Greetings once again, fellow users. This is part two of my 5th entry of the Strider Personal Journal. This time, we're on the topic of Super Street Fighter IV. For those of you who just joined up or just want some info as a refresher, let me give you a quick rundown of the game: It's a upgraded version of Street Fighter IV{similar to how Super Street Fighter II was to Street Fighter II; Virtua Fighter IV Evolution to Virtua Fighter IV; Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion to Tekken 6; etc}. It's set to feature some brand-new online multiplayer modes, like a eight player Team Battle mode, a Replay Channel mode, which allows you to view and save replays of the matches you or other players worldwide have been involved in and a Endless Mode, which the winning player goes up against a rotating group of challengers{in other words it's like a Survivor Mode}. There's been no comfirmed reports of any single-player modes yet, but there's a possibillity that there might be something later in the year. Now on to the characters: It's set to have every fighter from the original SFIV, but this time it'll have some highly-requested characters and some brand-new to the series. Here's who has been added so far: Mexican/Native-American fighter Thunder Hawk{better known as T.Hawk} and Jamaican kickboxer Dee Jay from Super Street Fighter II, Korean Taekwondo expert Juri{who's a newcomer to the SF series}, American street fighter Cody and Japanese Ninjutsu master Guy from Final Fight and Thai boxer Adon from the first Street Fighter. There's also been reports of characters like Ibuki and Makoto from Street Fighter III and one more brand-new character named Hakan{who's supposed to be from the Middle East} being added into the game as well, but so far nothing's been officially brought up. However, i do know that every character will be retweaked in the game, new moves and all. Finally, players are also supposed to get extra features if they still have the original SFIV, but what they are is presently unknown. Anyway, it's set to come out for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 computer entertainment system on March 2010. Now with that out of the way, i hope you boys and girls enjoyed your Thanksgiving. It's not much of a holiday to me, but still. :) As for you guys i already know, i hope you checked out part one of my blog not long ago. It has my own reviews of the art collection books Street Fighter Tribute, UDON's Art of Capcom, and SF20: The Art of Street Fighter. If by some chance you didn't, then what are you waiting for? Go to part one and check it out, i promise you won't regret it. ;) Here are some pictures i uploaded recently, by the way. Feel free to comment on them and if you have some questions, just ask. :) Happy Thanksgiving everybody. See you later. ;) -Tahj{Neo Strider Tahj}

What's up everybody? Today for most of us is Thanksgiving{my least favorite holiday} and this is the first of two parts of my 5th entry of the Strider Personal Journal. Why would i make two parts of one blog for the same day, you ask? Good question, but i'll give you the short story: I have some reviews for Street Fighter Tribute, UDON's Art of Capcom and SF20: The Art of Street Fighter for you. These are from my own experiences, so don't expect a professional review and prepare for a long part one. lol XD Anyway, let's get started. First off, Street Fighter Tribute: For those of you who don't know what is, it's a collection of fanart made by SF fans from all over the planet. UDON{the people who made the SF comics} held a contest for fans to display their finest works of art to them, and if possible, get selected by UDON to be shown in the book. However, they received more pieces of art than they originally hoped for{they saw around 1300 pieces according to the info they released in the end of the artbook}, but they could only fit around 300 for their book. Still, it has a lot of great drawings and it also has some comments from most of the artworks' creators, including the UDON team themselves, so that's something to look at. One thing to note, most of the pictures i have here are those selected for the SF Tribute, plus some of those that were turned down by UDON. Sure it's a little bit thinner than some of the other books UDON has released so far{and i do mean just a little}, but it's still a book i recommend. Next up, UDON's Art of Capcom: This artbook is made directly by our friends over at UDON to showcase their Capcom-related work. It namely contains the artwork they made for the SF, Darkstalkers and Rival Schools comics, but it also has some artwork based on other Capcom games you might know of. It also has some concept artwork and even some work no one has seen before until now in the book. The only downside to it is it doesn't have artwork based on certain games{like Strider, Power Stone and Lost Planet} but it's still worth checking out. And finally, SF20: The Art of Street Fighter: This is what i call the ultimate artbook. It has artwork made by Capcom's past and present artists plus freelance artists and artists from other big-name companies in two lineups. The main lineup is like this: Akiman, Kinu Nishimura, CRMK, Ikeno, Dai-Chan, Edayan and finally Shinkiro. The secondary lineup has the following: Shoei, Sensei, Shima Maeda, Harumaru, Akiko Nishizawa, Hideki Ishikawa, Uji, Shinsuke Komaki, Ooishi, L. George, Sakura, UDON, Polygon Pictures, Tamio, Syukou Murase, Falcoon, Nona, Takuji Kawano, the Namco X Capcom art staff, collaborative illustrations{or crossover artwork} and the Capcom design staff. This artbook also has commentary from most of the artists involved on their favorite pieces of work, as well as some Q/A for them on their fondest memories of the series. And there's even some never-before-seen artwork from the main SF games and SF-related games, merchandise and artbooks you wouldn't even think of seeing. This is now my personal favorite out of the three books i have, by the way. If you're a hardcore fan, casual fan or in my case, somebody in between, then this is the book for you. All in all, these three books are a must-own for any SF or Capcom fan/supporter, and that's saying something. :D The next books i'll pick up will be the Darkstalkers Tribute and the Dalkstalkers Graphfic File books, so be on the lookout for reviews on them later in the year. ;) Part two of the blog is coming up, so in the meantime, here's the cover art for the books and some preview pages for the SF20 artbook. Stay tuned. ;) -Tahj{Neo Strider Tahj}

