Power Up

We've Moved!

2009-04-30T19:28:00.004-04:00

I've taken PowerUp into the wild world of paid hosting! All further updates and our PowerUp Podcast can be found at our new home: PowerUp

The normal url is: www.powerupfighters.com

Soon after this post is up I'll be editing the WordPress Thesis them and getting things all spruced up. Very soon the first episode of the PowerUp Podcast will be up and ready for download and subscription via RSS feed and iTunes.

MvC2 Confirmed for PSN and XBL!

2009-04-28T00:10:00.004-04:00

I just picked up Marvel again TODAY! What kind of amazing timing is that? I'm so excited that this game isn't going to fade away in the near future.

Capcom Blog Articles: One and Two

The only way that would happen now is if Capcom announced MvC3. I have no clue as to whether or not that will happen, but I would be happy anyways! Give us a new game to play is always a great thing. New rules, new characters, new learning; nothing better.

Them vs Us: the breakdown

2009-04-25T22:28:00.002-04:00

I had a great time at Them vs. Us. I did pretty well against tough competition in Smash Bros. Brawl, and recorded some great finals matches. Overall, worth my time AND my money.

Look for the videos coming soon on my YouTube channel.

I spent most of my time in the Smash Bros. room in the back of the venue, but it was still a great time. I probably would've felt odd out on the main floor since I know so little about the other games that were being played.

The place was packed though, and about as big as I thought it would be. Things were sometimes stuffed into odd corners, so it made things feel smaller than they really were. Still, when I came out of the Smash room I saw a whole mess of people playing and watching. It was downright impressive and energizing.

I can't wait for my next tournament! I'm currently debating whether or not I should continue on the path of Smash or spend my time predominately on SFIV. Who knows, maybe (and that's a big maybe) I can become a goon at both of them, but I know that would be really hard and probably not within my time schedule. Then again, who knows.

Reminds me of The Dogface Show interview where Dogface mentions Ed Ma and Combofiend are both "multiplaycial", meaning they play many fighters at a high level.

YouTube Update

2009-04-24T15:20:00.002-04:00

All of the current SSBB group and TvC training matches are on display on my YouTube channel. You can pull up the latest videos by using the links on the sidebar, or you can click the YouTube icon to be taken directly to my channel!

Watch me on YouTube!

2009-04-23T20:08:00.002-04:00

In accordance with my new don't post training matches on my blog rule, I would like to direct everyone to my constantly updated YouTube page: Osirun13

I like to keep things organized, so hit up the playlist section to find all my latest stuff and tourney footage. As long as I don't hit some sort of YouTube cap on space all the tourney footage will remain on my page indefinitely.

Watch, enjoy, comment, and come back for more!

Videos, videos everywhere!

2009-04-23T20:01:00.002-04:00

I recorded a LOT of Brawl casual play yesterday. I like to keep my vids at 10 min or less just for the sake of the viewer and to comply with YouTube's general usage policies.

But man! I recorded almost two hours of stuff! It's hard to pick and choose the best matches, maybe I should start noting them so I can find them later. Anyway, look forward to three vids of team Brawl starring myself as Peach. This is in preparation for what I believe will be a doubles tourney at Them vs. Us in West Chester, Ohio.

I swear that I will never keep more than three vids of any one game up on YouTube for critiquing. Matter of fact, if I'm going to have that as a rule, I should probably refrain from posting those types of matches on my blog; just wastes space once the links break.

My thing is this. Unless it's a tournament where it's great to have the recording forever, my training matches need to be cycled out frequently to prevent clutter and give me new material to work on. If the same problems persist then I'll just keep trying to fix them, and when new things pop up once I've improved I can work on those too.

Power Up: The Podcast

2009-04-21T22:30:00.003-04:00

Coming soon to a music player near you! I've got the mic, I've got the intro music, I've even got a host (it's me by the way). I've got no idea what will be in the podcast, but ideas are pouring out of my ears. Honestly, I just don't want to come across stupid since I really don't know much about any fighting game just yet.

