Why and How SOPA Must be Stopped

While it’s been getting a lot of attention from most of theinternet, and by internet I mean Redditors, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)has little signs of slowing down. For associations and companies like the ESAand CBS that support it, it may seem that preventing and punishing piracy is unquestionablyessential in protecting their assets, but the broadness and scope of which SOPAaffects the whole industry is one that will ultimately do it more harm thangood. For individual gamers, it’s essential to finally stand up and getinvolved in the political process.

Aside from just making piracy a federal offense, one thatnot only the victimized companies can act on but the federal government aswell, any form of copyright infringement follows suit. Most notably, thisincludes streaming of material. As a member of the fighting game communitysince the days of Capcom vs. SNK 2, Ihave seen the good that this so called “copyright infringement” has done.Gameplay videos distributed online helped build the fighting game communitymore than the games and their mechanics themselves could ever have. Whethergamers have competed in a tournament or not before, they must know of thefamous “EVO 2004 Moment #37,” where famed Japanese player Daigo Umehara tookdown American player Justin Wong with a flurry of parries that allowed him tomake one of the biggest comebacks in any competitive gaming event to date.

Since then, the size of the Evolution Fighting GameChampionships (EVO) had gradually grown, until the release of Street Fighter IV and its inclusion inEVO 2009. In EVO 2008, the largest tournament had just fewer than 400 entrants,a number that was shattered by over a thousand Street Fighter IV entrants in EVO 2009. Ever since then, we wentfrom having one or two quiet fighting game releases a year to several highlyanticipated releases, including Street Fighter X Tekken and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 next year. Without the streaming that powered this community,it’s questionable, maybe even doubtful, that the player base would havesustained itself, much less grown to the size it is now. In turn, the veryrelease and popularity of Street FighterIV and all subsequent fighting games would have been questionable as well.This is one whole genre of the game that would be dead if it weren’t for “copyrightinfringement.”

Beyond the effect it has on gaming itself, there is also thequestion of the bill’s constitutionality. The restrictions in place are a baneupon every American citizen’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech andfreedom of press. Imagine all the ways “copyright infringement” has been usedto enhance this generation’s ability to express itself. These range from thelackluster anime music videos that pop up frequently to memes that become aneverlasting part of the internet and our thought processes. Whether these meettraditional ideas of free speech and expression or not shouldn’t matter – to passSOPA would be to abridge upon these rights. It certainly is something thataffects everyone.

Overly optimistic onlookers may see the situation and simplybelieve that the Supreme Court will right any wrongs the President and Congressmay enact. The truth of the matter is that the Judicial branch has no abilityto enforce any ruling it makes. Imagine a scenario where SOPA passes and agroup of independent game reviewers on YouTube are arrested for posting upvideo reviews. Shortly thereafter, the case is appealed all the way up to theSupreme Court, where the justices find in favor of the defendants and rule thatSOPA is unconstitutional. In theory, neither the executive or legislativebranch has to back up this ruling. In fact, this has happened before in thecase of Worchester v. Georgia; thoughGeorgia had lost the case, the court had no authority to command Georgia. In asense, the Supreme Court is like a highly valued advisor – one whose opinion ishighly regarded, but by no means supreme. This imaginary scenario, of course,does not even begin to account for the possibility that SOPA is upheld.

So the Supreme Court is obviously a last ditch effort tostop SOPA. But we must nip it in the bud and stop it before a single blogger,YouTube uploader, or meme artist is considered a felon. To do that, we must alltake part in the political process. This doesn’t just mean to vote, but toactively voice yourselves to your representatives and senators. Before you say,“But I’m just one person. They wouldn’t care about one vote!” It’s not just aboutyour vote. Every single person who has viewed a video on YouTube, read areview, or giggled at a picture on Reddit owes it to themselves and futuregenerations to make themselves heard.

