Everyone has a fighting chance
12,000 attendees, 10,000 competitors, and a quarter of a million dollars on the line. It seems like this Evo thing is a pretty big deal! To provide a look at the level of success this year’s Evolution Fighting Championship achieved, this infographic has been released compiling a variety of event totals. Have a look!
Source: Evo (Twitter)
Attendees at this year’s Gamescom will get the first look at a new Viking-themed “survival roleplaying adventure” game called Valnir Rok. The game action takes place on a Nordic island where the goal is to survive and thrive despite the harsh, unforgiving environment. Players will face off against beasts of legend, explore ruins, learn about forgotten deities and join or conquer clans.
Steel Series has announced a new pair of gaming mice that are tailored for esports with “true 1-to-1” sensors. The Sensei 310 and Rival 310 mice both feature TrueMove3 sensors that are designed from the ground up to be the go-to mouse for competitive gamers.
After a season of hard-fought competition, the best of the Brawlhalla world are coming together in Atlanta this November for the second annual World Championship. Alongside invited players from the Brawlhalla circuit, there will be regional championships to bring players from all four corners of the globe to compete in the world final.
These regional qualifiers will begin September 2nd, with them running every weekend until October 8th. If you do not get into the World Championships via these online events, there is a last chance event at the Brawlhalla Championship Expo where four players will proceed to the final bracket.
Both the Championship Expo and World Championship will be held at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta, Georgia, with over $100,000 in cash prizes up for grabs. You can already sign up for the BCX Open Qualifier on smash.gg, with all of the action being streamed over on the Brawlhalla Twitch channel.
Source: Brawlhalla
Sources close to the in-development game have reported via social media that NEXON Korea has indeed closed down the California-based NEXON Studio responsible for the forthcoming Nebula, a game we’ll now never know much about…
After showing off some of the August balance changes in a recent Watchtower stream, NetherRealm has released the full patch notes for Injustice 2. Along with general improvements, move list corrections and various bug fixes, the majority of this patch saw NetherRealm breaking out the nerfing stick and cutting some of the top tiers down to size.
You should hopefully see less Trident Rush spam, as Aquaman’s infamous special move has seen its damage lowered, along with his Tentacle Strike meterburn causing a hard knock-down instead of a pop up. Atrocitus’ feline friend Dex-Starr now drains more trait meter whenever he uses a move, meaning less oppressive offensive when this cat comes to play. Speaking of cats, Catwoman’s Whip Strike has had its hit angle adjusted, with her meterburn Cat Dash now losing its armor. Batman now takes longer to recover following a meterburn Batarang and Black Adam’s overall damage output has been reduced. He’ll no longer do 600+ damage if he lands his full trait to Riddle of the Sphinx combo, thank Amon-Ra.
There are loads more changes so check over on the official Injustice 2 website, to see who has been spared the nerf bat and has been blessed with buffs. As part of this patch, two new shaders have been added to character customization. The Electrum shader colors your fighters silver, while the Tournament shader dresses your character in glistening gold. The sale of each Tournament shader will help support future Injustice 2 tournaments and community events, so consider buying it if you want to support the Injustice 2 competitive scene.
Help support the E-sports/Tournament scene by getting these Injustice 2 Tournament Shaders !!pic.twitter.com/y9kgFeKugS
— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 31, 2017
Ed Boon has also posted a curious image over on his Twitter, showing a downed Cyrax from the movie Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. This has — quite naturally — sent fans into a frenzy at Cyrax being added as a possible fighter in Fighter Pack 2. Knowing Ed Boon’s penchant for trolling, I see this more as a red herring, rather than a confirmation that another Lin Kuei ninja is joining the Injustice 2 roster.
— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 31, 2017
Sources: NetherRealm; noobde
Because of the huge contribution to Make-a-Wish International from fans of Pokkén Tournament during the Evo 2017 Player’s Choice donation drive, it was declared that while Pokkén would not see the main stage at Evo 2017 (that spot went to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3), Evo would provide $10,000 in pot bonuses to other Pokkén events this year. The first recipient was NorCal Regionals. Now, the last four events that will receive a $1000 boost to their Pokkén Tournament pot have been named, and are as follows:
The 4 remaining tournaments getting $1,000 pot bonus from @Evo are: Final Boss (NJ), Absolute Battle 8 (TX), SCR (CA), and Revo (London)!
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) July 31, 2017
Sources: Joey Cuellar (Twitter); Final Boss (smash.gg); Absolute Battle; Revolution; SCR
With sponsorship deals with Red Bull, Twitch, Hyper X, and Cygames, a book about his history and fight game philosophy (The Will to Keep Winning), and a recently-translated manga that tells the stories of his rise to prominence in the Japanese arcade scene (Daigo the Beast: Umehara Fighting Gamers!), Daigo Umehara is very embodiment of the professional fighting gamer. His fame precedes him, even while his competitive success had somewhat waned in Street Fighter V Season 2 (though the Abuget Cup 2017 results now suggest otherwise, see below).
I managed to get some time at Evo 2017 to ask some questions of The Beast — with the assistance of a translator — shortly before Street Fighter V‘s top 8 battled at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Replies have been edited for clarity.
Zavian “mushin_Z” Sildra: OK, so this is Street Fighter V‘s second year at Evo; how would you say the competition has changed this year, as compared to the previous year?
Daigo “The Beast” Umehara: Hm. Well, I think it’s clear that the latest changes are character changes, and those characters that have been upgraded — made stronger — are the ones that are doing well in competitions.
mushin_Z: What has been your main focus in training to compete at Evo this year?
