Daigo Umehara's Event Schedule 2015

- Canada Cup's Master Series [January 9-11]
- 5th Niconico Shotenkaigi [January 18]
- Yonpahi radio show [January 23]
- 6th Niconico Shotenkaigi [January 25]
- Taipei Game Show [Jan 31]
- Tokaigi 2015 [Feb 1]

Friday, December 31, 2010

Tokido attending Final Round XIV

Tokido revealed on his blog today, and it's also confirmed by MarkMan, that the he'll attend Final Round XIV fighting game tournament in Atlanta between March 11-13. There'll be streaming, too.

Probably Umehara will join later?

Umehara on Famitsu Wave

The recent now-on-sale Famitsu Wave magazine will come with a DVD featuring Daigo Umehara in Tougeki 2010 and the SF4 Final rematch (exhibition).

In case you don't know, the final is between Team Okozukai 2000 yen (RF, Kindevu, Momochi) versus Team Takeda Ke (TKD, Bon-chan, Umehara).

The final was heartbreaking. Umehara missed the chance to become the first and only player in history to win both Evolution and Tougeki in the same year on the same game TWICE.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

GG year-end streaming

GODSGARDEN were streaming 12-hour show that ended just now. There're many guests from Japan's fighting game community including a staff from 4gamer.net who was on the screen just 2 minutes then went back for the last train.

Mago was there but no one knew about Tokido.

The show is separated into 3 parts. Part1 Part 2 Part3 (You can't rewatch Nico if you aren't paid members.) The most interesting thing is the proposal of the idea of Evolution tour to KSK and everyone on the stream said they want to go.

There's still no new information about Evolution Japan but the staff on SRK said that there'll be an annoucement in January.

A mysterious picture on KSK's recent tweet looks like the venue that they revealed months ago. If it's a new picture then something is being planned.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Team Mad Catz new member to be announced in January

As teased in this post, MarkMan from Mad Catz teased us that a new member of Team Mad Catz will be announced in January 2011.

Well, ...Tokido?

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

GG X 4Gamer Chapter 1: SSF4AE First Impression

I saw this on GODSGARDEN's Twitter last night and was going to read it later but I woke up to find (via SRK) that someone translated the whole article already! That's great!

The article is another good work from 4gamer.net. The Japanese news site did some scoops about GODSGARDEN before and used to have GGO2's stream embedded on top of their front page.

KSK mentioned in the article that Tokido was going to be late. So this's the appointment Tokido forgot? (via Tokido's Twitter)

Monday, December 20, 2010

Nuki talks Umehara SF4

This's the most recent (Dec.19) video clip of Nuki talking about his friend Daigo Umehara and Street Fighter IV. Many know Nuki as a (really*) good SF3 player, but not many know that he's also a good entertainer/talker.



- Nuki wanted to play SF4 but when he tried, he felt boring.
- He was told by Ume that SF4 isn't a Ryu game at first, but he wondered why Ume became top Ryu player.
- He joked that he just can't beat Ume in a game, he's finding the right game. Until then, he'd probably release a CD singing about how he can't win Ume. ( just like I can't beat Air Man)

*Umehara and Nuki are the only players in the history to win both Evolution and SBO (Tougeki) in the same year on the same game.

