Fighting Games Weekly | Sept 30 - Oct 6 | Hard Knockdown Life

Dahbomb said:
This generation of fighting game players and viewers are just too used to new updates/revisions/expansions/DLCs now that if you go two years without any change things start to get "stale". Everyone wants to stay in the phase of discovery, not in the phase of optimization which is in fact boring to watch for most people.

As a fan of UMVC3, the latest tournament with its top 8 had a lot of new stuff to see and some great matches (well except the Bee chokes those were hard to watch)... far from being stale. The problem with that game is not even the game itself.. it's that two players have gotten so ahead of the competition that we have gotten the same grand finals a few times in a row. Until we get like 8 people at that caliber playing the game will just be those few players dominating. In AE though there are just a ton more players who are at that absurdly high level who can take big wins so even if they are using Cammy/Fei/Akuma etc. its still exciting because the result is hard to predict.
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I definitely agree with you re: the skill gap between the best players of both games. We still have blow-ups like Haitani coming around in AE, and there tons of 'killers' at big events. In Marvel, it feels like you can boil it down to a smaller pool of players, and it's also lacking that strong international factor of AE--although that game could also use some fresh new shit.

One thing I personally find problematic with Marvel is that the meta seems relatively stable at this point. It's clear who the best characters are; no one's getting their hopes up for, say, a Tron blow-up, whereas we just had a fucking Gen win EVO. (I suppose Chris single-handedly bringing Morrigan to the top is comparable, though).

All in all, I think it's just a byproduct of the era; games and tech are mined at a very, very fast rate. Not to say it's exhausted, but the majority of the applicable concepts and breakthroughs already seem to have been made--whether that's true or not, we can't say, but it feels that way to people.
 
enzo_gt said:
Recent majors have been pulling a lot. Canada Cup just did 20k. Sp00ky always traveling has hurt NLBC, but generally Next Level viewers fluctuate a LOT. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen it as low as 4k.
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Just Canada Cup.
Everything else was relatively low. Did The Fall Classic even break 10k?
 
predictions:

xrd will be legit, nothing ground shaking though. won't do much for numbers.

ultra will be great but everyone will be bored with sf4 again after evo

smash 4 will be huge if it's better than brawl for the competitive scene. by then wii u will be $250 guaranteed, if not $199, so people will pick up the system to play smash.

unlike KI. no one is buying an xbone for that shit. by they time they drop kinect and the price it'll be too late.





marvel 4 late 2014/early 2015 to coincide with avengers 2 lets goooooooo
 
Sad that the only fighters I'm really looking forward to next year are KOF20th, KI, and Xrd. Until then I got XIII, Chaos Code, and Skullgirls to practice.
 
Dahbomb said:
Not this shit again...

Anyway people are more concerned about "Match Up Fighter" or "Set Up Fighter" than it being random or whatever the fuck. I guess that stuff is changing with Ultra so there's that to look forward to. People are going to tolerate whatever shit happens in AE mostly because "oh well, at least Ultra is coming". Other games don't have that luxury so people are likely to quit playing/watching them.
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I was kidding, of course. But yeah, agreed on everything here.

While I'm pretty fine with where AE is currently at, I am looking forward to Ultra and seeing how that develops. As long as Capcom doesn't do anything too drastic, the gaps should be really condensed than before. Probably might even get back into this game after the update.
 
David_hayter said:
i know youre being sarcastic but i really feel the fgc is dying tbh.
Weeklies(WNF/TRB, NLBC) has been getting lesser viewers...i remember when Big Two had like 8k viewers, now its only 3-4k viewers
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You sound like one of those dudes who payed more attention to Evo's viewer count than the actual matches.
 
alstein said:
Curious- has TTT2 kept its numbers pretty well- that's a game I imagined would keep its viewers for the most part.
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Yeah, stream wise whenever there's Tekken on Twitch, the same group of guys are there to watch. Unfortunately the past couple major Tekken events EVO (the pools side stream) and TFC had really poor stream quality which made people check out. I usually spot around 3-5k viewers for majors and 100-300 viewers for Aris and Rip personal streams. ATP Live gets around 500 viewers on the regular.

Oh, and numbers went way up during the first week of Tekken Revolution, but have leveled off since.
 
Busaiku said:
Just Canada Cup.
Everything else was relatively low. Did The Fall Classic even break 10k?
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enzo_gt said:
In pretty sure TFC broke 15k, I remember being impressed with its viewers. I'm sure SweetJohnnyCage is around with some facts.
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15K is about right for the peak of TFC stream numbers. Reading the TFC thread back then, there were a lot of people that were turned off by the slideshow because of the horrible quality of the internet connection at the venue.

I think this turned off a lot of possible viewers.

While not overlapping too much, there was the Mayweather fight on Saturday as well which I think pulled away some viewers.

That said, I think that to pull those numbers for a first outing that are 75% of Canada Cup (which was hypeless going into it this weekend and then all of a sudden 20K viewers, which shocked me as well) is commendable.

