Galaxy4Gamers.com

EVO2K11 – The Excitement….

jon — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:14:52 +0000

I go to events multiple times per year and while they are all fun, they are nothing compared to EVO2k. I can easily say that it is the funnest and most exciting gaming event in the United States and truly competes with major sports championships. The crowd is roaring, the gaming celebrities are in full effect, the booths have cool stuff to do, but that description cannot fully give the event justice. One of the real reasons EVO is so exciting is the fighting community. EVO brings everyone together for a crazy weekend in Vegas and the energy is electric. I want to keep writing more about EVO, but I cannot fully express what it is. If you have not booked your place at the RIO for the weekend of July 29th, DO IT or you may forever regret the best gaming event USA has to offer.

PAX East 2011

jon — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:10:59 +0000

What can I say about PAX East? I’ve been attending PAX events for the last few years and I can easily say that it is one of the best cons I’ve ever attended. If you have never been, let me explain the absolute madness. The reality is that the gaming industry spares no expense in making this a fun and exciting event. From the sexy ladies to the new game releases, you kind of wish it was your day job. And that’s even before it’s open to the public. When the doors do open to the public…it’s like something out of Lovecraft.

We started our week by setting up our booth with Mad Catz/Tritton and GUNNAR Optiks. It’s crazy to see the convention being built. It starts with a simple concrete slab, and over time something amazing is erected (both there, and in my pants). It’s a phenomenal feat of hard work and planning that generally gets overlooked, but being a part of it makes it even more special. The cool thing is that, as an exhibitor, you get to walk the floor and check out all the booths before the convention opens. I was able to check out LA Noir, Star Wars, Call of Juarez and more. WWE Smash 2011 was actually being featured in our booth, so my new game fix was easily cured.

Once the show began, people were filing in by the 1000′s and I can’t believe how many orange cones people were wearing. It was comical to look at and I seriously wanted to wear one, but orange pylons don’t go well with my skin tone. I’m not one of those italians. Anyway, we started Friday with a Halo Reach tourney and raffles. We then ventured in Call of Duty: Black Ops on Saturday and Marvel vs. Capcom on Sunday. Pro player Neighbor from Triggers Down ended up winning the Halo Reach Tourney, while we had a couple future Pros take down Call of Duty: Black Ops and Marvel vs. Capcom on Sunday. We also had charity events and the Guiness World Record Holder for Tetris, Triforce, made an appearance.

There were tons of celebrity gamers and TV stars that were hanging out in our booth. Hastr0 from Envyious, Halo Pro Biitersweet and Neighbor, Coach Bravo from Triggers Down, UGC Faye Mata, StarSlay3r, Prod1gy X, the Justin Wong (yes I said “the”) G4 TV’s Adam Sessler and Leah Michelle and last but not least, the president of Galaxy4Gamers, Mike Casazza. Yea, Mike Casazza, that guy. Great guy and all, but he really needs to stop emulating Charlie Sheen. He’s even starting to speak in the third person now.

But any ways, what made the event even better was Gamers Outreach, RadioActive Nerd, SFX360 and Justin.TV all made an appearance. A few of us made it out to the Gamers Gone Wild party and I left part of my liver in Boston. All I can say is that Gamers Gone Wild parties get out of control and I wish I could explain what happened inside, but the legality of it all is still questionable, so I’ll let your imagination fill in the gaps. The glorious, glorious gaps.

So, in conclusion, PAX East is off the chart and kicked my ass. Not only did PAX give us thousands of new members, but it gave me the flu too. What more can be said?

I’m FIVE and I’m an Addict

five — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:14:05 +0000

Hello…I’m FIVE and I’m an addict…

It’s been 727 days since my XBOX 360 has had anything but Call of Duty in it.
I am not in denial about my addiction. I am fully aware that I have a problem. I love Call of Duty. I love playing it, I love talking about it, I love reading and hearing about. Watching others play it on Justin.tv…make me want to join them. And when JD_2020 from Treyarch tweets about it, I just want to follow him!
In most cases, awareness is the first step in getting help. This is different. I don’t want help. I may need help…but I don’t want it. In fact, I have no intentions of getting treatment for my addiction. Actually, I’m hoping I can get more people addicted so I never have to face reality!

Pathetic…I know. My wife calls herself a CoD widow and my children don’t even know what I look like standing up anymore.

I didn’t used to be like this…

I used to love all types of games, but now they just sit there on the shelf. Staring at me, as if to say…why have you forsaken us Five? Why? Weren’t we good to you? They were…I harbor a lot of guilt over this.
My favorite games used to be Survival Horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. But those days are gone. Now I’m caught in my own special kind of foggy hell that is known as Call of Duty Multiplayer Mode.
Now, the only time I am truly happy is when my team wins a round of Capture the Flag or Search and Destroy, and I earn enough XP to level up. Aside from that, the only thing that really gets me off is a clean headshot from across a large map. Well…that and a fresh set of batteries for my wireless controller.

I’m pathetic…

Before Call of Duty, I was a happy person… I used cook out on the weekends and go places with my wife. I used to do things with my kids. I used to mow the lawn and wash the car. I used clean my garage and hang out with my buddies, Tom and Brad.
Ever since my son turned me on to the Call of Duty games about 4 years ago, my friends have become people with names like xX SniperDog69 Xx, JitterKitten, and UnkemptZulu. And when those friends are unavailable, I’m not picky…I’ll share my connection with anyone who is willing to go HARDCORE with me.

Yep…I’m sick. It’s ruining my life!

