G-pinions

I should write this while the sting of defeat is still fresh. You see, last night Dan and I played a good 4+ hours of Fight Night 2004. The game is spectacular, for the most part, but I'll talk about that another time. Back to the story. So this morning I woke up early (11:30) and played another hour of the game before heading over to my local Gamecrazy (yes, that Gamecrazy) for a Fight Night tournament. The game came out on Tuesday, and I figure I'm an above average gamer, so even if someone bought it the day it was released I thought I would have a good shot at beating them after one solid night of play. So over at Gamecrazy, a couple people are milling around. I play a practice round against someone, and he very narrowly beats me. The controls weren't configured how I like 'em though, and I was using some bullshit tiny, badly layed-out third party controller. So I assume that with a good controller and my control scheme of choice I would have beat this guy easy. And I probably would have. I know there's no way I'm going to compete under these unprofessioanl conditions, so I make the guy get a proper Dual Shock 2 for the tournament. The first match of players comes and goes, and it seems I am in good shape after watching them button-mash for ten minutes (something that will get you nowhere in this game). The second pair of fighters are a little better, not great, and the round ends quickly. This whole time people have been paired up by drawing numbers out of a box. So, of course, when my turn rolls around, I get paired up with a little kid (couldn't have been older than 11). This kid had been all nervous and twitchy up until that point, muttering to himself, and now I can see why. This kid is good. He wiped the floor with me. Well, not quite wiped, but at least buffed. I think I would have had a good chance at beating him, but I was player two, and after playing several hours exclusively on the left side, being on the right messed me up something fierce. It's not like Street Fighter, where punching is punching. It changes the whole direction of all your hits and dodges. And you can't get on the other side of them, ever. So, point is, I got my ass handed to me by some little squirt. And all I have to show for it is a consolation Resident Evil Outbreak watch I will glad mail off to the first person who e-mails me their address.

Now, to go melt my mind with some more Wario Ware (GC).