As the Fighting Game Community is recovering from the startling revelation that Loren "Fanatiq" Riley no longer has a functioning coupon code to pelt live stream viewers with, the community has been blind-sided yet again by divisive infighting and yet another influential sponsor unexpectedly dropping top players from its roster.
Emmanuel "CDJr" Brito, an outspoken member of the Top Players Party known for dropping more games than Andre "Omgitzandre" Howard drops combos, took to the Twitter airwaves this afternoon and lashed out against "Original Gangsters" and the alleged "Illuminati" and demanded that they step aside and allow the Fighting Game Community to grow beyond "ballroom[s] at a hotel" and enter the grown-up world of convention centers. "It's time to let big companies take over so they can push our games even more. Cause [in my opinion] shit WILL stay the same unless that happens.", an enraged Mr. Brito said via his Twitter account. "I honesty cant believe [Maxter]EMP_Maxter [Brito] got payed (sic) more for getting 3rd in [Major League Gaming] than [Ho Kun] Xian did forgetting first IN SF4 at Evo.", he added, going on to say that Street Fighter IV at a Major League Gaming (MLG) event would "double the payout Evo has plus different states all tournaments [...] venue 100x bigger, free raffles, free food drink". FGCNN analysts were quick to note that the Evolution Fighting Game Championships do not have "free food drink" nor do they have "different states all tournaments", which would imply that Mr. Brito is on to something, or on something.
Fighting Game Community Critics were quick to step in and fire back at Mr. Brito, such as James "jchensor" Chen, retired lifetime 0-2 player and noted Cammy apologist, who was quick to call Mr. Brito "confused". "I want [the Fighting Game Community] to be successful like eSports, I just wanna do it OUR way.", Mr. Chen said via his Twitter account, going on to say that "building it up yourself is a lot better than relying on someone else to do it for you.". It is unclear what Mr. Chen is doing to build up the Fighting Game Community beyond stating incorrect "facts" during broadcasts of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and constantly being baited by clowns into social media arguments.
Mr. Chen went on to say that "going eSports" would lead to community contributors/content producers such as Team Spooky, iPlayWinner, BossLogic, LevelUp, Seth Mussey and the like to no longer be able to earn pennies on the dollar from "CPM", or online ad money for working 12+ hour days with little to no recognition from top players. "MLG doesn't need them.", said Mr. Chen, noting that MLG and other "eSports" leagues would simply pay their own production teams or hire freelance contractors rather than do something intelligent like hire from within the community, such as when MLG contracted or hired Fighting Game Community members such as Ryan "fubarduck" Harvey, Min "TS Min" An, Eric "Juicebox" Albino, and Arturo "Sabin" Sanchez, among others in 2012. " Mr. Chen went on to say that if the Fighting Game Community grows itself organically without the assistance of "corporate" leadership such as MLG, the community will "have our own organizers, TOs, coaches, commentators, analysts, article writers [...] The FGC players can make it a CAREER. That's what I want. I'm looking VERY long term." FGCNN analysts are quick to note that Mr. Chen is approaching forty years of age.
Amidst all of the unproductive and poisonous infighting on social media outlets, Mad Catz poured fuel on the fire by announcing that they are dropping two of their sponsored players from their roster. Ghim Kee Eng, better known as "Gackt", and Ho Kun Xian, better known as "Xian", were unceremoniously dropped by Mad Catz 3 days ago according to Mark "MarkMan" Julio's Twitter account. "We have removed the profiles of [Mr. Xian] & [Mr. Eng] from [the Mad Catz website] & wish them the best in the future! We owe [Mr. Xian and Mr. Eng] so much for their hard work & representation. I'm sure they will do great in their next venture!" Mad Catz dropping the 2013 Evolution Fighting Game Series Champion for Super Street Fighter IV on the heels of Performance Designed Products (PDP) announcing that they were disbanding the "Team Afterglow Elite" gaming team has led some members of the Fighting Game Community, such as Mr. Brito, to call for reform in community leadership in order to produce more opportunities for advancement and monetary gain. FGCNN Financial Analysts recommends that perhaps Mr. Brito, and everyone else in the Fighting Game Community should remember that they are playing video games, and they should perhaps seek gainful employment from an individual or business with an actual plan and sustainable revenue stream.
Are the "Original Gangsters" and the "Illuminati" holding back the Fighting Game Community from advancing? Will Mr. Chen succeed in his dream to get paid a living wage to make factually inaccurate statements about games he doesn't play? Will Mr. Brito finally turn in the McDonalds application he has been sitting on for so long and play video games for fun again? Will everyone remember that we're all just playing video games and forget about trying to make a living off of this stuff? Let us know in the comments below!

THE INTERNET -- Another company has opted to release it's reigns on the FGC. Performance Designed Products, better known to the fighting game community as PDP, has discontinued their Team Afterglow Elite Program.

Whether or not this is detrimental to the FGC is up for interpretation, as many have expressed disinterest in hearing about discount codes on fighting game streams, and believe that the dissolution of this team may lead to less of that.

Rumors are circulating that Chris G will join fighters Ricky Ortiz and Justin Wong on Team EG after his move to California. Others also speculate that Fanatiq will join Team Target in order to earn funds to refill his paypal account.

THE USA -- Fighting Gamers and Tournament Organizers alike are up in arms following the discovery of serious and intermittent input latency while using CronusMAX™adapters during tournament play. Leaders in the community have suspected suspected these malfunctions to exist previously, but this marks the first time that criticism for this particular device has been virtually unanimous. Several players at the recent fighting game tournament Defend the North confirmed not only latency but random pausing in their matches while using this popular device.

Players have also reported that the device damages your XBOX 360, leaving them unable to recognize controllers plugged into the USB ports. FGCNN experts note that an XBOX 360 with this affliction is less worthless than a PS3 with only Divekick installed on it.

Several tournament organizers have since banned the use of these adapters during tournament play.
FGCNN experts note that these problems may surface when using the adapter on the XBOX One, and that the potentially-harmful situation could have been avoided had Microsoft included controller backward-compatibility in their console.

CronusMAX was unavailable for comment; however, a Microsoft spokesperson did reach out to let us know that these malfunctions have nothing to do with their generally unreliable hardware.

UPDATE: The CronusMAX team has released a statement on a popular gaming forum which confirms the issues discussed in this article, which then goes on to claim that their team is not the original Cronus device developers, and that the current batch of devices were purchased in bulk from the original manufacturer. Since the recent fallout, they have updated the available firmware on their devices, but also note that it is still possible to utilize button macros and other usable forms of cheating, therefore rendering it completely illegal for tournaments. Cronus also notes that a possible "Tournament Edition" adapter may be released with a new name, equipped with firmware which lacks cheating functions.

A prominent Fighting Game Community Tournament Organizer and Streamer is under fire for daring to run tournaments of titles that consistently draw a low number of entrants as opposed to allowing those scenes and games to die the swift deaths they deserve.
A number of community personalities and observers, including fighting game luminary Darry Huskey, have made tongue-in-cheek remarks on social media outlets and message boards alleging titles such as Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate are "dead games" and that no one should run tournaments for them, despite the fact that they regularly draw a small handful of players to events such as Wednesday Night Fights and The Runback.

Alex "Calipower" Valle, Founder of Level|Up Productions, took these comments personally, knowing that labeling these titles as 'dead and gone' affects the amount of money he can spend in the VIP room he frequents at the local strip club on weekends, stating "we have pretty good turnouts for every game [...] I'm really tired of people bringing down the FGC with their cry baby agendas. It's time to do something about it to make the scene better!". FGCNN analysts have been unable to determine what exactly it is that Mr. Valle plans to do to "make the scene better", but remark that his bizarre, passive-aggressive tweeting about FGC cliques and his praising of Filipino Champ have already been a huge boon to the scene.
Meanwhile, players of these under-represented titles are confused at the commotion, quietly mumbling to themselves that maybe these people should shut up and actually play fighting games instead of bitching on social media about other people enjoying their games. Some observers believe that such behavior is contributing to killing games that community pundits don't even care about to begin with, making the scene smaller and potentially restricting growth. "Look, I just want to see tits bounce and mash reversals", an anonymous Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate player was quoted as saying at Wednesday Night Fights this past Wednesday. "I don't really care what some old guy or hipsters from Norcal think about my game, I just want to play".
Mr. Valle expanded on his initial criticisms via Twitter, adding that "NorCal players [are] vocal assholes" who "seem to bring everything down for them." Fighting Game Community members from Northern California could not be reached for comment, as they were likely ironically playing dead games such as Tekken Tag Tournament 2, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma and The King of Fighters XIII.
Is Mr. Valle running twenty games at SoCal Regionals 2014 in order to finally purchase an adult-size bed for his child-sized room? Is the Northern California Fighting Game Community full of snooty, hipster assholes? Should the Fighting Game Community as a whole continue destroying itself from within so it can be stuck playing a game like Street Fighter IV for another ten years? Let us know what you think and blow it up in the comments below!

With recent revelations that several mediocre Fighting Game Community players were allegedly involved in significant financial missteps, some observers and community members are beginning to ask if the Fighting Game Community is in the midst of a global financial crisis. FGCNN's Financial Strategists have compiled a helpful list of tips to avoid parting ways with your hard-earned cash.

