Steve: you able to get Pat/Ray? So far it is me, Billy, and Gavin. Demarcus is supposedly on his way. Chris/Sean has work, Lawrence not available on Sat, Jacob… haven’t heard from him in a minute… damn!
That’s good to know for next time. You probably can’t do so now since you are the one hosting.
If I the oddball may interject ever so briefly, a virtual “cough-cough” likely to be ignored for the most part…
Undoubtedly this is the drastic world-view change I’ve experienced recently talking, but to me the most amusing thing about all this bantering is where it falls on the scale of importance in the grand scheme of things, in proportion to the weight and time being given to it. Which is to say, low. Very, very low. Really when you think about it, regarding not only fighting games but all video games, any heated conversation of a negative bent is kind of silly, and funny, don’t you think?
Think about it -quite different from, say, a sport, where you have the physical interaction taking place when a foot hits a ball and sends it sailing through the air, video games are…empty. Nothing but binary strings I guess, translated into flashes and sounds. If you’re staring someone down the barrel of your gun in Call of Duty and a kid trips over the cord to the TV, you’re suddenly staring at a blank screen. When you turn it back on, you’ll likely be dead within that electronic ether. While that TV was dead, things were still happening. Now try to translate this into what nearly all video games really amount to- you’re staring at a screen, using your controller to move immaterial things and people to do immaterial things. Absolutely none of what happens amounts to anything, anywhere or anyhow. The only thing that gives any of it the illusion of substance is the flashing lights and sounds. Go ahead and pick up your controller while all the power is off, stare at the screen and start hitting buttons like you were doing a combo -don’t you feel silly? Do you see yourself staring back at you from the glare of reflection in the TV? That’s what we’re all doing when we park ourselves on the couch and go at it for hours. How can you really be mad about that?
And yet it’s fun! I’m as hooked as all the rest of you 
And, despite all of what I just said, I have my grievances just like the rest of you, however they lay not with any one individual, not at all; my problem is with the nature of people.
I’m mostly into RPGs, but I have always played and loved fighting games. Just about every one that I have ever tried, excepting Tekken and Virtua Fighter. I’ve only recently discovered the “Community” where all the tourneys and such take place however, and as time went by and I started to delve deeper, I noticed a very disturbing and hilarious trend. A fact of life was reinforced ten-fold.
People like to WIN. In most games (all, not just fighting) the most popular characters/weapons/classes are the ones most used. I challenge anyone to refute that statement.
World of Warcraft- in pvp, you will see a significantly higher number of whichever class/race happens to be the “flavor of the month,” case in point, when Paladins DOMINATED shortly after Wrath of the Lich King released, where previously they were somewhere in the middle in power. Suddenly, 8 out of 10 toons you encountered were Paladins. People re-rolled Paladin just to have an ace in the whole.
Overall, Rogues and Hunters tend to populate the servers the most, because they are easy to use and very strong.
In Soul Calibur, just try beating Ivy with Seong Mina. Go ahead, I’ll wait. And trust me, you WILL fight Ivy. Alot. Because she WINS, especially in the hand of someone who knows what they’re doing. Seigfried wins too, sometimes even if the person DOESN’T know what they are doing. You will fight many Siegfrieds.
Third Strike? Ken, Yun, Chun spam.
Shooters? Bunny-hop sniping, rocket launchers, whatever kills the most with the least effort.
Now, is there anything wrong with this? Fundamentally, no, of course not. But the facts are very telling.
But this is what keeps me from memorizing frames and whatnot, at least part of why. For one, and most importantly, there are just too many fun games for me to settle into playing only one. Secondly, I always shun the tried-and-true and play who and how I like. I will put my Rogue/Marrow/Sabertooth team vs PMS (in its various forms) all day, because I don’t NEED to win, but I do need to like the characters I’m playing. I happen to think Benimaru looks ridiculous, but I like his move-set and how he controls. Cannon-spike? Sweet move, I’m playing Cammy! Yes, even against the legions of Ryus, a character built in superior fashion in just about every way, at least in THIS iteration of Street Fighter- an important point, because it means that I have no problem with anyone who uses Ryu because they like him. Chris plays Ryu night and day, no matter the game or his “tier” -he didn’t design or build the game and so he’s not to blame for the near-imbalance present in the current game.
In the next game (heaven forbid) Bison might pwn face, or it might be Guile; that’s just the dice.
And I wouldn’t even say that I have a problem per se with anyone who bases their entire game off of who is the most popular. It’s just…interesting, and ultimately funny, because people are a trip, and so predictable.
But take into consideration, you…robots, for lack of a better word, take into consideration your choice to play Sagat simply because choosing him increases your chances of winning 50% by default in most cases. Consider your choice to forgo Dhalsim, whom you might absolutely love.
What would be more rewarding to you, winning 2 out of 10 fights with Dhalsim, or winning 8 out of 10 with Sagat, who you don’t even think is a cool character?
I assure you, when I trounce an MSP team with my low tiers, I chuckle very cruelly inside every time.
I bet you think I got off track from my original comments with this nonsense that most of you probably don’t really agree with anyway- but you’re wrong!
I’ve just shown how even I am guilty of this near-frivolity, taking half an hour from my day to consider and type all of this in regards to a video game.
