PhaethonH

California Burst continues Nov 2, 2013. Forward link: [thread=17453]http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?17453-Nov-2-2013-California-Burst-Norcal-Training-Room-%28GG-BB-P4A%29-San-Carlos-CA&p=1549823[/thread]

Saturday, Nov 2, 2013; 3pm - California Burst$ fg 4: SIGCONT We have a venue location for California Burst. Unlike Gamecenter, the new venue is an office. First, a word from our host, owner of the now-defunct Gamecenter. Summarized venue policies: the venue is an office, not a store. you are guests, not customers. guests-of-guests welcome. if you're reading this to attend, you're ok. venue fee helps keep this place available. clean up after yourself -- there are no employees nor janitors, only the sole office manager. be nice, have fun. Event parameters: Date: Saturday, Nov 2, 2013 Time: 3pm Registration: on-site, opens 3pm Location: 1607 Old County Rd, San Carlos 94070 Streaming: FinestKO Parking: Street parking. Plenty of street parking. Public Transit: Caltrain: San Carlos station or Redwood City station (venue is between these two stations) Bus: aim for El Camino Real and Howard Ave. Buses are on the west wide of the Caltrain tracks, the venue is on the east side, and Howard crosses the train racks. General rules baseline: Evo style match/bracket rules $5 - venue fee to enter. $5 - entry fee per game entered (prize pot, see also first-game entry credit). Pot split normally 70/20/10 no cost for only-spectating Double-Elimination Bracket where feasible, Round Robin for small turnout. MUST be ready for match within 5 minutes of match call, or instant loss (disqualify) Event(s): GG+R (ps3) - Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus R Side event(s): [*] BBCP (ps3) - BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Game-specific rules: [*] GG - banned characters: EX characters, Shadow color, Gold color [*] GG - macros banned (because glitch) [*] BB - Hakumen banned Fine. No BB-specific rules yet. Schedule: Time GG BB 3:00 -REG- -REG- 3:30 -REG- -REG- 4:00 BEGIN -REG- 4:30 MATCH -REG- 5:00 MATCH -REG- 5:30 MATCH -REG- 6:00 TOP4 BEGIN 6:30 -- Casuals & Training -- Time 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 Time GG [---REG----][:::::::: MATCH ::::::: TOP4 ] BB [-------------- REG -------------][:::::: MATCH :::::::::::::::: [Casuals & Training...] Other notes: [*] After tournaments are done, time is available for casuals and training. [*] Prefer that side tournaments not run at same time as main tournaments. Fee Structure: All attendees are guests at the host's office. You are not customers, you are invited guests. Venue fee helps defray the cost of maintaining the venue and events. Seed points (for filling out brackets - 1st=4, 2nd=2, 3rd=1, 4th=i): [*] Guilty Gear [*] 7 - eh-sama [*] 4 - magz, honnou [*] 3 - KBnova [*] 1 - 2GB Combo, tenkai

I never have gotten down the proper timing for the FB, so my standard input is: [4] 6+H+D, 5, 6+H+D (in other words, mash 6+H+D twice) This input involves a bunch of game mechanic rules stepping over each other to get what I want: Part 1: 5D takes priority over 6H, Burst (H+D) takes priority over D, special attacks (H.HD) take priority over Burst (and basic attacks), [4]6D is invalid/ignored = interpreted as [4]6H Part 2. Burst cannot happen mid-attack (H.HD), 56H is invalid/ignored, FB window is 5F after H.HD starts, input buffer window is 5F or so (i.e. 56D can be blindly dialed in a few frames before it is "allowed" and it will happen as soon as it can) = interpreted as 56D at first possible chance. Part 2b. The earliest that 56D can physically happen is 2F after H.HD starts, or 3F (out of 5) before it's allowed and still happen. This means the second 6+H+D can never happen "too soon" -- the faster you can input the second 6+H+D, the better. Timeline diagram of the fastest input: Frame: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... (forward time is left to right) [4]6H+D S S S S S S S S A ... (S = H.HD startup frames, A = H.HD active frames) w w w w ... (w = FB window, from frame data) 56H+D g g g g g (g = input buffer grace period; early input 56H+D) S A A A ... (S = FB startup, A = FB active) FB occurs because g overlaps w End result: autopilot-mash command for FB. P.S. as a contrast/reference, timeline diagram of what I think you're doing: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Frame: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 [4]6H S S S S S S S S A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ... w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w 56D g g g g g S A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ... ^^^^^this gap is killing you Takeaway lessons: 56D input can be given a few frames ahead of time (don't wait to confirm on anything). FB input (56D) is never too soon (don't wait at all). 6+H+D if you don't want to think about which button when (spazzy input ftw).

