Clan-Members » ckstarter launches, it will be inter

Super Smash Bros. has a lot of variability. As an arena fighter, movement options are nearly infinite, and the slightest degrees in angle can influence direction. Smash Bros. players have been relegated to using a GameCube controller for the past 15 years, and unlike most game controllers, the gate around the thumb stick is octagonal, not circular. This allows players to accurately hit up, down, left and right, but also top-right, bottom-left, etc. Not only that, there are other angles that players can hit, such as the space between top and top-right. It gives Smash Bros a free-form and improvisational feel, as if almost any movement were possible.But there is a downside to this near-limitless movement option. The game is largely controlled by just your two thumbs, and as the game has continued to grow in speed and complexity, it has evolved to require absurd levels of precision. This is especially true for the second game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Melee. As competitive matches can have players hitting six inputs per second, accidental slipping of the thumb stick can mean a win or loss.To get a better understanding, imagine trying to draw a six-sided star, one-second at a time, perfectly in succession for 10 seconds. Your hand will have to deal with the friction of the paper, the dulling of the pencil, the tiring of your wrist. Unless your hand is absolutely steady and perfect, not every star will look the same. And thats the kind of dilemma competitive Smash Bros. players find themselves in.Not only that, but finding good-quality controllers is starting to become a problem. Most players agree that the best controllers were made in the early 2000s. As Smash Bros. has grown, these controllers have become far more scarce and sought-after.Thats not to say that the GameCube controller is the only option for Smash players, but it is the preferred one by far. The latest iteration, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, allows use of the Wii remote and nunchuck as well as the Wii U pro controller, which is closer to the controller found on the Xbox. But because of the GameCube controllers analogue buttons and octagonal gate, it has stayed.Thats where the Smash Box comes in. It breaks down Smash Bros. to only button presses, making movements as binary as possible and removing a controllers inconsistencies. To understand the philosophy behind the Smash Box, ESPN.com reached out to Hit Boxs Dustin Huffer to get some insight.Our goal is to evolve competitive gaming hardware for Smash and any other hard-core esport, one genre at a time, said Huffer. Its exactly like having hockey gear for hockey players and baseball gear for baseball players. Each game has its own challenges and needs that separate itself from other games.The current Smash Bros. metagame has evolved far past what the controllers were originally intended for. Some players will claw their controllers to allow the index finger to work in tandem with the thumb to move more precisely. Others will rest the joint of the thumb between two buttons to quickly pivot between presses. The lack of controller diversity has served as both a physical learning barrier preventing newcomers from joining in as well as putting a cap on many players competitive lifespan with carpal tunnel and other RSIs [repetitive stress injuries], said Huffer.Clearly, the most radical omission from the Smash Box is any sort of stick. Movement has been scaled back to just four buttons, kind of like the arrow keys on a keyboard. We ditched stick for accuracy, speed, and ergonomics said Huffer. Smash execution is all about surgical analog precision at ridiculous rates of speed. Watching a Melee players hands will baffle you at the gymnastics they perform.There are some added benefits as well. Dividing whats normally done with just one thumb across the entire hand gives unparalleled control over the game at high rates of APM [actions per minute], all while reducing hand strain, said Huffer.Dr. Caitlin McGee, a physical therapist, corroborated these claims: One of the biggest sources of repetitive stress injuries in Smash is the thumb motion required both for motion and for action inputs. This is significantly decreased with a more keyboard-style input system.Flattening out a GameCube controller to allow all fingers access to buttons would definitely decrease stress. Another common issue with traditional controllers is compression on the pinky side of the wrist when holding the controller while the wrists are in ulnar deviation, she said. Rotating the forearm into pronation decreases this risk as well.But having a flat, keyboard style input system isnt without its downside. McGee said there are ergonomic issues related to the carpal tunnel/Guyons canal, wrist extensors and general postural concerns, but overall it should be less stressful than a GameCube controller.Even if the Smash Box turns out to be a competitive Smash controller, there are still legal concerns. Bassem Bear Dahdouh, a tournament organizer for Panda Global, explained: For a local tournament, I think it would be fine. I think its interesting to see how people will like it before considering it legal for events. But for a larger-scale tournament, third-party