(Thanks to MikeFightNight for the banner)

Hello, everyone. Now that the console version of Persona 4 Arena is just one month away from finally being released, I've decided that I should post this thread in order to gauge interest for a Giant Bomb community tournament that will take place from Friday August 10th until Sunday August 12th. All skill levels are welcome and this tournament is open to anyone across the world, but it will only be open to PlayStation 3 users.

Rules:

• The tournament will be played in a double elimination format, so players will need to lose a match twice to be eliminated.
• Matches will be best 2 out of 3 rounds for 99 seconds each round. Winner will be best 2 out of 3 matches.
• Semi-finals (Losers and Winners bracket) and finals will be best 2 out of 3 rounds for 99 seconds each round. Winner will be best 3 out of 5 matches.
• A player that loses a match is allowed to switch characters, however a player who wins must choose the same character as his previous match.
• If a player drops during a round, it is up to the opponent to decide if he agrees to do a rematch or not.
• Saving a replay of your matches is recommended, because if there is a dispute between two players as to who actually won and no one provides proof, I'll have to disqualify both of the players for the sake of fairness.

How to sign up:

Reply in this thread saying you want to enter to give me an idea of how many people will be participating in this tourney. Post:

Username:

PSN ID:

Region (matchmaking purposes in case of lag or whatever):

*****

Official sign-ups are here. This is to prevent people who say they'll be participating in the tourney but don't show up. You'll need a Challonge account to do this, so sign up for one here. Try to name your Challonge account as closely as you can to your GB username to avoid confusion.

*****

Reason I'm requiring Challonge accounts is because players will be able to report the results of their matches themselves instead of having to constantly update the brackets myself.

When:

Tournament starts on Friday, August 10th and ends on Sunday, August 12th. Instead of doing it during a single day, I spaced it out to make things less erratic and more accommodating. Specific times have yet to be determined as I'm not sure how long I should put a delay for between tournament rounds. I'll make another organizational thread upon the dawn of the tournament.

Official Challonge sign-ups will be open on August 9th from 5:00 PM EDT / 2:00 PM PDT to August 10th, 12:00 PM EDT / 9:00 PM PDT. So players should arrive and sign up on the page before the limit or else they won't be included in the bracket and won't be able to participate in the tournament. Signing up doesn't take long to do at all, so this shouldn't be a problem.

I'll post the sign-up page on August 9th and the bracket will be posted after the sign-up page is closed.

Prizes:

• 1st place: $25 USD via Paypal or a $25 Steam game of choice + Persona 4 Endurance Run Blu-ray set (courtesy ofMikeFightNight) + Artwork print (courtesy of Kuutochi)
• 2nd place: $15 USD via Paypal or a $15 Steam game of choice + Collector's Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic (courtesy of gravitypenguin)+ Artwork print (courtesy of Kuutochi) + the Persona 3: Official Design Works artbookor the Persona 4: Collection 1 Blu-ray (chosen by the 2nd place player and courtesy of Bocam)
• 3rd place:$10 USD via Paypal or a $10 Steam game of choice+ Artwork print (courtesy of Kuutochi).

I'd make it simple and just give out PSN cards, but I live in Canada and those here aren't compatible with U.S. accounts.

• 1 copy of Cthulhu Saves the Worldto raffle off via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of Bocam).
• 1 copy ofBreath of Death VIIto raffle off via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of Bocam).
• 1 copy of Cthulu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII Double Pack to raffle off via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of Bocam).
• 2 copies of Magicka to raffle via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of _Soki_).
• 1 copy of Renegade Opsto raffle via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of mewarmo990).
• 1 copy of Nuclear Dawn to raffle via Steam to all those who participate (courtesy of mewarmo990).

New users who sign up for this tournament are unable to win any of the prizes.

Entrants:

That should be everything. If people can provide replays, feel free to do so.

Don't be afraid to join! The game's being released only three days before the tournament starts, so we'll all be complete newbies and the overall skill level of the players will be pretty much even.

I'm down. I hope you can be manageable on a final date as I'll have to wait to see if I'll buy it so quickly. Anyway here's my PSN ID

PSNID: Blazeluminos

Atlanta, Georgia

I'm ready to party, already preordered, should be getting here on release day.

PSNID: TheFakePsychic

oh, also Central Time Zone/Tennessee

(also I can record my matches, if that's needed/a thing.)

@Phatmac said:

I hope you can be manageable on a final date as I'll have to wait to see if I'll buy it so quickly.