Haven't secured a venue for CaliBurst, and it's less than a week until Saturday, so I'm skipping October. Still looking around for a place for November, though. I've a place in mind, but ain't counting chicken before eggs hatch.

re: the future of California Burst The usual venue, Gamecenter, ceased operations on September 22, 2013. In short, we don't have a venue for the time being. There exists chatter that the arcade(?) chain Round 1 will be opening in Eastridge Mall (San Jose), but not until some time in 2014. Securing venue at an arcade does feel like the most appropriate course of action. But since the stars are not aligned just right, these are the options I'm exploring right now: Option 1: hiatus until Round 1. Upside: we can all take a breather for a few months; US release of +R more likely by then. Downside: Round 1's opening is unknown, and use as a venue is not a guarantee. Option 2: someone's house. Upside: immediate resumption of tournaments. Downside: someone will have to be willing and able to host upwards of 30 people, with the attendant noise. Option 3: hunt for alternate venue. Upside: faster resumption than waiting for Round 1. Downside: may end up shifting venue location each event. Option 4: conference room of some motel/hotel. Upside: guaranteed resumption. Downside: hella cost. When California Burst can secure a venue, I'll be posting a separate announcement thread, and post a forwarding link in this thread for those of you who subscribe to this thread to watch changes. Nonetheless, the earliest possible recurrence is Saturday, Nov 2, 2013 (we're skipping October).

Calling/changing it: +R for Guilty Gear.

Still experimenting with running tournaments; notable changes: Moved up first match to 4pm to give more time at end for learning/practice. Guilty Gear prioritized, time and streamwise Do not want side tournaments happening at same time as mains. While nothing can really stop side tournaments, the upshot is that TOs will not suspend a match for side tournaments (i.e. disqualify if held up in sides). Also, this will be the last occurrence at San Mateo Gamecenter. While the venue may be closing, I have found ways to keep the GG tournies alive (P4A, BB... you guys are on your own :razz:) About Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus R As of this writing, GGXXACPR ("+R") is available on JP PSN, but not yet on US PSN. I am willing to make a last-minute change to go with +R if: There is sufficient demand for it in the thread here (post up, dangit) and sufficient quantities of stations can be secured to run +R (minimum 4) or +R comes out on US PSN before I head over to start tournaments Nonetheless, +R will be available after tournaments for casuals. We shall be using Plus R the whole time.

