Hadouken

Hadouken: LA Riots III Qualifier: February 15th at Family Fun Arcade


LA Riots announcements time! First off, LA Riots III will be held Saturday March 6th.

The players invited back to LA Riots III are the Top 4 placers from LA Riots II last month:

  • Alex Valle (Ryu)
  • Shizza (Chun Li)
  • Ken I (Rufus)
  • Kai (El Fuerte)

That means there are four spots remaining and these will be filled by having two qualifying tournaments:
- Monday February 15 (President’s Day Holiday) at Family Fun Arcade
- Friday February 26 at Family Fun Arcade

Schedule

1PM – Registration & Warmups
2PM – Gatekeeper Pool Play
5PM – LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

Family Fun Arcade is located at:
10363 Balboa Blvd
Granada Hills CA 91344

View Larger Map

HOW TO QUALIFY

You must win 1st or 2nd Place in either Qualifier in order to secure your spot in LA Riots III.

In the interest of promoting efficiency and effectiveness, we are using a custom format developed specifically for LA Riots.

The LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

The Qualifier Tournament is FREE to enter and only available to the following players:

  • 5th-8th Place of LA Riots I (gootecks, Mike Ross, Combojack, Ken I)
  • 5th-8th Place of LA Riots II (Combofiend, Keno, Yeb, Jayce the Ace)
  • All Gatekeepers
  • Players who have defeated one or both Gatekeepers
  • Entry into the Qualifier is FREE for LA Riots I and II players as well as Gatekeepers.

    The LA Riots A-Tier Gatekeeper System

    Gatekeeper: A player that was eliminated (5th-8th place) in either of the two most recent LA Riots tournaments.

    Qualifier #1 Gatekeepers: Keno (eliminated from LA Riots II) & Mike Ross (eliminated from LA Riots I)

    Entrants will be placed in the bracket based on how well they do in the LA Riots Gatekeeper System.

    The Gatekeeper System consists of a reverse round robin format, whereby each entrant plays a standard 2 out of 3 game set with Gatekeepers A and B. Gatekeeper A plays each entrant of Pool A, while Gatekeeper B plays each entrant of Pool B. Once everyone has played their match with their Pool’s Gatekeeper, the Gatekeepers switch and play the entrants of the opposite Pool, resulting in each entrant playing one 2 out of 3 game set with each Gatekeeper.

    Possible Outcomes

    Defeating both Gatekeepers results in getting placed in the Winners Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament and a refund of your entry fee.

    Defeating one Gatekeeper results in placement in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament.

    Defeating neither Gatekeeper results in NO PLACEMENT in the Qualifier Tournament.

    Example: Johnny Donuts decides to try his luck against the best of the best. He is in Pool A waits his turn and goes up against Mike Ross and loses. After everyone else in his pool plays Mike, they move on to play Keno, where his luck turns around and he wins. Johnny Donuts is now in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier, where if he loses once more he is eliminated completely. If he makes it to Grand Finals, he has secured his spot in LA Riots III.

    LA Riots S-Tier Gatekeeper System

    S-Tier Gatekeepers: Justin Wong & gootecks

    The S-Tier Gatekeeper System is geared toward fans of LA Riots and those who are interested in having an exclusive session with Justin Wong and myself. It is limited to only 8 players and the format will be adjusted as follows:

    Each entrant gets TWO 2 out of 3 sets with both Gatekeepers for a total of 4 sets, which means you get double the chances of the other entrants.

    Additionally, each entrant receives the special bonus noted below:

    Possible Outcomes

    Defeating both S-Tier Gatekeepers results in getting placed in the Winners Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament and a refund of your entry fee.

    Defeating one S-Tier Gatekeeper results in placement in the Losers Bracket of the Qualifier Tournament.

    Defeating neither S-Tier Gatekeeper results in NO PLACEMENT in the Qualifier Tournament.

    WATCH LA RIOTS III IN STUDIO

    Each entrant in the S-Tier Gatekeeper System will receive an exclusive ticket to be a part of the studio audience for LA Riots III. You cannot buy these, this is the only way for you to see LA Riots III live in studio!

    Schedule

    1PM – Registration & Warmups
    2PM – Gatekeeper Pool Play
    5PM – LA Riots Qualifier Tournament

    Prizes

    1st and 2nd place in the Qualifier win spots in LA Riots III on March 6 and will be featured as special guests on GTFO.tv at 10PM immediately after the Qualifier. There is no cash prize because LA Riots III is where you can win the cash! In addition, Top 4 will also receive points as follows:

    1st – 10pts
    2nd – 7pts
    3rd – 4pts
    4th – 1pt

    These points will be used for LA Riots IV in April, where one of the four spots available is filled by the player with the most LA Riots Qualifier points who hasn’t already secured a spot.

    Reserve Your Spot

    Events

    The entry fee is $25 to play the S-Tier Gatekeepers and only $10 to play the A-Tier Gatekeepers. Remember that defeating both Gatekeepers gets you a refund of your entry fee!

    Read More...

    Hadouken: LA Riots Part I Now Available For Download


    Here it is!  We have part 1 of LA Riots available for download.  It’s an hour and 20 minutes long and part two will be out shortly.  If you’re wondering why it takes so long it’s because we had to edit and fix a few things in the editing room that we got wrong during the original live broadcast.  Also, I’m interested in hearing what you guys think of the release format because we can try it different ways.

