SuperData, an industry trends research firm, has revised its holiday forecast for the VR sector noting its struggling sales and calling it the “biggest loser” for the year. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, SuperData indicated that the notably lower-than-expected sales and the fragmentation of the title line up alongside the competing peripherals contributed to the sluggish sales.
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike’s Cooperation Cup Volume 15 Will Be Streamed in English
Due to overwhelming demand from fans who love to watch top level 3rd Strike, 2017’s Cooperation Cup will be streamed with English and Japanese commentary, thanks to Twitch Japan. For those who maybe aren’t as familiar with the tournament series, Cooperation Cup is a legendary Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournament which has been running since 2002, where teams of up to five players duel it out in an intense one-day event.
As well as the main event, the warm-up Pre-Cooperation Cup will also feature English commentary, giving English speaking players some prime time viewing in early January. Cooperation Cup is set to run on January 8th 2017 at Tokyo Leisure Land Palette Town in Koto, and it will be streamed on the Gamenewton Twitch channel.
Japan's biggest annual 3S team tournament Cooperation Cup will be streamed in English.https://t.co/O9LLcrsc8a@jchensor @ultradavid
— FGEnglish丨Jun-ichi11 (@FightingGameESL) November 29, 2016
Source: matsuda4951 via FightingGameESL
New Display Lag Latency Test Compares Street Fighter V to Ultra Street Fighter IV
How does input lag stack up between these two Street Fighters?
Input latency experts Display Lag conducted a new lag test on both Street Fighter V and its immediate predecessor Ultra Street Fighter IV, using an LED button and a Brook Universal Fighting Board for input. From the video description:
This is an input lag test comparison between Street Fighter V and Ultra Street Fighter V on the PlayStation 4. Frames are calculated between the first moment the light begins to dim till the first in-game action. Both games were updated to their latest patches as of 11/23/2016. Average input lag is rounded up to the nearest 0.1 frame.
Over 20 test presses each, Street Fighter V averaged at 6.2 frames of lag, versus Ultra Street Fighter IV’s 4.3 frames of lag.
Thanks to CharmingRogue for the tip.
Source: DisplayLag
CEO Gaming Announces CEO Dreamland, a Dedicated Three Day Smash Event from April 14th-16th
With Super Smash Bros. growing in popularity and size at recent CEOs, the time has finally come for the series to get its own dedicated event. Similar to CEOtaku, CEO Dreamland will be a three day extravaganza run from April 14th-16th 2017, especially for Smash and other platform fighters, acting as one big preparation event before 2017’s Summer of Smash begins.
Taking place at CEO’s usual venue, the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Florida, the original Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will have tournaments at CEO Dreamland, with Brawlhalla and Rivals of Aether featuring on the title card too. With doubles growing in popularity and often causing clashes with singles, all doubles tournaments will begin on Friday, with singles starting on Saturday and Sunday dedicated to finals.
There will be other exhibitions throughout the weekend, alongside a special Easter Egg hunt for various prizes. If there are other platform fighters you wish to see represented at the event, make sure to reach out to the CEO Gaming team as side tournaments will be welcome with approval from staff. Additional information is available on the CEO Gaming website and registration will go live on smash.gg on December 16th, so mark your calendars for then.
Announcing CEO Dreamland! Our Smash focused event experience April 14-16, 2017!
Read about #CEODreamland here: https://t.co/31aDo2m2CC pic.twitter.com/UFsxXpybO1
— CEO Gaming (@CEOGaming) November 29, 2016
As for CEO 2017, Smash 4 and Melee will still feature at the event but only as singles tournaments. CEO Dreamland acts as the place to train ahead of the summer, so use this specialist Smash event to get in as much practice as possible.
Source: CEOGaming
CKT|Fergus Offers an Extensive Primer for New Players Coming to Tekken 7
As is the way with any new fighting game, Tekken 7 is going to have an influx of players who aren’t as well versed in 3D fighters, yet have previous experiences playing other 2D games like Street Fighter or Guilty Gear. To help ease players in and help port their fundamental FG knowledge from 2D to 3D, Irish Tekken player CKT|Fergus has written this helpful primer to guide players into the world of Tekken.
After deciphering some Tekken jargon concerning input notation and specific technical terms–for example, that start-up frames are called impact frames–Fergus provides small guides to the majority of the Tekken 7 cast, covering their pros, cons, and difficulty to pick up.
If you are like me and last played a 3D fighter during the days of Soul Calibur V, the document is excellent for showing which characters I should potentially play when Tekken 7 drops, based on my preference of play style. Fergus does intent to update the primer with characters like Miguel and Lee once the community knows their changes from Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
A guide to help people coming from other FGs to pick a character in T7 that fits their playstyle
Hope it helps
https://t.co/RgZikiMZcU
— Fergus2k8 (@CKT_Fergus) November 28, 2016
Source: Fergus2k8
Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono and Capcom Cup Finalists to Be Part of Meet-and-Greet Session at PlayStation Experience
At this weekend’s PlayStation Experience, Sony will be hosting a special meet-and-greet and autograph session with several video game personalities; this will be the first time ever such a session will be held at PSX.