Saturday, Sept 7, 2013; 3pm - California Burst$ telinit 0 3: San Mateo Finals Brackets: http://challonge.com/cb201309_gg http://challonge.com/cb201309_bb http://challonge.com/cb201309_p4a Event parameters: Date: Saturday, Sept 7, 2013 Time: 3pm doors open. Registration: on-site, opens 3pm Location: Gamecenter Arcade (47 S B St., 94402) Streaming: FinestKO (http://twitch.tv/FinestKO) Parking: Paid parking is available on street and parking structures. Parking enforcement hours are 8a-6p (i.e. pay until 6pm; parking free after 6pm). Parking cost ranges from $0.25/hr to $1.00/hr (check parking signs). Public Transit: Caltrain: San Mateo station is on the same block as Gamecenter. General rules baseline: Evo style match/bracket rules $7 - venue fee if you play, paid to Gamecenter (obtain wristband). ($2) - first-game entry credit bonus (explanation below, "Fee Structure"). $5 - entry fee per game entered (prize pot, see also first-game entry credit). Pot split normally 70/20/10 no cost for only-spectating Double-Elimination Bracket where feasible, Round Robin for small turnout. MUST be ready for match within 5 minutes of match call, or instant loss (disqualify) Events: GG (ps3) - Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus R P4A (ps3) - Persona 4: Arena BB (ps3) - BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend Game-specific rules: GG - banned characters: EX characters, Shadow color, Gold color BB - banned characters: Unlimited characters Schedule: Time GG BB P4U 3:00 -REG- -REG- -REG- 3:30 -REG- -REG- -REG- 4:00 BEGIN -REG- -REG- 4:30 MATCH BEGIN -REG- 5:00 MATCH MATCH BEGIN 5:30 MATCH MATCH MATCH 6:00 TOP4 MATCH MATCH 6:30 ??? TOP4 MATCH 7:00 ??? ??? TOP4 7:30 ??? ??? ??? 8:00 -- Casuals & Training -- Time 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 Time GG [---REG----][:::::::: MATCH ::::::: TOP4 ] P4A BB [------REG-------][:::::::: MATCH ::::::: TOP4 ] GG P4U [---------REG----------][:::::::: MATCH ::::::: TOP4 ] BB [Casuals & Training Other notes: [*] At least top 4 in each game shall be streamed. [*] Streaming shall occur sequentially as each game completes. [*] After tournaments are done, time is available for casuals and training. [*] Prefer that side tournaments not run at same time as main tournaments. Fee Structure: An external funding source grants you a $2 bonus entering your first game. This means your first game is $3 to enter. Any additional game is $5. The end result is that entering the tournament and games will be a multiple of $5 in the end for you. So if you only enter 1 game, $10 overall. If you enter 2 games, $15 overall. And so on. Seed points (for filling out brackets - 1st=4, 2nd=2, 3rd=1, 4th=i): [*] Guilty Gear [*] 6 - eh-sama [*] 4 - honnou [*] 2 - magz [*] 1 - 2GB Combo, tenkai [*] BlazBlue [*] 8 - 2GB Combo [*] 2 - ShelledMenace, superscience [*] 1 - GammaGearJustice, RagnaHades [*] 1i - volvata, Tari [*] Persona 4: Arena [*] 5 - GC|Pain [*] 4 - 2GB Combo [*] 2 - Dacidbro [*] 1 - FKO|SpiritJuice

First post updated with [thread=15801]results[/thread].

P4A: GC|2GBCombo GC|Pain GC|Dacidbro BB: 765Pro|Yggjrasil Severin ShelledMenace AP: 765Pro|Tone FKO|Coopa DJcream SSBM: (to be posted) KOF: GC|Pain BBZ FKO|Coopa AH3: GC|Pain EMP|VanillaCoke 765Pro|Tone Full results: http://challonge.com/nci0213_p4a http://challonge.com/nci0213_bb http://challonge.com/nci0213_ap http://challonge.com/nci0213_kof http://challonge.com/nci0213_ah3 (SSBM?)

I'm thinking 2:15. That should give enough time to plan out any furniture shifts and prep the computers.

@DJcream: I spotted a discrepancy. I posted 2v2 for Melee, but smashboards post says 1v1. I assume your post is more accurate, but I'm pinging other channels as well.

@DJcream: I was expecting a large turnout for SSBM anyway (b/c they always do). Also, I want to make it abundantly clear to the Melee community that they'll need to bring their own setups. They're likely accustomed to that, but I don't want assumptions biting us later. BTW, is there a hotspot for SSBM@NCI communication that I can lurk in? @Spartan257B, @ShelledMenace, @haketh: thanks! Current plan is to use Challonge for brackets, so getting familiar/not-lost in it beforehand can help. Also, furniture-shuffling. :/ I'm probably forgetting a few other things, too...

As a side note, I'm looking for (volunteer) people to help run parts of the tournaments and smooth out the event, for up to an hour cumulative. Activities may include: tracking match results; calling/announcing matches; fetching players; changing/swapping equipment; floor traffic control. Aspiring TOs (Tournament Organizers) welcome. This call for volunteers also extends for SuperNCI in March.

