SF Bar Fights at Hooters Megapost!!!

So last Friday I was at Hooters for my first time ever in my life not just to get my grub and drink on, but also play in another Bar Fights event hosted by Gootecks. This time, he decided to hold an actual 64-man tournament rather than have main event matches with the big players of Street Fighter IV. Still though, the best players from SoCal (both LA and San Diego) showed up for the Street Fighter shenanigans from Alex Valle, Mike Ross, Ken I, Keno, Shady K, and Yeb the Gen master from San Diego. Before actually mentioning how much the tourney went, I might as well break down the night in order.

I got to Hooters early at Anaheim (its by the 57 Freeway exiting Katella) to actually eat dinner before things actually got started. As my first time eating at Hooters going through the experience everyone knows about, it wasn't that bad. The Hooters girls were surely there in full force and I don't know if they were ready for such madness as Street Fighter Bar Fights. Good thing there was a 2 entrees for 1 deal for that night only and spent five bucks only on 10 Garlic Parmesan wings and tots. At least I took my time with the food (which I didn't mind eating because I was hungry) eventually tearing through those wangs since Gootecks, Cami from GTFO.tv and Get Your Tournament, and the rest of the crew were setting up. Good thing there was that deal, so I can also get my "drink" on too later in the night. After pre-registration was held, the 64 players were divided into four pools of sixteen. I was in the last pool so I had to wait a while before I play, which is probably a good thing because I was able to have some beer with my friends from the Street Fighter scene providing good times. Of course, it is always good to hang out with all my friends that were there from Luka, Duralath, Colin, Mike Ross, KillerKai, StarSlay3r (had a good chat with her about Tekken 6 and how that game makes us less salty compared to Street Fighter IV), Sanchez, and others. Even there was an appearance by East Coast's, but moving to LA in a week or two, Justin Wong as well as Empire Arcadia's leader, TriForce, as they were in town for Spike TV's Video Game Awards. When the last pool started with me playing, I already consumed a Corona and a Guinness, so pretty much it was game on.

My first match was against OnlineTony, a known Seth player here in SoCal. Yeah Seth has a low health meter, but once he gets things going, he cannot be stopped, so as long as you can catch him since he has so many options, you can win. Before the match, Sanchez, fellow Bison player, gave me some words of some encouragement (basically to f*** him up). I was able to win the first game by that gameplan and plus Tony's execution wasn't on lock till the second game where he got things going with the link combos and the head stomps. Eventually I got "downloaded" and lost to Tony 2-1, but it was a good match being my first time against a legit Seth player that knows what he is doing. With that, I was right away in the losers bracket even though the pool I was in stacked with Yeb and Shizza, the best pad player in SoCal using Chun-Li (or as the scene calls him the Pad Warrior Princess). My next match was an easy victory against some Abel player as I made short work of him as he only knew some basic Abel stuff compared to the better Abel players I have seen from BustaBust and Combofiend (that's his main now). Then I lost a nailbiter against a Ken player as it went down to the last round of the match as I screwed up in the end. Oh Ken, why do I have to lose to you? At least, the Ken player knows his stuff with link combos and SRK FADC to Ultra. With that, I got peaced out of the tournament, but at least the drinks sort of helped as I played my best with limited practice of slowly going back to this game.

The main highlight for me of the tournament was the rise of some 15-year old C. Viper player named Jason going deep in the tourney making top 8 upsetting Keno, the Arcade Infinity Ranbats Season 2 Champion, hearing the hype in the room. He then peaced out Shizza in top 8 in arguably the match of the night going down to the last round clutching it out when it matters. Eventually he lost to Shady K (the best Akuma player from San Diego and a fighting game veteran) even though he took him to the limit as well. The crowd was surely behind him since we all love the underdogs achieving the upsets as I was in pure shock when beat Shizza. Now we all know he is a player in the scene doing big things with Viper as if he is the future. I saw him getting interviewed by Get Your Tournament's Glenn after the match and Gootecks giving him match of the night honors as well as a Mad Catz Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Tournament Stick (oh I want that for Christmas). Other than Jason's success at Bar Fights, the rest of top 8 was Alex Valle, Ken I, Shady K, Yeb, ComboJack, and Hugo101. In the end, it was Alex again winning it against Ken with his Ryu even though Ken I did take grand finals to a second set.

