Goddamn, those are great designs! Like, I don't have a problem with the ridiculous "sexy" costumes, but I do understand and agree that there's needs something better happening in the game. Especially if they're going to have tournaments on broadcast television and want a larger audience to take the game/esport seriously.
Maybe send that image to Capcom through social media every day with the message "Make stuff like this, these are good!"
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Anyone else try the KOF XIV demo? It was released on PS4 a few days ago. Comes with a free theme! Anyway, it features only seven characters (and no online):
1. Kyo
2. Iori
3. Mai
4. Shun'ei (the new hero, looks like he's from Persona)
5. Nelson (boxer)
6. Sylvie (WTF)
7. KING OF DINOSAURS
The new Max Mode doesn't seem to have as much utility as HD mode had in XIII. But otherwise, game feels very good.
Also, R.Mika's costume is fairly representative of wrestler's costumes in the wrestling scene in Japan. The context of her costume can be confirmed by a simple google image search
In fairness, if there was a guaranteed way to stay in Mika's outfit maybe more Joshi wrestlers would wear something close to it. Mika's outfits benefit immensely from being in a fictional universe where nip slips and such are impossible(for us to see).
Kaori Housako's outfit in the link is basically a sports bra and shorts for picture 16. Kana's outfit was the similar. Kana and her tag team partner were in a few gravure vids.
I emerge from my Monster Hunter coma to resume the duties I've neglected. And let's do this proper.
A Week in Fighting Games: EVO Edition
As Sunday's Street Fighter 5 finals closed in, they looked primed for disappointment. Saturday's bloody top 32 battles took out most fan-favourite players, leaving mostly a field of highly-competent Japanese players and their Chuns and Nashes.
But there was Fuudo as well, with his unique Mika, sitting on top of the winners bracket. And Infiltration was there as well. And so was LI Joe, the final American player riding out of that supposedly easy A block. And maybe he did have a smoother ride than some others, but he still had to go through that top 32. And that meant getting past Kazunoko, a match nobody expected him to win.
While LI Joe only placed 5th--which is still very, very good considering the competition--he managed to bring all the American drama needed to Street Fighter 5's ESPN2 debut.
His victory over Eita fed the American crowd, sure, but his surprised interaction with his father resonated across the world, and will go down in fighting game history.
EVO is more than just tournaments these days. It's also an advertising platform, so there were announcements there, and also at Comic-Con. Let's look at the news.
Guilty Gear
During the Guilty Gear finals, the game's director got on stage to announce the long-awaited Dizzy DLC.
Not only was she available immediately, but everyone gets the DLC free for a limited time. This includes people who do not yet own the game--if you ever plan on getting Xrd, download Dizzy immediately.
To top that off, when customers reported a bug in the PS3 version of Sign that made it so players who downloaded the Dizzy DLC couldn't play her unless they also bought all the colours--a separate DLC that wasn't free.--ASW just made the colours free as well.
(Maybe that's just me, but I find the new Killer Instinct one of the ugliest fighting games going. Way too many particle effects just to excuse the power of current-gen consoles, and the character models are poorly lit.)
But they also said there's a classic skin, so I guess that's what we consider okay these days?
NRS
NetherRealm Studios also did their big Injustice 2 reveals, showing off new trailers and our first glimpses at Wonder Woman and Blue Beetle.
I know what I said about KI's characters, but at least they're not NRS.
Tekken
Not one to be left behind, Harada showed off some new Tekken 7 stuff, including fan-favourite and FAQ-confusing Bob, and a new female take on the Raven character.
Which is probably why at Comic-Com, where Namco announced they'd be holding the Soulcalibur 20th anniversary discussion, all they really had to say was, "If you want a new Soulcalibur game, spam twitter." Which is basically what happened last time, but they can't reveal anything until Tekken 7's cycle is complete.
The new CPT DLC includes a single stage, 3 costumes (one of which isn't even shown), 22 colours, and 2 titles. All for the low, low price of $25 USD. Oh, and it's only available till November.
This package is modelled on the DotA 2 Compendium, a crowd-funding package Valve releases every year in the lead-up to their big The International tournament. A percentage of every Compendium (and CPT DLC) package sold goes into the prize pool. And while Valve is (and probably should be) criticized for how low that percentage is, the compendium itself is decent value for money if you're into that. It certainly isn't 25 bucks for a couple of skins, but more like $10 for dozens of items and skins and in-game activities. If you're into that stuff, it's actually worth buying.
Capcom limited DLC comes with that same crowd-funding promise, but zero transparency. How much goes where? Who knows. Capcom won't even say what they're putting in until after they've made their sales, leading some to believe that that they may not even bother if they don't reach some unspoken goal.
Add in the lingering problems like rage quits and the lack of daily Fight Money challenges promised from the game's first announcement, and even the die-hard fans are starting to look sideways at Capcom's progress and strategies.
The problem being, Juri was fully playable in story mode, so the reveal doesn't actually reveal anything. We already have combo videos and full matches.
