Category: Community Announcement

BAM10 Survey – Your Feedback!

This year CouchWarriors celebrated its 10th year of Battle Arena Melbourne with BAM10.

Our biggest event yet, attracting over 2000 attendees, BAM continues to grow and improve year on year. As part of the event this year we sought feedback from our attendees to get a better sense of what we are doing well and where we can improve.

This years event featured the best of Australian and international talent in the fighting game community and there was no lack of entertainment. Matches were electric, with spectators on the edge of their seats, holding their breath as players battled right down to the last inch of health before triumphing. Besides the usual tournaments we also had our first appearance of Nintendo hosting both Splatoon 2 and Pokken tournaments and the PC LAN area that hosted its own tournaments.

 

Let’s take a look at the survey!

 

A little about our community

 

The attendees of BAM10 are all kinds of ages with our attendees being mostly between the ages of 14-30. Most of the respondents were male (96%) but our female community is growing with female respondents competing in events across BAM10 including Street Fighter, Smash Bros. 4, Splatoon 2 and Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Most of our attendees had attended a BAM event in the past (60%) but we had a lot of first timers attend this years BAM. Of those who had attended previously, most people had attended more than two events.

Our tournaments

78.5% of responses were competitors with most people competing in Tekken, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Street Fighter. It was a big job for some our TO’s this year with so many different games being run at BAM10. CouchWarriors has been working hard to ensure tournament bracket updates are timely and easy for people to access. Our community’s feedback showed that this really came through with 89% satisfied with the running of brackets, 84% satisfied with bracket updates and 81% satisfied with the equipment provided.

There were shout outs to our TO’s for doing an amazing job as well as a request for more TO’s to help with some of the larger tournaments to reduce stress if possible.

BAM10 overall

BAM10 was a massive hit with our community with 93% definitely coming back next year  and 94% recommending BAM to their friends. When asked overall how satisfied people were with the event, there were no dissatisfied results which 96% being satisfied with BAM.

This is an excellent result for Australia’s biggest Fighting Game Tournament and is proof of how our hard work, dedication and devotion to BAM is seen and experienced by our attendees.

We’d like to thank everyone who completed the survey for their feedback. There was a lot of amazing ideas and we are looking forward to bringing them to life next year at BAM11!

 

Thanks to Jodie “Eevee” Langford for producing the survey and compiling this article

Twitch and CouchWarriors Announce ANZ Pathway to EVO World Championships

This past weekend CouchWarriors’ Battle Arena Melbourne (BAM10) reached its 10th Anniversary. ANZ’s largest open entry esports event, held May 18-20 at Melbourne Convention Centre, once again broke records with over 2,000 attendees. It was also the debut of a major partnership with Twitch TV to reward ANZ players and grow the fighting game esports scene.

 

Announced during BAM10, this will provide flights and accommodation for 3 players who reach the highest placement among Australian or New Zealand players at BAM. Also announced is an ongoing tournament points system which will lead to next year’s BAM11, in which players will once again have the opportunity to prove themselves and win a trip to EVO 2019.

More info from this Twitch Video

Having become a major international event with over 30 global pro players attending, the addition of a premium event reward just for ANZ players provides a clear goal for local players to strive for. In this year’s event, the top players from Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Super Smash Bros 4 WiiU were chosen.  These players came out on top:

 

  • Naveed “ChandNY” Iqbal  – Tekken 7
  • Xavier “Somniac” Nardella – Street Fighter V
  • Nick “Extra” McKenzie – Super Smash Bros 4 WiiU

 

The biggest tournament event in ANZ fighting game history, BAM10 grew again with over 2,000 attendees and over $40,000 in cash and prizes. The gaming convention and esports event featured global pro tour stops for Tekken World Tour as a Master Event, and Capcom Pro Tour as a Ranking Event. This alongside a huge lineup of national tournaments and convention activities including access to preview games, indiecade, Nintendo Game zone, PC LAN, Artist Alley and Cosplay.

 

Results from BAM10 can be found here

https://smash.gg/tournament/battle-arena-melbourne-10/events

 

Media Kit including event Photography can be found here

http://bit.ly/bam10mediakit

Facebook Gallery Day 3

 

More detailed full results, further photography and video replays from BAM10 will be released in the coming days.

