The Fighting Game Community is in an uproar after facing an elaborate troll from community outsider Todd Harper, an MIT Graduate with an unexplained interest in the Fighting Game Scene. Gaming community icon Maddy Myers helped to legitimize the ruse, but rest assured: FGCNN has unearthed the bigger picture surrounding this ambitious and involved social prank. The analysis follows below.

The first revelation comes in the form of hypocrisy for satire's sake.  Both Maddy and Todd claim to be acting in the interest of feminism.  Most would agree that one of the goals of feminism is to minimize the occurrence of overgeneralizing and typecasting, yet both of these individuals go out of their way to do just that, and feign surprise when people react negatively.

Readers familiar with "confirmation bias" will pick up immediately that Todd Harper only cited examples that fit his narratives, ignoring any examples of the contrary. Todd focuses on Cross Assault, a 2-year-old isolated incident involving a small handful of people, and then extrapolates this behavior to the rest of the community, professing that the behavior at this event is not only expected but encouraged, all while neglecting to mention that a much BIGGER and successful tournament has already run on his own school grounds with no issue. Apparently, he knew this all along.

One example from his "works" asserts that fighting gamers gravitated to consoles for economic reasons, ignoring the fact that, up until a few years ago, consoles were the only avenue for playing arcade-caliber ports of fighting games. Also not mentioned: the healthy PC fighting game scene stemming from when the technology was made available.  FGCNN chalks this up as the most obvious ruse.

The final(and most revealing) sign of this elaborate hoax is on twitter, where Todd Harper flat out admits that he isn't actually making a worthwhile contribution to academia, but is merely "indulging a personal issue" with the FGC. Notice that, in the same thread, he refers to himself as a scholar. Utilizing your entire dissertation to make a small jab at a niche community that may have rubbed you the wrong way is one of the following:

A. Trolling at its finest
B. Sad and unfortunate
C. A waste of both the student and school's time
D. A curiously elaborate scheme to push an overpriced book
E. B, C & D

Analysts at FGCNN strongly believe that Todd Harper is doing A. Consider this: is one to believe that a socially maladjusted man compiled a suspiciously spotty thesis(which lacks proper research) on a subject he is ignorant about, then wrote an entire book on said subject and sold it for over 7 times the average price of a hardcover? Experts at FGCNN don't believe so.

What do our readers believe? Is this the greatest bamboozle of our time? Is Mr. Harper really serious about this works? Or are Todd and Maddy strawman feminists looking to insult a community while simultaneously claiming to NOT care what they think?  Let us know in the comments below!

CHICAGO, IL -- As influential community personalities and perpetual community college students take to social media to debate why the Fighting Game Community is unable to secure sponsorships from multimillion-dollar companies, a sponsored fighting game player took to the virtual airwaves to show everyone how it is done. Kyohei "MarlinPie" Lehr, a sponsored fighting game community personality, hopped onto his Twitch.tv channel recently to discuss the issues surrounding a recent high-stakes Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 money match between Loren "Fanatiq" Riley and Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto. During the broadcast, Mr. Lehr, who is sponsored by Brokentier, spent close to ten minutes extolling the virtues of The Steam Co., a "a vape shop, lounge, and eliquid brewery based out of Orange, Connecticut" and their products, encouraging viewers to use code [redacted] at checkout for 15% off their next order! Mr. Lehr went on to describe his love of The Steam Co.'s Reserve line of e-juices, favoring their "sophisticated oaky undertones" and "smooth flavors". Brokentier was not mentioned by name during the broadcast to FGCNN's knowledge, aside from Mr. Lehr mentioning Paul "Koogy" Kugler, Brokentier's founder/lead designer/team manager/janitor and how Mr. Kugler had purchased the stream equipment that Mr. Lehr was using to broadcast to Twitch. Mr. Lehr added that it was "the first time I have ever used this stuff" while the video overlay featured a tiny Brokentier logo in the upper right-hand corner. Mr. Lehr followed up by displaying a "slide", or full-screen advertisement of The Steam Co., prominently displaying his checkout code and a photograph of a scantinly-clad Asian female. Mr. Lehr's Twitter profile does not currently identify him as being sponsored by Brokentier. When approached for comment, Mr. Lehr asked an FGCNN intern if she had ever tried "e-cigs", and recommended she try some of the fine offerings from The Steam Co., using the code [redacted] for 15% off her order at checkout. Mr. Kugler was not asked for comment, but did say on his Twitter account that "marlinpie is better at advertising his ecig sponsor than me, hashtag biblethump". Mr. Lehr remains sponsored by multiple companies despite not having played "for a year" by his own admission and going 0-2 in the inagural Capcom Cup, solidifying his status as the prototypical sponsored fighting game player. Only Loren "Fanatiq" Riley could surpass him in being a better representation of his title sponsor, but Mr. Riley is currently occupied with innovating his own new and exciting forms of content delivery. Is Mr. Lehr the poster child for the ideal sponsored player? Should Mr. Kugler give Mr. Lehr a raise? Do you prefer the "Nightlife" or "Reserve" line of premium e-Liquids from The Steam Co.? Let us know in the comments below, and don't forget to use code "FGCNN" at checkout for Fifteen percent off your next order!