My 50″ plasma TV has a permanent HUD burned into it.
I can’t stop relating everything to Call of Duty…
When my dog runs after a squirrel in the back yard, I imagine myself running after her so I can corner kill whatever she is chasing.
I just watched “We Were Soldiers” on TV the other day, and in one scene the American Forces are getting slammed from all sides. So they call in air support. When it comes and drops napalm all over the enemy, I couldn’t help but think…”somebody just got a 5 kill streak!”
When I can’t play, to subdue the mild panic attacks, I get out my RC car that came with my edition of Black Ops and chase the cats around the house with it…yelling BOOM when it gets close to them…they don’t like me anymore. I don’t balme them. I’m not right in the head.
Last Thanksgiving, my brother made a comment about my mashed potatoes…he said they were a bit lumpy…I was humilated. After dinner he fell aslepp on the living room floor…I tea-bagged him and did a victory spin while pretending to defuse a breifcase bomb. (what the hell is wrong with me!)
My 10 year old son usually gets lunch money, but the day “First Strike” was available for download, I was a bit short on funds. So, I sent him off to school with a bologna sandwich and a dill pickle…telling him..”I need to get MicroSoft points boy…you understand…right?”
Last night, while in bed, I had to get up and use the bathroom. I accidentally woke my wife while pulling the covers back, and she asked me where I was going. I told her I earned a “care package” and had to go wait for the dump.
Kids ask a lot of questions, like “Dad, where are my shoes”…I have started replying to them with things like “check your minimap” or “now would be a good time to use your UAV”
My family tried to do an intervention on me last week but realized quickly that I am a lost cause. When I came in the door, I was surprised that they were all waiting for me. Just by looking a them I knew what was up, and felt very cornered and unsafe. Lashing out them I screamed in a Little Timmy voice, “You’re all a bunch of spawn killers!” They just hung there heads left the lobby…I-I…I mean living room. Feeling muted and banned, I played 5 straight hours of Team Deathmatch with some people I never met. They are all on my friends list now…They get me.

I know this isn’t right but I can’t help myself! Call of Duty has me by the frags…and I like it!
I do manage to pull myself away from it once and a while, and actually do stuff like go to work and eat. (most of the time) And…I have promised to spend at least half of the weekend with my family, and even more time if the internet goes down…So I guess you could call me a functioning addict…but none-the-less…I am an addict.
I know I am not alone in this, and that in itself, gives me comfort. Being alone in this world is not something anyone should have to go through by themselves…(wait…what?) Thank you all for taking the time to let me get this off my chest. I feel like a just earned enough CP to purchase Lightweight and Marathon Pro all in the same round!

If you are sufferring from any form of FPS addiction and want to talk about it…or you just share your story, feel free to email me any comments, stories, pics and videos, to five@Galaxy4Gamers.com. I want you to know…you have a friend who understands.

I’m FIVE and I’m an addict…thanks for listening.
(Is there anymore coffee?)

(a related video…this is NOT me! But I do understand.)

EVO Online PSN: Who’s Going to Vegas?

five — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:04:19 +0000

January 30th, 2011
…I wake up Sunday morning and my wife is sitting on the edge of the bed, phone in hand, checking her Facebook and Twitter feeds (link to our facebook and twitter pages.)
I look over at her and ask,”Is there anything new and exciting to report from the world of Facebook land?”
She chuckles a bit and replies,

“Tina K. Great work out, I feel the burn. Woot”

I just stare at her blankly. She knows what I’m thinking. Then at the same time we both let out a loud
“WOOT”
and laugh our butt’s off together.

WOOT? Who actually says that?

Once our laughter dies down, she put her phone away and asks me,
“What are your plans for the day”?
“I have EVO Online today…”
“Oh great…more video game crap! We have to go grocery shopping.”
“Oh great…more crap I hate to do!”
(She smacks me upside my head.)
“Are we going to be back by 1pm…cuz that’s when it starts.”
“We should be if you get your butt out of bed now…”

I do…we go…GROCERY SHOPPING! (yay)

Two and a half hours later, I’m back home and the milk, bread, and 4500 other things we purchased are in the house and put away.

Time for some EVO Online!

“WOOT!”

I log in to Galaxy4Gamers.com, click the Live Streams button and settle in for an afternoon of SSFIV competition.
Competition is what I wanted and competition is what I got!

The event opens up with the commentary of James Chen and UltraDavid. Sporting some rather nifty ties, the two give us a rundown on the top 16 finalists. They then inform us that the sole winner of the event will receive a FREE TRIP to EVO 2011 and an exclusive online title.
The first round, of this single elimination tournament gave us Vermilli0n (aka Mike Ross) and his E.Honda vs Lazy922 and his Guile. After some back and forth in the early part of the match, it was Mike Ross who took it and moved on to round 2 of the finals.
Next were MarlinPie vs RandomRJ. Out of the nine rounds played, RandomRJ only dropped 3, moving him and his Fei Long on, knocking MarlinPie out for the day. This was a bit of an upset as MarlinPie was the favorite to win this match up. He currently holds the number 4 position on Galaxy4Gamers.com leader board. We hope MarlinPie finds his way to EVO 2011.
Tatsukjinken and BigFleccs went head to head next and while BigFlecc’s Bison came out hard, in the end, it was Tatsu’s Vega who was a little like Beowulf against Grendel, heroically carving himself a victory in match 3 to move himself on.
Matchup number 4 was uruseii and his long legged Sakura against F8less and his Sagat. Sagat didin’t have what it takes to knock the little girl down, so in game 3, F8less tried to catch up by switching to Adon. At first it looked like this was a good move, for he took round 1. However, uruseii took himself and his Sakura on up the bracket, by taking rounds 2 and 3, giving him 3-0 victory.
CHUCKYSRK (aka crizzle) and his Viper dominated Ken, who was driven by lilsicx66 in the next 3-1 match, as did Hug101, who swept Foxisquick 3-0 with his version of M. Bison. RED RANGER and ghettoperu went at it in match number 7. With RED RANGER taking games 1 and 2 and putting up two PERFECTS on the board, the match was all but over for ghettoperu. However, ghettoperu must have had a talk with his Balrog during the short break between games 2 and 3, because after that he didn’t miss a beat and came back winning the match 3-2 over RED RANGER. Impressive comeback indeed. Sorry RED, we still love you and hope you remain on the G4G leader board for quite some time!
As James Chen and UltraDavid had some fun with numbers over the usernames jewelman444 and dudeman5566, the two players started their battle. Jewelman444 came out strong and although it’s not really nice to say, he ran right over dudeman5566′s Balrog, (sorry dudeman) sweeping the match 3-0, without losing a single round. Part of his victory came by way of some serious Honda Handslapping. The back to back combos drew some attention from Mr Chen, which did raise some concern about fair game play. We’ll get back to that in a minute…or two. Jewelman444 did advance to round 2.