Friday, December 17, 2010

SSF4AE: Daigo Umehara's first impression on Famitsu

First part
- His first thought is "So this's the end of projectile characters...." (laugh)
- Command grab characters are stronger than before.
- Projectile characters became weak, except Dee Jay.
- Ken is not a proper projectile character. He doubts Ken's potential. Ken's weak against Zangief.
- Zangief is strong against (now) powerful characters like C. Viper, Yun, and Yang. He wonders if there'll be more Zangief players.
- He confirmed that his main character is now Yun.
- He thinks Yun is strong, but Zangief is his bad matchup.Yang can fight a bit better.
- He thinks Fei Long is weak against Chun-Li, Honda. Bision (boxer).
- Fei Long is the strongest old character in AE.
- T. Hawk is troublesome to fight, but is very weak.
- He said Yun and Yang is strong like cheating while Makoto is reasonably strong.
- Guile is weaker, but he might use as a  sub.
- He said he likes the look of Yun since SF3 but didn't play because he didn't really put time into the game. Now SF4's Yun is strong so he picks him.
- Even strong, he doesn't use Zangief because it's not fun. He must be patient all the time.
- If AE is in EVO, he might go Yun as main, Sagat as sub to counter Zangief.
- Dhalsim's standing light kick is slower, that's critical point.
- Zangief could be a candidate to the strongest character.
- He thinks there'll be a lot of Yun and Yang players.
- Bison (boxer) is strong and viable against Yun, Yang, Fei Long, Viper.
- Juri is a no-no.
- He thinks AE is probably a YunYangFeiLongViper game.

Second part (not actually AE related, mostly Kuwait)
- A Kuwaiti Guy and Gouken player impressed him, probably the best ever seen.
- The event in Kuwait was dedicated to him. The entrance fee of his event is around 4,500 yen. The ticket to challenge him is around 1,500 yen.The ticket has his face on it. There're around 100 participants.
- The organizer guy is very rich, he has the biggest house he has ever seen.
- He thinks the most popular genre in Kuwait is actually FPS.
- He didn't like Kuwaiti food. He thinks Japanese will definitely not like it.
- He thinks he won't go abroad for a while, because no big event and he wants to spend time on AE.
- MvC3 will be popular in America, he thinks he wants to jump in, too. Although he doesn't know how much it takes to become a top player.
- The interviewer pointed out that there'll be a AE competition on Dec. 25 at Club Sega Shunjuku, which will be the first ever AE competition. Umehara wanted to join after hearing it.

New Tokido blog now up

Yesterday, Tokido promissed us his new blog, now his blog (http://tokido77.blog84.fc2.com/) was revealed via his Twitter. Most important, he'll write it all in English!

(NOW he moved to a new place: http://tokidoki77.blog138.fc2.com/)

Tokido is an entertainer, but he didn't blog or tweet much in the past. He used to have a blog, but abandoned. He (secretly?) has a Twitter account since March but didn't tweet until now.

On the same day, Markman (from MadCatz) tried to get in contact with Tokido, is this a hint on something big!?

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

World Game Cup 2010 video report

We had too little information on Daigo Umehara's first event of this year, World Game Cup 2010, but someone digged this video and posted it on Nico. It's a video report of the event centered around the Japanese players: Umehara, Fudo, Eita, Desora.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Shadowloo Showdown 2010 summary

- In top 8, Mago sent Tokido to Losers.
- In Losers, Tokido beat Toxic.
- In Winners final, GamerBee beat Mago 2-1 coming back from 0-1.
- In Losers, Tokido beat Humanbomb 2-0.
- In Losers final, Tokido eliminated Mago 2-1. Very close match.
- In grand final, Tokido missed the tournament point and lost to GamerBee......
- The stream was smooth and the commentators were good. 2,400 viewers peak.

Media
- Shadowloo's official YouTube
- Tokido works out!



Daigo Umehara interview @NorCal Regionals 2010

SRK posted a video interview of Daigo Umehara when he came for NorCal Regionals 8 (2010).


Daigo Umehara Interview by Shoryuken.com - Part 1 from Kineda on Vimeo.


Daigo Umehara Interview by Shoryuken.com - Part 2 from Kineda on Vimeo.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Picking up Tokido

Someone at Being a Scrub blog has a post about picking up Tokido from the airport in Australia. Don't miss if you're Tokido fans.

(via SRK)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Kao TV 2010.12.4

Watch here.

