After surviving the giant traffic jam that is Seattle, I arrive at the Triple Door, ready to get my Bejeweled on. I’ve been practicing at home and I can almost get to about half of my wife’s high score, so confidence is high as I wait for the tourney to start.

I stretch out and do mental wind sprints to prepare my mind and my brain for some jewel matching frenzy.

I am wearing a suit in order to intimidate my opponents. They pretend not to notice or care, but I can tell that they are secretly terrified.

As Casual Connect finishes up across the street, the bar begins filling up with casual game creators. I often wonder, if hardcore gamers make fun of casual games, what do casual gamers look down on? I’m guessing Farmville and Minesweeper, but I am too embarrassed to ask.

Dozens of VP’s and Marketing director people pour in. I chat with a few of them to see if they’re prepared to face utter annihilation at my hands, but none of them seem to understand the fury that I am prepared to unleash on these jewels. No amount of suit wearing seems to deter them. Everyone I talk to seems fairly confident in their jewel matching abilities.

The MC for the night lets everyone know what prizes they’re playing for:

1st Prize: iPad

2nd Prize: iPod Touch

3rd Prize: Plants vs Zombies

Like the last lap in F-Zero, you get nothing if you don’t place in the top 3. The top 20 scores are posted on the screen as the event goes on. Before I even get a chance to play my first game, scores are popping up on the board and they are much higher than I was hoping. I’m beginning to think that these CEO’s and executives are not intimidated by my suit. I should have worn the tie.

8 minutes in and the scores are higher than the ones I pretend to get. I realize that the iPad is probably going home with someone else. My new goal is to get into the top 10. I won’t win anything except a small measure of pride and self respect, which is way better than some silly iPad right? Right?

To play in the tournament, you have the choice of either a laptop, an iPhone, or an iPad. Even though I typically do my bejeweling on the PC, I decide to go with the iPad since this is as close as I’m getting to one today.

Right away I am blown away by how easy and fluid the game plays on the iPad. Within 2 seconds, it becomes my preferred jewel matching platform. My fingers are a blur as I match jewel after jewel. I think I even heard one observer make an “ooh” sound. She might have been talking about the ahi tuna, but I like to think it was in recognition of my skillz.

30 seconds in, I actually have a decent score and I’ve got a 4 time multiplier going. I might actually have a shot at winning this thing. Of course, the second I think this, I lose my groove and begin to make stupid mistakes, matching 3 when a 4 match is available. I fail to get my multiplier any higher and my dreams of glory are dashed upon the rocks of failure.

When I look up at the board, I don’t expect much of anything, but lo and behold I have made it into the top 10 at a semi-respectable 8th. I get myself another free coke in celebration and watch to see if my score will remain in the top 10. By the time I am slurping up the last bits of coke I’ve slowly slid down the leader board to 11th. One place away from my goal, which was 7 places away from any sort of prize to begin with.

"The winners preparing to receive their prizes. (Click to Enlarge)"

I knew I should have practiced more when I was supposed to be working. Maybe next time, which might very well be happening sooner rather than later. According to Popcap PR rep Garth Chouteau, Popcap considers this event “a dry run for more real world competitions.”

With more and more of the casual games becoming integrated into social applications like Facebook, the landscape for casual games like Bejeweled is changing. Finding ways to bring people together to challenge each other over what has been pretty much a single player experience offers an entirely different and unique experience. You might not be able to talk your mom into going to a LAN party to play some Halo, but you could probably get her to go to an upscale bar to play some Bejeweled and eat some ahi tuna.

With this changing landscape in mind, Facebook is a core part of the Popcap strategy. The company is working on social versions of all their top franchises. Expect Zuma Blitz to roll out gradually in about 3 weeks. Expect weekly tournaments, new levels, and an experience system that Popcap is hoping can make Zuma Blitz an even bigger success than Bejeweled Blitz, which is a pretty tall order considering there are about 100 million games of Bejeweled Blitz played every single day.

In talking with a lot of gamers, I’ve discovered that there’s actually somewhat of a distaste towards fighting games. Many people feel that they amount to simply smashing buttons, and if there is a strategy to it, it’s simply “Use X move at Y moment.”

Either that, or they view them as so impenetrable it isn’t even worth the effort, that studying frame data and practicing moves for hours in Training mode is devoid of fun. So I thought I’d write about my journey with the fighting game, my transformation from hater to lover, and hopefully get people to give them a second thought.

I, like everyone my age, started with Street Fighter II. I had friends who owned the game, saw it in arcades, and it was pretty much everywhere. I was almost immediately turned off. I was bad at it, and I don’t like things I’m bad at. I figured out how to do a Hadouken and that was the extent of my learning curve. I didn’t play another 2D fighter for years. Not much of a start, huh?

