Community Effort Orlando has consistently been one of the most exciting fighting game tournaments since it first hit the scene in 2010. And, based on official tournament lineup, this year’s iteration looks to be no different.
Hot on the heels of Evo 2015’s announcement, CEO Gaming’s Alex Jebailey recently revealed which games players will be competing in at Community Effort Orlando 2015. In addition to mainstays like Ultra Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the event will feature a double dose of Smash with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat X, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Divekick.
Community Effort Orlando 2015 will also play host to a tag-team mystery game tournament and may feature Tekken 7 in some form.
Finally, Jebailey mentioned that Fightermania is set to return for a third outing, featuring the Ultra Royal Rumble that was cut from last year’s event.
Community Effort Orlando 2015 will take place June 26-28 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Check out the official website for more details.
While we already know the official lineup for Evolution 2015, this does’t mean that those are the only games at the event. Every year, we also see a good number of side tournaments for other titles, and this upcoming installment looks to be no different.
In an post over the competitive DOA Facebook group that was later shared on Free Step Dodge, Eric Small of Big E Gaming has announced that they are interested in running a side tournament for Dead or Alive 5 Last Round at Evo 2015. The series has been seeing a good amount of growth in terms of tournament attendance over the years, especially in Big E’s own Winter Brawl, Summer Jam, The Fall Classic events.
With this side tournament, Big E hopes to gives the series’ fans a reason to come to Las Vegas in June and showcase the strength of their community on the biggest stage of all.
Evo 2015 will take place July 17-19 at Bally’s / Paris Las Vegas. More details can be found through the official website.
Every year, the gurus over at Shoryuken’s Tech Talk forum hold a vote for what they believe are the best products of that year. This vote allows people in the community, including modders, vendors, store owners, suppliers, and even company representatives, to honor both new arcade and fighting game related products as well as the people and developers behind them.
This year’s awards saw some changes with the creation of a new category that effectively splits the previous “Best New Arcade Stick (Non-Custom)” category into two categories. The new “2014 Arcade Stick Revision of the Year” honors those arcade sticks that have been released within the calendar year that, while not exactly totally new designs, bring with them enough updates to an existing design. With this, the “2014 New Arcade Stick of the Year” is then reserved for fresh products that aren’t just evolutions of existing ones.
Jasen Hicks from Jasen’s Customs had this to say on winning this award.
I’d like to thank the Jasen’s Customs Family for nominating and voting the Panzer Fight Stick as the SRKTT 2014 Arcade Stick of the Year. Its been an honor to see the PFS go from a fun side project to the go-to stick for many members of the FGC. The competition in this category is tremendous with a lot of great sticks and cases from some major players. I am extremely grateful and humbled by this award.
Mad Catz’ Mark “MarkMan” Julio on the Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Tournament Edition 2 winning this award.
Mad Catz would like to thank our customers and the community for the support they’ve given us over the years. We will continue to support fighting game fans and enthusiasts in a big way in the next few years and we hope you’re there with us for the ride. Keep fighting the good fight.
And his own personal thanks.
The SRK Tech Talk community is a vital source within the gaming community. It is because of the great minds and hard work of these dedicated individuals that we have evolved the products so much within the past few years. I am a proud member of this community and can’t wait to do more. Personally. I’m putting on my design hat (maybe for the last time) for some key products that we plan on rolling out in the future. The past 6 years I’ve spent working in capacity for this community & the fighting game community as a whole has been extremely memorable to me. I’m going to make this last fight count!
Jasen Hicks had this to say on winning this award.
Engineering and design are my passion, it’s in my blood. To be recognized by not only one but two awards is surreal. I can’t thank the community enough for supporting and recognizing the hard work I have put in over the past year to establish Jasen’s Customs. Being named the SRKTT 2014 Company of the Year means more to me than most will ever know or understand. Never settle. Keep fighting!
Here’s what UD Game Tech’s Brian “undamned” Grissom had to say on the UD-USB Decoder winning this award alongside Phreakmods’ Crossbone.
I was honored to simply be a nominee for this award. At the start of the voting I never would have dreamed my device would tie with Phreakmods’ Crossbone adapter. The UD-USB Decoder was a great benefit this summer at Evo 2014 in both the “Tournament of Legends II” and “X-Mania USA” events as it allowed players to use their personal controllers on the arcade cabinets. It was reward enough to see something I created benefit those tournaments, so this award from the Tech Talk community makes a nice crown.
Meanwhile, Phreakmod’s Clayton “Phreakazoid” Knight had this to say.
It’s an honor to receive this award for the Crossbone PCB. It’s even better that I get to share the award with Undamned, since the USB Decoder is going to be a very useful tool in the coming year. The Crossbone was designed as a way to simplify getting your setup to the current gen, which I believe has been able to help many in the community do, especially the Killer Instinct players who, until recently, have been a little limited on options. This community has given me an outlet to expand my skillset and have some fun with it. I enjoy making products that simplify things and save someone time and energy, and I’m glad that people genuinely like what I make. I look forward to finally finishing and releasing more useful things that I have in store for the community.
Paradise Arcade Shop’s Dr. Bryan Armitage had this to say on the demo stick winning the award.
It is a privilege to accept the award for Stick Mod of the Year in 2014. I am truly amazed by the creative talent in the group of people here, and to even be considered for an award is something I appreciate more than I can say. The TE2 Stick mod we presented was the evolution of the Kaimana Board that won Product of the Year in 2013. While our shop is officially just Susan and I, what we have come to love is the community and community involvement in our shop, and our lives. We hope to live up to the high expectations of the community while bringing new products out to the market, and look forward to getting to know more of the FGC ohana in the years to come. Mahalo from Paradise Arcade Shop.
Here’s what FrankCastleAZ had to say on winning this award.
Although I’ve tried my best to help people out in the forums, start SRK TT hangouts, and document some of my work including my time consuming project on revitalizing 11 TE and 2 SE sticks, I believe there are many modders out there who are better at it than I am. This is why I was blown away to have to have received so many votes from my peers in this category.
Thank you all so much. The only reason I have the knowledge and ability to customize the arcade sticks and arcade machines I love so much, is due to the resources on SRK TT and the people who helped communicate and document those resources for everyone’s benefit. I’ll continue to do everything I can on my end to help promote SRK TT, encourage people to get into arcade stick modding for the fun and experience of it, and help out those who need help as an individual here on SRK in the forums, and at convention/event panels as the owner ofAZHP Gaming Special shoutout to one of our sponsors Paradise Arcade Shop, who helped me finish a ton of arcade stick and candy cab projects with product support. There’s no way I would have been able to get as much done without their help.
2014 Tech Talk Member of the Year
Winner
Lukas “Darksakul” Peruzovic
Runners-up
PresidentCamacho
Matthew Gummo
Timothy “Moonchilde” Purcell
Victor “Vicko” Ramirez
Susan” SusanInParadise” Armitage
Darksakul had this to say on winning this award for the second year in a row.
For the second year in a row I am baffled how I even got nominated or even won.
No I am not trying to saying this just to be modest, I really don’t feel like I deserved it.
Everything I helped other people with, is built on the hard work of others
It is those other people, many who work in the background, unseen who accomplish more than I have but are not recognized.
I just happen to post more that others, that disproving glare of my Darth Vader Avatar and my cynical ways than made me overshadow these unsung heros.
2014 Tech Talk Rookie of the Year
Winner
Tim Deserada
Runner-up
PresidentCamacho
Here’s what Deserada had to say on winning this.
What an honor! Seriously, thank you all for your support. I’m glad to have helped around the forums, and I’m privileged to have gotten to know you all by way of our exchanges here and in hangouts. Looking forward to a bright future for SRKTT!
For more on the 2014 SRK Tech Talk awards, be sure to head on over to the official thread in the forums.
CorkyJay is one of those players who’s known more for his online performance in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 than offline. His unorthodox team of Jill, Iron Man, and Sentinel has quite a few tools that can catch players not used to fighting it off guard.
Now, with the help of Flying High, he’s recorded a video showing off some new advanced tactics that he’s developed for his team. These include touch of death combos for each character, meterless Sentinel throw pickups, Iron Man guard breaks, and more.
The amazing part is that all of this footage was recorded online, demonstrating how these tactics are viable even in the game’s sometimes spotty netcode.
Check out the video below and see if you can’t learn a thing or two from it; for reference, we’ve added the timestamps for specific sections below the video.
While we’ve seen a fair amount of major competitions take part over the past few months, Niconico is set to put an interesting spin on the normal invitational format at Game Party Japan 2015 later this month.
Also known as Tokaigi, Game Party Japan is a spin-off of Niconico’s Chokaigi fan event, devoted entirely to video games. As part of the festivities, they will be hosting an Ultra Street Fighter IV exhibition tournament featuring sixteen of Japan’s strongest players. The twist, however, is that they will be paired up randomly, giving us a look at how certain individuals compete when such a decision is taken entirely out of their hands.
Confirmed attendees include Daigo Umehara, his Mad Catz teammates Mago and Tokido, Bonchan, -6, Razer’s Fuudo and Itabashi Zangief, Kazunoko, Uryo, Sako of HORI, Haitani, Evil Geniuses’ Momochi and Chocoblanka, Matsuri, The Black Eye’s Nemo, and Pepeday of Fukoka Gamers Club.
Tokaigi is scheduled to take place from January 23 to February 1 and will be streamed here for those unable to attend in person.
The weekend before last saw the 13th installment of the Cooperation Cup’s Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournament take place in Japan. This year’s event was the classic title’s largest competition to date, with a grand total 86 teams (or over 400 individual players) attending.
Cooperation Cup’s prestige was upheld thanks to the appearance of numerous high-level 3rd Strike competitors, including MOV, Tominaga, Boss, Kokujin, Pierrot, Vanao, Rikimaru, KSK, Nuki, Raoh, and many more.
For those who missed out on the stream, the official replay are now available for your viewing pleasure. We’ve posted the final round from both the main event and the pre-tournament, which featured teams using the same character, below. More footage can be found here, and full results are available in our coverage hub.