So…after the first round of play, we were left with:

Vermilli0n (aka Mike Ross) vs RandomRj
Tatusujinken vs uruseii
CHUCKYSRK (aka crizzle) vs Hugo101
ghettoperu vs jewelman444

Some of the favorites to move on to the semi final were Tatsujinke, CHUCKYSRK, and Vermilli0n.
Round two started out as a tug of war between Mike Ross and RandomRJ. In the end, it was the favorite, Mike Ross who would move on.
Even though Tatsujinken managed to grab a PERFECT in round 1 of game 3, sadly, the expected advance for him was just not going to happen. Uruseii and his Sakura proved that neither one of them is a lower tier character, by taking the macth 3-2, in what was, in my opinion, one of the best battles we saw all day.
Hugo101 also pulled off an upset over CHUCKYSRK with a 3-2 win. This was another one that came down to the wire. We even got to see some character changes from both players. CHUCKYSRK’s Viper was replaced by Zangief, after losing round 1 and 2, and then Hugo101′s Bison was benched for Sagat in game 5, after dropping both games 3 and 4! Exciting to say the least. Just about the, my wife hollered that dinner was ready and when I told her I couldn’t come up to eat at the moment, she took the time to walk downstairs into my mancave and smack me upside my head again. I suppose it was worth it though. The day’s competition kept me on the edge of my seat all afternoon! …Anyway…Game 5 of that match ended up a 2-1 win for Hugo101, movinig him on to the semifinal.

During a short break in the action, it was decided that Jewelman444 was NOT committing any mischief. Before the final match in round 2, Jewelman444, received not only an apology from James Chen, who thought he may have been using turbo, but he also got some mad props from the commentator, for his completely sick Honda Handslapping combos! My hat goes off to Mr. Chen for not only making sure things were on the up and up during gameplay, but for taking the time to make things right when his accusation turned out to be false. In my book, that makes you Sir Chen, a class act.

With that said, the match began and ghettoperu quickly discovered what all the fuss was about. Jewelman444 laid down another “Flawless Victory” (wait…isn’t that from another fighting game? pffffffff…my bad), by not losing a single round in 3 games. This of course put Jewelman444 into the semifinal. Well done Jewelman444!

…A bit hungry, I went upstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat, satisfying my belly and making things right with my lady. I then hurried back down stairs to my computer and got comfy again. Looking at the newly updated tourney bracket, I found out that in the semi final, things looked like this:

Vermilli0n vs uruseii
Hugo101 vs Jewelman444

Getting on with things, Mike Ross seemed to be a bit nervous about his foe, Sakura. Even though his Honda took round 1 in game 1, he ended up losing the first game as the skinny little girl took out his fatman, 2-1. Then, somewhere between game 1 and game 2, Mike settled in with his Honda and beat down poor Sakura, eliminating uruseii, by winning every round of the next 3 games. You know what that means…Mike Ross moves on to the final!

I remember thinking at that time, “Time out! Hold on one second!…This means that if Jewleman444, who also plays with Honda wins his match against Hugo101, we could be looking at a mirror match in the final!” Our commentators for this event, also noticed this possibility and made mention of how most SSFIV players don’t particularly care for these kind of match ups.

Unfortunately for Hugo101, that is exactly what was to be. Even though he gave Jewelman444 his first loss of the day in game 1, round 2, he would only take 2 more rounds in the match up. Despite an effort to shake things ups, with two character changes, Hugo101 went down 3-0 vs Jewelman444 and his Honda.

Before we move on the finale of EVO Online SSFIV PSN, I would like to personally congratulate each and every player who made it to the finals. Getting this far was a great accomplishment in itself..so
CONGRATULATIONS to:

Vermilli0n
Lazy922
MarlinPie
RandomRJ
Tatsujinken
BigFleccs
uruseii
F8less
CHUCKYSRK
lilsicx66
Hugo101
Foxisquick
ghettoperu
RED RANGER
dudeman5566
Jewelman444

Each and every match, game, and round that played out in this contest, was more than worth watching and made EVO Online what it was. Spectacular.
I’m guessing that some of you may already know who is going on to EVO 2011 for FREE, and some of you don’t. Either way, it really doesn’t matter, because I’m not going to tell you! It is once again time for dinner, and my wife cooked for me, again. Since I don’t feel like getting smacked upside the head anymore this week, you can see for yourself. Thanks for reading and goodbye for now. But before I go, I leave you with the video of the Final EVO Online PSN Match between:

Mike Ross (aka Vermilli0n) and Adam Jewel (aka Jewelman444)

…enjoy, FIVE

EVO Online II on PS3

five — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:55:54 +0000

Back in December of 2010, the combined forces of Galaxy4Gamers.com, EVO, Shoryuken, and MadCatz brought you the first ever EVO Online Tournament. The purpose of this event was to bring Super Street Fighter IV players together from all across North America to compete for the grand prize of a FREE trip to EVO 2011 in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada!

Divided up into several 16 player brackets and 8 regional divisions, hundred of players were brought together through Galaxy4Gamers.com. They fired up there XBOX 360 consoles, connected to Xbox Live and whittled themselves down to just 16 players.

A week later, those 16 finalists came back to G4G to see who was going to be crowned champion and head off to EVO this summer.

When EVO Online was first announced, the word quickly spread that this was an XBOX 360 only event. There was much chatter online about a PS3 version of EVO Online. Why wasn’t there one? Would there be one?

Well…YES! Of course there was going to be a PS3 version!
How could there not be?
Galaxy4Gamers.com, EVO, Shoryuken and MadCatz are just way too cool to ignore the other half of the gaming community!
NOT having an EVO Online for PS3 would just be silly.

With that said, shortly after the December tournament completed, another announcement was made, and on January 22nd, you know who did you know what…ONE MORE TIME!

SO….
Without further adieu, here are the top 16 finalists for the EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV PS3 Tournament Fianls, held on Sunday, Juanuary 30th 2011.

uruseii
F8less
MarlinPie
RED RANGER
randomRJ
jewelman444
Foxisquick
Vermilli0n
ghettoperu
Hugo101
Tatsujinken
LaZy922
lilsicx66
dudeman5566
BigFleccs
CHUCKYSRK

AND….
Just like last time, every single minute, of every single match will be LIVE STREAMED and commentated! Once again, your event hosts will be none other than, James Chen and UltraDavid. To catch all the action, just go to Galaxy4Gamers.com. See ya there!

