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Later during the day, Q, Moonlight and the rest of the girls decided to take a swim for a bit since the pool was available. All the ladies except Starlight enjoyed the pool. She wasn't really up to it. I wonder a bit about that, but it wasn't much that I thought I should worry myself. BurningMirage was keeping her busy for the most part. While the girls were swimming, the guys decided that they would get some pay back, so they took the ladies cloths and brought them up to GamingKnights room. There they stashed it. It was kind of funny. Then later Starlight found out about the ladies cloths missing and ratted on the guys. Q really didn't care though because she just jumped into the Jacuzzi and she was done. I spoke with the ladies a bit about a couple of things that we were going to do with the Empire when we got back to the city before I headed upstairs to get ready to head to the arcade.
Later when I got back upstairs into the room, Lord UG did an interview with me working the laptop. This happened around 1:15pm. I was checking out www.shoryuken.com and setting up a thread to give live updates on the tournament for those that were not able to make it and wanted to at least get some type of feed back. I did this because I remember all too much how it feels to not be at an event and had to wait the following day for updates. You feel left out and not intact with the community. I didn't want this feeling to befall on anyone else so I decided that I would call other members of the Empire that were already down there playing and get the live updates from them. At first, it was working as Arturo and Marvelous gave me the live updates, but then they had to play and that was interrupting the updates. I decided to get up and get some work done. I switched control over to Gamingknight to man the computer while I headed down to the arcade to cover it myself. I left GamingKnight with one of two phones and took the other. Each time Phi would get a result, I would just call Gamingknight and tell him exactly what to put on the update. We even included time frames so that everyone would know minute by minute. The thread became very popular real fast. This is when I knew for a fact that gamers are actually interested in the scene on a large scale. Within 3 days, twenty five thousand views were recorded. Talk about service to a community!
On my way down to the arcade, I got a call from Jeron. He told me that he, Arturo and santhrax, who made up team Empire black, were about to face off against Ricky, who was a solo team in Capcom vs. SNK 2. I could hear Arturo in the back ground complaining that they can't "cope" against Ricky and they were laughing about it. I just told Jeron to calm down and use strategy against Ricky. I don't know much about the match ups and all of the technicalities of the game. However, I do know the basics, and with that, any strategy can be formed to defeat anyone. I told Jeron that we all know that Ricky is using Ratio 4 Sagat, and being that is the case, we all knew that they were not better than Ricky so the strategy was not to beat Ricky but more as not to lose to him. Since the game became a three on one, a certain aspect of the game everyone forgot about, and that was time. I told Jeron that he and Arturo should pick characters that would chip block Ricky's energy as best as they could, such as "Sakura" and "Blanka". Each of those characters would be ratio 1. During that time they should leave a ratio 2 character for last and that character would be for Santhrax and have Santhrax pick Sagat to match up against Ricky's Sagat. The object here was not to beat Ricky's Sagat but to run away and defend. Both characters have equal ability and their situations would equal out although Ricky's Sagat was stronger. By that time, his Sagat would reach Santhrax's Sagat; Santhrax would obviously have more energy. Then it would be up to Santhrax to keep Ricky at bay by having a level 3 super. That would insure that Ricky would be careful because Santhrax will make him pay if he was reckless. It appeared that they took my strategy because when I got there, I heard that they were up a set, and Ricky just took a lost from Santhrax who did a low forward super. However, I noticed that Ricky saw that coming and tried to block it but to no prevail. This helped build the guy's confidence until Ricky lost the set. When that happened, Ricky changed his character to Ratio 4 Blanka. Arturo, Santhrax, and Jeron just looked at me, and we all started laughing because we couldn't come up with a strategy for that character during the middle of the fight. Surely enough, Ricky capitalized. At that time, I thought it would just be best if I recorded the events as they unfolded for the rest of the tournament. So I called Gamingknight to let him know that Ricky took the final set and won Capcom vs. SNK 2 team tournament. I watched the Guilty Gear tournament during its finals as Kbnova "Kenji" went up against this random guy that I had no idea who he was. No disrespect towards him, I really didn't know who he was. Kenji did what he does best and as he won the guilty gear tournament. I went to Phi and Uber Jae to collect more information on the other tournaments and who else won.
