Author: Zavian "mushin_Z" Sildra

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Evo 2018: Tournament schedule, main stage streaming schedule, and commentary team revealed!

See how and when the battles for supremacy in Evo’s main stage games will be fought.

The official schedules for pools and streaming for Evo 2018‘s eight main stage games has been released:

EVO SCHED 072818

Ensure you find your way to your pool on time with this site map:

Evo 2018 site map (crop)

For those of us watching the action from home (or wherever you like to tune into Twitch.tv) you’ll want to check the tables below to ensure you don’t miss any of your favorite games as they are shown on one of the seven Evo Twitch channels — or, in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition‘s case, on Capcom Fighters.

EVO STREAM 072818

And the time has also come to meet the commentary team for Evo 2018; among the many talented commentators below, I expect you’ll recognize more than a few familiar faces!

2018_Commentators_4

evo 2018 nissin cygames

Source: Evo

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Heading to Evo? Don’t miss the Bar Fights after party on Saturday night, hosted by Cross Counter TV!

Bar Fights returns for another Saturday night battle!

An Evo staple is back for 2018: Cross Counter TV is bringing Bar Fights to the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on Saturday night, August 4th. Get ready for a night of fighting games and special events (provided you’re 21 or older, because, well, it’s in a bar).

More details will be coming soon; check out the event on Eventbrite and Facebook, and keep an eye on Cross Counter TV social media for updates.

Source: Cross Counter TV (Twitter)

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RED BULL CONQUEST arrives in Denver, Colorado this weekend for another fierce fighting game qualifier

The CONQUEST continues!

This weekend sees the next qualifying event in the RED BULL CONQUEST circuit descend upon Denver, Colorado on Saturday, July 28. Willful warriors out to prove themselves will face off in Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, and Tekken 7 to earn qualifying spots for the National Finals in Washington, D.C. in November. From the press release:

Red Bull Conquest’s journey to find America’s best fighting game competitors continues, as it makes its next stop in Denver this Saturday, July 28. In this brand new national fighting game tournament, contenders will battle it out in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, TEKKEN 7 and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 to see who are Denver’s top regional fighters.

On the stream, viewers will catch Colorado’s top fighting game athletes, including up-and-upcoming TEKKEN 7 player Mia “PitVyper” Uwanawich. At only 16 years old, PitVyper is one of the youngest and best performing female TEKKEN athletes, and is getting noticed for her stellar performance at such a young age. In addition, leading Street Fighter V players John “UrbanFlow” Villegas, the 2nd place winner of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour Online Tournament, and his close challenger Ryan “Nguuhao” Ward will be battling it out, fighting for the crown.

FGC expert and personality Vicious will be hosting the event, sharing insider secrets, competitor strategies, surprising upsets, and all the way through the electrifying final matches of the tournament where 3 competitors will be left standing, ready to rep Denver at the Red Bull Conquest National Finals in Washington, D.C. in November.

Want to watch the fights? Streaming information is as follows:

Denver Red Bull Conquest Qualifier: Saturday, July 28

Be sure to check it out!

Source: Red Bull Esports [press release]

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Play on almost anything, anywhere: Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs announce the Brook Retro Board

A collaboration to bring you the ultimate PCB setup reaches its fruition!

ARCADE SHOCK 2018 BANNER BROOK RETRO

Arcade Shock, Jasen’s Customs, and Brook Gaming have joined forces to bring you the means to build near-total console compatibility to a single controller: the new Brook Retro Board.

While there are other retro PCBs on the market — such as the Toodle’s MC Cthulhu, or discontinued models like the Akishop’s PS360+ — Arcade Shock wanted players to have access to a rock-solid PCB that would allow compatibility with a wide variety of systems. The Brook Retro Board can be used with the following platforms:

  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Nintendo GameCube
  • Xbox
  • Sega Saturn
  • Sega Dreamcast
  • TurboGrafx-16
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 2
  • PlayStation 3

Pairing the Retro Board with Brook’s Universal Fighting Board can offer compatibility with every major gaming console, both old and current-generation. Details follow from Arcade Shock.

With Brook’s expertise in manufacturing and product support, we asked them to work with us and Jasen’s Customs to develop a board that is extremely simple to install, update, and — most importantly — work seamlessly with their Universal Fighting Board. With current methods, it’s possible to use two boards in a single arcade stick; however, they require increased cost and time to mod (labor: 90 minutes or more, for the seasoned modder), two separate cables, a hard switch, or other PCB switching circuits.

With the new Brook Retro Board, a 20-pin Multiplier Board designed by Jasen’s Customs, and included cables, you will be able to toggle between this board and the Brook UFB with a button combo; all of these functions are programmed into the Retro Board’s software, and with no extra hardware required! Using a RJ45 common output, you can use existing products on the market — such as Akishop’s RJ45 to USB, RJ45 to Sega Dreamcast and RJ45 to PS1/PS2 cables. Furthermore, we are in the process of developing NES, SNES, GameCube, and Sega Saturn cables that will use the common RJ45 jack, which has never been offered on a commercial basis.

