[29 Mar 2013] FINAL ROUND 16 (Atlanta, GA)

Still testing out parts before I put the stream up, but the stream address will be at the following:

http://www.twitch.tv/BLACKSTAR_GA

don't bother going there until at least tomorrow, everything's still under construction

 

VF fans, I'll just leave this here:

http://i2.minus.com/iAWW4tDTRduHO.jpg

 

VF @ Final Round 16 tournament is over and in da books.



First and foremost, I'd want to apologize to anyone that was looking forward to the stream. It definitely was the biggest disappointment of the weekend -- those who took the time out of their day to try and tune in. I have to say it was a dissappointment (to say the least) for myself as well. Between myself and my sponsor, we had spent at least $1K and prepared nearly 6 months for that moment to stream, only to have our hopes dashed by an unusable 4g signal. Myself, along with the help of awesome people like Shag, Drift, Trykt, and CDGR, tried for at least a couple of hours to rectify the situation, but in the end, I didn't have the means to correct it. Between myself and Drift, most of the matches were recorded, but I would have LOVED for the world to tune in live to see matches like Ryan Hart vs. Shag. All I can say is, with the help and advice I had received by other communities and streamers at Final Round this year, I know which steps to take so that this problem will never arise again.

That being said, despite great efforts, streaming amounts only to a secondary goal at the end of the day -- it's the players themselves that will always come first. With that in mind, I'd like to say the tournament was a big success. Despite being a side tournament with no corporate sponsorship backing and only viral marketing efforts used to spread the word, despite having NO regional/local VF scene to speak of, despite having several of the VF vets having to change plans and prioritize SEGA Cup (which, honestly, is a very smart and favorable decision, no love lost here ), we still had an impressive turnout -- 23 players, with a few more that we had to turn away because they asked to join in, like, 2 hours in. This is the second VF tournament I ran where the turnout impressed me, which offers hope of the possibility of me running local/regional VF tournaments, which may lead to a scene developing out of nothing.

At Final Round for VF, we had alot of great players -- big name players, like Justin Wong and Ryan Hart, despite them having to concentrate on big-money games. VF vets like SHAG and Blackula that kept the tournament hype and the big crowd that showed up in our tournament room glued to the screens. Big name players from other games, like Lopedo (DOA, Soul Calibur) and Heaton (Soul Calibur) putting their VF skills to the test in tournament. International players like BlueLink (Brazil) and Ryan Hart (UK). Regional players like Drift, Trykt, CDGR, BrodiMAN, DeadlyLastPush, and many many more, who made the tournament a blast to watch and participate in. The tournament itself was a BLAST, and everybody was extremely cooperative, which made everything run smoothly. Aside from the stream, the only real hitch we had, had come when rounding out the top 5 at the end; it had dragged on a little longer than expected, but that was only because it was getting deep into the evening, and the players themselves were committed toward main game tournaments as well, and not because of an actual problem. Even with that, things ran relatively smoothly, to which, as the TO, I am VERY THANKFUL (you have no idea how much).

BIG thanks to everyone that came out. Congrats to the top 3 -- 1st place, Ryan Hart. 2nd place, Drift. 3rd place, Blackula. Shoutouts to eg | Justin Wong for finishing in 4th place.




Speaking of shoutouts --
HUGE thanks to ShinBlanka for allowing me the opportunity to bring VF back to Final Round this year. I can't thank you enough, and thanks for keeping a tab on me at tournament time. People of your actions and stature show me how much you REALLY care about the community -- even small communities, like VF. He truly is the real deal, people.

Shoutouts to SEGA, for providing players in the Final Round venue with free VF5:FS t-shirts. Stuff like that shows that you guys really are keeping an eye on the fighting game community, which is very awesome and encouraging.

Special thanks to FunkyP for dealing with my barrage of questions on streaming for, like, 5 months. Streamers, I see, have a HUGE burden to shoulder, and despite my signal loss blowing up my chances to actually stream, I see a clear path in being able to achieve the same quality that many of FGC's streamers achieve.

Shoutouts for VFDC'ers SHAG, Blackula, Drift, Trykt, BlueLink (all the way from BRAZIL! ) and CDGR -- you guys are awesome, and are a big part of the reason that the tournament itself turned out so well.

Special shoutouts to that guy streaming Marvel 2 -- he gave me some awesome tips I can use to create an awesome stream in the future.




NOTE: -- Due to an error within the bracket (http://www.challonge.com/VFatFR16), I had a player take my place in the tournament. So BLACKSTAR in the bracket is actually BrodiMAN, a local Sarah player, who, I believe also plays Tekken.
NOTE: -- Videos of the top 3 will be posted here later today (Monday), with more to be posted in the days to come.