How Wi-Fi is Bad in Fighting Games

The majority of the FGC has a strict no Wi-Fi policy to ban users from their online casuals and tournaments. It's because Wi-Fi is less stable than wired. So this is something to get off my chest, so let's jump right in.

I am here with a post I felt passionate about doing. You see, I was surfing on the Internet for interesting things. Then there is something that caught my eye to hold on, so let's dive into the post.

One of the biggest conflicts in fighting games is Wi-Fi, which is less stable than wired on fighting games. There is a majority of people who have a strict no Wi-Fi policy to ban Wi-Fi users from their online lobbies since they wanted online sessions to have players who are using a wired connection. The Wi-Fi indicator is shown on fighting games with rollback netcode. It represents that players are using Wi-Fi. If the Wi-Fi indicator is not shown, they are using a wired connection.

I know that some people would use Wi-Fi as long as they check their connection and make sure that it doesn't go bad. But McDonald's Wi-Fi is not just a meme. It's also real and it is not stable enough. It produced a slideshow and I don't think someone who wants to play Smash Ultimate would bring their Switch to McDonalds and use its Wi-Fi there. It is a different story that Wi-Fi can kill the magic in playing online.

I was able to get my LAN adapter because my laptop lacks a Ethernet port. I got one from Best Buy over a year ago and I was intrigued by its speed. Not allowing Wi-Fi on online tournaments and casuals is because of the fact that it is less stable. That's why the majority of the FGC had to ban Wi-Fi from their online casuals and tournaments. What is really cool is that in Skullgirls, it has a tiny red dot on the upper left hand corner of the lobby screen to represent that you are using Wi-Fi. Now, if I enter a lobby with a Wi-Fi indicator on my name, I will be kicked out because of the strict no Wi-Fi policy they enforced on, so I must plug in an Ethernet cord so that I wouldn't be kicked out of lobbies.

But fighting games in general aren't the only thing Wi-Fi is bad on. There are other genres where Wi-Fi is bad on like hero shooters, MOBAs and others That also goes to Remote Play and cloud streaming. Doing Remote Play and streaming while using Wi-Fi is much less stable. It can lead to lag and problems no matter how close to the router. But plug in an Ethernet cord on the PlayStation 4 or 5 and Remote Play and streaming are stable. Same with livestreaming and browsing on the Internet.

Honestly, I think what is really interesting is that if they came across a player who is using Wi-Fi, they can kick them out until they invest in an Ethernet connection. That's one of the coolest things about players having a strict no Wi-Fi policy on fighting games. But for me, the casual I'm running will allow Wi-Fi players into my lobby, but I do have one rule for them. They must check and make sure that their connection is good before they ready up. I have finished setting up my server on Discord, but I can't share it to anyone yet. I need to do some final checks on the rules and format first. It might be a while.

Some tournaments and casuals allow Wi-Fi, but online circuits don't. If they want to participate in a online circuit, they must plug in an Ethernet cord so that they can have a stable online experience, especially when it comes to performing combos. If the tournament organizers find out that if they are using Wi-Fi, they'll be disqualified until they plug in an Ethernet cord.

To sum it all up, Wi-Fi is less stable on not just fighting games, but also non-fighting games, Remote Play, cloud streaming, livestreaming. It is important to invest in an Ethernet connection so that you would have a stable experience and not get kicked out of online lobbies, have problems and experience all that lag.

Joe's Segues - 3/6/23

Hello, everyone and happy Monday. I know you guys are depressed that once the weekend is over, you have to get up and get ready for school because today is Monday. But don't be depressed because it is time for this year's third Joe's Segues. Winter is winding down and Spring is around the corner. For this set, I'm gonna go over what I've been working on and pull a Goremiser to highlight the next SML Happened. Let's dive right in.

This project I'm working on is my splash art for my Skullgirls X BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Discord server banner. It's Skullgirls, but with characters in their totally nifty and fly BBTAG palettes that are allowed in my special online casual you are seeing facing each other on my beautiful art.

