Prepare Yourself for Battle!

So, it has been another dive into the world of fighting games for lil' ol' me for the past weeks. The 25th anniversary of Street Fighter official Capcom sponsored tournament series kicked off on the 27^th which I did attend but did not compete. Super big names in the FG community would have slaughtered me in ways I have only ever paid good money on the internet to see done to other people...but probably with severely less latex involved. The event was in Austin, TX so I spent most of my time with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. But I didn't forget to visit Arcade UFO while I was in town. I did quite well on the SSF4AE cabinets, but it was more due to the lack of good competition there rather than my own personal skill. If I was better at third strike I would have challenged my friend Yuuki “theAdonis” Spencer. He took part and got 5^th place in the event, it may not sound impressive, but he got to walk away with 200 bones and a swag-ass T-shirt (swag as in 'stuff we all get') for a free-to-enter tournament. It was a good start to a fighting game based week.

The following Monday was the release of the DLC content for Street Fighter X Tekken which included 12 new characters and and a few slight tweaks including fixing game breaking glitches. The characters were as follow:

Blanka

Cody

Dudley

Elena

Guy

Sakura

Alisa

Bryan

Christie

Jack-X

Lars

Lei Wulong

I have taken a great liking to Cody, which is no surprise since he is one of my main's in AE, but even though Sakura is my other main, I cannot get behind her in this game. No matter how you look at it though, extra content is extra content and 12 characters is nothing to shake a stick at. It's a healthy addition and a great stride in the attempt to revitalize the game. Even though SFxTK is still a pretty recent game, it has already been taken out of the spotlight in light of Marvel vs. Capcom and Street Fighter 4. We will see what these new characters accomplish for the games popularity in the months to come.

Soon to follow as it officially releases today in the states is Persona 4: Arena. If you don't remember, I was very much so looking forward to this title release as the source material being one of my favorite RPG's and the game engine looking like one of my favorite fight games. Once I get to play this title more, you will get a more in depth review of this title, but for now, just know I'm going to be wasting a lot of my free time on this title. And in the same vein, Arc System Works is proving that there is no rest for the reckless, they have surfaced with news on the new installment in the Blazblue series. Blazblue:Chrono Phantasma has surfaced with new moves, mechanics, and characters. According to the article on Shoryuken.com there will be a new Overdrive system (to replace gold bursts), a new guard crush mechanic that requires meter to perform, new moves for characters along with rebalancing, and 3 new characters all together. It is still in it's first location test so more changes are likely to come. Keep your eye's peeled if you enjoy the Blazblue franchise or are looking to expand your palette of fighting games in general.

Crispy Links:

More info on BBCP

Persona 4: Arena Info (dustloop forums)

I have some new videos up for SFxTK, they feature Asuka, Lili, and Cody (with a bit of Sakura) for those of you who are interested.