Feb 2, 2013; 2pm - NorCal Install: Groundhog Loop Event parameters: Date: Saturday February 2, 2013 Time: 2pm doors open Registration: on-site, ends 3pm for main events, variable for side events. Location: Gamecenter Arcade ( 47 S. B St., 94402 ) Streaming: FinestKO (http://twitch.tv/FinestKO) Rules highlights: Evo-style match/bracket rules Payment upon registration for game. $7 - venue fee if you play, to be paid to Gamecenter (obtain wristband). $5 - usual entry fee per tournament game, to be paid to tournament director (NCI) Pot split normally 70/20/10 for first/second/third place. No cost for only-spectating ("no play, no pay"). Main Events (as of 01/30/2013): P4A (ps3) - Persona 4: Arena GGACP (ps3, xb360) - Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus AP (ps3) - Aquapazza SSBM (gc) - Super Smash Bros. Melee 1v1 and/or 2v2 Side/tentative Tournaments (as of 01/23/2013): [*] PSAS (ps3) - Playstation All-Stars 2v2 [*] BBCSE (ps3) - BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend [*] AH3 (ps3) - Arcana Heart 3 [*] KOF13 (ps3) - King of Fighter XIII [*] Catherine (ps3) Side tournaments have lax signups deadlines, and may be cancelled due to lack of entrants or time. Entry fee is refunded for a cancelled game. Clarifications, PSAS and SSBM: [*] Entrants are in teams of two. [*] Please decide on teammate and team name ahead of time. [*] Entry fee applies to the team as a whole. Venue address: Gamecenter 47 South B. St. San Mateo, CA 94402 RESULTS: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?15801-Feb-2-2013-NorCal-Install-Groundhog-Loop-Results

Results, dump from tio: P4A 1: GC PA_IN 2: FKO Spirit Juice 3: FKO MoogleParade 4: 765Pro DarkTalon 5: ShelledMenace 5: BS&F MikeMUSCLESMurphy 7: GC BS&F Dacidbro 7: TFT Blk_mage 9: MaggotSai 9: GC 2GBCombo 9: notKBF 9: 765Pro NCI Chun 13: Volvata 13: J-Hops 13: 765Pro Rawr 13: ShiningAquas AP 1: ehuangsan 2: FKO Coopa 3: 765Pro Tone 4: BRAZZERS Manabe 5: GC PA_IN 5: 765Pro NCI Chun 7: DANime 7: FKO MoogleParade 9: NTR Duckface 9: 765Pro DJCream BB 1: 765Pro Yggjrasil 2: OrionXElite 3: GC 2GBCombo 4: PhaethonH 5: LOLI RagnaHades 5: notKBF 7: 765Pro NCI Chun 7: ShelledMenace 9: 765Pro Maschera 9: BS&F BobbySiegeandFriends 9: GC BS&F Dacidbro 9: JustDoIt. AngelofHope 13: 765Pro Rawr 13: TFT Blk_mage 13: 765Pro Tone 13: BS&F MikeMUSCLESMurphy GG 1: BRAZZERS Magz 2: PhaethonH 3: GC 2GBCombo 4: ehuangsan 5: OrionXElite 5: 765Pro Yggjrasil 7: Gomi-Ino 7: ShiningAquas 9: BRAZZERS Manabe PSAS 1: BS&F 2: Muscles Pluto 3: Cletus Parade 4: Blk_Mage + James AH3 (cancelled) KOF13 (cancelled)

Jan 5, 2013; 2pm - NorCal Install: Still Alive Event parameters: Date: Saturday January 5, 2013 Time: 2pm doors open Registration: on-site, ends 3pm for main events. Location: Gamecenter Arcade ( 47 S. B St., 94402 ) Streaming: FinestKO (http://twitch.tv/FinestKO) Rules highlights: Evo-style match/bracket rules Payment upon registration for game Venue fee $7 if you play, to be paid to Gamecenter (obtain wristband) Tournament fee variable (typically $5), to be paid to tournament director (NCI) Pot split normally 70/20/10 No cost for only-spectating ("no play, no pay") Main Events (as of 12/17/2012): P4A (ps3) - Persona 4: Arena GGACP (ps3, xb360) - Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus AP (ps3) - Aquapazza PSAS (ps3) - Playstation All-Stars 2v2 Side/tentative Tournaments (as of 12/17/2012): [*] BBCSE (ps3) - BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend [*] AH3 (ps3) - Arcana Heart 3 [*] KOF13 (ps3) - King of Fighter XIII Clarifications: [*] PSAS: Entrants in PSAS are in teams of two. [*] PSAS: Please decide on teammate and team name ahead of time. [*] PSAS: PSAS entry fee applies to the team as a whole. [*] general: Side tournaments have lax signups deadlines, and may be cancelled due to lack of entrants or time. Venue address: Gamecenter 47 South B. St. San Mateo, CA 94402

The short answer is: schedule conflict for 11/02.