Though the video makes a good point that the bill's supporters are somewhat dubious, it's unlikely to affect any congressperson. Do you realize how much theserepresentatives make a year? The average salary for a congressperson is$174,000. If I was a congressperson, I’d want to keep that kind of high payingjob for as long as possible. But in order for our senators and representativesto keep their jobs, we need to make them work for us. Without our votes, representativesand senators have no power and no jobs. Take a stand and tell these publicservants how you want them to vote on SOPA – don’t leave it up to lobbyists anda congressperson without explicit orders from his or her constituents todecide. I've already contacted my representatives and two senators. Now it's time for you, and everyone you know, to do the same. 

[Review] Tekken Hybrid (PS3)

It’s quite evident that fighters are making quite therevival as of late. Even before Street Fighter IV though, the Tekken serieshad never gave up on the genre and only continued to push out titles throughoutthe years. As fighters have become part of the mainstream, it’s only expectedthat it would bleed into other entertainment forms as well, such as movies;likewise, Tekken would be one of thefrontrunners in coming out with a  CGmovie, which is sure to satisfy fans more than the live action failures ofother franchises. Tekken Hybridthrows the past along with the fruits of its labors together, giving fans Tekken Tag 2 Prologue, Tekken Tag Tournament HD, and CG movie Tekken Blood Vengeance all in onepackage.

More than a decade since its original release, Tekken Tag Tournament still manages tobe a fun game. While it lacks the extended combos of recent outings, the solidtag-based is intact. Harking to a more simple time, TTT’s lack of walls and bound-based combos offer solace for gamerswho are tired of being pounded to death upon a single combo that will carry himto the wall. On top of that, it has all the modes that its previous consolecounterpart did, including the mysteriously addicting Tekken Bowl mode. Thoughthe gameplay has kept up, the graphics’ age definitely shows. Like a veteranactress, the game is expected to show some age; it’s an excusable, yetundeniable facet of TTT HD.

It’s hard to look at this package and pick out any one partthat’s the headliner. However, with TekkenTag 2 Prologue’s character selection being heavily influenced by the maincast in Tekken Blood Vengrance, itwould seem that these two go hand in hand in promoting each other. As thefuture of the Tekken franchise, TTT2 Prologue should certainly be thecenterpiece that has gamers’ appetite whetting the most. In addition to the tagpossibilities presented in TTT, TTT2 Prologue includes Tag Assault,which allows two characters bombarding an opponent with attacks, and Tag Crash,which allows one to safely tag out during an attack as another comes in. Bothof these only strengthen the tagging mechanics, making it a crucial aspect to implementduring games. With only Jin, Kazuya, Alisa, and Xiaoyu available, the game ismerely a demo that will leave players wanting.

Graphically, the game already looks better than Tekken 6, with more detailed charactersand stages alike. This is only made all the more impressive by the game’sability to have multiple characters on screen at the same time, pummeling away.The musical stylings established in Tekken6 stay strong, giving players a variety of electronic music, including thetoken dubstep noise.

Film loving gamers may be reluctant to load up Tekken Blood Vengeance, they will bepleasantly surprised if they go against their first instincts. While Blood Vengeance is by no means AcademyAward material, it’s a jump in quality from other fighting game based movies –certainly better than most adaptations of the Street Fighter series. The writing does become confusing and hardto follow at times, but bears the series’ signature combination of serious scenesinvolving the Mishima family and humor with Xiaoyu and Panda. Visually, it isstunning. Avid Tekken followers willundoubtedly draw similarities between the movie’s CG quality and those of thegames’ cutscenes.

For just one aspect of this bundle, Tekken Hybrid may be a hard sell. However, Tekken fans will surely beat themselves over the head foroverlooking an opportunity to replay one of the most iconic games in the series(without the guaranteed three frames of lag on a backwards compatible PS3), watcha visually stunning CG movie that is true to the series, and get a taste of thefuture of the series a full year before it hits (without dropping a dollar pergame at the arcade). General fighting game fans will likely want to take acrack at the title, but they’re advised to wait as the bundle as a whole maynot be as enticing. 

Available on: PS3; Publisher: Namco Bandai Games; Developer: Namco Bandai Games; Players: 1-2; Released: November 22, 2011; ESRB: Teen; Official Site

Note: A retail copy was provided to Denkiphile for review purposes by the publisher.