With Street Fighter V and Capcom Cup being a part of PlayStation Experience, it should come as no surprise then that Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono will be a part of this meet-and-greet and autograph session. In addition to Ono however, the finalists of Capcom Cup will also be a part of this event.
Being able to openly approach and interact with top players as peers is a hallmark of the fighting game community. That said, this offers fans from outside the community who may not exactly be familiar with our culture and conventions an opportunity to meet some of our best players.
The meet-and-greet and autograph session with creators at PlayStation Experience will take place on December 3, Saturday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Yoshinori Ono and the Capcom Cup finalists’ timeslot will be from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Source: PlayStation Blog
New King of Fighters XIV Version 1.10 Screenshots Hint at Just How Much the Game’s Graphics Are Improving
As you may already know, SNK announced that they would be adding graphical upgrades to King of Fighters XIV with update version 1.10. The update itself is set to be playable at the PlayStation Experience later this weekend.
To whet the appetites of those looking forward to the update, SNK has released a couple more teaser screenshots, showing Sylvie and Xanadu in the new build. You can see these screenshots below.
The great thing about these is that they’re similar to early promo that SNK put out early this year. This means that a direct comparison can be made, such as what Gatoray has done below.
KOF XIV Sylvie comparison Ver 1.05 (Left) & Ver 1.10 (Right)#KOFXIV #KOF14 pic.twitter.com/ZtQFU9zrBG
— Gatoray (@gatoray_kof) November 29, 2016
KOF XIV Xanadu Comparison
Ver 1.05 (Left) & Ver 1.10 (Right)#KOFXIV #KOF14 pic.twitter.com/9S4nvdu71C— Gatoray (@gatoray_kof) November 29, 2016
Here, we can clearly see the updates to the game’s lighting system, most noticeably the improved self-shadowing on Sylvie and Xanadu. Additionally, there also seems to be changes to the way the engine handles transparent materials.
We’ll get to see more of KOFXIV’s graphical update at this weekend’s PlayStation Experience.
No More Mutants? Rumored Marvel vs. Capcom 4 May Exclude X-Men Characters
Marvel licensing issues may knock all mutant characters out of the game at design level.
Even with the circulating “leaked” logo turning out as a fake, the rumors that Marvel vs. Capcom 4 is a real thing and will be revealed at the PlayStation Experience seem to be intensifying rather than dying down, getting a strong second wind from Polygon and GameSpot joining the chorus proclaiming the game’s existence. Significant of both of their reports, however, is the claim that a new Marvel vs. Capcom 4 would lean heavily on the Marvel Cinematic Universe for characters, and thus lose the characters that aren’t included in that licensing realm: namely the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
Loss of series mainstays such as Magneto and Wolverine–as well as popular newcomers to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 such as X-23, Phoenix, and Deadpool–would be a strong blow to many fans, even as the MCU could bring interesting new fighters in the form of Ant-Man, or Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, among others.
Maximilian took to his YouTube channel to discuss the implications to the fans–including himself–of the removal of the X-Men from the series:
Maximilian raises an interesting point that the most recent reissues of the Marvel vs. Capcom games included only the Marvel Super Heroes/MvC titles, and conspicuously not X-Men vs. Street Fighter–indicating that this separation may have been a long time coming already.
VesperArcade also discussed his thoughts on the potential mutant purge, and offers a lengthy video that lays out what the Marvel licensing landscape looks like right now, and what characters would thus be viable for a new MvC game if this reported removal is true:
Is a Marvel vs. Capcom 4 without mutants a dealbreaker for you? Until confirmation from Capcom, it’s still all just rumors.
Sources: VesperArcade; Maximilian Dood; GameSpot; Polygon
Misfits Joins the FGC by Signing Ryan “The Moon” Coker-Welch as Their First Player
Yet another esports team is branching out into the world of fighting games. European esports organizations Misfits has signed Super Smash Bros. Melee player Ryan “The Moon” Coker-Welch as the very first fighting game player to join their roster. After a brief stint with Kingsmen earlier this year, The Moon has gaining steam through 2016, with his Marth play vastly improving and earning him top 10 finishes at big tournaments like Heir 3, The Big House 6 and Blood for Blood.
Welcome to the family, @TheMoon112!
— Misfits (@MisfitsGG) November 29, 2016
His presence at Smash Summit 3 also won him a whole host of new fans, thanks to his comedic commentary throughout the whole event. The Moon will be representing Misfits at UGC Smash Open in Illinois this weekend, so expect The Moon trying to outshine some of the stars attending this event. With Misfits recently celebrating victory at the DreamHack Winter Overwatch Championships, let’s see if some of that success will rub off on their latest signing.
Speaking to ESPN Esports, Misfits owner Ben Spoont says that the team “will also be expanding into more FGC games in the coming weeks,” so keep your eyes peeled for more signings very soon.
Sources: Misfits.gg; ESPN Esports
– Hand of Fate 2 Headed to PS4 as Well as XB1
Defiant Development has announced that Hand of Fate 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 alongside the previously announced XBox One version. In addition to similar game play to the original Hand of Fate, the sequel will include companions, the first of whom is Captain Estrella Fiore. She is a ranged fighter who will remain with the player as long as the pair maintain similar interests.