And the real issue is that, despite Combofiend's vociferous claims that every character in SF5 is totally viable and amazing and great right now, and that they're really happy and satisfied with the game's balance, we are now in the wilderness. The claim was no balance changes before EVO, and possibly not till the end of the year. But that's not too far off now, and it's up to Capcom to decide whether or not they want to let the current state ride to the end of Capcom Cup in December.
Other
Finally, they announced an EVO Japan sister tournament sponsored by Capcom and Namco. This is important and interesting news, especially the sponsorship part. For those who don't know, there are very strict gambling laws in Japan, and one big reason Japanese players began to travel (and still do) overseas in the first place is because you can't really win money in the tournaments there. They cannot use pot earnings for the prize pool, which is standard everywhere else, and have to rely on sponsors and their donations. Organizing a Japanese tournament that is also for international players is unprecedented for that reason alone, so keep an eye on how that plays out. (And we're already having this problem outside of Japan, with Justin Wong's EVO placing in MVC3 earning him a whopping $78. Difficult to justify the effort for that. No surprise it's getting dropped from majors.)
Also, R.Mika's costume is fairly representative of wrestler's costumes in the wrestling scene in Japan. The context of her costume can be confirmed by a simple google image search
That's not true? At all? Even a little bit? They tend to wear ring gear that's a lot like what American women wrestlers wear. Just plug "all japan women's pro-wrestling" into YouTube and click literally any video.
I mean, Nadeshiko is pretty spot on. R. Mika is in lolwut land. Has been since Alpha.
There's more skin on display generally in joshi now compared to the AJW heyday (personally I think Mika should totally have an AJW inspired costume line up but whatever) to be honest, but yeah it's still nowhere near on par with the grossly impractical shit Mika is in.
EVO is more than just tournaments these days. It's also an advertising platform, so there were announcements there, and also at Comic-Con. Let's look at the news.
The future. More sponsor begging in the coming months.
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
He wasn't bad at GG way back in the day, but it's been like... more than a decade since he could be considered anywhere near a competitive threat in a GG game.
Posts
Maybe send that image to Capcom through social media every day with the message "Make stuff like this, these are good!"
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Anyone else try the KOF XIV demo? It was released on PS4 a few days ago. Comes with a free theme! Anyway, it features only seven characters (and no online):
1. Kyo
2. Iori
3. Mai
4. Shun'ei (the new hero, looks like he's from Persona)
5. Nelson (boxer)
6. Sylvie (WTF)
7. KING OF DINOSAURS
The new Max Mode doesn't seem to have as much utility as HD mode had in XIII. But otherwise, game feels very good.
In fairness, if there was a guaranteed way to stay in Mika's outfit maybe more Joshi wrestlers would wear something close to it. Mika's outfits benefit immensely from being in a fictional universe where nip slips and such are impossible(for us to see).
Kaori Housako's outfit in the link is basically a sports bra and shorts for picture 16. Kana's outfit was the similar. Kana and her tag team partner were in a few gravure vids.
A Week in Fighting Games: EVO Edition
As Sunday's Street Fighter 5 finals closed in, they looked primed for disappointment. Saturday's bloody top 32 battles took out most fan-favourite players, leaving mostly a field of highly-competent Japanese players and their Chuns and Nashes.
But there was Fuudo as well, with his unique Mika, sitting on top of the winners bracket. And Infiltration was there as well. And so was LI Joe, the final American player riding out of that supposedly easy A block. And maybe he did have a smoother ride than some others, but he still had to go through that top 32. And that meant getting past Kazunoko, a match nobody expected him to win.
While LI Joe only placed 5th--which is still very, very good considering the competition--he managed to bring all the American drama needed to Street Fighter 5's ESPN2 debut.
His victory over Eita fed the American crowd, sure, but his surprised interaction with his father resonated across the world, and will go down in fighting game history.
And possibly other history as well.
And that ESPN2 broadcast? Let's call the reactions mixed.
https://streamable.com/xjtt
Reactions were similar from inside the community about the glut of Nash players in the top 8.
And, of course, the finals. Infiltration's Nash vs. Fuudo's Mika.
Infiltration eschewed the provided translator to lay out his grand strategy for the finals.
(A strong contrast to the comments of the Pokken Tournament champion.)
---
Of course, there's always fallout after a major tournament. And drama.
Closer to the tournament, Poongko hits up an after party to show off his footsie game.
Justin Wong tries to get some support from his family.
---
Elsewhere, Infiltration goes on stream to explain how he prepared, what he did, and what he'd planning next.
---
EVO is more than just tournaments these days. It's also an advertising platform, so there were announcements there, and also at Comic-Con. Let's look at the news.
Guilty Gear
Not only was she available immediately, but everyone gets the DLC free for a limited time. This includes people who do not yet own the game--if you ever plan on getting Xrd, download Dizzy immediately.
To top that off, when customers reported a bug in the PS3 version of Sign that made it so players who downloaded the Dizzy DLC couldn't play her unless they also bought all the colours--a separate DLC that wasn't free.--ASW just made the colours free as well.
King of Fighters
And a trailer for the story mode.
And during the week, Team China, which includes the game's new main character.
They also released a demo, which players quickly went to work on.
And had a big tournament in Korea, with good players showcasing new characters.
(They also said Garou: Mark of the Wolves is getting a PS4 and Vita port.)
Killer Instinct
(Maybe that's just me, but I find the new Killer Instinct one of the ugliest fighting games going. Way too many particle effects just to excuse the power of current-gen consoles, and the character models are poorly lit.)
But they also said there's a classic skin, so I guess that's what we consider okay these days?
NRS
I know what I said about KI's characters, but at least they're not NRS.
Tekken
All that, and still no release date.
Soulcalibur
Which is probably why at Comic-Com, where Namco announced they'd be holding the Soulcalibur 20th anniversary discussion, all they really had to say was, "If you want a new Soulcalibur game, spam twitter." Which is basically what happened last time, but they can't reveal anything until Tekken 7's cycle is complete.
Street Fighter
The new CPT DLC includes a single stage, 3 costumes (one of which isn't even shown), 22 colours, and 2 titles. All for the low, low price of $25 USD. Oh, and it's only available till November.
This package is modelled on the DotA 2 Compendium, a crowd-funding package Valve releases every year in the lead-up to their big The International tournament. A percentage of every Compendium (and CPT DLC) package sold goes into the prize pool. And while Valve is (and probably should be) criticized for how low that percentage is, the compendium itself is decent value for money if you're into that. It certainly isn't 25 bucks for a couple of skins, but more like $10 for dozens of items and skins and in-game activities. If you're into that stuff, it's actually worth buying.
Capcom limited DLC comes with that same crowd-funding promise, but zero transparency. How much goes where? Who knows. Capcom won't even say what they're putting in until after they've made their sales, leading some to believe that that they may not even bother if they don't reach some unspoken goal.
Add in the lingering problems like rage quits and the lack of daily Fight Money challenges promised from the game's first announcement, and even the die-hard fans are starting to look sideways at Capcom's progress and strategies.
Then, the Juri trailer.
The problem being, Juri was fully playable in story mode, so the reveal doesn't actually reveal anything. We already have combo videos and full matches.
And the real issue is that, despite Combofiend's vociferous claims that every character in SF5 is totally viable and amazing and great right now, and that they're really happy and satisfied with the game's balance, we are now in the wilderness. The claim was no balance changes before EVO, and possibly not till the end of the year. But that's not too far off now, and it's up to Capcom to decide whether or not they want to let the current state ride to the end of Capcom Cup in December.
Other
Finally, they announced an EVO Japan sister tournament sponsored by Capcom and Namco. This is important and interesting news, especially the sponsorship part. For those who don't know, there are very strict gambling laws in Japan, and one big reason Japanese players began to travel (and still do) overseas in the first place is because you can't really win money in the tournaments there. They cannot use pot earnings for the prize pool, which is standard everywhere else, and have to rely on sponsors and their donations. Organizing a Japanese tournament that is also for international players is unprecedented for that reason alone, so keep an eye on how that plays out. (And we're already having this problem outside of Japan, with Justin Wong's EVO placing in MVC3 earning him a whopping $78. Difficult to justify the effort for that. No surprise it's getting dropped from majors.)
That's it for now. What did I miss?
(Oh yeah, and some guy ran on stage during the Marvel finals, but I wasn't watching.)
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
There's more skin on display generally in joshi now compared to the AJW heyday (personally I think Mika should totally have an AJW inspired costume line up but whatever) to be honest, but yeah it's still nowhere near on par with the grossly impractical shit Mika is in.
The future. More sponsor begging in the coming months.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Infiltration is a genius.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I think Decapre is gonna make it soon.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Someone once called something I wrote, and I quote directly, "quite possibly the gayest thing i have ever read."
I can take it.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I sincerely hope that you'd written all-male erotica because then that would be the highest compliment!
According to the schedule.
IMO Capcom execs would want to have more content that isn't stages and costumes available for sale.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some definite phallic imagery in there.
In other news, Daigo is going to stream Xrd on Friday. Maybe you know, maybe you don't, but he's a Guilty Gear player from way back.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I didn't know that! Who did he play??
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
"UMEHARA GA"
is a meme directly stemming from him playing Sol in GGXX.
He wasn't bad at GG way back in the day, but it's been like... more than a decade since he could be considered anywhere near a competitive threat in a GG game.
but it's really just an excuse to screw around on stream. his stream is, after all, about having fun.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Steam: TheArcadeBear
The moment Alex was released, we could've legit said "12 Angry Men"!
Tons and tons of cut frames to fit it into the cart. It was not fun to play at all.
I loved this picture in my youth.
Ryu be like 'Yeah fuck you too"
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
"When's Urien?"
The FGC in 1 hour.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Urrrrgghhh, I hope not. We don't need to watch her rubberband teleporting back into place over and over anymore.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream