Note: Sorry if the first part of this blog is sort of boring, it's just basically me sharing my story, and then giving some thoughts about what I learned.

Today I went to a launch event for UMvC3 at a local game store, and I thought I'd share my experience, I learned a lot. Among other things I finally realized why playing against people in real life makes such a difference. Before I get into that, some backstory: The game store started out buying and selling used retro games and systems, but over the years its collection keeps growing, and they sells lots of games, controllers, systems, and now they even stock limited copies of new releases. I'm in university and I live on residence, and the game store is a 5 minute walk from my res.

It was something of a coincidence that I knew about this UMvC3 launch event. A few months ago I had bought a PS1 copy of Final Fantasy Tactics from them, and just last week for whatever reason I decided to check out their website again. Then I found out that, now, along with their game store, they also have a game center right next door! (consoles hooked up to tvs, and you pay an admission fee to play almost any game you want) This was where they were going to hold their umvc3 launch event. I thought, cool, I should definitely go! I hadn't played mvc3, and I've never played in an arcade-like setting. I went there at 3:30p.m. And there were around 6 people playing vanilla mvc3. And there was also a monitor with SSF4AE running, but no one was playing that. It didn't look like they had extra sticks either, but I didn't bother to ask. Instead I asked the guy at the front desk the obvious, so when can we play umvc3? He reassured me that it should be coming in any minute now. So I paid the $5 admission and sat down to watch some mvc3 matches. It still gives me a light headache watching this game, it's so flashy and fast compared to ssf4. So, since I had no one to play with, I sat down beside one of the mvc3 stations where the guys were playing and watched.

Then two other guys, came in and they were there for umvc3 as well, but it still hadn't come yet. So they came in and watched a little bit, then one of the guys asked me if I wanted to play ssf4ae (since it was right beside where I was sitting), I said sure. Then he proceeded to beat me with various characters, but I did manage to get in a few rounds/games against some of his weaker characters. It was fun even though the stick had some technical difficulties (the ball top almost rolled off, and i got the weird feeling that the roundhouse button just decided not to work on me randomly). At some point while I was playing this guy (let's call him X), Umvc3 came in!

But since I was playing ssf4, and the 6 people who were playing vanilla mvc3 were already waiting for umvc3 to come, I couldn't play umvc3 just yet. So after some waiting and some more ssf4ae with another guy, and some more waiting, X invited me to play umvc3 with him (since he was now not playing against anyone). I was excited, but I told him the truth, "Yeah this is my first time playing mvc3, so I barely know anything." He told me the basic controls and we went into it. I tried out ghost rider/amaterasu/phoenix wright, then I switched to wolvie/akuma/nemesis and proceeded to just stick with that. I didn't want to waste this guys time and stare down the moves-list, so we just went into it. And he beat me, over and over again.

But somehow it was fun. Maybe this is the same with every new game one plays, but I wanted to keep playing. Even if I could get just a little damage on him, or even if he was going easy on me because I was new, I could tell, "hey, maybe spend some time in training mode, and you could play this game too... maybe not now, not tomorrow, but someday." When he was playing me in ssf4ae, I remember times when I was getting frustrated, but I kept my composure, thought about what I was doing and kept playing. There were a few moments where I just wanted to give up and throw my hands up in the air, and if I was playing online at home, that's probably what I would have done (It has happened that I have gotten so mad at myself after losing a round, that I just get up and walk away and let the guy beat me). But this was different, I was playing against real people and it wouldn't be nice to blow up in front of a complete stranger.

Then after a while I hopped off of umvc3 and let X's friend play umvc3 with him. I watched some more, then some other guy asked if I wanted to play AE, I said sure. He said he played mostly 3rd Strike. And I was beating him pretty consistently with my Rufus. He asked how come I don't use Yun. So I told him I didn't buy ae, and I'm not that good at all the only character I know how to use is Rufus. But after playing some more, I decided to try out Yun at least. Then he started beating me.

Then it was already 6:15p.m.! If I didn't have to go to a study session at 7, and didn't have to still eat dinner, then I could have stayed until it closed. So I left and headed back to residence, showered, had a few bites of dinner and headed to that study session.

