Category: News

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Street Fighter V player Smug picks up a second sponsor in the form of NZXT

It wasn’t too long ago that Bryant “Smug” Huggins found his was into the ever-expanding Rise Nation roster. It wasn’t a surprise when it happened — Smug has the perfect combination of charisma and Capcom Pro Tour points, easily making him one of the country’s most popular pros.

Now, it’s that same visibility that’s netted him a second sponsorship with NZXT, a PC Hardware manufacturer based out of Los Angeles, California. Armed with two sponsors and a beastly Balrog, Smug looks poised to continue his rise through the ranks of the CPT.

Source: NZXT

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Big pot bonuses are coming to anime titles at CEOtaku 2017, courtesy of Aksys Games

Great news for avid anime fighters. Post-Evolution 2017, the next big tournament for these games is typically CEOtaku. The September event in Florida situates itself as anime-focused, and the incentive to come is two-fold: not only it’s positioned as the finale for Burst League, but Aksys Games is also throwing major money as pot bonuses.

Here are the extra pot bonuses thrown by the US publisher to the three major games at CEOtaku 2017:

  • Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2: $1,000
  • BlazBlue: Central Fiction: $1,000
  • Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]: $500

The money totals $2,500. It’s a good chance to see how US (and visiting Japanese players) have adapted to UNIST as well as the new BlazBlue 2.0 version with Jubei, which is coming to American and Japanese consoles as DLC at the end of August.

Are you ready to show your fighting spirit? Register for CEOtaku 2017 via smash.gg.

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Source: Aksys Games via Anime FGC News

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Prince defends his crown as Super Smash Con’s combo contest champion

It’s now become a bit of a tradition at supermajors where the original Super Smash Bros. is present to hold a combo contest. Unlike say Melee or Smash 4, combos in Smash 64 are much longer and almost always result in death, thanks to the huge amount of hitstun attacks inflict. Combine this with Smash 64’s items and wackier stages, and players can set some jaw-dropping combos.

Following on from the inaugural contest at last year’s Super Smash Con, this year’s event saw players from five different countries showing off their combo skills. All eyes were on Japanese player Prince however, who had quite frankly obliterated the competition at last year’s event and proved himself to be the 64 combo king. Prince uses everything but the kitchen sink in his combos, treating his target like a pinball as he bounces them off stage hazards and thrown items. Here are just a few of his combos from this year’s event:

If you want to see the entire combo contest, check out the entire video below. The 64 combo contest is always a highlight at any tournament it appears at, so long may it continue!

Source: VGBootCamp

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PG|Punk ranks Rashid at the top of his Street Fighter V Season 2.5 tier list

Panda Global’s Victor “Punk” Woodley is a player that needs no introduction to fans of Street Fighter V. Since his 1st place victory at NEC 17 last December, the Karin player has proven to be an absolute force in the scene, taking home first place at events such as Winter Brawl XI, West Coast Warzone 6, Norcal Regionals 2017, DreamHack Austin 2017 — and of course, becoming the grand champion of the ELEAGUE Street Fighter V Invitational. Though he fell to Echo Fox’s Tokido in the grand finals of Evolution 2017, he quickly bounced back with a victory at DreamHack Atlanta 2017, and most recently, a 2nd place finish at Defend The North 2017, leaving him as the top-ranked player on both the Capcom Pro Tour global leaderboard and our own SRK world rankings. Many believe him to be the absolute best player of the game in the world today.

Following all of this great success, “Da God” recently released his current tier list for Season 2.5. While he has some of the usual suspects, like Balrog, Ibuki, Zangief, Necalli, and Akuma, placed at the very top, with his own character sitting as the 6th best, he has a unique candidate sitting at the very top of the class: Rashid of the Turbulent Wind.

Though the character has seen his fair share of success in the hands of players like ZOWIE|OilKing and Moke — who made top 8 at Evo this year — it’s perhaps a surprise to see one of the world’s strongest players declaring him the absolute best in the game’s current climate.

During a conversation with fellow Panda Global teammate, Raynel “RayRay” Hidalgo, Punk offered a better look at his reasoning for the character’s high placement. Dubbing him “mad cheap,” Punk feels that Rashid, “just does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and you can’t stop him from doing it,” but was quick to note that this is not a matchup problem, as he “always beats him.”

During the Season 2 balance changes, Rashid received improved hitboxes on his standing medium kick and standing heavy punch, increased damage on his Spinning Mixers and light and medium Eagle Spikes, as well as several improvements to his combo potential. You can see Punk’s full tier list, created using MMCafe, as well as his string of tweets about it, below. Abigail was left unranked, due to Punk’s lack of experience in the matchup, as of now.

Do you believe Punk is right in that we could see a Turbulent Wind blowing through the Capcom Pro Tour, or do you believe he has rated him a bit too high? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. For an alternate perspective, you can see Bonchan, Fuudo and Haitani’s Season 2.5 tier list here.

Sources: MMCafe; PunkDaGod (Twitter)

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Rivals of Aether reveals the poisonous pacifist, Ranno

Shown off at the Rivals of Aether panel at Super Smash Con, Dan Fornace revealed one of the DLC fighters coming to the indie platform fighter. Acting as the third water-based character alongside Orcane and Etalus, Ranno is an amphibian monk who uses toxic darts and poison bubbles to bamboozle his enemies.

As a hybrid zoner/rushdown character, Ranno’s combat gimmicks are his Poison debuff and his Bubble attacks. Most of Ranno’s projectile attacks apply a special debuff, noted by the green dots floating above a character’s head. Not only do this toxin apply damage, it also determines the length of Ranno’s special Bubbled state. You can get rid of the Poison debuff by attacking Ranno, but you take damage for every attack you land. While his air speed is lacking, his fast aerials are perfect for walling out an enemy that’s trying to approach. As a new mechanic in Rivals, Ranno has a Super Jump which can be performed by crouching and then doing a full hop.

