The location for Round 2 of the Gamestop Tournament was at the Mall here in Fredericksburg. It’s a location I was not familiar with until today. Thankfully, no one was in a rush to show up 30 minutes early, so I found myself waiting as the 4 other opponents I would play slowly trickled in. The only one to really catch my attention was the guy talking about how he’d been playing Street Fighter for 20 years. The competitive sort that I’ve met aren’t exactly ones to go announcing how long they’ve been in the scene and who they’re going to play as, nor do I know any who really mince details about Capcom having made a game “That was only released in Japan where they fought some other company.”

I don’t think they ever decided on whether it was Marvel vs Capcom, Capcom vs SNK, or Tatsunoko vs Capcom. At that point I really didn’t care about the details of what it was, I was just irritated. I wanted to play and see what I was up against or at least hear something as to what the guy was capable of other than “He’s really good!” Something the store manager told me with staunch enthusiasm. 20 Year Street Fighter Vet was apparently a local video game hero or some shit, at least that’s the vibe I was getting from everyone who pointed him out to me after I showed my certificate to participate and was identified as a round 1 qualifier.

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What’s up, everyone?

I’m rebooting this blog, and I want to start fresh. More importantly, I want to start honest. My name is Eric Tharnish. I’m an Iraq War Veteran, I spent 5 years in Active Duty for the Army, and I’m currently in the Maryland National Guard finishing up my Mandatory Service Obligation of 8 years for the military. I will have proudly served my country for the required time come November of this year, 2009. Currently I am trying to figure out civilian life by living on my own in Fredericksburg, VA.

I also love video games. Specifically fighting games. A substantial amount of my personal time is spent playing video games or thinking about them. I can proudly say that I am no longer about the self-entitlement the comes with most consumer discussion of video games by armchair enthusiasts. I have never made a game, designed a game in my head, or gotten far beyond small ideas that would have eventually gone nowhere.

I just play them and probably talked about them way more than any person should without pursuing a place in the field or business of video games.

That being said, I’ve never truly excelled at any fighting game I’ve played until 2008, when I started taking Super Street Fighter II Turbo seriously. I’m a Veteran and a Nerd. That’s who I am and that’s what this blog will be about. I hope to chronicle my attempts to become something more than this, perhaps it will help others, but mostly I hope I can eventually help myself.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Today was the first Round of the Street Fighter IV tournament, sponsored by Capcom, Gamestop, and the Evolution Fighting Championship. I’ve never participated in a tournament before, though I did go to one this very same month. That tournament being SinSation located at the Mariott in Fairfax, VA on the 7th and 8th. Truthfully, I was only able to attend, I didn’t enter any tournaments as I had Drill that very same weekend.

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