Just last night, Seattle’s very own Josh “Messatsu Orochi” Taton and I had a discussion with me about the world famous samurai, Miyamoto Musashi.  Josh went on to explain that Musashi was most famous for his unrivaled swordsmanship in numerous duels with other Japanese swordsmen.  In his life, he went on to write “The Book of Five Rings” each titled respectively towards elements entitled: “Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Nothing.”  The book goes on to talk about military strategy much like “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.  So why does any of this belong here at SeattleVersus?  As Josh fired off quote after quote from Musashi, I could clearly see relevance from a fighting game perspective…the theory of combat directly correlated to a competitive fighting game player’s mentality.  The Book of Five Rings applied so much more than just martial arts.  Apparently business leaders have gone on to find that Musashi’s discussion of conflict seemed incredibly relevant to their own trials as entrepreneurs.

Musashi talks about the importance of positioning, adaptation, discipline and a variety of aspects concerning combat, all things that we as fighting game players strive to master.  In this column, check out how Josh and I break down quote after quote from Musashi’s “The Book of Five Rings.”  I introduce to you, “Seeing with the Mind’s Eye.”

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With Guy being introduced to Super Street Fighter 4 yesterday, a lot of questions are being asked as to how he’ll play.  I’ve personally been a fan of Guy since the Alpha 2 days and never understood his in’s and out’s to a competitive level. A few years ago community member “XenoZip” made a Street Fighter Alpha 3 tutorial on how to use Guy.  From basics to advanced combo’s, the tutorial does a pretty nice job showing Guy’s in’s and outs with his SF: Alpha 3 carnation.  Obviously the newer Super 4 version of Guy will be sure to be much different than the Alpha 3 version of Guy, what with an entirely different game mechanics system and all.  However to give you a primer and understanding of what to expect from guy, check out the tutorial!

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Okay, so the last picture I posted up was indeed fake.  But we got some REAL concrete information this time around regarding that big announcement that Seth Killian was talking about…NEW CHARACTERS!  So no more action figurine fakes here!  Three new characters from the Street Fighter Alpha series will be thrown into Super Street Fighter 4.  Adon, Guy and Cody have been officially announced in today’s Famitsu!

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New scans came in!  Fake?  Real?  Whatever the case it seems to feature what looks like Urien (from Street Fighter Third Strike) and Guy (from Final Fight).  Urien looks like he’s performing the Tyrant Slaughter Super from 3s days.  Guy on the other hand looks like he’s performing the beginning of his famous Final Fight chain combo (jab, strong, fierce, roundhouse).

Could this be the announcement that Seth Killian was talking about in recent interviews?  At the same time, I noticed that DeeJay’s face has a  ”G4″ logo on it.  Anyways, one thing’s for sure, this is some crazy news…DISCUSS!

EDIT: After “careful observation” we here at SeattleVersus have deemed this picture FAKE!  It just so happens that Urien and Guy are both photo shopped images of their action figurines, thrown into the Super Street Fighter 4 universe.  Sorry for the inconvenience guys.  On a lighter note, Guy however WAS confirmed shortly afterwards, however no sign of Urien.

Within the past year, the competitive fighting game scene has grown expansively and tournaments have grown more rampant than ever.  It’s tough to keep up on the scene!  Who’s hot, who’s not?  Who’s the best in their area and who’s on the rise to overtake that title?  Every weekend I’ll be doing a small breakdown on the biggest tournaments that happened over the weekend so you can keep in the know.  With that, here’s what happened over the weekend…

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The highly anticipated NorCal regionals started today at 10am.  I was actually supposed to attend the tournament with Jeff aka DocDoomKills, however I backed out due to money issues .  Hosted by iPlayWinner, the stream is up and live if your looking to see some of Cali’s finest duke it out.  Hard hitters like Alex Valle, Edma, Mike Ross,  and Combofiend will all be attending so be sure to check out the stream!  Best of luck to all those who made it to NorCal Regionals from the NW!

As we all know, Seth Killian has been everywhere talking to everyone about Super Street Fighter 4.  IGN, the Playstation Blog, Gamspot and now G4 have all gotten to interview Seth about Super 4, bringing with it tons of of exposure and excitement.  Today G4’s very own “Xplay” got a hands on experience with Super Street Fighter 4 for a bit.  Though none of the information in this particular interview is quite new for most of the fighting game scene, we did get to see what people are calling the “India Stage” for a bit (the footage of this stage begins 0.50 seconds into the video).  The level looks really detailed and pretty visually appealing.  Seth also went on to explain that we might be hearing something new concerning character’s pretty soon.  Let’s cross our fingers that “soon” actually MEANS soon.

It’s been a pretty long time since we’ve had an official singles tournament event (aside from the Tournament Wars events), but community member Ejdge has something in the works.  Come  Sunday, December 6th,  Ejdge will be holding a Tekken 6 and Street Fighter 4 tournament over at the UW Husky Union Building.  The tournament will start at 1pm (sign ups begin at 12pm) with a $10 entry fee.  If you are interested in attending this event, check out the official thread for more details such as how to register, directions to the HUB and more!  Also, the format is still in it’s infancy and tournament format isn’t quite “set in stone” yet!  Check out the thread and tell Ed what you think.

Recently within the past few weeks, Majestros of SonicHurricane has been coming out with some awesome tool assisted combo videos pertaining to Street Fighter 4.  He even came out with a few combo puzzle/challenges for players as well to test out just how creative people can make combo’s.  I am personally a huge fan of well made combo videos and can honestly say that I have a bit of a “soft spot” for videos like these.

The previous videos that he has come out with have been awesome to say the least, however his most recent video featuring Ken was down right amazing.  I mean honestly…4 focus attacks in 1 combo?   Forward roundhouse counter hit link into crouching forward?   5 dragon punches in a single combo?  Standing roundhouse into super!?  Someone’s gotta hold me back now because I’m getting out of hand.  Check out the full video and a combo transcription/explanation guide here at sonichurricane.

Now personally, I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Capcom Vs SNK 2, so I had a real soft spot for the video shown above.  For any player that took Cvs2 seriously, I’m sure that you can value what’s going on in the video.  Just like with any project Maj has made, this video is pretty amazing as well.  Along with the Cvs2 “choreographed matches,” you’ll see a lot of other combo’s from other fighters such as Last Blade, Guilty Gear, Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact, King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown, Street Fighter Alpha 2…the list goes on!  Check out SonicHurricane’s youtube channel to view more amazing fighting game videos.

Back by popular demand (thank you to all those who are voting in the poll), Frank brings to you part 2 in the “Seattle History Lessons” series. In part 2, Frank goes into detail about one of competitive fighting gaming’s most famous title: Marvel VS Capcom 2. From game mechanics to rivalries at the time (back in 2000), Frank exposes exactly what the game was like in it’s heyday. Aside from MvC2, Frank also goes on to talk about the people he met during the time. So without further delay, here it is, “Seattle History Lessons: Part 2!”

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