ESR - List All

( Forum: QC)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:12 CST, 18 February 2018 - iMsg

watching rapha's stream during 2vs2 cup was really enjoyable

champions go really well in this mode, adding more to the teamplay element, which wouldn't be so interesting in vanilla tdm 2v2 imo

Edited by Aquashark at 12:12 CST, 18 February 2018 - 5063 Hits

Mike Ross Breaks His Silence About ESPORTS (12 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 05:04 CST, 24 December 2017 - iMsg

esports explained by literally PogChamp himself..

Edited by Aquashark at 05:05 CST, 24 December 2017 - 5929 Hits

Is it happening? (13 comments)

( Forum: QC)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:37 CST, 2 January 2017 - iMsg

Carmac interview @ teamliquid.net

Obviously the guys at ESL, they’re fans and players, esports lifers, and they understand the value of legitimacy and things like that. Are your sponsors on board with this, too? How deeply do they appreciate it, given they’re the guys who are the most numbers driven in this entire deal? Do they appreciate the value of legacy games?

Honestly, some of them do, some of them don’t. It depends. With Intel, for example, Intel is our key strategic partner in Intel Extreme Masters, and they’ve been with us since day one. I have conversations with them all the time. Sometimes they say, “Hey, I miss Quake! I wish Quake were back.” I keep hearing these things form Intel.

Edited by Aquashark at 14:38 CST, 2 January 2017 - 8239 Hits

Capcom Cup 2015 (No comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:08 CST, 6 December 2015 - iMsg

After fighting all year for a qualifying spot, Capcom Cup 2015 will be starting tonight at 19:00 CET featuring the best 32 Ultra Street Fighter 4 players.

Main stream: twitch.tv/CapcomFighters
Secondary stream: twitch.tv/CapcomFighters2

Payouts:
• 1st: $120,000
• 2nd: $60,000
• 3rd: $25,000
• 4th: $15,000
• 5th: $10,000 each
• 7th: $5,000 each

Bracket: Capcom Cup 2015 - Challonge (from Top16 onwards matches will be best of 5)

Daigo vs Dieminion first round. can't wait! :D

Edited by Aquashark at 08:14 CST, 6 December 2015 - 1694 Hits

1%

Quake Live - Steam Gauge (50 comments)

( Forum: QL)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:39 CST, 5 March 2015 - iMsg

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-g...of-2014/3/

Quake Live on a surprising #15 spot (1,749,338 owners; 891,236 players; 3,631,170 total hours played)

this data was obtained through crawling of public Steam profiles, so it's rather incomplete, but still telling.

Edited by Aquashark at 04:41 CST, 5 March 2015 - 14466 Hits

Street Fighter 4 - 2014 Comebacks (No comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:21 CST, 4 January 2015 - iMsg

all collected from 2014

Edited by Aquashark at 14:36 CST, 4 January 2015 - 1568 Hits

7%

check your TDR (5 comments)

( Journal: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:18 CDT, 19 September 2014 - iMsg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7olFcYvUWE4&t=164

5491 Hits

Demiurge locking thread for no reason (8 comments)

( Forum: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:59 CDT, 11 August 2014 - iMsg

..other than political bias.

http://www.esreality.com/post/2636927/the-wes...shed-guys/

since when is ESR at the disposal of admins to eliminate/censor discussion that is not in line with their worldview and affiliations?

not to mention the content in question wasn't inappropriate or unreasonable.

2184 Hits

The West is brainwashed, guys.. (24 comments, locked)

( Journal: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 07:59 CDT, 10 August 2014 - iMsg

hurr durr

Locked by Demiurge at 09:56 CDT, 11 August 2014 - 9417 Hits

1%

EVO 2014 - The Real International (131 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:17 CDT, 9 July 2014 - iMsg

Evo 2014, the World Cup of fighting games, is upon us once again this weekend (11-13 July).

Number of entrants for main event games:
• Ultra Street Fighter 4 - 1979 players
• Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 1014 players
• Super Smash Bros Melee - 970 players
• BlazBlue: Chronophantasma – 508
• Killer Instinct – 338
• King of Fighters 13 - 319 players
• Injustice - 311 players
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 257 players

Notable international attendees:

Daigo Umehara, Tokido, Mago, Momochi, Haitani, MOV, Nuki, Kazunoko,
Dogura, Uryo, Fuudo, Bonchan, Sako, Eita, Itabashi Zangief, KOK etc

Infiltration, Laugh, MadKof

Xiaohai, Dakou

Ryan Hart, Zak Bennett, ProblemX

Alioune, Luffy, Starnab

Gamerbee

Xian (Evo 2013 champion)

40+ countries represented (breakdown by country)

Brackets: http://evo2014.s3.amazonaws.com/brackets/index.html
Streams schedule: http://i1.wp.com/shoryuken.com/wp-content/upl...ule_v3.png (timezone PDT/UTC-7)
Streams: SRK Evo1, SRK Evo2, Capcom Fighters

Edited by Aquashark at 12:35 CDT, 9 July 2014 - 18387 Hits

37%

Capcom Cup 2013 - Top5 Plays in SF4 (6 comments)

( Movie: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:15 CST, 28 December 2013 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: 7.3 (11 votes)

Onsite qualifiers. Online events. Special invitations. Fan votes.
Put all the winners in one place and what do you get?
The 2013 CAPCOM CUP!

Top5 Plays in Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition

Edited by Aquashark at 03:49 CST, 29 December 2013 - 2730 Hits

15%

Evo 2013 (191 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:04 CDT, 8 July 2013 - iMsg

Evo 2013, the World Cup of fighting games, is just around the corner (12-14 July).

Number of entrants for main event games:
• Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v2012 - 1637 players
• Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 1302 players
• Smash - 696 players
• Injustice - 582 players
• Street Fighter x Tekken - 573 players
• King of Fighter 13 - 427 players
• Persona 4 Arena - 400 players
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 355 players
• Mortal Kombat 9 - 233 players

Notable international attendees:

Daigo Umehara, Tokido, Mago, Momochi, Kindevu, Haitani, MOV, Nemo, Kazunoko, Dogura, Uryo, Fuudo, Bonchan, Sako, Eita, Itabashi Zangief etc. (see here)

Infiltration, Poongko, Laugh, MadKof, Knee, Nin

Xiaohai, Dakou

Ryan Hart, Zak Bennett, ProblemX

Luffy, Starnab, Alioune

Gamerbee

Xian

Popi

40+ countries represented (breakdown by country)

Brackets: http://evo2013.s3.amazonaws.com/brackets/index.html
Streams schedule: http://shoryuken.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/...hedule.png (timezone PST)
Streams: SRK Evo1, SRK Evo2, SRK Evo3

Edited by Aquashark at 04:10 CDT, 12 July 2013 - 38152 Hits

27%

Quake Live in Steam Achievements leak? (12 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:26 CDT, 19 March 2013 - iMsg

there have been a lot of Steam database leaks lately, with most of these titles having been confirmed and/or released soon after.
some that really caught my attention: King Of Fighters 13, Mortal Kombat 9.. and "Project Ranger" which has QL achievement icons

more details @ NeoGaf here and here
also keep an eye on http://steamdb.info/apps/

Attached Image: 93357-Ytl7W.jpg (19 Mar 2013, 292KB, 205 downloads)

Edited by Aquashark at 02:32 CDT, 19 March 2013 - 6722 Hits

Street Fighter 25th Anniv. Finals [Live] (26 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:00 CST, 8 December 2012 - iMsg

Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals is about to start in 1 hour.

Schedule (CET):
19:15 - Super Street Fighter II: Turbo - Down to Top 3
20:15 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Down to Top 3
21:15 - Special Announcement
21:40 - Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 - Down to Top 3
23:40 - Street Fighter x Tekken - Down to Top 3
01:30 - Street Fighter x Tekken Ver. 2013 Exhibition
02:00 - Special Announcement
02:30 - Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Finals
03:20 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Finals
04:05 - Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 Finals
04:50 - Street Fighter x Tekken Finals

Stream and brackets: http://finals.streetfighter25.com/ (or directly here: http://twitch.tv/capcomfighters)

Edited by Aquashark at 11:56 CST, 8 December 2012 - 3752 Hits

28%

capture card woes (10 comments)

( Journal: HW)

Posted by Aquashark @ 05:40 CST, 27 November 2012 - iMsg

i bought an internal AverMedia capture card this Friday (DarkCrystal HD Capture Pro) and i was expecting a decent product considering it's usually sold at around $110..

well, no..