Greetings, fellow users. This is the 4th entry of my Strider Personal Journal and it's something to report on. Firstly, the results of UFC 106. I wasn't able to watch it, but i was however able to get info on the results of it. From the looks of things overall, the show itself wasn't too bad, and i'll post the full details in a bit. Next, Thanksgiving. It's nearly that time of year for most of us here. Officially, Thanksgiving is announced as a time to give thanks, but just between you and me, i'm not really supportive of that holiday. That's due namely to the fact that i'm part Native-American{and so are the other members of my family for that matter, but that's another story}. If anyone followed the early history of Thanksgiving, then you'll see why. :X Anyway, that's this Thursday coming up. Finally, there's Modern Warfare 2. I've picked it up a few days back and played it all the way through, and all i'll say about is it's quite good. I didn't like how the story went past the halfway point of the game, but it's still pretty good though. In addition to MW2, I've also played Tekken 6 as well, and all i'll say about it is, it's not as good as Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution and SFIV but at least it's better than KOF XII{and that's saying something, believe me}. Oh, i almost forgot, i've ordered the SF20 artbook not long ago, and should get it by the middle of the week. The SF20 artbook is a collection of official artwork from Capcom's former and persent artists, it even includes some art from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as well as some never-before-seen artwork. I'll post a review of it later this week. In any case, this pretty much sums it up for me for right now. One other thing, i'll get some more fanarts and official artwork uploaded again for this week, and i'm still open for picture requests. Therefore, if you wany any specfic pictures uploaded, just ask. :) Here are the full results as promised, feel free to comment on it. ;) -Tahj{Neo Strider Tahj}

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

• Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent

Sotiropoulos defeated Dent via submission (armbar) at 4:36 of round 2. This bout aired on the Spike TV broadcast and pay-per-view broadcast following the Griffin vs. Ortiz fight.

• Lightweight bout: Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes

Uno and Camoes fought to a majority draw after three rounds. The judges scored the fight 29-27, 28-28 and 28-28. A point deduction was given to Camoes for illegal kicks to the head of Uno.

• Welterweight bout: Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster

Foster defeated Larson via TKO (strikes) at 3:25 of round 2. This bout aired on the Spike TV Broadcast.

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt

Grove defeated Rosholt via submission (triangle choke) at 3:59 of round 1. This bout aired on the pay-per-view broadcast after the Thiago-Volkmann bout.

• Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis

Saunders defeated Davis via KO (knees) at 3:24 of round 1. This bout aired on the pay-per-view broadcast after the Cane-Nogueira bout.

Main Card

• Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni

Sadollah defeated Baroni via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

• Light Heavyweight bout: Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Nogueira defeated Cane via TKO (punches) 1:58 in round 1.

• Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann

Thiago defeated Volkmann via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

• Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson

Koscheck defeated Johnson via submission (rear naked choke) 4:47 in round 2.

• Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

Griffin defeated Ortiz via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28).

Previously announced match-ups of John Howard vs. Dennis Hallman and Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida were moved to The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale and UFC 107 respectively.

Tom Lawlor was originally scheduled to fight at UFC 106 but he was moved to UFC Fight Night: Maynard vs. Diaz.

Tito Ortiz was originally scheduled to fight Mark Coleman; however, on October 5, 2009, the fight was cancelled as Coleman was suffering from a knee injury. UFC confirmed that Forrest Griffin would step in to face Ortiz.

Jon Fitch was originally set to fight Ricardo Almeida but Almeida was forced off the card with a knee injury. Fitch was moved to the UFC 107 card to fight Mike Pierce.

On October 26, UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar pulled out of his fight against Shane Carwin due to an illness that has kept him from training for several weeks. The UFC therefore had the Ortiz v. Griffin fight headline the UFC 106 card.