____________________________________________________

After the first round of play was over, I gathered up the email addresses of the top 16 and sent them a congratulations and asked them for some feedback on the event. Here are some the replies I received.

lilsicx66: “The tournament ran really smooth, and this is my 1st online tournament. Can’t wait to play next week in top 16. Thanks for the oportunity, and ill try my best!”

RED RANGER: “I’m glad I was able to participate in last weeks EVO Online tournament. The competition was fierce…everyone came to play that day and I’m glad I’m one of the proud few that can call them self top 16. But now the real test begins…I know the competition will be even greater. I’ll do my best, and if I dont make it then congrats to the person who does, because I know its not an easy task to accomplish. Thanks Galaxy4Gamers for giving us the chance to make it to the big stage which is EVO.”

dudeman5566: “At first, I had some troubles logging on to the site and getting set up. However, customer support was very good the whole time and eventually the event became smooth. Thank you Mr Wizard and Galaxy4Gamers for hosting this tournament!”

Foxisquick: “I had a really good experience doing the PS3 evo online first round. I was worried at first because PSN has a history of being worse off then 360 when it comes to doing things online. In the end it was fine for the most part. Normally with a prize this big you are also worried about running into people who make attempts to exploit the system, but I had nothing but solid positive players to face. I think the most interesting part of this is what will happen come Sunday the 30th. Everyone in the top 16 is a killer (except me! argh!). So, I’m looking forward to at least not embarrassing myself or my state of Colorado. I’m more excited as a fan to watch the games then being a participant to be honest. Galaxy4gamers has done a great job thus far.”

BigFleccs: “I really enjoyed that first round of course. I had retired from Street Fighter you could say, but I have not forgotten how to play. I hope you guys that watched online enjoyed the show as much as I did entertaining you. I won’t reveal to much for next week, but one thing is for sure you will see a good fight. Also thanks to my online cohorts you know who you are because of you I’m here.”

____________________________________________________

Lastly, I just want to say “Thanks very much for your input people!”. At Galaxy4Gamers.com, we value your opinion.The more feedback we get from you, our users, the better we can meet your competitive needs. If you have any comments you would like to share with Galaxy4Gamers.com, feel free to visit our forum and let us know what you think.

“May the Scores Be With You”,
~FIVE~

Behind the Controller: A Look at Wolfkrone

five — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:03:10 +0000

Right around the time of the November 2010 announcement of EVO Online at Galaxy4Gamers.com…

…a Super Street Fighter IV gamer named Wolfkrone showed up on the site. Right after making his first deposit, and entering the EVO event, he began competing in cash head to head challenges and single elimination SSFIV tournaments hosted by Galaxy4Gamers.com. In just over a month’s time, he played in an astonishing 120 plus matches at G4G and earned over $1000.00 in winnings. When the day arrived for first round of EVO Online bracket play, Wolfkrone, along with fifteen other competitors, found their way to the top of the sixteen regionally divided brackets, moving each of them on to the finals. Day two of the event was held a week later, and after all was said and done, it was Wolfkrone who was crowned the victor of the tournament. As his reward, he won a free trip to EVO 2011 and an exclusive online title of “No One Comes Close.” Shortly after the event was over, I got a chance to interview Wolfkrone…

Five:
How’s it going today?

Wolfkrone:
Everything is going good today. Just finished up a little Christmas shopping with my family.

Five:
‘Tis the season…I just got mine finished up yesterday,. all done..ready to go…glad it’s over with!

Wolfkrone:
LOL

Five:
So…your username is Wolfkrone. You are a pro Super Street Fighter IV player, winner of the first ever EVO Online Tournament, and exclusive owner of the online title: No One Comes Close”
Before we get into all that, can you tell us a little bit about who Wolfkrone is?

Wolfkrone:
Well…my real name is Joshua Philpot, I’m from Detroit Michigan. Right now I’m 20 years old, and currently going to college. I’ve been gaming since I was about 5 years old and have played just about any fighting game you can name. I didn’t really get serious about gaming until Street Fighter IV came out.

Five:
Where exactly did the username Wolfkrone come from?

Wolfkrone:
It came from one of my favorite fighting games Soul Caliber IV. One of the stages in that game is called called Wolfkrone Monument, and that’s basically where I got my name from.

Five:
We (Galaxy4Gamers) met you for the first time at EVO 2010. If I’m not mistaken, you visited our booth, signed up for Galaxy4Gamers.com, played in some cash tournaments, and even won a HORI Fight Stick…

Wolfkrone:
Yeah…that was me…I was there…

Five:
Shortly after the announcement of EVO Online at Galaxy4Gamers.com, you came back to the site, and as of right now, you have played in 128 online cash tournaments on G4G…

Wolfkrone:
..Yep…

Five:
What I want to know, is do you think playing all those matches helped you get ready for the competition in EVO Online?

Wolfkrone:
Yeah…the site definitely helped me get ready for EVO Online. Playing on the site got my way more in tune to playing online than I was before. Playing the matches helped learn new things and gave me an idea of what to expect.

Wolfkrone:
When I was younger, everyone used to beat me down in Street Fighter and other fighting games. I would always lose…bad… I think that’s what got me into Street Fighter and made me competitive…When I got be around 10 or 12, I started going to Wizard’s Arcade…it’s closed down now, but…when I was going there…for like 4 years…all they had was fighting games. They had Third Strike, Cvs2…they had King of Fighters…they had all the fightin’ games…going there…that’s when I became really competitive.

Five:
When was the first competitive tournament you ever played in?

Wolfkrone:
It was in February of 2009 right after Street Fighter IV came out. It was at a Michigan Ran Bat (Ranking Battle)

Five:
How did you do?

Wolfkrone:
I placed around 13th…

Five:
Out of how many players?

Wolfkrone:
I think there was like 40 or so…

Five:
That’s not bad for your first time…
How often do you go to LAN tournaments?