The stage lights, buildings and the filmstrips are on there to give it an art deco aesthetic Skullgirls has and that is because of movie theaters at night. It is coming along nicely, with Black Dahlia in Nine the Phantom's colors being an interesting one and it's because she has elemental bullets of fire, ice and lightning loaded in her gun and the Renoir sisters of the Canopy Kingdom in Mitsuru and Platinum's colors being next to each other as a callback to the 2nd Encore art and in response to Umbrella finally making her playable debut. And since Purity & Strictly is a perfect fit for Marie, her Orie palette will be up there.

That hit me. I heard BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is coming to Xbox like Skullgirls is and my project is gonna commemorate that since both games are coming to the Xbox. Not to mention both games have the master volume setting that influences all audio volumes the upcoming update will have.

And here is the back of the splash art. It has the "Ladies and gentlemen, can't escape from crossing fate!" tagline, the text that explains the casual, three awesome characters as a mascot and the horizontal filmstrip with portraits of eligible characters in their BBTAG palettes, a temporary blank purple space and empty spaces that are reserved for future characters that are eligible and a join on lead in. It has the Steam logo to represent that I'll be running the casual on Steam. I have no plans to run it on console. If crossplay is implemented, I will add game console logos to this splash art so that console players can be welcome to join my casual. This has three fonts Skullgirls uses.

Since Marie is assigned to an Under Night In-Birth theme that fits well with her, Purity & Strictly, a temporary purple space after Black Dahlia in Nine colors for an Under Night In-Birth palette is already on there to reserve a slot for Marie. If it's an eligible character assigned to a BlazBlue theme, I leave a temporary blue space for a BlazBlue palette. If it's an eligible character assigned to a Persona 4 Arena theme, I leave a temporary yellow space for a Persona 4 Arena palette.

Fortunately, we're getting closer to info about Marie's Alpha as Black Dahlia is approaching her final release, but she has yet to get her Nine the Phantom palette you are seeing on both of my art. But her story mode palette is not yet revealed, so this is her last chance to get her Nine palette for beating her story. If she doesn't get it on her full release, it stays in my palette pack separated into two packs below. One for the 2.0 period and the other for the 3.0 period to contain characters in their palettes of non-BBTAG characters in my BBTAG 3.0 Character Pack wish list.

BBTAG 2.0:

BBTAG 3.0:

As mentioned before, the palette pack will also have palettes of non-BBTAG characters in my wish list with Fukua's Shadow Labrys palette after Filia's Labrys palette now updated to be in parity with the order of character introduction on the Persona 4 Arena row. A blank purple spot before Double's Merkava palette is still on there to pave the way for Marie's Orie palette if she doesn't get it during development.

Again, if Black Dahlia is fully released and her Nine the Phantom palette didn't make it into the game after looking through all of her palettes, she will stay up there on both packs, but must be after the Sealed-Weapon Annie to match the order of introduction of BlazBlue characters, putting the first three Season 1 Pass characters together on the same row. Whereas, Izayoi was first introduced before Nine.

And here's another graphic with all of the characters in their BBTAG palettes including the ones that already have theirs in the game sorted by introduction on the BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth characters still having the purple blank spot before Double's Merkava palette to reserve for Marie's Orie palette. Now, my main problem is Big Band's Iron Tager palette, even though he looks fly in it and he is so large. He doesn't even have the power of magnetism, okay?

The only one I still completely agree with on this BBTAG palette collection is Cerebella's Mika palette, and that is because of her forte of punching and grabbing things with her hat with living arms and Forceful Step is a perfect fit. It's because I was like "Cerebella is assigned to Forceful Step because she is into punching and grabbing things with her hat with living arms." That's exactly what I said when assigning characters to BBTAG themes. After all, Cerebella is basically Mika, but with a hat with giant living arms. There's no denying it.

Now, the release process on the console versions is gonna be more straightforward than ever going forward because the upcoming update for the PS4 comes with not only Black Dahlia. It also comes with a nearly full rewrite of the codebase that makes console development much easier going forward and online refactors that produce a smoother and more stable online experience and fix the lingering issues. The Switch version already launched with them.