Results: P4A: 1. GC|Dacidbro 2. 2GBCombo 3. ILLiterate AP: ? GGAC: ? BB: ?

Event parameters: Date: Saturday November 10, 2012 Time: Doors open 2pm. Location: Gamecenter Arcade ( 47 S. B St., 94402 ) Streaming: FinestKO (http://twitch.tv/FinestKO) Rules highlights: Evo-style match/bracket rules Payment tendered upon registration Admission fee $7 if you play, to be paid to Gamecenter (obtain wristband) Tournament fee variable (typically $5), to paid to tournament director (NCI) for prize pot. Pot split normally 70/20/10 No cost for pure-spectating (not playing at all at any time) Main Events (as of 11/08/2012): [*] P4A (ps3) - Persona 4: Arena (Persona 4: Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena) [*] AP (ps3) - Aquapazza [*] GG (xb360/ps3) - Guilty Gear: Accent Core Plus [*] TTT2 (ps3) - Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Venue address: Gamecenter 47 South B. St. San Mateo, CA 94402 Updated 11/08: game list

I would like to express appreciation for the people who helped NCI in an official capacity (that I remember...): Chun, for being vanguard of NCI for all this time Gamecenter, for providing venue FinestKO, provding NCI's streaming coverage OrionXElite, bracket master I would also like to express gratitude to those who helped in an unofficial capacity, providing equipment and watching over brackets (i suck at remembering names...): Hypebot for helping with BB and P4 brackets. Tsubasa and Dakanya for helping with AP and GG brackets them two guys whose names I don't remember ( ) who I tried to recruit into bracket-running Certainly there were others who helped make NCI a success, but alas, I can only see so much. Who else is deserving of recognition?

