More photos, commentary and videos.

With 80 entrants, we had the best turnout for a KOF event in years. The chance to play the Beta version of KOF XIII for free, thanks to Rising Star Games, was probably a big factor. The £300 prize, courtesy of Orochinagi and NeoEmpire,  probably also had something to do with it. That aside, the KOF veterans took time to help out not just with running the event but helping out and guiding people who were new to the game, leading to a large number of convertees. Well maybe not convertees but we definitely had players of other games indicating they were very interested in picking it up. Good news for RSG and good news for the community.

Organisation wise, I don’t like turning around and changing rules. I had planned to do a straight single elimination bracket and then let people play for the rest of the day. However, listening to feedback I decided that we should run groups instead, because players had more chances to win and simply more chances to play. Even though it was a free tournament, I wanted people to get the most out of their entry, and variety wise, round robin is the most fun set up.

However, then I had to make sure we didn’t run late so only took the first player from each group (16 groups in total) to make a bracket. This led to two people complaining that round robin was then pointless. In a way it was, but the focus was game promotion, not the tournament itself, and the majority of people were happier with the way the tournament was run. And I certainly was not going to have the tournament run late. It didn’t. Players were happy and still had time afterwards for more casuals. Thanks again to Neoempire for keeping the six XIII setups running on Sunday (normally setups are reduced to 2 on the last day).

Thinking back, that was actually the only complaint we had (the 2nd player from groups not going through).  Even though many players were competing in other tournaments, only 2 people were DQ’d for not turning up.  The round robin system also allows for people to be added at a late stage, and we were able to juggle the matches while waiting for players to finish competing in other tournaments, it’s a very flexible system.

As you have probably seen by now, Neoempire have a really great stream setup (when the venue has a good connection).  Kudos!  Had fun doing commentary with Robocop2, will try to rope him in for more.  What else can I say?  Shoutouts to all the staff that helped out: Mycom, ZeroNiiro, Simone, TKOSupa, Giga D and Kusogaki, and all the players that came to try the game and of course congratulations to our top 4!  As you’ll hear on the show, the UK players need to step up if they want to be King of Europe!  I’ve seen good potential in some players from other games, so let’s hope they stick around and boost the scene: remember, you’re only as good as the people you play.

The On Show 16: All the SVB KOF XIII Footage with commentary, including Finals

Photos

If eLive is blocked by your firewall at work, here are finals, directly captured from the console at SVB 2011.  Enjoy!