- 3,300 viewers peak
- Started 2 hours late.
 - They began the show in suspicious manner. There're 2 men taking video and photograph.
- Special guest! Kayo Police!
- And Kenzo (German player) was still there. (He was there before last month.)
- Mago went to Nagoya as told before, so he's not there.
- Kenzo kept losing to Kayo, he only won 1 game (out of 10?).
- Kayo did SRK>FADC>Metsu twice in her first two tries! (Better than Kokujin...)
- Tokido taught everyone some tricks, they're impressed.
- KSK announced a collaboration of Tekken tournament manager, TEKKEN WILL BE IN EVO X GODSGARDEN AND IT'S OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT ACKNOWLEDGED BY NAMCO JAPAN. (KSK later said he regretted revealing this too early.....)
- While others were talking, Kenzo showed some glitches in training mode.
- KSK is into the new Monster Hunter now, just like half of Japan. Tokido said he played 200 hours in 2G and used bow gun.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Arcadia 2011.1

Daigo Umehara usually appears on the cover of Arcadia magazine as he gets more and more popular, nothing new. But this month his picture looks more like a singer!

(They started calling him "Toushin" (闘神 = God of Fighting) since November issue.)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Kao TV 2010.11.26

- 3,900 viewers peak
- They put the ash tray on a stick again, this time it's Mad Catz's Chun-Li stick. LOL (The first time they put it on Hori's) Tokido was nice to put it away.
- There'll be Tokido T-shirt soon.
- "When's your first time seeing adult magazine?" Then they talked about adult mangas.
- Mago encountered Akuma player with gametag "Tokibo77" (fake Tokido)
- Tokido's latest TOEIC score is 645, used to be 730 when he's in the university.
- A fan asked Tokido and Mago to play Arcade Mode at Hardest. Tokido beat it without continue or losing to Seth. He lost only one round to Hakan, and perfect'd bonus stages.
- KSK used to have blue hair.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Umehara in Kuwait 2010 summary

Media
- A picture and schedule from Lucky Generation Gamers (organizer)
- The venue
- The stage
- A picture 
- Umehara with guitar! 
- Umehara playing Makoto
- Daigo’s K.O. Exhibition Report



In the video above, Umehara didn't wear the Mad Catz T-shirt, and wear white shirt instead. Was it because it's somehow illegal in the country?

Monday, November 22, 2010

Rare footages from Evo 2004

When someone begins with "Rare footage of Daigo..." it's not actually rare, but these seems rare, though. Someone just found these videos from Evo 2004 and uploaded them.

- SSF2T Grand Final: Daigo Umehara vs. John Choi
- SSF2T Final: Daigo Umehara vs. John Choi
- SSF2T Final: Daigo Umehara vs. Alex Valle

You'll also find videos of Kuni, Dan and Kindevu. Kuni knows English and was at Evo 2009. Kindevu stopped going to Evo since 2007, I think. Dan was probably the guy who came to Evo 2009 with Umehara.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

NorCal Regionals 2010 summary

- NorCal Regionals [November 20-21]
- Seth Killian revealed that Umehara's father is a martial artist.

SSF4
- See brackets here. (Pool A)
- Ume got 4th place.

2-1 LPN (Adon)
2-0 JuiceBox (Abel)

1-2 F. Champ (Ume went to Losers)
2-0 Alex Valle
0-2 Ricky Ortiz (Eliminated)


SSF4 Team
- Team Beauty and the Beasts: Ricky O., Daigo Umehara, Floe
- See brackets here.
- Umehara's team won the tournament.

3-1 Team Redact That (Floe lost, Ricky OCV'd)
3-0 Team Crouching Fierce (Floe OCV'd, even he didn't look good in previous match.)
3-2 Team Red Diamond Dragon Club (Floe lost first, Ricky took 2, Umehara took LAMERBOI.
3-1 Team Hood N****z (Floe took Bucktooth, Ricky took John Choi and Hsien.)

Winners Final
3-2 Best in US (Ricky beat Valle, Umehara beat Mike Ross and Marn.)

Grand Final
2-0 Best in US
3-2 (Floe beat Marn, Ricky beat Valle, Ume beat Ross.)
3-2 (Ricky beat Valle and Ross, Ume beat Marn.)



