Category: News

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Ricki Ortiz Talks Training for Capcom Cup, Street Fighter V Season 2, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and More with Yahoo! Esports

While much has already been said about Capcom Cup 2016’s finals and its winner Du “NuckleDu” Dang from Team Liquid, that’s only half of the Capcom Cup story. The other half involves Du’s final opponent, fellow American Ricki Ortiz from Evil Geniuses, who helped make history by giving Capcom Cup 2016 an unprecedented all-American grand finals set.

In this new interview, Yahoo! Esports’s Zorine Te talks to Ricki Ortiz regarding her performance at Capcom Cup. Specifically, they focused on how she prepared for it, leading her to go from being just a regular top 8 finisher at tournaments, to a strong contender to take Capcom Cup. According to Ricki, the change in her performance comes down to having structured training sessions (with Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez) for two-and-a-half weeks in preparation for Capcom Cup. Prior to this, having to travel to a lot of tournaments prevented her from getting in any proper practice time.

“I promised myself that for two and a half weeks straight I would practice hardcore with [Filipino Champ] and just focus on practicing completely to get the sharpest I could in the game,” Ricki states. “I wasn’t sure how much I could improve until Capcom Cup, but I knew I had to put my all into it.”

As for having an all-American grand finals at Capcom Cup, Ricki describes it as “monumental.” In addition to this, she states that she feels that this means that America is catching up to Japan. While she won’t say that America is better than Japan, she says that at the top American players can compete with Japan’s best players, and the latter won’t automatically be favored. “It’ll be a fifty-fifty toss up” says Ricki.

In addition to Capcom Cup, Ricki also talks about Street Fighter V’s second season. This includes the possibility of dropping her main character, Chun-Li. According to her, she likes the character and, if she remains competitive, she will definitely be sticking to her.

That said, she’s definitely taking a “wait and see” attitude. Looking to see how Capcom changes the balance and how the tiers stack up. She also wants to see who the new characters are, and she feels that these characters “have to be really cheap” if Capcom is doing a lot of tweaking and buffing.

Finally, she talks about the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, with Street Fighter V possibly taking a back seat to the former when it comes out. Ricki points out that she got her start playing competitively in the Versus series. She plans to get sharp enough in Street Fighter V so that she can then focus on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite when it comes out, putting the former in the back-burner somewhat. This, she says, should allow her to juggle both games.

Of course, that’s just part of what Ricki talks about in the interview. Head on over to Yahoo! Esports to read the rest.

Source: Yahoo! Esports

Photo c/o Yahoo! Esports

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Ricki Ortiz Talks Training for Capcom Cup, Street Fighter V Season 2, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and More with Yahoo! Esports

While much has already been said about Capcom Cup 2016’s finals and its winner Du “NuckleDu” Dang from Team Liquid, that’s only half of the Capcom Cup story. The other half involves Du’s final opponent, fellow American Ricki Ortiz from Evil Geniuses, who helped make history by giving Capcom Cup 2016 an unprecedented all-American grand finals set.

In this new interview, Yahoo! Esports’s Zorine Te talks to Ricki Ortiz regarding her performance at Capcom Cup. Specifically, they focused on how she prepared for it, leading her to go from being just a regular top 8 finisher at tournaments, to a strong contender to take Capcom Cup. According to Ricki, the change in her performance comes down to having structured training sessions (with Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez) for two-and-a-half weeks in preparation for Capcom Cup. Prior to this, having to travel to a lot of tournaments prevented her from getting in any proper practice time.

“I promised myself that for two and a half weeks straight I would practice hardcore with [Filipino Champ] and just focus on practicing completely to get the sharpest I could in the game,” Ricki states. “I wasn’t sure how much I could improve until Capcom Cup, but I knew I had to put my all into it.”

As for having an all-American grand finals at Capcom Cup, Ricki describes it as “monumental.” In addition to this, she states that she feels that this means that America is catching up to Japan. While she won’t say that America is better than Japan, she says that at the top American players can compete with Japan’s best players, and the latter won’t automatically be favored. “It’ll be a fifty-fifty toss up” says Ricki.

In addition to Capcom Cup, Ricki also talks about Street Fighter V’s second season. This includes the possibility of dropping her main character, Chun-Li. According to her, she likes the character and, if she remains competitive, she will definitely be sticking to her.

That said, she’s definitely taking a “wait and see” attitude. Looking to see how Capcom changes the balance and how the tiers stack up. She also wants to see who the new characters are, and she feels that these characters “have to be really cheap” if Capcom is doing a lot of tweaking and buffing.

Finally, she talks about the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, with Street Fighter V possibly taking a back seat to the former when it comes out. Ricki points out that she got her start playing competitively in the Versus series. She plans to get sharp enough in Street Fighter V so that she can then focus on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite when it comes out, putting the former in the back-burner somewhat. This, she says, should allow her to juggle both games.

Of course, that’s just part of what Ricki talks about in the interview. Head on over to Yahoo! Esports to read the rest.

Source: Yahoo! Esports

Photo c/o Yahoo! Esports

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Panda Global Announces Key to Genesis 4 Online Qualifiers for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Following on from their previous online qualifiers for Shine 2016 and The Big House 6, Panda Global are partnering up with smash.gg yet again for another set of tournaments to award one lucky player with a trip to Genesis 4. Much like the other events, this “Key to G4” series is for North American residents only, so don’t expect any Europeans winning that golden ticket to San Jose.

Seeing as Genesis is less than a month away, there will only be two individual qualifiers on New Year’s Day and January 2nd, with the top 8 to be held later in the week as the top 4 from each event go forward. As with previous events, the top three placers will get prizes, but only the winner will receive that flight and entry to G4.