 

Follow CouchWarriors social:

Facebook: CouchWarriors | Twitter: @CouchWarriors / #BAM10

Follow Twitch ANZ social: @TwitchANZ

Introducing the Bam10 Indiecade

We are happy to announce the BAM10 Indiecade! Experience awesome new games from indie developers X-Joy, Bit Dragon and Teepee Studios

Bit Dragon is showcasing Hyper Jam, an 80’s bright neon brawler with intense multiplayer action of weapons and perks.

TeePee Studios and their game Dimensions VS, a free-to-play platform style fighting game akin to Smash Brothers with a diverse cast and familiar control scheme. Check out the awesome BAM inspired skins!

XJoy will be bringing Dashblitz, a fast paced multiplayer game inspired by classic platformers and go head to head at break neck speeds.

 

You can check out the teams and their games at the Indiecade Alley at BAM10 – open to everyone including Spectators!

Tekken World Tour: Australian Contenders, Tekken Scene Trailer

Recently we announced Tekken World Tour coming to Australia and covered the top players from the international scene heading to Melbourne. Now, lets look at the top Australian players thanks to our Tekken TO, Abi Adegbola.

The main threats to the international from Australian soil come in the form of newly sponsored Kanga|ChandNY and Dee-On Grey. Both have won multiple Australian majors between them. Dee-On Grey has amassed a great amount of international experience travelling to various tournaments around the world and even placing top 16 at EVO 2016.


Dee-On Grey 

Among the many international events Dee-On has attended, most recently competed in the Tekken World Tour Korea Masters.

–          EVO 2016: top 16

–          Battle Arena Melbourne 9: 4th

–          OzHadou Nationals 14: 1st

–          OzHadou Nationals 15: 7th

–          EVO Japan 2018: 33rd


Kanga|ChandNY 
Keep careful note of that third place for ChandNY at BAM9.  Who were 1st and 2nd? Only world champion Korean players SAINT and JDCR!


–          OzHadou Nationals 13: 1st

–          Battle Arena Melbourne 9: 3rd

–          OzHadou Nationals 14: 5th

–          OzHadou Nationals 15: 13th

 

Aside from them there are plenty of other high level Australian talent, some who have gain international experience as well that are vying for the top spot such as Aken, 4LCH3M15T, Cuteguy, and many more.

The Tekken community is always hyped up and full of energy at events, so look forward to an awesome gathering and spectator experience. To get a feel for the community as they practice, take a look at this trailer from Phil Boquida of PHILMS produced at the latest CouchWarriors Ranking Battle

CouchWarriors 2017 Annual General Meeting

Date: October 1 Sunday
Time: 1PM-5PM
Venue: 6 Davies Street Library Room
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1748729842095423/

It’s time for the CouchWarriors Annual General Meeting.

CouchWarriors Mission Statement:

CouchWarriors is a non-for-profit association that was created in 2006 to help grow the Melbourne Fighting Game Community. We aim to do this by providing services and events for the community such as: creating welcoming spaces for new and veteran players to learn and play, running monthly ranking tournaments, hosting our national-level tournament Battle Arena Melbourne (BAM), and providing support and resources for companion events in the community.

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM is open to the public, if you feel like you would like to be a part of CouchWarriors and to help out with tournaments and building up the fighting game community in Melbourne, please feel free to come along. Our scene is built on the passion and dedication of volunteers and organisers.

CouchWarriors is an open, egalitarian group run by a committee formed of community members. Anyone is welcome to attend regular meetings and have input into the direction of events like BAM.

Nominations:

2017 Officer positions (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasure) are determined at Annual General Meeting via nomination/election. First Round of Nominations are to be received 2 weeks before event (Nominees can make themselves known in the CouchWarriors Committee private group, or email us at [email protected]).
Not renominating: Daniel “Spoony” Finegan as President.

At the AGM we will discuss an agenda of the following:
-Review of events done this year such as BAM9, ranbats and convention activities
-Financial review
-Review of mission statement and strategies/plans moving forward
-Election of board members
-Procedural review such as ranbat roster/setup
-Review of structure and roles

The secretary will add a detailed agenda based on last year’s AGM agenda soon.

