I started visiting Dtoid when RetroForce Go! started. I signed up in July 2007 and found a new place for blogging about one of my favorite hobbies: gaming. Since then, Dtoid has been at the center of my gaming life, whether it was listening to RF Go!, competing in Haxan's SFII HD Remix contest or running my own King of Fighters XII contest. My interests shifted from niche SRPGs and action games back to the genres which really got me into gaming: fighters and shmups. My tastes eventually shifted from Capcom fighters, my bread and butter back in the day, to SNK titles which were games I played casually. These events all happened in the last 3 years and were documented in my cblog.

I launched Dream Cancel in July of this year and it is the new center of my gaming life. The SNK community has really embraced the concept and vision of the site. Now, when I'm online, I'm usually looking for SNK news or working on either the Dream Cancel wikis or forum and when I'm gaming I'm playing SNK fighters. I've recently bought an Xbox 360 just for the downloadable SNK games.

When I consider this and the future of Dtoid, I realize that Dream Cancel is more important to me. I'm more interested in contributing to the gaming community as a whole rather than Dtoid specifically. I'll still check the front page from time-to-time and maybe even check in on the forums but my presence here will be greatly diminished.

Thanks, Dtoid, and good luck.

Here are the current rankings. Scores shown reflect the Super Street Fighter IV and King of Fighters XII ranbats.

Name | Score
Zoel | 73
nilcam | 70
kirbilot | 57
s0lesurviv0r | 56
Wedge | 40
Senisan | 39
azninvasion2000 | 32
mrwutsgood | 30
Y0j1mb0 | 30
Nyktharas | 27
Gen Eric Gui | 27
Ckarasu | 27
TheCleaningGuy | 27
Shinryu | 23
decoyb | 23
Kryptinite | 23
lyfeforce | 23
Sleepingagain | 24
Blorp | 19
Palidi | 19
Tha Meat | 19
JoZo | 16
djmctool | 16
Tewdee | 16
Mark Oleski | 11
Tray Ben | 11
Enkido | 8
Smurfee McGee | 3

I've done a fair amount of promoting the fighting game genre here at Dtoid. I held the KoFXII contest, blogged about the genre a lot and started the PS3 Fight Club. All of that has been very rewarding. The part that was always difficult was that the game that most of Dtoid wanted to play was never that high on my list. I decided to remedy that.

Back when I was in college and through my 20s, Capcom was my fighting game company. Sure I dabbled in SNK, mostly SamSho, but Capcom was my first choice. I've recently realized that Street Fighter Alpha 2 is MY SF. No other Capcom game will ever live up to that title. As I've gotten older, I've found a deep appreciation for SNK games, especially the King of Fighters series. Capcom loves to compare Street Fighter to chess. If that analogy holds, then King of Fighters is like go. It's more complex and there are more options in almost every aspect of the game. I also noticed that the KoF scene is not doing so well. From what I've seen, Orochinagi does a good job on the KoF storylines, thanks to WryGuy, and Cyberfanatix is great at news but their forums are not into the more technical, gameplay aspect of the games. On top of that the scene is fractured. There are groups that prefer 98/UM or 2k2/UM or XI or any of the other of the 13 entries into the series. Now is a special time for the KoF fanbase as there is a hyped and well received new KoF that could solidify the scene.

I was inspired by a thread on SRK and built a site over the last weekend. It's http://dreamcancel.com. It's a homepage with a forum and an under construction wiki. It's a blank slate for the KoF community. My goal is to create a site that will work for experienced players as well as players curious about the series, mechanics, etc. It was opened quietly to a select few on Sunday. I considered their feedback and then made some changes. I opened it up to some SRK people and got some more feedback. Thus far, most everyone is loving it and are leaving their egos at the door.

If you have any interest in SNK, please come and check it out. I've put a lot into this and hope that it's enjoyed by as many as possible.

