Versus 2006 - Stockholm, Sweden
Hi, everyone!
Just got back from Stockholm, attending yet another big fighting game gathering! Did any of you have time to read my posts from back in April? Well, if you look through the archives of April, then you can see a little report I wrote from Rautanyrrki, the first real Nordic championships in fighting games, held in Helsinki, Finland. Our Finnish friends at Arctic Charge did such a great job at hosting and organizing, immediately giving all the foreign visitors motivation to hopefully host something similar in the future. As expected, it did not take long before Sweden was ready to announce its own concept, “Versus”.
Versus 2006 went underway on the weekend of 5th till 6th of August 2006, and thanks to a wide variety of sponsors, Versus 2006 was located at Dragons Lair, a club activity house. At Dragons Lair, people could enjoy a Net Café, card games such as Magic, Pokemon and Digimon cards, an area for console and arcade gaming, as well as an own room for Warhammer figures and such.
Visit the homepage at: http://www.vs2k.se/
Diary from Versus 2006
After having such an excellent time in Finland, we were looking very much forward to yet another similar event. The Swedes had already begun discussing the possibility of hosting such a gathering during our time together at Rautanyrrki, and through the use of MSN Messenger, we were quickly informed of the work in process. In the beginning, it was only certain that Wallace, Robbie3s and I were ready to attend, but as time passed by, we managed to persuade fellow Norwegian fighting gamers Netrom, Raider, JINsama, Nukleuz and NiloPilo to tag along, too. Although the Norwegians did well while in Finland, we definitely knew for sure that Versus 2006 would be tougher than ever. Staff members of Versus 2006 put up a homepage for fighting game enthusiasts to read about the tournament, as well as how to register for it. Foreign guests were given special treatment by having reserved spots for up to 30 people. Due to lack of space, as well as for security and comfort reasons, the limit of registrations was set to 120 people. It did not take long before entries were exploding beyond the limit, and this occurred even before the advertisement for the event was published in Level, a Swedish video gaming magazine. Entrance costs and tournament fees were simultaneously published on the homepage, so high money awards could be expected for the winners of each tournament.
Tournaments were in the following games:
Tekken 5
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Guilty Gear XX Slash
Soul Calibur 3
Tekken Tag Tournament
As you can see, the Virtua Fighter tournament to be hosted was in VF4: Evolution, console version. I had recently been able to obtain a Boardmaster Controller Box, a device usually referred to as a Super Gun in the West. By having such a Controller Box, arcade games can be played at home using a regular TV or projector. The box is basically a huge arcade stick with a built-in power supply, and through to use of an arcade harness, you can connect the PCB (Game motherboard and software) directly to the box. Via an RGB cable or any kind of display device, you connect the box to your TV to receive picture. I brought the Boardmaster along with me to Sweden so we could play the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, the last chapter in the Virtua Fighter 4 series. Although it was very heavy to carry, I got some help from my friends in Norway. In the end, I must say it was well worth it. I had an excellent time being able to play the Swedes, Finns and Brits at Final Tuned, and hope to be doing more of this in the future.
Wuff playing KIWE at Final Tuned
The tournament itself did not start until Saturday the 5th of August. However, to get a non-gaming impression of Sweden, the Norwegians decided to arrive in Stockholm on Thursday the 3rd instead. Together with Wallace, JINsama and the Twins (Netrom and Raider), we booked a plane to Sweden leaving as early as 07:45 in the morning. Wallace and JINsama came to my place by car late at night on Wednesday, and to kill time, while I was doing late packing, Wallace and JINsama played the PSP version of Tekken Dark Resurrection for the very first time. Connecting it to a stereo, we got to hear the music in better quality, and I must say I am rather impressed with the stage music. Some tunes resembled Guilty Gear style guitar playing, while others were remixes of the Tekken 5 stages. Unfortunately, due to the PSP Directional Pad, Wallace and JINsama were having difficulties in guarding attacks while crouching. There are ways to fix this by installing a miniature stick. Some go even further to modify their PSP units so that you can connect a regular PS2 joypad or joystick to it! Considering the fact that Dark Resurrection is finally a very good Tekken game, I am sure that many people are thrilled by the fact that this modification is possible.
