Ray Huling interviews the Dead or Alive-playing women of the Championship Gaming Series: "Arteaga is not Tiger Woods. No; the women's play is compelling because of its psychological complexity.
Arteaga lost twice this season, to rookie Michelle "Phoenix" Pleet of the Dallas Venom, with the first loss snapping a 20-game undefeated streak. Pleet doesn't have the technical skill of Arteaga, but it's precisely this difference between them that gives Pleet an advantage. Dead or Alive, more than other fighting games, most closely resembles chess or poker in its mechanics and psychology. Over a single game, the greatest threat to a chess master or a poker rounder or a top player of DOA is not a highly-skilled opponent, but one whose skill level is unknown. Playing these games requires an understanding of your opponent's thinking; misinterpreting the actions of a weak player as the actions of a strong one can quickly lead to defeat."
OX writes: " Ideally, the end of a game delivers a satisfying last bout of gameplay and wraps up the narrative. On occasion, though, a finale is so left field that they could be having Coachella in the right field and you wouldn't notice. Take these bizarre endings, for instance. "
It must be hard enough making just a handful of endings for your game, just look at how badly Mass Effect 3 stuffed it up. With fighting games boasting rosters of up to 40 characters, all of whom need their own little arc to string together the beatings, that's a lot of endings to write. Perhaps that's why fighting game ending sequences are so frequently completely, unashamedly mental. Here are the seven weirdest.
IM PLAYIN continues its series of fail related articles by looking at fighting games, and how badly they suck at them.
"There are no games that require nearly as much practice to master than a fighting game. There are always several characters to use that possess countless move combinations, and deep systems that will take countless hours to master. On the one hand, I get endless hours of enjoyment watching people play these games: watching people who have mastered these games throw down is awesome. But on the other hand, I absolutely suck at them. However, at the same time I can’t get enough. Here’s my story of my attempts at mastering fighting games, and also what I’ve learned from each failure."