Remember that part where a snag was hit when they were on the verge of releasing Annie and the Season 1 Pass on the PS4? That hurdle was created by waiting for Sony's green light announcement they had to pass since the release process on Steam is more straightforward than on Sony's end. Once submitted, they wait until Sony gives the greenlight to release and that's my favorite part of game development. It was worth the wait, but Annie's Izayoi palette is not in the game so that it can stay on my palette pack. But thanks to the nearly full rewrite of the port's codebase, console development is gonna be much easier going forward to make releasing patches on console versions of 2nd Encore easier. 

The PS4 won't be the only console to get it because with the Season 1 Pass period expanded to Nintendo Switch and will soon expand to Xbox as we are waiting for word about it so that the launch party can truly begin, it is also gonna get the update as the blue and red certificates for Sony and Nintendo to greenlight are being processed going forward.

Then it's off to the wait for Marie and that's where I come in to wait until she is released on Mobile so that I can make an Orie palette out of her on the palette editor and put it on my projects. But Marie's Alpha will come after the general balance changes section that takes place after Dahlia's full release accordingly. It is my job to find out if Marie actually gets her Orie palette during development or not.

I am setting up the server for my online casual on Discord, but I am not ready to give you the link that gives you an invite yet. I need to make sure that everything's right first.

Alright, everyone, it's that time again that I'm about to pull a Goremiser for another SML Happened.

Hats off to the Moose and Beewolves for making their way to the Super Mega World Series. There has been some well developments. The Beewolves taken first blood on Game 1. On Game 4, a grand slam has been scored in the center field and I was very excited on that one. In the end, congratulations to the Moose as they are gonna be our Season 1 Super Mega World Champions and we'll see them again in Season 2, which will be different with twelve teams divided into two divisions the American and National divisions like the MLB, not the Nintendo and SEGA divisions. Again, congratulations to the Moose and they'll return in Season 2.

That's all I had to say for today. Remember, my friends, with Dahlia approaching her full release, you better lock your doors before going to bed. Otherwise, you may suffer a fate worse than death.

EVO 2023 Lineup Wish List

Well, fighting game fans, the lineup announcement show for EVO 2023 with IFC Yipes and Ryan Hart is not that far and I have a wish list of games I want, including the ones that I know that they are gonna be in the lineup with comments about them.

But before I get to the wish list, I want to relay about last year's EVO. It became a blast since the pandemic started. We were locked up in our house and doing social distancing for two years. After two years, EVO is back in Las Vegas with Skullgirls' mainstage debut as a cherry on top. The crowd was wild and the tournament action from last year was more hype than ever. Now that's a unique thing that gets the Johnny Test and Sonic Colors Ultimate seal of approval.

What make it so is the following things, the return to Las Vegas after two years since the pandemic started, the EVO 2022 reaction skit and Skullgirls' debut as a main game. So glad that EVO is back and better than ever. The community grew over the years and we've been supporting it for years. I wish I was there, but not only the tickets are expensive. I am not ready to participate in an offline tournament and I'll probably just have to fake it.

Alright, enough with the past. On to the wish list for EVO 2023.

Street Fighter 6 - I know this game isn't out yet and could flop like Keef always says, like with BBTAG, Samurai Shodown, Granblue Fantasy Versus and Guilty Gear Strive, but I'm telling you, it comes out before EVO because it starts early August at Mandalay Bay, so I figured that I want to put this in my prediction. It looks enjoyable with the VS. intro resembling the WWE-style entrance, paint effects, real-world elements like sweating and damage effects on their clothes and lv. 3 supers being much more cinematic and these are something that I will experience time and time again. Its predecessor is in the lineup for EVO Japan probably for the last time.

Guilty Gear Strive - It had the most signups last year to be played last in the Sunday finals. I know that it's gonna be in this year. I couldn't watch the Top 8 action because it ran way past my bedtime. This game is in the lineup for EVO Japan and we are gonna get reveals for this game. Plus, crossplay is coming too.

