Wednesday Night Fights Coming to Online!! Interview w/ Alex Valle!
When the announcement of Level|Up Series parting ways with Super Arcade was revealed, the news resonated like a shock wave across the fighting game community. Southern California, more affectionately known as SoCal among its’ competitive natives, has been home to some of the most dedicated fighting game compatriots on the western hemisphere.
Veterans like Level|Up president Alex Valle lead the charge in cultivating a continuous competitive scene one that would continue to make their region of California a dominant force to be reckoned with. The Wednesday Night Fights brand cemented this further providing a stream to show case the often brutal competition that took place among its’ elite participants.
Now with no venue to call their own, Valle with the rest of the Level|Up series crew has made the decision to take their marque fighting game tournament in a different direction moving it to the online arena for the future of the series.
I got in contact with Alex Valle to ask him a few questions about the latest endeavor in the Level|Up Series production.
FGO: You’ve been a strong supporter of coming to offline tournaments, what was the main decision behind turning WNFs into an online competition?
Alex Valle: With the rising demand of competition, we feel online tournaments is the next step in the scene’s growth. Offline events are still around and we can run parallel to them without fragmenting any communities.
FGO: You’ve opened up WNF’s Online Edition to the rest of the country instead of keeping it regional what was the decision behind that?
AV: We’ve made the decision to open WNF nation wide because there are future online warriors that can compete with today’s offline veterans. This has been proven during Wolfkrone and Latif’s online rampage a few years back which eventually transferred to winning majors and placing top 8 at EVO.
FGO: You pretty much got your feet wet with the Online Warrior Championship. What have you learned from the experience?
AV: We learned that you can have multiple regions compete without having to wait until the next major event. Since we’re a popular content provider, we can give even more exposure to 1 game at a time.
FGO: The Online Warrior Championship is coming into its’ final episode for the season, are there plans to bring this back next year?
AV: Online Warrior Championships was our first step into the online competitive world before we departed with Super Arcade. So we didn’t know if we were going to fully pursue more ventures while maintaining the offline weekly events. Now that we’re not producing offline weekly events, we have the time to produce more Online Warrior Championships, so stay tuned for 2015! =)
FGO: You started using PCs during the last season of WNF’s for running games like USF4 and Yatagarsu, will you be including PC users with the Online edition of WNF as well?
AV: WNF Online Edition details will be announced in the coming weeks. We’re still finalizing platforms and other key factors to make sure the experience fits with the FGC.
FGO: You haven’t released the details for WNF’s Online Edition as of yet, can you give us a few tidbits for what you have planned?
AV: We’re planning on giving opportunities to players that would give them purpose to competing online other than ranking points. Standardization in online competition and a unique showcase for the viewers at home will make for a new breath of air for fighting game fans.
FGO: Are there any plans to return WNFs back to offline tourneys?
AV: As of right now there are no plans for a Weds Night Fights offline return. We’ve produced many years of offline events with the great SoCal community but to grow the scene even further, we have to innovate with the next step which is the online platform.
FGO: Is there anything else you would like to add?
AV: Just like to say we appreciate the support and we’re constantly looking for ways to grow the scene. If you love competing and feel like you want to be part of something amazing, we’re doing our best to get those opportunities to you.
We’d like to thank Alex Valle for taking the time to answer our questions. If you’d like to stay up-to-date on what is going to take place with Level|Up series, you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter(@levelupseries,@AlexValleSF4), Twitch Tv, and You Tube.
About the Author
thec0re3 Founder of Fighting Games Online and self proclaimed "entertainment techie", thec0re3 takes immense enjoyment out of merging his love for video games and technology to educate, create, and participate in something he has enjoyed for more years than he would ever admit to.
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