But anyway, it's not like I need to suck an hour of your time away for my podcast. For the first one, and probably many afterward, I'm hoping to keep up an interesting show for 15-20 minutes.

Wish me luck!

My Execution

2009-04-21T22:26:00.003-04:00

As you can see by the video I'll post on my YouTube channel of some April 21st SFIV matches, I must really enjoy losing. At one point my execution is so bad that I can't even do a HP TK. I just keep crouching and HP. It pisses me off more than makes me sad, and I just have to keep calm and let the move come out. Otherwise I'm shafted.

I didn't post any Guile videos. I only played a couple with him, and I figured it'd be best to dedicate each session to Guile and C. Viper respectively. That way I can compile videos for each.

The purpose of the videos is constructive criticism and analysis, so feel free to comment accordingly.

Them vs Us: Beta, GET HYPE! April 25th

2009-04-21T14:58:00.004-04:00

Held in West Chester, OH at Illuminaudi Games. Them vs Us will have a large event space and is running plenty of tournaments, everything from Brawl and SFIV to SCIV and GGAC.

Here's a link to the thread on SRK- Them vs Us: Beta

I'll be recording at the event, so look for those videos coming soon here on Power Up and on my YouTube channel - Osirun13

Personally, I believe I'll be signing up for SSBB, SFIV, and perhaps TvC.

Group Elimination Tournament Bracket

2009-04-20T18:20:00.003-04:00

Spence: MK

King: Lucario

Chris: Link

Gabe: Ike

Nate: Olimar

Shonyi: Marth

Aaron W: T. Link

Zack: G & W

Seth: Lucas

Aaron M: Zelda

Group Elimination: Grand Championship (video)

2009-04-20T18:19:00.000-04:00

Group Elimination: Loser's Bracket Finals (video)

2009-04-20T17:37:00.000-04:00

Singles Tournament Bracket

2009-04-20T16:52:00.001-04:00

Shonyi: Fox

Spence: Pit

Nate: Peach

Zack: ROB

Aaron M: Sonic

King: Lucario

Aaron W: T. Link

Chris: Link

Gabe: Snake

Seth: Wolf

Singles: Grand Championship (video)

2009-04-20T16:51:00.000-04:00

Singles: Winner's Bracket Finals (video)

2009-04-20T16:40:00.003-04:00

Singles: Loser's Bracket Finals (video)

2009-04-20T15:21:00.005-04:00

SSBB Tourney Sucess!

2009-04-20T13:45:00.004-04:00

It was very small, just ten people in my friend's house, but it was still a lot of fun! I helped set up a couple of brackets on a white board, managing to make a pretty cool bracket that allowed us to play 4 player free for all Brawl. I think I should retype those brackets (I transcribed them onto paper) and post them!

I also recorded the finals from the winners' and losers' brackets along with the final match between each respective finalist.

Overall it was a heck of a good time, and really makes me want to set plans for my own tournament into motion.

There were two things that bugged me: I need to get a tripod for my camera, and the Group Elimination Loser's Bracket Finals were played with 4 stock instead of 5 on accident. I suppose it doesn't matter too much, but I've got to learn to keep an eye on things like that. (We had taken a break and played casual, but forgot to put the stock back up)

Ah, I almost forgot. The Singles Tournament was also run strangely. It was pseudo-double elimination. I had forgotten how to do a proper double elimination bracket, so we got kind of a mutt variant. It worked out in the end, though.

Still Not Very Good

2009-04-18T21:03:00.003-04:00

I got pretty roughed up by some online friends in SFIV. Both times I forgot to record my matches, but I won't be making that mistake again. The camera is going right next to my arcade stick.

My execution is still pretty bad. I slip into button mashing too often, even though my general directions are well intentioned but ultimately ineffective.

