Not everyone can afford time/money wise to travel to JPN or MEX 3 or 4 times a year unless it's work related, IMO.
There are good players online too, most of the time, people say they find better comp and challengers than people in their own city or town.
Doesnt Luis Cha and Kula play online sometimes? How do they feel about playing on GGPO?
To be honest, I think the real people that are helping areas in the USA level up and take KOF seriously are ones that were transplanted to from places that were KOF hotspots. Also people that have been playing and taking SNK games seriously from their inception in the arcades.
I understand that completely in regards to travelling 3-4 times a year trust me! I'm just identifying a bigger problem I see in many areas in many games not KOF, this is a general problem I see people saying "Why can't people stop Justin Wong from winning here in the USA etc etc".
Well this comes back to this too!
Yeah Luis Cha and Kula play online sometimes, I was talking to Kula about that yesterday even, he is online from time to time and plays. Luis Cha feels that GGPO is nice for training, but it is nothing compared to playing offline. Kula feels the same, we were talking about this in detail yesterday when talking about him and Osmani vs. Hummer and in the future me giving them the chance to prove that GGPO is just that-online; when I give them the chance to take on Cola since there are "people out there" that look into online SO seriously, that they believe what they see online is a direct reflection of what is going to happen OFFLINE (Generation GGPO!!!).
Luis Cha is good at GGPO he says, but he again says it's nothing compared to offline. He uses it as a training tool just to stay sharp. I will interview (already have it planned) these players including Osmani and Hummer about online play vs. offline play in my extensive interviews for The KOF Cup 2011.
Kula, Osmani and them do not put too much weight into that, but with that said Osmani is super motivated to come and prove to people that he can and WILL defeat Hummer, because he has heard all the jibber jabber as well from these "same people" that disrespect Mexican level of play (So Generation GGPO has made this very personal to Osmani!), so me, Kula, Osmani all share the same thought about this, it's about showing people that:
1. There is more than meets the eye than on GGPO/Supercade! In other words you cannot judge how results are gonna happen offline based off what happens online! Too many inconsistent variables online that are hard to quantify and measure for it to be able to be taken seriously. At best it's like the SAT Prep before the SAT or that practice test for the real test, no pressure, no worries, just something to help you get ready for the SAT!
2. In many places, most of the top players do NOT play online (Alexis, Zeus, Lalo do not play online, a lot of Japanese players as Bata was saying do not play online). Therefore many people saying these Mexicans "do stupid things online" etc have to realize that these are not the real players in Mexico!!!! So you are getting a very very distorted image of what Mexican style play is like! If anything my tournaments with Mexico vs. Japan as the theme should make that very, very clear!
3. Many players such as Kula do not really like/are not accustomed to online, but play on it just to see different styles, and stay sharp for as you say "The Final Exam."
4.-Some players like RINO are GODS online, but offline are nothing even remotely close to that!!!!!!! So again online can be a major deception! I may be popping the hype balloon when I say this guys, but Hummer says for me to hopefully not expect too much out of him..why? Because he doesn't have access to alot of competition! He lives in the Southern part of Japan so he doesn't have access to a lot of competition!
So maybe Hummer may be like Rino possibly- he could be a GOD online, but may not be at that level offline! We are about to see but these are things many people do not take into consideration! Now sure I'll use all this interpretation and distortion/deception and ride the hype train until my event concludes, but when it's over this stuff is going to come back up!! There is a purpose for doing this!
I also agree with the last statement, I just am saying that if people are fine with the results overall staying the same and ten years down the road it's still the same things and players for the most part, then everything should stay how it is.
But..
If people want to see new blood rising to the top, well there is going to have to be a change of some sort! Going back to what I said on the podcast, it's not easy being a top player. Aluding to what Mr. KOF said, we've worked very hard (harder than most) to be where we are! Instead of using that money for certain things we make sacrifices and use it for other things. I mean hey I talk to a lot of women (I'm not a player just in open relationships lol) so I mean guys I could be instead of going to Mexico I could be going to visit these women everywhere!
But I don't, I have to make a sacrifice in order to continue to train..and again those types of things separate again top players from those that are not.