1. Resist the urge to lend money to a fighting game player. 
In one such incident, Richel Hernandez, a self-described "close friend" of Peter "Flash Metroid" Susini, allegedly loaned approximately $7,000 to Mr. Susini in March of 2013 because of a "family emergency", with an alleged verbal agreement to repay the funds within 1-2 weeks as detailed in a now-deleted Facebook post. Mr. Hernandez further alleges that he has not been repaid as of the time of the Facebook post, with Mr. Susini claiming he is unable to pay due to several reasons, including having misplaced all forms of identification, not having a Social Security Number, and being a fraudulent "Street Fighter IV" player that "left" the community when his lack of skill was exposed by competent players. FGCNN legal experts have deduced from the Facebook posting that Mr. Hernandez likely did not have a contractural agreement of terms with Mr. Susini, and may experience some difficulty retrieving his funds in civil court, though this is probably a total waste of time as Mr. Susini's bank account is likely as empty as promises to deliver the cash payouts owed to VxG competitors.
2. Avoid lending money to a fighting game player. Mr. Susini is not the only Fighting Game Community personality involved in a recent money lending scandal, as Brandon "HAV" Tizol is alleged to have failed to repay a $2000 loan to Chris "DJHuoshen" Miller. Mr. Miller, who describes Mr. Tizol as "someone I had known for more than a year" made a personal loan to Mr. Tizol in July of 2012, with a verbal agreement that the funds would be repaid in October of that same year. The two men later agreed to extend the deadline to November, following a scheduling conflict, at which point Mr. Tizol is alleged to have disappeared into thin air; Mr. Miller attempted to serve Mr. Tizol with legal summons, but Mr. Tizol could not be found at home, where he is generally known to be. FGCNN experts aren't sure who either of these men are, but it is assumed they are slightly more relevant than Mr. Susini.

3. Avoid giving money to a fighting game player. Members of the Top Players Party are also alleged to have engaged in predatory financial practices through scams referred to as "donation drives". In a "donation drive", a Top Player will make promises of providing a service or some form of entertainment to members of a live streaming audience in exchange for "donations" of cash. One alleged donation drive occurred in 2013, when Michael "Yipes" Mendoza solicited the community for donations in order to upgrade his live streaming equipment with the promise that he would provide hours of entertainment for viewers to enjoy. Mr. Mendoza's donation goal was allegedly met and the equipment was purchased, yet Mr. Mendoza has not consistently performed a live stream in nearly six months. Mr. Mendoza was not asked to comment on why he has failed to deliver on his promises to provide a live stream, but audiences continue to express their undying adoration for the popular media icon and would likely throw more money at him if he asked them for it. It is unknown if his Chief Legal and Exploitation Expert, Triforce Johnson, is aware of this fact.

Even more revealing is a recent study which concludes that a person's fiscal trustworthiness is inversely proportionate to the amount of time spent as an avid FGC member. FGCNN recommends not to lend large amounts of money to close friends, not to lend large amounts of money to people you've known for little more than a year, and also not falling prey to "donation drive" scams, as the recipients generally will not follow through on their promises. However, by following our 3 helpful tips, you can avoid most of these situations entirely.

Have you ever encountered an issue with recovering lent funds? Are all FGC players unable to honor their financial obligations? Let us know in the comments below!

A legal battle is brewing as members of Empire Arcadia have claimed exclusive rights over any and all fundraising events to be held in support of Nelson "Remix" Reyes and his family.
Citing what appears to be non-sensical legal jargon, Michael "Yipes" Mendoza wrote via his Facebook account that Super Arcade owner Mike Watson, referred to as "the staff", had "not talk to his family like the reyes family and his brothers and sisters of Empire arcadia..." and had absolutely no right to assist in running a fundraiser to put toward costs associated with Mr. Reyes' funeral services. Mr. Triforce Johnson, Empire Arcadia's Chief Legal and Exploitation Expert added, "We have a problem then."
Mr. Watson did not take kindly to this interpretation of the law, and went on a tirade via the IEBattleGrounds Twitch.tv channel, repeatedly referring to Mr. Mendoza and Mr. Johnson as "bitches" and "faggots", adding that the fundraiser "wasn't even my idea" and declaring his intent to "beef" with the two men if they did not apologize to him within ten minutes. The declared time period has since elapsed without an apology from Mr. Mendoza and/or Mr. Johnson, and FGCNN experts believe that this marks the initiation of hostilities among involved parties.
Neither Mr. Watson, nor Mr. Mendoza or Mr. Johnson could be reached for comment, but Mr. Mendoza did say via his Twitter account that "this isn't about beef [...] just know there will be no retaliation on our end", and Mr. Johnson added, "Forward movement." Mr. Watson commented via Twitch.tv chat that "you cant even retaliate if you wanted to you mother fuckers" and "ill beat both their ass at the same time and take bets on it. whatever i win ill donate to nelson's family how bout that mother fuckers". FGCNN is actively investigating whether motherfucker is spelled with or without a space.

FGCNN recommends in times of grief to resist the urge to act like a studio gangster in gaming chatrooms, no matter how therapeutic it may be to act like a teenager when you're over 30 years old. It is also recommended to avoid claiming false legal rights to fundraisers for deceased individuals, as that doesn't really make any sense. Both actions may be construed as being disrespectful to the surviving family as well as hella dumb.