Greetings from Davis, California!

[OverHeat]

Hello everyone! I NEVER post on any type of forums given the, shall we say, less than civilized manner that most folks conduct themselves with. After many weeks of reading these boards I was impressed with the manner in which folks here present themselves so I thought I would give it a go!

So a little about myself...
I've been playing fighters since SF1/Karate Champ days, but never thought they were truly great until SF2, like most folks. I grew up in Davis, and with the amount of foreign students (chinese, korean, japanese) that populated it, at the age of 14(15?) I knew where to go and played against folks who already knew a lot about the game. The spot where most folks played (a crappy little Safeway across the street from campus) ended up getting Fatal Fury before anywhere else in the area and thats where my love affair with Terry B. started (no homo)  . I enjoyed AoF  as well, but not as much as playing a guy who could punch the ground and make fire come out of it. It was just something about that and the Burning Knuckle that really spoke to me as a kid.

When an import version of KoF'94 arrived, most of the exchange students started playing that and I had no qualms whatsoever. I actually became much better at that game than SF2 and was quickly respected as "not free" at that game (i.e. the guys would actually pay attention while fighting me, rather than disgrace me by ignoring the match as they talked to their friends). A little later my family moved to a different part of town and I began to inhabit the local arcade. I spent lots of time there, ended up working there when I was old enough and stayed there until its unfortunate demise.
KoF'98 became my favorite, go to game.

I fell out of fighting games when the arcade scene died out; making your own stick was a nightmare and there weren't any affordable options for someone who barely had enough money to keep his ass from being homeless. Playing on pads just didn't cut it, and without arcades to keep groups together the pool of available players fragmented and eventually became so limited that I gave up on the genre. I would buy the latest version of KoF or SF when it would come out, have fun messing with new mechanics and such, then get bored of the CPU and never play it again.

Well fast forward quite a few years, and now there is a dedicated, flourishing scene and the internet for us to coordinate meet-ups. Netcode in-game to me is a joke. Take no offense, but growing up in arcades has soured me to any kind of online play for fighting games. It really feels entirely different and not being in the same room with your adversary compounds the difference. The socialization factor is yet another difference. I realize that there are those of you that live in areas where there is no scene, and online play is essential for you to enjoy the games and I honestly empathize for you. If only all of us were connected by a 20 minute train ride like Japan is...

Since Street Fighter 4 has been such a boon to the community, it really pleased me to see the response. I've been going to tourneys in my local area when time permits. I'm still shaking off the rust as its been so long since I've played competitively and my now-old-man reflexes really are NOT helping. 

Even though I am not a fan of online play, I am always willing to help folks in the community who want to work on match-up experience. This area has a community called Salty Peanuts that I will be participating in as soon as KoF13 is released. I will be bringing my setup exclusively for that game, attempting to hype it up at the local area and help folks who are willing to learn.

So I guess thats it! I look forward to learning and sharing with the community here at DreamCancel.

[Nagare_Ryouma]

Nice presentation. Welcome.

I've been going to tourneys in my local area when time permits. I'm still shaking off the rust as its been so long since I've played competitively and my now-old-man reflexes really are NOT helping. 

Haven´t you seen Takuma?
We old people have the experience, we have the grey hair, we still have the skill. In other words, we kick ass.

[metaphysics]

Hey OverHeat welcome to the community

[omegaryuji]

Welcome to DC

Netcode in-game to me is a joke. Take no offense, but growing up in arcades has soured me to any kind of online play for fighting games. It really feels entirely different and not being in the same room with your adversary compounds the difference. The socialization factor is yet another difference. I realize that there are those of you that live in areas where there is no scene, and online play is essential for you to enjoy the games and I honestly empathize for you. If only all of us were connected by a 20 minute train ride like Japan is...

100% agree with this.  Playing online is better than not playing at all, but physically sitting next to someone, getting to see each other get salty, get angry, get hype, laugh, cry, howl...nothing like it *laughs*

I'm still shaking off the rust as its been so long since I've played competitively and my now-old-man reflexes really are NOT helping. 

Stick with it.  I know very well how frustrating it gets to see yourself playing worse than you know you were once capable of, but you gotta just use that as motivation to keep digging.

[OverHeat]

Haven´t you seen Takuma?
We old people have the experience, we have the grey hair, we still have the skill. In other words, we kick ass.

Hahaha it's hilarious that you would mention Sakazaki-sama, as he is the only other character that I have always had on my team with Terry (at least, in the versions he was present).

And thank you for the ganbatte spirit Omegaryuji. I certainly will be.

Thanks so much for the warm reception. I actually have a rather large project that I've been working on for the release of KoF13. I'll be posting the work that I've been doing soon in the Pro Gear thread. Please look forward to it!

[desmond_kof]

Welcome to DC, OverHeat. I hope you enjoy your stay here. We are all civilized except for one guy whose name rhymes with Panini. :p

I agree, nothing beats the atmosphere of good offline play. You can't replicate the nerves and hype online at home at all compared to an arcade or tournament. But I do believe that you can learn how to play the game and study it by playing online and in training mode.

P.S. Hop in the toolbar chat sometime if you want to chat. 

[BioBooster]

Welcome!

I'm old-school as well and not the ninja I used to be - I was 16 when Fatal Fury came out. Hurricane Uppah!!
Yeah us older guys whilst not being able to dodge bullets quite as well anymore, IMO can still kill at arcades via good set plays and strategy. I think the major thing that hurts us is not being able to devote gobs of time to a favorite hobby like back in the day when we were students.

That said, I will be manipulating the only variable I have at my disposal these days (which is sleep!) for when XIII hits console.

Although I'll mainly be online 80% of the time, I'll still pop in and out of arcades on occaision. Today I have plans to head out to Akihabara (live in Yokohama now) to pick up a new stick - gotta replace my official KOF XII stick which has a semi-destructed button . If I *cough* *cough* accidentally walk into an arcade during this trip  so be it \(^o^)/

Just wanted to say I'm an arcader at heart whether life these days permits that or not - even when I didn't have money as a kid I could stand there for hours when good players were around and all would be well and good in the world.

Maybe having console can help me improve enough to win a round at a tourney - guess we can dream eh?

[bigvador]

wow that was alot in other words welcome to DC

[jay]

Hey man. Im in Sacramento, so we should meet up sometime and play. Once a month I set up a kind of arcade in the Sac Central Library downtown. I have some stations set up for play like Street Fighter, Marvel, MW3.  I will be adding this game to the lineup, so come hang out with me and lets get some games in!