Tekken 7 - Of course, you know that this game came out almost six years ago. We all know that this game is gonna be in the lineup since it is on every EVO, including the online one. In last year's EVO, we get a teaser for the newest game, Tekken 8. It looks amazing. The Heat system is out of this world and that's the replacement for Rage Drives. After all, Heat Smashes can be used as Rage Drives if you watched the keynote. And there are in game intro dialogues between two certain characters too. With it being in the EVO Japan lineup, we may get reveals.

The King of Fighters XV - Last year, this game made its mainstage debut and they have announced that crossplay is coming to this game like with Guilty Gear Strive. I was hyped for it too. This game deserves to be in this year's lineup because I know it will be and I really got to find a team to lab with. Since this game is in EVO Japan, the reveals are coming.

DNF Duel - One of the newest games by ArcSys that couldn't make it in last year's lineup. But it made it to the Vortex Gallery lineup. I put that on there because it needs to be in this year's lineup. And we're getting a Season 1 Pass of this game that contains Spectre and four TBA characters too.

Soul Calibur VI - I know we've seen this game in action back in 2019, but I want this to be in this year's lineup so that it can be relevant again for a possibility of a Season 3 Pass and announcement of a next game of the franchise. But that probably won't happen until Tekken 8 comes out.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle - This game was announced back in 2018 and 2019. I really want this game to be in this year's lineup really bad so that we can get the 3.0 Character Pack and hopefully crossplay. I have a wish list of characters I want.

Them's Fightin' Herds - Back in early 2022, Modus Games came to be to form an acquisition of MANE6. That benefitted the only thing we requested. Console ports. They are expensive and time consuming projects and they had no plans. But with the help of their new partners at Modus, they are made possible to benefit setting up the console version on offline tournaments going forward, so I wanted this to be in this year's lineup. But that's not the only reason. The other one regards the announcement of a Season 1 Pass benefitted by Modus' acquisition to give them more than one combat dev so that the new Story Mode chapters and new characters can be developed simultaneously.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore - This game finally got its mainstage debut last year after years since the game came out, apart from the fact that it gets a spotlight in EVO Online because of rollback netcode and the reveal of Marie is the cherry on top. Its mainstage debut was the reason why EVO 2022 deserved the Team Sonic Racing seal of approval knowing that I bought the Switch version at a discounted price so I can play it on the go. Since Them's Fightin' Herds is in my wish list, I decided to put this on here so that both games that use OtterUI can be in the lineup together as brothers, knowing both of them have Season 1 Passes with four charcters.

These are the games I want in the lineup. And forgive me if I didn't put in any of the Smash games. Neither of them didn't make it last year because Nintendo decided not to continue the tradition and they don't want to work with Sony. The lineup reveal is two days away and we're gonna find out if Nintendo allows any of their Smash games to be in the lineup.

Once the lineup is revealed, a Keef video I will look forward to as always.

Joe's Segues - 2/12/23

Back with another set of segues this year and it's gonna be shorter than usual because it is time for the next SML Happened today and I'm gonna pull a Goremiser and highlight what happened in the SML. Without further ado, time to dive right in.

In the dry match of Buzzards vs. Crocodons, oh, my god... both teams were doing so darn crappy and that's why that was a dry match. We've seen less hits throughout the game and that didn't meet up to my standards. We've seen a lot of zeros until the Buzzards managed to finally score a run literally in the last inning. I hope we don't see another dry match ever again.

Round 6 has came to a close. Originally, I want to set up eight rounds, but I'm gonna make Round 6 the last one.

As such, the final standings are up and the Phase 2 League is done and dusted. Nemesis, Overdogs, Buzzards, Sawteeth, Beewolves, Freebooters, Crocodons and Sirloins have punched their ticket to the Phase 2 Playoffs, I feel sorry for the bottom four that couldn't make it. Especially that match of Sirloins vs. Herbisaurs, which was a good one because the carnivores managed to knock the hervibores down to the 9th seed to get the Sirloins to the 8th seed so that they can qualify.

Congratulations and hats off to the eight teams who qualified for the Phase 2 Invitational. Only one champion will qualify for the Super Mega World Series to fight the Phase 1 champs, the Moose. If I compare the qualified teams for the Super Mega Phase 2 Playoffs to the qualified teams for Season 9 of the SMITE World Championship...