The whole night in a nutshell consisted of great times throughout. It just feels good hanging with the good people of the Street Fighter scene as always especially not seeing them for about a month because of school and other things. I gotta hand it to Gootecks for another successful event getting it done and I look forward for the next Bar Fights event. The top 4 of this tournament (Valle, Ken I, Shady K, and Yeb) will be also in LA Riots II next month, also hosted by Gootecks, along with Combofiend, Keno, Kai, and Shizza, which should be another interesting event with only the top players. Once again, it was nice being around great company that were there and I'll be around next time (I guess I can now play both SF4 and Tekken 6 at a competitive level).

Photos by Get Your Tournament's Kelly "Xensin" Bracha

Stepping to the Gates Below... Quick Hands-On with the Dante's Inferno Demo

Warning - This is indeed a mature rated game and it contains some nudity (even in this demo) in the videos.

Yesterday on the Playstation Store, a demo for Dante's Inferno came out and I decided to give it a try. In case you don't know about this game and wandering why this game is a big of a deal, Dante's Inferno is billed as a God of War ripoff among the gaming crowd and it is true from what I played so far. Being a ripoff can be both a good thing or a bad thing pending on how you spin it. The good thing is that it is another God of War style action game with blood, gore, and nudity. On the other hand, the developers clearly ripped off some things from the God of War games and actually God of War still does it better. The controls are similar, the combat is a little mashy, but still satisfying beating things up, the story is about Dante getting revenge for those that killed his wife after making a deal with the Grim Reaper, and so on. Graphically, Dante's Inferno looks okay at its demo state, but you can tell there is unoriginality with the look as if you seen this before. Some of the cutscenes are in CG and cartoony form, which are not bad but still an interesting decision by Visceral Games how to take these scenes in a certain direction. I also felt like they tried to go toe and toe with the God of War III Demo of what to put in it to show off before the game comes out from having mini-boss battles to riding a big creature around destroying the opposition. The magic and upgrade systems are also similar to God of War as well gaining souls as you progress through the game. All in all, Dante's Inferno is a solid ripoff of a better game and it is nice for 360 owners (this demo for them is out on the 24th) to have something like this, but for PS3 owners, there is God of War III to blow it away. Still though, if you enjoy these type of action games, then give Dante's Inferno a shot.

Mega Music Roundup for 12/9/09

Lots to cover for this music roundup as I start with something different which is some EuroPop. First up is a new UK pop artist Cheryl Cole and her debut album, 3 Words. I somewhat enjoyed it for what it is being pop music from the UK and nothing else. Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am is in a quarter of the album lending his voice and producing skills to the table especially the title track, the main single. If you are interested in some new artists, she is worth listening to, but who knows she will have any American presence what so ever considering how popular she is in the UK.

Now off to the new releases of the week (I'm skipping Chris Brown since I don't like him) starting with the long awaited new album by Clipse called Till The Casket Drops. This one is truly worth the wait filled with good stuff to blast from "Kind of Like a Big Deal" with Kanye West, "Popular Demand" with Cam'Ron, "I'm Good," and "Door Man." The Neptunes provide most of the production as always and they still got it maintaining their style of sound and of course the Clipse guys' spitting of the rhymes still deliver. For hip-hop fans, this one is worth checking out being one of the better releases of the year.

Next up is Snoop Dogg's latest, Malice N' Wonderland. Of course, Snoop has been around the game for a while and this one is another solid one by the boss dogg. The album starts off right with "I Wanna Rock" as I didn't like it at first, but it started to grow on me listening to it more and of course I gotta give props to the video featuring Quest Crew, ABDC season 3 winners, and Jamie Foxx. With the good start, its nothing like enjoying the good life with "Gangsta Luv" featuring The Dream, "That's The Homie," and "Upside Down." Overall, I enjoyed most of the album as there are some very good songs while others didn't click with me, so this is worth a listen too.