Wolfkrone:
Here in Michigan, we have Ran Bats every two weeks, so I go to those…I uhhh…usually win those…

Five:
lol

Wolfkrone:
…and if there is a tournament in either Chicago or Ohio, I usually go there too.

Five:
You went to EVO this year…what did you think of that?

Wolfkrone:
It was my first EVO…It was different…it was alot of fun. There were so many different people there. I got a lot out of it because I got a chance to play against so many really good people.

Five:
We all know you have a killer Viper… do you ever play with any other characters?

Wolfkrone:
I mess around with a lot of other characters, but when it’s time to be serious and play for real, I choose Viper. I can play with any of them but when it’s time to get down to business, it’s Viper.

Five:
How much time do you spend a week practicing.

Wolfkrone:
A lot.

Five:
LOL..A LOT huh? Should we just leave it at that?

Wolfkrone:
Yeah. lol.

Five:
Do you have a sparring partner…someone you play with on a regular basis…

Wolfkrone:
Nope.

Five:
…do you get online and get into endless battles for practice? What’s your practice like?

Wolfkrone:
Usually it’s just practicing punishes in Training Mode. I mostly just play by myself or online. I usually don’t train with anyone. I like to put myself in situations in Training Mode and see how I can get out of them.

Five:
I play SSFIV a little bit and although I suck, I find Training Mode to be the arena for me, because they don’t hit back! How do you practice your timing?

Wolfkrone:
Oh..yeah…I get online…there are a lot of good people online. I have fought a lot of pretty good people online… and when I lose, I go back to the replay and look at that setup and find out what I did wrong, why I lost…then I go back to training mode and try the same thing…figure out my options in that situation…

Five:
I hear ya…
A lot fight gamers use a Fight Stick, like the ones you can get from MadCatz…it’s my understanding, that you don’t use one…

Wolfkrone:
I use a default PS3 controller.

Five:
Why the controller over the stick?

Wolfkrone:
I’m self conscious about people listening to what I am doing or watching my hands while I play. Using the controller they can’t hear or see what I’m doing. If people watch your hands or listen to the button presses, they can react to it.

Five:
Wow…that’s not what I expected to hear…something to think about…smart…

Wolfkrone:
Yeah…in this one tournament…I lost in the first round and the guy was like, “I knew I heard you press something”…

Five:
So it’s a whole strategy thing then…

Wolfkrone:
It is…

Five:
Aside from Super Street Fighter IV, do you play any other video games?

Wolfkrone:
Right now, I play Call of Duty: Black Ops…that game is fun…

Five:
That’s cool…Black Ops is MY staple game…

Wolfkrone:
That’s pretty much it…those two…that’s all I’m playin’ right now.

Five:
What does your family think of your gaming?

Wolfkrone:
They are supportive…at first they weren’t…after I started doing good, they started supporting me. Now they cheer for me…when I come home from tournaments, they are all shoutin’ because they watched the streams…it feels pretty good.

Five:
That’s awesome…I think what makes it even better doing something you love and being able to make some money doing it!

Wolfkrone:
Yeah…definitely!

Five:
Okay…so in this relatively new industry that is competitive gaming…what do you want out of this? Where Do you see this taking you in life?

Wolfkrone:
Right now i see it as fun. I do see a future in this though…through sponsorships. There are a lot of sponsorships out there and there are more coming…I believe it’s going to take another five years or so for things to really get goin’.

Five:
For anyone who is thinking about getting into competitive video gaming, what kind of advice can you offer?

Wolfkrone:
The best advice I would say, is spend a lot of time with a game…study it…dedication and hard work…

Five:
Before we wrap things up here, It has been a pleasure and an honor. I thank you for your time, and I wish you the best of luck in EVO 2011. In closing is there anything else you would like to offer up to our readers?

Wolfkrone:
For everyone who is reading this…Galaxy4Gamers.com is a really, really good site. Go there, and play…you will level up by playing there. It will help you with your competitive gaming and you will improve, because when you play there, you are playing against people who WANT to win, and playing against people like that will definitely make you a better player.

Five:
WOW! Thanks Wolfkrone. Again, Congratulations and Good Luck at EVO 2011!

Wolfkrone:
Thank you Five.

EVO Online: Crowning a Champion

five — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:21:55 +0000

The First Ever EVO Online Tournament

On December 11th 2010 hundreds of fighters from the United States and Canada competed in the first EVO Online Tournament on Galaxy4Gamers.

Presented by EVO Championship Series, Shoryuken, MadCatz, and Galaxy4Gamers, the tournament included two days of intense Super Street Fighter IV online matches.

The brackets included a number of well-known top players, along with plenty of up-and-coming fighters looking for recognition.

Everyone was fighting for the tournament Grand Prize: FREE airfare, hotel, and entry to EVO 2011 in Las Vegas, AND the exclusive right to bare the online title of

“No One Comes Close”!

Day one began the grueling preliminary rounds of the tournament. Regional action saw some players facing old foes in the first and second rounds. As the afternoon passed, the brackets whittled down to 16 finalists earning them each a chance to play in the Final Bracket the following Saturday…

The finals were live streamed and commentated on SRKLive, via Justin.tv, and were hosted by James Chen and UltraDavid. Behind the scenes and keeping things moving for the event, were Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar from EVO and Galaxy4Gamers President, Mike Casazza. As all 16 finalists checked in at Galaxy4Gamers.com, and “readied up” from across the continent, James and UtraDavid set the stage with bit of background on the event and some bio information on the final 16. The chatrooms were filled with spectators giving shout-outs for their favorite players, and as the number of viewers steadily increased, the first match of the afternoon got under way…

The first round bracket of the finals pitted the following players against each other:

Air vs Vangief

IIPeru vs Showst0pper

CaliPower vs jrguiter

Crizznation vs Edma

adamvongs99 vs immortalbmw

Endl3ssrampage vs iPerfectLegend

scottosohotto vs Macumazahn

Davero vs Wolfkrone

Starting things off , Air and Vangief went to work, and right off the bat, they put everyone on the edge of their seats with a 3-2 match that could have EASILY gone either way. The first game went to Air and his Ryu with a victory of 2-1 over Vangief’s Zangief. Vangief then followed up with back to back wins, in games 2 and 3. Turning things back to Air’s favor in game 4 with a 2-1 victory, the match was suddenly 2-2 and a fifth and tie breaking game had to be played! In game 5, Vangief, won the first round…Air the second. With only one round left in the match, both players went head to head delivering blows evenly throughout the 99 second round. Down to the wire, with both players extremely low in health, the match deciding round came down to who was going to get the final hit. With tensions high, both players came at one another to strike, but it was Vangief who sent Zangief up and delivered the K.O. to Ryu with a final punch to the head. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done, and moved Vangief on to the next round of the bracket.

