Author: Franz "d3v" Co

Brook’s Universal Fighting Board is arguably the most versatile custom PCB controller for arcade sticks, with support for a wide range of consoles. Now, another “console” joins the list of hardware that the UFB works with: the PlayStation Classic.

Firmware version 2.6 for the Universal Fighting Board was released on Christmas Day. This new firmware allows players to have the UFB work with Sony’s mini-console by simply holding down the square and triangle buttons when plugging it in.

This update means that players can now use arcade sticks for the fighting games included in the PlayStation Classic, such as Tekken 3. Of course, there’s still the PAL vs. NTSC issue –however a solution for that has already been found.

Interested players can download the new firmware here.

Source: Brook

There’s a new patch out for The King of Fighters XIV for PlayStation 4 and PC. This latest patch is meant to adjust the balance of the game, focusing on character-specific tweaks. For those interested in how their characters have changed in the new patch, SNK has now released the patch notes for the update.

As is usual with patch notes for The King of Fighters XIV, this one is pretty huge at 25 pages long, too long to fit in this post, or any web page really: SNK has put it all in a downloadable PDF file. This is despite there being barely any system changes, save for the adjustment of the reversal window on  knockdown.

Regarding the character changes, in addition to the tweaks to their moves, character life values have also been adjusted. As for the characters themselves, it seems that aside from the expected nerfs, a number of characters have also received substantial buffs. It looks like SNK really wants to shake up the game’s meta with this update. You can check and download out the complete patch notes here.

Source: SNK

For those with a bit of holiday cash in hand who’re thinking of buying a new arcade stick, here’s something that might pique your interest. Korean arcade shop etokki has just released a new variant of their vaunted Omni Arcade Stick.

Called the Omni Arcade Stick White Gold, this new arcade stick features the same steel casing and universal joystick lever mount as the regular Omni. The White Gold version however has been powder-coated white and fitted with gold Sanwa Denshi parts.

Powering the Omni Arcade Stick White Gold is a Brook Universal Fighting Board, allowing for compatibility with the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, NEO GEO Mini, and PC.

For those interested, the Omni Arcade Stick White Gold is now available for purchase exclusively at etokki’s online store for $349.95.

Source: etokki

Next year’s Southeast Asian games will be the first to host competitive video games. As part of this, Tekken 7 has been shortlisted as one of the games involved.

The announcement was made by the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), alongside their official partner Razer. Tekken 7 is one of 5 games that have been shortlisted for the event. It’s also the only console game named so far — though a second game is currently under evaluation.

The 2019 SEA Games will be the first time that esports will be medal events. Prior to this, esports were a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games.

The other shortlisted games are StarCraft II and DOTA 2 for PC, as well as Arena of Valor and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang for mobile.

Source: Rappler

Esports livestream analytics site Esports Chart has released their numbers for Capcom Cup 2018 and it paints an interesting picture when compared with their 2017 report.

In terms of total views on all Twitch channels, the numbers are somewhat down with this year only getting 2,193,770 views versus 2,778,496 for 2017. Total time watched however was up at 1,710,803 hours versus 1,216,536 from last year. This factors in viewers from China, since Capcom Cup 2018 was streamed on Panda.tv. Without them however, the numbers are still up at 1,588,747 hours watched compared to 1,192,743 for last year.

Of course, the increased watch time could simply be from this years tournament running much longer at 29 hours, versus 19 hours (as measured by Esports Charts). Indeed, average concurrent views are down at 60,028 views (including Chinese viewers) for this year, compared to 75,250 for 2017.

Chinese viewership does seem to help the numbers though. This years overall peak viewership was higher at 124,549 viewers, with 8,098 from China, compared to last year’s 121,951 viewers. Without Chinese viewers, the numbers are closer at 117,812  for this year, and 119,741 for last year.

Aside from the increased number of Chinese viewers, the most interesting bit here is that viewership from Twitch alone is down, at 91,210 for 2018 compared to 121,277 from last year. With more places to watch Capcom Cup this year, including Facebook Live, OpenRec.tv, and the previously mentioned Panda.tv, it seems that other services may be starting to make a dent on Twitch’s massive lead.

Source: Esports Charts

For those waiting for a season pass to purchase Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition‘s Kage (and any other new characters for next year), here’s some bad news. Capcom has confirmed that they have no plans for a Season Pass in 2019.

The announcement came via a tweet on the official Street Fighter Twitter account. The tweet confirmed both this, and reiterated that Kage would only be available as an individual purchase via either in-game currency or real money.

Of course, the announcement has met with a lot of negative reactions from the community. Many in the community have been waiting for the season pass announcement, including tournament organizers who use them to help keep their consoles updated.

That said, Capcom did state to wait for further announcements. While the expectation seems to be that these “further announcements” will simply be more characters that will have to be bought individually, there are some who are speculating that this ties into the supposed “Super Street Fighter V” that has been leaked by some sources.

Source: Street Fighter

It seems that SNK has a special gift for all The King of Fighters XIV players. Their flagship 3-on-3 fighter is getting a balance patch this Christmas.

Specifically, SNK has announced that the balance patch will be arriving sometime on December 25 in Japan for both PlayStation 4 and Steam. This means that players in the West may actually be getting it the day before, thanks to the time zone difference.

As for what the balance patch entails, there’s been some speculation about which characters are getting adjusted, no specific details have been given as of yet.

Source: SNK