Looking ahead to next week, the big release is the highly anticipated album by Alicia Keys called The Element of Freedom. Now we all know how awesome she is over the years and her latest continues her awesomeness. This album has a different take to it as she tried some different things, but it is still purely an Alicia Keys album. I didn't mind her first single, "Doesn't Mean Anything," as it sounds like all her other big songs, but I think the standouts for me are "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart," "Like A Sea," "Empire State of Mind II." About Empire, she just kills it and I rather listen to that instead of Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" as now I think he just ruins the song the way it is meant to be heard. Then again, I guess there is room for both since how popular the song is on the mainstream radio to the point you're sick of it and for New York City in general. Basically "Empire State of Mind II" is one of Alicia's best songs ever and as good as "If I Ain't Got You," "No One," and "Fallin." The only cameo appearance is Beyonce for "Put It in a Love Song" which is another one of those ladies anthems they would love. Still though, this album is great from beginning to end every time I would listen to it and definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Well that is it for the music roundup for now in terms what I have been listening to other than top 10 songs I have been blasting. Now that I'm on Winter Break, more time for blogging I guess or maybe more time for Street Fighter IV (Yes, I'm playing that again) and Tekken 6? We'll see if I'm going by my plans in the coming weeks.

Music Roundup for 12/03/09... aka Alicia Keys Being Awesome + Shock Value 2 Edition.

Today's music roundup features Alicia Keys's World Aids Day performance from YouTube on Tuesday (yes, the whole thing). She performs her hits through the years as well as new songs off her new album, Element of Freedom. I don't want to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it, but I think it ends right. All I have to say is "Empire State of Mind 2" is an awesome song and as good as her hit songs. So if you got a hour to kill with some great music, then enjoy Miss Keys doing work above.

I have been trying to enjoy Timbaland's new Shock Value 2 album, but other than his productions, its just that and the songs are whatever to me. Its probably the random cameos in this album compared to the last one like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, the singer from Nickelback, Jet, and Daughtry. At some cameo appearances are still good like his first single "Morning After Dark" with SoShy and Nelly Furtado as well as songs with Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, and Drake. I guess it goes to show how known Timbo is now in the pop world being a production genius for so many artists, but you gotta miss his old days as a producer when he produced better songs back then.

That's it for the music roundup for now. Hopefully, next time I can talk about Snoop's new album and maybe some other stuff.

Music Roundup for 11/30/09 aka "The Jay Sean Edition"

This music roundup is all about one of my new favorite artists of the year (while not really new, but new here at the States), Jay Sean. His U.S. debut album, All or Nothing, came out last week and I have been enjoying it a lot. Of course, it has the current smash hit "Down" with Lil' Wayne as I would sing that song like crazy on the car (no joke) as well as his current single that has a video out in the coming days, "Do You Remember" (the video is now up above) with Sean Paul and the crunk master himself Lil' Jon. The album starts off with a bang with "Do You," one of my favorites and "Fire" setting the tone up high with the bangers. Then it is the hit songs I mentioned earlier and then slows it down with "Ride It" (one of a handful songs reappearing in this album from his last UK release, My Own Way), which is my favorite song from both albums. The tempo goes back up again with "Love Like This" and "If I Ain't Got You," but slows back down with "War" and "Cry." Actually the only slow tempo song I like from his new album (if its considered slow tempo) is "Stay," another reappearance from his previous album. The bonus tracks are remixes of "Down" with a piano version as well as a techno version remixed by Jason Nevins, known for his awesome remix of N.E.R.D's Rock Star. All or Nothing is a great album for Jay Sean to start with here at the States and I hope he is not an one hit wonder either, but with Cash Money backing him up and a number one radio hit, he will be around for a while.



Before his new album came out however, I decided to blast My Own Way to figure out what to expect from him from the States and it is actually another solid album too with "Tonight," "Maybe" (video below), and "Stuck in the Middle" (also in the new one). It is also filled with hits that radio would play at a constant rate if he was popular in the States before "Down." The deluxe edition also has remixes of some of the singles, but they are not that different from the original songs. As an introduction to him, I enjoyed the album and I wonder why no one here at the States didn't pick him up then till Cash Money did.