Even though departure time was getting closer and closer, I was still being sloppy while doing the packing. Consequently, we ended of staying up all night not getting a single minute of sleep. Oh, wait! If I remember right, I think I had a 40 minute power nap at the end, haha.
We decided to leave for the airport 2 hours in advance of departure. We took the local tram to the main train station, and got on the Airport Express train from there to the airport. There, we met up with the Twins some 30 minutes later. Passing the X-ray scan was like hell. No wonder, when you come to think of it. I had the Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike arcade boards in my hand luggage and was forced to take them out to show the contents. JINsama had a belt on which kept on ringing, and due to some strange equipping feature, it took him minutes to take it off, hehe. On the plane, though, we mostly slept a little or played a couple of rounds of Tekken Dark Resurrection in Network mode. The flight only lasted for 50 minutes, so before we knew it, we were ready to land.
Raider, JINsama and Netrom at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm.
Jeneric, the Swedish Virtua Fighter gamer, was not off work until late in the afternoon, so after arriving at Stockholm Central Station, we decided to search for a hotel. After about 4 hours of researching, Wallace, JINsama and the Twins found a nice looking hotel very close to the train station. I however, had spent lots of money on the shipping costs from Japan on the Boardmaster unit, and had, therefore, to stay for free at Jeneric’s place if I were to bring along VF4: Final Tuned. While waiting for Jeneric to phone us, Wallace and I went out to get some lunch at a close-by McDonalds. One thing is for sure: I have never in my life ever waited this long to be served! And after finally getting to the register, it took an extra 20 minutes before the food was ready, haha. While in queue, two separate Swedish people even passed me whenever I would look away to talk to Wallace or the others. I was like, in Norwegian, god damn, are these people fucking idiots or what? Deliberately sneaking by whenever they could. I never thought this was possible in Scandinavia. Haven’t even experienced this in London or Japan! After finally getting the food, Wallace and I found out that we should run by Dragons Lair to see how things were like there. It only took us about 10 minutes to walk there, so, very nicely localized. Once we got there, we were greeted by Maxi Milian, one of the Staff members who I have introduced in my posts from Finland. I also got to meet Grahf for the very first time. He is without doubt the strongest 3rd Strike player of Sweden, and I had heard lots about him beforehand through Wallace and Robbie3s. His friend, Rafael, showed an extremely strong Ibuki! I just learnt plenty of new things by just watching a couple of matches, and I must say, after this gathering, I have implemented a lot of Rafael tricks in my own play :)
Dragons Lair also had a versus set-up of Tekken Tag Tournament. A versus set-up is referred to as two arcade cabinets faced opposite of each other, so that each player play against each other on their personal cabinet with only one set of sticks attached to the panel. This way, people can challenge an opponent whenever they wish without having to ask the current occupier. Also, due to having only one set of sticks on the panel, no need for complaints having to do with lack of space :)
Grahf receiving his cash prize in the 3rd Strike tournament. On the far left is Talon from London.
Later that day, Jeneric finally showed up at Dragons Lair. We decided to gather my luggage at the hotel after Jeneric had picked up another Swedish Virtua Fighter gamer, KIWE. We then got into Jeneric’s car and drove to his house some 30 minutes away from inner Stockholm. Once we arrived, it did not take long before we tried to hook up Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned.
Jeneric had a brand new HD-Ready TV-set in his room, but due to the fact that Virtua Fighter 4 does not run in High Definition, we experienced picture lagging when hooking the game up. We also tried to turn down the resolution of the game to 15khz, but still experienced the same problems. We then decided to connect his normal RGB compatible CRT-TV unit. Like expected, things went perfect. Even though we could not play the game in 31khz resolution, the game still ran well enough in 15khz, so, no complaints there.