1. what's the point of an internal PCI-E capture card if it can't record video directly from the same PC? seriously?
you have to use an external cable from the capture card to the GPU. this means if you only have DVI ports on the GPU, you can't record sound through the DVI-to-HDMI cable and you have to do it separately. meh..

2. i plugged in my PS3 through HDMI. now i have sound and the image quality is really good. i press record: "this image stream is protected and cannot be recorded".
what? if i can see the image, why not capture it motherfucker? you tell me i have to use Fraps/Dxtory to capture the image from the capture card? this is quite amusing, really

3. the capture software is extremely limited. you don't have basic options like screen region capture, stretch (it records image with black borders if the resolutions don't match perfectly), global hotkeys!!

4. DVI to HDMI image quality is blurry for some reason.. and while recording it lags my games (even with MPEG2 in just 720p) - granted i have just a dual core E7400 2.8 GHz, but even Fraps doesn't lag like that (might be the extra strain on the GPU because it's cloning the image through 2 DVI ports, 1 for monitor & 1 for capture card)

bottom line: i'll return this shit tomorrow. avermedia.. never again!

Edited by Aquashark at 08:33 CST, 27 November 2012 - 4188 Hits

Painkiller HD (51 comments)

( Forum: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 09:12 CDT, 30 October 2012 - iMsg

game will launch tomorrow: http://store.steampowered.com/app/214870/

..and pre-order is 20 euros. seems tempting!

will it have dm_sacred? i guess i will try a "demo" and see how it is, then fork the money if it's decent.

Edited by Aquashark at 09:12 CDT, 30 October 2012 - 9540 Hits

SC2 on tilt? (8 comments)

( Forum: SC2)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:51 CDT, 18 October 2012 - iMsg

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/11...cy_of_the/

so it all boils down to: did SC2 become a spectator game? how can it become like LoL, a genuinely fun game that spawns competition as a natural consequence?

i, for one, don't welcome our new MOBA overlords! :<

7115 Hits

Doom 4, Prey 2, D3:BFG, Dishonored DLCs (2 comments)

( Forum: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:39 CDT, 20 September 2012 - iMsg

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/106pt7...more_were/

Update 1

Doom 4 and id Studio are included in "ID Software Beta" subscription, which dates back to August 20, 2012.

There are also some other apps in this subscription:

203010 - "Zion" - something related to FNV Honest Hearts?
205040 - "Project Ranger" - Quake 5?

Edited by Aquashark at 10:40 CDT, 20 September 2012 - 4249 Hits

Evo 2012 (209 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:38 CDT, 5 July 2012 - iMsg

Evo 2012, the World Cup of fighting games, is about to start tomorrow!

Number of entrants for main event games

Prize pool

Streams (with schedule): http://evo2012.s3.amazonaws.com/live/index.html
Brackets: http://evo2012.s3.amazonaws.com/brackets/index.html

Edited by Aquashark at 13:29 CDT, 5 July 2012 - 40744 Hits

32%

new youtube design (33 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:17 CST, 2 December 2011 - iMsg

..is a tragic failure. while in the past the changes were arguably for the better and tolerable even if you disagreed, this time around everything sucks:

- the clusterfuck of fail of a homepage with that big ass column showing one video per row.. you can't even hide the viewed videos
- those permanent and useless sidebars that can't be turned off
- the video player controls for screen size are incredibly ugly
- the grey Windows '95 buttons used all over the place
- the new logo/favicon looks like from one of those porn sites

i still don't understand how something like this got an approval. i assume the decision had to go through a lot of people. do they all lack common sense?

i hope they get spammed to oblivion with negative feedback and the assholes who designed and approved this shit get fired.

#firstworldproblems

Edited by Aquashark at 14:19 CST, 2 December 2011 - 6415 Hits

6%

Nigel Farage (24 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 13:26 CDT, 7 July 2011 - iMsg

this guy is amazing and seems to be right too
wheter he is or not, his delivery and wit alone are worth to listen to

some of my favorite speeches of his:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXSj5WofYA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyq7WRr_GPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlVFKBwbuU#t=30s

and of course the classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypLwI5AQvY

5695 Hits

NASA trolling? (3 comments)

( Forum: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:43 CDT, 15 June 2011 - iMsg

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/hq/emergency/pers...index.html

:D:D:D

Edited by Aquashark at 12:43 CDT, 15 June 2011 - 2127 Hits

take on Quake5 (193 comments)

( Forum: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:06 CDT, 27 May 2011 - iMsg

if Quake was ever to come back successfully as a series, id needs to do a remake of Quake1 based on the H.P. Lovecraft universe and whatever bizarre stuff they could think of.

fuck your space marines, fuck military design, fuck mad max-ish post apocalyptic settings.. the FPS market had enough of this crap. Quake2 had its sequel with Quake4 and Rage already seems passé. it's time to go back to the originator!

to capture the minds of gamers again, all you need is a top notch grisly visceral atmospheric singleplayer, like a really fucked up nightmare.. and have an old school arcade carnage multiplayer on top.

there have been so much COD clones, the genre practically begs for a breath of fresh air.. although people might no realize this since they're spoon fed with only a few recipes of FPS games.

to end this useless rant, you might as well even ditch the Quake name. it's terrible to begin with and has no brand awareness outside of hardcore PC gamers. it was used in a stupid way as an umbrella for a series of shooters not really related in a consistent way.

PS: there is this Quake1 remake attempt with the Doom3 engine. it is pretty decent, give it a try: http://www.doomwadstation.com/doom3tc/quakemod/

Edited by Aquashark at 14:09 CDT, 27 May 2011 - 36284 Hits

27%

Future of computing (39 comments)

( Forum: HW)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:06 CST, 28 February 2011 - iMsg

i was contemplating the other day an 8 GB SD card and had the usual moment of thinking about how fast things moved in the past 10 years or even less. 10 years ago i had a 4 GB hard drive and used to share mp3s with my friends on floppy disks (curse you bad sectors!). also the first time i saw the Epic Citadel demo on the iPhone, i was pretty baffled.. that is incredible on so many levels.

well, anyway.. what do you expect in the next 10 years?

a few things i look forward to:

1. a video capture program (like Fraps) that uses hardware compression done by the GPU with CUDA/OpenCL/whatever. right now Fraps eats a lot of disk space for lenghty recordings, not to mention it sometimes gets choppy because normal HDDs are such a bottleneck these days and can barely handle this task. i know a capture card could solve this problem, but hey.. why not a software solution?

2. this i guess is in everyone's mind: unified RAM and hard disk memory which of course results in instant on computing and proper session saving. that swap file will stop being useless and become the actual RAM resized dynamically according to needs.

3. full hardware virtualization. a hypervisor that runs multiple operating systems in virtual machines with standard performance. this would be extremely helpful in maintaing the health of your usual OS. you just snapshot it periodically and if it breaks you can restore it immediately. of course, right now this can be achieved loosely with Acronis or Clonezilla, but you need to boot from USB/optical media and it takes a while to save and restore system partitions. i have installed WindowsXP about 3 times in total since i started using it and now i'm on a 1.5 year old Win7 install, but i have this little obsession with backing up the OS since i can't be arsed to reinstall everything everytime it might break. this i guess originates from Win98 days when that shit would break on its own :D

Edited by Aquashark at 11:08 CST, 28 February 2011 - 10145 Hits

Marvel vs Capcom 3 - Ten More Years (36 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:33 CST, 8 February 2011 - iMsg

1 week to go. nothing compares to marvel hype.

Edited by Aquashark at 04:18 CST, 19 February 2011 - 14525 Hits

PS3 hacked for good (42 comments)

( Forum: HW)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:24 CST, 6 January 2011 - iMsg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12116051

In the end, the flaw that allowed them to crack the system was a basic cryptographic error that allowed them to compute the private key, held by Sony, he said.

"Sony uses a private key, usually stored in a vault at the company's HQ, to mark firmware as valid and unmodified, and the PS3 only needs a public key to verify that the signature came from Sony.

"Applied correctly, it would take billions of years to derive the private key from the public key, or to make a signature without knowing the private key, even when you have all the computational power in the world at your disposal."

But the team found that Sony had made a "critical mistake" in how it implemented the security.

"The signing recipe requires that a random number be used as part of the calculation, with the caveat that that number must be truly random and not predictable in any way," the team said.