And to top it all, I was defeated in a mirrored C. Viper match up. So sad :(

Onward!

On the up side though, I finished Guile's hard trials.

Smash Bros. Tourney for Doughnuts!

2009-04-18T02:03:00.004-04:00

That's right, doughnuts. A good friend of mine is hosting a small tourney and the grand prize is apparently a box of Krispy Kreme heaven. At first I thought that the buy-in would be one doughnut per person, but I decided not to say anything.

As far as my confidence level going in, I would say that all the doughnuts will soon belong to me. Peach is going in, and no opponent is coming out without a booty bump to the face!

Double Salvo!

2009-04-18T02:01:00.002-04:00

I'm working on clearing Guile's last two Hard Trials. I can't quite get the timing correct on #4's use of the EX FA to crumple Dan before he manages to block. However, I am able to hold it down and then normal unblockable FA into Guile's Ultra, so I guess that's something . . . right?

Deadly Beauty

2009-04-15T00:03:00.003-04:00

I cleared Viper's Hard Trial #5 after around an hour and a half of analyzing, practicing, and eventually understanding exactly what I needed to do and when. In fact, there's one more note I need to put down before I forget . . .

Anyway, fresh off my Deadly Beauty high I decided to network battle. Five quick matches later I came out with 2 wins. I was reminded, although already knowing this very well, that hitting the pads is not the same as sparring.

I did play well, however. I managed to utilize my TK cancel and c.HP > TK often enough for them to be useful. I couldn't quite get c.HP > TK xx Super, though. Perhaps another time.

In the very end I lost to a defensive Rufus player; something I'd never seen before. I really wasn't that upset because I had tried a few things to get inside, and they worked, but I couldn't follow up. I wish more people would play characters other than Ryu and Ken. That way I would at least have some basic knowledge for playing against characters like Rufus, Akuma, Sakura, etc.. Hell, I'll even take fights against Sagat just for the sake of getting better at the matchup.

C. Viper and Guile

2009-04-14T21:59:00.003-04:00

I started getting into Street Fighter in particular with SFII:HD on the Playstation Network. I had played Street Fighter very sparingly in the past, so I just chose the character I thought I'd enjoy most: Guile. Turns out charge characters aren't always the best for beginners to choose, and my online HD Remix scores attest to that.

Nevertheless, I have gotten much better. I only began seriously playing around January of 2009 anyway, so while I often get frustrated when I get stomped down I always try to learn something from every loss. Whether it's to s.HP almost every jump in or not Flash Kick at every opportunity, I always try to take a lesson when I lose, and when I win; what could I have done better?

Then SF4 released and I basically put down HD Remix. It's a fun game and all, but in truth it had been my appetizer for the main course. Of course I picked up Guile and have managed to do reasonably well against my friends who have years of casual experience in SF. I've even had some great matches online against people with skill similar to my own.

The problem was that a friend of mine also plays Guile. Mirror matches are extremely boring to me, so I decided I needed to pick up an alternate character. Enter Crimson Viper.

I'm not sure why I chose to pick up C. Viper. Perhaps it's because of her role in the horrible pack-in movie that came with the Tournament Edition of SF4. Whatever the reason, I'm now learning and playing Viper much more than poor old Guile. Come to think of it, I should really choose him more often. I do want to win, don't I?

At this posting I'm currently on the Hard Trial #5 for Viper. My understanding of execution has increased dramatically, but is still infinitesimal compared to what knowledge is waiting for me.

I'm no SF4 guru, but if you'd like to play me on PSN my handle is: Osirun

Just let me know in the friend invite that you found me here on Power Up!

Home Base

2009-04-13T01:31:00.003-04:00

I really want to get involved and be competitive in the fighting game scene. Frankly, I'm new to competitive gaming in general, and have only been casually playing fighters (however competitively with friends) for years.

This blog is where I will bring you with me on my own personal journey to power up!