Nemesis = Camelot Kings
Sirloins = Highland Ravens
Sawteeth = Olympus Bolts
Beewolves = Hex Mambo

Overdogs = Jade Dragons

Crocodons = Oni Warriors

Buzzards = Atlantis Leviathans
Freebooters = Tartarus Titans

These are today's highlights I went over. In the previous segues, I mentioned that the next simulated season gonna have a different format. I am gonna explain this now.

In this next simulated season, the twelve chosen teams are divided into two groups of six teams consisting of the American and National divisions. For the American division, we have Freebooters, Buzzards, Wild Pigs, Beewolves, Sawteeth and Moose. For the National division, we have Blowfish, Crocodons, Herbisaurs, Moonstars, Nemesis and Wideloads.

There are three matches per round. The top four teams on each group will punch their ticket to the Super Mega Playoffs. The two teams that are crowned champions in the playoffs will face off against each other in the big kahuna, the Super Mega World Series. It is the Super Bowl of baseball. That's the object of this league.

And that's all I had to highlight for now. Remember, 2023 is gonna be big.

Joe's Segues - 2/4/23

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first set of segues of 2023. It's a New Year, but it's the same old me. We're gonna do big things throughout 2023 and it's gonna be big. This one is gonna have an interesting topic that we'll get to later on. But before we dive right in, I want to thank you all so much for making 2022 the best year it deserved to be. Without further ado, let's dive right in through this first set of this year.

It has been a few weeks since the SMITE World Championship began and it was a big blast. That took place at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Look at the colors and the physique of the stadium. Eight teams, Camelot Kings, Highland Ravens, Olympus Bolts, Hex Mambo, Jade Dragons, Oni Warriors, Atlantis Leviathans and Tartarus Titans made it this far. Each of them had theme songs.

Can you believe the action there? Isn't it wild that on the fourth quarter finals match, the Titans have beaten the Leviathans as revenge since they lost to them in last year's Worlds? Their theme song sounds like I was watching a Guilty Gear concert. Oh, man, the colors. Good stuff to the Titans out there.

We seen a lot of sweeps except for the one craziest between the Jade Dragons and the Tartarus Titans. Both of them went back and forth. Titans took Game 1, Dragons took Game 2, Titans took Game 3, Dragons took Game 4 and Titans took Game 5 to fight the Camelot Kings in the finals. At the end, the Kings have won Worlds to become your SMITE Season 9 World Champions and they haven't even lost a single game. They are truly the Kings, so good stuff to them.

As such, the Season 10 update is out. Go check it out. It has been a decade since SMITE launched and we let it flourish over the years. Even the Fire Giant is being a playable God and that's the way to celebrate 10 years of SMITE. Except that it is called Year 10 divided into four seasons. As always, here's to the brighter future of the wonderful 3rd person MOBA we love and SMITE Pro League Season X. I'll be looking forward to seeing the pro players play on the new Conquest map.

All of you Paladins players out there. I hope you are hyped because Season 6 is upon us and it has some changes to healers in the game, the return of Payload and the new Champion dubbed Nyx, Queen of the Abyss. You heard it here. Season 6 entails the emergence of a new threat coming to the Realm. If you don't know who Nyx is, she is the Queen of the Abyss that rekindles the Realm as Azaan tries to burn it using the power of the Pyre after he clamed that destroying the Realm is the only way to stop what's coming. As such, Season 6 is about the Abyss vs. Pyre war.

If you watched the Season 6 Update Show or read the patch notes, Nyx is a Front Line. What makes it so is that she is taller than other champions and has them thick legs to classify that. Her kit is amazing and I can't wait until the update releases. And that dress she is wearing is awesome, but evil. There is one quality of life change that caught my eye. A new UI for the profile page. There is a new item type that is gonna be revealed in a future update and I am curious to see what the new item type is gonna be.

Couple days later since the update show, Evil Mojo is gonna do away with the yearly Season Pass going forward. They usually do this, but not having a Season Pass this year benefits allowing the 2022 Season Pass to be available for the foreseeable future. That means it will be available 24/7 and you can buy it any time without worrying that it's gonna be kaput. We're seeing new Champions getting added now in a faster pace and existing maps getting reworked. Here's to a wonderful Season 6.

