Monthly Archives: November 2009

Why Doesn’t YouTube Understand Video Games?

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Today youtube rejected my partnership application for the second time. The reason given the first time around was that i didn’t have enough video views or subscribers, even though i included links to dozens of my videos totaling hundreds of thousands of views, uploaded by other people without my knowledge or permission. This time, they stated that my account “does not contain sufficient original new content that represents the uniqueness of [their] community.” How ironic is it that they can’t even say “original” without being redundant?

First of all, let’s get their thinly veiled insult out of the way. How many people out there (who actually play fighting games) think my videos aren’t sufficiently original? Be honest – you’re not going to hurt my feelings. Believe me, i can take the criticism. Plus i don’t even like compliments anyway. Well?

Look, i understand youtube’s primary concern is protecting themselves from lawsuits because they’re bleeding money by the millions from copyright infringements. But we’re talking about the world’s (self-proclaimed) leading search engine. Have you looked at the quality of their search results lately? When was the last time you typed in the name of a video game and found anything worth watching on the first page? It’s nothing but reposted trailers and scrubs playing the first level for the first time!

Meanwhile i’m sinking 40+ hours into a 92-second Ken video and i’ve got youtube telling me it’s not original enough?

The highest viewed CvS2 video on youtube is quite possibly the least original combo video ever recorded for Capcom vs SNK 2. For SF4 we have insane numbers like 941,825 views for terrible, terrible opening day match videos. The combo side is an absolute embarrassment, with a day-one Ryu & Ken combovid consistently coming up on the first page of search results with 352,348 views while a much better Ryu & Ken vid made by the same people barely shows up on the third page and has only 66,115 views. That’s pathetic. And it’s the norm. I could go on citing examples for weeks because we all know good results are far less common than the garbage youtube usually turns up.

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SF4 Biweekly TACV 03: Ken

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Get ready for a lot of uppercuts. The third episode features none other than Ken, setting everyone on fire with punches. At first he seemed less exciting than i’d hoped, but in the end it turned out better than i expected. Ken’s combos allow a lot of room for style.

0:11 Sagat’s Focus Attack startup makes him taller, which allows Ken’s EX air Hurricane Kick to connect thrice. His standing jabs create a lot of frame advantage so he actually takes a step forward between each one. Due to the spacing of the last jab, the LP Shoryuken lands meaty which gives Ken enough time to follow up with EX Shoryuken.

0:22 Ken’s F+HK has 2 active frames and normally yields -1 advantage. Seth’s HP Tanden Storm avoids the first active frame in addition to providing a counterhit bonus, both of which are necessary to link c.MK afterwards. Ken’s F+MK has 5 active frames and normally yields +1 advantage, which becomes +5 advantage when it connects on the 5th active frame. Ken has to take a step forward before the c.MK to get four hits out of HK Hurricane Kick. There’s barely enough time to whiff another LP Shoryuken instead of Ken’s F+HK feint before Seth gets up, but it still wouldn’t build enough meter to end the combo with an EX move.

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CV Spotlight: desk’s SSF2T:HDR Beta CMV

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It’s no secret that desk makes awesomely creative videos, but my favorite one might be this short exhibition featuring both playable characters in the beta version of SSF2T HD Remix. We rarely get hands-on opportunities to explore any major fighting game during development. It’s great to see what madness almost made it into the final product.

Super Street Fighter 2 HDR Beta: Combo Music Video

Here are some highlights to watch for:
1:35 Ken does five Shoryukens in one sequence. That last one is all sorts of satisfying.
1:53 Non-knockdown sweep combos are dope.
2:00 Juggling DP after super is dope, especially if it involves a change of direction.
2:19 Low short into low strong is a dope link.
2:27 Two fierce uppercuts in one combo is dope.

Of course Ken’s the main attraction since his beta version had those ridiculous Dragon Punch juggles. This video goes all out, showing basically every combination possible. Ryu seems tame by comparison since his fake fireball can’t even be used in combos.

Evo2k9 SF4 Finals Box Score Prototype

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Stats have become a central facet of postgame analysis in almost every televised form of competition, from professional sports to golf. Personally i watch basketball and i don’t believe modern statistics are a reliable metric for guaging performance, but they can certainly be fun to browse. In that spirit, i thought it might be cool for us to present and discuss some numbers gathered from tournament match replays.

Shortly after Evo, i posted this on SRK where it quickly faded into oblivion. I can understand where some of the apprehension came from, but i still think it’s a promising idea that could develop in interesting directions. Of course it needs a little support and development to reach practical usefulness, but i’m down to do more if people show enough interest.

With everything SF4 has done to revitalize our community, it seems like a good place to start. My friend omni and i were discussing Ryu’s Ultra, and i started wondering how important it was for him to be able to land it. So i looked through every match between Evo2k9 SF4 finalists Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong, since Daigo stuck with Ryu the entire time. Here’s what i found:

Daigo (Ryu) vs Justin (Abel/Balrog) (source)
total number of rounds: 29
rounds Ryu won: 16
rounds Ryu lost: 13
total number of times Ryu lands ultra: 7
number of times Ryu lands ultra and wins round: 5
number of rounds Ryu wins without landing ultra: 11
number of times Ryu lands ultra and still loses round: 2
number of times Ryu lands ultra more than once in a round: 0

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Classic Combo Challenge 01: Ryu

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The response for the first two combo challenges has been overwhelming awesome! Seriously, thank you guys! Some people have been asking for an oldschool game headline and others have been asking for more difficult trials. This should take care of both. (Good luck!)

Ryu’s c.HK (crouching hard kick) is a knockdown attack. It renders opponents invincible as they fall, making it almost impossible to combo anything afterwards.

Challenge: In any SF2 series game, combo two of Ryu’s c.HK sweeps without dizzying the opponent inbetween.

SF2 Series Titles:
SF2WW, SF2CE, SF2HF, SSF2, SSF2T, HSF2, STHDR