Postmortem on NCI 2012.10.06 I tried a few experiments running the brackets for Aquapazza, 14 entrants. That tournament was in that sweet spot of having enough people for a "weighty" tournament run-through, but not so many to make the experiment overwhelming. Part of the experiment was also finding out how to handle running brackets while also competing in a tournament, and to keep that part small, I entered BlazBlue only. The Good - changes that I feel made NCI for the better lieutenant/backup bracket runners - I was conscious of the fact that I cannot pay full attention at all times: playing in tournament, restroom visit, food break, coughing up a lung, etc. To this end, I tried at all times to maintain having at least one person available to step in at a moment's notice. I placed highest priority on watching for end-of-match and score-recording, which really comes down to writing down the winner's name, then sorting out the rest later. The worst-case scenario I was avoiding was having all available bracket runners in tournament, leaving no one tending to brackets. challonge.com - despite its shortcomings, being web-based allowed multiple devices to update the bracket through the day. No single device became a bottleneck for updating brackets, and any web-capable device can become an updater with a login. The tio machine was still ultimate arbiter of competition, but having satellite devices helped spread out the record-keeping load. core mains - So this NCI took the approach of having a set of three "core" games, and then padding out the sides/bookends with miscellaneous games. I think this partitioning helped create an organization focus, as it made clear which games had to be prioritized over others. In that vein, BlazBlue (7 entrants) was taken up to Grand Finals offline, leaving only one match for live-streaming. expendable sides - the non-core games were relatively expendable from an organizational perspective. Signups and brackets for the non-core were deliberately started later in the evening. Gauging the remaining time, the side games were changed to single-elimination winner-take-all to fit within the expected remaining time. Such variability gives flexibility in scheduling, but does yield uncertainty in announcements and plans. vanguard marathon - the largest tournament, Persona 4 (22 entrants), was run straight through from beginning to championship without breaks. As the largest tournament, this kind of marathon run helped clear out the largest potential progress blocker. The Bad - inconveniences and shortfalls late, later, even later start - this sort of snowballed from the inconsistent time announcements. Signups were delayed due to arrival confusions, which snowballed into delayed brackets start, ultimately blocking the entire event. Resolution: due to being a domino effect, this problem comes down to properly adhering to start time. oddball challonge viewing machine - I set up a monitor and computer as a read-only interface to challonge, the idea was that people could browse the AP brackets in real-time without the threat of messing up scores. Problem was, it looked too much like yet another PC, complete with air of "private property, do not touch". Resolution: dress up the machine better to let people know it's for public bracket-browsing. laggy tweeting - my own twitter feed was sporadic and sparse during NCI, and was only restarted (in general) as a way to help coordinate NCI preparations. Resolution: build up experience with regular use of twitter. slipped shutdown time - I originally wanted a shutdown time of 11pm, mainly b/c I bring a car-full worth of equipment for events, requiring some time to pack up. Other people who lend equipment also need time to pack up their equipment and check for loose/lost parts. Resolution: Maybe a staggered or staged shutdown would help? That is, at first stage, shut down non-essentials (spare monitors, standby stations, card games), then second stage identify idle stations for shutdown, third stage power off. Something along those lines. no scheduled breaks - I fell into this trap myself. I looked back at past NCI and think about how confusion reigns when people take breaks at somewhat random times, as there are no schedule break time to synchronize them all, and wanted to avoid that. And yet I failed in the exact same way. Resolution: short breaks at 2 hour interval, major breaks at 4 hour intervals, set in terms of start-of-brackets, as the breaks are needed to relieve stress due to time adding up, not time-of-day. Maybe have staggered breaks. The Ugly - elements that need serious attention inconsistent time announcements - this ultimately comes down on my head. I was still stuck in a 2009 mindset and subconsciously expected the dustloop announcement to be the definitive information source. As a result, not all communication channels transmitted the start time. Resolution: the five-W's must be transmitted consistently across all channels, with no assumption that anyone will or can cross-check any other channel. tio access bottleneck - this is a regularly-occurring problem, where having a single computer (and a single set of human-computer interface devices) introduces a bottleneck where only so many updates can be carried out per minute. While this kind of bottleneck did not occur so much this NCI, single-machine load did not scale well in past larger events, blocking match calls. Resolution: optimally, tournament software with distributed operation. Otherwise, unknown and TBD. tournament computer singleton - this is one element I can see leading to catastrophic failure. At this NCI, there was one computer, and only one, used for signups and brackets. The computer also had screensaver lock. The upshot was if the computer was not given constant attention, it became unusable until the owner unlocked. This presents an unacceptable blockage risk, and became a sore stress point for me. Should the owner become inaccessible in some manner, everything in the tournament becomes inaccessible - entrants, brackets, progress. I cannot abide by having the entire event hinge on a single point of failure. Resolution:dedicated computer configured specifically for tournament use or guest login geared towards tournament use or bracket software that is not tied to a single computer or save brackets to removable storage so it may be resumed elsewhere if needed. [*] tournament computer malposition - there is one part of the floor where the bracket computer traditionally sits. I have two problems with this location. One, it straddles a geographical chokepoint in the venue. The problem compounds when a small crowd forms trying to update different game brackets at the same time, sometimes completely choking off the hallway. Secondly, the machine is far away from the line of sight of almost all stations, requiring considerable "running" to maintain the tournament -- a guaranteed round-trip through a physical chokepoint. The second problem viciously feeds the first: more runners choke up the hallway, and unable to run, block tournament progress. Resolution: repositioning, TBD. Miscellaneous whinings - trivial matters I just want to air out [*] I made the call to swap out the Aquapazza cabinet for BlazBlue to help along the BB tournament. Didn't really help. Boo. [*] No preparations were had to streamcast or record SSF2T. Oh, well. [*] Circumstances were against Guilty Gear (late start, equipment shortage, lack of streamcasting), but they were all resolvable in real time. GG needed SDTV capture for live-streaming, which was not set up for a while. Even then, GG blocked a long time waiting for a live-streaming slot. Not comfortable with the way time was going, I made the call to finish Guilty Gear offline. In the grand scheme of things, Guilty Gear's problems are really non-issues -- GG finished on time, all competitors were present, and the upcoming PSN GG will render the SDTV capture a moot point. [*] Cakes were supposed to have a surprise topper print. While it technically arrived in time, bizarre circumstances ended up having the delivery rejected and otherwise "lost". So we ended up with generic "happy bday" icing text.

Indeed, do not have logistics to do so; however, need a better way of determing what to drop than random. KOF, AP, GG, SG, and ST are subject to last-minute cancellation. Kind of a sucky way of doing it, but I haven't taken a pulse of the scene in a long time. I aim to drop 1 or 2 of the tentatives by Mon, if not this weekend. EDIT: dropped KOF to tentative tier