"However, Sony wrote their own signing software, which used a constant number for each signature."

This allowed the team to use "simple algebra" to uncover Sony's secret key, without access to it.

this means you can sign custom firmware and homebrew apps to run on the PS3

so theoretically, besides running emulators and linux, you can install a FTP app on the PS3 and copy .iso files from your PC, then run a signed backup manager (like from debug systems exploited by the already obsolete JailBreak mod) to run the games.

i'm thinking in turning it into a backup computer with Linux. it was really stupid of Sony to limit the original functions, it got hacked anyway.

time to put some good use into this hardware.

Edited by Aquashark at 05:11 CST, 7 January 2011 - 8270 Hits

Rucka Rucka Ali (1 comment)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:10 CST, 12 December 2010 - iMsg

is the funniest music parodist at the moment (and very non-PC at it :D)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AXNiDFiI4w - I'm Chinee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RBt80evarA - Taquitos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQwOZZobK4U - Ching Chang Chong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHbkA-hwCug - Haiti Had A Little Bit Of An Earthquake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmWA2sFElnc - Go Cops!

..and because his videos get deleted (for stupid reasons): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-VmANAfajQ - Me No Rikey YouTube

..and shoutouts to Gillz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_V6NeUygpk

etc. etc.

Edited by Aquashark at 14:30 CST, 12 December 2010 - 2100 Hits

Gaming these days.. (36 comments)

( Forum: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:21 CST, 3 December 2010 - iMsg

let's start with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Hf4i7XtSs

it's funny cause on ps3 even the fucking system menus are loading :D

also that part praising the ugly lighting mess in COD and dismissing Crysis' graphics is LOL

i really hope video games will be banned for minors.. the industry is obviously influenced by dumb kids

Edited by Aquashark at 04:13 CST, 3 December 2010 - 4442 Hits

SSF4 - The Best of Online Ranked Matches (1 comment)

( Movie: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:21 CST, 24 November 2010 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: 3.3 (2 votes)

Collections of online ranked Super Street Fighter 4 matches, showing various highlights (blowouts, comebacks, etc.) from top players.

Captured and edited by 0ShinAkuma0.

Movie File - Part 2 () 0MB
- YouTube (45 clicks)
Movie File - Part 1 () 0MB
- YouTube (164 clicks)

Edited by Aquashark at 06:01 CST, 24 November 2010 - 2732 Hits

PS3 jailbroken (9 comments)

( Forum: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:03 CDT, 20 August 2010 - iMsg

http://www.maxconsole.net/content.php?41841-P...-harddrive

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/08/th...-games.ars

Edited by Aquashark at 08:03 CDT, 20 August 2010 - 3324 Hits

EVO 2010 - coverage details (17 comments)

( News: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:21 CDT, 8 July 2010 - iMsg

Beginning at 18:00 CET July 9th, G4TV.com, will offer unprecedented access to the EVO 2010 world championships with 45 hours of non-stop live streaming coverage. The exclusive stream will feature tournament matches between top players, with live crowd audio accompanied by expert commentary to explain all the onscreen action. This streaming event will run from the start of the tournament on July 9th through the finals on July 11th.

Streamed coverage will broadcast matches featuring the world's top players flying in from 20 countries, including Japan's Daigo Umehara, EVO 2009 World Champion, as well as special guest "Super Street Fighter IV" producer Yoshinori Ono and "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" producer Ryota Niitsuma.

Coverage details:
- the stream will be located at evo2k.com, g4tv.com/EVO (alternate locations will be posted, if available)
- results and battle log can be found on EventHubs.com
- the provisional schedule for the stream can be found here.
- official pools and brackets have not yet been posted on evo2k.com. Super Street Fighter 4 has 16 pools with 128 players each.
All remaining games have 4 pools with varying amounts.
- one lucky stream viewer can win a super limited edition MadCatz Gold Tournament Edition arcade stick
- IRC channel: #srk @ QuakeNet

EVO 2010 World Finals will feature:
* The world’s largest Super Street Fighter IV competition
* Competitors from over 20 countries
* A guaranteed Super Street Fighter IV prize pool of over $20,000
* Super Street Fighter IV payouts to the top 8 finishers
* Special appearance by Super Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 producer Ryota Niitsuma
* An all-star contingent of top Japanese players, including 2009 world champion Daigo Umehara, Tokido, and more.
* Marvel vs. Capcom 3 exhibition tourney with the latest build in development
* More special surprises to come!

Edited by Aquashark at 08:36 CDT, 11 July 2010 - 18346 Hits

EVO 2010 Announcements (7 comments)

( News: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:43 CDT, 8 June 2010 - iMsg

This year's series of major fighting games tournaments will amp up next with Devastation, then climax with the most prestigious event of the Western scene: the decade old Evolution Championship Series.

The hype meter is bursting with the new announcements delivered by tournament director and Shoryuken.com founder, Tom "inkblot" Cannon.

He basically confirms the rumours of 2000+ competitors in Super Street Fighter IV, doubling the bracket numbers from EVO 2009. This is perhaps the biggest open tournament in recent times, with players from over 20 countries.

EVO 2010 World Finals will feature:
* The world’s largest Super Street Fighter IV competition
* Competitors from over 20 countries (and counting)
* A guaranteed Super Street Fighter IV prize pool of $20,000 (and growing)
* Super Street Fighter IV payouts to the top 8 finishers
* Special appearance by Super Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono
* An all-star contingent of top Japanese players, including 2009 world champion Daigo Umehara, Tokido, and more.
* More special surprises to come!

Edited by xou at 19:32 CDT, 8 June 2010 - 2586 Hits

Super Street Fighter 4 (299 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 01:44 CST, 18 February 2010 - iMsg

Edited by Aquashark at 10:21 CST, 2 December 2011 - 147893 Hits

8%

Street Fighter 4 - Season Summary 2009 (12 comments)

( Article: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:44 CST, 29 December 2009 - iMsg

Fighting games declined rapidly in the early 2000's and their glory faded from the collective consciousness, perhaps undeservedly for a genre competitive from day one and older than traditional established "eSports".

With no arcades, predominantly 2D graphics, troubling netcode and a sluggish 3D transition, their art barely shined through most of this decade. And when it did, many gamers didn't recognize the outlandish setting and reactions fell along these lines "What game is this?", "There was a Street Fighter 3?".

However the flame kept burning, mainly fueled by Japan (and Asia through extension), Shoryuken.com,
Daigo parry hype, emulators, GGPO and "Mahvel Baybee" (in no specific order).

Now, shortly arrived in 2009, Street Fighter4 comes along with a home console release (and eventually PC) resurrecting the genre it's synonymous with. SF4 attracts (mostly deserved) critical acclaim becoming a commercial success and the "new thing" to play.

The scene boomed with hordes of new players (leeched from other fighting games, veterans coming out of retirement, as well as new talent: nostalgic gamers or just plain 09ers), all of them dropping on top of the already established scene (caught somewhat by surprise).

Competitive Street Fighter4 could only benefit from this reception and the amount of activity throughout the year was impressive.
This was reflected in massive tournament turnouts for fighting games events, arguably peaking with 1024 players participating over 2 days at Evo 2009 in July. "Arguably" because tournaments like Gamestop Nationals or SBO 2009 branched in 3 countries with many qualifier rounds before the main event.

In turn, this competitive drive attracted massive interest from spectators. The live stream for Devastation 2009 (produced by the familiar faces of djWHEAT & LO3 Crew) accounted a total of 160,000 viewers over 2 days, paving the way for Evo 2009, whos live stream audience peaked at over 23,000 viewers at one moment. Also match videos uploaded on YouTube gathered thousands, tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands views. Many other fighting games gained traction from their exposure next to Street Fighter4, thus growing the overall scene.

All this newly sparked interest could only be satisfied and maintained by gradually more intensive coverage. The fighting games community was paradoxically reluctant to do live streams in the beginning (probably not realizing the growth of their audience) and other forms of coverage was lacking or hidden in SRK forums.

However passionate people (empowered by copious amounts of whining) started to make things happen and coverage improved radically. The second half of the year had live streams every weekend (sometimes overlapping) making it feel indeed like a season of something established you'd follow on TV.

So what exactly happened this year?