Registration will open on smash.gg tomorrow and the rules regarding connection quality and so on will be the same as previous qualifiers, so read up on their rules to get a feel for what you need to compete. In general Genesis 4 news, while registration is now closed, players can still choose what events they wish to play in, as well as who they want as a teammate for select doubles events. This information must be decided by January 2nd and if you are just wanting to watch the finals, there is now a special Top 8 Spectator pass available for purchase.

Sources: BearUNLV; Genesis_Smash

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Get Eaten Alive by this Mileena Mortal Kombat XL Combo Video

Think you could survive five minutes with a literal man-eater? Neither could I, but that’s the challenge posed in this Mortal Kombat XL combo video.

Today, we have a combo video of none other than Mileena, who travels through her Ravenous, Piercing and Ethereal variations to devour her competition. It also flows through a few stage-specific interactable combos as well.

Source: Robert Cullen

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Killer Instinct World Cup Now Has a $30,000 Pot Bonus, Courtesy of the KI Ultra Tour

If you need more of an excuse to get out to San Antonio in March, it has been announced that the Killer Instinct World Cup will have a $30,000 prize pot, which all 32 contenders will get a slice of. 27 players will have already qualified for the KIWC via events like Kombo Klash and by gaining Ranking Points, but five spots are still left in the final bracket.

There will be four single-elimination brackets held at KI World Cup, where players can try to gain one of the final spots in the top 32, with the fifth qualifier spot being decided via a special Pro Battle. Tickets for the Killer Instinct World Cup go on sale alongside the release of Kilgore on January 3rd, so get your wallets ready for a week today.

Killer Instinct World Cup will be played on the current patch–patch 3.6–so get practicing for the competition in March. For all the information concerning hotels, other events and the general schedule of KIWC, make sure to check out the Facebook event for the details.

Source: Killer Instinct Cup

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Bandai Namco Shows off First Gameplay Footage of Gundam Versus

During the special Gundam Festival livestream, Bandai Namco has shown off live footage of Gundam Versus for the first time. Acting as the first Gundam Vs. title designed for consoles, this livestream acted as a showcase for the closed alpha test that was happened earlier in Japan, which gave a very small number of players the chance to battle it out in super-fast mech fights.

You can watch two of the demonstration matches below, showing off the general pace and direction of combat. Similar to assists you see in something like Marvel, pilots can call in special “Striker” Gundams to attack the enemy or distract them while you focus on another target. There are two new Awakening systems in Gundam Versus; the Blaze and the Lightning Gear. The Blaze Gear is similar to something like X-Factor, where a player gets a short boost of strength upon activation, which can increasing the damage they deal while decreasing the damage they take.

The Lightning Gear is an Awakening whose effects last much longer, but they are not as drastic as the Blaze Gear. If you are looking to act as the support Gundam in your two-person team, it’s best to pick Lightning Gear. While Bandai Namco are keeping tight lipped on a release date, Gundam Versus will have an Asian English version so mech pilots shouldn’t have to wait too long following the Japanese release.

Source: HD Kirin via Gematsu

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AceKingOffsuit Throws Down the Gauntlet for All Urien Mains Appearing on the Capcom Pro Tour in 2017

Do you play Urien? Are you going to be playing a Capcom Pro Tour event in 2017? Would you like a little bit of a reimbursement on your entry fee, just in case you don’t reach a payout? If your execution is grand, you just may be in luck.

AceKingOffsuit is throwing down a major gauntlet for all Urien players. The character has a 70% damage punish on Akuma off of a whiffed EX Shoryuken. However, it is heavily situational, and requires V-Trigger and full meter in order to perform. However, to the lucky person to be able to do this on stream at a Capcom Pro Tour event during the main tournament, AceKingOffsuit is offering $50.

Sources: AceKingOffsuit; Foxx

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Boxing Week Sale: Get 30% Off Evo Merchandise Until December 31

2016 closes with one last blowout on Evolution-branded apparel.

From now until December 31, 2016, you can save 30% off on Evo merchandise such as T-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, hats and more; just use the code “30off” at checkout. Head over to the Evo Merch store now to snag some deals.

Check out the announcement trailer for Evo 2017 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas to keep those hype fires burning!

Source: Evo (Twitter)

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The King of Fighters XIV New Demo with Upgraded Graphics Is Now Available in Asia

As previously reported, The King of Fighters  XIV will be getting a new demo reflecting the graphical updates that are coming to the game with the 1.10 patch in January. While the demo is not yet out in North America, it is already available to download on PlayStation Network in Asia.

The demo features 7 characters: Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Shunei, King of Dinosaurs, Terry Bogard, Yuri Sakazaki, and Leona. The playable modes are the tutorial, versus, and training modes.

For those wondering just how much the graphics have changed, we’ve uploaded some comparison screenshots between it, and the existing retail build of the game (version 1.05).

Click to view slideshow.

As you can see from the screenshots, the characters now have much more prominent self-shadowing. This gives them a sense of “depth” that just wasn’t there before.

In addition to this, Gatoray has also uploaded this video from the demo, showing off the updated graphics in motion, as well as also giving us a glimpse of the new costume colors.

The King of Fighters XIV’s 1.10 patch is set to release on January 10.

Sources: PlayStation Store; Gatoray

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– Justice is a Martial Arts MMO in Development by NetEase

NetEase, developers of Revelation Online, has named its next MMO “Justice”. Said to have been in development for the past four years, the game is heading to beta soon according to 2P.com. Justice is based on Chinese martial arts novels and “will support 3D and 2.5D modes”. In addition, combat will rely on realistic mechanics.