With the stage now set, and thoughts that things couldn’t possibly get any better, the very next match up between IIPeru and Showst0pper also went 5 games with another back and forth, who wants it more showdown! In the first game, IIPeru came out swinging and took an early 2-0 lead over Showst0pper and his Dhalsim. In game 2, it looked like things would continue the same way with IIPeru taking round 1 with his El Fuerte, however, Showst0pper turned it all around and shut things down by wining the next two rounds and taking the game. In game 3, Showst0pper proved that he was serious about his intentions and swept the game 2-0. Saying enough is enough, IIPeru came back and hammered things home for himself and El Fuerte winning both games 4 and 5, moving him on to the next round.

Although the excitement meter was off the chart, the next few matches kind of cooled off a bit and gave us spectators a chance to catch our breathe and pull our hearts out of or stomachs. In the next match “old man” CaliPower’s Ryu seemed to be a bit much for jrgutier’s T.Hawk, for CaliPower didn’t drop a single a round and cleaned house by dominating the match, 3-0.

CrizzNation got a by in the next match up, because his opponent, EdMa had prior engagements and unfortunately had to forfeit.

Onward, we had adamvongs99 3-0 victory over immortalbmw, followed by a 3-1 win by iPerfectLegend over Endl3ssrampage. Next, Macumazahn donned an overwhelming Ryu and destroyed scottosohotto and his Bison, 3-0. Concluding the first round of the event, the up and coming WolfKrone showed Davero that his deadly Viper had a sting that neither E. Honda nor Guy could recover from. In a 3-0 victory, it was Wolfkrone who moved on to round 2.

Updating the bracket, the next 4 matches looked like this:

Vangief vs IIPeru

CaliPower vs CrizzNation

adanvongs99 vs iPerfectLegend

Macumazahn vs Wolfkrone

After a few brief recaps of round 1 by our commentators, IIPeru and Vangief showed us another nail biter as Zangief and El Fuerte went back and forth, trading blows and games, with IIPeru coming out on top 3-2.

CaliPower kept his fans cheering as he took games 1 and 2 away from Crizznation in the second match up of the updated bracket. CrizzNation and his Viper did gave the veteran some pause by winning game 3, but CaliPower came back and finished things up in game 4, forcing CrizzNation out and ensuring himself a place in the semifinals.

Back and forth things went between adamvongs99 and iPerfectLegend in match up number 3, but alas, it was iPerfectLegend who came out on top, and took his Akuma on to a 3-1 victory, also putting him in the semifinals.

A late and rather unfortunate event then took place, as for unknown reasons, Macumazahn could not continue on with the event, which by default, moved Wolfkrone one more slot closer to the finals.

With only 4 of the 16 now remaining, the semifinal bracket was as follows:

IIPeru vs CaliPower

iPerfectLegend vs Wolfkrone

In the semifinals things heated up again, and from the chatter on the site, it looked like CaliPower was the favorite to move on to the championship. IIPeru put that notion to bed by coming out on top with his El Fuerte, winning 3-2 in another exciting 5 game contest, making IIPeru the first ever EVO Online Championship Contender! The next match up would decide who would go to the final to battle against IIPeru and who would face CaliPower for 3rd place. Would it be iPerfectLegend or Wolfkrone?

After losing the first round of the last semifinal match, Wolfkrone and his Viper moved on to join IIPeru in the featured event of the afternoon, winning 3 games to 1 over iPerfectLegend and his Akuma.

Before IIPeru and Wolfkrone faced off for the champion crowning match, there was the matter of 3rd place to be resolved.

CaliPower vs iPerfectLegend. IPerfectlengend vs CaliPower. No matter which way you put it, both of these competitors have time after time shown their consistency in game play and deserved nothing less than our appreciation for the show they put on for us in this inaugural online event. In the end, it was iPerfectLegend, winning 3-0 and taking 3rd place over CaliPower.

And finally…Your 2010 Official EVO Online Championship Matchup…

IIPeru -Salt Lake City, Utah vs Wolfkrone – Detroit, Michigan

Weeks of preparation, days and days of practicing, hours of waiting…were finally over! The moment had come to name a champion!

By the looks of the spectator comments, it was clear that not many people expected either one of these e-warriors to end up in the final match, but nonetheless, there they were, and as exciting as the opening round of the finals were, NOTHING could of have topped what we were all about to witness…

Spectators on SRKLive were typing so fast, that the room moderator had to drop it down to slow mode just so you could read it! The crowd was split. Virtual shouts of “PERU” and “WOLF” went back and forth in the few minutes before the match started, and continued throughout, what was the mayhem of the event! We all waited for the READY lights to turn green and when the character select screen came up, just as we knew they would, Wolfkrone picked Viper and IIPeru stayed with what had got him this far…El Fuerte! Beginning the match, and after 6 or 7 seconds of “dance moves” by both players, Wolfkrone sent Viper in and got FIRST ATTACK. Trading blow for blow and combo for combo for 67seconds, both players health was completely exhausted and with one final blow, it was IIPeru who took the first round. Wolfkrone finished out the game and took the next two rounds, winning it 2-1. In game 2, of the best of 5 match, it was Wolfkrone and his Viper who quickly sent El Fuerte and IIPeru packing, winning 2-0 in that game. Game 3,which turned out to be match point for Wolfkrone, started off with him taking round 1, but IIPeru was not going down this way! In round 2 El Fuerte punished Viper severely, causing some very hectic and panicky game play out of Wolfkrone. This win by IIPeru forced one more round in the game and even though Wolfkrone came out strong and put the hurtin’ on IIPeru, diminishing his health to nearly nothing, IIPeru showed his persistence and patience, coming back, taking the round and the game! Now 2-1, it was time for game 4. It was IIPeru who made first contact, doing some substantial damage to Wolfkrone early in the round…but WAIT! Wolfkrone comes back and flurries the round with just under 70 seconds left on the clock! Rounds 2 and 3 belonged completely to IIPeru, tying things up 2 games to 2 games, forcing a fifth and final game! It was nothing less than fantasic! Hats off to these two players for the spectacular show they put on for us this afternoon…Unfortunately, I have nearly exceeded my word count for this article, so I regret to say that I will NOT be able to report the outcome! I can tell you this though, it was one of the most exciting SSFIV games I have ever witnessed…and you are just going to have to see it for yourself!