We played throughout the night, switching whenever someone would win by getting 3 matches. The winner would sit and face the next opponent until he lost. The next day, some early time in the morning, Swedish VF gamers Shmolz and Wuff were picked up at the train station by Jeneric. I will still sleeping when they got back home, and was immediately woken up by Shmolz who wanted me to turn on Final Tuned. Six hours later, we met up with Nybec, a former notorious Virtua Fighter gamer for beating Norwegian gamer Raider and myself in a rather big VF tournament some years earlier. We had some more McDonalds at a local Drive-in, and just as before, I was passed in the queues while waiting in line to get served. Also, I had to wait at least another 15 minutes for the food to get ready. I guess that’s how it works in Sweden. If you have an opportunity, you take it. If a guy looks away when his in line, pretend you didn’t notice he was there, then sneak past. Though, you cannot complain about one thing. The girls working behind the counter were all very nice. No bad attitudes or anything. After seeing their smiles and politeness, you just could not stay angry :). And, since I did not complain, I was also given a free sundae ice cream. Nice service!
We continued battling each other at Final Tuned throughout the night, but had to go to sleep around 03:30 so that we were ready for the next day, the first day of Versus 2006. We were also informed that Western gaming Legend Ryan Hart of London, England was to attend! Even though I immediately knew that our chances of winning Virtua Fighter were next to none, I knew that I would learn tons by just having the opportunity to play Ryan a couple of matches. Together with Ryan, London Lion-player Jide (known for his Jide Pressure tactics), Talon and current Soul Calibur III champion Smotu came along.
I will continue the diary within the next days to follow. Pictures taken by other attendees can be accessed by copy and pasting the following link:
http://bergin.se/vs06/
Just got back from Stockholm, attending yet another big fighting game gathering! Did any of you have time to read my posts from back in April? Well, if you look through the archives of April, then you can see a little report I wrote from Rautanyrrki, the first real Nordic championships in fighting games, held in Helsinki, Finland. Our Finnish friends at Arctic Charge did such a great job at hosting and organizing, immediately giving all the foreign visitors motivation to hopefully host something similar in the future. As expected, it did not take long before Sweden was ready to announce its own concept, “Versus”.
Versus 2006 went underway on the weekend of 5th till 6th of August 2006, and thanks to a wide variety of sponsors, Versus 2006 was located at Dragons Lair, a club activity house. At Dragons Lair, people could enjoy a Net Café, card games such as Magic, Pokemon and Digimon cards, an area for console and arcade gaming, as well as an own room for Warhammer figures and such.
Visit the homepage at: http://www.vs2k.se/
Diary from Versus 2006
After having such an excellent time in Finland, we were looking very much forward to yet another similar event. The Swedes had already begun discussing the possibility of hosting such a gathering during our time together at Rautanyrrki, and through the use of MSN Messenger, we were quickly informed of the work in process. In the beginning, it was only certain that Wallace, Robbie3s and I were ready to attend, but as time passed by, we managed to persuade fellow Norwegian fighting gamers Netrom, Raider, JINsama, Nukleuz and NiloPilo to tag along, too. Although the Norwegians did well while in Finland, we definitely knew for sure that Versus 2006 would be tougher than ever. Staff members of Versus 2006 put up a homepage for fighting game enthusiasts to read about the tournament, as well as how to register for it. Foreign guests were given special treatment by having reserved spots for up to 30 people. Due to lack of space, as well as for security and comfort reasons, the limit of registrations was set to 120 people. It did not take long before entries were exploding beyond the limit, and this occurred even before the advertisement for the event was published in Level, a Swedish video gaming magazine. Entrance costs and tournament fees were simultaneously published on the homepage, so high money awards could be expected for the winners of each tournament.
