The DreamHack Winter 2012 Energizer Fighting Championship: Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition will commence on the 24th of November at DreamHack Winter. A very long name for a tournament indeed, but what is SSFIV:AE actually? For those that do not know, the Street Fighter series is one of the oldest fighting game series in the world launching their first game in 1987. Street Fighter II (1991) has often been considered to be a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre, popularizing special moves and the combo mechanic. Through the years, many Street Fighter games have been released and the latest version is from 2010: Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.

The Street Fighter IV competitions are getting more and more attention and the last tournament at DreamHack Summer got a lot of online viewers. Fights are often exciting from the first to the last second. Even if one player has near full health and the other seems beaten a comeback is always possible using the right amount of special moves and combo’s. Another aspect that makes this game cool to watch is that the players are not using a standard Xbox controller: they bring their own Arcade Stick controllers which are especially made for the Street Fighter games.

Each edition, more players sign up for the tournament, which makes it even more interesting. Live streams, complete with live commentary, are also getting more popular and the public really goes in a frantic as soon as a player makes a special move. Fast gameplay, perfectly executed combinations of deadly force using a controller and likeable players make SSFIV:AE the perfect fighter for e-Sports.

The Favorites

WW.MCZ.Ryan Hart is one of the most famous Street Fighter players out there. Currently holding three different Guinness World Records, he is always one of the favorites for this tournament. Currently playing for Team Westen Wolves we expect a top three finish from this player, if he at least can hold his own against his Korean teammates.

Another well known player in the Street Fighter community is DRz.Yagami, a Swedish player. He is currently playing for the Swedish E-Sports team Druidz. Although he only placed 7th during the last DreamHack tournament, he has a good chance of taking the victory, especially since he is one of the best Swedish SSFIV players out there, placing second during the last Swedish Championships.

Other Big players like Skatanen and Popi will also join our Packers to fight for the title of DreamHack Champion.

The Packers

Intel Pack4DreamHack is also taking a couple of Street Fighter players with us to Sweden. LowLandLions will send four players to DreamHack Winter consisting of LLL.MBR, LLL.MoMi, LLL.DoomDomainn while Agilo is also attending.

LLL.MBR has placed second at the FFM-Arcade Fighting-Game-Event in Frankfurt, only losing to his teammate MoMi. He also attended DreamHack Summer 2012 with Intel Pack4DreamHack, where he won 2-0 against ettelman but lost 2-0 to BachichinPopi. After that he had a good run in the losers bracket but eventually fell to the Swedish player GonZa.

LLL.MoMi won the FFM-Arcade Fighting-Game-Event in Frankfurt and is looking to kick more ass at DreamHack Winter 2012.

It has been a while since LLL.DoomDomainn placed third in the DN7 & DF6 Marvel vs Capcom Hilversum tournament. This DreamHack Winter he is joining his teammates MBR and MoMi to prove that he is capable of even more.

Agilo is a new face to the international Street Fighter scene. He will probably go to DreamHack Winter with no expectations. This is a good mindset for a new player, since a surprise is always possible.

The DreamHack Winter 2012 Energizer Fighting Championship:SSFIVAE will have a prize pool of 50.000 SEK (about €5000) and will take place Saturday the 24th of November at DreamHack Winter.