    Download links & pics after the jump…

    Distribution Methods and Naming Conventions

    I’m trying out different distribution methods for LA Riots.  The first is using Bit Torrent to distribute via MiniNova for free and the second is direct downloads via Hotfile.  The advantages of distributing through Bit Torrent and MiniNova are:

    • no bandwidth costs
    • faster download speeds
    • visibility to a new audience

    The disadvantages of Bit Torrent are:

    • some ISPs throttle Bit Torrent downloads
    • sub-optimal download speeds if not configured properly
    • requires additional software to download i.e. uTorrent (Windows), Transmission (OS X)

    The advantages of distributing through Hotfile are:

    • no bandwidth costs for the distributor
    • no Bit Torrent knowledge necessary for the downloader
    • faster download speeds for premium users

    The disadvantages of distributing through Hotfile:

    • slower downloads (capped at 150k/s)  for free users
    • one download at a time for free users

    So that’s the difference.  These are the two methods with which we are able to distribute high quality videos for free at no cost to the downloader.  Other distribution options include DVDs and charging per download, both of which may be additional options in the future.  For now, these seem to be the best methods for distributing free downloads without having to pay for additional bandwidth.

    Why Not Just Use YouTube?

    YouTube is great for discovering new videos and watching short tutorial/combo videos, but not so good for distributing longer videos.  The goal of LA Riots was to produce a tournament with a run time that people will actually watch (sorry, I refuse to believe that anybody watches all 20 hours of a 2-day tournament).  Due to the 10 minute length limit, YouTube is not the best place to distribute long videos.  Yes, we can cut them up into 10 minute segments, but I want people to have the option to download the videos in a format they can store on their hard drive (h.264) or take with them on their portable devices (iPhone/iPod format).

    If people are downloading the videos and adding them to their iTunes/Winamp/whatever library, I feel like they have more staying power and more value because they’ll be treated with the same respect as MP3s and downloaded movies.  In addition, these videos that we are putting out have a fair amount of production effort put into them and so I would rather they be distributed as they were meant to be seen (in one big chunk or sitting, not in 10 minute bites).

    Do you prefer:

    • one large file release (total runtime is 2hrs30min approximately at about 2GB file size)
    • two releases of halves (this part is 871mb, part 2 should be about 950mb)
    • weekly releases of approximately 40 minute files
    • one large release of the matches cut into individual files

    I’m leaning toward the last option so that we would have the files named as such:

    gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509 (folder name)

    • 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.nfo
    • 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.m3u
    • 00-gootecks_Coin-Op_TV_Evo_Energy-LA_Riots-120509.sfv
    • 01-Intro.m4v
    • 02-Keno_(Balrog)_vs_Shizza_(Chun_Li)-wb.m4v
    • 03-Kai_(El_Fuerte)_vs_ComboJack_(Sagat)-wb.m4v
    • 04-Ken_I_(Akuma)_vs_Combofiend_(Abel)-wb.m4v
    • 05-gootecks_(Balrog)_vs_Mike_Ross_(Honda_Zangief)-wb.m4v
    • etc etc

    WB stands for Winners’ Bracket and LB would stand for Losers’ Bracket.

    The naming convention is derived from scene MP3 releases, which I believe are organized and packaged very efficiently and effectively.  The reason for splitting up the matches is very simple.  I’m viewing this event as a “video album” where each track is an individual match, rather than putting out one long album without tracks.  This way you can load them into iTunes, Winamp or whatever you use to watch your videos and be able to transfer them to your portable devices easier.

    Of course this is probably going to have to wait until LA Riots II (January 16th, 2010 BTW) or at least until part 2 is finished.

    Line-Up

    • Keno (Balrog) vs. Shizza (Chun Li)
    • Kai (El Fuerte) vs. ComboJack (Sagat)
    • Ken I (Akuma) vs. Combofiend (Abel)
    • gootecks (Balrog) vs. Mike Ross (E. Honda/Zangief)
    • Kai (El Fuerte) vs. Shizza (Chun Li)
    • Combofiend (Abel) vs. Mike Ross (Zangief)
    • ComboJack (Sagat) vs. Keno (Balrog)

    Photos

    These photos are from Coin-Op TV

    Download

    via Bit Torrent

    [h.264] 871MB – 1hr20min
    [iPhone] 900mb – 1hr20min

    via Hotfile in RAR archive format

    [h.264Part 1Part 2Part 3
    [iPhonePart 1Part 2

    Read More...

    Hadouken: Street Fighter 4 Bar Fights II Videos. Empire Arcadia Vs Socal

    Hey guys it’s x45x, these are the videos from Bar Fights II. There are Posters, T-shirts, and DVDs still available at the Bar Fights II Store.  There was a problem with the 4th video on YouTube, so in the meantime, you can just download the torrent which has the video in its entirety.

    Also, we are holding a Q&A in the forums. Any questions about Street Fighter you want answered will be answered on a video or podcast by Gootecks. Go over to the forums and go to the Street Fighter 4 discussion area.

    Read More...

    Categories