Boxer Mike Towell dies aged 25 after KO loss

Scottish boxer Mike Towell has died in hospital following a fifth-round KO loss to Dale Evans on Thursday night at St Andrews Sporting Club in Glasgow.
Towell, who had been undefeated with 11 previous wins and one draw, was knocked down in the first round and again in the fifth prior to the stoppage of the British welterweight title eliminator.
The 25-year-old was stretchered from the ring and rushed to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Having suffered severe bleeding and swelling to the…

What “Illuminati Secrets” Are Capcom Hiding in Street Fighter V?

Perhaps Urien isn’t the only one with a hidden costume?

Capcom posted this to Twitter earlier today, and asked a single cryptic question:

sfv_illuminati_secrets_1
sfv_illuminati_secrets_2

The clear “differences” in question are the absence of costume components on both Necalli and Chun-Li’s Capcom Pro Tour outfits–Necalli’s coat and Chun-Li’s feather boa. This has lead to speculation that the modified costume is selectable by a button-press code, in the same way Urien can switch to his Street Fighter III look (hence the suspicious “Illuminatisecrets” hashtag); however, the reduced life bars have led others to consider that the costume parts have been “knocked off,” in a sort of battle damage.

sfv_costume_tease_differences

So far, no one has confirmed publicly which–if either–of these ideas is correct, or indicated a successful in-game replication; it is possible that whatever feature Capcom is teasing here may not even be part of the latest patch, and instead bound for a future update. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the answer!

Thanks to Isaac for the tip.

Source: Street Fighter (Twitter)

Massive Pot Expected at Northeast Championships for The King of Fighters XIV if 256 Entrants Met

Earlier this month, we had reported on the large pot bonuses accrued on The King of Fighters XIV for Northeast Championships 17 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time, the pot bonuses were totaling $3100, with portions being donated by Atlus, the game’s publisher, the Texas King of Fighters community, and Eric “Big E” Small–the NEC tournament organizer–himself.

While this was already large, it appears that there is more in store for this game, which is a part of SNK Playmore’s World Premier Tour at NEC17. According to the tweet below, should The King of Fighters XIV hit the 256-entrant mark, the guaranteed pot for the game will reach $7000. Doing the math, that adds up to over $1300 more in pot bonuses than the original $3100 originally stated by Big E earlier this month.

The biggest and best game in SNK Playmore’s arsenal just keeps getting bigger and better in the tournament scene. NEC17 will be held at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia on December 16th through the 18th. You can sign up for the event at their website.

Source: ON.Gunsmith Cats (Twitter)

Street Fighter V’s Latest Update Fixes Survival Mode Bug

As we reported previously, the September 22 update evidently introduced a bug to Survival Mode that prevented players from receiving earned rewards upon completion. Last night, Capcom rolled out a patch to both platforms to address this.

The patch apparently also addresses an issue of cross-play compatibility that arose between the PC and PlayStation4 versions of the updated game. VesperArcade headed to his YouTube Channel to discuss the patch–and its purpose–in a little more detail, in the video below:

Source: Street Fighter (Twitter); VesperArcade

Tyson Fury tests positive for cocaine

WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) has reportedly tested positive for cocaine.
According to ESPN, Fury tested positive for the substance benzoylecgonine, the central compound found in cocaine, in a test administered by Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) on September 22, the day before he pulled out of a rematch with former champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Team Fury announced that the Briton withdrew from the Klitschko fight because he had been declared medically unfit…

Billy Joe Saunders to make first title defence against Artur Akavov on October 22

WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0 12 KOs) will make his first title defence against Artur Akavov (16-1 7 KOs) on October 22 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.
The Briton dethroned Ireland’s Andy Lee in December 2015 but pulled out of a scheduled defence against Ukrainian Max Bursak in April due to a hand injury.
Now he will fight Russia’s Akavov, who is a southpaw and holds the WBO European Middleweight title. Akavov has won all of his last 11 fights and has never been…

Learn More about Hokuto and Kairi’s Dark Past in These Street Fighter EX CFN Portal Profiles

After taking a brief detour to spotlight the Kanzuki Ninja Legion and Juni over the weekend, the CFN Portal site has resumed the coverage of Street Fighter EX characters, as the Shadaloo Activity Report looks into the dark pasts of two of the “Siblings of Destiny,” Hokuto and Kairi. Shadaloo Senior Official NIN has also returned to assist Private Nakagawa in describing these characters, providing his own commentary about the fighters he created.