NEW YORK, NY -- Much to the shock of no one that owns Sony's Playstation 4 Video Game Console, it appears that Microsoft's insidious Digital Rights Management System, or "DRM", reared its ugly head during a local tournament for the Xbox One title Killer Instinct in New York City on 12 December 2013. During a live broadcast of the tournament on Twitch.tv, it appears that Microsoft's DRM system on the Xbox One activated, dropping the players back into the Xbox One Operating Systems' "Home" screen and prompting them to verify that they "own this game or app". It took nearly four minutes to resolve the DRM issue by connecting to the Internet to verify the software as genuine. This issue may prove to be a deal-breaker for the Tournament Organizers Party, which may opt not to run tournaments for games on the system, including Killer Instinct, should DRM issues such as these continue.
The owner of the Xbox One console said on stream that the DRM check "wouldn't happen if you go [into] Offline [mode]", though he followed up that statement with "it very rarely happens [at home] If I'm Online... once in a blue moon". This indicates that owners of Xbox One consoles are just as confused as everyone else is about the DRM, which means that you'd probably have better luck trying to get CDJr to stop complaining about Sabrewulf and just play the damn game than trying to understand how the DRM schemes work. You can view the incident on the "Nycfurby" Twitch.tv channel.
When solicited for comment on this story, a Microsoft representative asked, "What is 'FGCNN'?", before hanging up the phone. Double Helix was not asked to comment on this story. FGCNN has not been able to research the validity of any of these "DRM" claims, as FGCNN staff skipped over purchasing an XBox One to instead purchase a low-end $400 Gateway computer, as performance was better.
Is Microsoft completely clueless? Is Double Helix terrified that Microsoft's Draconian DRM schemes are going to lead to the demise of their title as a competitive game? Does anyone even care about "Killer Instinct"? Should everyone just buy Valve's "Steam Machine"? Let us know in the comments below!

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AGE-Sponsored UMVC3 player Loren Riley, better known in the Fighting Game circles as Fanatiq, made history today by facilitating the very first high-stakes money match with no actual money, and thousands of interested fighting game fans almost witnessed this momentous achievement by watching the twitch.tv stream that didn't exist.

Public consensus seems to believe that lacking both the money and the stream is counter-productive to an exhibition which involves both money and streaming.  FGCNN correspondents at the scene reported that Fanatiq offered to allow BrokenTier to stream the match for a nominal fee, but the offer was declined on the grounds that only an idiot would pay to stream a matchup where Fanatiq was more free than an AOL CD in 1997.

Regardless, the money match concluded with Nemo as the victor.  FGCNN has received confirmation that, if a rematch were to occur in the future, Ellen Degeneres would reprise her role in Funding Nemo part 2.

What do you think?  Should gaming wagers involving money require actual money? Is it normal to throw your fans under the bus for some quick cash? Should AGE drop Fanatiq?  Let us know in the comments!

LONDON - Celebrities born the eSports realm are a dime a dozen. As the gaming collective becomes increasingly crowded, an opportunity emerges for a visionary to break away from the pack.  Enter Ryan Hart, arguably the world's most well-known fighting gamer. He is the mastermind behind Neriah, a comic book project which contains characters based on gaming community figures, which is currently seeking funding on indiegogo.

The Neriah team spared no expense: instead of scouting the internet for less expensive and undiscovered talent, their team went right for the gusto and quoted a professional staff of illustrators (who work on actual REAL projects) at REAL project prices.