Maybe (depending on user feedback)... But I really want this to be during the week/weekend of P4A's release so don't count on it.

I'm generally pretty bad at fighters, but let's see how this goes.
 
ID: ItsPetrov 
Region: Oshawa, Ontario

I won't be able to enter at this time but you've got my full support, excellent idea!

@FluxWaveZ: Is this only a one time thing or do you plan on doing this after this first event? In any case I'll probably buy it on the release week.

@Phatmac: I'll probably host more tournaments if this one isn't a complete disaster. Hell, I'll host more tournaments even if it is because this is my first one, anyways, so I'd know what to improve.

B-but I'm getting it for 360...

PSN: feathereddrip

Region: New York, New York

I'll chip in copies of Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death 4 as prizes (I really just want to get rid of them)

@Mesoian: Then you should host a 360 community tournament! I'd do one myself, but I'm already concerned this one might go off the rails so I'll just stick to the PS3 for now.

@Bocam said:

I'll chip in copies of Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death 4 as prizes (I really just want to get rid of them)

Neat! I could use those games as prizes in a general raffle for every entrant to this tournament. (If you still want to chip those in, PM me for Steam stuff)

Damn, not 100% sure if I'm getting this yet. But if I do, I'm definitely down for this tournament.

@Mesoian said:

B-but I'm getting it for 360...

Me too. I don't want to be left out on the fun.

I suck at fighting games but I'm down for this . 
PSN: DarkShaper 
Region: Akron, Ohio

I used to love the old GB SF4 tournaments. Good times. If I end up getting a new PS3 by then I'd definitely be down. The game looks cool.

Of course a lot of people say 'yeah sign me up!' and then you never hear from them again.

I wish I could, but I doubt I'll have it in time (didn't have the spare cash to spring for quicker delivery). I'd definitely be interested in taking part in any tournaments further down the line, however.

I'll put my name down but I may not even have the game yet (at the mercy of whether Amazon punishes free shippers or not). So if you need to drop someone feel free.

PSN: endaround

Region: Wisconsin

I'm down! This should be fun. Especially since we'll all be relative scrubs when it happens.

PSN: wmaustin55

Region: Dover, Delaware. EST

I'll join!

PSN: Juno500.

Region: Seattle, Washington USA

I'm so going to main Aigis.

PSN ID MikeFightNight

Region: Kingston, Ontario

Hey Flux, I will throw in a copy of the Persona 4 Endurance Run Blu Ray set for the winner of the tourney ;)

I'm down.

PSN: Azteris

Region: Austin, Texas

@MikeFightNight said:

Hey Flux, I will throw in a copy of the Persona 4 Endurance Run Blu Ray set for the winner of the tourney ;)

Wow, amazing prize (and appropriate, too)! Thanks for that. Anything to get more people interested in the tournament and to motivate them into actually participating when the time comes.

@FluxWaveZ: No problem. Yeah I thought it would be appropriate. With my luck the winner will live in Japan or something.

I wish I could enter. GLHB to everyone involved.

I'm not saying aye or nay as of yet, though I would be totally pumped to do something like this. The only reason why I don't give a guaranteed answer is because I can't be 100% sure if I'll be able to get the day off work. I would totally post my PSN name but I actually can't remember it!

Username:InfiniteGeass

PSN ID:KiraViBritannia

Region (matchmaking purposes in case of lag or whatever): Houston, TX.

The unconquerable snow black will wipe the floor with you all!

I'm down.

PSN - Blannir

Region - Lancaster PA

This is a great initiative. If you can record the matches, please do. I don't think there's any spectator option in it, sadly, otherwise I could fraps them.

@Xymox: If you don't mind me asking, how exactly would you fraps a console game? Just using fraps on the preview window or something?

@TheFakePsychic said:

@Xymox: If you don't mind me asking, how exactly would you fraps a console game? Just using fraps on the preview window or something?

There's most likely a better way of doing it since I don't know much about capture setups (which are probably very pricey?), but the way I used to do it was to hook up my PS2 (and NES) to a VCR/DVD which was then plugged into my TV-card. Basically as long as you can receive the video channel you're fine. Those cards usually come with their own recording software, so it doesn't necessarily have to be fraps, but I haven't found any of them to be very good.

I'm down as long as I'm not working to much random hours.
 
PSN ID: Catolf
Region: Sandusky, Ohio

I have a happauge HD DVR, I theoretically could stream them all. A. If P4 arena has spectator mode B. if I have that weekend totally free. It would also be pretty scrubby matches as everyone would be new to the game, maybe a commentator would spruce things up. I'll see what the MK9 commentators from EVO are up to... Need that "wow" factor.