And here I am! 4 or so hours later, writing a blog about spending about a quarter of my day playing video games! What have I learned? Well after thinking about it some more, playing against real people is almost like working out at a gym with other people. As opposed to working out alone, or playing online (and alone) at home. It's seriously a different feeling. You are surrounding by people like you, who (supposedly) want to have fun and get better at playing the game. You can't give up so easily when around other people with similar goals as you, especially when those people around you are better than you.

For example, I don't know if this has happened to anyone, but sometimes I use the treadmill in my residence's exercise room and then someone else enters the exercise room, I feel like I need to push myself harder and not take so many rests, this leads to a better workout, because I'm pushing myself closer to my limit and outside of my comfort zone. A similar thing happens when playing games with people in real life. There were so many times where I actually missed Rufus jf.HK into Ultra1 and went under my opponent, call it nerves, blame the stick, whatever. If I was at home I would have been so angry at myself, but since I was playing around other people, I wanted to put my best foot forward and keep going.

So I have to say that the $5 admission was well worth it! I got to try out umvc3, which I will probably buy at some point in the near future. And I got to experience for the first time in my life, the real difference between playing people online and playing people in real life. This was seriously an eye-opener. After playing umvc3, I actually wanted to sit down and go through all the characters and learn all their moves and try out all sorts of teams, combos and everything! It's been a while since I've been that interested in a game. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't played any video games in a while (due to school), or maybe it's because I haven't gotten any new games in a while (last game I bought was Catherine in August), or maybe... just maybe, I've found the next game that I can really delve into and have fun with.

I'll probably be going back to that local game store's game center to play again. I don't know when, but I'm sure if I do go back, I'll be a better player and person than I was the first time I went there.

Thanks for reading, I know it's long. >.>

P.S. I just realized how ironic it is to have one picture saying "Be fit, stay healthy" and then a picture of Rufus... But let's just remember Rufus is a video game character.

Note: Sorry if the first part of this blog is sort of boring, it's just basically me sharing my story, and then giving some thoughts about what I learned.

Today I went to a launch event for UMvC3 at a local game store, and I thought I'd share my experience, I learned a lot. Among other things I finally realized why playing against people in real life makes such a difference. Before I get into that, some backstory: The game store started out buying and selling used retro games and systems, but over the years its collection keeps growing, and they sells lots of games, controllers, systems, and now they even stock limited copies of new releases. I'm in university and I live on residence, and the game store is a 5 minute walk from my res.

It was something of a coincidence that I knew about this UMvC3 launch event. A few months ago I had bought a PS1 copy of Final Fantasy Tactics from them, and just last week for whatever reason I decided to check out their website again. Then I found out that, now, along with their game store, they also have a game center right next door! (consoles hooked up to tvs, and you pay an admission fee to play almost any game you want) This was where they were going to hold their umvc3 launch event. I thought, cool, I should definitely go! I hadn't played mvc3, and I've never played in an arcade-like setting. I went there at 3:30p.m. And there were around 6 people playing vanilla mvc3. And there was also a monitor with SSF4AE running, but no one was playing that. It didn't look like they had extra sticks either, but I didn't bother to ask. Instead I asked the guy at the front desk the obvious, so when can we play umvc3? He reassured me that it should be coming in any minute now. So I paid the $5 admission and sat down to watch some mvc3 matches. It still gives me a light headache watching this game, it's so flashy and fast compared to ssf4. So, since I had no one to play with, I sat down beside one of the mvc3 stations where the guys were playing and watched.

Then two other guys, came in and they were there for umvc3 as well, but it still hadn't come yet. So they came in and watched a little bit, then one of the guys asked me if I wanted to play ssf4ae (since it was right beside where I was sitting), I said sure. Then he proceeded to beat me with various characters, but I did manage to get in a few rounds/games against some of his weaker characters. It was fun even though the stick had some technical difficulties (the ball top almost rolled off, and i got the weird feeling that the roundhouse button just decided not to work on me randomly). At some point while I was playing this guy (let's call him X), Umvc3 came in!