So far, at the time of this writing, Ryan Hart and his team has raised $755 of their $100,000 goal.  But with a whole 33 days left to raise just $99k of funds, the Neriah team has plenty of reasons to smile. With indiegogo's flexible funding plan, the team will still receive the capital regardless if their goal is met. But don't ponder for a second that Neriah is some sort of flagrant cash grab; a portion of the funding will return DIRECTLY to the backers in the form of several international launch parties¹ -  tailored to serious gamer fans.

Very few people in this world possess the fearlessness, the steadfast braggadocio, the unfaltering confidence in the fruition of their vision - to charge as much for a fanfic work as many other people do on a home down payment. Ryan Hart is one of them.

...And the world needs more. Bravo.


¹ - The Neriah launch parties will cost money to attend.

The never-ending leaks coming from Capcom employees under the influence of alcohol continues, with Capcom's Senior Online Community Specialist Esby "Combofiend" Rosas having inadvertently leaked an unannounced update to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 during a late-night Salty Suite stream at this past weekend's Northeast Championships XIV tournament.
Michael "Yipes" Mendoza, a well-known personality in the Fighting Game Community, remarked on the microphone during a live stream of an Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 match, "I love the fact that, in Ultra [Street Fighter IV], you kinda stop the one player game... but we can't do it here", to which Mr. Rosas responded with, "Not yet [...] It's too soon", followed by an uncomfortable silence. Mr. Mendoza quickly changed the subject, sensing that Mr. Rosas desperately wanted to avoid discussing the subject any further.
Numerous anonymous attendees of the Salty Suite have confirmed to FGCNN that Mr. Rosas had been drinking in the Suite, and, possibly, before he had arrived there, leading FGCNN to conclude that the statement made by Mr. Rosas on stream was unintentional and likely alcohol-related.
This is not the first time that a previously-unannounced Capcom product has been leaked prior to an official announcement, and, certainly not the first time an announcement related to the Marvel vs Capcom series has leaked thanks to intoxicated Capcom employees. It is known that, in the past, information regarding the "Vanilla" version of Marvel vs Capcom 3 had leaked from an unknown source, and anonymous FGCNN sources tell us that these leaks came directly from a Capcom employee who was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the leak. One of the individuals believed to be the original source of the first "Marvel 3" leak, known as "henaki", had intimated on numerous Internet postings, now deleted, that his information regarding the then unannounced Marvel vs Capcom 3, as well as a 100% accurate character roster for Super Street Fighter IV, were leaked to him by a Capcom employee that was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the leaks. This employee is believed to still be employed at Capcom, sources tell FGCNN.
Do Capcom employees have an alcohol abuse problem? Does Capcom provide access to alcohol abuse programs and counseling to all of its employees? Are people reading way too much into what was likely an innocuous comment taken out of context? Let us know in the comments below!

After making absolutely no attempt to conceal the fact that he was back on TwitchTV, Andrew "Jiyuna" Fidelis is banned once again from TwitchTV's Streaming Video Service.
Mr. Fidelis was previously banned from TwitchTV due to allegedly displaying raunchy animated GIFs featuring Japanese "Adult Video" star Hitomi Tanaka on stream. Mr. Fidelis eventually found a way to circumvent what is believed to be a IP ban, and renewed streaming under the "JPFGC" moniker, claiming that he was "streaming at my friend's house" in the hopes of avoiding detection by TwitchTV staff. He was banned sometime on November 18th 2013, Japan Standard Time.
"It was closed due to ban evasion, not because we were doing anything wrong on stream", Mr. Fidelis wrote on his Twitter account. "Was expecting it to come eventually, so not too upset". Mr. Fidelis went on to blame Arturo "Sabin" Sanchez, influential Capcom employees and "snitches" for the ban.
Mr. Fidelis is exploring alternative streaming services, such as Nico Video, to continue his online antics.
Did Mr. Fidelis deserve the second ban? Is the "Capcom Illuminati" out to get him? Is this all the work of a rogue TwitchTV employee who is hostile to the FGC? Let us know in the comments below!

THE INTERNET - A chat log of what seems to be several influential and powerful members of the Fighting Game Community have been leaked to the public by an unknown party.

These classified, private discussions being held on a public, non-password-protected forum on a really popular site were not meant for the eyes of the general public, and many are already covering their tracks by deleting their messages in hopes to salvage whatever anonymity they had since the leak.
 
How this catastrophic privacy breach occurred is unknown, but FGCNN information security experts advise readers in the same position to change their passwords frequently,  not to download files from an unknown source, and refrain from having private discussions on public message boards.