Jul 10, 2012

The uncontested meta-winner of EVO 2012 was King of Fighters XIII.  Though the other grand finals matches displayed admirable skill and a furious intensity, no other matchup delivered so thoroughly or had as much on the line. For context, the developer for KOFXIII, SNK Playmore, was seemingly inches from a long-stalled death knell.  King of Fighters XII did...

Dec 31, 2011

By this we mean the best game from 2010 after a year of hindsight, what game held up the best that we found ourselves playing a year after its launch despite a wealth of distractions.  Really what else could hold this spot?  Mortal Kombat made a valiant effort in April to dethrone it as our go-to title for fighters but to no avail.  The addition of new...

Sep 1, 2011

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is a controversial entry in Capcom’s flagship fighting franchise.   Despite its avid fanbase, and the special place it holds in SF producer Yoshinori Ono’s heart, 3rd Strike has more than a few noteworthy detractors.  While the game is often lambasted for its egregious lack of balance, the fundamental arguments about 3rd...

Aug 9, 2011

If you are a spammer, you’re in good company.  Look at the comments beneath any Street Fighter match on YouTube where someone plays a character with a strong projectile game.  Someone will accuse them of spamming, without fail.  Apparently, even Daigo Umehara is guilty of spamming – as I said, good company.  Likewise, for every boy who cries “spam,”...

Jul 20, 2011

It wasn’t so long ago that the term “eSports” referred exclusively to a fad inspired by Starcraft-crazy Koreans.  Recently, however, it seems that competitive gaming is being taken more and more seriously as an industry unto itself.  The fighting game scene provides a quintessential illustration of this phenomenon.  With the approach of EVO, players...

Jun 19, 2011

Our story begins with a simple gesture: a man throws his hat.  It glides past the man’s dazed ninja adversary in an elegant arc.  Then, with a devious rotation, it darts back to its owner’s hand, decapitating the ninja on the way. EG Justin Wong’s Kung Lao has just performed a Fatality on Tom Brady’s Sub Zero to close their second match in the Mortal...