IIPeru vs Wolfkrone Part I

IIPeru vs Wolfkrone Part II

Although the First Ever EVO Online Tournament is over, don’t be sad. The Road to EVO 2011 Continues! On January 22nd 2011, Galaxy4Gamers, EVO, Shoryuken.com and MadCatz will host another EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Tournament, with the EXACT SAME Grand Prize…a FREE Trip to EVO 2011!

The only difference this time is the platform! Many have asked for it and now they are going to get it! Hurry up and get over to Galaxy4Gamers.com and pre-register for Round 2, of EVO Online, this time on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network!

First Official EVO Online Tournament

five — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:43:20 +0000

On December 11th, 2010,
The combined forces of EVO Championship Series, Shoryuken, MadCatz, and Galaxy4Gamers.com, brought North America the FIRST EVER Official EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Tournament.

It was an epic event…

Saturday Morning, December 11th, 2010:
As the staff at Galaxy4Gamers.com sat at their computers, nervously, yet confidently waiting on “High Noon” to roll around, hundreds of SSFIV competitors all across the continent, fired up there Xbox 360 consoles, warmed up their MadCatz Fightsticks and Xbox 360 controllers, and “Readied Up” for the first ever, Official EVO Online SSFIV Tournament. The tournament started right on time, and once it rolling, 16 regionally filled brackets of players, went head to head for several hours of punchin’ and kickin’, duckin’ and divin’ digital hand to hand combat! At the end of the phenomenal best of 3 rounds, best of 5 games single elimination tournament, 16 “eChampions” found their way to the finals, for the GRAND PRIZE of a trip to Las Vegas for the 2011 EVO event. Not only does this truly amazing prize include airfare, accommodations, and FREE entry into the 2011 EVO event, it also gives the champion ownership to an exclusive, and never before bestowed, online player title of:

“No One Comes Close”.

(how cool is that? )

The finals for this event, will be held on Saturday December 18th, starting at 1pm PST.

And..

The ENTIRE event will be
LIVE, STREAMED, and COMMENTATED!
You DON’T want to miss this!

IF you didn’t get a chance to enter the very first Official EVO Online SSFIV Tournament…don’t worry, you will get another chance, ‘cuz…we are going to do it all again in late January of 2011!
This time it will be on PS3!
Be sure to keep your eyes on Galaxy4Gamers.com, Shoryuken.com,and EVO2K.com for details!

**Here are the first ever EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Finalists:**

(usernames are from Galaxy4Gamers and listed alphabetically)

- adamvongs99 -
- Air -
- CaliPower -
- CrizzNation -
- Davero -
- Edma -
- Endl3ssrampage -
- IIPeru -
- immortalbmw -
- iPerfectLegend -
- jrgutier -
- Macumazahn -
- scottosohotto -
- Showst0pper -
- Vangief -
- Wolfkrone -

CLICK HERE to See the Line Up

Congratulations to all of You and Good Luck this Saturday!

The Logistics:

The fact this event was online and spread across the entire North American continent, one would be foolish to think the tourney would be without it’s fair share of quirks and glitches. Realizing this event would have some issues, the team at Galaxy4Gamers put in countless hours of preparation for this event. Several things need to be considered when playing online. Aside from the obvious lag and connection problems that often occur during online play, match dispute resolution, communications, and match moderation were also primary concerns for the G4G staff. In order to minimize problems and make sure the tourney kept moving, a lot of innovative ideas and implementations went into this tournament. From regionalization of the tournament brackets, to a brand new lobby moderation program, (designed and implemented entirely by the G4G Customer Support and Tech staff) Galaxy4Gamers stepped up their game once again and lived up to their Good Game Guarantee. -

A few words from the bigwigs at Galaxy4Gamers.com:

Mike Casazza, President, Galaxy4Gamers.com -
“The Evo and Street Fighter community is simply an amazing group. The community is highly supportive, active and one of the best I have ever experienced. ”

Chris Doe, CEO, Galaxy4Gamers.com -
“EVO Online was a significant milestone for the Fighting community and G4G. This event represents the potential of large tournament organization, such as EVO, supplementing their brand with online competitions in a fun and challenging way. G4G is dedicated to improving the organization, functionality and user experience for future events. Thanks to everyone who made this happen and look out for the next one.”

From the Mouths of Champions:

Shortly after the event, I sent out and email to all 16 EVO Online Finalists, hoping to find out what they though about this event. Here is just a bit of what they had to say:

Air – “I had a lot of fun and it was very well organized. In the beginning I was a little concern about the lag, but it turned out it wasn’t an issue. Thanks for everything, well done.”

scottosohotto – “I had a really nice experience with EVO online and hopefully it will the first in many online tournaments. The people I was matched up with had great attitudes and always sent a gl and gg. The connection seemed to be ok and was about average for xbox live I would say. I guess this tourney will always be special to me because it was my first one and I got see my name on SRK!”

Davero – “My experience with the tournament was really positive. Everyone was a really good sport in losses and wins, and generally helpful when others asked for help.”

immortalbmw – “My experience at this event was very good. It ran well and featured players of all skill levels. I would certainly participate in it again.”

IIPeru – “As far as the experience it was great besides the usual lag spikes which is expected online the tourney was ran smoothly and the staff were very on top of things as far as making sure brackets were updated and answering any questions we had.”

jrgutier – “Great seeding of my bracket. Was initially worried about lag, but had four bars for all my matches. Need flakey connection/rage quit clause in the rules for next time though“

Wolfkrone – “…my experience with the tournament was good because it ran really smooth.“

adamvongs99 – “I thought the event was fun and exhilarating to participate in. I’m going to try my best to win the whole tournament this coming Saturday.”

