I originally had something else planned to write.  However, I realized that this is something I should probably state before the tournament.

This Saturday, our charity tournament, Fight for the Future will be happening.  This tournament is an important one.  Not just because the proceeds will go to charity.  This event will see the end of quite a few things for our tournament events.

Dreamcasts

Some of the staff have expressed desire to phase out DCs by the end of this tournament.  This of course, doesn’t stop any of you from bringing them to play casuals.  I expect Matt to continue issuing money matches in MVC2 and Shane showing us why he prefers Second Impact over 3rd Strike.  But this would mean the end of their use in official tournaments.

Original Super Turbo

It looks as though HD Remix will not be out for this tournament.  However, there’s a preeeetty good chance it’ll be out by the next event where we run a Super Turbo tournament.  For those worried that the remixed mode will become broken and unplayable, remember that HDR will also be including the original unchanged game with nothing more than the new graphics and music.  The game uses the same code as the Dreamcast version so it would otherwise be the same game we’re playing right now.  This is of course a hypothetical situation as we will be using the remixed mode by default.

3rd Strike as the main event

3rd Strike will always have a special place in our hearts (well, most of us).  However, Street Fighter 4 is going to soon become THE game to play.  Although we’ll continue to host 3S tournaments so long as the support for them is there, SF4 is going to end up taking the priority.  It’s also going to likely take 3S’s comfortable 6:00 pm timeslot.  We’ve consistently held 3S tournaments at that time due to it’s prime time status and to give players a consistent time to be used to.  Come SF4’s launch, expect it to take that spot.

One of the games being held

For this tournament, we will be hosting five games.  The most we’ve held in a single day tournament ever.  It’s already going to be a massive workload and it’ll be completely impossible to run all these tournaments in the future.  Something is going to get cut for the next multi-game event.  It’s important that you show your support for the game of your choice this event.

Smash Bros Melee is the last game you can expect to disappear.  It has a unique style, unique platform, unique players, unique everything.  With the exception of TST ‘08, it continues to have the most entries in any of our tournaments.  We’ve already shown that we will not compromise this game because of Brawl.  Even if Brawl ends up seeing support, we try our best to continue running this game so long as the support is there.

Whereas SSBM is the least likely, Capcom vs SNK 2 appears the most likely to lose it’s spot.  It’s a major shame in my view, considering we literally just got a bunch of dedicated players who highly support this game.  However, it unfortunately doesn’t draw the same numbers that 3rd Strike does.  The fact that it takes so much longer (both in match lengths and converter inconveniences) doesn’t help matters.  Even if it does survive, the possibility of DCs being phased out means that this game might be expected to be transfered over to PS2s/PS3s anyway.  There’s still the realm of possibility that more will pick up this game and 3rd Strike will completely die down by SF4’s launch but that’s unknown at this point.

Super Turbo is going to be replaced by HD Remix.  Therefore it’s essentially going to be a “new” game anyway and on a newer platform.  It also has the advantage of taking much less time to run than any of the other games we hold.

3rd Strike will continue to see support from the staff so long as it continues to see support from the players.  It still has the advantage of nearly everyone in the scene being able to play it in some fashion.  Like someone on SRK stated, many old school players hate 3S because it plays so differently from other Street Fighters.  However, that’s precisely why it’s going to last for a long time.  On the other hand, some of the SoCal players have stated that ever since SF4 has been released, 3S doesn’t feel relevant anymore.  Does this concern us?  Only if you want it to.  Just be aware that we’ll continue to host tournaments for this game in some fashion if you still want to play it.  Still, it will no longer take priority.

Soul Calibur 4 is also in the danger zone.  We all know that I personally like 3D fighters (including this one) and I do want to hold at least something to fill the 3D void (Tekken players just aren’t coming to our tournaments) like the way we continue to support Smash players.  Still, the game doesn’t seem yet as though it may be a big draw.  TST’s tournament was free entry and BaseLan 16 didn’t draw (although there are many reasons for that).  FFTF will be another big test for this game.

If you want your game to continue seeing tournaments after FFTF ‘08, be sure to come this Saturday and show support for it.  If you don’t think it’ll survive, be sure to come for it may be your last chance to show your stuff in your game of choice.  As always, anything can happen.  For all we know, we could see a resurgance in Tekken, Guilty Gear or even…….King of Fighters.  We will support where the competition is.