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The Return of UGTL pt.2

After being away for so long, Bmarq and the UGTL crew were back in action last Saturday to host UGTL 8 (aka UGTL 3.0) at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. Hollywood is too Hollywood for you? Nah, UGTL is still keeping it underground with the smaller yet nice venue at the Nerdist behind Meltdown Comics. I thought this was a pretty great melding of the two different communities, gaming and comic books. The Meltdown Comics store itself is pretty damn huge, in fact, I had to walk in there a few times just to make sure I saw everything I wanted to see. It wasn’t like the usual typical hardcore comic book shops, it actually felt like a place for people to gather and do more than just talk about the newly released New 52 DC Comics, go buy that. 

But lets talk about the venue, the Nerdist. If you have been to the previous UGTL events, then you know that the UGTL crew usually host their tournaments at pretty big warehouses around Los Angeles area. But they are stepping it up teaming up with Meltdown comics, the Nerdist isn’t big but big enough to hold a good 30-40 people including the Pixledrip Artist gallery. There were stations for SSF4AE, MvC3, 3sOE, and a small spot for casual games. There were some kids playing PS2 games, Shadow of the Colossus seemed to be a favorite! The best part of the set up was the guest of honor, Skullgirls that was brought in by the Skullgirls team.

I had the opportunity to sit down and play Skullgirls for a bit, I think I sat there for about an hour and a half as one of the guys from the dev team explained the game and each character. I was so intrigued about the game’s mechanics and team building system. I found the most interesting part was the custom assist mechanic, just like MvC2 you can pick 1 of 3 different kinds of assists. Now what’s cool is, let say Filia’s other two assist are just crap for your current 3 girl team. You can customize her 3rd assist to your liking. This game is just full of creative freedom right down to the assists. This is definitely a game changer. The dev team was extremely nice too, they answered everyone’s questions and even showed off some of the characters damaging combos. Filia was definitely my favorite character of the game! 

As for the tournament itself, sadly the turnout was smaller than usual. But there were a lot of usual SoCal heads at the event: LL.ND, Dj Vest, Hugo101, and Onlinetony (WNF Champ). For a small turnout the tournament was still ran pretty well, both SSF4AE and MvC3 were ran at the same time and it went pretty fast. Sadly there was no MK9, from what FilthySal (@Filthysal)told me, “SoCal MK9 is dead. It’s only alive at KrayzieBone’s (@vVv_Krayzie) house.” Ouch. 

Overall, the event was great. I love going to UGTL events and it just seems that this move to the Nerdist is a pretty good move. Great location for people in the San Fernando Valley and Greater Los Angeles area players to commute to. After event activities are plentiful, due to the venue being right there on the Sunset strip. If you love geeky cool stuff like comic books and have a love for art, Meltdown comics has everything you need! So expect more UGTL events in the future months and spread the word to your friends! 

Do you have twitter? Keep yourself updated by following these guys: @UGTL, @13marq, @Skullgirls, & @Meltdowncomics

Writer’s note: Sorry for no pictures, I took a few with my crappy camera phone and well… they were crappier than I expected. Thanks to JaknDax and Taco for going with me to the event! 

The Return of UGTL

UGTL (@UGTL) returns this weekend with UGTL8 at Nerdmelt (behind Meltdown Comics, yay me!) It has most definitely been since the last UGTL tournament, but with this return be sure that this tournament will be as exciting it has always been! If you haven’t been to any of the previous UGTL tournaments, don’t miss this one! Great music, great food, and even better competition is what you can expect to see at UGTL8

Date: Sept 10, 2011

Time: Doors open at 3:00pm for casuals, MK9 starts at 4:00pm, then MvC3 & SSF4AE at 6:00pm

Where: Nerdmelt (Meltdown Comics) 7522 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046

The tournament is BYOS (bring your own stick), UGTL and it’s members are NOT responsible for supplying you with the means to play. All games mentioned above are for the XBOX 360 console. 

Be sure to “like” UGTL on facebook and follow them on twitter, @UGTL & @13marq