Category: News

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Capcom’s financial report displays growth and a greater emphasis on esports

A healthy profit is tying in with a greater focus on esports in the future.

Capcom’s fiscal year ended on March 31st, 2018, and the company is doing well. The Japanese game developer cites an overall profit increase of 8.4 percent in comparison to last year, reaching about 94 million yen (compared to 87 million last year). Among the good video game sales, Capcom points to the growth of esports as one of the reasons.

Capcom’s flagship esports title is, of course, Street Fighter V. “This is driven by games coming to be recognized as a new sport, following esports’ adoption as an official event at the 2022 Asian Games,” the report states. The developer wants to capitalize on this further by fully shaping their esports strategy with a new Capcom Esports Club in Japan. They’re dubbing 2018 as “esports year one” for the company, so expect an even greater focus on esports in the coming years.

The report briefly mentions the other recent fighting game title from Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, which isn’t part of the Capcom Cup, nor saw a return of its “Battle for the Stones” circuit from last year. It didn’t mention specific numbers for the game, saying that sales (which were targeting the US and European markets) were “soft” around the world. Other than that, the company owes a lot of its current profits to Monster Hunter: World, which has been very successful around the globe, reaching 7.5 million copies sold.

Overall, Capcom’s strongest market right now is home consoles.

Source: Capcom

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– Pillars of Eternity 2: Rum Runners Free DLC Launches Today

Obsidian Entertainment has sent word that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire now has a new, free DLC for players. Called “Rum Runners”, the DLC brings a new sidekick into the game named Mirke as well as “six new alcohol themed items added to a merchant in the Deadfire and the new drunken personality setting”.

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– Eden Rising: Supremacy Roadmap Reveals the ‘Road to Launch’

The Eden Rising team has published a new roadmap detailing what players can expect to see added to the game now that it has successfully arrived in Early Access. Called the “Road to Launch”, the image reveals that tons of new content and features are coming in the months ahead of the full retail release.

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– Battle Royale Players are More Engaged Gamers According to NewZoo

NewZoo has published a fascinating new study about battle royale players as compared to “core competitive gamers (CG)”, those who play Overwatch, Rocket League, Hearthstone, etc. The study focused on gamers between the ages of 10-65 in 16 countries. Findings suggest that battle royale players “are more engaged gamers, spending larger amounts of time gaming on both console and PC”.

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– MU Ignition Introduces the Magic Gladiator Class

Webzen has announced that the Magic Gladiator playable class is now available in its web-based MU Ignition. As the name implies, the Magic Gladiator is equally adept in the use of magic and in wielding swords. As the only class that can wear equippable wings, the Magic Gladiator also benefits from 7-stat points for every level instead of 5.

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– Three Indicted on Federal Charges in Call of Duty Swatting Death

Federal prosecutors have announced that three men are facing criminal charges in the swatting death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch in Kansas. Tyler Barriss, the suspect accused of making the call to local police that led to Finch’s death, has been awaiting trial in Kansas for involuntary manslaughter. However, federal prosecutors building their case have also indicted 18-year-old Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill, 19, for their parts in the Call of Duty swatting incident in December 2017.

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Rage Street Fighter V All-Star League team league announced, player draft set for May 31st

A new Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition team league has been announced in Japan, and it’s going to be an interesting test of the new pro-gaming license law in Japan.

All of the team captains (Nemo, Itazan, Fujimura [formerly Yukadon], Daigo Umehara, Moke, Tokido) are required to have Japanese pro-gaming licenses.

If the same is true of the players being picked for the draft on May 31st, then we have a very good idea of who will be among the 18 players making up each of the 3-man teams, as there are only about 22 players with the license currently. You can find out who makes each team by watching the draft life on Openrec.tv, provided you’re awake at 8:00 PM JST — that’s 6:00 AM CT.

The six teams will be competing for a grand prize of 10 million yen, or approximately $10,000 USD.

Source: esports_RAGE

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Xbox is making an Adaptive Controller that could help gamers with disabilities in the FGC

Microsoft recently unveiled an unexpected peripheral. Their “Adaptive Controller,” devised in the Xbox Inclusive Tech Lab, is aimed entirely at people with disabilities who wouldn’t be able to enjoy gaming with standard controllers. This new device, coming later this year, could be a promising gateway to (for instance) play fighting games in ways they couldn’t before.

Ars Technica made an excellent “First Look” video about the controller that showcases it in action. It almost looks like an arcade stick. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity. The two big buttons in the center are just the start, as the back contains lots of plug-ins to fully customize the controller. Any device with a matching port can be connected to this peripheral, so any buttons, joysticks, etc. can change inputting entirely on the machine. In this way, the controller can suit someone who can only play with their feet, for instance.

The controller isn’t out until later this year, so it’s a little hard to tell if we’re going to see this much in the FGC. If tournament organizers allow it, it could enable more people to participate and compete.

Sources: Microsoft; Ars Technica

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Order pre-customized fight sticks from Arcade Shock with their Colors Customization service, launching June 21

Your own unique controller, delivered to your door.

Arcade Shock is already a well-established FGC source for replacement and custom controller parts, but they’re getting ready to take it a step further this summer with the launch of their Colors Customization Arcade Stick service: a new fight stick shopping experience that allows you to customize a controller part-by-part as you buy.

The service will allow automated selection of customized parts and graphics, as a customer places the order for their controller. Here’s how it works:

  1. Choose the “shell” of the arcade stick from current Arcade Shock stock — such as the HORI RAP 4 Kai, or Qanba Obsidian
  2. Choose the lever: Sanwa Denshi, Seimitsu, or HORI
  3. Choose the balltop
  4. Choose your pushbuttons (change 30mm or 24mm options, or both)
  5. Choose the shaft cover
  6. Add a PhreakMods “The Link” if desired
  7. Add an EZ Mod Kit to applicable arcade sticks (for universal compatibility)
  8. Add custom panel artwork, applied by the Layers FGC Team

The customer will be able to click on any part of the arcade stick at any time and make changes as they choose, until they’ve completed a custom design they’re happy with. It’s a “freestyle” selection process.

The customer’s customized stick will be modified by Arcade Shock staff (labor cost will be included at checkout) and shipped right to them — so if you want a fight stick that’s uniquely “you” but aren’t that handy with modding it yourself, this is your chance to have it done for you as you buy. The service will launch on June 21, 2018.

arcadeshock

Source: Arcade Shock