International & major tourneys:

Local & minor tournaments:

Bonus round - funniest moments of 2009:

Additional media:
- photo gallery of all major events in 2009: http://karaface.smugmug.com/ESports
- Super Street Fighter 4 trailers: New Contenders, New Features And Online Modes

Edited by Aquashark at 18:14 CST, 29 December 2009 - 7483 Hits

17%

quake1 speedruns (15 comments)

( Journal: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 12:11 CDT, 20 September 2009 - iMsg

proto-defrag hits YouTube with its own channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/QuakeSpeedrunning

Quake1 speedrunning is an artform with insane dedication behind it. the scene is really small and really low profile.
it deserves more credit for their hard work.

they use the original Quake singleplayer physics (aka NetQuake) where is harder to bunnyhop compared to QuakeWorld because there's more frames of friction and no movement prediction.

there are several settings for runs and any combination makes up a distinct category:
- singleplayer or coop
- easy or nightmare difficulty
- run (exit level as fast as possible) or 100% (kill all the monsters and take all secrets as fast as possible before exiting)
- segmented or marathon
(ex: single easy run segmented, coop nightmare 100% marathon)

also sometimes there are additional objectives for some special projects like killing all monsters with the axe only (Quake Done Chopped), gibbing all the monsters in the level (Quake Done Gibbed) or playing as monsters etc.

custom maps are used as well, some of them really bizarre and experimental, most of them funny or just cruel.

if you're new to the Quake1 speedrunning madness, do yourself a favor and watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr5173ivvUs - part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H-QwZtPVKs - part 2

more updates and details: http://speeddemosarchive.com/quake/
all contests and record breaking is open for anyone as long as you follow the rules. the quake1 speedrunner is a fine, yet dying breed. there's not much left to squeeze out of the standard singleplayer and i hope they manage to finish improving on their records one last time, before becoming a chapter in the big Quake history.

some random highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MT7pNmWrsc - 00:28 killing monster with telefrag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhciwM6F2lU - nailgun glitch used at the end for killing monsters in the intermission view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pztvq53n_4w - deathmatch maps turned into singleplayer levels (ztn included)

Edited by Aquashark at 12:38 CDT, 20 September 2009 - 6306 Hits

10%

19" LCD for gaming? (6 comments)

( Journal: HW)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:20 CDT, 13 August 2009 - iMsg

my desk is a bit small for a 22" LCD

what are the best 19" LCD options in terms of input lag and decent image quality?

2565 Hits

Evo 2009 - live stream (11 comments)

( News: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:54 CDT, 17 July 2009 - iMsg

http://evo2k.com/live/

Starting today at 10:00 PST (19:00 CET) with the first day of Street Fighter 4 consisting of pool matches (24 pools with over 1000 competitors).

The schedule for the next two days, as well as a photo stream and viewers chat are featured on the stream page.

Get hype!

Shoryuken.com press release

Edited by Aquashark at 11:09 CDT, 17 July 2009 - 7312 Hits

7%

Street Fighter4 - ESR matchmaking thread (53 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:00 CDT, 4 July 2009 - iMsg

for those of you who have the game on PC

my gamertag: pokeshark ^___^
optimal region for playing: Europe

send me a friend request in-game with the message ESR.

Edited by Aquashark at 07:06 CDT, 4 July 2009 - 11521 Hits

Quake Live & pointers (87 comments)

( Journal: QL)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:58 CDT, 27 June 2009 - iMsg

here's an idea for making people stick a bit more with QL:

based on the stats of each player (or enabled on certain servers similar to the pro-servers), they get HUD elements that act as pointers for their game.

as they progress and climb the ladder (accuracy, wins etc.) these HUD elements are deactivated one by one (with the assumption they learned something).

these HUD elements could be:
- powerup timers
- map overlay highlighting shortest path to health/armor
- map overlay highlighting flag position/team mates (for team modes)
something like that

DM formula needs to be reinvented with some pointers for noobs.. they can't really improve or enjoy the game as it is.

Edited by Aquashark at 03:59 CDT, 27 June 2009 - 12504 Hits

21%

Surviving the Singularity (35 comments)

( Journal: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 07:52 CDT, 2 June 2009 - iMsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wszKFJ06Las

if humankind survives this century, it might survive until the end of the Universe. but in what form?

the line between human and his creation will be ever so thin, until it gets practically indistinguishable. but is there a line to be drawn?

Edited by Aquashark at 07:59 CDT, 2 June 2009 - 7849 Hits

promode football tweaks (65 comments)

( Forum: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 09:46 CDT, 10 May 2009 - iMsg

football is kind of stale/frustrating to watch sometimes when it's over defensive or the match is ruined by playing dirty.

it needs a few tweaks like:

- 5 substitutions per match (big teams have a lot of good players conflicting on the same position)

- 15 minutes suspensions for misconduct like pushing/shirt pulling that happens especially before a corner/freekick; protests; faking/diving (in addition to yellow/red cards ofc)

- no offside if both the sender and the receiver are between the center of the field and the penalty box:

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9321/pitch.jpg
would be easy to judge, since the 16m penalty box line is marked.

what's your take on this?

Edited by Aquashark at 09:49 CDT, 10 May 2009 - 6845 Hits

Linux sucks (2) (113 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:47 CDT, 2 May 2009 - iMsg

http://lunduke.com/?p=429

i'm glad people like this start to pop up and get vocal.

i'm really annoyed by all the Linux zealots out there spamming shit on every news website.. while the whole Linux platform is just a lost opportunity (and prolly will be for a long time).

basically that dude reiterates all the points in Linux Hater's Blog, but because he uses a light/friendly tone he doesn't get the fanboys to rage like retards ignoring everything he says

(ironically the lecture starts with a technical problem)

Edited by Aquashark at 03:48 CDT, 2 May 2009 - 19482 Hits

1%

SF4 thread (videos, news etc.) (503 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 09:20 CDT, 4 April 2009 - iMsg

channels to look out for:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FrameAdvantageDotCom - US East Coast scene
http://www.youtube.com/user/HeartOfBattle - West Coast scene
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArcadeInfinity - SoCal arcade
http://www.youtube.com/user/DjB13 - in-depth character tutorials
http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgarden1 - videos from one of the best Japan tourney in 2009
http://www.youtube.com/user/LordAborigineSF4 - Japan scene videos

http://www.sf4db.com/videos.html
http://streetfighterdojo.com/sf4/index.html

a collection of matches and other videos

DSP classic rage moments

random matches from Japan, Korea

Edited by Aquashark at 04:24 CDT, 10 October 2009 - 307227 Hits

27%

Wii emulated, PC > * (30 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:01 CDT, 4 April 2009 - iMsg

..now with HD resolutions and very good performance

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173489

can hardly wait for this to be polished so i can play TVC in optimal settings and maybe online :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8wN_7IFrnE&fmt=22

Edited by Aquashark at 08:02 CDT, 4 April 2009 - 7846 Hits

7%

arQon sold out to ruin QuakeLive (241 comments)

( Forum: QL)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:16 CST, 25 February 2009 - iMsg

Although id Software has no plans to allow user-made modifications to be incorporated into QuakeLive, they have gone out of their way to hire one of the most successful Quake III mod authors to help them with their project. id revealed to QuakeUnity that Kevin 'arQon' Blenkinsopp, author of the popular mod Challenge ProMode Arena (CPMA), has been hired as a contractor on QuakeLive. If you're not familiar with CPMA, it is the premiere mod of choice for Quake III tournaments. It includes competitive features such as modified gameplay physics, multi-view demos, and highly customizable HUDs.

Blenkinsopp has been working with id for quite some time on many of the QuakeLive features including the implementation of the Clan Arena gametype. Most recently, he has been working on a competitive feature set, something a lot of players have been requesting. Some of the features that will be incorporated include timeouts, team locking, and various other types of competitive features. While hardcore CPMA fans will be disappointed that the mod's unique gameplay physics will not be incorporated, another popular enhancement from CPMA will be included: the netcode.

http://www.quakeunity.com/article=25

huhehuhaihehehyaheyhahhahhuhehuhu

you can never escape him.. can't wait for the VQ3 OSP tard brigade to whine like never before

Edited by Aquashark at 04:47 CST, 25 February 2009 - 44048 Hits

15%

crash course (76 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 13:12 CST, 13 December 2008 - iMsg

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

very interesting stuff.. the chapters about energy are scary and the prospect of the future quite dim.

and when you think about it: here we are whining about eSports and other meaningless shit, when some day during our lives, our society will possibly regress so much that we'll actually depend on shooting real people..