As I was trying to phone Gamingknight back at the hotel to give him more live updates, it became a problem because there were a lot of noise as gamers were yelling at the arcades due to the activities going on; players upsetting other top players and great matches being viewed by mobs of gamers. I hadn't seen an arcade scene like that in the last decade, and I say this with the sincerity in my heart. Later during that time, Lady Harlem and the girls came down from the hotel and chilled at the arcade for a while and played a couple of games in the back and just talked. I walked back out in the front of the break to get a good chance to say what's up to Ricky and find out how he was doing. We talked for a while, and then the first that came to my mind after we spoke was, 'Where's Jason Cole?" Ricky then pointed him out to me; I saw him crossed the street and headed straight into the arcade. After finishing speaking to Ricky I just chilled outside and watched everyone socialize and get together. It was like everyone missed each other as friends. They were more into catching up on old times and playing games than anything else. It reminded me of my past at the arcades a good 15 years ago. It was a cool sight. I was getting tired. I spoke to Uber Jae about getting the results by phone from him in the morning; he told me that he would give me a call first thing with the results and let me know when everyone needed to be back at the arcade because Sunday were finals.
When I got back at the hotel things were out of control . I can only say this, see the DVD when it comes out. In summary I ended up going to sleep at 7 in the morning. Sunday morning. I got the call from Uber Jae with all the results from Saturday night and messaged to inform the other members in the Empire about the tournament starting early that Sunday morning. After putting the information online, I quickly knocked on everyone's door waking them up for the final day. While everyone freshened up and got dressed, I held a small meeting in the "Throne Room" to talk about the importance of how we competed on the last day. I spoke about how it was important to remain sportsmen like and just have fun. Everyone got the message pretty quickly as I didn't see anyone in the Empire that was going to embarrass the Empire as a whole. Moments after the brief meeting I gave a call to B. Chun about our transportation, and he told me that he was on his way. All of the players were quickly picked up and dropped off at the tournament to compete in the final games of East Coast Championship 9. While hanging outside of the arcade taking a break from the work load of reporting live updates, a elderly man approached me and introduced himself to me. It was Chris Cotty the owner of 8 on the Break . He wanted to speak to me to find out what type of person I was, being that it was the first time that we actually met and the Empire was a proud sponsor of East Coast Championship 9. Chris is a genuine gamer in my book. Thirty (30) plus years gaming and his passion and love is still there. His concerns is of his community and that it grows and all the social gaming aspects with it. I would have to say that he truly has a lot in common with the Empire. Actually, I would have to say the Empire has a lot in common with him. I definitely look forward to helping him with any event concerning videogames. After speaking to Chris for about 20 minutes about business, I return to my work and into the arcade for the long vigorous tournament that played from 12:30pm until 4:00am in the morning. Throughout that time, the best event was saved for last. Marvel vs. Capcom 2. There were so many good matches during that tournament in the final 8 that it was incredible. The crowd was as loud as they could actually be. They cheered for their favorite player. I was, as usual, caught between a choice of choosing bewteen Santhrax or Marvelous. However, for the third time in a row, I choose Santhrax.
A lot of people wonder why I choose Santhrax over Marvelous. Well that is easy; I like underdogs. I would like to see one day Santhrax beat his teacher Marvelous. It would be cool. In fact all the matches were great; from Xecutioner vs. Kuan, to Rick Mears vs. Rowtron, to Mixup vs. Eddie lee even to Sentinall vs. Santhrax. Eventually, when it came down to the winner finals, Santhrax sent Marvelous to the loser's bracket 3 - 0. I was bothered by that a bit. Although I wanted Santhrax to win the tournament, I really wanted to see the great battle between Santhrax and Marvelous. Deep down in my heart, it was more about them fighting rather than who I want to win. I know that Marvelous's level of fighting in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is at the highest peak it possibly could be; however, at the same time, I knew that Santhrax could be and is his rival. It is like watching Vegita vs. Goku, the best fight you will ever get. However, when I saw Marvelous lose to Santhrax 3 - 0 I wondered if Marvelous was sandbagging or throwing the fight. I asked him about it and he was kind of upset because he told me that he really was playing his hardest, but he was being kind of stubborn and thought that Santhrax was not on his level that he should play at his greatest peak performance. I told him that, which was sandbagging. He said no it wasn't because Santhrax was the one Sandbagging and he wanted to prove that he could beat santhrax at mid level play like Santhrax was doing to him, but something in him was telling him to play Santhrax at max level or risk getting put in the losers. Obviously Marvelous was stubborn.
