Category: Fighting Games

One of the premier esports teams in the world of first-person shooters, OpTic Gaming have yet to properly set foot in the crucible of fighting games. That’s about to change this June, as the organization is running an event called OpTic Arena as part of A-Kon in Fort Worth, Texas. Running from June 8th-10th, this event will host tournaments for Dragon Ball FighterZ, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, with each game getting a $5000 pot bonus.

Along with the main three events, OpTic Arena will have several exhibition matches, a 24-hour gaming lounge for those who want to play through the night, as well as a bunch of other fun stuff that is yet to be announced. If you are interested in attending, registration is now available over on smash.gg, with a ticket also getting you access to A-Kon in the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Besides this event, OpTiC looks to be scouting out their first FGC player. A recent Tweet from NuckleDu showed the Capcom Cup 2016 champion hanging out at the OpTic Gaming offices — interesting considering Du’s recent split from Team Liquid.

Shoutouts to everyone I met at the @OpTicGaming office. Amazing hospitality. Thanks for having me! pic.twitter.com/58LDaDNPnO

— Du Dang (@NuckleDuDang) February 5, 2018

Sources: smash.gg; NuckleDuDang

Following yesterday’s Turtle-tastic livestream which showed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in action, NetherRealm have released the official patch notes for Injustice 2‘s February patch. Besides the obvious big addition, this patch will change up a decent portion of the cast, with Gorilla Grodd, Poison Ivy, and Sub-Zero getting some buffs while Catwoman has been smashed with the nerf bat.

Stampede canceling with Grodd is now much easier, with players being able to cancel out of the run using the Flip Stance button. Poison Ivy’s Bed of Thorns has seen a substantial buff, with it doing increased base damage and hurting those who ever try to jump out of it, while Sub-Zero’s Ice Blast comes out a little faster. The Lin Kuei Grandmaster has also seen a slight improvement to his Ice Blade too.

As for Catwoman, she’s finally been declawed by NetherRealm. Her combos now have increased damage scaling, many of her wallbounce combos now result in hard knockdowns and her Tail Spin has seen a slight range reduction. Expect Catwoman mains licking their wounds once the patch comes out on February 13th.

Source: Injustice

Some clues to the ongoing “evolution” of Evo in 2018.

Now that the eight main games have been revealed, we can look forward to learning more details of how Evo 2018 is going to take shape. Event director Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar has offered a few more tidbits via social media, starting with some planned changes to the layout for the Sunday finals at the Mandalay Bay Events Center:

We are reconfiguring our arena layout on Sunday to a concert style setup! We want the floor seats to be extra special, so we are also lowering the stage down a few feet! #Evo2018

— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) February 7, 2018

Additionally, it looks like the focus on the games that aren’t on the main stage will be leveled-up for 2018, with plans to provide a dedicated side stage (with a reminder that Evo itself will not be running the side events):

We are also very serious about doing a side stage for community games that didn't make it into the big show. This stream would be provided on one of our main channels, so that the entire world can see games that might not get coverage at a normal Evo! #Evo2018

— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) February 7, 2018

For clarification Evo is not running any side events. We will just be giving stage time on a side stage to community run events ran in the byoc that meet our criteria. Probably need to have at least 32 people and we will give you a hour to run top 4 on stage. #Evo2018

— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) February 8, 2018

Evo 2018 World Finals will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, NV, on August 3rd-5th. Registration is expected to open in about a week!

Source: Joey Cuellar (Twitter)

Announced alongside the Monster Hunter costumes for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, both Sakura and Ryu are taking a trip to the New World to battle some beasts in Monster Hunter: World. Similar to previous crossover costumes, this Street Fighter collaboration allows players to dress up as either Sakura or Ryu via special armor sets.

In a recent episode of Capcom TV, we got a brief glimpse of what it’s like to play Ryu in Monster Hunter: World, complete with his special Hadoken and Shoryuken gestures. To cosplay as Ryu, you must equip the full armor set, meaning you’ll have to forgo your cool High Rank Nergigante armor in order to look like the world warrior. The base stats for the Ryu costume are terrible — with only 65 defence — but his fire, dragon and electric resistances are not too shabby.

Despite being gestures, both the Hadoken and Shoryuken do (very slight) damage. When used against a Low Rank Barroth in the CapcomTV segment, the Hadoken did 11 damage while the Shoryuken did a shameful three damage. Capcom must have used Season 2 Ryu as a basis for this armor. I can’t wait to see someone soloing a Rathalos only using these attacks.

You’ll be able to unlock the Ryu armor via a special event quest later this month, with the Sakura armor coming some time in March.

Source: CapcomChannel via Gematsu

Lee Seon-woo, more commonly known as Infiltration, may be the hottest Street Fighter V player on the planet right now after his recent Evo Japan win. Now, it seems that he’s also become the game’s hottest free agent.

In a recent tweet, Infiltration has confirmed that he has left Team GRAPHT.

Hello guys, big announcement here.
Now i am no longer Team Grapht. Thanks for your help, i never forget i was part of amazing team!!!
Pls send questions to 85infiltration@gmail.com@TeamGRAPHT @TeamGRAPHT_en pic.twitter.com/99XMCgTF4E

— INFILTRATION (@INFILTRATION85) February 7, 2018

Infiltration joined Team GRAPHT late last year after a string of incredible performances, including winning at Manila Cup 2018 and placing top 8 in both the OzHadou Nationals and Celtic Throwdown. These, alongside his signing with Team GRAPHT, was seen by many as the start of his resurgence after his lackluster performances earlier in the year.

While Infiltration has now left the team, he still retains his sponsorship from Monster Energy. Meanwhile, Team GRAPHT still has a pretty impressive lineup of fighting game players including Joe “MOV” Egami, Leah “Gllty” Hayes, Keita “Fuudo” Ai, Tatsuya Haitani, and Atsushi “Yukadon” Fujimura.

We here at Shoryuken wish the best for both Infiltration and Team GRAPHT in all their future endeavours.

Source: Infiltration

The announcement of the games for Evo always tends to cause a lot of discussion within the fighting game community. While some players are happy that the game of their choice made it in, others are saddened that theirs did not (and a few even use it to disparage other players’ choice of games).

In a series of tweets, Mark “MarkMan” Julio, global head of business development for Evo, has shared a number of insights about the selection process for games at Evo. One of the biggest points that MarkMan addresses is how Evo has grown beyond just being a tournament series, and how it’s now become a place for fighting game companies to interact with their hardcore fans.

It’s become more than just a tournament series. The event has become the home for fighting game announcements, activations for upcoming games, a genuine place for game companies to interact with their hardcore fan base & potential reach more eyes than their marketing plans can.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

That said, he also addresses the fact that they do have to seek permission to get games onto the main roster, and that sometimes they don’t get it.

That being said, we have had meetings with some pubs/devs about including their title as a “main” game at Evo. You know what? We don’t get the blessing that we hope for sometimes. We actively have to seek permission and/or content licenses to be able to include certain games.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

MarkMan also addresses the fact that they can’t really host more than 8 to 9 games at Evo, and that as a result, some people will feel left out. He himself can relate, citing the times where he was frustrated that a Tekken title wasn’t included in the roster, and as such has extended an apology to players whose favorite games aren’t at Evo.

There are other examples but I want to also bring up that 8-9 games at Evo is reality. It’s very difficult to be able to put on that many games & showcase them in a good way over the course of 3 days. Someone is always going to feel slighted if their game isn’t treated some way.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

I DON’T BLAME YOU. We should be passionate about these that we love. I wanted to raise hell (initial feeling) whenever TEKKEN didn’t get the shine (in years prior) that I thought it deserved. So I want to apologize to all the communities feeling snubbed or disrespected.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

As part of this, he also states that they do try their best to provide a place for games that aren’t on the main roster — on either on the stage or on stream.

It is NOT the intention of the Evo brand to make your game feel inferior to others. The only thing I can promise you is that we will DO OUR BEST to make sure there is a place to showcase your game(s), via a stage and stream for Evo 2018.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He then states that he does hope to improve relations with other companies so that they can get better representation at Evo.

In the backend, I hope to improve relations with all fighting game companies so we can have better representation for all communities and fans. My personal take? I want MVC:I. I want KOF. I want KI. I want SG. I want POKKEN. I want ARMS. I want all fighting games at Evo.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He also reiterates just how important support from fighting game companies is in terms of “reaching that ideal.”

Without publisher/developer support it makes it harder for us to achieve that ideal… we already know we can do it with the fans/community, it’s been done for 20+ years. We want to EVOLVE it to something greater & we hope you see that perspective, even if you don’t agree with it

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He ends his statements with a bit of thanks to both the people who attend Evo, and those like him who make it happen…

Thanks again everyone in the FGC that supports, attends & makes the Evo experience what it is. I promise that this year’s event will continue to focus on the celebration of fighting games & that future events will improve the delicate balance of community, game devs & viewership.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

This is just a selection of what he talks about; check out his complete statements over on Twitter.

Source: MarkMan (Twitter)