Edited by Aquashark at 13:25 CST, 13 December 2008 - 10256 Hits

9%

NUTS (2 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 07:30 CST, 28 November 2008 - iMsg

The coolest and weirdest Doom mods ever

Games Radar has some nice articles.

Edited by Nicky at 01:37 CST, 2 December 2008 - 1991 Hits

Super SF2 Turbo: HD - Combo Trailer (10 comments)

( Movie: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:58 CST, 8 November 2008 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: - (0 votes)

Combo trailer for the upcoming Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix which is to be released this month as a download only title for

XBOX 360 Live Arcade and

PSN.

Combos are performed in the additional 'rebalanced' gameplay mode (think CQ3) and most of them have little practical use in a real match.

Additional links: image gallery & a previous combo video (outdated due to gameplay fixes).

Movie File - Stream (YouTube) 0MB
- link (109 clicks)
Movie File - HQ (capcombovideo-uncompressed2.wmv) 81MB
- Gamer's Hell (57 clicks)

Edited by Aquashark at 03:09 CST, 8 November 2008 - 5736 Hits

9%

ESWC Athens Movie format (10 comments)

( Forum: Q3)

Posted by Aquashark @ 01:22 CDT, 21 October 2008 - iMsg

to all movie makers: instead of wasting time with over the top editing why not make a simple movie with top3 frags from each interesting match + misc (deciding mistakes, funny moments, comebacks)

just put in the corners names & flags of players, final score, tournament round and make the movie more like a documentary or a report, rather than long boring intro + a string of random frags + music no one cares about.

Edited by Aquashark at 01:23 CDT, 21 October 2008 - 3099 Hits

8%

Linux sucks (140 comments)

( Forum: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:42 CDT, 3 October 2008 - iMsg

http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/ - funny blog about Linux clusterfuck / lusers / FOSStards / WorksForMe™

http://elliotth.blogspot.com/ - a more thorough, more formal blog about more Linux suckage on the desktop

i've always been bewildered and amazed by lusers masking the blatant disabilities of Linux with ignorant comments about outdated win problems/crashes/blue screens, conspiracy theories and "you don't really need that" remarks..

i've always been amused how their efforts in pushing Linux on all popular sites has never paid off.. maybe they got people to try it, but that's it.

the failure of Linux is best expressed by the market growth of MacOS, a commercial operating system tied to Apple hardware..

maybe it has something to do with that disfunctional decade old clipboard system they still insist using (if you close the application from which you copied something, you can't paste anymore.. amazing :D)

or maybe it has something to do with all those "oh so different, but do we really need so many?" distros that insist in using different xorgs, kernels, libraries, sound systems (all of which are broken), compiler flags etc. that break Linux apps to the point it's better to use their Windows counterparts through Wine

not to mention from a (commercial) software dev's point of view: the wasted man hours for making your application work for every distro that tries so desperate to be different in all the wrong/meaningless ways (compatibility that will most like break in the next distro version anyway, so they just release the app for Windows/Mac and call it a day).

and idiots complain why companies won't port their games to Linux?

discuss.

to keep retards away: this thread is not about Linux vs Windows, it's about Linux vs common sense, Linux vs itself: lack of standards and coherent effort of the Linux scene to break the barrier between them and the real world.

Edited by Aquashark at 18:21 CDT, 3 October 2008 - 42703 Hits

4%

richard cheese (3 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:06 CDT, 9 September 2008 - iMsg

Richard Cheese Singing Freak on A Leash

Richard Cheese - Closer

his album names are brilliant
"aperitif for destruction"
"lounge against the machine"

2877 Hits

if i call you a nigga (101 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:50 CDT, 2 September 2008 - iMsg

..ain't nothing to it, gangsta rap made me do it!

Ice Cube - No Vaseline (N.W.A diss)
Eazy-E - Real Muthaphuckkin G's (Dr. Dre diss)
lyrics in videos description, they're extremely funny

i don't normally like gangsta rap at all (especially the new ghetto fabulous bling bling crap), but somehow i like these 2 songs.. maybe because they are fighting each other :D

Edited by Aquashark at 12:02 CDT, 2 September 2008 - 21812 Hits

Carmack performing a judo submission (3 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:47 CDT, 31 August 2008 - iMsg

The Jace Hall Show hits Dallas checking out Gearbox and then Jace visits us at id to talk with Todd Hollenshead, John Carmack and Tim Willits and to sneak a look at RAGE and DOOM 4. Jace gets a little more than he bargained for in the process. ;)

Jace Hall Ep 13 SEASON FINALE

:D:D:D

2230 Hits

GGPO licensed by Capcom (23 comments)

( News: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 00:44 CDT, 30 August 2008 - iMsg

What is GGPO?

How does it work?

How does it perform?

About the author

Tony Cannon (aka Ponder):

Those of your worried about the quality for the networking code in future non-Backbone titles should take heart. Capcom has secured a multi-year, multi-game license for GGPO. While I obviously cannot discuss any of the details, I'm sure they won't let another great title ship without lag-free gameplay again given the attention they've put on STHD.

GGPO Networking Guru Talks SF HD Remix!

PS: maybe arQon could license CPMA netcode (XERP) for other games too xD

Edited by Aquashark at 02:12 CDT, 30 August 2008 - 11742 Hits

The Large Hadron Rap (3 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 05:14 CDT, 9 August 2008 - iMsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

^___________^

2125 Hits

War in the Caucasus region (378 comments)

( Forum: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:28 CDT, 8 August 2008 - iMsg

FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!

very clever guys, i see what you did there ;)

the region's demographics are beyond fucked. let's hope it doesn't escalate into some dreaded "Balkan wars".

i hope them ruskies get caught into an embarassing stalemate, just like they did in Chechnya. stop picking on the little ones you stupid fucks.. it's only natural they hate you, might as well hate you forever from now on and radicalize the shit out of them.

Edited by Nicky at 10:35 CDT, 8 August 2008 - 151022 Hits

HAW HAW HAW HAW (3 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:42 CDT, 1 August 2008 - iMsg

http://www.ocztechnology.com/images/s/top/flash-fatal1ty.swf

2278 Hits

Vid collection (31 comments)

( Journal: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 06:03 CDT, 29 July 2008 - iMsg

DVD catalogue + listing of file details + other 14 GB on my HDD waiting to be burned

8====================>

Edited by Aquashark at 06:06 CDT, 29 July 2008 - 6038 Hits

The way to promote QL (7 comments)

( Forum: QL)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:13 CDT, 29 July 2008 - iMsg

http://wiki.wegame.com/Top_10_Frag_Videos/
http://digg.com/pc_games/Top_10_Frag_Videos

that is all.

4023 Hits

5%

4K^noctis -vs- serious/av3k (1 comment)

( Demo: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 07:07 CDT, 26 July 2008 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: - (0 votes)

Gametype: Duel
Map: Various Maps
Mod: N/A
Viewpoint: MVD
Version info: CPMA 1.46
How to play back ESR demos

>> 65758-noctis-av3k wb1.rar <<
(4205KB, 518 DLs)

Gamegune brings us some great games!
Winners Bracket Round 1
Map order:
DM6 (very close)
Nodm9 (VERY close)
ZTN (not very close)

Edited by xou at 13:55 CDT, 26 July 2008 - 3284 Hits

Fallen Empire: Legions (3 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:49 CDT, 24 July 2008 - iMsg

game is available to play online @ http://instantaction.com
it is like QL launched from browser

it has 2 maps for now (+1 map coming soon) playable in DM, TDM, CTF. it is really fast and a lot of fun. takes quite some skill to fly/slide around efficiently.

atm it's more projectile weapons oriented.

you need godlike aim to hit a moving target with the sniper rifle in this game, plus you need to charge the rifle ~2 seconds and can't activate jets when you hold the charge. well at least it's 1 shot/1 kill.

also the chaingun has some spread and it's not quite instant.

no xerp either :D

PS: InstantAction has some other nice games like Rokkitball (basketball with rocket launchers). check them out :)

2234 Hits

random comments on trailer (No comments)

( Forum: QL)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:29 CDT, 20 July 2008 - iMsg

"phantomninja said: i see they gave it TF2 visuals"

"Looks cartoony, and doesn't have any realism with movement.Might be a nice change from the conventional shooter."

"is this third person??" -> trailer was bad

"quake was fun but i think its kind of lost its jazz, i mean rocket spamming used to be cool but most people moved on" -> FFA in QuakeLive needs to fuck off, people already made their mind about mindless FFA spam on space maps. give round based mods for the newbs!