When Santrax sent Marvelous to the loser's bracket, he stormed off and told Rowtron to destroy Marvelous so that he couldn't come out of the loser's bracket. At that time Marvelous "POWERED UP" and beat row 3 - 0, and met Santhrax in the grand finals 4 - 2, 4 - 2. Although Santhrax put up a good fight and held together avoiding the "Justin factor".
Justin Factor: An incredible zoning out of game play skill that is almost unbelievable and unstoppable.
Being that is what the Justin factor is, it was good to see that Santhrax with stood it and not choked. In the end when the tournament concluded they both shook hands and showed great sportsmanship. I hugged both guys as they gave to the gamer's one of the principles of what Empire Arcadia is about- -- Videogame Entertainment. Marvelous was sweating a lot and I was curious as to why, so I asked him. He told me that it was hot and that Santhrax made him fight so hard. So I asked him in the last 2 years what did he think of the competition, and he told me that it was getting tougher and that Santhrax is the only one that can push him to that limit. At that point, I felt satisfied between them on a personal level. Now I don't root for Santhrax anymore. I am satisfied with them both just competing. Chris Matrix gave a short sportsman speech for Santhrax and the entire tournament and all that competed. It was very mature of him to do that, and he then declared that Santhrax was the second best Marvel vs. Capcom 2 player in the world.
In closing, a few note. Before the tournament closed, Phi had a raffle based on the sponsorship Empire Arcadia gave for ECC9. Now this sounds really messed, up but B. Chun and RX won the raffle. Baltimore Chun won a $100.00 gift certificate, and RX won an Xbox with the halo game as a bundle. He was pretty happy especially when he didn't win any tournament at ECC9. With his hot looking girlfriend and his Xbox, who's cares about winning the tournament anyway. As we got ready to leave the arcade at 4 in the morning, Santhrax looked at Ricky Ortiz and asked him back for this stuff. Ricky was puzzled as to what Santhrax was asking for. Santhrax kept his hand out for a while as Ricky was asking him, "what was it that he owed to Santhrax." So Santhrax told him to return his 2nd place Marvel vs. Capcom 2 title that he won at Evolution last year. They all laughed and Ricky shook his hand. I returned back to the hotel with the rest of the guys and met up with Destin, Kenji and his friends from team serious. We all were in the front of the hotel and I took a picture with them. Then I went upstairs to get some sleep. The following day came and everyone in the empire got their stuff ready to return to the Empire State and their respected states. Sora was upset as she lost her camera from what I last knew. She was looking for it throughout the entire morning. X helped her look for it but from what I last knew, they didn't find it. I decided to stay one more night at the hotel as well as spend some time with my wife. Pretty much the entire weekend I was so busy making sure everything was in perspective, I didn't get any time to spend with my wife. Making sure that 40 plus people was okay was something I never did before. I made sure that we would enjoy the final day as we hung out with Arturo, Ami (Zelda Left) and his friend. I went swimming for the first time for the entire weekend; when we were done we watched "The Matrix Reloaded". We knew that we had to leave pretty early in the morning the next day and thought that it would be best to get some rest. So we did.
The next day we packed up and headed back to New York City. As Arturo, Yoko, my wife and I waited for the train to come, I reflected back on what happened during the weekend and all the fun that people had at ECC9. All the stuff we did to accommodate to help all the gamers enjoy their time there and most importantly, all the games that was played over the weekend. I noticed that my journey has only just begun. I can actually say that I am happy that everyone had fun, although I only enjoyed my last day leaving; if I had to do it again with the same outcome, it wouldn't even be a thought. My new outlook is to structure the Empire a bit more firmly and look out for upcoming tournaments and conventions such as Mid West Challenge, Evolution 2K4, and Mid Atlantic Gaming Festival 3.0 . As I sat in the train on my way back to New York with my wife in my arms sleeping, all I could think of was how great everything turned out to be and how I can't wait until I attend some of the remaining events later on in the year; and game on with the rest of the gamers out there.
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