[Quick Questions] King of Fighters XIII

When gamers think of Atlus, they're likely to think of their trademark RPG franchises like the Shin Megami Tensei series. However, they took a chance and published somewhat niche fighting game The King of Fighters XIII in the US. Without a doubt, hardcore fighting gamers must have been worried about how the project would be handled. We couldn't help but want to ask the publisher how the game would turn out, given Atlus' seemingly inexperienced record with fighting games, so we decided to ask them some Quick Questions. Those who are on the edge about whether Atlus would have done The King of Fighters XIII right will definitely want to read on.

Denkiphile: HasAtlus or the development team reached out to the competitive player base forany assistance? If so, what type?

Rob Stone, QualityAssurance: We would like to have as much involvement with the competitiveKOF players as we can during the short period when we're localizing this game.Many players have already provided us with valuable feedback about bugs in theconsole builds that were shown as location tests, as well as feedback regardingbalance changes between the arcade and console versions.

Aram Jabbari, PRManager:  We’ve been in constantcontact with a number of prominent people within the many strong, thriving KOFcommunities around the world.  We’vegiven key folks extensive play time with early builds and taken extensive noteson their feedback.  We’re quite seriouswhen we talk about working as hard as possible to make this the best KOF gameof all time.

DP: Will there betournament-friendly features included? Such as the ability to change buttonsstraight from the character select screen or easier button configuration (i.e.pressing buttons to assign them ala BlazBlue or browsing through eachindividual button and changing their functions ala Street Fighter 4)?

AJ: Offline(in Versus mode), players can reassign buttons at the character select screenby having the 1st Player side press the Circle button (PS3) or the B button(360).  As you say, it makes the processof switching different players in and out of the same system/setup a loteasier!

DP: Recently, SNKPlaymore has said that the game will be rebalanced due to the new characters.Will the game include an option to play as either the arcade or consoleversion?

RS:  Youwon’t have the option to choose between the arcade and console versions of acharacter. Thankfully, so far all of the feedback regarding balance changes hasbeen positive. There won’t be any extreme changes to any of the characters, soit’s unlikely fans of the arcade build will have to completely re-learn thegame.

DP: Will theupcoming replay mode be compatible with both online and offline matches?

AJ:  The Replay mode is online only.

DP: We're reallyexcited for the 4-CD compilation preorder bonus for King of Fighters XIII. Willit be a collection of tracks from throughout the years or more of a collectionof remixes?

AJ:  The 4 CDs feature over 100 tracks fromthe 15+ year KOF series history.  None ofthe tracks are remixed or altered after the fact; they’re exactly what KOF fansremember from their favorite classics!

DP: You guys havealready stated a good deal on why Atlus has chosen to publish King of FightersXIII in the states, but this game an exception to the rule or are we seeing agenre that Atlus USA will branch out onto? What's the likelihood of seeing morefighting games picked up by Atlus?

AJ:  Our involvement with THE KING OF FIGHTERSXIII is a fairly simple matter: we recognized that it is a fantastic fightinggame, with major improvements in every important area over its predecessor,particularly in terms of game modes, fighter count, and network play.  We’re always excited and proud to be able topublish a great game here in North America, and as soon as we’d had a chance tospend some time with KOF XIII, we knew what we had on our hands and couldn’twait to get it into the hands of fans here.

DP: Do you haveany final words for Atlus faithful out there or fighting game fans?

Clayton S. Chan,Editor:  KOF fans are among the mosthardcore and dedicated in the world. I hope that you enjoy all the hard work Iput into making the characters come to life for you. As far as fighting game fansin general, I would humbly request that you please stop kicking my ass at everyfighting game in existence.

[Review] Supremacy MMA (PS3)

Genres often lack precise definitions and are usually betterconsidered as an umbrella term rather than a concrete idea of what a game is. Whileat first the fighting genre was pretty specific, it has come to includeambiguous games like Super Smash Brothersand wrestling games as well, neither of which featured the signature life bar. Supremacy MMA bridges the gap slightlywith health as the primary outcome judge and meter management aspects as well.However, it falls short on execution, leaving players with a game that isn’tfine tuned and ultimately disappointing despite its aspirations.

