I still have not received word about the Madden Challenge events this weekend in Texas. There's been no information on E.A. Sports' site or the Madden Challenge site about a change, so I'm guessing that everything is still on. That's kind of unfortunate, considering the things that are being rescheduled. I don't think they'll be as lucky as these guys.

And even though nothing's been changed, you have to figure that the Houston regional will be postponed, especially since the hurricane, which is a Category 2 as of this writing, is still traveling dead on for the Houston area.

Here's another thing to consider. Those flying to the event better be there now, because flights won't be coming in or out. And the players probably won't be leaving on Monday, as intended.

Will any of the three events happen? Probably tomorrow's regional in Dallas, and maybe Saturday. My guess is based on the Dallas Morning News' optimism. Sunday in Houston? Don't count on it.

Labels: hurricane ike, madden

The rankings were released earlier this week. Here they are:

1. DieSuperFly
2. Futile
3. Teba
4. ShadowROB
5. Aero
6. Ajax
7. Hugs
8. Edrees
9. Connor
10. BeatOfAzia
11. BarDulL
12. MikeHAZE
13. Leepuff
14. Creepy Fingers
15. Fly Amanita

Say hello to seven new entrants.

There's a couple things I notice:

* -- The difference between this list and the previous one is its diversity. The 15 players in the previous power rankings used different characters. It even included a Fox player. This list is now based on participation (as it should be).

* -- The six players I thought were dead weight are all gone.

* -- No San Diego players.

* -- Gamble is not on the list. He had a great finish at Axis Gaming's Brawl Tournament a couple weeks ago. But that was one of the very few tournaments he participated in since he was ranked. I thought the Axis tournament would be enough to save him, but the panelists thought otherwise.

The power rankings should improve every week, and that has been the case this time around.

Labels: power rankings, super smash bros brawl

This satellite image is one taken this morning by the National Weather Service. Hurricane Ike is right in the Gulf of Mexico.

I bring this up because, as you probably know it is going head-on to Texas. That state will host the next three Madden Challenges, scheduled for this weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, circuit events are set to be held in Dallas. On Sunday, a tournament is scheduled for Houston. Whether they'll all still happen remains to be seen.

I've tried to contact E.A. Sports representatives to get word on what could happen. If I receive any information, it will be posted.

The "play it really safe" move would be, regardless of what happens, to just postpone it until the end. That could mean having it on Oct. 19, the week after the Orlando, Fla., regional. Or, have it on Nov. 1, after the London regional, which is the last live event.

The "sort of safe" move would be to just have the Friday event and then get out.

The finals is not scheduled until Jan. 11-13, so there's time. No need to have to squeeze it in this weekend, especially since Ike has already shown what it's capable of.

Yes, some players left San Diego and headed straight to Dallas. It is unfortunate that they spent the money to travel. But at this point, you have to worry about safety instead of travel money wasted.

The hurricane, according to the National Weather Service, is expected to arrive in the Houston area on Saturday morning, and then still be somewhat strong on Sunday as it goes to Dallas. From there, it is expected to weaken.

However, the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the storm might go a different and deeper route. Instead of going dead on to Houston, as pictured above, it could travel a little bit south to Corpus Christi, before heading north to San Antonio.

Nevertheless, residents in some cities, such as Galveston (a little bit south of Houston), are being asked to leave now because of flooding issues.

If state officials force people to leave, the Dallas Morning News said it would be the first forced exodus in South Texas history. However, some people probably won't leave even regardless of Ike's strength.

Here's the National Weather Service's weather warning regarding the hurricane.

Labels: hurricane ike, madden

IRVINE - The new "Dance Dance Revolution" version, D.D.R X, was first available for testing Monday afternoon here at the Boomers arcade.

Usually after several plays of the game, I would have a conclusion as to whether it is good or not. With this version, I don't know what to think. Is it good, or is it bad?

It's neither. And I think because of that, it's going to slip to the bad side.

D.D.R. X tries to implement every form of dancing game out there, whether it's D.D.R itself, the now-defunct In the Groove, or Pump It Up. That's where the game makes its first mistake. The producers at Konami must have thought its best chance at a new and great D.D.R game was to bring in parts of other games. That works in sports. It does not work in video games.

The machine has the look of Pump It Up. Most notably, it has three light towers on each side that It's a widescreen, high-definition television (an absolute no-no, and I'll get to that in a moment) with a flat marquee. It's attracting. If this was around during the beginning of the 60 fps era, then there would have been a longer emphasis on performance and freestyling.