SSF2 Turbo HD Remix
- See brackets here. (Pool D)
- A match against Blue Tall Can
- Went to Top 8 (Day 2), still in the Winners.
- Umehara won the tournament.

Top 8
2-0 Bucktooth (They didn't know they had to win 3 rounds a game, but Bucktooth gave up on replay anyway showing his sportsmanship.)
2-0 Alex Valle
3-0 (3-2, 3-2, 3-0) Alex Valle (Umehara came back from two 0-2 in the first 2 games)



Media
- Umehara got tricked. (from Alex Valle's Twitter)
- Ume Heart Fusion



The stream
The stream was smooth. No lag at all. This's when you lower bit rate. I think it's good, because smooth LQ is better than lag HQ.

The biggest mistake is, in day 1, they used the worst commentators known to Street Fighter. Magus (glasses wearing Chun-Li player) and Darry (if I'm not mistaken) showed too little knowledge and they cannot entertain, especially Darry who randomly shouted what he thinks is cool. They had James Chen, Mike Ross, and JuiceBox around but they only put them on shortly. Surprisingly, JuiceBox is a good commentartor which is new to me. In the second day, however, they replaced them with S-Kill, Chen, and JB, THANK YOU.

In the first day, Umehara was on the stream only 2 times in SF4 singles. If I knew I wouldn't bother staying up that long. (sleepy+bad commentators) No one updated the bracket information until the top 8 was decided.

Current stream ratings


Picture quality Stream smoothness Display BOTH player and team names (team tournament)Onscreen live scoreOnscreen live bracket updatePresentation
GODSGARDEN A B at Ustream, A at Nico No team tournament YesYesC
Level|Up A B Only player NoNoB+
Team Spooky A B Yes YesNoA
iplaywinner B A Only team YesNoB+

Current commentator ratings


Insight Play-by-play Language Style
Seth Killian A+ A+ A+ A
James Chen A A B+ A-
UltraDavid B B+ A B+
JuiceBox A A- A B
Gootecks A A B- A-
Spooky B- A C B+
Skisonic B B C C
Magus F F D D
Darry C F F F

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Kao TV 2010.11.19

Watch here.

- 4,400 viewers peak.
- Broadcasted from the new Gamer's Vision. In the Ura Kao TV, KSK revealed that it's pretty close to Internet cafe. You can even sleep there. KSK expected to open in December.
- There're Hori ads posters in the background.
- There's a new corner, KSK and the gang will reply messages from fans. (You can submit your message at the GG's official website.)

Mago on Canada Cup
- Umehara said Canadian water is delicious, Mago thought it was weird. (How can water taste delicious?)
- The money matches tournament had 10 men participated, (CAD) $100 to enter. No Justin. Pot was splitted 7:2:1.
- In the grand final, Mago thinks Fei Long vs. Guile isn't good but after losing 2 games, he thought only Fei can make a comeback so he switched from Boxer, because it's his main.
- Looking at Umehara, Mago wants noise-canceling headphones, too.

Umehara online by Capcom USA summary

- 4,400 viewers peak
- Umehara wants to try HEIHACHI in Street Fighter vs. Tekken.
- He said his weakness is he's not good at counterpicking.
- He thinks Akuma, Boxer, Guile, Fei Long, C. Viper, Honda (probably) are strongest.
- He wear Kobun mic-attached headphones. (From Capcom, I guess.)
- More than half of these matches were played during interview.
- He isn't not good at talking at all, and the translator put a lot of words in his mouth.

The Lag!
- He couldn't do FW+HP link. Zero success out of around 10 attempts.
- Several times he did one light punch and stay still.