"for free?(yep). play now?(nope). be on the beta testing?(fook knows)
good add. " -> hehe agreed :D

3399 Hits

SF4 gameplay system trailer (54 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:20 CDT, 16 July 2008 - iMsg

http://www.wipido.com/video/2022 (much better quality)
showcasing Focus Attacks methods of use, various combos and Ultras.
looks great and fast as it should be!

Street Fighter IV Gameplay guide:
http://www.neoempire.com/forum/showthread.php?p=102971

Edited by Aquashark at 08:48 CDT, 18 July 2008 - 11595 Hits

Yor's World - He's The Man! (9 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:34 CDT, 10 July 2008 - iMsg

"you will need a lot more hemp before you're through"

http://spoonyexperiment.com/rants/Yor/

3353 Hits

1%

Full demo playback controls (3 comments)

( Forum: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:46 CDT, 1 July 2008 - iMsg

..at the tip of your mouse cursor
(@ EZQuake latest nightly build)

seekbar = €€€

Attached Image: 65505-ezquake003 (Large).jpg (1 Jul 2008, 149KB, 155 downloads)

Edited by Aquashark at 02:44 CDT, 2 July 2008 - 4755 Hits

Unreal Tournament 3: Six Months On (37 comments)

( Major News: UT3)

Posted by Aquashark @ 06:24 CDT, 26 June 2008 - iMsg

Strategy Informer tries to give an insight of why UT3 fails again and again to spur significant interest, this time for the Xbox 360.

"Earlier this month, Epic Games teased Xbox 360 owners with some screenshots of the upcoming port of Unreal Tournament III. They failed to summon any interest. It's extremely unusual for such an event to occur. If we take Epic's track record, (let alone the success of the Unreal Tournament series), their games have been at the forefront of Shooter fans' minds since 1999. The Unreal franchise is a legacy, one that even commands a widely accepted graphics engine. Is the reason simple ignorance or is there something more worrying at work? We attempt to find out."

Read Full Article @ Strategy Informer

Edited by Slasher at 08:34 CDT, 26 June 2008 - 17560 Hits

2%

lmao@holland (68 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:17 CDT, 21 June 2008 - iMsg

FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!!

Edited by Aquashark at 16:21 CDT, 21 June 2008 - 12774 Hits

Quake pics (11 comments)

( Journal: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 07:30 CDT, 6 June 2008 - iMsg

Edited by Aquashark at 09:27 CDT, 6 June 2008 - 6130 Hits

27%

WHO (7 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:59 CDT, 31 May 2008 - iMsg

..the fuck deleted my post?

tell now you bloody bastid >:(

oh well.. nevermind, i'll do another one!!

Edited by Aquashark at 04:03 CDT, 31 May 2008 - 2532 Hits

holy trinity (5 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:42 CDT, 24 April 2008 - iMsg

"Your game will need to attract the hardcore players who play at an insanely high level. They're your opinion leaders. If a game can stand up to the rigors of tournament play---which is orders of magnitude more rigorous than you might believe---then it will be able to hold their attention. As players get better, they will get more into your game, not less into it. The hardcore players, as opinion leaders, influence a big part of the casual market.

Just look at the examples: Street Fighter, Starcraft, and Quake. All three games have some problems at tournament level play, but on the whole, they hold together surprisingly well. They can withstand the harsh extremes of expert players trying to eke out every possible advantage...even after years of play. If these games couldn't do that, they certainly wouldn't have been the hits they are. There would have been no tournament scenes. Interest would have died away. They would not be perceived as THE standards of competition that they are.

Lots of people are qualified to make a game fun for beginners. The real trick is making it still be a game at all once the ridiculously clever top players get a hold of it. That's the trick, as well as the brass ring, for that's what the market rewards via the bandwagon effect."

-- David Sirlin, game designer/producer and Street Fighter pro player, in an article adjoining his book Play To Win

nice to see someone outside of our circle jerk acknowledging the best competitive games out there :)

Edited by Aquashark at 16:42 CDT, 24 April 2008 - 2640 Hits

noes! (25 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 05:34 CDT, 18 April 2008 - iMsg

[13:08] <AquaSharK> today i went to driving school and drove for the first time
[13:09] <AquaSharK> but when i got into the car
[13:09] <AquaSharK> guess what song my instructor puts on?
[13:09] <AquaSharK> ..rick astley !?!?!?!
[13:09] <AquaSharK> was like.. WTF?? rick roll'd IRL??/ *facepalm*

5035 Hits

1%

asymmetrical 1v1 gameplay (195 comments)

( Major Column: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 06:56 CDT, 20 March 2008 - iMsg

Quake series (and DM FPS games in general) lack one key aspect that might make the games even more complex in 1v1. complexity could be a curse these days, but i think this is for the better. I'm referring to asymmetrical gameplay.

Asymmetrical gameplay contributes a lot to a game imho..
Quake is now like StarCraft with one race.. multiple approaches to a situation would give players more room to express themselves, more stuff to learn and master on the long run.. bla bla bla..

If you're tired of Protoss/Ryu/Paladin switch to Zerg/Vega/Druid
it's like learning to walk again and it's very gratifying.

There are two approaches on this i can think of:

1. the classic characters/class-based system

Pick a character/class with different abilities (translating into advantages and disadvantages), but closely balanced with the others.

What amazes me is how after all of these years of Q1 vs QW vs Q2 vs Q3 vs cpm vs Q4 discussions, so many people still think it's a matter of fact and not just a matter of opinion and taste. -- Godsmurf @ toxjq interview

All the tardwars and dissolution of the Quake/DM scene comes mostly from personal preference over some movement set.. and this is not to be condemned overall.

Instead of cramming together all the movement options (like CPM or Warsow), why not group them in a balanced class system and encourage people to stick with their preferences? then they'll have to fight for their cast to claim: dodging skills > strafe jumping :)

Something like Generations Arena might be a little screwy, but I'm sure a viable system could be designed by the brighter minds of this community.

2. temporary asymmetrical gameplay

I'm quite frankly bored of seeing people battle for armours/MH in high level play (especially in vq3/q4 where there's no armour tiers).

Shifts in armour/mega control are just boring flat.

Someone proposed a while ago some sort of passive powerup system.. when combining several powerups you get some temporary advantage that might help to turn the tide, make the game have fewer dead moments and add some more strategic elements besides positioning.

For example:
- a haste powerup that gives air control and slightly more speed..
- a powerup that gives you a temporary proximity radar..

or instead of powerups, more map interaction that alters the course of the game.. like you can press some buttons to alter the configuration of the level for a period of time in a manner that suits you better or gives some other advantage:
- blocking access to a weapon your opponent is raping you with
- making some walls transparent from one side..
- moving an armour between two points when you think your opponent goes for it..
- or just moving the spawn points of items on the map.. so you no longer have to just time powerups, you need to find out where they'll spawn (based on some markers or something)

you think of something better :D

(inspired by a discussion on Sirlin's blog and some old Jamerio posts)

Edited by Aquashark at 09:34 CDT, 20 March 2008 - 122054 Hits

9%

More CPL travesty (12 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:15 CDT, 10 March 2008 - iMsg

Angel @ CPL forums: The CPL has completely severed its relationship with X Factor Tournament and will not host any other tournaments for them, including but not limited to Halo 3. You need to contact Clinton Comer ([email protected]) about their plans.

ahahahaahahah

also Halo3 forum was deleted because, as Angel explains:

We have two issues with Halo 3:

1. Halo 3 has a strict and expensive licensing requirement, and Microsoft views mentions of their brand at our site as requiring licensing.

2. Keeping a specific game highlighted in our forums may give the community the false hope that we will hold tournaments for it.

Additionally, we will be communicating with the winners of the Halo 3 tournament very shortly via email to try to bring some closure to the tournament we ran for XFT.

that means no summer Halo3 'real' 1.000.000$ tourney.. and people paying for the first one who were promised a discount for this summer event were fucked straight in the ass.

and what a surprise: XFT backed away silently as if they never existed...