Tournaments were in the following games:
Tekken 5
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Guilty Gear XX Slash
Soul Calibur 3
Tekken Tag Tournament
As you can see, the Virtua Fighter tournament to be hosted was in VF4: Evolution, console version. I had recently been able to obtain a Boardmaster Controller Box, a device usually referred to as a Super Gun in the West. By having such a Controller Box, arcade games can be played at home using a regular TV or projector. The box is basically a huge arcade stick with a built-in power supply, and through to use of an arcade harness, you can connect the PCB (Game motherboard and software) directly to the box. Via an RGB cable or any kind of display device, you connect the box to your TV to receive picture. I brought the Boardmaster along with me to Sweden so we could play the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, the last chapter in the Virtua Fighter 4 series. Although it was very heavy to carry, I got some help from my friends in Norway. In the end, I must say it was well worth it. I had an excellent time being able to play the Swedes, Finns and Brits at Final Tuned, and hope to be doing more of this in the future.
Wuff playing KIWE at Final Tuned
The tournament itself did not start until Saturday the 5th of August. However, to get a non-gaming impression of Sweden, the Norwegians decided to arrive in Stockholm on Thursday the 3rd instead. Together with Wallace, JINsama and the Twins (Netrom and Raider), we booked a plane to Sweden leaving as early as 07:45 in the morning. Wallace and JINsama came to my place by car late at night on Wednesday, and to kill time, while I was doing late packing, Wallace and JINsama played the PSP version of Tekken Dark Resurrection for the very first time. Connecting it to a stereo, we got to hear the music in better quality, and I must say I am rather impressed with the stage music. Some tunes resembled Guilty Gear style guitar playing, while others were remixes of the Tekken 5 stages. Unfortunately, due to the PSP Directional Pad, Wallace and JINsama were having difficulties in guarding attacks while crouching. There are ways to fix this by installing a miniature stick. Some go even further to modify their PSP units so that you can connect a regular PS2 joypad or joystick to it! Considering the fact that Dark Resurrection is finally a very good Tekken game, I am sure that many people are thrilled by the fact that this modification is possible.
Even though departure time was getting closer and closer, I was still being sloppy while doing the packing. Consequently, we ended of staying up all night not getting a single minute of sleep. Oh, wait! If I remember right, I think I had a 40 minute power nap at the end, haha.
We decided to leave for the airport 2 hours in advance of departure. We took the local tram to the main train station, and got on the Airport Express train from there to the airport. There, we met up with the Twins some 30 minutes later. Passing the X-ray scan was like hell. No wonder, when you come to think of it. I had the Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike arcade boards in my hand luggage and was forced to take them out to show the contents. JINsama had a belt on which kept on ringing, and due to some strange equipping feature, it took him minutes to take it off, hehe. On the plane, though, we mostly slept a little or played a couple of rounds of Tekken Dark Resurrection in Network mode. The flight only lasted for 50 minutes, so before we knew it, we were ready to land.
Raider, JINsama and Netrom at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm.