Here's hoping that it will show growth in the subsequent years
 
New Shadowloo Showdown 2013 trailer is live with confirmed attendees:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD661GISe9g

Japan
  • Tokido
  • Mago
  • Shungoku Neurosis
  • Abegen
  • RF
  • Uryo
  • Y
Taiwan
  • Gamerbee
Singapore
  • Xian
  • Jackson
  • Gambleboxer
  • Gackt
Kuwait
  • Adel
  • LGG Sai
  • Qambarco
  • Aziz XIV
USA
  • Clockw0rk
  • DJ Huoshen
  • Ranmasama
  • Snake Eyez
France
  • Louffy
Sweden
  • Bubblanab7
Malaysia
  • FV Chuan
  • Trix
Korea
  • JDCR
 
Oichi said:
Just posted this article on my personal site about a Japanese arcade increasing their prices to 108 yen per play (from the regular 100 yen) due to the tax hike that's hitting next year.

http://www.versuscity.net/2013/09/30/japanese-arcades-108-yen-per-play/
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My initial thought was what they were going to do with the spare change; just like the US with quarters, you didn't want to be carrying around dimes an nickels in the arcades.

I think that this can be a good thing. 100 yen seems to have been the standard for arcades in Japan for a long time; unfortunately inflation raises the cost of everything (electricity, rent, cabs, etc.) and the price of games wasn't reflecting that.

I think this might mean a small downtick in arcade costs for a while, but if the current arcades can weather this, it might be for the better; a new generation of arcade players will be accustomed to game prices rising and falling with the economy, just like everything else.

Also, as an aside, it would be really nice if the prepaid card system will be multi-arcade, multi-system (but then that's just like a credit card, use of which is really, really low in Japan).

What they really need to do is allow payment for games the same way you can pay for goods in most stores in Japan; through your phone. I believe it's RFID chips (doesn't matter), but that would definitely open up wallets (because you don't have physical currency, it's out-of-sight, out-of-mind, you're more willing to spend it if the price isn't too large).
 
Oichi said:
Just posted this article on my personal site about a Japanese arcade increasing their prices to 108 yen per play (from the regular 100 yen) due to the tax hike that's hitting next year.

http://www.versuscity.net/2013/09/30/japanese-arcades-108-yen-per-play/
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If that's how tight their margins are, they're not going to last long even with the hike.

I could see that driving folks away. Imagine if an arcade here was 27 cents instead of 25 for a game back in the 80s.

Just the sheer annoyance and the weird number is enough. The cards won't help, people don't want to do math at an arcade.

Famicom said:
Yeah, stream wise whenever there's Tekken on Twitch, the same group of guys are there to watch. Unfortunately the past couple major Tekken events EVO (the pools side stream) and TFC had really poor stream quality which made people check out. I usually spot around 3-5k viewers for majors and 100-300 viewers for Aris and Rip personal streams. ATP Live gets around 500 viewers on the regular.

Oh, and numbers went way up during the first week of Tekken Revolution, but have leveled off since.
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Well, Tekken Rev wasn't a serious game, I got the impression it was more of a beta test for future Tekken titles on how to fix certain things about the series that were keeping new players away.

Tekken pretty much has its own community, which is why I think things will be fine in the long-term. Most of the non-Capcom fighters have their own communities by now, and those will remain stable. The issue really comes down to how to get folks outside of that community to buy the games.

As long as folks buy the games and the companies make enough money on them to justify console ports , new games will get made and the FGC will march on. The worry comes when the big companies stop making games- that's when the community is going to go poverty.

I'm worried what will happen if SF5 flops in a few years, which is possible, it's going to be hard to follow up SF4. I'm sure Capcom worries about this as well, given how SF3 flopped in comparison to SF2.

We really need more home-grown games like Yatagarasu and Skullgirls- it's the community that keeps things alive more than the companies.
 
FSP's Adventures in EF-12, Chapter 1

q0CpnkwT3n
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Definitely an interesting avenue to explore. There is definitely potential in the engine - my worry is that without online play it'll end up with a tiny community.

My thoughts after a few days:

1) Unless you know how to use Softimage, you're probably going to have to use Maya, and then learn enough Softimage Mod Tool to export IK skeletons.
2) The convertors are buggy, but they do work eventually.
 
alstein said:
I'm worried what will happen if SF5 flops in a few years, which is possible, it's going to be hard to follow up SF4. I'm sure Capcom worries about this as well, given how SF3 flopped in comparison to SF2.

We really need more home-grown games like Yatagarasu and Skullgirls- it's the community that keeps things alive more than the companies.
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Don't disagree here, but I can't see another entry in the SF series for another decade after the last entry in the SF4 series (going by previous history). That said, even if it's a few years, the economic landscape of Capcom (and the industry in general) will be different, so it's hard to say what kind of risk/reward they're willing to take, or whether or not they have the capital to acquire/retain the talent necessary to continuously innovate the series.

As an aside, what's the etiquette for responding to old threads. You had posted something in last week's FGC weekly that I'd like to respond to, but was just approved over the weekend. Not looking to do something ban-worthy my first day.
 
enzo_gt said:
In pretty sure TFC broke 15k, I remember being impressed with its viewers. I'm sure SweetJohnnyCage is around with some facts.
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Truth be told, since the connection was so shitty at the venue, I hardly paid attention to the stream. I figured I should stop stressing it and make sure the event itself was running well. Once Spooky resurfaces from his trans-Pacific adventures, I'll get the data from him. I think it hit 16-17k during Marvel finals.
 