Alright. I've played some BlazBlue with some of the names on that list, and they're all fucking animals. But I'll play.

I'm Brodehouse.

My PSN is Brodehouse.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Sure why not.

PSN ID cybershinigami87

Region: Atlanta, Georgia

@MikeFightNight said:

I have a happauge HD DVR, I theoretically could record them all. A. If P4 arena has spectator mode B. if I have that weekend totally free. It would also be pretty scrubby matches as everyone would be new to the game, maybe a commentator would spruce things up. I'll see what the MK9 commentators from EVO are up to... Need that "wow" factor.

Really do need that "wow" factor. Some Oh's could work, too. Gotta mix it up :)

Kanji was super-popular in EVO casuals... would be interesting to see what characters you guys play as.

Is "being decent at fighting games" a requirement ? Because I played the crap out of BlazBlue and I'm not really good at it... yet I want to play more ARC System goodness ! And I never participated in a tournament before :'O

@JamesJeux007: No, like I say at the top of the OP, "all skill levels are welcome". The game will have just been out before the tourney starts, so everyone who doesn't live in Japan will be very new to the game anyways.

Being an European, seeing this thread made me rage at Atlus again. I'd join you guys when P4A is released here in EU, which is probably in 2013.

Oh yeah because there's that too. I live in Europe, so I plan to import it and I'm confident I won't have any issues with the game (I imported Catherine when it came out in the US and I could play the game/access leaderboards no problem) but it may be a problem because of the multiplayer part of it. It may be too complicated for me to join, right ?

@JamesJeux007: A couple of things: I don't think you should have so much blind faith that your imported copy will work given how adamant Atlus has been that the game is the first ever PS3 game to be region locked. Plus, Play-Asia sent me a message after I contacted them concerning their listing of it being "region free" and they stated that the game will indeed be region locked and have since fixed the "region free" part of their Persona 4 Arena copies.

The game, however, is not region locked when it comes to online multiplayer. Meaning people from around the world can play against each other with no problems.

If you have a North American PS3 and import a NA copy of P4A in time for August 10th, you'll be able to join. Otherwise, I'm not sure you'll be able to if you can't get the game to work.

Oh yeah because there's that too. I live in Europe, so I plan to import it and I'm confident I won't have any issues with the game (I imported Catherine when it came out in the US and I could play the game/access leaderboards no problem) but it may be a problem because of the multiplayer part of it. It may be too complicated for me to join, right ?

I'll probably be really bad, but I'm grinding some stuff in SSFIV so I'll at least be a little better at fighting games, either way I totally want to play regardless.

PSN ID davidwitten22

Region: Richmond, Virginia (Don't really know how to look up regions so I'm just saying where I am)

Sounds like a fun idea, we have a couple days after release to try it out and learn some characters and stuff.

I'll probably get bodied straight away but I'll give it a go.

PSN: SuperWristBands

Region: Manitoba, Canada

I'm hoping this game will actually be available since it's published by Atlus this time but every other ark sys game I have purchased in the past was delayed by one week or more.

@SuperWristBands said:

I'm hoping this game will actually be available since it's published by Atlus this time but every other ark sys game I have purchased in the past was delayed by one week or more.

I know there was some trouble with shipping concerning Catherine last year. Hopefully they don't screw this up.

PSN: HxcScene08

Region: Chattanooga, Tennessee USA (EST)

Going to be fun, already was planning on doing some tournaments with this. Also maining Akihiko.

Sounds good to me

PSN ID Commisar123

Region Chicago IL

@FluxWaveZ: Damn ! I was just listening to the podcast and I heard them talk about the region-lock. That sucks. Well, there you go then :'(

Any plans to LiveStream the event? (If possible?)

@Rapid said:

Any plans to LiveStream the event? (If possible?)

I'd say impossible because I don't know if the game even has a "spectator" option. If it does, I guess someone could spectate all of our matches while live streaming the whole thing (if lag didn't become an issue because of it). Not me, though; I have no experience with that just yet.

I may be interested in this, we'll see. It sort of depends on if I can get my friend's old, broken PS3 working or not (if he ever gives it to me like he keeps telling me he will), and if I buy the game on launch day or not.

I definitely like the idea of doing it as quickly after release as possible so as to try and keep the (general) play level relatively low (though I imagine some people will still obsess over it and crush any and all who oppose them...)

Either way, good luck to everyone that can, and does, participate in this.