That's it for the music roundup for now. As I mentioned in my last post, expect my top 10 albums and 100 songs of the year posts sometime next month. Out of the new male R&B artists that entered the U.S. gate this year, I think Jay Sean will have the most success out of them, but that's probably a given if you got Lil' Wayne, Birdman, and Drake on the same record label. In the meantime, I think the sky might be falling down now.

December plans for G Unit Ver1's World...

Since Winter Break is approaching soon for me as well as the end of the year, expect to see major blogs here in the coming weeks ranging from:

• My Top 10 Games of 2009
• My Top 10 Albums of 2009
• My Top 100 Songs of 2009
• Retrospectives on some things...
• Whatever else I think of... but then again it is possible I won't get around to any of this too.

As for a holiday list of what I want, let's see... I have lots in my wishlist, but I won't likely get around to all of them.

• Buzz Quiz World
• God of War Collection
• DJ Hero
• Band Hero
• Modern Warfare 2
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crank in Time
• Final Fantasy XIII (Japanese version) - Actually that would be a miracle.
• A Droid phone
• More new clothes

In the meantime, enjoy the videos in this post...

Even more Vegas shenanigans aka why did I watch New Moon???

My Thanksgiving weekend so far for me has been a return trip to my "second home" Las Vegas. This trip however was one of the longer trips I have been on being there for three nights, so it is like I seen everything there. From eating a Pink's hot dog at Planet Hollywood, staring at the new City Center that opens in the coming weeks, shopping to take advantage of some deals around the area (not on Black Friday though), and gambling being a pure fail, that is some of the things I did at Vegas, but that's only the beginning.

After eating Thanksgiving dinner at Table 10 in the Palazzo where I actually had turkey, the "adventure" kind of began with watching Twilight Saga: New Moon alone at the United Artists theatre by GameWorks. Now if case you are wandering why the hell would I watch it, I did watch the first one during my plane trip to the Philippines earlier this year and it was okay being curious about what is the big deal with this popular franchise. New Moon, on the other hand, was one of the most hilarious movies I have seen in a bad way. The acting by the three main stars is just flat out horrible most of the time with their cheesy dialogue trying to express love. Those lines made me quietly giggle throughout the movie even though there weren't a lot of people watching. As the movie went on, I was like... damn Edward is such a jerk. Then later on, damn Jacob is a jerk. No wonder Bella has to choose sides and why Team Edward / Team Jacob is such a big deal. The slowmo action also was hella cheesy and expected since that happened in the first movie too. I don't know, vampires that sparkle = Ehh. Good thing I was drinking a Monster energy drink to keep me sane.

Then it was time for Jet later that night which was okay. The most random moment for me there was hearing the Cartman Remix of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" twice there, which made me laugh. Personally that remix does not deserve to be played at nightclubs because it taints the remix in every way as it was originally meant to be something else. Other than having a beer and a decent sized crowd in the main room, Jet on Thursday night was whatever, but going there for four times already, I'm noticing trends in terms of music being played that seem like why are they playing it such as a "Wonderwall" mix or even a song mixed with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." At least they were playing some of the hits especially "Stanky Leg" in which you just gotta do the move every time you hear that. The next night, however, is a different story over at XS. My time there was better (better song selection as my favorites of the moment were being played, a great turnout of people to the point it got crowded, better ladies, and more random stuff). Some of the random things I saw range from a midget sighting at the one of the reserved tables as if he's having a blast, one dude before the dance floor filled up was dancing alone to the point I was like I should dance battle him, but I was like never mind and let him be. Other than that, I was at XS enjoying life and the surrounding environment even though my legs are so worked after four hours there (They still feel like that right now). Music moment of that night has to be this song when it played... truly awesome.

That's it for more Vegas shenanigans for now. Being at Jet and XS as an one man army again goes to show how much I miss my friends and I wished they were there as well, but there is always a later time for more of that since that Summer trip was the best Vegas trip I went to that was filled with good and random memories. Then again, living life as a G never stops whether alone or with others and the party, or I should say life, goes on.