I view FGC stuff like I view wrestling PPVs. Evo is Wrestlemania, and FR/NCR/SCR/CEO/UFGT/maybe a few others are like Royal Rumble/Summerslam/Survivor Series. Everything else is a B-show. If the B-shows don't get 20k+ then it's not worth sweating.

alstein said:
I'm worried what will happen if SF5 flops in a few years, which is possible, it's going to be hard to follow up SF4. I'm sure Capcom worries about this as well, given how SF3 flopped in comparison to SF2.
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This is what I'm worried about. Capcom's kind of in a weird position with SF5. SF4 was largely successful because it's a lot like SF2 and they played off that nostalgia that people had with playing SF2 in the 90s. They're not going to be able to rely on that as much with SF5 unless they go another 10 years before releasing it. If they don't make SF5 different enough, the game will be too samey. If they make it too different, they risk another SF3 scenario.

But if Capcom pulls it off, SF5 could be absolutely huge both for Capcom and the competitive scene.
 
Parallax Scroll said:
FINALLY we'll be able to connect to the chat
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Reserved for LoL events only.
kappa

Seriously though, here's my wishlist:

  • Better compression/downloads (can't do anything about crappy uploads though, but downstream they can do better)
  • More up-to-date player (STAHP with the flash embed, give me HTML5 video)
  • Better mobile integration (if I click on an embedded video/stream, take me to that stream in the app, not just the front page).
  • Better archives with more metadata through the API (it's really bare) as well as better searchability through the API
 
casperOne said:
Don't disagree here, but I can't see another entry in the SF series for another decade after the last entry in the SF4 series (going by previous history). That said, even if it's a few years, the economic landscape of Capcom (and the industry in general) will be different, so it's hard to say what kind of risk/reward they're willing to take, or whether or not they have the capital to acquire/retain the talent necessary to continuously innovate the series.

As an aside, what's the etiquette for responding to old threads. You had posted something in last week's FGC weekly that I'd like to respond to, but was just approved over the weekend. Not looking to do something ban-worthy my first day.
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That's not ban-worthy, feel free to throw it out.

I don't think they can wait an entire decade- by that time the old-heads will be in their 40s, and once you hit 30, it becomes harder and harder to compete. I already feel some FGs need to slow things down for the older folks (ironically Skullgirls does a decent job of this- it's a good old head game)

The other issue with SF5 is that it has the same problem as TTT2, they kinda threw the kitchen sink out there, so when you do have to evolve, you have to throw all of that out, and it will irritate some folks- see no Mai no buy for KOF, no Chun-Li no buy for the early versions of SF3.
 
 
alstein said:
I don't think they can wait an entire decade- by that time the old-heads will be in their 40s
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Or even older in some cases...

alstein said:
Pot bonuses are zero help. they should put the pot bonus into things that pot monsters would appreciate, like events or things they can win.
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So, this is something that I have a huge investment in.

On the one hand, making the tournament a better experience for those that attend is a good thing, and a good use of money. For a good tournament, you can get exposure to 500-1000 people (or in the case of Evo, multiples of that) and you've made the experience better for all of them.

However, as a sponsor whose offering is strictly Internet-based (and can't be measured by say, promo code sales like Mad Catz and Avermedia), social media awareness and Internet buzz are very valuable to me and what I'm trying to do.

This isn't to say that I don't want to do what's best for the FGC, but it's difficult to find ways to get some return on the for what I've put out there (and I've never really sought return in any way until TFC where I was encouraged to) all these years. The Twitter poll for the bonus prize at TFC was a huge boon for me, and it was more than I expected in terms of raising brand awareness both for myself and for the event.

That said, I don't know that there is a good solution that sits in between. We're trying somewhat more traditional sponsorship models (as you've seen in the Shadowloo Showdown trailer I posted up earlier) and we'll see what happens there. I met Ali in 2011 and he supported me in the sf4a days, so I'm more than happy to support the Aussie crew this year.

Regardless, it's not that we don't want to put money into the things you mentioned, but we are looking to balance that (and not even necessarily in our favor) with the factors I've listed above.

Input by the community is always appreciated on the matter of course.
 
Anth0ny said:
predictions:

xrd will be legit, nothing ground shaking though. won't do much for numbers.

ultra will be great but everyone will be bored with sf4 again after evo

smash 4 will be huge if it's better than brawl for the competitive scene. by then wii u will be $250 guaranteed, if not $199, so people will pick up the system to play smash.

unlike KI. no one is buying an xbone for that shit. by they time they drop kinect and the price it'll be too late.

marvel 4 late 2014/early 2015 to coincide with avengers 2 lets goooooooo
Click to expand...
I dunno. $250 for a Wii U and Smash (assuming price crash)?

I think it'll depend on if the early adopters say it's good or not since people are also wanting to invest in a PS4 or XBone.
 
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