SF4: New Arcade Stick

Rare F*Arcade Stick

I just got confirmation that I will be getting one of 200 XBOX 360 MadCatz Tournament sticks pictured above. I am really fortunate to have friends who can help me get this item.

Will it make me better? Of course not! I'm hyped though.


-End Hype

My Evo Trip: Part 1

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So this is the scene from EVO during Semi-Finals. If you click on the pic you will be able to find me somewhere in there. Of course, I am the only one who is sitting on a chair - (i'm lazy.. can u blame me?)

I am trying to find time to post all about the several things that happened during EVO in Las Vegas, food, people, my matches, my friends matches, and of course, dumb shit that people do and say at these tournaments.

As a teaser, I am glad to say that only 1 person I ran into reeked of body odor. I am pretty sure he slept outside "Ping Pang Pong", the racist chinese restaurant outside of the Gold Coast Casino/Hotel. He and the guy with ripped tidey whities tie for the most disgusting thing I have seen/smelled. My respective senses were owned by their lack of social/body odor awareness.

I am going to have to take sometime to find the pics and stuff so... give me until Monday-ish?


Later.

This Week's Update: SFIV

I am a little bit behind on updates as I have been "semi-feverishly" training for the tournament. If you are really into countdown clocks, feel free to click this link that leads to the Evolution 2k webpage: http://evo2k.com/

Looks like I will be in Group 1 of the Tournament Group so i'll be playing as early as 9AM PDT this Friday. I will not have access to internet but if you are lucky you can look out for me on a random live broadcast if I am lucky enough to be grossly outmatched by a named pro in my first match.

Grind Update:

So I finished Balrog(Boxer) Hard Trial 5. Unlike some of the hard trials in SFIV, all of Boxer's Hard Trials are actually practical in matches and are essential to maximizing damage and stun opportunities. I believe having an available repertoire of combos to close out on an opponent is as necessary as it opens up a higher level of understanding for the combat situation. When to do a 6-7 hit combo with a lot of stun versus doing a quick combo into an ultra as well as character specific do's and don'ts all add up to someone's fight IQ.

Goals this Week?

Have fun, practice, study frame data, and try the super armor cancel ultra move that I haven't been able to pull off by accident yet.



Wish me luck you 5 readers!

SF4: New Age of Grinding

So I went to the Fuddruckers Tournament in Concord. There were about a 180 participants for SF4 and 30 or so for HD Remix. The total prize for SF4 was 1200 dollars - I had no piece of it.

180 Gamers packed into the upstairs party room of a Fuddruckers with only 3 Fans led to intolerable amounts of humidity. It was borderline disgusting at a certain point so much that my friend was cheering me on to lose my 2nd match so that we could leave.

If you are interested in the results it is posted on iplaywinner.com here.

I really do not have much of an update here. I have been practicing each day and working on a few things. I have given up on the EX Rush Upper loop for it's impracticality and am now focused on the rush upper jab jab headbutt combination for stun and mix-up opportunities.

15 More Days till Evolution 2k9

SF4: Championship Mode Grind

For my very first post I am deciding to stay on the topic of why this is called Grind Artist. Essentially this will log my grind of a life, from hobbies, finances, sports, entertainment. I hope to keep this blog generally positive; but, I know how that goes.

SF4:

It's been a very long time since I have done any real grinding, real life or otherwise. I have been grinding SF4 pretty hardcore between practice sessions with friends, online games, and tournaments that I have been attending.

For a while there, I had stopped grinding things altogether. In WOW I had to have Jon find me items, my gym sessions became short and sporadic, and I had issues focusing on my first take of the GMAT due to personal reasons.

But here I am practicing infinite loop combos with Balrog, spending time trying to discipline and sharpen my skills, and possibly turning this blog into Grind Arthritus, see a future post called "why I am cutting back on chatting at work".

Stats:

Game Volume: 1542 Games
Pointless Percentage: 52% Win
Time Spent: 177 Hours (on my console)
Tournament Progress: Nothing Notable (tourney in 2 weeks)

Grind Schedule:

I am playing about 1-2 Hours a day practicing and a lot of my "free time
consists of watching a lot of match videos and thinking about match up strategy.

How am I measuring success?

Top 16 Finish in a 128 Man Tournament, and any noteable wins at Evolution 2K I might be able to take down some cash games if I can hustle.

Wish me Luck.