Private Nakagawa: A little surly girl who’s a bit unsociable. It seems she has her motives and reasons, but…? She’s close to her young sister Nanase.

street-fighter-ex-hokuto

Basic Info:

Name: Hokuto
Height: 162 cm
Weight: 51 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: September 23rd
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Fashion
Dislikes: Machine Instruction Manuals

Private Nakagawa: A girl who inherited the blood of the Bushin family, and the old art of Mizukamiryū. [“Water God Style”] However, she doesn’t adhere to either, fighting with a personal style that is not trapped in both schools. Informed she has an older brother that is still alive, she embarks on a journey to find him.

NIN: She was the character whose move inputs changed the most from the development phase. We had a hard time figuring out her new inputs, and the adjustment was difficult. I remember that the programmer had to do a fine tuning of the camera during her win pose, in order to show her cute face.

Next we move on to her darker alter-ego, that emerges when the Seal of Blood is removed: Bloody Hokuto! [Literally: “Hokuto whose Seal of Blood was removed.”]

Private Nakagawa: The rightful successor of the ancient art of Mizukamiryū. Apparently, her name during childhood was Shirase. [“News of Death”] It seems there is a secret behind it…

street-fighter-ex-bloody-hokuto

Basic Info:

Name: Hokuto
Height: 162 cm
Weight: 51 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: September 23rd
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Nothing
Dislikes: Nothing

Private Nakagawa: The head of the Mizukami family confined in the “Seal of Blood,” with the thought, “obliterate Kairi.” Fearing the dissolution of the seal, Hokuto transferred the right of succession to her sister Nanase, and set off on a journey to confront her brother. The true form of the ancient Mizukamiryū, the original assassination fist. Hokuto is actually an illegitimate child, her mother being from the head house and her father from a branch family. In order to hide this secret, the head of the family raised her as Kairi’s sister. But the grudge the branch family nursed for its mistreatment transferred into Shirase under the form of a suggestion, and on a stormy night, a Shirase possessed by that suggestion, threw Kairi into the sea, from the ship in which he was traveling.

NIN: I think I’ll pass the whole task of explaining who this character is to the EX Drama CD, LOL.

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Now we’ll take a look at Kairi, to see what role he plays in this story.

Private Nakagawa: The handsome young man who possesses one eye and a peculiar character. He lost his memory many years ago. He continues to fight as a martial artist to pursue his past.

street-fighter-ex-kairi-logo

Basic Info:

Name: Kairi
Height: 178cm
Weight: 77kg
Blood Type: Unknown
Birthday: January 14th
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Nothing special
Dislikes: Nothing special

Private Nakagawa: The youthful one-eyed man with a unique atmosphere who inherited the house of Suijin Kobojutsu. He lost his memory when he was thrown from a cliff [which actually contributes to his different appearance in EX2]. “You must challenge your limits.” The power held in these words are what spur him to fight.

NIN: To differentiate him from all the other projectile characters, he is the one whose abilities rapidly changed throughout the series. The names of his Special Moves, at any rate, use excessive words or make full use of kanji. I get a nostalgic feeling thinking of the days of hard work flipping through pages of dictionaries.

Finally, here’s a look at Kairi’s alternate form that debuted in Street Fighter EX 2, that represents him succumbing to his demonic powers.