Thanks for the responses guys and Good Luck to every one of you this Saturday!

If you were a part of this event and would like to give us your input, feel free visit the Galaxy4Gamers forum and tell us what you think!

Oo FIVE oO

Gamers make faster decisions than nongamers, just as accurate

jon — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:45:51 +0000

When set loose on this task, both groups performed equally well in terms of accuracy, but the gamers produced the response more quickly than their peers….

This article by John Timmer was originally published on September 14, 2010 on arstechnica.com.
View the original article

Gamers make faster decisions than nongamers, just as accurate

by John Timmer

There’s a significant controversy over the value of games that are designed to improve people’s mental faculties, as some studies have indicated that brain training only helps prepare you for similar tasks, while others indicate that general improvements are possible. But there turns out to be a type of game that is known to boost a variety of skills, from decision making to tracking multiple objects: standard action games. A study, released today by Current Biology attempts to explain how these video games can produce such wide-ranging improvements.

The authors of the study argue that the root of all these tasks involves making a probabilistic inference, where complete information is missing, so people have to make a best guess based on known odds. Video gaming, in their view, increases the efficiency at which people can process the odds and make an accurate decision—gamers simply can do more with less. As a result, any task of this sort sees benefits.

The work started with two sets of subjects, gamers and non-gamers. Both were shown a screen that had a set of randomly moving dots, and asked to determine whether there was any coherent motion, meaning that, despite the apparent randomness, the dots had a tendency to head in a single direction. The participants had to decide when they had seen enough motion to make a decision, and they also had to pick an accurate direction. The former involves a probability judgement: have you seen enough to know that you can detect a trend?

When set loose on this task, both groups performed equally well in terms of accuracy, but the gamers produced the response more quickly than their peers. The same thing happened when the test was switched to a similar task based on tonal differences, indicating the success of gamers wasn’t simply the result of their focus on visual cues.

Of course, as the authors note, this doesn’t demonstrate causation: “It could also be the case that are individuals who have been born with improved abilities at performing probabilistic inferences.” To rule this out, they took the non-gamers and gave them 50 hours of training and practice on action games (a control group learned to play slower-paced games). After the training, the same sort of pattern emerged, with the action gamers displaying an enhanced decision time.

The other issue they controlled for was twitchiness—gamers might get the task done more quickly simply because they could hit the key required to complete it faster. To eliminate this possibility, they showed the random motion (or played the tone) for fixed periods of time, and then let the subjects provide an answer at their leisure. When the time allowed for the test was short, gamers were more accurate than their peers. Overall, this supports the conclusion that they can do more with less information.

How might this actually work on the biological level? The authors favor a model where there’s a two-part system for judging probabilities: one part registers the relevant information, then transfers it to a second that integrates the information and makes a probability judgment. They argue that gaming enhances the connection between the two, allowing more information to be transferred per unit time. With the additional info, the part of the brain that performs the evaluation can do so more quickly.

Why should gaming exercise this bit of the brain? In short, because action games place a premium on variety and novelty. “Unlike standard learning paradigms, which have a highly specific solution,” they argue, “there is no such specific solution in action video games because situations are rarely, if ever, repeated.”

The last question they address is why, if this sort of sped-up evaluation is so useful for a variety of tasks, aren’t we all born with the abilities of gamers? Here, they claim to have information that they’ve not yet published, which indicates that shuffling too much information to the evaluation center actually overloads it, leading to poor performance. We’ll have to see if that paper ever makes it to press before evaluating whether that’s the case.

In the meantime, you’ve got one more excuse to go out and buy Halo: Reach.

Galaxy4Gamers In the News

jon — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:29:22 +0000

The growing popularity of online gaming competitions is good news for gaming. Players can now play for more than just pride when they play online with their Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Playing video games for money is now easier than ever with sites like Galaxy4Gamers. The result is a fast growing community of competitive gamers that is generating a buzz in the gaming world. Several gaming news shows and podcasts recently sat down with GalaxyGamers President Michael Casazza to discuss why Galaxy4Gamers is a leader in online competitive gaming.

Galaxy4Gamers.com

EVO2K11 – The Excitement….

PAX East 2011

I’m FIVE and I’m an Addict

EVO Online PSN: Who’s Going to Vegas?

EVO Online II on PS3

Behind the Controller: A Look at Wolfkrone

Right around the time of the November 2010 announcement of EVO Online at Galaxy4Gamers.com…

EVO Online: Crowning a Champion

The First Ever EVO Online Tournament

First Official EVO Online Tournament

On December 11th, 2010, The combined forces of EVO Championship Series, Shoryuken, MadCatz, and Galaxy4Gamers.com, brought North America the FIRST EVER Official EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Tournament.

Here are the first ever EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Finalists:

- adamvongs99 - - Air - - CaliPower - - CrizzNation - - Davero - - Edma - - Endl3ssrampage - - IIPeru - - immortalbmw - - iPerfectLegend - - jrgutier - - Macumazahn - - scottosohotto - - Showst0pper - - Vangief - - Wolfkrone - CLICK HERE to See the Line Up

Congratulations to all of You and Good Luck this Saturday!

Gamers make faster decisions than nongamers, just as accurate

Gamers make faster decisions than nongamers, just as accurate

Galaxy4Gamers In the News

The Adrenaline Vault

This Week In…

KokuGamer

Gaming Evolution

Radioactive Nerd

On December 11th, 2010,
The combined forces of EVO Championship Series, Shoryuken, MadCatz, and Galaxy4Gamers.com, brought North America the FIRST EVER Official EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Tournament.

**Here are the first ever EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Finalists:**

- adamvongs99 -
- Air -
- CaliPower -
- CrizzNation -
- Davero -
- Edma -
- Endl3ssrampage -
- IIPeru -
- immortalbmw -
- iPerfectLegend -
- jrgutier -
- Macumazahn -
- scottosohotto -
- Showst0pper -
- Vangief -
- Wolfkrone -

CLICK HERE to See the Line Up