UYU, an esports team committed to building a strong fighting game player roster, is certainly growing as a force to be reckoned with. Last night, the organization made an announcement on Twitter regarding their latest pick: Kizzie Kay joins the fray as the latest fighting game competitor with team UYU.
Kizzie Kay is known for his prowess in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 as Sin Kiske, and in BlazBlue: Central Fiction as Jin Kisaragi, performing well at many majors around the country. Additionally, as UYU says, Kizzie Kay will join UYU|Jonathan M as a teammate in Dragon Ball FighterZ tournaments as well.
It's our honor to welcome one of the American Anime scene's greatest players @Kizzie_Kay310 to the UYU Family. He'll be representing us in Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, & most importantly perform the fusion dance w/ @cloud805 to form the UYU DBFZ Ultra Instinct Duo. #UYU#UYUForeverpic.twitter.com/atKDDLc5uY
In this modern gaming landscape, where everything is connected to the internet and regular patching is widespread, it’s almost expected that balance changes come with any and every update to a game… but that isn’t be the case for Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s latest patch, however.
In a recent tweet, Bandai Namco has confirmed that the upcoming patch — that will add Broly and Bardock to Dragon Ball FighterZ — will contain no balance changes whatsoever.
FYI: This week's DRAGON BALL FighterZ patch does not contain any balance changes. We'll notify you here for any upcoming balance changes, thank you. #DragonBallFighterZpic.twitter.com/6iNYFJyl6L
This should elicit a sigh of relief from players worried that they would have to deal with changes to the characters they’re using. However, some may be disappointed — especially in light of the infinite combos that have recently come to light.
Despite all the odds against it, the Marvel vs. Capcom scene continues to soldier on. Recently, more notable players from the community have gotten sponsorships: Hayden “Kinderparty” Griswold, Tauseef “SBK” Anam, Alex “Sketch” Aguirre, and Aries “Imma Aries Baby” Johnson have all been signed by the Tar Pit Club.
All of these players have made names for themselves playing both Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Additionally, Kinderparty has also been one of the hosts of the Marvel Live! podcast.
As the the Tar Pit Club, while it may not be a familiar name in esports, it actually does have its roots in the community. The team was founded by Travis “Tarpit” Case, who has become a community leader in the Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite community, being the founder of the r/MvCI subreddit. Prior to that, he was also one of the people behind the “Make Marvel Great Again” hoodies from last year’s Evo fund drive that saw Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 return to Evo for one last time.
Though Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is likely the main game they’ll focus on, the team’s site also lists Vampire Savior, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Street Fighter. As such, it’s likely that we’ll see them compete in these games as well.
While the Tar Pit Club isn’t exactly at the same level as more-established esports teams such as Echo Fox or Evil Geniuses, its humble roots reflect the kind of grassroots spirit that has kept the fighting game community alive throughout the years.We here at Shoryuken wish Kinderparty, SBK, Sketch, Imma Aries Baby, and The Tar Pit Club the best in this new endeavor!
Pro wrestling has been nothing but drama for decades. That’s not a new development… what is surprising is that the drama of pro wrestling now finds its way into Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition with this bizarre bug.
ElChakotay has discovered that R. Mika can find herself in a situation where it appears as though Nadeshiko performs an nWo-esque swerve on her during V-Trigger II, the “Steel Chair”. To replicate this, you can cancel Irish Whip into V-Trigger II; this sends Nadeshiko out with the chair. Now, if R. Mika throws her microphone as part of her V-Skill when Nadeshiko throws the chair, the microphone will actually negate the chair’s projectile properties, as though they were on opposing teams.
Good thing R. Mika is ready to protect herself against Nadeshiko’s inevitable heel turn, at least!
KUAM News — the NBC Affiliate serving the island of Guam — will be acting as one of several hosts for the ambitious “Guam ESports Championship” major on April 21st-22nd. Held at the Guam Museum & Educational Facility in the capital city of Hagåtña, the Guam ESports Championship is a two day multi-game event, largely comprised of fighting games.
The following games will be at the event:
Tekken 7
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Melee
FIFA 2018
NBA 2K18
Full game rules can be found here, and if you’d like to sign up for the event, you can do so at their smash.gg page.
Despite attention turning to BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, BlazBlue: Central Fiction isn’t done yet! The challenging 2D fighter still finds lots of appreciation at tournaments around the world. One player that has been standing out for a while in the United States is Fame96. The Atlanta, Georgia local made himself particularly known for his Susano’o play in Central Fiction, widely considered to be the best at the character — as well as among the most skilled BlazBlue players in the country. He has only been competing since 2014.
The recent Final Round 20 tournament gave Fame96 a real opportunity to showcase his talent as he faced international and local players. “I would always be amazed by how people in tournaments played,” Fame96 told Shoryuken. “And I finally found a game I would actually want to compete in — BlazBlue. Through PG|SKD and others’ guidance, my power in BlazBlue quickly raised to new heights.”
At the tournament, Fame96 faced many skilled opponents, including Japanese players Abegen and PONOS|Garireo. Having triumphed over Abegen in a fairly close set, he moved on to facing Garireo in an extremely tense Winners Finals set, which Fame96 narrowly won (see the video below). After that, Fame96 moved on to fight Garireo again in the Grand Finals. Catch up on the amazing action in the videos, and keep scrolling for our Q&A with the player.
Woocash: Walk us through the matches with Garireo.
Fame96: In Winners Finals, I was in peak condition. In my mind, I was brimming with excitement and anticipation to get to fight him again so soon after NEC. While I love the fact that I get to play him again, the sense of dread creeped up on my shoulder due to the fact that I have to play the Susano’o/Litchi match-up, which is easily one of his worst. In Winners Finals, I noticed there were cracks in his armor. He was making crucial mistakes and dropping game-winning combos that he usually doesn’t drop, so I took full advantage which allowed me to win.
In Grand Finals, I knew it was reasonable for me to win. I had six games to work with. I simply tried to do my best and push forward. By the time Garireo won the 2nd game, I noticed immediately that he downloaded me. I tried to adjust, but I was too far gone. My mental state was pretty much shot, and by the time I snapped myself out of it, it was already 5-0. His mistakes at this point were very minimal and very hard to take advantage of, so my situation was very bleak, making me lose hope.
Woocash: You play multiple games, how do you manage that?
Fame96: I generally try to give each game the amount of time I feel like I need to give it to keep myself polished and/or improve. In Central Fiction’s case, I have been playing so long and learned so much about the game that I don’t really need to practice that much anymore. I can generally pick up a controller and just play from there. Dragon Ball FighterZ, on the other hand, is a new game, and a rather stressful one at that. It requires a lot of you at all times, in my opinion, due to what the game gives you. So I often play it a lot to stay in shape. When SoulCalibur VI and Cross Tag Battle come out, I will definitely dedicate time to them. How much, however, will depend on how much I like the games.
Woocash: Which game is most important to you?
Fame96: BBCF is still the most important to me, but DBFZ is the current priority in terms of actively practicing.
Woocash: What are your thoughts on BBCF specifically? Do you feel the game has faded?
Fame96: This version of BBCF is definitely my favorite version of the game. I like the dynamic that Overdrive brings and since they buffed Instant Block meter gain and adjusted the more obnoxious tendencies of the higher-tier characters and Exceed Assault, I find it even more fun than CF 1.0. Whether or not the game fades will depend on how the community and tournament organizers treat the game alongside BBTAG when the latter comes out. If they don’t treat BBTAG as its own thing and make it take BBCF’s spot, BBCF’s future may become grim.
Woocash: What are your plans for the future? And would you ever consider becoming a sponsored player?
Fame96: Mostly going to be going to local stuff. I don’t really have the money to travel. I am very open to becoming a sponsored player. I would love to travel more and compete in the games that I love to play.
Snail Games has announced that its voxel-based sandbox survival title, PixARK has officially launched on Steam Early Access. It is based on the same game world as ARK: Survival Evolved and is available for $24.99 during Early Access, though it can be purchased for $19.99 for the next week
With the launch of Tekken 7 Bandai Namco went into a collaboration with New Japan Pro Wrestling for both in-game content, as well as merchandise. The initial wave of these was focused on stars such as IGPW Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika “Rainmaker” Okada, the Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi, as well Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega. Now, more collaboration content is coming — and it promises to be ungovernable.
The latest Tekken 7 and NJPW collaboration involves none other than Los Ingobernables de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito. The collaboration specifically involves Naito and Tekken’s Devil Jin. It so far involves a line of clothing, T-shirts, hoodies, and wrist bands.
For those not familiar with him, Tetsuya Naito started out as the “Stardust Genius”, but initially failed to get traction with the fans. This all changed after a trip to Mexico where he joined up with La Sombra (current NXT Champion Andrade Cien Almas) as part of the latter’s Los Ingobernables stable. His return to NJPW saw him bring a new attitude called “Tranquilo” that caught the attention of the fans leading to the formation of Los Ingobernables de Japon — arguably the most popular stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling at the moment.
For those interested in the collaboration, the merchandise can be ordered via Bandai Namco’s official online store. As for whether or not this collaboration will also include future in-game content, no details have yet have been revealed.
Hot on the heels of the reveal of the game’s first DLC character Vayne, Square Enix has now released a schedule for when the remaining Dissidia Final Fantasy NT DLC characters will arrive.
The schedule, which you can see in the tweet below, shows that we can expect to see characters arrive on a regular basis — every two months. This means that the next DLC character (this time a male from the earlier games in the series) is set to arrive in June, with the final planned DLC character coming in February of next year.
ICYMI: Vayne from FINAL FANTASY XII enters the legendary lineup of villains in late April for DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY NT. Guess which villain is next? Guarantee all six new characters by getting the #DissidiaFFNT season pass! ➡️ https://t.co/EeIzyFUI8X#FFXIIpic.twitter.com/MjkirxzmDA
While many people come to Evo to either compete or just watch some great fighting game action, there are many people who also come looking to help out in the community. For any players who would like to do the latter, here’s some news you might want to check out: applications for volunteer tournament judges for Evo 2018 are now open. Players interested in helping out with brackets at Evo can head on over to the official application page.
As stated above, being a tournament judge at Evo is a volunteer position. However — despite this, judges will still get some great perks. This includes food for on both Friday and Saturday (as long as you are judging a tournament that day) as well as an official Evo tournament judge T-shirt.
The only requirements are a familiarity with running a double-elimination bracket, on top of passion for competitive gaming. Judges are also expected to take care of their own transportation and lodging at Evo.