The AGM will be held at 6-8 Davies Street, in the meeting room at the back of the Masonic Hall (Same as the venue of our ranbats, different room).

Hope to see you all there!

ARMS Community Night

Special CouchWarriors invite: Join Nintendo’s ARMS Community Night!
There will be food, drink, prizes and all the ARMS action you can swing a glove at!

When: Saturday September 9th at 9pm

Where: 338 Queensberry St, North Melbourne

Cost: Free! Just show this invite graphic on your phone.

Tekken 7 : New Challengers Tournament @ BAM9!

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!!

Introducing the Tekken 7 : New Challengers Tournament

The perfect opportunity for new players to experience and explore one of the greatest upcoming fighting game experiences.

Classic 1 vs 1 battles return along with new moves and battle mechanics like Rage Arts, Rage Drives and Power Crushes that make gameplay more accessible for players of all skill levels.

The new challengers tournament will be free to enter and there are plenty of prizes to be won.

Love, Revenge, Pride. Each one of us has a reason to fight.
There are no wrong motives, just the paths we choose to take.

When :
Tournament – Friday 12th of May – 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Casuals – All Weekend

Cost : 
Entry to the Tekken Area and Tournament Entry for New Challengers is complimentary

 

Thanks to Bandai Namco for supporting BAM9!

 

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Battle Arena Melbourne 9 Cosplay Competition Announced!

We are pleased to announce Battle Arena Melbourne 9’s official cosplay competition! Join us in your best fighting game costume for a chance to win some awesome prizes. Not only is BAM Australia’s biggest fighting game event, it’s a gaming and esports festival, so we would like to invite everyone to appear in character!

 

There’s over $500 in cash and prizes for the Cosplay alone!  Plus, TOP 3 – Priority Pass to OzComicCon Melbourne 

Photography: On the floor of BAM9, we will have a special photo wall and photographer onsite, so there’ll be great shots to come from the event.

Cosplay Changerooms: There will be a dedicated space off-floor for Cosplayers to change.

 

WHAT:
Battle Arena Melbourne 9 Cosplay Competition

When:
May 13-14

 

Cosplay registration:
Just register in person at the Registration Desk.

Event Entry: Only a spectator pass ($20 for weekend) is required.

Registration Ends 3:00PM Sunday
Pre Judging: Starts 4:00PM Sunday
Competition Starts 6:00PM Sunday

Plus Cosplay Parade Saturday (TIME TBC) with spot prizes

Theme:
Fighting Game characters (Has appeared in a fighting game)

 

Where:
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Bays 1&2

Cost:
Spectator pass – $20

PRIZES:

TOP 3 – Priority Pass to OzComicCon Melbourne

1st Place $300 Cash

2nd place $150

3rd place $50

 

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CouchWarriors 2016 End of Year Report

CouchWarriors AGM held at Brunswick Masonic Center, Sunday November 13, 2016

Attending Committee:

Darren Taing, Daniel Finegan (Spoony), Chee Seng Siow (Muttons), George Karakasidis, Aaron Borg (Borgie),  Javi, Daniel Chlebowczyk  (Berzerk), Sarah Morris, Emma Cameron, Anthony Albert Schweitzer Ducusin (Tones), David Lewis, Alex Scott, Will Smith, Lee Thomas Godwin (Light)

Apologies:  Jason O’Callahan, Kevin Kim (Burnout), Kris Staltare, Jack Gorman, Ignis, Rory Betteridge

New members: Emma Cameron

Contents

1: Introduction to attending CW Board:

2: Elections: committee positions

3: Financial Report

4: BAM8 (Battle Arena Melbourne)

5. 2016 CouchWarriors Ranbat Season

6: Outreach event

7. What the future holds?

8: THANK YOU to:

1: Introduction to attending CW Board:

