In the first two days, 35 of the original 56 members included in the original tournament will be returning to complete the season. 30 of the members responded on the first day of the blog which is awesome! Hack attack or not, we are ready to get back to the fight! Only one member has specifically declined to return to the PSN so far. There are several other no-shows so far, but they still have until Sunday to reply to the original call back message. One former European member also asked to return for this reboot, and since he left in good standing, will be included since the European Region could use as many members as possible.
The current list of members returning:
(26) Americas Region in alphebetical order
Alfredurst ( New Mexico ) ( Gouken , Juri )
Capitolc ( Maryland ) ( Chun Li , Dee Jay )
Ccinoone ( New York ) ( Ken , M. Bison )
Cuby ( Florida ) ( Ken , Sakura )
DJ__C--4 ( Guatemala ) ( Ryu , Sakura )
Domokun_Nomnom ( Massachusetts ) ( Ibuki , Juri )
ElGeneral ( California ) ( Guile , M. Bison )
ElSwiveo ( Colorado ) ( Dhalsim , Ibuki )
EncodedNybble ( California ) ( Abel , Ibuki )
Epedemicc ( New Jersey ) ( Gouken , Cody )
Feiinweltall ( Texas ) ( Fei Long , Makoto )
Fran_Gil ( Dominican Republic ) ( Balrog , Guile )
GuurenLagen ( Canada ) ( Blanka , Hakan )
Haduken3 ( Washington ) ( Rufus , Cammy )
Kommander-Kev ( Canada ) ( Guile , Ryu )
Manwithnoarms2 ( California ) ( Adon , M. Bison )
ModeType_Beast ( Louisiana ) ( T. Hawk , M. Bison )
ND2130srk ( Virginia ) ( Chun Li , Rose )
Raziel_Sinister ( Canada ) ( Adon , Gouken )
RickyTocky ( Pennsylvania ) ( Gen , T. Hawk )
Rteruyas ( Peru ) ( Balrog , Sakura )
SFCCL-SALonghorn ( Texas ) ( Ken , Fei Long )
Shoryuken ( Washington ) ( Cammy , Dee Jay )
Sweet_Poison_ ( Nebraska ) ( Dhalsim , Vega )
TrickyTewi ( California ) ( Vega , Rufus )
Wild_X_187 ( New York ) ( Zangief , Abel )
xx_Von_xx ( Minnesota ) ( Ken , Makoto )
ZTI890 ( Louisiana ) ( Cammy , Juri )
(8) European Region in alphabetical order
Altermore ( England ) ( Gen , T. Hawk )
Cravin456 ( England ) ( Ryu , Rose )
Hedr1984 ( Poland ) ( Dee Jay , M. Bison )
MissDiamonds09 ( Germany ) ( Guile , Sagat )
Rudeboy_2Deep ( England ) ( Abel , Adon )
Shooryukenn ( England ) ( Blanka , Guile )
T-Roy_90 ( England ) ( Zangief , Balrog )
Wauhti ( Finland ) ( Juri , Sakura )
If you want to be included in the season-ending tournament, be sure your name is listed above. Also, for everyone, be sure the two fighters you want to use are listed above as well. These were the last fighter each member used before the PSN went down. For this tournament, any member can swap out their figther(s) without ranking penalty. The new fighter(s) will simply take the ranking of the former fighter.
The tournament will be a single-elimination tournament with best 2 out of 3 five-round matches. Win your match, and you advance to the next round. Lose your match, and your season is officially over. With the group we are assembling for this tournament, the matches and rounds should go by fast since we all are committed to playing and finishing the season with style. So please contact your opponents and setup a time to play your matches as soon as matches are posted on Monday, May 23rd. The tournament will be setup to have a Final Four again, with 3 fighters coming from the Americas Region and the fourth coming from the European Region. This way, only the last remaining European fighter will have to worry about matching up with fighters from the Americas Region in the semi and finals, if necessary. The final championship match will be a best of 3 out of 5 five-round matches, and we should get video of the final match.
Currently with 28 members in the Americas Region, the top 8 ranked fighters would receive 1st round byes. All other fighters would be matched up from top to bottom in the 1st round. The European Region has a perfect 16 fighters currently so each fighter would begin in the 2nd round with a match. Of course, if any new players join or drop out, these numbers will change. The last rankings will be used as seeds all fighters in the tournament.
Part of the reason I wanted to wait a week before starting the tournament once the PSN was restored was to give everyone a week to get back online and verify their continued interest in playing in the league. However, my ulterior reason was to verify the PSN stayed online. With all the problems with Sony and the PSN over the last month, I had little confidence that everything would return without any hiccups. Sure enough, Sony failed to realize an obvious flaw:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/18/update-on-psn-password-reset-process/
"We temporarily took down the PSN and Qriocity password reset page. Contrary to some reports, there was no hack involved. In the process of resetting of passwords there was a URL exploit that we have subsequently fixed.
Consumers who haven’t reset their passwords for PSN are still encouraged to do so directly on their PS3. Otherwise, they can continue to do so via the website as soon as we bring that site back up."
A small hiccup, but a hiccup nonetheless. Nice one, Sony. Everything looks good outside of this minor issue, but I would recommend everyone change their password one more time just to be sure no one hacks your account with the information stolen last month.
I'll keep you guys updated on who is returning to the league. Start practicing!
* SFCCL-SALonghorn