And as I reach the end of this rant, however significant or insignificant it may be to your perception of fighting games (or any game) in regards to how you interact with other players, I urge you to consider the following, and then weigh its implied importance against the name-calling calling-out and what not that’s been going on.
According to some reading I’ve been doing, some ruins were found on an island in the recent past, whose origins are a complete mystery. The researchers questioned the natives and what records there were, trying to piece together the meaning behind the obscure structures, which, by all measurements and figures, equal or surpass what we can do today with our “advanced” technology; the hauling of blocks of stone weighing several tons which “floated through the air” according to myth and legend, etc, etc. The sites are situated on two islands separated by a gap of sea over which hurricanes were known to form quite often. Further study revealed that the sites were formed of a basalt, apparently a rock that is conducive to conducting electricity. The cites date back, reportedly, to several thousand years B.C, when there were said to have been no cultures anywhere near capable of building such things.
Now, it seems Nicola Tesla pitched an idea about using forms of electro-magnetism to possibly control weather, theorizing that hurricanes and the like were more the cause of magnetic and electrical phenomena than warm/cold air currents. He got funding to work on some towers meant to do just that, but things happened and he had to abandon the project; the half-built structures of Tesla, obviously thousands and thousands of years AFTER the ancient sites, seemed to perform a very curiously similar function of said sites, around which the native people said “strange lights” often appeared, sometimes killing people if they stayed there over night.
And so the speculation became; did some ancient culture, long abandoned and forgotten, have the technology to control weather? Not far from the sight of the ruins, terraces were found, on a scale not matched in the present day, where researchers believe the harnessed energy of hurricanes (the worst of which would have been abated by the strange electrical conductors) produced irrigation in the form of the harmlessly released rain, potentially providing massive food supplies for a people long since dead.
Has anyone ever been told any of this in school, in their history classes that drone on and on? Doesn’t it seem strange, when the above information suggests that the origins of humanity may date much further back than is currently asserted? Floating ton rocks? Giant electric conductors of precise geometric construction with tunnels reaching all the way to the ocean, perhaps meant to CONTROL WEATHER?
What else haven’t we been told?
Maybe who said what about whos play-style or who insinuated what about someone being pig-headed isn’t so important after all.
(I rarely say much, so perhaps it’s only fitting that when I do, it is a lot, lol. Just my 2 cents, as usual.)
ohh ok cool i’mma send u a friend invite later on tonight once i’m done with testing my mods and squeezing a few TDMs on UT3, if i dun get around tu it then i’ll do it tomorrow morning
ah… im rage quitting on you guys tonight. im gonna work on relaxing with netflicks and my ds. hope yall have fun. i wanna see some recordings!
You suck! I didn’t want to beat your Gen tonight anyways!
Alpha3Bison: Nice read! Someone here paid attention in English/Grammar class. I’m loving it (McDonald’s theme in background ensues) Hey, I play with Dhalsim because I enjoy playing with him and everyone knows this. Well… waiting to see who else shows up. Demarcus is here… I wonder who else will be joining.
@ Bradshaw
Nice post, you were able to effectively take my mind off of the current situation and at the end of the post you reminded me of it only to make me realize that it is not a big deal.
I can only fit two in the car, myself included in that two…
I can probably scoop both ray and pat up though, Pat when do you need to be home by?
11:30. Leave me behind tho because it is already 8:15.
rodolfo i hate you.
mr essay auther thank you for that.
as they say in tv “you just got learned”.
oh rodolfo again, im gonna eat you kids.
peace!
oh that was bradshaw! no wonder. i thought you were a new guy that just shipped in that happened to play the same chars as i. uhhh my bad, wasnt paying attention if you ever announced it.
:crybaby: You’re not coming? :tdown: We got some games to make up for then. Sorry that we keep missing each other. You got my info, don’t hesitate to text, pm, whatever. I’m an approachable person (honest) and I don’t bite… anymore, lol. Seriously though, I’m probably the most mellow person you’ll ever get the privilege to know. Until you get me upset, then you’re fucked.
Where is everyone else?!:wtf:
… and bite my ear off! Good comeback, Tyson 
so mr mellow…its cool if i eat ya kids right? thats the message im gettin.
I think he’s saying he doesn’t mind if you eat his children
both pat and ray aren’t going to make it tonight, ray said he’s down for tomorrow though
That was alot to read eesh… anywhos, im at rod house for a lil bit longer so if your coming come on…
Also, i guess ill just say it. I am the best in killeen by like a long shot, honestly the rest of you arent even 2 levels below me cept for ray he is like 2 pat is like 3 but thats it. Also, IF u manage to get a win against me, u shouldnt really gloat because its like who cares, and if u really i want ill line all of you up and give you the business just so you can know ur place on the food chain that i sit atop of. peace!
This is gavin btw pat isnt worth me logging rotendo out for his ridiculous posts. Ian too. smelly bastard!
Ok folks i got a friend of mine who recently signed up on here she’s gonna on post here in a minute but just heads up juss show her some love when she posts, look for MickeyHyde. So in Advance Everyone meet MickeyHyde, Spike (MickeyHyde) meet everyone
Ello everyone ;))
@Rotendo: On a side note I’ll be sending u an invite juss look for Gilgamesh247.
I’ll still be posting but i might be offline on the PS3 after i do that since ive been all day. If anyone else wants tu join a few quik matches fer tomorrow i’ll be down fer MvC2 or HDR. BTW nice post chris