I'd say that about 90 percent of the competitors I meet have a secondary extra-curricular activity in their lives, whether it's playing another video game competitively, playing a M.M.O game, or just being active in active outside of the video game world (I'm not talking about having a job).

One of those guys is Ryan "Futile" Burger. Yes, the same Futile that beats the crap out of people with his Wario.

I knew what his YouTube name was, but I never clicked on it because I didn't care to. I only view other people's YouTube accounts if they're talking trash on mine, or if they try to solicit people.

This guy is amazing. He replays notable songs on his piano and keyboards.

Here's one of those songs:



Now, I'm recommending that he do some other songs. I have three in mind:

* -- "V" from the Beatmania IIDX 5th Style Soundtrack
* -- "Monolith" from In the Groove 2
* -- "Red Zone" (might be a long shot since it has vocals)

Come up with some other songs.

|

Tom "Tsquared" Taylor, the face of Str8 Rippin, laid it all out in his latest journal entry, which was posted on Major League Gaming.

And when you read it, you can't help but feel for what he and the rest of the team went through. He thinks he finally has the team that can win it all. Then, a friend leaves for the big time but comes back, but then leaves again. To top it all off, the way it happened was amazing.

Tsquared wrote a lengthy entry but in essence, about seven lines tell the story. I'm not knocking Tsquared's writing, because the whole entry was worth reading. However, I think the after-transaction conversation Tsquared had with his former teammate and friend, Mason "Neighbor" Cobb, summed up the whole entry.

In a couple of hours Mason ended up calling me. It wasn't the most constructive conversation but I said how I felt. It went something like this.
Mason: Hey
Me: Tell me the deal just get the news over with
Mason: Yea well Gilbert Arenas is offering me............
Me: *EXPLICIT BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
[end]

Amazing.

If you don't know, Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas helps with Final Boss because he's a big fan of the team.

I'm trying to figure out a correlation. Is this like the Elton Brand situation? Some people could look at it that way. Brand left the Clippers for more money, and this was AFTER he asked for someone to help him win in Los Angeles and AFTER they signed Baron Davis. So, Brand left for more money. But then again, he also is going to a team that will likely make the playoffs. You can't say that for certain about the Clippers.

The more I'm writing this, the more I'm believing you can't compare Neighbor to Brand. These are two different situations, although it's somewhat believable that money is a factor in both.

Tsquared thinks this is their year, and they have a regional championship (San Diego) to back up those claims. If they and Final Boss meet up either in the semifinals or title match, have someone in between both teams and get the filters ready.

Those that want to attend the "Super Smash Bros" (and that's without the Melee or Brawl) tournament scheduled for Aug. 23 in Pasadena cannot just walk in to the event unannounced.

That's because the tournament organizers will only give the address to players that register for the tournament.

I have called the tournament organizers for their address so I can put it on our schedule of events. However, the tournament organizers have declined to give me the information.

The only way anyone will receive the address is by calling and signing up. It is a house tournament, and it was barred to anyone younger than 21. The problem is, the community is very young, with only a few players cracking the legal drinking age.

Also, the tournament has a cap of 25 players, with 16 signed up as of Tuesday.

One of the tournament organizers told me he did not want young players and their parents walking around. I imagine they were thinking of a Little League-type atmosphere, where parents would get upset if their kid lost (imagine if a little kid was edgeguarded five times). They do not realize that only a few parents in this community attend tournaments, and those parents aren't there to be Little League Dads and Little League Moms; some of them follow their beloved players as if they're fans.

Anyway, you see the number on the flyer. If you are interested in attending, you might as well call the number.

The Madden community can finally schedule their plane trips.

The schedule for this year's tournament series has been released. It accompanies this blog entry.

The main Madden Challenge site has not been updated yet, but as a backup, you can also check Best Buy's Madden page for updates.

It was rumored that Los Angeles and San Diego would be the only California locations, and they would go 1-2 on the schedule. Yup.