But since I was playing ssf4, and the 6 people who were playing vanilla mvc3 were already waiting for umvc3 to come, I couldn't play umvc3 just yet. So after some waiting and some more ssf4ae with another guy, and some more waiting, X invited me to play umvc3 with him (since he was now not playing against anyone). I was excited, but I told him the truth, "Yeah this is my first time playing mvc3, so I barely know anything." He told me the basic controls and we went into it. I tried out ghost rider/amaterasu/phoenix wright, then I switched to wolvie/akuma/nemesis and proceeded to just stick with that. I didn't want to waste this guys time and stare down the moves-list, so we just went into it. And he beat me, over and over again.

But somehow it was fun. Maybe this is the same with every new game one plays, but I wanted to keep playing. Even if I could get just a little damage on him, or even if he was going easy on me because I was new, I could tell, "hey, maybe spend some time in training mode, and you could play this game too... maybe not now, not tomorrow, but someday." When he was playing me in ssf4ae, I remember times when I was getting frustrated, but I kept my composure, thought about what I was doing and kept playing. There were a few moments where I just wanted to give up and throw my hands up in the air, and if I was playing online at home, that's probably what I would have done (It has happened that I have gotten so mad at myself after losing a round, that I just get up and walk away and let the guy beat me). But this was different, I was playing against real people and it wouldn't be nice to blow up in front of a complete stranger.

Then after a while I hopped off of umvc3 and let X's friend play umvc3 with him. I watched some more, then some other guy asked if I wanted to play AE, I said sure. He said he played mostly 3rd Strike. And I was beating him pretty consistently with my Rufus. He asked how come I don't use Yun. So I told him I didn't buy ae, and I'm not that good at all the only character I know how to use is Rufus. But after playing some more, I decided to try out Yun at least. Then he started beating me.

Then it was already 6:15p.m.! If I didn't have to go to a study session at 7, and didn't have to still eat dinner, then I could have stayed until it closed. So I left and headed back to residence, showered, had a few bites of dinner and headed to that study session.

And here I am! 4 or so hours later, writing a blog about spending about a quarter of my day playing video games! What have I learned? Well after thinking about it some more, playing against real people is almost like working out at a gym with other people. As opposed to working out alone, or playing online (and alone) at home. It's seriously a different feeling. You are surrounding by people like you, who (supposedly) want to have fun and get better at playing the game. You can't give up so easily when around other people with similar goals as you, especially when those people around you are better than you.

For example, I don't know if this has happened to anyone, but sometimes I use the treadmill in my residence's exercise room and then someone else enters the exercise room, I feel like I need to push myself harder and not take so many rests, this leads to a better workout, because I'm pushing myself closer to my limit and outside of my comfort zone. A similar thing happens when playing games with people in real life. There were so many times where I actually missed Rufus jf.HK into Ultra1 and went under my opponent, call it nerves, blame the stick, whatever. If I was at home I would have been so angry at myself, but since I was playing around other people, I wanted to put my best foot forward and keep going.

So I have to say that the $5 admission was well worth it! I got to try out umvc3, which I will probably buy at some point in the near future. And I got to experience for the first time in my life, the real difference between playing people online and playing people in real life. This was seriously an eye-opener. After playing umvc3, I actually wanted to sit down and go through all the characters and learn all their moves and try out all sorts of teams, combos and everything! It's been a while since I've been that interested in a game. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't played any video games in a while (due to school), or maybe it's because I haven't gotten any new games in a while (last game I bought was Catherine in August), or maybe... just maybe, I've found the next game that I can really delve into and have fun with.

I'll probably be going back to that local game store's game center to play again. I don't know when, but I'm sure if I do go back, I'll be a better player and person than I was the first time I went there.

Thanks for reading, I know it's long. >.>

P.S. I just realized how ironic it is to have one picture saying "Be fit, stay healthy" and then a picture of Rufus... But let's just remember Rufus is a video game character.

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Despite my grudge against Cap- You know who.

sooo...basically you like the game, but dont have it yet

you should go get it D: