Month: April 2017

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Kotobukiya’s R. Mika Bishoujo statue delayed to late August

Some time back, we did some coverage on Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo Street Fighter V R. Mika statue. Sculpted by Masahiro Takahashi based on a design by Shunya Yamashita, the statue was supposed to ship this month. Sadly however, it seems that that isn’t the case anymore.

A couple of posters on our own forums have reported receiving emails from Amazon stating that shipment of the statue has been delayed. Checking in with Amazon, we can confirm that the release date for the statue is no August 30, 2017.

This news is bound to disappoint those who were expecting their statues this month. The upside to this however is that anyone who’s interested in this but still hasn’t pre-ordered now has some more time to do so.

Click to view slideshow.

Source: Amazon via Shoryuken forums

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Mic’d Up: HoldBackToBlock documents Bronson Tran’s remarkable Tekken 7 run at NCR

There was a lot of talk this past weekend at NorCal Regionals, but no one mouthed off to the degree Bronson Tran did when he played his Winner’s and Grand Finals matches in Tekken 7. In a surprise move by the production staff, Bronson was allowed to play and self-commentate his matches during the final stages of the tournament. Warning: language in this video may not be suitable for children.

While the sound of a grown man’s voice cracking as he mocks his opponent might seem awful to some, it comes as a fresh change of pace from the hugs, patches, and teabag discussions that the FGC has grown accustomed to recently. As a longtime tournament veteran and one of the strongest competitors in the Tekken series in the West, Bronson brings an attitude that will resonate with older FGC heads who can remember the kind of banter that was used in arcades in North America.

This video is courtesy of Esteban aka “The Besteban,” one of the premier videographers of the FGC today (You might also know him as the “Tekken video guy,” or the guy that made that great FGC documentary).

Source: Hold Back to Block

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NCR 2017 off-stream SFV matches feat. Haitani, Commander Jesse, ROM, Samurai, Gamerbee, Go1 and more

When it comes to big major fighting game competitions such as Final Round, NorCal/SoCal Regionals, South East Asia Major, Canada Cup and others, they are not only drawing more amazing talent from all over the world , but it is getting increasingly more difficult to place high at these events if you’re not fully prepared for high level competition from the word ‘go’. With Street Fighter V consistently being the game with the highest amount of entrants and prize money, don’t be surprised to see at least two to four top players in almost every pool, with some dark horses, and new prodigies in-the-making sprinkled throughout the bracket.

For the second year in a row, NorCal Regionals hosted some of the most brutal SFV competition yet. There were a lot of amazing matches between notable players that that only occurred off-stream and unfortunately, only a few were recorded. Luckily, I was able to record a few of those early matches between some notable players. The Fresno Gaming Community YouTube channel also uploaded some matches of WFX|Samurai’s against some stiff international competition. You can check them out below. As a warning, there is some NSFW language here.

Sources: thirdstrikerMAB; Fresno Gaming Community

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BornFree interviews Floe at NCR 2017 about balancing a fighting game, Street Fighter V and more

Mark ‘BornFree’ Sheridan got to sit down with legendary FGC player (and streamer!) Ari ‘Floe’ Weintraub at NCR 2017. They talked about Floe’s first tournament in years, game mechanics, philosophy on balance, and much more for nearly an hour.

Floe admits that he is enjoying Street Fighter V more then Street Fighter IV, but has a lot of reservations about the way the game is developing in season 2. He feels that one of the biggest problems with Season 2 of SFV is that the game is too ‘Marvel’-y, equating V-trigger to MvC3’s X-factor.

When talking about overall balance, however, he’s not ready to say that the current top tiers should be weakened. “Buff bad characters, don’t nerf good characters. I like games where everyone is cheap,” Floe admits. Considering his background as one of the world’s best Soul Calibur 2 players, it’s not surprising to hear this take from him.

There’s a lot of ground covered, including Floe’s favorite game of all time (it’s not a fighting game!) and a Floe’s life outside of gaming. Be sure to check it out!

Source: BornFree