controllers for Smash Bros. tournaments need a bit of a testing phase to ensure there wont be any complications that could potentially delay a tournament.Theres also the matter of Nintendo, the makers of Super Smash Bros. The company has been notoriously protective of its intellectual property and has been known to shut down fan projects in the past. Chris Gallizzi, Hyperkins head of design and product development, has a bit of experience making third-party peripherals for Nintendo hardware. Because the Smash Box will be wired, it will not require wireless protocol access from Nintendo, which is a major burden lifted. Gallizzi also explained that there are enough third-party solutions out there to the point where no licensing is necessary with Nintendo.The Smash Box has been in development for the past two years, and in that time, top players have been able to get their hands on it.The Smash Box is surprisingly intuitive in a lot of ways. The button layout itself isnt too difficult to get used to, said Twitchs Kristopher Toph Aldenderfer, a top player and commentator. The trickiest thing has been acclimating to using the different tilt buttons in conjunction with each other to get, for example, perfect wave dashes or precise Firefox angles.What Toph refers to are advanced techniques, requiring multiple successive button presses that manipulate the games physics to allow for faster movements. It isnt second nature at all, but learning techniques in a modular manner, i.e., thinking of the perfect wave dash as a single unit, rather than thinking about each individual button press, helps a lot, Toph said.Its definitely unique, said Team Liquids Juan Hungrybox DeBiedma, a professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player and recent Evolution 2016 champion. Hungrybox said the learning curve is very steep but it theoretically could make someone the most technical player of all time. But Hungrybox said it may be better-suited for Street Fighter V, while Toph offered that itd take a few months of serious play for a pro to feel confident using it at a tournament.With a game as old as Melee, top players still jest that theres still a lot more to discover. In both Smash Wii U and Melee, we may start seeing matches more akin to tool-assisted super-play (TAS). TAS are demonstration videos in which the creator, using a game emulator on a computer, goes frame-by-frame to record a perfect match. Hit Box may have made it viable to create TAS videos for Smash, changing the metagame in the process. Characters that were thought to not have been viable in the meta might now be, if played at TAS levels of precision.As of now, its uncertain whether the Smash Box will even make a ripple in the Smash community, let alone change the metagame. And of course, it takes skill, and not just a new controller, to start making upsets.I think its too much of a risk, said Hungrybox.Toph said that top players wouldnt immediately make the switch. Itll probably take a newcomer making waves with the Smash Box before pros look at seriously switching, he said.The Smash Box brings a lot of potential, but with it a lot of uncertainties. Once the Kickstarter launches, it will be interesting to see if the community backs it. Regardless of its ambitions or concerns, one thing is certain: The community will continue to push Super Smash Bros. beyond anyones imagination. Nike Air Max Tilbud . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Nike Air Max Nettbutikk . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66. http://www.nikeairmaxnorge.com/ . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. Nike Air Max Norge . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Nike Air Max Net . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Kangaroos veteran Sam Thaiday admits he fears for his place in Mal Meningas squad for the second Four Nations clash against New Zealand.The 31-year-old, whos been a staple of the Australia side since 2009, has featured off the bench in all three of Meningas games in charge.But with the emergence of exciting back-rowers Tyson Frizell and Jake Trbojevic - both try-scorers in the win over Scotland on Friday - in addition to Trent Merrin and Boyd Cordner, he concedes his place in the side is far from guaranteed.Being older, I am feeling pressure more, Thaiday said.We have these young, fresh-faced kids coming through and no-ones position in the team is secure unless youre Cameron Smith.But its a great problem to have. There is always banter among the players about whos playing ... and I am sure that will continue ovver the week leading to the New Zealand game.dddddddddddd.Thaiday also welcomed Mal Meningas attempts to stir the pot ahead of the clash against England on November 12 with a sensational attack on Wayne Bennett in his Courier Mail newspaper column on Friday.That was good, it stirs things up ahead of the game in a couple of weeks time, he said.Itll be quite funny to see what the talk is between the two. Hopefully they can send him back with his tail between his legs.Maybe hell escape out of the back door again, Thaiday added in a reference to Bennett taking the rear exit at Brisbane airport after coaching the first Australian side to lose a series in 28 years at the 2005 Tri-Nations. ' ' '