Edited by Aquashark at 03:16 CDT, 10 March 2008 - 3449 Hits

worst fanboys of 2007 (12 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:30 CST, 22 February 2008 - iMsg

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/178489.html

applied eugenics doesn't sound so radical anymore

Edited by Aquashark at 08:31 CST, 22 February 2008 - 4323 Hits

Street Fighter4 @ GDC 08 (10 comments)

( Forum: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:50 CST, 21 February 2008 - iMsg

Edited by Aquashark at 05:35 CST, 21 February 2008 - 3426 Hits

8%

none shall pass (7 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:19 CST, 10 February 2008 - iMsg

im trying to help .com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1u43KDiWD0

song here: http://www.definitivejux.net/NSP/None_Shall_Pass.mp3.zip

Edited by Aquashark at 10:41 CST, 10 February 2008 - 3555 Hits

8%

power soccer olol (3 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:06 CST, 4 February 2008 - iMsg

http://www.powerchallenge.com

web-based football game with pretty neat features like: launching from browser, matchmaking, game rooms, online goal replays and on-the-fly cups (giving us a little taste of things to come.. *cough* Quake Live anyone? *cough*)

game is a basic football game.. not much skill involved compared to PES or whatever, but it's pretty fun.

so.. any ESR users wanna do some friendlies? :D

PS: one of the goals i scored. GK jumped like a retarded baby seal :D

Edited by Aquashark at 03:07 CST, 4 February 2008 - 2753 Hits

SF III 3rd Strike (26 comments)

( Journal: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 06:21 CST, 13 January 2008 - iMsg

finally a solid emulator with netplay for CPS3 has been released.
(MAME sucked performance wise + its interface is horrible)

1. nFBA emulator with p2p support
2. Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (Japan NOCD) or any other game really :)

Game -> Set dipswitches - change localization to US
Game -> Map game inputs - set controls
Game -> Play via Kaillera - play peer2peer with a friend
FAQ & movelist here

1, 2, 3

Daigo vs Justin Wong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5peqApgUA

go pro.

Edited by Aquashark at 02:13 CDT, 21 March 2008 - 8453 Hits

lmao @ gotfag (13 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 14:28 CST, 9 December 2007 - iMsg

http://wiki.gotfrag.com/index.php/Quake

that's GotFrag for ya ^^

4176 Hits

QuakeZero movement tutorial idea (73 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 05:30 CST, 22 November 2007 - iMsg

ok.

i fancied this while watching the Guitar Hero episode from South Park.

let's say we have a set of defrag maps ranging from easy to medium that need basic movement tricks to get through.

when the player crosses the start line, a visual indicator shows the correct button sequence and mouse movements you should perform in order to advance. not complying with these buttons = fail, like in GH. there is no room for personal style in this basic tutorial (since a beginner doesn't master the movement yet), so a single enforced sequence of buttons is the way to go.

also at keypoints of the map if you don't have the necessary speed you are returned to try again. if you are in the good speed range the visual indicator should be green, otherwise red and having a timeout to allow you to gain speed and regain green status.

the mouse movement indicator should be something like a pointer that moves along an arc as the mouse is moving. the length of the arc should depend on the mouse movement required (longer for more ample movements, shorter for smaller ones).

also a defrag-like pre-recorded ghost would show you how to complete the map.

as for the hard part of the tutorial the player has to do the medium maps without any visual aid. after doing so another set of harder maps will unlock.

a good tutorial is crucial and appealing to n00bs as it will give them a chance to play and learn the game offline.. and eventually getting it and remain hooked.

think of Defrag + Portal + Guitar Hero.

this is not meant as to show you how i revolutionize game design.
the ideas presented are common sense.

just discuss bla bla bla

Edited by Aquashark at 07:57 CST, 22 November 2007 - 15757 Hits

USSR anthem in English (2 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:30 CDT, 24 October 2007 - iMsg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LtU3vUOa2sw

this is really cool.. Yeltsin fap on this m8! :)
lyrics in clip description.

3225 Hits

GGPO - now with spectator support (31 comments)

( Major News: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:30 CDT, 9 October 2007 - iMsg

GGPO stands for "Good Game, Peace Out" and it is an online matchmaking system for fighting games.

GGPO has a lag-free netcode algorithm specifically tuned to frame-based 2D fighters, making the PC a viable platform for such games and taking things even further.

The latest updates bring a lot of improvements such as:

- in-game chat
- spectating
- widescreen support
- new playable game, Marvel vs Capcom
(alongside with the previously supported Street Fighter Alpha 2)
- demo recording (works only while spectating for now)

To get things going follow the few easy steps in this Installation Guide.
(DirectX 9.1c and .NET Framework 2.0 are required for WindowsXP)

Signing up isn't required at the moment. At the login prompt of the GGPO Client, simply type any available user name and a password (the password doesn’t matter) and the server will let you in.

Future updates will bring more games and more features (such as rankings and an easy to set-up tournament system which will help the competitive nature of the games).

Screenshots: 3 matches, 4 specs, Marvel vs Capcom, paused demo, world map

Some VODs: @ stage6.divx.com (or @ youtube.com).

Edited by Aquashark at 03:26 CDT, 1 November 2007 - 23370 Hits

4%

So is God. (47 comments)

( Journal: Q3)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:28 CDT, 30 September 2007 - iMsg

discuss.

Edited by Aquashark at 04:12 CDT, 30 September 2007 - 18536 Hits

7%

Yup Yup Yup (8 comments)

( Journal: Con)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:39 CDT, 21 September 2007 - iMsg

you may know the Gigaton Punch clip released a while ago..
the same dude continued the story with an even funnier song:

Yup Yup Yup

so.. yup-yup-yup-yup-yup-yup-yup.. yup-yup.. yup-yup-yup

Edited by Aquashark at 12:39 CDT, 21 September 2007 - 3852 Hits

No free Quake3 client? (52 comments)

( Journal: Q3)

Posted by Aquashark @ 11:50 CDT, 17 September 2007 - iMsg

why isn't there yet a free Quake3 client?

Quake1 can be played easily for free with nQuake.
Quake2 can be played easily by installing 3.20 patch over the demo.

don't you think Quake3 deserves a free client as well? :)

you can already play Quake3 for free on Unpure servers:
1. Install Quake3 PR 1.32 in an empty folder
2. Download OSP or CPMA
3. Use ChallengeQuake3 executable
non-critical steps:
4. Use 01_Q3texturePack001.pk3 which contains all the textures of 1x1 size to iron out missing texture errors.
5. Download custom weapons models for GL and BFG (since they weren't in the demo)

this is pretty easy already..

why not make a standard server binary and a client that allows people to connect with a free setup? would add to the popularity of the game.. look at that awful Open Arena!

the demo + PR 1.32 comes with the most important id maps: the pro maps, q3dm7, q3dm17, q3dm1, so it's only convenient :)

plus most CPMA maps use custom textures leaving only a small set of textures to be replaced.. and i'm sure the Q3 community can make a pak with required missing media to make it prettier than using blank textures.

Edited by Aquashark at 04:49 CDT, 19 September 2007 - 12593 Hits

Generations Arena 1.0 Promotion Video (36 comments)

( Movie: Q3)

Posted by Aquashark @ 03:07 CDT, 16 September 2007 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: 4.9 (10 votes)

Preview for Generation Arena version 1.0, Quake3 mod.

"Players select their favorite "generation" among five choices. Each generation "class" has its own unique character, weapons, physics, and gameplay, all styled after such classic FPS deathmatches as Doom, Quake, and Quake2. Each class represents a particular style of FPS gameplay, so Quake2 fans feel at home with the Strogg Troopers, QuakeWorld fans enjoy the Slipgate class, and so on."

Looks interesting and fun. The model remakes are nice, especially the Quake2 ones. I hope this will be something worth to play :)

Movie File (Generations Arena 1.0 Promotion Video) 60MB
- Quakeunity (169 clicks)
- WireHeadStudios (33 clicks)

Edited by Aquashark at 05:29 CDT, 16 September 2007 - 9018 Hits

2%

3 New TF2 Trailers (7 comments)

( Movie: HL2)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:46 CDT, 12 September 2007 - iMsg




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: - (0 votes)

Meet The Engineer trailer (HD - requires QuickTime)

Meet The Soldier trailer (HD - requires QuickTime)

Meet The Heavy Weapons Guy trailer (HD - requires QuickTime)

cool.

