Tier Lists

    A few years ago, when SF4 first hit arcades, I happened to live in Arizona where we were lucky enough to have an arcade cabinet.  I happened upon it rather casually, but as a fighting gamer, it was hard to contain my excitement.  Needless to say, I was ready to dive head-first into it and begin practicing.  It was a fresh game, and it was obvious to everyone that this was going to be a big deal.  Nobody really had a grasp on who was good or bad.  We were just happy to play a new fighting game and explore options.  As a frame of reference, this was before anyone knew that Boxer had an overhead rush punch.  This is how new the game was.

    So of course, the first thing I did was call all of my local scene and tell them about it so that we could practice, play, and just in general have a good time.  Things were great.  We were all exploring characters, trying to figure out how they worked.  One of my friends, Mailorder, had deigned to try the new characters before looking into any of the characters that had returned from other games in the series.  He remarked after standing up at some time with the words "I really like C. Viper.  I think she could be good."  Promptly, somebody I had never seen before (but was obviously a fighting game player) chimed in from the side with a snide remark: "Viper is C-Tier."

Four Important Questions For The Aspiring Competitive Gamer

    Competition is a wonderful thing.  It has the potential to bring out the best in someone, and is what keeps people striving to better themselves even at the top.  At some level, we all value competition.  It's evident in the way the human mind works.  A certain degree of respect is given to those who have talent or skills in a number of activities, from music, to sports, to academics.  Each of these fields have competitions, whether we know of them or not.  In each of these worlds, there are people striving to be the best -- striving to reach a goal.  Whether it be the NBA Championship Ring or a Grammy Award, these people put all they have into the activity of their choice -- dedicating their lives to the pursuit of their interest.

    In recent years, Competitive Gaming Leagues have become a much more common thing.  Much in the same vein as sports leagues, and amateur music competitions such as a "Battle of the Bands", people have begun to congregate in an attempt to prove their worth and skill.  Often, these have culminated in tournaments where the sole purpose of play is simply to seek out the best of the best.  However, the world of competition is not for everyone.  It takes true dedication and a mindset that simply does not allow one room for compromise.  In order to help prepare the aspiring player, I've put together a set of four questions that illustrate just the kind of dedication you might need in order to succeed.

On the Topic of Power Up

    This past weekend, I sat down in my messy t-shirt and ugly pajama pants not totally sure what I should do.  Perhaps play a video game, browse the internet, or some other such nonsense.  In my daily romp over to http://www.shoryuken.com I took a look at the daily stream section to see something that perked my interest -- the Power Up tournament series.  Seeing that it was a relatively big deal, I sat down to watch it with some interest.  I honestly had very little to do, so I figured that I may as well take a look.  Perhaps someone would have new ideas and strategies that I could blatantly steal to improve my own game.  What I found instead was a bit of controversy.