Daigo: I knew that there would be more Americans — out of all the nationalities, Americans would be the highest number among the competitors at Evo, so I chose characters that are commonly played by Americans, and focused on the match-up against them.
mushin_Z: You’ve seen more success playing Guile this year, after your switch from playing Ryu; do you feel Guile suits your own approach, your own style, in this game?
Daigo: To be honest, yes: I would like to see Ryu improved. And that’s not the case… But, I do like the playstyle I can showcase with Guile, so I’ve been enjoying playing Guile quite a bit.
mushin_Z: Excellent. So, you were knocked into losers bracket by Haitani. What are your thoughts on that particular match?
Daigo: [pauses to consider] I don’t know if I could have played differently. I don’t recall making any notable mistakes against Haitani in that match… but if I really think hard, maybe Haitani was aware of my tendencies and playstyle, so he knew how I was going to play.
mushin_Z: Now, Justin Wong took you out of the tournament entirely; same question: thoughts on that match?
Daigo: In Street Fighter V, we haven’t really played against each other, so most of the time I felt we were trying to “feel each other out”… And as a result, we had a great match, an exciting match — but this time, I didn’t succeed. Justin was ahead of my game. [Umehara ultimately made it to 17th in the final Evo 2017 SFV standings.]
Hx.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara vs. Echo Fox|Justin Wong in the top 32 of SFV at Evo 2017.
mushin_Z: Compared to last year, MOV is the only player in last year’s SFV top eight that is also in this year’s top eight. What does that say to you about the current state of competition in Street Fighter V?
Daigo: The climate of competition gets largely affected by character balance, rather than the playstyle or characteristics of the players. The faces of the top players we see in competition changes all the time, and it’s exciting to see new faces at the top, but I would like to see something different.
mushin_Z: Would you say that the changes between Season 1 and Season 2 were too drastic, and brought this about?
Daigo: Yes.
mushin_Z: So, what is number one on your Street Fighter V “wish list”? If you could change one thing about the game to suit your personal style, what would it be?
Daigo: Hm… It’s very difficult to pick one! The overall impression I get from this game: every competition, every match, tends to finish in the same style — no matter who is playing; whether they’re a veteran or a newcomer, skilled player or not, there’s no variation. And that’s, you know, not exciting. As a player it’s not fun, and I’m not sure if it’s not fun for viewers either; so, what I would like to see — if I could request anything — then I would like to see something to allow a wider range of strategy, more choices which players are allowed to make, so each player’s characteristics could shine in the game.
mushin_Z: What’s your next stop on the Capcom Pro Tour?
Daigo: Earliest option I heard of — in two weeks I might go to Indonesia [Abuget Cup] at the end of July, or I’ll go to the Germany in the beginning of August [Fight Club NRW]. [Umehara indeed competed at Abuget Cup, and took his first #1 spot at a Capcom Pro Tour event this year!]
mushin_Z: Do you feel you have a strong chance to make it to #1 at Capcom Cup this year?
Daigo: Well, before I can speak about Capcom Cup, I need to qualify! I have a long way to get there. But my skill set is improving, and my game is getting better… I feel more confident than before. So, I’m looking forward to it — I would like to see myself up there, too.
mushin_Z: Any words about the English debut of the Daigo the Beast: Umehara Fighting Gamers! manga?
Daigo: This manga covers my story, my arcade days, in my teens… day in, day out, I went to arcades. So, I’m curious to see how much of that — the atmosphere, the experiences we had at arcades, will be conveyed to the American audience, understanding that arcades were not as common as they were to Japanese players back then. I would like to see the passion we shared among ourselves back then conveyed to the new audience; that’s my wish.
mushin_Z: Very cool. In your own words, what does competing at Evo mean to you?
Daigo: Of course, Evo has evolved into the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, and has a long history of supporting players — and all that considered, I think most folks come here to compete because it’s big, and has that history. They think “I need to win at Evo,” even more than the CPT in general, I’ve seen so many like that around me.
But for me, Evo is different, and much more significant. It gave me a chance to be a pro gamer. Through my experiences fighting and competing at Evo, I was able to express myself to the audience outside of Japan, and people got to know me. So, Evo has a special place in my heart. Even if Evo hadn’t grown to this size and significance to fighting games, I would still come to Evo, no matter what. That’s how much Evo means to me.
mushin_Z: That’s awesome. Is there anything else you’d like to express to SRK readers about Street Fighter V or Evo?
Daigo: My loss yesterday makes me really feel the desire to make it into the top eight at Evo next year! For sure — I want to make it.
Additional sources: Capcom Fighters, XusesGB; smash.gg
Street Fighters in Western Canada will want to note the return of Alberta Beat Down, set to take place in Edmonton, AB on August 25-27, 2017. Canada Cup Gaming’s Lap Chi Duong is expected to be in attendance, as well as many other notable players from the Canadian FGC. The games featured this year are:
An event for the Universal Fighting System collectible card game will also be held. Venue information and more details can be found on ABD’s Facebook event page; registration is open now on smash.gg.
Sources: @Dezmu; Alberta Beat Down
The free-to-play platform fighter Brawlhalla currently has more than 5.3 million players in the PC Early Access version; now bound for PlayStation 4 as well, the game will soon be holding a closed beta on the console. However, developer Blue Mammoth Games has also announced that cross-play functionality between PS4 and PC players will be available at launch, “Allowing all warriors the chance to prove their mettle and reign supreme as the one true champion.” Keeping a single competitive community is certainly a plus for the future of the Brawlhalla scene.
Those eager to join the brawl on PlayStation should see the arrival of the “Founder’s Pack” on the PlayStation Store sometime this week, granting immediate beta access, the All Legends pack, and special Founder’s exclusive PS4 content for the price of $19.99 USD.
Source: Brawlhalla [press release]