Jeneric, the Swedish Virtua Fighter gamer, was not off work until late in the afternoon, so after arriving at Stockholm Central Station, we decided to search for a hotel. After about 4 hours of researching, Wallace, JINsama and the Twins found a nice looking hotel very close to the train station. I however, had spent lots of money on the shipping costs from Japan on the Boardmaster unit, and had, therefore, to stay for free at Jeneric’s place if I were to bring along VF4: Final Tuned. While waiting for Jeneric to phone us, Wallace and I went out to get some lunch at a close-by McDonalds. One thing is for sure: I have never in my life ever waited this long to be served! And after finally getting to the register, it took an extra 20 minutes before the food was ready, haha. While in queue, two separate Swedish people even passed me whenever I would look away to talk to Wallace or the others. I was like, in Norwegian, god damn, are these people fucking idiots or what? Deliberately sneaking by whenever they could. I never thought this was possible in Scandinavia. Haven’t even experienced this in London or Japan! After finally getting the food, Wallace and I found out that we should run by Dragons Lair to see how things were like there. It only took us about 10 minutes to walk there, so, very nicely localized. Once we got there, we were greeted by Maxi Milian, one of the Staff members who I have introduced in my posts from Finland. I also got to meet Grahf for the very first time. He is without doubt the strongest 3rd Strike player of Sweden, and I had heard lots about him beforehand through Wallace and Robbie3s. His friend, Rafael, showed an extremely strong Ibuki! I just learnt plenty of new things by just watching a couple of matches, and I must say, after this gathering, I have implemented a lot of Rafael tricks in my own play :)
Dragons Lair also had a versus set-up of Tekken Tag Tournament. A versus set-up is referred to as two arcade cabinets faced opposite of each other, so that each player play against each other on their personal cabinet with only one set of sticks attached to the panel. This way, people can challenge an opponent whenever they wish without having to ask the current occupier. Also, due to having only one set of sticks on the panel, no need for complaints having to do with lack of space :)
Grahf receiving his cash prize in the 3rd Strike tournament. On the far left is Talon from London.
Later that day, Jeneric finally showed up at Dragons Lair. We decided to gather my luggage at the hotel after Jeneric had picked up another Swedish Virtua Fighter gamer, KIWE. We then got into Jeneric’s car and drove to his house some 30 minutes away from inner Stockholm. Once we arrived, it did not take long before we tried to hook up Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned.
Jeneric had a brand new HD-Ready TV-set in his room, but due to the fact that Virtua Fighter 4 does not run in High Definition, we experienced picture lagging when hooking the game up. We also tried to turn down the resolution of the game to 15khz, but still experienced the same problems. We then decided to connect his normal RGB compatible CRT-TV unit. Like expected, things went perfect. Even though we could not play the game in 31khz resolution, the game still ran well enough in 15khz, so, no complaints there.
We played throughout the night, switching whenever someone would win by getting 3 matches. The winner would sit and face the next opponent until he lost. The next day, some early time in the morning, Swedish VF gamers Shmolz and Wuff were picked up at the train station by Jeneric. I will still sleeping when they got back home, and was immediately woken up by Shmolz who wanted me to turn on Final Tuned. Six hours later, we met up with Nybec, a former notorious Virtua Fighter gamer for beating Norwegian gamer Raider and myself in a rather big VF tournament some years earlier. We had some more McDonalds at a local Drive-in, and just as before, I was passed in the queues while waiting in line to get served. Also, I had to wait at least another 15 minutes for the food to get ready. I guess that’s how it works in Sweden. If you have an opportunity, you take it. If a guy looks away when his in line, pretend you didn’t notice he was there, then sneak past. Though, you cannot complain about one thing. The girls working behind the counter were all very nice. No bad attitudes or anything. After seeing their smiles and politeness, you just could not stay angry :). And, since I did not complain, I was also given a free sundae ice cream. Nice service!
We continued battling each other at Final Tuned throughout the night, but had to go to sleep around 03:30 so that we were ready for the next day, the first day of Versus 2006. We were also informed that Western gaming Legend Ryan Hart of London, England was to attend! Even though I immediately knew that our chances of winning Virtua Fighter were next to none, I knew that I would learn tons by just having the opportunity to play Ryan a couple of matches. Together with Ryan, London Lion-player Jide (known for his Jide Pressure tactics), Talon and current Soul Calibur III champion Smotu came along.
I will continue the diary within the next days to follow. Pictures taken by other attendees can be accessed by copy and pasting the following link:
http://bergin.se/vs06/
posted by Chief Gutti @ 3:50 AM
1 Comments:
At 6:55 AM,
Eric C. said…
The reason why the TV lags is not because of the NAOMI 2's output but rather the TV itself. It has to do the analog to digital conversion and cannot do it fast enough which is a very big problem with precision gaming and cheaper digital TVs.
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