Xbox Live (18 wins)
  1. Ryu won Adon
  2. Ryu won Dictator
  3. Ken won Gouken
  4. Guile won Abel
  5. Cammy lost Zangief
  6. Ryu won Guile
  7. Ryu won Cody
  8. Ken won Guile (LAMERBOI ragequitted while getting guarantee-lose-Ultra'd)
  9. Ken won Ryu
  10. Guile won Abel
  11. Ryu won Ryu
  12. Ken won Rose
  13. Ryu won Rose
  14. Guile won Zangief
  15. Ryu won Chun-Li
  16. Ken won Guile
  17. Ryu won Ryu
  18. Ken won Ryu
  19. Guile won Hakan

PSN
(19 wins)
  1. Ken won Adon
  2. Ken won Cody
  3. Guile won Sakura
  4. Ken won Dhalsim
  5. Ken lost Gen
  6. Guile won Blanka
  7. Ryu won Claw
  8. Ryu won Gouken
  9. Ryu won Juri
  10. Ryu won Claw
  11. Ryu won Chun-Li
  12. Ryu won Cody
  13. Ryu won Ryu
  14. Ryu lost Ryu
  15. Ryu won T. Hawk
  16. Ryu won Sagat
  17. Ryu won Dictator
  18. Ryu won Juri
  19. Ryu won Dudley
  20. Ryu won Ken
  21. Ryu won Ibuki

    How convenient
    Shortcut to gain fame using Daigo Umehara
    1. Tell everyone that you'll troll Daigo before you fight him.
    2. Taunt him first to show everyone that you aren't serious, but don't let the taunt affect your chance to win.
    3. Fight him with all your might. Disconnect when you're about to lose. If you win, go to 5.
    4. You ragequitted on purpose! See? This's the "troll" you're talking about. You ruined his party! Skip to 6.
    5. You won! See? This's the "troll" you're talking about. You ruined his party!
    6. You're the hero!

    Friday, November 19, 2010

    Tokido confirmed for Shadowloo Showdown

    No surprise. The mysterious Akuma player from the trailer was really Tokido. He, Mago, and GamerBee will participate Shadowloo Showdown that was announced 2 days ago.

    Source: SRK

    Street Fighter: Beyond the Game featuring Daigo Umehara

    Below is a teaser of a documentary about Street Fighter culture called Street Fighter: Beyond the Game. The filming began since Evo 2010 but is scheduled to finished around Evo 2011 as SRK reported.

    It looks like Daigo Umehara will play an important role in the documentary.

    Street Fighter: Beyond the Game from AnimatronicAckbar on Vimeo.

    Thursday, November 18, 2010

    NSB TV mentioned on Famitsu

    It's strange that NSB TV stream was mentioned on Famitsu's blog (written by editors). They never mentioned GODSGARDEN.

    It's understandable if they don't want to. GG is co-hosting Evo Japan so it's a big threat to Tougeki (Super Battle Opera) which is organized by Arcadia, a magazine under the same roof with Famitsu.

    (NSB and GG are friends. They both do the same things and help each other.)

    NSB TV, Kao TV upgraded

    NSB TV began using a new stream broadcasting program in yesterday's show. It seems like the program is Wirecast, as Gama used to mention on Tuesday.

    I think the Japaneses were impressed by the presentation of Team Spooky's stream in Canada Cup. (Spooky uses Wirecast.)

    After NSB TV ended, KSK tweeted that he bought Ustream Producer PRO ($199) and was learning. It's chain reaction, I guess.

    See NSB TV (2010.11.17) below.
    - Part 1
    - Part 2

    Online matches with Daigo Umehara ...in USA

    Capcom U.S.A. announced that Daigo Umehara will come to their office on this Friday and accept online chanllenge to anyone who won the Capcom-Unity's raffles.

    As you should know, Umehara will come to the USA this weekend for NorCal Regionals.

    Source: via SRK

    Wednesday, November 17, 2010

    Mago, GamerBee going to Australia

    Mago and GamerBee will attend Shadowloo Showdown on December 11-12 in Melbourne, Australia.

    From their first trailer, it seems like an Akuma player will be joining, too.



    Source: SRK

    Sunday, November 14, 2010

    Canada Cup 2010 summary

    - Official site here.

    - GG organizer, Inaba-san, mentioned that Mago won $1,600 (Canadian dollar?) in the money match tournament on Friday night. Umehara got 2nd.