RYU_FRONT_FN
RYU_BACK

There will be a few variations of the Brook Retro Board to make installation a snap:

  • Solo, using just the Retro Board by itself, offered by both Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs
  • Side-by-Side, good for most arcade sticks, offered by Arcade Shock
  • Stacked, designed by Jasen’s Customs for the Panzer Fight Stick featuring drop-in EZ BUILD installation, offered by Jasen’s Customs
  • Stacked for generic/other commercial arcade sticks, offered by Arcade Shock. This setup takes up less surface area if mounted on a flat surface. (More tests will be required for a complete list of compatible arcade stick shells.)

Product Overview / Benefits:

Dual Mod Support

  • Combine with the  Brook UFB in 2 configurations – either side-by-side with the 20-pin Multiplier, or a custom stacked variant.
  • Use a single cable out and toggle between the Brook UFB or the Brook Retro Board using a simple button combination on plug-in. Other retro boards on the market require two separate cables, a hard switch, soldering wires to the PCB, or another PCB switching circuit to accomplish this — at increased costs, mod time, and clutter.

Upgradeable Firmware

  • With Brook’s amazing customer support, if an update is needed, it can be easily done. Brook backs you up!

Effortless Installation

  • Continuing our philosophy, we made sure that installation for the Brook Retro is as easy as the Brook UFB by pre-soldering the main connectors beforehand, saving you time to work on other parts of your mod.

Zero Lag

  • When the Brook UFB was in production, the main thing emphasized was response time. A slow board is the difference between victory or loss. A laggy board has no place in today’s FGC. We wanted super low numbers, less latency (lag); from Arcade Shock’s tests, it’s zero. It doesn’t get any better than this.

BROOK RETRO PLUS UFB TECH PACK (1)

The Brook Retro Board will be exclusive to Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs, and will soft-launch at Evo 2018; check out Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs to order online for late August 2018 shipping.

Source: Arcade Shock [press release]

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The SRK Rollback: Best of July 20-26, 2018

Welcome to the Rollback: a frame-by-frame look back at our past week’s most notable news — and our favorite SRK articles — from July 20 to July 26, 2018!

Zavian “mushin_Z” Sildra, Editor-in-Chief:

Frame 1:
Base Goku Dragon Ball FighterZ Nimbus ResizeGameplay trailers unleashed for base form Goku and Vegeta in Dragon Ball FighterZ

Goku and Vegeta just have too many iconic attacks to fit onto one (or even two) versions of their characters.

Frame 2:
Tekken 7 750x400Evo 2018 preview: A spectator’s guide to Tekken 7 at Evolution Championship Series

Crow_Spaceboy helps you pick out who to watch, and who to root for (or against) in the upcoming tournament at Evo 2108.

Frame 3:
FEXLFighting EX Layer updated to version 1.0.7, adds Arcade Mode and some fixes

ARIKA wants you to know that they’re still working on improvements to their little fighter — be sure to check it out.

Frame 4:
sfv guile win pose combThe U.S. Army is hosting its own Street Fighter V tournament circuit

Has the meta come around, and now Guile has an influence on the actual U.S. Air Force? Will this help Capcom settle on what Guile’s rank actually is?

Frame 5:
sfv cammy v-skill vs ryuStreet Fighter V netcode decoded: Capcom’s online system introduces artificial lag between users

Street Fighter V must be one of — if not the — most-scrutinized fighting games on the technical level, as savvy users examine how the game is put together from the retail side. And the fact that the developers are so tight-lipped about their design decisions is the likeliest reason why.

Crow_Spaceboy, Assistant Editor:

Frame 1:
maxxSector K Games announces Evo side tournament for Punch Planet, new character Maxx will be playable

I feel like I have been waiting for this character to get revealed forever. Get ready to throw cars, friends.

Frame 2:
sc6 maxiNunchuck opponents into submission with this no-nonsense SoulCalibur VI Maxi breakdown

Seeing the SoulCalibur II 236B animation again was one of the best feelings I have had in a while.

Frame 3:
cardinal gravity breakersGremlin ENT announce legendary composer Shinji Hosoe will create “Gravity Breakers” theme

Go to Mr. Hosoe’s Wikipedia page and listen to the OST of every game listed there. You’re welcome.

Frame 4:
mixMedia Indie Exchange reveals the Evo 2018 MIX Indie Game Developer Showcase

For me, the passion project of indie game development is the heart and soul of the industry. Go check out all of these guys, and see the love they’ve put into their craft.

Frame 5:
windjammers xavier woodsWWE Superstar Xavier Woods has a $150 Windjammers bracket bounty at AnimEVO 2018

Mr. Creed continues to be an inspiration — as does Windjammers‘ unlikely 2018 momentum.

Catch up on what you may have missed in our prior SRK Rollback compilations.