The SSFIV ranbat has ended. We're halfway through the KoF XII ranbat and the Puzzle Fighter ranbat is getting started later than planned due to the forum situation. I must admit that running this has been a bit more difficult than expected. Still, it's been gratifying to see so many players into the fighting genre, especially the new players.

The bad news is that I am starting on a new project that will prevent me from running the PS3 Fight Club anymore. It's a choice I have to make and this new project is very exciting to me on a personal level. The scope is much bigger than the Fight Club and it's something I really feel I need to do. I've asked Zoel if he would be willing to run the BlazBlue ranbat to finish out season 1.1. I haven't heard back yet but I'm hoping he'll do it. He would be a much better host of it than I would considering I'm a casual fan of the series and would not be able to provide any tutoring to new players.

One of the reasons I've decided to give up the Fight Club is a divergence of interest. I think SSFIV is pretty fun but I don't enjoy playing it nearly as much as I enjoy other fighters. That is very much at odds with the general feeling of the Dtoid community and I respect that. I have a hard time putting in a ton of effort into a game I feel is okay and not great. If Street Fighter Alpha 2 were all the rage, my attitude would be very different.

I'm hoping someone from the PS3 community steps up and takes over. If that happens, I'll provide any and all knowledge I've picked up over the last few months to them.

I'll announce my new project in the next few weeks. Stay tuned: You may find it interesting.

The Super Street Fighter IV Ranbat is over! Wedge battles to the top.

bracket:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v634/nil_kam/?action=view¤t=BracketCurrent.gif&newest=1

Here are the rankings by points after the new character bonus:
Name | Score
Wedge | 40
Senisan | 39
Zoel | 38
nilcam | 36
azninvasion2000 | 32
mrwutsgood | 30
Y0j1mb0 | 30
Nyktharas | 27
Gen Eric Gui | 27
Ckarasu | 27
TheCleaningGuy | 27
Shinryu | 23
decoyb | 23
Kryptinite | 23
lyfeforce | 23
kirbilot | 24
Sleepingagain | 24
s0lesurviv0r | 24
Blorp | 19
Palidi | 19
Tha Meat | 19
JoZo | 16
djmctool | 16
Tewdee | 16
Mark Oleski | 11
Tray Ben | 11
Enkido | 8
Smurfee McGee | 3

Final results as well as placings are in the forum thread.

With the forums down, I'm having to post this update to my cblog.

SSFIV
[/size]Grand finals will be Wedge vs Senisan. Wedge is coming from losers so he'll need to beat Senisan best 2 out of 3 games in order to reset the match. Senisan has it easier as he only has to win one set to end the ranbat. Best of luck to both players.

Here's the rankings for the players who completed the ranbat:
Place Name
1 35
2 34
3 Zoel
4 azninvasion2000
5 nilcam
7 mrwutsgood
7 Y0j1mb0
9 Nyktharas
9 Gen Eric Gui
9 Ckarasu
13 Shinryu
13 decoyb
13 Kryptinite
13 lyfeforce
17 Sleepingagain
17 Palidi
17 s0lesurviv0r
17 kirbilot
17 Tha Meat
17 Blorp
25 JoZo
25 Mark Oleski
25 djmctool
25 Tray Ben
25 Tewdee
33 Smurfee McGee
33 Enkido

Here's the link to the bracket:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v634/nil_kam/?action=view¤t=BracketCurrent.gif&newest=1

King of Fighters XII
I'd like to finish this ranbat in the next week. Kirbilot vs S0lesurviv0r is up next in losers. I'll face the winner of that match. The winner of my match will go on to play Zoel in grand finals.

Here's the link to the bracket:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v634/nil_kam/?action=view¤t=kofxiibracket.gif&newest=1

Puzzle Fighter HD Remix
This one is being postponed a few days thanks to the forums being down. I didn't have a chance to copy over the list of players and add them to the bracket yet. As soon as I can, we'll get started.