Going to do a small piece on both SCR and the Hong Kong FGC scene.

Let me know if you know any writers, ha.

Don's Arcade

Carol Drive is hidden. The nickname “Sleepy Hollow” suits it well, with its surrounding barrier of small hills and its blanket of overarching leaves and trees. The only life on this cold October evening is the roving fog that is accompanied by the rhythmic chirping of crickets. The neighborhood is already fast asleep at six p.m. Nestled in the middle of the street sits an unassuming one-story house with a two-car garage. The small windowpanes of the garage are streaked with glimpses of light, illuminating the dark concrete sidewalk outside.
At seven p.m., the garage of Don Dapo, 30, hums to life. The roars of several arcade machines from inside break the night’s silence with each in-game narrator introducing each specific game title with a different opening cinematic and song. “So, what’s it going to be? The Third Strike, ya’ll, it’s Street Fighter Three,” one machine’s introduction music blared out.
Outside, a combination of light and fog glide toward the entrance of Dapo’s house. The beams from the headlights of various cars greet the closed twin garage doors. A dull crunch of pavement and tire signals the end of each car’s journey. The click of engines stopping, static noises from the radio and car door slams provided the background noise for the neighborhood. Passengers from inside the cars emerge and walk on the pathway along the side of the house. They move toward an old weathered brown door at the end of the trail. The door opens after a few knocks and light floods the group of travelers. Inside the garage, a tall, burly man sporting a leather jacket and an equally impressive handlebar mustache welcomes these passengers of the vehicles. The door is propped open and the people file into the bright caverns of Dapo’s double roomed garage. The arcade is open again.
From outside, any passerby listening in can make out the sounds of buttons mashing and exciting chatter. The sound contained inside by the closed garage and backdoor, barely escapes the driveway of Dapo’s home. Outside, he stands and looks on to the lit windowpanes of his garage, his breath visible in the cold night air. Dapo sighs contentedly at the current state of affairs: many players from the Southern California area are here in his home.
The unique appeal of Dapo’s arcade came from the fact that it doesn’t cost the players anything to come and play. The sessions are every week, on a Friday night, and players are alerted with a text message. Everything is on “free play” and players take advantage of this by playing until four a.m. “The crowd is separated by times,” Dapo said. “There is a crowd that comes in at nine p.m. and also one at 12 p.m.; that’s why I keep it so late.” Each space for the “Super Street Fighter Four” (SSF4) console set-up (there are eight set-ups, total) has a person either sitting down or peering over the player’s shoulder and lounging. Players either wait to play or watch the game. Each player reacts to the other’s moves, some in silence from concentration and others more vocal about their accomplishments.
“That link was so crispy,” an onlooker compliments the combo attack put together by one player.
“Man, that guy is too free,” another onlooker comments on the lopsided result of another match. Most players take their punishment in silence and the winners generally stay humble, even offering advice to others in defeat. It is two a.m. and the controller is still being passed around to the onlookers sitting behind them. The losers at each station happily pass on the arcade stick or point silently to the controller to encourage the onlookers to take their turn.

Run it back: The road to SCR (Southern California Regionals)

Great documentary made about Alex Valle, the renewal of the West Coast rivalry through Street Fighter 4, and THE big event in Southern California everyone is looking forward to, Southern California Regionals.

Part 1: http://www.vimeo.com/16293297
Part 2: http://www.vimeo.com/16817571
Part 3: http://www.vimeo.com/18430319

Be Patient

Content is coming soon.

Surrounded by the veterans

MILPITAS, Calif. – This new generation of fighting games was supposed to bring out all sorts of different players, from young ones to semi-young ones. With that, the newcomers were supposed to take over and start history.

But old history won't go away. There’s the small group of players that won’t let their own game get taken away from by all of these rookies. These guys have arguably been more consistent than most other communities out there. Well, to be honest, they’ve had their game for more than a decade; it was only a couple years ago where their game went through a few tweaks.

Out of all the games that have seen the spotlight in the past year and a half, it’s the Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix group that has maintained its veteran dominance. At NorCal Regionals 8, it was one of the three games on the main roster. And then it had five of its top eight finalists from NorCal Regionals 7 make an appearance this time around; no other game had as many returning players.

This is not a fluke; it’s happened in a lot of major tournaments in 2010. There’ll be one or two newcomers that edge their way into the top eight, but they’re surrounded by the known names.

Thanks Glenn for the shout-out

http://www.gytnews.com/articles/commentary/the-beginning-of-memories.html

I will be posting up the articles, relevancy be damned, very very soon. I want to make sure all the articles are as close to 100 percent as possible.