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Controller Chaos reveals their limited-edition Evo 2018 Qanba Obsidian arcade stick

Don’t miss out on this year’s fantastic custom design!

Following up on their prior sweet designs for Evo-branded fight sticks, Controller Chaos has unveiled their design for a limited-edition Qanba Obsidian stick for Evo 2018:

Evo 2018 attendees that want to snag one of these bad boys should make a beeline straight for the Controller Chaos booth once Evo kicks off on August 3rd.

controller chaos evo 2018 qanba obsidian

evo 2018 nissin cygames

Source: Controller Chaos (Twitter)

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Fighting EX Layer updated to version 1.0.7, adds Arcade Mode and some fixes

Show the CPU the power of your Gougi!

As promised, ARIKA updated Fighting EX Layer to version 1.0.7 last night, bringing an Arcade Mode into the title alongside some system fixes.

FIGHTING EX LAYER arcade mode menu screen

If you were hoping for something that would elaborate on the stories of the FEXL fighters, you’ll be disappointed — this Arcade Mode is a basic series of seven fights without any intro/ending elements. But it does provide a nice way to practice against the CPU in an venue other than the training stage (as opposed to Kumite Mode). Go dust off your favorite Gougi deck and give it a try.

Source: FIGHTING EX LAYER (Twitter)

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Press Start Gaming Center’s PSG Classic returns for its fifth year as a Thursday night pre-Evo tournament

Get into fighting form with some friendly pre-Evo competition!

Arriving in Las Vegas on Thursday, and looking to get in some pre-Evo warm-ups? The 5th Annual PSG Classic might be the fix you need. This year, Press Start Gaming Center is taking their event to GameWorks Las Vegas. There will be more space, setups, food and beverage options, giveaways, music, and even free shuttle service to and from Mandalay Bay. Join the teams from CrossCounterTV and Smash Studios for a night dedicated to the fighting games you love. Online registration ends on July 31st, but onsite registration will be available the day of the event. Doors open at 4:30 PM, registration ends at 6:30 PM, and all games start at 7:00 PM.

Games on the tournament roster this year:

  • Dragon Ball FighterZ
  • Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
  • Tekken 7
  • Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2
  • BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
  • The King of Fighters XIII
  • The King of Fighters XIV
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee

Visit the PSG Classic smash.gg page for all the info: https://smash.gg/tournament/5th-annual-psg-classic.

pso classic 5 poster

Source: Evo

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Sony Crackle and NRG Esports present “Hook’d” — a new documentary miniseries featuring Eduardo “HookGangGod” Deno

The series kicks off with a Twitch livestream on July 27.

Video-streaming platform Sony Crackle has teamed up with NRG Esports to bring us a look into the the competitive life of Dragon Ball FighterZ rising star HookGangGod in Hook’d, a new four part mini-documentary series, premiering on July 27.

From the press release:

Filmed in the final month leading up to the largest and longest-running fighting game tournament in the world — the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) in Las Vegas from August 3-5 — Hook’d will immerse viewers in HookGangGod’s professional world. Viewers will connect and hear Hook’s story of how he has overcome challenges as a young adult to contend for the Evo world title in Dragon Ball FighterZ and the influences that help guide him there including his New Jersey neighbor, mentor, and professional NRG Esports teammate Nairoby Quezada (a.k.a. Nairo), as well as New Jersey-born NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal.

Hook rapidly ascended the North East local and conference fighting game competitions in just under four months, to defeat some of the top ranked players in the world at the recent Summit of Power invitational. As the rookie, Evo is an opportunity for Hook to prove to everyone, including himself that he is a fighter — a fighter in a fighting game world, and a fighter to succeed out of the hard realities of his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey. Viewers will be given unprecedented access into Hook’s process and training, following him from his home to the international stage in Las Vegas as he prepares for the fight of his life.

Hook’d is produced by Complex Networks. The series is executive produced by Justin Killion, Brandon Killion, Andy Miller, and Melissa Brooks.

Premiering on July 27 with a Twitch livestream event, three more episodes (each 3-5 minutes in length) will follow on July 30, August 1, and August 15. Fans of Dragon Ball FighterZ that want to learn a little more about NRG|HookGangGod can check the series out on the Sony Crackle streaming service.

Source: NRG Esports [press release]

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Game order revealed for the Evo 2018 Sunday finals at the Mandalay Bay Events Center

The World Finals schedule is beginning to take shape.

While the schedule is not yet finalized, we now know what to expect for the lineup order on the Sunday finals for Evo 2018. The games that will see their finals play out in the arena on Sunday, August 5 will be played in this order:

  1. Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2
  2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
  3. Tekken 7
  4. Dragon Ball FighterZ
  5. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition

Evo 2018 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on August 3-5th. Registration is now closed.

[Feature image: Mandalay Bay Events Center during the Street Fighter V finals at Evo 2016]

evo 2018 nissin cygames

Source: Joey Cuellar (Twitter)