know how to setup streams? Pay IPW to handle it for you.

Doing these events is a sacrifice and will often leave you with less money than what you had before. I do warn you; not everyone can handle the criticism to do the job right and people will cut you down if they feel like the event was unsuccessful. So don't lose sight of your goal and keep pressing forth! As long as the community wants to work with you, then you have every reason to work with them. So build the FG hype that you longed for and you'll see the fruit of your hard work!

Peace!
Guest

"Meet Your Mod" Episode 8: Senkei

By Guest, in Home,

It's OG time as we take a look at some of our mods that were around before BlazBlue existed and people actually travelled to gatherings at arcades or console meet-ups just to play some Guilty Gear. First up is one of your Faust mods, and a Top 8 Finalist in Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core at Evolution 2009, here's

Senkei
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

- Why did you choose that particular handle, is there a story or reference you'd like to explain?

Haha well this handle means "annihilate" so it just stuck. I'm not too fond of it and I've been meaning to change it but unfamiliarity tends to confuse people. Everyone locally just calls me Tsak.

- What is your background with fighting games...Did you start with BB or are your OG like SFII?

Haha this is pathetic but my first fighting game was Naruto GNT for the Gamecube lol. I went from casual play to serious and got in touch with Willvolution's tournaments. Willvolution not only held Naruto tournaments but GG tournaments as well. The 1st tourney I went to I got 4th in Naruto and starting watching the GGXX Slash tournament that was going on. I was blown away by the pace and style of the game and that is what propelled me play what I play now.

- What competitive scene are you involved with? (Ranbats, Arcades, XBL, PSN, Reload Online etc.) Would you elaborate the benefits of this particular scene?

I am actually very lucky since Central Florida has a pretty great Blazblue scene. Ranbats are held every 2-3 weeks and there is a BB tourney damn near every month. We may not get SSF4 numbers but 20-30 people for the 1st 3 C.E.O's is awesome!! Alex Jebailey runs them, they get streamed on iplaywinner so we can get more and more coverage. Alex has put a lot of faith and confidence into BB even thought he hates it lol so yeah having a committed organizer is top tier!!! I still play GG with Mike Song on occasion but yeah, BB is the most competitive.

- How strong do you feel your nation is as a whole, what is the next step to strengthening it?

I think we are very weak. Strong players are few and far between and on top of that we have a big problem with self-proclaimed "top" players which Zidane touched on in his interview. The biggest problem I see for players is they don't know how to lose. Losing and learning is so vital towards a players improvement and instead of making excuses (match-ups, equipment malfunction, drug addiction, etc. etc) see what you did wrong and progress from that.

I believe the way to strengthen our talent is to integrate the players more often (travel more guys!!) and good players really need to share the love. After every tournament I have at least 1 or 2 people that want to pick my brain and I give them all I have. This type of behavior breeds intelligent thought and betters the community.

- Which player(s) give you the most trouble and why?

As far as my area goes Hotnix's Mu-12 is really difficult to play since his characters body doesn't combo like everyone elses does for Arakune. That and Hotnix is an extremely smart player. He taught me GG and got me into it, so we've been playing each other for years.

- What has been the most helpful tool while growing stronger in BB?

Practice, practice, practice. I watch videos, study match-ups and constantly try to improve my game. I've been in the money (1st or 2nd) in the past 3 tourneys we've had here in FL and that is training mode showing it's benefits every time.

- Is there anything you'd like to share regarding your respective character or Dustloop in general?

Arakune is the shit! Step-up that pre-curse games bitches....
Guest
On January 8, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois, the third iteration of Frosty Faustings will be happening. Started two years ago by your favorite American/Japanese Faust player ElvenShadow, Frosty Faustings is a Guilty Gear-centered Midwest major thrown to show that Guilty Gear is still alive and kicking in the United States. Frosty Faustings III will also have tourneys for other games such as SSF4, BBCS, and MBAA, as well as team tourneys for the hell of it.

For more info, visit this thread.
Guest

"Meet Your Mod" Episode 7: HiagoX

By Guest, in Home,

Just throwing up another quickie highlighting your neighborhood translator and Makoto mod, as well as a tidbit on his Brazilian scene.

HiagoX
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
- Why did you choose that particular handle, is there a story or reference you'd like to explain?

Very, very stupid. You see, my actual name is Hiago, and when I started using the internet, I needed a username to go with. Poor Hiago was 8 years old and had no creativity, so I used my name and added a "X" after it. Since then, I've kept that username.

- What is your background with fighting games...Did you start with BB or are your OG like SFII?

I didn't care much for fighting games until two years ago, when someone forced me to play Melty Blood: Act Cadenza. That was my first fighting game, and even though I was pretty bad at it, it helped me understand basic terms like "mix-ups" and "blockstrings". I kept practicing it for some months until I've dropped it, and last year I've started playing BBCT on consoles.

- What competitive scene are you involved with? (Ranbats, Arcades, XBL, PSN, Reload Online etc.) Would you elaborate the benefits of this particular scene?

Brazil has a growing BlazBlue scene and a pretty solid Guilty Gear scene. We have monthly ranbats, tournaments happening around and casuals as often as possible. I've doing my best to support the scene here, as I know that both BlazBlue and Guilty Gear are really fun games that could have a much bigger scene if people stopped looking only at SSFIV and KoF (you know, Brazil, KoF... derp). Being able to actually meet people and play with them, laugh with them, it's just so much better than having to netplay. Not having to bear with lag, miles of distance, and besides, you can also hang out with people and talk about all sorts of things!

- How strong do you feel your nation is as a whole, what is the next step to strengthening it?

Brazil is still weak as a whole. We have talented players, but we need more activity between them. People need to travel more to play and get matchup experience; we don't have as much players as America or Japan have, so if we want to gather more experience, it's imperative that we travel around more to play other people. And above all, I think people need to dedicate themselves more to the game. Most players practice, but don't get deeper into the game. Watching more videos, practicing and finding out more setups and gimmicks, actually discussing things between themselves. Basically, dedicating themselves to learn more and more about the game. Somehow, I feel that some players lack that.

- Which player(s) give you the most trouble and why?

Usually, I have trouble against Hazama players in general. but especially against Bauer's. Aside from that, maybe Makino and NooB. Of course, they are all palyers from my country. I don't netplay often against people outside Brazil, since I can't bear the lag and can't play for shit in it.

- What has been the most helpful tool while growing stronger in BB?

Getting beaten up. Not even kidding. Playing against other people, losing, and having yourself think about why you lost is one of the best ways to improve your own gameplay. You should always look forward to fighting people stronger than you; it doesn't really matter how much you lose, as long as you learn something from it, you're still winning. Aside from that, training mode and actual gameplay discussions are always really useful for anyone.

- Is there anything you'd like to share regarding your respective character or Dustloop in general?

Be creative with your own game. Makoto has so many tools that can all be easily pusnihed. Therefore, as long as you are unpredictable, you may avoid being pusnihed for stupid stuff. That's all you really need! The rest comes up eventually, so rep the squirrel. We don't have many around, after all!

Love, Hiago. <3
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