Private Nakagawa: Kairi’s appearance has completely changed from the way he previously looked. He carries an ominous ki as he mercilessly defeats his enemies. What on earth happened to him!?

street-fighter-ex-kairi-2nd-form

Basic Info:

Name: Kairi
Height: 178cm
Weight: 77kg
Blood Type: Unknown
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Nothing special
Dislikes: Unpleasant Memories

Private Nakagawa: This man has walked the path of carnage, in order to regain his lost past, and in order to survive. He lost his memories and was thrown into the sea during a storm, by Shirase who had been burdened by a form of hypnosis placed upon her during childhood, until he finds himself exhausted after arriving at the cliff from which he fell. Furthermore, Hokuto’s seal has been dispelled due to their fight to the death, which reawakens his own memories. Puzzling as to why his sister wants him dead, he attempts to find the end of his destiny as a warrior.

NIN: Well, I know my hair would probably turn white if I were thrown down. I kind of had the intention of making a somewhat epic backstory. I remember writing up until this point, but a better example would be the EX Drama CD… a continuation of this story is on the CD!

 

That wraps up the second round of EX profiles. Unfortunately, after not having any posts for two days of this week, SFV’s Chief Director Takayuki Nakayama tweeted that “The Character Guide had been updated daily, but because of my schedule becoming very busy, I will now update on a random basis. It’s true because I have been writing this every day. But I’ll still have time to tweet when I’m in the mood.” It sounds like it could be a good while before we see the rest of the EX Characters profiled, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated here on Shoryuken the next time the CFN Portal happens to update with a new profile!

Sources: CFN Portal; Takayuki Nakayama (Twitter)

 

Capcom Addresses Street Fighter V’s PC Security Concerns on Steam, Encourages Users to Update

The September 22 update for Street Fighter V–containing Urien, and a host of other changes–caused a lot of headaches for PC users, bringing about technical issues and security concerns that prompted Capcom to roll back part of the 1.09 update on PC.

Capcom has since taken to the Steam Community page to confirm to users that the quick-fix patch offered on September 23 indeed removes the aforementioned security risk, and encourages PC users to install it. They also indicate that a future tool, available in the next few days, will automatically remove the offending insecure file (presumably Capcom.sys, reported to remain in the system folder post-rollback, prompting many users to remove it manually).

Read their original statement on the Steam Community here.

Source: Steam Community via Street Fighter (Twitter)

Release Date of BlazBlue: Central Fiction in North America Announced

It was previously announced that Aksys Games would be releasing the much anticipated Arc System Works fighter in early November in North America. They took that promise 100% literally, as we now have a release date for BlazBlue: Central Fiction: slated in North America for November 1st on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. Is that early enough in November for everyone?

The game will ship with a choice of Standard and Limited Editions, with the Limited Edition containing a copy of the game, a collector’s box, deluxe 100-page hardcover art book, mini Noel Vermillion Nendoroid figure, and 10-track BlazBlue Song Interlude III soundtrack. For pad players looking to get a nice pad to compliment the game, Aksys Games will also have an edition of the game that includes a HORI Fighting Commander available for sale on their website.

While we have known about the October 6th Japanese release date for a while, we are still waiting on word of the firm European launch of the title, which is still slated for sometime in November.

Source: Gematsu

A Tale of Two Players: Xian and Commander Jesse Talk Brooklyn Beatdown

With ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown just days away from hitting New York City, everyone is in preparation to fight for a chunk of the $75,000 prize pool up for grabs. Today, there are two interviews available from two players on different ends of the spectrum.

Firstly, theScore esports sat down and talked with Team Razer’s Xian, Evolution champion for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition in 2012, runner-up at Korea’s Street Fighter V Crash, and currently ranked #6 in the world rankings. Xian has built a reputation for playing characters not viewed as viable and achieving immense success with them, and his pick of F.A.N.G in Street Fighter V is no exception. In the interview, he talks about his pick, as well as Ibuki–his pocket character–and hints at having a new strategy going into Brooklyn Beatdown.

On the opposite end, ESL talked with Commander Jesse, an up-and-coming player who is currently ranked #216, who qualified for winning at Wednesday Night Fights. While not favored to win Brooklyn Beatdown–which sports a stacked bracket including Razer’s Infiltration and the aforementioned Xian to name just a couple–the Southern California Dhalsim player states that he is excited to face off against the best in the world.

Sources: theScore esports; ESL