And finally, for the Paladins side of things, the Assembly of Champions has officially discontinued. The team said that their program didn't turn out well as they hoped. It's because the people who are outside the program were frustrated that the team didn't listen to them. That's why they had to discontinue the program. It benefits allowing the team to listen to everyone in the community when it comes to bug fixes.

Since 2019, the Assembly of Champions program was created and it has the chosen ones who the team works with. Up until this year, they have learned that their program didn't turn out well. That made people outside of the program frustrated that they won't listen to their feedback, so they had to discontinue the program so that Evil Mojo can finally listen to the whole Paladins community in general. As such, since the Assembly of Champions is discontinued this year, I have my feedback below.

• In-game dialogues between certain Champions also varying by skins
• Fourth ban slot for Ranked to have four bans on each side with eight banned Champions in total
• Major bug fixes (Mainly for the ones that linger for years.)
• Pre-match lobby time increase to 90 seconds
• King of the Hill as a separate game mode from Onslaught

But on the SMITE side the things, the Olympians Council is still going as this year's group is revealed. It was also started back in 2019 along with the Assembly of Champions and it turned out well throughout the years for Titan Forge, who are the developers of SMITE.

Now with that out of the way, it's time for the most interesting topic for this set of segues called "SML Happened". It's a highlight that I pull a Goremiser to give you a recap on what happened in the Super Mega League I am running. Time to dive right in.

First up, in the match between Herbisaurs and Freebooters, we went into the Extra Innings phase after the score is 5-5. Both teams were doing great and pretty darn amazing. The Freebooters managed to bounce back by scoring their match closing home run to secure their win and wrap up the match in the Extra Innings phase 6-5.

And second, in the match between Nemesis and Sawteeth, it has that comeback moment that happened that I'll get to later. The Nemesis taken first blood in the 2nd inning with two runs. The early stage has a small drought, up until Sawteeth managed to bounce back in the final inning by scoring that two-run homer and a closing home run to secure the win and Nemesis got their first loss in the league courtesy of Sawteeth as revenge after their loss to them in the small tournament where four new teams battle it out. That's some good crap like when the Tartarus Titans were able to beat the Atlantis Leviathans to complete their revenge in Worlds.

When the Freebooters and Sawteeth made a comeback with the match wrapping home run, it's like that one part in Yu-Gi-Oh! where Yugi busted out Exodia to beat Kaiba as his trump card. That is some good crap there and that's what it's gonna be called; the Exodia Comeback. My heart was racing at the moment too. Esports can be a little weird sometimes. When the Camelot Kings are crowned champions, they deserved a literal crown. It's weird, it's strange. As such, SML Happened and that's what the name of the highlights is gonna be.

Round 5 is finished. Just three to go. Only the top 8 teams will punch their ticket to the Phase 2 Super Mega Invitational and one champion will face off against the Moose, who were crowned Phase 1 Super Mega Invitational champions to punch their spot in the Super Mega World Series. The Overdogs haven't dropped a single match so far and there's a good chance that they will automatically punch their ticket to the Invitational, but it is unclear that they will remain the first seeded team.

But before I close this out, I'll explain what I'm talking about. The Super Mega League I'm setting up is similar to the SMITE Pro League where the qualifying teams earn their ticket to the SMITE Masters and the SMITE World Championship, but different. There are two phases and ten to twelve chosen teams on each phase. The top 8 teams will qualify to the 8-team Super Mega Invitational after certain number of rounds. The two teams who are crowned champions on each Invitational will qualify for the big kahuna, the first to four out of seven Super Mega World Series.

To help me decide which teams to be in the league, I use this above random wheel to choose which of the certain teams to make it rather than using the list randomizer. The team the wheel lands on gets a spot in the league. This is gonna help me decide going forward. Who knows? Maybe once this season ends, the next one might be different.

Well, thank you all for listening. That's all I want to say. I look forward to seeing you in the next one. Here's to a wonderful 2023.