I’ve only got less than 3 weeks until my 21st birthday. I’m not flipping out like I was on my 20th birthday (ahh, not a teenager anymore!) but 21 is still a bit of a big deal. I’d like to have my birthday go off with a bang (meaning I don’t want to spend it in Sweden) so i’m trying to make all these party plans. It seems though that aside from a couple of people (Therese), everyone that would like to celebrate my special day is not in the same country! I wanna bust out and party elsewhere.

I would love to spend some time in Amsterdam. Although Carl Cox is playing the eve of my birthday in Stockholm, I would much rather go to the Netherlands and see some lesser-known DJs there. It’s also convenient since I can get a direct flight to Birmingham right after. But then that also means I would lose several days of practice. Hmm dilemma.

OMG, the final boss in DOA4 is really shitting me. FINALLY I have just managed to unlock all the costumes for the most of the characters (irrelevant to what I need for CGS but I managed to unlock the needed characters in less than a day anyway) but sometimes i’d just get stuck on the final boss! I had the most difficulty playing her as Kasumi. She is soooooooo bullshit, omg. She makes me want to throw the controller at the TV that’s how frustrating it is. This one time (while unlocking costume 6) I spent like 2 hours just trying to beat her. TWO HOURS! I would get her health down to like 1mm with mine relatively full and she’d pull this bullshit move that would remove like half my health. WHAAAAAAAAAT.

Anyway that’s enough whine from me. I’m going to get back to practicing my juggles and reading about frame data. I feel like i’m studying for an exam but it’s fun.

You know what’s great about practicing console games? It’s so much more relaxed than training Quake or UT! I can play from bed! This is probably why I have the stamina to play 6 - 8 hours a day. Also you are really only concentrating for 60 seconds at most, then you get a little break before the next round so it’s not as intense either.

I’ve been really disciplined. Every day I get bugged to play UT CTF pickup and i’ve been strong! I know once I start playing i’ll be sucked in for 5 hours or more!

Ok I know all i’ve been talking about lately is DOA4 but really that’s all i’ve been doing. I don’t really have anything else to update about because I don’t have a life!

Many people have been asking me now about how my DOA4 prac is going. I’m happy to say that I’m actually really enjoying the game! I really hope to do well next week and I still have 7 days to continue learning so….. everyone “hold their thumbs” for me!

I’m actually getting blisters and bruises from holding this controller. WTF is it made for gorilla-hands or what? Maybe i’m doing it wrong. Anyway i’m writing a day-to-day blog about what it’s like going from PC to console but it will be up on Gaming Junky after the CGS — I don’t wanna give too much away before the tournament, you never know who’s reading

I spent the past week in Dallas, Texas at the annual QuakeCon event. At that event we had the release of the Pro Gamer Magazine and it was just incredible. I must say the magazine turned out a lot more impressive than I expected and we even have some copies signed by id software!

Basically the mag is not a flimsy piece of shit - it’s filled with so many interesting articles and other things about professional gaming I know it’s going to be my bathroom reading for the next 3 months!

So now that i’m back from Dallas i’ve decided to go to the Championship Gaming Series European Draft for the Dead or Alive 4 female spot in one of the European teams. I’m still looking for a practice partner, I plan to rage this!! Get in touch with me if you know anyone willing. I’ve played DOA before but that was the original version on the Playstation 2. Anyway if I commit myself to DOA for the next week and a half (draft is on the 21 - 26 aug) fingers crossed I can beat down my opponents. Not to sound cocky about it but what I have played from DOA it is pretty button bashing friendly and if I can learn the combos and how to counter hopefully I can beat some of the other girls. I’m not aspiring to be like the next Vanessa or anything because I know it’s probably impossible to get that good in a week but the basics surely can’t be more complex than learning a 1v1 FPS game on the PC. Since g0d has been out of the competitive circuit in 2007 (due to absence of sponsors) i’ve been itching to compete again. All I do is write about professional gaming and it makes me miss it even more. I need something to fill the void until UT3 comes out.

Yes that’s right! I will be at QuakeCon where it will be the relase of Pro Gam3r magazine!! Dallas is gonna be boiling but it’s gonna be great I’ll update when i’m there if I can but if I can’t you’ll have to wait until I get back to hear all the gory details!

<3!