Down the road, I discovered Tekken 3. I stuck more to single player games before that, but I discovered I enjoyed unlocking the bits of story at the end of each character’s Arcade mode. I ended up spending many hours with the game. It was the story that drew me in, made me give the game a shot, and I discovered how complex the game was. This complexity was tempered by my naivete though, and it quickly devolved into me using the same power move again and again. If it won, why not use it? And so a spammer was born.

This mentality continued on for years. Soul Calibur, Guilty Gear, Marvel Vs Capcom. I always approached them with a similar tack. Find the most powerful move, and use it as often as possible. Against a CPU, this is a surprisingly powerful tactic. And because of this, I viewed fighting games as a curiosity at best, not worth the time to put into them. What was the fun of beating the computer over and over with a single move?

It wasn’t until I sat down with a couple of guys and Street Fighter 3 that I finally understood what was wrong with this philosophy of gaming I had cultivated. They quickly showed me the problem with spamming. After the third or fourth time (If that) I hit them with a move, they adapted. They punished. They showed me that spamming would not work, because they now knew what was coming. I was telegraphing everything. Even the most basic strategy was lost on me, because I realized I’d never been learning. I was just clearing everything out of my way with a sledgehammer. When the hammer was taken away, I had no knowledge of finesse or strategy.

I quickly resolved to be as good as they were, to know what to do in every situation. I didn’t anticipate quite how difficult that would be.

I began to try out different moves. Things I thought were useless. Inputs I initially thought were too hard. I discovered things like Anti Airs, combos, and the advantages of rushdowns vs. turtling. I learned in some games, there is a use for the Super-Bar beyond doing a big flashy move. That you don’t need to finish the fight with your super move. That damage is damage, whether it came from a special move or a light punch.

I began to visit Shoryuken.com (which if you are interested in fighting games, is an amazingly useful resource. Also check out Dustloop.com for Guilty Gear!) and listen to the experts talk. And even though I thought I was attaining competency, I realized that I had dipped my feet into waters that were deeper than my comprehension. It was at this point that I became disillusioned with fighting games.

I had plateaued. I had understood the basics, and thought that’s all there was to it. But now I began to find out about things like jump canceling, instant air inputs, dash canceling, and Roman Cancels. Words that didn’t mean anything to me before, but would soon become part of my everyday lexicon.

When I realized the kind of precision required to play 2D fighting games, the kind of skill in execution, I wanted to give up on the hobby immediately. I wanted to throw my hands up and say the games were for a blessed sort, and my fingers could never be up to snuff. But the one, almost universal response was to “just practice”. This kind of thing can be absolutely infuriating to any neophyte, and I would have none of it. But the games kept calling me back, especially as I was able to convert some of my friends. Eventually, I learned there’s a certain joy to pulling off these incredibly complex moves.

What it really does come down to is practice, because it’s all about muscle memory. At the high level of play of a tournament, your brain shuts down. Adrenaline floods your body, you’re surrounded by screams, and everything you thought you knew goes right out the window. I’ve talked to many tournament players, and this is a pretty common occurrence, especially when you’re new.

That’s where muscle memory comes in. You remember that jump in combo you practiced 1000 times this week? Well, you may not, but your fingers do. Once you start moving, your hands do the work. These games are about forcing these combos and inputs so deeply into your brain that they are instinctual.

Dave “ShaolinJesus” Corvin once saw me playing Last Blade 2 on the dreamcast, sitting in Training mode, practicing moves, seeing what linked into what. He said, almost incredulously, “Are you studying that game?”

To which I replied with a simple smile, “Yes.”

I don’t think he really saw why someone would want to do that and a year or two ago, I would have agreed. It seems like work, right? But it’s no different from a basketball drill. It’s about polishing yourself, getting all the kinks out, and forcing yourself to learn. Learn that move 10000 times, so when you need to pull it out, your fingers won’t fail you.

I am still learning to this day. I’m trying to do all the trials on Street Fighter IV, and it’s maddening. By the end of the day, my thumb is raw (I don’t have a stick, unfortunately), my brain is frazzled, and I am beyond frustrated. But I am better, and everyday I learn more. That’s the most important thing about these games to keep in mind. There is a steady progression. If you are willing to practice, I don’t care who you are, you can get good. And when you are playing with your friends, and you pull out that c.mp xx qcf.lp FADC c.HP into Ultra, there is an amazing feeling of pride.

I just don’t think anyone gives these games the chance. They think like I once did. It’s just about hitting the buttons right and using the most powerful moves. And I would like to change people’s minds about it. Because once you start swimming in these waters, you’re not going to want to get out.

This Saturday, Gamer Time will be hosting a Halo 3 Tournament in Snohomish, Washington. The tourney will run from 8-10 pm, and is open to all ages. The buy in is $5, and the winner will receive a $30 store credit. We will be playing with standard slayer (free for all) rules.

We hope to see you there!

For directions, click here!

http://its-gamer-time.com