A large crowd filled the second level of Fudruckers in Concord on Sunday, with people sitting in groups of 10 or more in front of TVs.
Crushed cans of Redbull, soda and the occasional alcoholic beverage covered the table and overflowed the trash can.
Unlike the usual pre-superbowl celebration; every other person carried a large personalized joystick. This was, in fact, a”Street Fighter IV” tournament.
Some competitive players actually count frames of animation. They count how many frames there are in the animation of a certain attack, and hope that the one or two frame difference will give them an advantage during the game. For instance, an attack with 10 frames of animation has an advantage over an attack with 13 frames, though the difference is only fractions of a second. Game glitches actually become a form of play in fighting games. While in other genres game glitches can break a game, glitches in fighting games actually become a part of higher level game play. This is because the glitches are often difficult to pull off since fighting games depend so much on timing and coordination. |
Begun by DVC student Nima Partovi, his twin brother Ramin, and their friends, it was the second such tournament to be hosted at Fudruckers and the second largest in the nation.
For an entry fee of $5, players could duke it out from noon to midnight.
The twins played competitively for four years and attended several tournaments before beginning their own.
“[The tournaments] have always been about Norcal and Socal,” Nima said. “[This] is just for people in the area to get together and get better.”
When their first tournament was held March 29, about 130 attended. This time it drew 200 people, and the tournament had to be capped at 128 competitors, and people had to be turned away.
Winners received a percentage of the entry fees of their respective tournament: 70 percent for first place, 20 percent for second, and 10 percent for third place.
Though it was primarily a Street Fighter IV tournament, some TV sets were devoted to “Street Fighter III: Third Strike,” “Marvel VS Capcom 2,” “Capcom Vs SNK 2,” and, of course, “Street Fighter II: HD Remix,” the game that began the fighting game craze.
The twins plan on hosting the tournament the last Sunday of every month at the Concord Fudruckers in the Willows Shopping Center.
The next one is May 30; with casuals beginning around 1 p.m. and tournament sign ups at 2:30 p.m. The entry fee is $5.