Category: Fighting Games

Here comes a new (and unexpected) challenger!

When it was revealed via a tweet yesterday from Team Liquid’s NuckleDu that he may not attend Capcom Cup 2017 in his guaranteed championship auto-qualification spot, speculation immediately kicked off as to who the replacement would be, if NuckleDu actually backed out of the event. Many people called attention to the Succession rule, that indicated last year’s runner-up would gain access to the championship auto-qualifier position if the Champion was unable to compete; the question was if this rule would indeed be applied. Speculate no more:

NuckleDu has chosen not to attend Capcom Cup 2017. According to CPT rules, the auto-qualification he earned for winning Capcom Cup 2016 is given to the runner-up.

Ricki Ortiz has accepted the vacated spot in Capcom Cup 2017.https://t.co/i7gAmfcgLU

— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) November 28, 2017

Evil Geniuses’ Ricki Ortiz faced Du Dang last year in a famous all-American Grand Finals, and thus she has been granted Dang’s auto-qualification in his now-confirmed absence. This is bound to raise some controversy — as while it follows the letter of the CPT rules for this season, Ortiz is ranked at #84 on the global leaderboard, well out of qualification range. Will she prove to be a surprise threat against her higher-ranking opponents at the big event in December?

Thank you @CapcomFighters for this amazing opportunity. I know I’ve been away for a few months bettering myself and my personal life. I hope to make everyone proud at CapCup2017.

— ✨Ricki Sophie Ortiz✨ (@HelloKittyRicki) November 28, 2017

Sources: Capcom Fighters (Twitter); Capcom Pro Tour; Ricki Sophie Ortiz (Twitter)

The mystery of Geese Howard’s Tekken 7 arrival date deepens today, as the official PlayStation Blog has just casually dropped a November 30th release date for DLC Pack 2. While this contradicts the original surprise leak on Microsoft’s site, it is worth noting that Microsoft’s site has moved the release date for Geese 12 hours forward from 11:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST on the 29th. It’s also worth noting that the Steam Store still makes no mention of Geese. Looks like we were right when we suggested that someone jumped the gun.

As of this writing, there is still no official clarification from Namco on their social media or official sites. With so little time left in the month, though, it seems like SNK’s boss will arrive on his own terms, with or without an official statement.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Production on the Smash Box is progressing well and Hit Box have just released a video update, detailing some of the new additions and features that the controller will launch with next January. The biggest change has been a shift in button layout, moving the eight button column as well as the C-Stick buttons for maximum comfort. The Smash Box now also has two extra buttons, bringing its button count to 32.

For dedicated players who want to save the perfect angles for recovering back to stage or DIing, the Smash Box now allows you to save custom angle profiles via in-built software. When combined with button remapping, Smash Box users can totally customize the experience to fit their play-style. There are even plans for players to be able to download angle and button profiles from other Smash Box users, if you want to try out someone’s settings.

The specter of tournament legality continues to hang around the Smash Box, so Hit Box have created special tournament verification software which can check the custom settings of each controller. TOs can then check that each Smash Box is following the regulations of their event, and stop any funny business that could be happening under the hood.

Source: Hit Box

One of the main goals for most players looking to make the step into competitive fighting games is to be able to travel to tournaments around the country. Sadly, not everybody can afford to travel. As such, any sort of competition that gives players a chance to travel is a greet boon to the community.

One such competition is the new online tournament series by Body Count Fighting. Starting on December 11, Body Count Fighting will hold a series of online tournaments for Injustice 2, Tekken 7, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and Street Fighter V. The winners of these tournaments will win a chance to fly to Los Angeles to participate in an offline Body Count Fighting tournament sometime in 2018.

The dates and times for the online tournaments are as follows.

• Monday, 12/11 @ 4:00PM PST – Injustice 2 Online Tournament
• Tuesday, 12/12 @ 4:00PM PST – Tekken 7 Online Tournament
• Monday, 12/18 @ 4:00PM PST – Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Online Tournament
• Tuesday, 12/19 @ 4:00PM PST – Street Fighter V Online Tournament

Body Count Fighting is holding these events in cooperation with Brachyon. Interested players can sign up over at their Brachyon page.

For those interested in catching the action on stream, the tournaments will be streamed at Body Count Fighting’s official Twitch channel at http://twitch.tv/bcfighting as well as at Machinima’s new 24/7 AlwaysOn stream at http://twitch.tv/machinima.

Source: Body Count Fighting via Test Your Might

Seven games — what will they be?

Mr. Wizard has declared seven games will be on the main stage at Evolution Championship Series 2018 — and he wants to know what you think should be there:

Evo 2018. 7 games. Tell me what makes the cut! #Evo2018

— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) November 27, 2017

Unsurprisingly, big names like Street Fighter V, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Tekken 7, and the hotly-anticipated Dragon Ball FighterZ are considered a lock for Evo 2018 by many respondents. Many also consider Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and the upcoming BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (presuming it launches in time) interchangeable in a single anime slot — while some feel DBFZ also fits that bill. The question of one or both Super Smash Bros. titles naturally arises again: will Evo 2018 continue to showcase both Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Melee? And what of other new, upcoming, or niche titles out there: ARMS, Pokkén Tournament DX, Gundam Versus, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Fighting EX Layer…?

Let Mr. Wizard know what you want to see at Evo 2018, on Twitter.

Source: Joey Cuellar (Twitter)

Online functions down will be down today to prepare for the addition of some new threads.

Street Fighter V players are used to the routine: new content means an SFV server outage for a few hours. Today, Capcom mixes it up with a 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT maintenance window:

We will perform server maintenance from 2pm to 7pm on 11/28 PST. Thank you for your patience and support.

— SFV Server (@SFVServer) November 27, 2017

This outage precedes tonight’s addition of new premium costumes, offering Nostalgia and Holiday outfits for multiple cast members, as well as more Akiman Chun-Li costumes.

We may also see some of the remaining promised bug fixes applied today.

Source: SFV Server (Twitter)

Is 2016’s champ bowing out of the competition?

Team Liquid’s Du “NuckleDu” Dang dropped a surprising announcement on Twitter today — the revelation that he may not attend Capcom Cup 2017 to defend his title:

I most likely won't be attending Capcom Cup 2017. Talked to Capcom, and they support my decision completely. Waiting to hear back from Team Liquid. I appreciate everyones support throughout the year. Thank you!

— Du Dang (@LiquidNuckleDu) November 27, 2017

As last year’s Champion, NuckleDu was automatically qualified to compete in Capcom Cup 2017. The tweet indicates Dang will “most likely” not attend, which would open up another qualifying spot to another contender. No specific reason for the potential absence has yet been made public at the time of this writing. Expect further details and clarification to follow soon.

Source: Du Dang (Twitter)