Edited by Aquashark at 11:09 CDT, 12 September 2007 - 3767 Hits

Angry Video Game Nerd (33 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 15:22 CDT, 3 September 2007 - iMsg

latest reviews from AVGN were really crazy :D
check 'em out

Bugs Bunny - Birthday Blowout

Atari porn games (omg! apocalypse soon)

10026 Hits

god bless the japanese (21 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 04:56 CDT, 1 September 2007 - iMsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZimy9H1t4o

7199 Hits

QuakeCon2007 -vs- various (44 comments)

( Major Demo: Q1)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:34 CDT, 11 August 2007 - iMsg

Event: QCON'07




	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Rating: 8.3 (2 votes)

Gametype: Duel
Map: Various Maps
Mod: N/A
Viewpoint: MVD
How to play back Q1 demos

>> 59199-QuakeCon2007_QW_demos.zip <<
(3021KB, 393 DLs)

>> 59201-duel_toxjq_vs_fojji_aerowalk_.zip <<
(585KB, 1125 DLs)

selection of QuakeWorld demos from QuakeCon2007:
duel_.50]thump4_vs_eg.dahang[aerowalk].mvd
duel_fiend_vs_lost-cauze[aerowalk].mvd
duel_flow.g_purri_vs_fojji[dm4].mvd
duel_kovaak_vs_fojji[aerowalk].mvd
duel_naymlis_vs_zebaca[aerowalk].mvd
duel_purri_vs_dahang[dm4].mvd

final game:
duel_toxjq_vs_fojji_aerowalk_.mvd

the rest of the QW demos can be found here.

tip: with EZQuake 1.8 you don't need to unzip.. you can navigate inside zip archives for demos :)

Edited by Aquashark at 17:17 CDT, 11 August 2007 - 14133 Hits

8%

Console Pro-Gaming? not on ESR.. (85 comments)

( Journal: Con)

Posted by Aquashark @ 06:51 CDT, 10 August 2007 - iMsg

ESR fails when adressing console pro-gaming.

yes! there is such a thing, but it is just a niche in a big ocean of mediocrity (much like the DM scene) and for similar reasons as well:

1. the games require skill and are discouraging average gamers to pursue a high level of competitivity
2. the games are old (or at least the genre) and kids pick up what's popular anyway
3. the scene is more vibrant on a single continent (this time around being North America instead of Europe) and it has problems to gain a broader audience worldwide

i won't stretch it anymore: i'm referring to the fighting games crowd.

why aren't any news about Evo tours and finals?
all i see is Halo, FEAR and other bunch of crap not even worth memorizing (edit: Guitar Hero ffs)

take for example the recent big event: Evo West 2007 which took place @ ComicCon. all the booths were paralyzed because people stopped to watch the games on the big screens. ComicCon organizers were a bit pissed of because of this..

coverage & VODs @ http://shoryuken.com/?p=125

edit: oh btw.. David Sirlin is the producer of Capcom Classics Collection 2 for PS2/Xbox and he plays pretty good. Sync should go pro as well :D

..or at least should make tutorials like this:
Beginner Tutorial for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo @ YouTube and
Advanced Tutorial for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo @ YouTube

Edited by Aquashark at 12:07 CDT, 10 August 2007 - 17870 Hits

4%

spiral out, keep going (6 comments)

( Journal: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 16:55 CDT, 7 August 2007 - iMsg

Tool - Lateralus (piano + vocals cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGCDc34m-4

Tool - The Patient (piano cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3fYMRuQhkY

i find these disturbingly well done for random dudes posting videos on youtube

3581 Hits

3%

Fighting games revival - GGPO.net (50 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 13:26 CDT, 8 July 2007 - iMsg

GGPO.net stands for Good Game, Peace Out and it is an online matchmaking system for fighting games.

it still is in alpha stage of development and the idea behind it is to provide a very good netcode that will prevent the games of having input lag which is crucial to fighting games.

somehow the netcode is outstanding and has some great magical algorithms implemented.. you can play from Europe with American players and have a good responsive game. (Kaillera or other similar systems have nothing on this)

currently, in this development stage, there are two games supported:
Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel vs Capcom. devs opted for only one game at the moment in order to iron out all the bugs within the GGPO Client before implementing more games.

to get things going follow the few easy steps in this Installation Guide.
you'll need to Signup first into the online system.
you will need of course the SFA2 rom, of which you should ask Google ;)

the GGPO Client has a game lobby and a worldmap on which players are pinpointed according to their IP (usually in the form of city and country).

there are few players from Europe at the moment which i try to change right now, but i predict a big revival of fighting games once the system will be polished.. this year should boom with activity if all goes well, especially with new features like ranking, spectating etc. :)

all of this having been said, Good Game & Peace Out :D

PS: i'm looking forward on playing ESR members, making some sort of weekend minicups wouldn't hurt either -> discuss :)

PS2: thanks to tzz for discovering this

Edited by Aquashark at 03:10 CDT, 1 November 2007 - 17121 Hits

1%

Street Fighter vids (131 comments)

( Journal: Con)

Posted by Aquashark @ 02:34 CDT, 20 June 2007 - iMsg

ok, wanted to post this in the Console vs PC thread, but i thought i'll get more attention with a journal post :)

i have nothing against consoles!
i have something against shitty games taken serious on consoles just because there is a target of morons for them.

one console series of games i love watching played by pros is Street Fighter.

here are some vids with SF action:

SBO - Muteki (Guile) vs Daigo (Ryu)

Daigo owning @ X-Mania 7

all time classic comeback in Street Fighter III 3rd Strike by Daigo

3 on 3 match

Edited by Aquashark at 02:47 CDT, 20 June 2007 - 73919 Hits

3%

*yawn* (51 comments)

( Journal: ESR)

Posted by Aquashark @ 10:14 CDT, 8 June 2007 - iMsg

"e-sports" were really boring to follow this year

had more fun watching some random Warsow cup and good ol' QuakeWorld

discuss..

Edited by Aquashark at 10:14 CDT, 8 June 2007 - 15558 Hits

thou shalt always kill! (7 comments)

( Journal: OT)

Posted by Aquashark @ 15:03 CDT, 1 April 2007 - iMsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoN6XfyQsr4

The Beatles… Were just a band.
Led Zepplin… Just a band.
The Beach Boys… Just a band.
The Sex Pistols… Just a band.
The Clash… Just a band.
Crass… Just a band.
Minor Threat… Just a band.
The Cure… Just a band.
The Smiths… Just a band.
Nirvana… Just a band.
The Pixies… Just a band.
Oasis… Just a band.
Radiohead… Just a band.
Bloc Party… Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys… Just a band.
The Next Big Thing.. JUST A BAND.

rest of the lyrics here

3972 Hits

5%

Duke Nukem 3D revamped (59 comments)

( Journal: Gaming)

Posted by Aquashark @ 08:57 CDT, 14 March 2007 - iMsg

i bumped into some Duke Nukem 3D sites by accident (inbetween looking for pr0n) and found some cool stuff about how it evolved since it went open source.

i tried to replay the original a few years ago, but the poor graphics and more important the stupid mouse configuration really put me off.

i had no idea what was going on at the time..
so here's the deal..

the game underwent a major uplift from the community and now looks like this:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

to get it to look like that you need:
1. the High Resolution Pack - first 3 zip files
2. the EDuke32 engine (latest version)
3. the main file from the original game.. you can find it with google: DUKE3D.GRP

installation:
1. put in the same dir: the first 3 zips (don't extract), eduke32 & DUKE3D.GRP
2. make a shorcut of eduke32.exe with these parameters:
"/gduke3d_xtr.zip /gupdate203a.zip /gmaphacks203.zip /gduke3d_sd.zip"

that's it. enjoy!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
it's surprising how this classic game is still really fun even compared to today's FPS games. the singleplayer levels were designed in a fairly non-linear way, often allowing for secondary routes through air ducts, back doors and sewers to avoid enemies or find secrets.

the puzzles are cool and the secrets are pretty hard to discover.. sometimes you find places that are hidden and you say to yourself "ha! a secret!", but the secrets revealed indicator remains unchanged..

plus there's a lot of twisted humour tossed all around the place.. like finding a secret part of the map with a replica of the Start Trek deck.. and inside the ready room you can activate a switch in Picard's computer to reveal "the real ready room" with porno mags on the floor, a bed, a bar and pr0n running on some screens.

etc. etc.

PS: the High Resolution Project is still ongoing and some new textures and models updates will be released soon. here's some previews: #1, #2

PPS: didn't mention anything about the multiplayer, cause i haven't played it.. i've heard that it's really fun :)

Edited by Aquashark at 09:20 CDT, 14 March 2007 - 25895 Hits

2%