Evo 2011

Ryan and I traveled to Las Vegas this weekend to attend the Evo world finals. Evo is the world championship series for Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs Capcom, and a few other games. Once a year folks from all over the country gather together to compete and determine who is the best. This year about 4500 people attended, and around 81,000 watched the action on live streams from all over the world. 

I sadly did not get too far in Mortal Kombat, but I felt good about my matches. Ryan faced off against Perfect Legend, the gentleman who eventually won first place. Perfect Legend plays the character Kung Lao and our buddy Matt was dressed as Kung Lao, so Ryan borrowed his hat for good luck. You can watch the match coverage here and see where Ryan tosses the hat off halfway through to cheers and laughter, in order to "get down to business". (He's the player called 'Zafo').

We enjoyed the Mortal Kombat finals tremendously, I hope they hold a championship for that game again. The Marvel vs Capcom finals were intense, which figured, as Marvel is a pretty intense game. And Street Fighter had a big upset as Fuudo took the title from Daigo.

Here I am gracefully solving a shoe crisis on the hotel floor.

Here Ryan managed to capture my 'losing face'.

Ryan facing off against Juicebox Abel.

Matt dressed as Kung Lao.

Buffetin' it up with friends.

Who knew the sun was so bright?

Ryan and the gents, slathered in SPF 100.

How beautiful was this pool?
No surprise we spent Saturday morning into the afternoon here.

Our seriously 80s Vegas hotel.
It was truly truly truly truly truly outrageous.

My friend Jenna and I were
convinced tiny dresses were the way to go.

Ryan and I, ready for Finals!

I tried to take photos of the crowd, but it was difficult. In order to really capture the size and energy of the audience you need video. The clip below is from the match where Poongko beat Daigo in four rounds, and it's a good example to watch if you want a feel for Evo. It has some decent crowd shots at the end.

We had a great time. This was our second trip to Evo. Last year we drove from Seattle to Vegas on a whim because we decided the day before that we just couldn't miss it. (I mean, hey, rent happens every month. Evo's just once a year). 

This year we flew down and even had some friends on our flight. Games aside, it's the time with the other players I enjoy most. The Northwest fighting game scene is a pretty close knit group of people who share a lot of laughs and good times. It's like taking a vacation with 25-40 friends. I'm already looking forward to next year, because some people couldn't make it this time around and I missed them for sure.

Hopefully by then my Raiden will be up to snuff and I'll get a little further in Mortal Kombat!

We came home to our electricity shut off in a whacky
 sitcom misunderstanding that couldn't be fixed until morning. 
This is the pizza by candlelight date that followed.