video games

Unboxing the Qanba Q4 RAF Fightstick

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The Qanba Q4 RAF is one of the most sought-after fightsticks on the market for its ability to work with the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3 and PC right out of the box. If you have fighting games across multiple systems or regularly play in tournaments, then having just one fightstick that works with everything sounds a lot better buying multiple fightsticks to do the same thing. However, because of that key feature, this fightstick isn’t licensed by Sony or Microsoft, which means you’ll never be able to buy this at a regular store. Even tracking these down online isn’t necessarily an easy task, as the few online retailers that carry it are often sold out.

Luckily for me, I was able to purchase one at a tournament I was recently at. Let’s open this bad boy up together.

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My Experience at Toryuken

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(Me [right] vs. Rikir [left]  on the Toryuken main stage and live stream of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3)

The ability to excel in a high-pressure situation does not come naturally to most. I, for one, have found this to be the case with everything I do in life – especially in my foray into competitive gaming. I’ve suffered from a seemingly unshakable case of tournament nerves, which has plagued my ability to play to my full potential. It’s hard not to let the nerves get to you when playing for your tournament life in front of a large crowd that is judging your every action.

The cure for shaking nerves? Practice. If you put yourself in a high-pressure situation enough times, you body and mind should get accustomed to the situation. Going into Toryuken – my third tournament to date – I was hoping that this would be the tournament where I could shake off my tournament nerves once and for all.

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Fall Damage Podcast Level 127 Featuring Jett

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Truth be told, you should be listening to Splitkick.com‘s Fall Damage podcast every week. Scratch that. You should be listening to both of Splitkick’s podcasts – Fall Damage and Rocket Jump – every week. And no, I’m not saying this because they’re my video game writing BFFs.

Granted, there may be one or two of you that will say, “But Jett, we haven’t listened to the Fall Damage podcast because you’re not on it.” In that case, I’ve got good news for you! The Fall Damage team was nice enough to invite me on  as a guest on Level 127 of their podcast.

Click here to listen to Level 127!

Click here to subscribe to Fall Damage on iTunes!

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Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Improve Your Execution

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When it comes to fighting games, your ability to input the right buttons at the right time is critical to success. If you’re an amateur fighting another amateur, the person who can more consistently pull off their special moves is going to have the edge. As you get better, the importance of execution continues to be a factor, as your opponent’s ability to hit you with a big combo in a crucial situation (or any situation for that matter) could put you in a really bad spot.

With that said, I think that execution is generally considered the most boring and tedious aspect of your skill-set to practice and improve upon. Because of how monotonous it may seem, it’s easy to just stick with what you’ve got and never make an honest effort to improve your execution. In this post, we talk about what execution is, different types of execution ‘concepts’ and a few different ways to approach improving your execution without boring yourself to tears.

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Game-Breaking Glitch Discovered in Version 1.04 of Street Fighter X Tekken

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In an attempt to fix infinite combos, Capcom has introduced a far worse problem. In version 1.04 of Street Fighter X Tekken, the game will crash if Rolento’s kunai makes contact with any fireball in the game. This impacts both the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 versions of the game.

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Now Playing – Kid Icarus: Uprising

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Recently, my girlfriend got me Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS as a gift. Though I’m in the midst of preparing for Toryuken, I am trying to work this game into my rotation. Not sure where I am in relation to the total length of the single player, but I’m at Chapter 8 if you’re wondering where I’m at. Though I was expecting a good game, this one has kind of caught me off guard.

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Thoughts Going into Toryuken, Canada’s Next Big Fighting Game Tournament

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In just a few days, Canada’s next big fighting game tournament touches down in Toronto. Toryuken is being run by the team at Toronto Top Tiers and I’m fairly certain it’s going to be hype. They were the same team behind T12 and overall, it was a great tournament and a great experience. I encourage everyone in the area to come down to body fools, support the FGC and get hype. If you can’t come down, make sure to tune into the live stream at www.twitch.tv/torontotoptiers.

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Trials Evolution Review

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Trials HD took XBOX Live by storm when it first came out in 2009. Though it did not have the name recognition of the games it launched with as part of the Summer of Arcade promotion, Trials HD won gamers over in a big way thanks to its wildly addictive gameplay. To this day, Trials HD still stands as the best-selling XBOX Live Arcade game of all-time. Where was I during all of this? Not playing Trials HD. After reading the impressions and hearing people talk about it on podcasts, the game really didn’t sound like my thing. In particular, everyone focused on the game’s soul-crushing difficulty, which did not sound appealing to me at all. Instead of getting in on the action, I took in the horror stories from the community as assurance that I was doing the right thing by abstaining.

Not too long ago, Trials Evolution came out and I was originally set to ignore it just like I did its predecessor. However, after some thought, I figured that I should at least give the demo a shot, as the series has cemented itself within the current gaming zeitgeist. Instead of coming away from the demo with just a point of view, I found a new video game love.

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Check Out My Review of Indie Game: The Movie on Splitkick.com

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Not too long ago, I got a chance to see an advanced screening of Indie Game: The Movie as part of the Hot Docs film festival. It was a very cool event that included a special Q&A with the creators of the film and Phil Fish. If you have any interest in checking out this movie, head over to Splitkick.com to check out my review!

Game Design Talk: The Broken New Auto Block and Auto Tech Gems in Street Fighter X Tekken

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Not too long ago, Capcom released a series of new gems for use with Street Fighter X Tekken. Though I’ve grown into being a gem-hater over the last few months, the original set of gems had little impact on the overall outcome of a match. However, I found out the hard way that the new set of auto block and auto tech gems are a much bigger deal. Why are they such a problem?

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