Presentation-wise, the game does a decent job of bothpresenting a gritty backdrop for the MMA fights and pumping players up. Thoughthe rock music may be generic, it does fit the motif. Characters’ stories arepresented through animated, voiced stills. With little movement in theanimation, the believability of characters is fully dependant on the voiceacting, which is a hit-or-miss in SupremacyMMA. Sometimes, characters seem barely excited after a hard fight, showinglittle expression and practically shoving the virtual script in players’ faces.

During actual matches though, it’s visually satisfying to beatdown opponents’ faces and other limbs, seeing it get more injured over time.The attacks themselves look very clunky though. This may be a directconsequence of the awkward gameplay, which gives characters striking combosthat are hard to execute, making most combos last only a couple of hits long. Afterthe first couple of matches, I quickly learned to not bother with strikingcombos and go for a takedown at any opportunity possible. Even on the groundthough, it’s a total frenzy. Though that may be what MMA fights resemble, itshouldn’t be what games feel like. Often, players will be mashing on an attackbutton, only getting in a strike a couple of times while being pounded by thepinned down opponent instead. The game just feels unpolished.  Likewise, the sound department once againrears its ugly head, offering little more than stock grunts.

Despite this the game did have some good concepts that,given better execution, would have made for a pretty deep game. Differentattacks actually do require different buttons to counter, creating a rock-paper-scissorlike metagame. In execution, however, there isn’t really enough time to countermost strike attempts, which leaves players much like a training dummy ifthey’re trying to reversal the opponent’s attacks.

Thankfully, grapples couldbe reacted to properly if players can anticipate it, which is a godsendconsidering how much more damage these deliver. The AI in the game isunrelenting and its difficulty varies vastly depending on the setting. Thougheasy mode allows players to breeze through levels by pounding on any desirablebutton, normal mode cranks up the difficulty immensely, countering practicallywhatever button pick players choose. Playing through the story would seem to bean affair in either playing against depressingly easy or maddeningly hard opponents.

Supremacy MMA is chaotic. MMA fighting is chaotic as well, I get it. But a video game shouldn't be to the point where players lose control and are simply mashing on buttons. On top of the usual MMA formula, this one throws in meter management, which seems to be a page out of most gamers' idea of fighting games and could have added a lot of depth, but the game's overall execution throws that potential away. Supremacy MMA may be good for a couple of night's worth of mashing goodness with the right amount of spirits, but is clearly not the answer for gamers in need of complexity. 

Available on: PS3, Xbox 360; Publisher: 505 Games; Developer: Kung Fu Factory; Players: 1-2; Released: September 20, 2011; ESRB: Mature; Official Site

Note: A retail copy was provided to Denkiphile for review purposes by the publisher.

[Preview] Street Fighter X Tekken

Recently, Capcom showed off some new features in Street Fighter X Tekken at the fightclub in Los Angeles. For the most part, the build stayed the same from before,but we got to witness some of the new additions such as Cross Assault and CrossArt in addition to the Pandora mode recently unveiled at Tokyo Game Show.

The Cross Arts is pretty much the same as it had been sinceits revelation. Taking up three bars to execute, this initiates a tag sequencewhere both characters use their super. It seems to be pretty devastating,taking off a large chunk of health. Essentially, however, you can just think ofit as a bigger super. Much more interesting is the Cross Assault, which hadreceived some changes since it was first seen. Instead of allowing players tocontrol both characters on a team back and forth, Cross Assault now givesplayers sole control over their primary character while giving control of thesecondary character to the AI. It seems to be less confusing, easier toexecute, and may be less broken in the long run. Depending on what players do,the AI will do different actions, so players will have to work to learn thosemagical sequences that will lead to bigger damage.