James Chen Evolution 2010

Hey so I was just browsing SRK and found this joyful 2 part article regarding the rise of competitive gaming, centralized around Evolution 2010.

http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2010/09/evolution-2010-season-wrap-up.html

Great read and I hope he doesn't mind me linking it here =X

Update post

For those wondering why we're so slow right now: I'm grabbing as much content before I re-release this blog to the public eye. Until then, keep checking back for updates but until I feel we're totally competent with content and features I will have publicity flooding back to this place.


To keep a tab on myself, here's a post about progress:

Jeffrey's working with Jason "Jayce the Ace" Nghe for his piece.
My piece is finished
AndyOCR piece is finished
Glenn Cravens of GetYourTournament finished his HD Remix NCR piece.
3 down, more to go?

Stay tuned.

Last Game

Last Game *

For now, let’s take away the words “death” and “arcade” together in the same sentence. Arcades, in remembrance, are the places where games are the main feature. There is nothing to buy but two-minutes of entertainment and hours of conversations with people of similar interests. It is that secret society where reality suspends itself and the only time is the timer that ticks down on the video game screen.

The reality, unfortunately, is that the arcade scene in America is ready to die. Its final gasps exist through the communities that come to enjoy these relics of gaming. Finding these elusive businesses require someone with previous experience and knowledge of its locations. One of the more beloved arcades in the last ten years is huddled away in the corner of a plaza of tea shops, Chinese restaurants and karaoke bars. It exists for the sole reason to bring entertainment and stands as one of the most iconic buildings in the short history of arcades in America. The ushering of Arcade Infinity brings about stories spanning from massive rhythm game tournaments to large local Street Fighter events.

Even on a slow Monday night, the noise of the arcade can still be heard from the parking lot of Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights. The vibrations of the cabinets and machines inside can be felt, shaking the ground, from the bottom of the flight of stairs leading up to the entrance. A pillar of cigarette smoke puffed from two chatting people surround the entrance of the twin glass doors of Arcade Infinity that greet each and every returning customer. Inside, the climate is warm with occasional gusts of wind, created by a combination of machines and people. Opening the doors transports the scene from the dark sky and shop windows to a room of blazing neon lights and a blend of different rock and pop songs.

Road Warriors

2009:Wednesday Night Fights

On July 21st, Alex “CaliPower” Valle had a dilemma. Since the beginning of summer, he and fellow shoryuken.com (SRK for short) member Dentron had wanted to put Southern California back on the map. In order to stay ahead of their northern counterparts and to regain their dominance that had been taken over by the East Coast, SoCal needed to start practicing. So Valle and Dentron both decided to host weekly events, gathering players from all around the region to meet together and begin, what they describe as, “leveling up”. Valle would host events, titled “Rush That Shit Down” on the weekends at varying locations while Dentron held them on Wednesday nights at his house near South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa as sort of a weekday counterpart to RTSD. Some Wednesdays, local restaurants would be greeted by the sight of the Valle and several of his buddies; an intimidating sight considering Valle looked like he might have been an ex-Marine (partially aided by his crew cut).

But on July 21st, Dentron announced to SRK that Wednesday Night Fights were “indefinitely cancelled”, and Valle’s planned resurgence of SoCal had hit a brick wall. But who were these players and what game were they playing? It was Street Fighter IV, and the players were a group of people who Valle was hoping would emerge as one of the most dominant groups of fighting game players in the world, something the former undisputed Street Fighter champion was no stranger to. SRK was the leading World Wide Web forum for fighting game enthusiasts around the world, primarily for the world’s best selling fighting game franchise, Street Fighter. RTSD was a phrase coined to describe the play style Valle developed for himself: a relentless offensive attack that did not give opponents time to think or react. But for Valle and the Southern California users of SRK, Dentron’s cancellation was a problem that must be solved. Two decades of playing the game taught Valle that in order to be at the top and stay there, one had to indulge in constant practice and play. Two days a week was a bare minimum for training (a requirement Valle implemented for participants was that they had to be playing on their own time every week as well). Valle knew he had to do something to fill the void that had been created on July 21st.

Editor's Note: This piece was completed for a college workshop just a little under a year ago. It was also my personal introduction to the community. Some information is outdated and a few parts might not even be relevant anymore. However, I believe the overall message of the story still holds strong today, and is prevalent when looking back at not only Alex's personal story, but also everything else that has made the scene into what it is today.
More after the jump but be warned: it's a long read. All comments are welcome in the comment section or e-mail at kaoticdragon@gmail.com