Dana White confirmed on November 19, that Karo Parisyan had pulled out of his fight against Dustin Hazelett for undisclosed reasons. Hazelett was paid his full purse including show and win. As a result, the fight between Paulo Thiago and Jacob Volkmann was promoted to the main card.

Four of the fights on the preliminary card were shown on Spike TV.

Greetings fellow users. First off, the results of UFC 105: For those of you who weren't able to see it, i'll give you the short story. It was pretty good for the most part, in fact there wasn't a boring fight on it. Randy Couture showed everyone he can still hang with the big boys, Dan Hardy is GSP's next likely challenger to his belt, and Michael Bisping is back to top form and is also back in the rankings, among other things. All-in-all, not a bad showing. On to the personal side things: it's pretty warm from where i'm at here in South Jersey, so warm that it's something i'd like to call Indian Summer, this period of weather happens between the middle of October and near the end of November. I'm more of a Winter guy, but i can enjoy this for the time being. :) Anyway, there's one other thing, i'm looking for more pictures and fanart to upload, only this however, i'm getting more based on just about every major Capcom game series to date, including some based on classic Capcom games also. If you want some uploaded, be sure to ask. ;) Anyway, here's the full results for UFC 105 as promised. Feel free to comment here. :) -Tahj{Neo Strider Tahj}

Preliminary Card

• Lightweight bout: Andre Winner vs. Rolando Delgado

Winner defeated Delgado via KO (punch) at 3:22 of round 1. This bout, although preliminary, was aired on the live broadcast and Spike TV broadcast following the Wilks vs. Brown fight.

• Light Heavyweight bout: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman

Gustafsson defeated Hamman via KO (punches) at 0:41 of round 1. This bout, although preliminary, was aired on the live broadcast and Spike TV broadcast following the Bisping vs. Kang fight.

• Lightweight bout: Paul Kelly vs. Dennis Siver

Siver defeated Kelly via TKO (strikes) at 2:53 of round 2.

• Welterweight bout: Nick Osipczak vs. Matthew Riddle

Osipczak defeated Riddle via TKO (punches) at 3:53 of round 3.

• Lightweight bout: Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty

Etim defeated Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:24 of round 2.

• Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs. John Hathaway

Hathaway defeated Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

Main card

• Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley

Pearson defeated Riley via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 4:34 of Round 2.

• Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Matt Brown

Brown defeated Wilks via TKO (punches) at 2:26 of Round 3.

• Middleweight Bout: Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang

Bisping defeated Kang via TKO (punches) at 4:24 of the Round 2.

• Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy

Hardy defeated Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

• Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera

Couture defeated Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Fight card changes

A previously rumoured Lightweight Championship bout between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez did not take place at this event. At the UFC 102 press conference White said it is likely that the fight will be moved to a third event in November which was at the time still unannounced.It was later announced that the bout will take place at UFC 107.

A bout between Antônio Rogério Nogueira and Luiz Arthur Cane was moved to UFC 106. Dong Hyun Kim was forced to pull out of his bout with Dan Hardy due to an injury. He was replaced by Mike Swick.

The winner of Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy is said to receive a title shot at Georges St. Pierre in early 2010. A previously announced bout between Peter Sobotta and DaMarques Johnson was cancelled due to a military commitment for Sobotta.

I'll make this as short as possible, fellow MMA fans. UFC 105 and 106 are just around the corner, and from what we've seen so far, they shouldn't disappoint. Now why would they have two events in two weeks, you ask? It's really simple, there are two Boxing events during this time. One of them being the Pacquiao/Cotto fight{on HBO Pay-Per-View, and the other being a fight for the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament{which will be shown on Showtime}. That, and they don't like rival promotions and other combat sports very much. This is what i've seen personally, anyway. Still, they should be quite good. UFC 105 will be live on Spike TV, while UFC 106 will be on PPV the following week. Here are the fight cards so far. Let me know what you think. :) -Tahj{Neo Strider Tahj}

UFC 105 Main card

• Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
• Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
• Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
• Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Matt Brown
• Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley

UFC 105 Preliminary Card

• Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs. John Hathaway
• Lightweight bout: Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty
• Welterweight bout: Nick Osipczak vs. Matthew Riddle
• Lightweight bout: Paul Kelly vs. Dennis Siver
• Light Heavyweight bout: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman
• Lightweight bout: Andre Winner vs. Rolando Delgado
  

  UFC 106 Main Card

• Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
• Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
• Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
• Light Heavyweight bout: Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett

UFC 106 Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis
• Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt

UFC 106 Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

• Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
• Welterweight bout: Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster
• Lightweight bout: Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes
• Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent