TSM|ZeRo has posted a video to explain his absence from recent Super Smash Bros. for Wii U competition: a series of health concerns worsening over the last two months, topped off with finger surgery. ZeRo describes in detail the process in which a growth was removed from his middle finger, and the pain of his ongoing recovery–both in the physical sense, and the emotional pain of being kept from playing the game he loves.
ZeRo closes the video by apologizing to his supporters for not being on the competitive scene, and states that he hopes to be playing again for 2016’s Community Effort Orlando on June 24-26. Being kept off the controller himself hasn’t stopped him from offering advice to help players improve their own Smash game.
Julio Fuentes has been making quite a name for himself in the Street Fighter V community as of late. With a 2nd place finish at Winter Brawl X, getting 13th at Final Round 19, a 5th place finish at NorCal Regionals, and finally winning Texas Showdown, he was granted a sponsorship with Echo Fox in late April. After a 2nd place finish at Northwest Majors VIII and getting 13th at Dreamhack Austin, he also sits comfortably in 4th place in the Capcom Pro Tour Standings, with 211 points.
When asked about his sponsorship, he noted that he’s not sure how to feel about it. “It feels very surreal. Like, I drive, I’m like, ‘damn, I’m feeling Hollywood, but I know I’m not Hollywood.’” “It feels good, the star power. I love it. My friends are very happy for me. I’m just gonna milk the crap out of this opportunity, and I’m gonna go everywhere, get all the experience, soak it all up like a sponge. It’s gonna be nothing but good.”
On the subject of getting name dropped by many people to Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall, Fuentes feels that it is mostly due to the flair of his Ken play.
When I was on the East Coast, whenever I would do any custom-looking combo, these guys would just go insane, ‘The Fuego. The fire is so cool’!” “I think the combo flair from the game itself got me some attention, my performance as well, my results, but yeah, Ken is fire man, he’s really attractive.
The topic then shifted to his fellow members of The Trinity, which also consists of fellow Ken players Chris Tatarian and Brenttiscool.
In regards to the sponsorship stuff, good stuff is going to be coming to them too. Can’t say anything, but it’s really good stuff. I’m sure they’re gonna get sponsored very soon, and Trinity is probably gonna do more stuff together. People love Trinity man.
When asked about Ken’s seemingly “YOLO stuff” and how long it could pay off, he had this to say.
You know what, Ken, he has unsafe stuff, but he’s a very instinctual feeling character. But you can’t be too instinctual, because then you’re an animal. You gotta be a little bit of both, that’s Ken. Sometimes he looks like an animal, but sometimes I play very controlled. It depends on the player too. If I know I can shake a guy up playing a little crazy, I’ll keep doing it, ’cause it works, it gets in their head. You’ve gotta be a little fearless playing Ken.
Julio advised any potential Ken players out there not to be afraid.
If they don’t punish it, you keep doing it. Just be comfortable that all the things you do are unsafe, have your hit confirms up to date, you gotta react to everything, and you have to play very instinctually and in control and you will do great with Ken.
Finally, Fuentes was asked how his parents were reacting to his sponsorship. However, he revealed that, at the time of this interview, he still hadn’t told them.
I have been showing them like the eSports stuff, I send my Mom the links via text. Like Red Bull, Yahoo eSports, ESPN, so she knows and she messages me back like, ‘What is all this?’ ” “I’m like, ‘Mom it’s just video games, I guess.’” “I don’t think she’ll understand, but I’ll tell her. Maybe if I get a bigger accomplishment, I’ll be like, ‘Now do you understand the scope of how big this stuff really is?’” “Some people don’t see the size of how big eSports is. We do, of course, but to the average person, especially like immigrant parents, right? They don’t know. But I’ll tell them soon.
Capcom’s Chairman and CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto has confirmed in a Financial Results Briefing for investors that Capcom is taking Street Fighter V’s rocky launch into consideration, and will endeavor to learn from the experience for future releases.
In his presentation, Tsujimoto states “… some aspects of ‘Street Fighter V’ needed more polish, such as the lack of content and server issues at launch.” He adds “… it’s better to give a little more time to development than before, and have made slight adjustments to our portfolio.”
Street Fighter V’s lean offline content and unstable offline play certainly raised vocal critcism even as the gameplay mechanics and new characters were welcomed by the community. With the game’s sales coming up shy of Capcom’s expectations, it seems those early complaints have been noted by the company.
Kenzo Tsujimoto’s full presentation can be read here.
There has been a breakthrough with Leffen’s visa and now we have another pro-Smasher who is finally able to compete outside of his home country. It has been announced by the host of Get On My Level 2016, TorontoJoe, that Mexican wunderkind Hydra Gaming’s MK Leo has attained a Canadian visa and will be able to attend his first tournament outside of Mexico.
The 15-year-old Meta Knight main has been causing upset after upset in Mexican tournaments, consistently coming first or second whenever he enters, defeating other top Mexican players like Hyuga and his own brother Javi along the way. Leo really made waves when he first beat Dutch Sheik Mr R at Smash Factor 4 and then a year later, he defeated another notable Sheik in the form of Vinnie in the finals of True Combo, cementing his position as Mexico’s best and potentially best Meta Knight in the world.
Leo’s placing at GOML 2016 will be the true decider as to whether he is truly a top 10 player, or if his success is restricted to only in his homeland. With other top players like Mew2King, Ally, Nairo and Mr R in attendance, Get On My Level 2016 is looking to be an absolute belter of a tournament for Super Smash Bros for Wii U.
GOML 2016 is running from May 20-22 in Ontario, Canada and is hosted by EvenMatchupGaming. Check out their Twitter and the smash.gg page for any upcoming news on other top players attending the tournament.
Unbeaten super bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) has been reinstated as the WBA’s ‘super’ champion.
The Cuban was originally stripped of the belt last November due to inactivity and Scott Quigg was promoted to WBA ‘super’ champion.
IBF champion Carl Frampton outpointed Quigg in a unification clash in February to capture the WBA title, but was subsequently stripped of the belt for failing to negotiate a first defence against Rigondeaux.
The WBA have now decided to reinstate…
Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) has failed a drugs test ahead of his world title fight against American Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs).
The Russian is scheduled to challenge WBC champion Wilder at the Megasport Arena in Moscow on May 21, but Povetkin tested positive for the banned substance meldonium and the heavyweight bout is now in doubt.
Meldonium – the same drug found in tennis star Maria Sharapova’s sample at the Australian Open – was added to the banned…
Recently, while taking some time in between streaming KVOxTSB 2016 and appearing on DaigotheBeasTV, Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez decided to stream a few first-to-ten sets with some top Japanese players from Kyamei’s Game Café Bar, Cross-Up, located in Umeda Osaka, Japan.
In these sets, you’ll see the Ultra Diamond-Ranked Dhalsim, coming off of his 3rd place finish at KVOxTSB 2016, going up against such names as Woo, who some may remember for his 2nd place finish in The King of Fighters XIII at Evo 2013, Team Hail Mary’s Dogura, known for his skill in a variety of games, Mamespider, and KVOxTSB Champion, HM|Go1-3151, who’s proving to be one of the strongest Chun-Lis in the scene right now.
Art also streamed some games from his hotel in Tokyo, where you’ll see him face off with another pair of top Chun-Lis, GZL Koichi, who himself placed 17th at KVOxTSB, and Harumi, a former Ibuki player in Ultra Street Fighter IV.
There are around seven hours of high-level footage here, so sit back and enjoy!
Coming off his second place finish in Pokkén Tournament at DreamHack Austin, Team Detonate’s Wesley “Cat Fight” Garland is planning to continue dominating this year’s Pokkén Championship Series. DreamHack was the first of six events in the Championship Series, which boasts a prize pool of more than $100,000.
Using only his Chandelure, DTN8|Cat Fight fought his way to the end of the bracket before losing to Bim?’s Sceptile 3-2 in Winners Finals and again by a score of 3-1 in Grand Finals. With the win, Bim? qualified for the Pokkén World Championships, which will be held in San Francisco on Aug. 19-20.
While he may not have been the weekend’s champion, the result was still satisfying for Garland. The 26-year-old player began his fighting game career around age 10, learning infinites in the arcade version of X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Having run the gamut from Marvel Super Heroes to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Cat Fight is a fan of fighters in general, but has narrowed his competitive focus to Pokkén alone.
Competitive Pokkén continues to grow, building on an influx of new players while drawing more and more attention from the larger fighting game community. Based on pre-registration numbers, CEO 2016’s Pokkén tournament will be more than twice the size of DreamHack Austin, and is the fourth most popular game overall.
“There is an overlap from [other] games for sure, mostly from the Smash side of things, but then you have Coach Steve and Chris G who’ve been entering tournaments as well,” DTN8| Cat Fight said of the burgeoning community. “It’s pretty awesome to see people from all over the FGC pick up the game.” He added, “the Pokkén scene itself is growing every day with players who consider this their first venture into competitive gaming. I think we’re gonna see a lot of dedicated, solo Pokkén players pop up in the near future.”
DTN8| Cat Fight has certainly dedicated himself to learning the game, having played Chandelure since the game’s release. The ghost pokemon is considered to be one of the stronger among the cast, but is not without its flaws. Garland said he was concerned about Suicune going into DreamHack, but managed to find a new assist (Electrode) to develop a new zoning pattern in the matchup. He managed to overcome DreamHack’s fourth place finisher, Circa|Suicune Master, on the way to top eight.
“I feel like this game is so balanced that I can’t say there is any singular dominant character currently. Tourney results are everywhere, even in Japan it seems,” DTN8| Cat Fight said. “There are some matchups that I shake my head at, but nothing that can’t be overcome.”
Garland was the first in North America to achieve S-Rank online in Pokkén, but his Chandelure was not built on netplay alone. As a New York-based player with roots in New Jersey, Garland has no shortage of live competition in his area, and he works to make the most of it. Within the tri-state area, Pokkén has grown enough to have an event almost every day. Cat Fight told Shoryuken that he attended a dozen tournaments in the month before DreamHack.
“Grassroots tournaments are still just as exciting and motivating to win in,” Cat Fight said. “ As long as there’s good people and I get to play, I’m happy.”
Prior to being sponsored, DTN8| Cat Fight was affiliated with ESE Gaming, a group that runs weekly tournaments for Smash and Pokkén in Middletown, N.Y. He also attends local weeklies at Hitbox Arena in Kinnelon N.J., No Pause Tournaments in Stroudsburg, PA and Bros. Calamity in Hatboro, PA.
In preparation for the Pokkén Tournament World Championship DTN8|Cat Fight plans to attend CEO 2016, Evo 2016 and the Pokémon US National Championships. The top two finishers at Evo and the nationals will automatically qualify for the 64-man bracket at the World Championships in August.
This weekend is Battle Arena Melbourne 8, the second of 14 qualifier events for Capcom Pro Tour Asia. The event will take place at the CQ hotel in the Melbourne CBD in Melbourne, Australia. BAM8 is a Street Fighter V Capcom Pro Tour 2016 ranking tournament so in addition to Australia’s best SFV players, you can expect to see strong international players like RZR|Xian, EG|Momochi, MJS|Haitani, and Mago attending to try and earn ranking points and qualify for the Asia regional finals. Along with SFV, BAM8 is also a Worldwide Tournament Qualifier for Team Ninja’s global DOA5LR event, Battle Royal 2016! Team Ninja are supporting the tournament with a $1,000 Prize Bonus and the 1st place winner of Dead or Alive 5 will receive travel and accommodation at December’s NEC XVIII finals in the USA.
With a $1000 pot bonus for DOA5LR, $500 pot bonus for SFV, $500 pot bonus for Smash 4 and Melee for top 3 Australian players, $1000 pot bonus for T7, and $300 pot bonus for BBCPEX, we can expect to see many heavy hitters joining each of these tournaments. For Smash 4, you can expect to see international players like Umeki, 9B, Abadango and Mr. R appearing thanks to a community funding drive.
A playable demo of The King of Fighters XIV has been making it’s way around the global tournament circuit, with new planned stops popping up regularly. We recently learned that CEO 2016–which takes place just two months before the launch of the game–now counts itself among the growing list of upcoming events to host a playable version of the title. If you live in the US and weren’t able to make PAX East or won’t be attending Combo Breaker, this might be one of your only chances to learn the game before the rest of the competition.
While the demo will not be a tournament title, it has been confirmed that CEOtaku in October will be one of the earliest major events to carry the game. Be sure to register and book your stay early, if that interests you.
Community Effort Orlando 2016 is happening June 24-26 in Orlando, Florida. More information can be found here. CEOtaku takes place October 1st-2nd in Orlando as well. Get a head start on preparing for that event here.