The pads feel like Pump It Up. Some people will probably say it's because the machine is new. I don't think so. There's a distinct difference between stepping on this pad and stepping on a normal D.D.R pad.

Onto the look. The in-game graphics are very nice. It is appealing. To me, it's a mix between D.D.R First Mix and SuperNOVA. Some of the little things (like the compact disc on Saber Wing) reminds you of the old school, but in selecting the songs, you're reminded that this is a new game.

And if you get lost picking a song, do not worry. Songs are selected by going up or down on the crossbar buttons, a total change from every other D.D.R game, in which songs were selected by going left or right. If you press the left or right button, you're actually sorting out the songs in a different manner.

Once you pick your song, you can modify the settings. There was one addition, the screen filter, which has three different settings. A shaded lining covers the area where the steps move on the screen. This is very good if you don't like watching the characters dance in the background. Is it good? I don't mind the characters dancing in the background, so I did OK without the filter. Almost everyone else that played today put the shade at its darkest.

I'm sure everyone's going to talk a lot about the announcer, because the announcer talks a lot. It went beyond annoying. It is worst than the D.D.R Solo announcer. Imagine someone trying to sound hip, and top it off with an irritating tone.

"Hey come on. What is this, a golf tournament?" comes up when you're taking your time looking at your scores. Did they ever think that someone is taking a picture or jotting this down, or gawking because they passed a hard song?

The announcer speaks about three times as much as any of the other versions of the game. In the past, you could sync the announcer's sayings to certain parts of a song ("So Deep" is a song that comes to mind, because the announcer will speak at the 100, 200, 400 and 500 combos, and about four times in between those). In D.D.R X? No way. The announcer's words are so annoying that it seems like he's talking the whole time. The announcer must be turned off, for the sake of D.D.R. Addition by subtraction.

One of the big problems will be the timing in the game. The monitor is high definition, which is an absolute no-no for video games. However, it might be a blessing in disguise. Typically, a player's mentality is to step early, and this is prevalent with new and novice players. So, they'll benefit. A veteran, which knows to lay back on the beat, won't benefit.

I wanted to save the songs for last because, if you play D.D.R, you'll play any song. The songs aren't the driving point like they were in the past.

That being said, if you are a D.D.R junkie and gets every console and import version and plays in the arcade, D.D.R X will be nothing new. I was told that only six new songs -- that means they weren't on a previous arcade, console or import version -- are in the game. Six! That's disappointing if you're a D.D.R junkie. For players like me who only play in the arcade, this doesn't matter because I haven't consumed any of the new console versions. Therefore, I'll have a lot of songs to play and consume.

I don't know what six songs they are, but I'll say that it's a mix between great and average. On your last song, you'll get the chance to play "Sabre Wing," which is a great tune. It's a definite upgrade from "Trim" in SuperNOVA 2, which I thought was horrible.

It's just one day with D.D.R X. It's much like an N.F.L team that lost its opener this past weekend. Do you throw out all hope after one session when there's still a lot left to be played?

There's reason to be happy, and there's reason to be disappointed. I don't know which way to go. I'm willing to wait.

After R.J.'s win on Saturday over Problem, I talked to MTeezy, who I believe has started labbing with R.J.

One of the things I wondered was how R.J. was able to match Problem for most of the game and then pull off the stunner.

Keep this in mind -- last season, Problem was nearly untouchable. There's a reason why he won the first regional and then the finals tournament (and in-between, all of the local events). Problem had a style last season that nobody could match. If he wanted to rocket catch, he could do it. If he wanted to clock (or camp, for you Smash players), then he could do that.

I think of it as a form of "The Vanessa Effect." In the C.G.S' Dead or Alive 4 female division in 2007, Vanessa was flat-out unbeatable. She gave up eight rounds in 12 regular-season matches. The next season, Vanessa still was great, but she wasn't as dominant, and she even took a loss. Now, was that because Vanessa fell back? No, the field got better. They're still a good distance from Vanessa, but they're getting there.

Did Problem slip up? No, the field got better. And yes, if you look at what happened this past weekend, there's nobody that flat out dominated against Problem. In fact, he was good enough to make the finals twice in three days. He's still better than most and he'll be a major contender in January at the Finals Tournament.

There was a guy that showed up this weekend with a playbook -- yes, papers with outlines -- of the plays Problem ran during a tournament earlier this year. It obviously didn't help (I even warned people not to take much stock in the early tournaments).

"He'll make clutch throws, but he likes to run the ball," Mteezy said, with a slow emphasis on "likes to run the ball."

"This year, everyone can run the ball."

Young Nephew used a big running game to win on Friday. D.J. mixed things up on Saturday. And Problem threw when he needed to on Sunday, but for the most part he ran.

Mteezy is right, to a certain extent. When Problem won in Dallas to open up last season's tournament circuit, everyone believed that a run game was key. Seven weeks late, Kornstar comes out with a passing attack that opens up the scoring, and everyone switched to New England.

So I'm not ready to say that the running game will be dominant this year. A lot more players will use the run as their bread and butter all season. But once a viable passing attack is discovered, everyone will drop the run, much like last year.

Here are the rules for the DDR at the Pike tournament, scheduled for Sept. 20 at Gameworks in downtown Long Beach.

The tournament rules are subject to change.

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Date and Location
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Sept. 20, 2008
Gameworks, 10 Aquarium Way, Long Beach

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The little info
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Tournament organizer: Glenn Cravens (getyourtournament@yahoo.com)
Tournament helpers: Anyone at Gameworks

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The game
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DDR Extreme. It will be a singles competition.

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Entry fee
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$10 per person
Registration is done on site

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Prizes
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Winner: 60 percent of the entry fees
Second: 30 percent of the entry fees
Third: 10 percent of the entry fees

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Timeline
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All times approximate
11 a.m.: Set up for the tournament
Noon: Signups
1 p.m.: Round 1 begins
1:45 p.m.: Round 2 begins

---------------
Round 1
---------------
All competitors registered in this tournament are competing in this round.

The following is a list of five songs with difficulty, all being possible qualifying songs. On tournament day, three songs will be eliminated leaving two songs remaining. Those songs will be the qualifying songs used in the tournament.

1. Rain of Sorrow (Heavy)
2. Tears (Heavy)
3. Dynamite Rave (Challenge)
4. Dynamite Rave (Heavy)
5. D2R (Heavy)

The two songs will not be announced until the round begins. On tournament day, players will select one of the two songs from a bag, then play the song. Players will go 2 at a time. The songs to be played in this round will be on the mode indicated (nonstop will not be used in this round).

Players are ranked with the player getting closest to 100.00 percent perfects being No. 1.

In the event of a tie, players will play a song on ROULETTE heavy.

If a player fails the song (receives a grade of E), he or she is allowed to replay the song over ONE TIME with a 5 percent penalty. If a player fails the song a second time, the player will receive a score of 0.

Sandbagging and automatically failing to receive a second attempt will result in a disqualification from the tournament.

If the machine is not being used before the tournament begins, players are allowed to practice the qualifying songs.

Once Round 1 begins, if someone is playing one of the two qualifying songs on the non-used machine (which, for now is DDR SuperNOVA) that player will receive an automatic 5 percent deduction everytime the person is caught.

All players will be seeded into Round 2. There will be no eliminations. Those that earn a 0 on the qualifier will be randomly seeded to finish the bracket.

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Round 2
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Everyone will be placed into a double elimination bracket. To be eliminated, you must lose twice.

As with any double-elimination competition, the finalist in the losers bracket must defeat the finalist in the winners bracket twice to win the tournament.

Each preliminary matchup will go like this:

* -- The first song will be selected by RANDOM HEAVY. Players will be able to hear the song before it starts, thus allowing for modifications.

* -- The second song will be selected by RANDOM CHALLENGE. Players will be allowed to adjust the modifications different than the first song.

The rotation goes back to Random Heavy, then Random Challenge and back again until someone wins two songs.

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The finals
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The finals is a continuation of the tournament. The losers bracket finalist must defeat the winners bracket finalist twice. The winners bracket finalist must win just one time.

The finals will be a best of 5 contest, and you must win by 2.

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Scoring system
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Qualifying: Players are ranked based on their perfect percentage, with the player closest to 100.00 percent earning the top ranking.

Round 2 and the Finals: Most perfects win. In the event of a tie, it is the player with the most freeze arrows completed (OKs). If the players are still tied, then the most greats wins. If the players are still tied, then the song is declared a tie.

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Song filtering
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In the event that songs 1 through 5 are selected in the first round, players must play on the next lowest level.

After the first round of bracket play, any 10-footer must be played if it's selected. This rule applies only to these following songs:

1. Max 300
2. Maxx Unlimited
3. The Legend of Max
4. Paranoia Survivor
5. Paranoia Survivor Max

In the event that songs 6 through 9 are selected, the game will be reset and another song will be selected.

6. After The Game of Love
7. Cutie Chaser Morning Mix
8. Think Ya Better D
9. Remember Me

In the event that songs 10 and 11 are selected on heavy, the game will be reset, and another song will be selected. If those songs are selected on challenge, they will be played as is.

10. Let's Get Down
11. Butterfly

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Other logistics
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* -- A song cannot be used more than once in a match. If Dynamite Rave challenge is picked in one round and then Dynamite Rave heavy is picked in a future round, the game will be reset.
* -- For the result to count, at least 1 player must pass the song. Failing the song or earning a grade of E will result in a score of 0.
* -- If both players make no attempt to pass a song because of various reasons (they don't like it, it's a 10, offbeats), both players are disqualified from the tournament. "Make no attempt" is subject to interpretation by the tournament organizer.
* -- Double jeopardy (playing the same opponent you lost to a second time) will be prevented until it is absolutely impossible, which is when there are 3 remaining in the losers bracket. Because of Round 1, double jeopardy will be the ONLY reason to move people around in a bracket. If you meet up with a friend/lover/sibling at any time during the match, don't lose.
* -- Players will not be allowed to touch the machine at anytime during the tournament.
* -- The machine will be set to Event Mode only during the tournament.
* -- The higher seed will always have choice of side.
* -- The only modifiers allowed will be velocity (including boost) and color (including Flat).
* -- Solo must be agreed upon by both players.
* -- Players will have at most a 1-minute break in between songs.

Labels: dance dance revolution

This isn't the Madden Challenge sendoff that I'm planning to have. It's something I wanted to mention because this site is dominated by Madden and Smash.

There's been many complaints from Smash players about how Brawl is heavily dependent on defense. The game is not tailored to those that are aggressive. Therefore, players can be passive in their attack without the risk of being punished for such.

In short, camping is dominant.

But imagine if those players saw what happened this weekend at the Madden Challenge. There was a bit of camping taking place. Actually, A LOT of camping was taking place. You wouldn't know it was camping unless you had knowledge of both communities. A Madden player would say it's someone "clocking."

Here's the deal for those who don't know. A preliminary Madden Challenge match is 8 minutes. So there's just two minutes for every quarter. If you score a touchdown first, it is almost a death knell.

So what does this have to do with camping?

I didn't put 2 and 2 together until this afternoon, but it should have been evident after Friday's final involving Young Nephew.

Neph used the Minnesota Vikings, which has the best running back in the game, Adrian Peterson. Neph went fullback dive, fullback dive, fullback dive.

If fullback dive was a pizza, I'd weigh 500 pounds after Friday night because of the amount being consumed.

But there was more to it than just fullback diving an opponent to death. Since Neph scored first a lot of times (mostly by using fullback dive), it was the perfect zero-risk move. He had a lead, why do anything risky? You see, if people complained about "camping," then they would want Neph to throw the ball and attempt to score faster, put up points. If Neph could win 7-0 or 3-0, he would be content, because a win is a win.

It's easy to point out Neph since he won a regional, but the thing is, EVERYONE did this in one form or another. There were a couple matches -- I think one was RG and another was Secret -- that if were the equivalent of a Brawl match would be downright criminal.

Both players got the ball first in a preliminary contest. No, they didn't try to score right away. They went fullback dive until they were faced with a fourth down (which I believe happened one time between the two guys). Not only did they try to clock the whole first quarter, they tried to clock the whole first half!

Now imagine this.

There were two guys, one being Secret and another I think was Neph, where they didn't get the ball first to start a preliminary game. They stop their opponent on 3 or 4 plays and get the ball on a punt or turnover. And now, they begin to clock by using fullback dive. They score in the final seconds of the first half to take a 3-0 or 7-0 lead.

And guess what? They get the ball to start the second half. Brutal. Their opponent did not see the ball in the second half. Game over. Thanks for showing us your 4 offensive plays and 25 defensive setups.

Thing is, in an 8-minute game, this strategy works very well. So can you call it the Madden version of camping? I had to think about that for a while. If you have a one-stock lead in a round, do you have to be on the offensive? Do you have to do anything? Not really unless you're playing DSF or Futile. You could run away and just pray that the timer was turned on and it goes to zero.

Labels: madden, super smash bros brawl, tournament strategies