I think this is good and bad in a way. It's good for the West Coast players because they can "steal" a circuit win in their region; there's little or no travel time. In past years, if you wanted to steal a win early on, you had to go to the Midwest, where the tournament series began.

It's bad though, because the three players that win on the West Coast will have won because they learned the game fast enough, and I think there is a prevalent luck factor involved. The person that wins in Florida, the last U.S. event on the schedule, will have seen enough footage and practiced long enough to be ready for any defensive scheme that is created by the community. It's kind of like getting No. 30 in the Royal Rumble, you're fresh and everyone is fatigued, and you know who you have to throw over the top rope. If you were No. 1, you need luck and endurance and have to be prepared for anything on the fly.

Or, it's like being the No. 1 seed in a ladder challenge, you only have to beat one person unlike the No. 4 seed, who has to beat three players.

|

We're a week away from the Evolution Fighting Game Championships' 10-year anniversary tournament. We will soon find out what kind of attendance they will have for their new games, which includes Brawl.

Brawl will be the enigma because it might do well. Then again, it might tank. If they get 100 players, is that bad? Think about that. One hundred players. In California, there's only been a handful of tournaments that have reached 100 participants.

Many people were telling me that my estimate of 270 players (identical to last year's attendance) was almost Mendoza Line-like numbers. Players were thinking that, if the tournament was run under a community-based ruleset, 500 players easily would have went to compete.

I'd be curious to know from you the reader how many people you think are going to compete in EVO's Brawl tournament? Will it break 100? Today, I'll say yes and here's why.

Whenever you have a hybrid competition, you can cherrypick attendance from the other games. Some people will be bored and just want to waste time in another game. Other people use a secondary game as a way to prevent their mind from getting fried in their primary game.

Attendance for almost every title in 2007 broke records. So for this year, let's say 10 out of 300 players from each of the other five games play Brawl. That's 50 players right there. And if you have 50 dedicated Brawl players, you've reached the 100 mark.

= = =

This past weekend, I asked Futile about the items tournament he competed in at Family Fun Arcade last month. He was one of only 12 participants. It was under the EVO ruleset, the first -- and what will be the only -- tournament to do so. It was also just the third items tournament in the state.

Most people know that Futile uses Wario. He said it was alright because he was able to neutralize most of the items that were in play. How?

"I just ate them."

So we might not see a Sonic-fest or a Space Animal extravaganza. If Wario's final smash is a 1HKO, then any user of the fat guy can succeed as long as they eat items and get the smash ball.

|

Jim Brown, one of the greatest running backs to ever play in the N.F.L, has filed a lawsuit against Sony and EA Sports, saying that the two companies have no right to use his likeness in the Madden series.

Brown, who played for the Cleveland Browns from 1957-65, is known for what he did on the field as well as what he does today in public. He is the founder of the Amer-I-Can program, in which he helps those that are struggling (with a focus on prison inmates).

So you can see that Brown played during a time when there was no free agency and no players union (it wouldn't come to the forefront until John Mackey refused to sign a contract with the Baltimore Colts following the NFL/AFL merger).

To the best of my knowledge (and someone can elaborate here), most unions have umbrella agreements with video game companies. If a player isn't in the union, they're not in the game. The best example is Barry Bonds, who broke from the players union to market his own name and likeness at the turn of the century. He appeared in very few video games, and his name was sometimes replaced with John Dowd, the man responsible for the report regarding Pete Rose's gambling.

Point being, Jim Brown didn't have an umbrella to say yes or no, like N.F.L players do today. He brings that up in the lawsuit, saying that he hasn't been entitled to any of the royalties given to those whose names are in the game.

From Brown, via Yahoo News:

"The NFL had league wide policy that players shall have no lawyers or agents when negotiating compensation. Video games were not invented yet and no union to obtain rights from existed.''

If he wins this case, that could change how future Madden titles are presented, because other players could file similar complaints. A lot of the complaints, and EA Sports says F it and doesn't have retro teams or players (in Madden 09, Brown is a member of the All-Browns team).

|