Ranno can summon a giant green bubble with his Neutral Special, which floats around the screen until either you or your opponent fall into it. Once inside the bubble, players slowly float through the air, leaving Ranno time to rack up damage. You can influence your direction while in the bubble and it will eventually pop after a short time. The more stacks of Poison you have, the longer you’ll remain suspended in Ranno’s trap. Ranno’s Down Special has him licking up and spitting out opponents inside a bubble, so don’t get too close if you are at four stacks. If he isn’t near an opponent, Ranno’s Down Special has him catapulting himself into the air using his tongue.

His Side Special are his Poison Darts, which work similar to Sheik’s needles in Super Smash Bros. You can charge these projectiles by hitting Dodge during the dart charge, with Ranno being able to fire four in a single barrage. His Poison Spin Up Special has him doing an upwards Poison Kick, which can then be followed up with either a Poison Dart barrage, or a dive kick by pressing Down Special.

Ranno is set to launch later this year, alongside three other original characters. Another guest character from an indie game is planned to be released in early 2018, bringing the Rivals roster up to 14. For those still waiting to play as Ori and Sein from Ori and the Blind Forest, the duo will be launching on Steam and Xbox One on August 23rd — meaning that console players finally have access to the full game. If you are attending Super Smash Con, both Ranno and Ori will be playable on the show floor, with Ranno being playable in tomorrow’s doubles tournament.

Source: Rivals of Aether

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– Discord Begins Testing Video Chat with 5% of Its Users

5% of Discord users will be lucky enough to be included in the first initial round of testing of video chat capabilities. The team is going to be closely monitoring bandwidth usage, bug, crashes and other issues. As stated in the Discord developer blog, “video data is a behemoth” so it is likely that servers will be under heavy strain during testing.

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Brazil is getting its own online Killer Instinct league

Hoping to keep Brazilian Killer Instinct players fighting fit for the game’s Steam release, Shame Team has announced a special KI league for any and all players in Brazil. It will be a circuit of nine tournaments, with the hope of crowning the country’s top Killer Instinct player.

It looks to work similar to Europe’s King of the Ring tournament series, with players competing in online events to earn circuit points. While the actual event is specifically for Brazilian residents, Shame Team may run an English stream if the Brasil League gets enough support.

The first tournament will be this Sunday, with all the action being streamed on the Shame Team Twitch channel. If you’re a Brazilian KI player looking to strut your stuff, make sure to sign up!

Source: ST_LemonHunter

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Paris Olympic Committee is open to adding esports to the 2024 Olympics

Competitive video gaming, including fighting games, has grown a lot in the past few years. Esports are now some of the most widely watched competitive events in the world — fighting games have now broken into mainstream television. Now, it seems that they’ve caught the eye of one of the biggest sporting events around.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Tony Estanguet, co-president of the Paris Olympic bid committee, stated that he was planning to hold talks on the possibility of adding esports into the 2024 Summer Olympics. “We have to look at it because we can’t say, ‘It’s not us. It’s not about Olympics,’” states Estanguet, “The youth, yes they are interested in esport and this kind of thing. Let’s look at it. Let’s meet them. Let’s try if we can find some bridges.”

Planning for the program for the 2024 Summer Olympics will start in 2019, and the final decision on what events to add will be made after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “There is some time to look at it, to interact, to engage,” Estanguet explains, “We will spend some time after (the IOC meeting in September) Lima to engage with new people and stakeholders. The IOC will have the last … say, if they want esports on the program. Let’s discuss among ourselves.”

While having esports at the Olympics would definitely be a big event, this isn’t the first time that an multinational athletic competition has added esports. The previous 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio already featured an “eGames showcase” that featured, among its games, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Meanwhile the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia will feature its esports competitions as demonstration events, ahead of esports inclusion as medal events in the 2022 Asian Games.

Source: Associated Press via ABC News

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Senko no Ronde 2 demo now out on the PlayStation Store in Japan

Shoot ’em-up slash fighting game hybrid Senko no Ronde 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC later this year. For those interested in trying out this unique fusion of both genres right now, a demo for the game is now available for download on PlayStation 4 in Japan.

The demo for Senko no Ronde 2 features four playable characters: Lev LeFanu, Beak Chang Po, Fabian the Fastman, and Mia Mikli. Players can try these characters out in Arcade Mode, Offline Battles, and Training Mode.

Those interested can download the 317MB demo over at the Japanese PlayStation Store (provided they have an account). Meanwhile, the full game will launch on PlayStation 4 and PC on September 7.

Source: PlayStation Store (Japan)

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GRAPHT signs Leah “Gllty” Hayes as their first international Street Fighter player

Hoping to expand their talent pool outside of Japan, esports organization Team GRAPHT have just announced that Leah “Gllty” Hayes will be joining as their first international Street Fighter player.

Known for her elusive and sometimes disrespectful Dhalsim play, Gllty is certainly no stranger to the South East Asian Street Fighter scene, competing at last year’s South East Asia Major as well as Japan Cup and Tokyo Games Show. Paired with her performance at ELEAGUE’s Street Fighter V Invitational, she’s certainly made a big impression on the Japanese community.

She joins players like Fuudo, Haitani, Yukadon, MOV, Go1 and Dogura as part of GRAPHT’s fighting game division. With Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite also on the horizon, you may see Gllty tearing up bracket with fellow teammate Takumi. Definitely keep an eye out for her black and yellow Dhalsim at SEAM 2017 in October.

Source: Team GRAPHT; [feature image by GRAPHT]