Pre-Cooperation Cup
Cooperation Cup
Source: Game Newton, thanks to hismit for the tip.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reporting on a bunch of new arcadesticks for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 from HORI. Now, here’s another to add to the list, one that you can pre-order now through Amazon Japan and AmiAmi.
As the name implies, the HORI Real Arcade Pro V Hayabusa comes with the same HORI Hayabusa lever and Kuro buttons found in all of the company’s top of the line arcade sticks. Meanwhile, it shares its form factor, including the touchpad on the rear panel, with HORI’s Dead or Alive 5 Last Round stick and the Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai.
What differences, if any, this HRAP.V Hayabusa has with the latter are as of yet unknown. Based on HORI’s naming scheme, the HRAP.4 Kai may come with the slightly wider layout seen first in the HRAP.V3 Kai, though it’s possible that the names could just be a regional thing, with the HRAP.V Hayabusa coming to Asia only and the HRAP.4 Kai coming out only in the West.
For those interested, the HORI Real Arcade Pro V Hayabusa can be pre-ordered from Amazon Japan for ¥14,264 (~$120 USD) and AmiAmi for ¥13,390 (~$113 USD).
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reporting on a bunch of new arcadesticks for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 from HORI. Now, here’s another to add to the list, one that you can pre-order now through Amazon Japan and AmiAmi.
As the name implies, the HORI Real Arcade Pro V Hayabusa comes with the same HORI Hayabusa lever and Kuro buttons found in all of the company’s top of the line arcade sticks. Meanwhile, it shares its form factor, including the touchpad on the rear panel, with HORI’s Dead or Alive 5 Last Round stick and the Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai.
What differences, if any, this HRAP.V Hayabusa has with the latter are as of yet unknown. Based on HORI’s naming scheme, the HRAP.4 Kai may come with the slightly wider layout seen first in the HRAP.V3 Kai, though it’s possible that the names could just be a regional thing, with the HRAP.V Hayabusa coming to Asia only and the HRAP.4 Kai coming out only in the West.
For those interested, the HORI Real Arcade Pro V Hayabusa can be pre-ordered from Amazon Japan for ¥14,264 (~$120 USD) and AmiAmi for ¥13,390 (~$113 USD).
Players are the lifeblood of any fighting game’s competitive scene. A game’s competitive community must first be able to support itself if it has any hope of growing and gaining the support of everyone (organizers, sponsors, publishers, developers, etc.) involved in running tournaments.
These are the sentiments expressed by Team NINJA creative director Tom Lee in a recent Facebook discussion started by multiple Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate tournament champion Kristian “Mr. Kwiggle” Mclean in regards to players not wanting to come out to tournaments.
While Lee’s post is addressed towards the Dead or Alive community, the message itself is relevant to any group that wants to grow within the fighting game tournament circuit. You can read his message below.
I don’t usually jump on these threads. But I want to share my thoughts with you guys here because I think it’s an important issue for our community.
I understand that not everyone enjoys competing and socializing at tournaments. And that’s OK. And I also know it’s not easy for a lot of folks to make it out to an offline event for various reasons… I get it. But let me give you a very simple breakdown of how this all works and how this affects all of us, including me.
First of all, it’s really not just about whether you can compete or “win” at offline tourneys, especially at the majors. Because the truth of the matter is majority of players will not be able to beat champs like Kristian, Matt or any of our top fighters offline. That’s not meant to be insulting or mean to anyone. That’s just reality, plain & simple. And people need to understand that.
However, everyone who attends an offline major will have a chance to play, meet new people, hang with the FGC notables, champs, [Tournament Organizers], learn new things you can’t find online and most of all… have a blast celebrating the game you love with people who share that same passion. That’s not meant to be a sales pitch. That’s just me being 100% REAL. So, if you haven’t attended an established offline tournament like the ones Eric Small puts on, you really owe it to yourself to get out there.
Here’s the point I want to make. People like myself behind the scenes can’t continue to support the scene if the scene can’t support itself… Much in the same way as if everyone stopped going to live sporting events and watched their favorite games at home, those stadiums would eventually shut down, the pros would lose their sponsors/contracts and eventually the league would go out of business. It would be a huge loss for the fans and the sport itself. That’s the harsh reality and that’s ultimately the same situation we face if we don’t support the offline scene. We have thousands of fans around the country and around the world who play this game. I know this, because I see our sales figures each year. We just need a small percentage of our player base to come out to these offline events. It would make a huge difference for our community and to maintain its survival. If you love fighting games and you want to see DOA live to fight another day, please try and make it out to some of these tourneys in 2015.
Sorry for the long message. Thanks for listening. See you at the tournaments!
With her strong setplay style and okizeme game, Millia Rage is considered by most to be one of the strongest characters in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. One thing that somewhat sets her back, however, is the low damage caused by her move proration, keeping her from dealing round-ending combos when she has her opponent down to 20% or less.
That is, of course, unless she uses her Instant Kill.
In the video below, Teyah demonstrates some practical ways that Millia can land her most powerful attack in the corner. What’s really good about these combos is that they also build her tension gauge, allow her to extend her combos, and make sure that her opponent’s life is down to the appropriate level.