Pandora mode is definitely one of the most interesting, andgame changing mechanics that’s been revealed. Seen by some as the comebackmechanic for Street Fighter X Tekkenand the equivalent of X-Factor of the game, Pandora is anything but, accordingto Product Manager Matt Dahlgren. It requires the primary character to have atmost 25% health remaining before being activated; thereafter, players have 15seconds of unlimited super meter and increased damage output. As we’ve allheard though, if players can’t get the job done within that time, they’ll losethe match. It sounds like an interesting gamble and a great way to deliverhype. Stay tuned to see how players will use it in the future for high levelplay.

The game looks like it will be chock full of ways to pummelopponents, whether it be through the finesse required of Cross Assault combosor brute force from Pandora mode. We look forward to the showdown between Street Fighter and Tekken next spring!

[Review] Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition - More of the Same. Kinda.

With the release of Street Fighter IV, fighting games have received a boom in popularity equal to, if not one surpassing that of the days where we had arcade machines all queued up in 7-Elevens. For Street Fighter IV alone, Capcom has reached their third revision with Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Without a doubt, tournament players and diehard Street Fighter players will be picking it up, but the same question that haunted everyone’s minds in the ‘90s still plagues gamers today. Was this game necessary?

Have no doubt about the quality of the product in the box. The package includes both the console version of Super Street Fighter IV and Arcade Edition, which throws in numerous balance changes and four new characters – Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu, and Oni. Anyone who liked either of the previous installments will still be in for a treat. Even short of the four new characters, there are enough changes to the original cast that the metagame will feel new again. Players will have to relearn many of the characters and forget old gimmicks.

Those who religiously used airborne hurricane kicks or Rose’s Satellite Orbs as a get-out-of-jail-free card may be tempted to cry from sheer frustration, but likewise, Hakan and Dee Jay players will be sure to enjoy their newfound tricks. While arguably unbalanced and already a plague online, Yun and Yang boast incredible offensive and combo capabilities, breathing even more life into a game that’s more than a year old.  Even Oni, an interesting new take on Akuma, has new moves that are unparalleled in any Street Fighter game and practically seems like a character out of the Versus series. I wish I could say the same for Evil Ryu, who only seems like a squishier version of Ryu with more offensive capabilities.

Although players may be tempted to jump straight online and play, they should be careful to not overlook the new replay options. Of these, the most notable include the option to subscribe to and keep up-to-date with match videos from their favorite players. Even match videos on YouTube become hard to sort in comparison. Happy stalking, Daigo fanboys. Otherwise, the netcode remains relatively unchanged. It’s still nowhere as smooth as some 2D games like Arcana Heart 3, but are enough to substitute actual competition if players live in the middle of nowhere or lack the drive to commute to a nearby arcade.

Competitive players may not find much to gripe about the game other than the Hong Kong twins and the unbalance we have now, which makes the game seem like an insurmountable task for the wrong characters compared to the fair odds in the console version of Super Street Fighter IV. However, I can’t help but feel Capcom rushed the product out without considering the beginners as they did with either of the previous games. Considered groundbreaking by many, the challenge mode in both vanilla Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV provided a good blueprint of combos that characters had and meant that players didn’t have to resort to old tricks like analyzing YouTube videos or lurking around on forums to learn a character’s basics.

Instead, Arcade Edition’s challenge mode merely displays a dissatisfactory message saying that it is not compatible. This is somewhat understandable because characters like Sagat and Akuma received little changes to their combo repertoire, but doesn’t account for those with large changes or any of the four new characters. Even BlazBlue Continuum Shift included new challenges for its DLC characters.

Whether or not Arcade Edition warrants a purchase is a tricky question. The answer varies largely based on the gamer. Those who didn’t pick up the original release for Super Street Fighter IV and PC gamers, who see the release for the first time, are essentially getting two games for the price of one with the disc release, which is hard to argue against. Others who have been longtime fans and already bought the release don’t need to shell out another $40 and can buy the DLC option instead. For these gamers though, they need to examine how much dust the game has collected before hitting the download button, because the game may include four new characters and a revamped Replay Channel, but other changes are so minute that only the hardcore may  notice.
Available on: PC, PS3, Xbox 360; Publisher: Capcom; Developer: Capcom/Dimps; Players: 1 – 2; Released: July 5, 2011; ESRB: Teen; Official Site