  • Michael Thai “Javi”: Acting Treasurer, anime guy, pushing GG. Looks after bank accounts, signs off on expenditure. Drives van for BAM and CQ events.
  • Daniel Chlebowczyk “Berzerk”: Looks after 3D games (DOA) and VF. Previous president and always been doing PR and marketing. Works in game industries, passing on Sponsorship/PR manager role to Jason.
  • Sarah Morris: Smash TO. Does a lot of registration desk duty, ranking battle reports, “bouncer and stats”.
  • Emma Cameron: (New) Interested in learning more about the competitive FGC. AIE games programming studying. Graduate lawyer. Loves e-sports and sports, wants to see what we got.
  • Anthony Albert Schweitzer Ducusin “Tones”: Equipment manager, does stock takes and labelling and sorting. Makes sure things happen here, streamlines equipment and events and very interested in social media stuff.
  • David Lewis: Representing NGP+ a tv show that talks about video games and pop culture, long-time liaison with CW. Does trailers, stream stuff, graphics. NGP also looking at assisting with affiliation and sponsorship.
  • Darren Taing “Dreadtech”: Acting Vice-President. Head of all Smash, started volunteering for smash and started running the whole thing because everyone is too lazy. Main Smash GG liaison and chief Melee Guy.
  • Daniel Finegan “Spoony”: Acting President. Does a lot of SF stuff and is the main logistics/organisational guy behind ranbats and BAM. Usually ends up being BAM director. Handles scheduling, brackets, seedings, pre-registration. Also former secretary.
  • Chee Seng Siow “Muttons”: Runs CCH (fortnightly casuals FGC meetup), nags people a lot, produces lots of media pieces and does event posting/social media. Capcom TO and former secretary.
  • George Karakasidis: Take charge of convention stuff, helps out at events and CCH. Main Pokken TO. Former Moemall TO.
  • Aaron Borg “Borgie”: George’s right hand when it comes to convention stuff, DOA guy.
  • Alex Scott: Mostly Melee, helps Darren. Smash stuff, proactive on venue exploration. Great with marketing and strategy.
  • Lee Thomas Godwin: Known as “Light.” Started helping as TO in March with Smash 4. Works for Jack who works for Darren. Wants to be content manager for website.
  • Jack Gorman: Main Smash 4 TO and ranbat coordinator. Was in hospital so did not attend AGM. Ignis his main officer is not here. Runs Smash @ Swanston.

2. Elections: committee positions

President: Daniel Finegan “Spoony” (unanimous)

Vice President: Darren Taing “Dreadtech” (unanimous)

Treasurer: Michael Thai “Javi” (unanimous)

Secretary: Chee Seng Siow “Muttons” (unanimous) (Rory did not nominate this year)

Secretarial Understudy: Sarah Morris

Ranbat Coordinator: Sarah and Jack Gorman (Main Smash 4 TO)

Web Content Manager: Lee Thomas Godwin (Light)

Sponsorship/PR manager: Jason O’Callahan

 

General Committee:

  • Matthew Allsop “Ignis”
  • Gab Ferrada
  • Rory Betteridge
  • James Brewer “Brewtality”
  • George Karakasidis
  • Kris Staltare
  • Brendon Watson (Founder of CW)
  • Anthony Albert Schweitzer Ducusin “Tones”
  • Jason Lee Mustapic
  • Edison Phuc Nguyen
  • Kenneth Chan
  • Dom Hynes
  • Will Smith
  • Daniel Chlebowczyk
  • Kevin Burnout Kim
  • Attila Baranyay
  • Baraa Tebeileh
  • James Brewer “Brewtality”
  • Josh Southern “Jash”

For more information about CouchWarriors and to see our entire roster click here.

3. Financial Report

Overall in 2016, Couch Warriors has spent more money than we have received this year reducing our savings year-to-year. This is mainly due to all the assets we have invested into the community for it to grow.

Some examples of the gear that we have bought in 2016 for the community:

* All Smash 4 stream gear including a stream laptop

* All Melee with stream gear including a stream laptop

* Over 10 community monitors, 10 Wii Us, and additional PS4s

We are open to the public’s opinion on how to best spend money to help support and build the community & scene.

