Event (23)
After Evolution Championship Series 2009 (EVO), we had a chance to talk with Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar about this year's hugely successful EVO and what the future holds.
Nippon Ichi Software America (NISA) hosted a press event on May 7 in San Francisco. There was food, booze and of course games. Kiosks and test stations were set up for playing, such as Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman!: What did I do to Deserve this? for the PSP and Phantom Brave for the Wii. A significant number of new games were announced from NIS America, but not before some formal introductions and guests speeches.
Taking place in the heart of downtown San Francisco, NIS America held a casual social press event celebrating the future release of Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? for the Playstation Portable. It was a bit difficult to find the place, until I spotted the pimped out Itasha (typically a decaled car of anime or gaming characters) Prinny car.
After a brief greeting at the reception desk, we headed off to one of the kiosks set up around the place running the Prinny game and Ar tonelico II for the Playstation 2.
The Tournament
This year, online pre-registration was required, so the pools were set up and posted two days before the tournament was even set to begin. In order to make it to the top 32 of the competition, players first had to make it out of their pools. Cries of many players were heard online as they saw their positions in their respective pools rife with talented opponents. Names like Justin Wong, Ohnuki, and John Choi effectively spelled doom for any players who weren't seasoned with their games. These people are accomplished members of the community, consistently placing high in, if not winning both local and major tournaments.
Sunday: Top 8
All the tournaments came to their conclusion on Sunday, when the top 8 players from all games played it out. EVO organizers shot interviews with each of the competitors who made top 8, all of which were shown before the players' matches on Sunday. The interviews' tones ranged from friendly - with Mike Watson telling Joey Cueller "Fuck you" - to prideful - with Justin Wong saying that two words defined his skill in MvC2: “Justin Wong.”
Interviewer: Chung Kwan "Davis" Fan
Interviewee: Joey Cueller (Senior EVO Director)
T-ono: Hello. Can you give a brief intro of yourself and what you do with Capcom Unity?
Seth Killian: Well, my name is Seth Killian and I've been organizing the EVO tournaments for a long time. Formerly a top ten, but not so much anymore - haven't had time to play or practice. I'm also the senior manager for community at Capcom, where I run the Capcom Unity website.
Evolution (EVO) is, without a doubt, the premiere fighting game event in America. Once a year in early August, some of the best fighting game players gather in Las Vegas to play against each other in a tournament to prove who's the best. Evolution has a long history of bringing together players all the way from both coasts of America, as well as bringing international players from Japan, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. For the last three years, EVO has used several different hotels in Vegas as latter-day arenas, such as the Red Rock or Green Valley Ranch hotel, but this year it finally moves onto the strip by taking place in the Tropicana.