4. BAM8 (Battle Arena Melbourne) 8

  • Attendance: 800 in total 641 paying competitors
  • Concurrent Stream Viewers: >14,000
  • Total Stream Views: >130, 000
  • CPT Ranking Event
  • Held at CQ Functions, 113 Queen St, Melbourne

Games:

Main Games
Super Smash Bros 4 Singles/Teams Super Smash Bros Melee Singles/Teams Street Fighter V
Mortal Kombat X Ultra Street Fighter IV Guilty Gear Xrd
Dead or Alive 5 Blazblue: CPE Tekken 7
Side tournaments
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Free tournaments
Beyblade Pokken Tournament

For more information and results on BAM8 click here.

5. 2016 CouchWarriors Ranbat Season

  • February SFV Launch Ranbat at CQ attendance: 307
  • December End of Year Ranbat at CQ attendance: 257
  • Attendance: Average 210 people per monthly ranbat combining FGC+Melee ranbat and Smash 4 Ranbat.
  • Schedule: To remain the same in 2017, FGC+Melee ranbat on third Saturday of the month and Smash 4 on the fourth Saturday of the month.
  • Where: 6 Davies St, Brunswick.

For full 2016 CouchWarriors ranbat points and ranking click here.

6. Outreach events

  • Hosting Fighting Game section at PAX Aus all 3 days Nov 4-6
  • Running Video Gaming area at Animaga convention Aug 27-28
  • Hosting Fighting Game casuals and tournaments at OzcomicCon OCC Gaming area June 11-12
  • Ran Pokken Tournament at Pokemon Nationals in collaboration with NewGame+ and Nintendo Australia July 2-3
  • Supporting Over9k tournaments run by Chris Ho
  • Supporting community event “CCH” with social media marketing

7. What the future holds?

  • Big BAM 9 information coming soon (May 2017)
  • CouchWarriors Ten Year Anniversary!
  • More information on Ranbat End-of-Season prizes and monthly Ranbat door prizes/giveaways
  • More outreach and events especially to support new games coming out in 2017 like Tekken 7.

8. THANK YOU to:

  • New Game Plus
  • “Spidercarnage”
  • Andrew J. Walton
  • Duong Thieu Nguyen “ZGnoud”
  • Youssef Faddoul “FayD”
  • Steve from Namco Bamdai
  • Jason Lee Mustapic “Duon”
  • Yehya El-Liessy “Yehya”
  • Finn Jamieson “Haiku”
  • Charmaine Tan “Gossip girl”
  • Xavier Harding “Revax”
  • Matt “Danog” Joyce
  • Vincent  “Forte” Lim
  • David “Dekar” Moore
  • Dylan “SNC” Lake
  • Cailan Kingsbury
  • Azri Johari
  • Daniel Di Battista “DD”
  • Dean Eddy
  • Abi Ji
  • Dayne Crawley
  • Darcy Higgins
  • Kyle Jensen
  • Izzago Dearnaley
  • Kris Dabrowski
  • Alex Mitchell-Dawson
  • Josh Southern
  • Callum Diamond
  • Chris Ho
  • Harold Arquiza
  • David Lee “Kyokugen”
  • Tom Lee of Team Ninja
  • Bradley D-Yoshii Jolly
  • Steven Nguyen “Xarv”
  • Andrew Pettigrew “VITRIOL the Demonslayer”
  • PAX AUS team
  • Animaga team

 

A BIG THANK YOU to all our volunteers, helpers and friendly people! We love you and everything we do is not possible without your generosity and support.

End.

Written by a scrub.

COUCHWARRIORS HOSTING FIGHTING GAMES AT PAXAUS! NOV 4-6

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Another year, another huge PAXAus!

CouchWarriors have been called upon once again to host the fighting game section of the Console Tournament area at PaxAus, running through all three days and hosting a wide variety of games to suit any gamer, new or old.

As usual, between tournament sets we are open for learn to play sessions and casual matches. So feel free to take a break between all those panels, cosplaying and indie games to come join in for some competitive fun! Winners for each tournament will receive a limited edition PAXAus medal!

Games Available:

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator
Pokken Tournament
King of Fighters XIV
Super Smash Bros for WiiU
Street Fighter 5
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round
Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Direct link to the fighting game schedule can be found here.
pax-schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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