    - Umehara won a casual exhibition 7-0 to the Canadians losing just 4 rounds. Mago lost to JSMaster, but won the rest (6) losing 5 rounds. (Details here)

    - (Mago interview) He said he doesn't really listen to music but he liked Porno Graffitti back then. Mike Ross joked that everyone likes porn. (Though they actually know the band.)

    - The commentators didn't know that Umehara is using noise-canceling headphones. I thought everyone knew this.

    - Around 13,100 viewers peak.

    - GODSGARDEN team restreamed, they showed a video letter from Umehara at the end. This video is made for school festival at Trident Computer Technical School.

    - Umehara won SSF4 and SSF2THDR Singles, Mago got 2nd. Their team got 3rd.

    - Top 8 analyzed.

    Daigo Umehara
    2-0 Stevercakes
    2-0 Enigma Saint
    2-1 Riceta
    2-1 James Jones
    2-0 Jozhear

    2-0 Mike Ross (Easier than expected)
    2-1 Mago (Highlight is when he uses Flying Buster Drop to stop Rekkuu)
    2-0 Mago

    Mago
    2-0 Philly Mah
    2-0 Orikasa
    2-0 Xtremer
    2-1 Gootecks
    2-0 Hai

    2-0 JSMaster
    1-2 Umehara
    2-0 JSMater
    0-2 Umehara

    Team Japan (Umehara, Mago, Air)
    - Went to top 4 by using Air only.
    - Mago OCD'd once, and played a game againt JSMaster.
    - Umehara only played one game against JSMaster.

    2-3 Team Spiral Guys Fanclub
    3-0 Team Calgary

    Umehara interview
    - He confirmed that his hobby is finding some delicious food.
    - He's not married.
    - He unintentionally dodged the question "Who's the strongest player?" He said they're many strong players and he couldn't tell. Thank God. Because if he answers, other players will be like "Daigo looked down on me!" like what happened months ago. (Umehara isn't an Internet person so he doesn't watch and know many foreign players.) Also, people should stop asking this kind of questions.

    Media
    - Spooky's YouTube channel
    - Mago and drinking game: Part 1 and 2
    - A picture on Mad Catz Twitter
    - A Canada Cup article on Wild GunMen


    Thoughts

    The stream
    Team Spooky almost failed for being mad at the restreaming when GODSGARDEN team was doing it. GG team didn't know what to do but Spooky's face made an awkward atmosphere for a long while. It seems like he cares too much about the viewer count and doesn't like a free PR. (And GG will only get 1,500 viewers due to Nico's limit.)

    In the past, I heard Team Spooky used to restream a tournament from the other team before so I don't think Spooky has the right to say this. He also keeps telling people that it's all our fault if the stream isn't smooth, which is not quite accurate. I can confirmed that most of the time, Spooky's stream is NOT smooth, same with the entire Ustream. Why? Bandwidth has nothing to do with this is incorrect. But even with broadband, it's useless if it can't deliver the consistency of the dara transfer. This happens when you're in another countries or living far away outside the city. Setting is another cause, this's why the Japanese restream was smoother than the real stream in latest SoCal Regionals, even they're both using Ustream. (Nico also never lags, unless bad day) What he should say is "We don't want to lower the stream's bit rate, so you better get a better Internet."

    In the end, Spooky gave an acknowledgement and KSK said it's a relief.

    Anyway, everyone including me must thank Spooky for doing this. Other than the lag, the sound quality of the microphones, and the off-topic chatting, everything was good. The onscreen graphics was great. We got to see both player names and team names and he kepts updating the score on the screen, unlike Level|Up series. He didn't keep people waiting. His play-by-play commentary was good as well.

    Guile - Fei Long
    I totally expected Ryu vs. Fei Long with Umehara's new strategy, but Umehara showed once again why he's the best. Using Guile to counter Fei Long is very effective. Sonic Boom has faster recover than Hadoken so Mago can't jump in. Mago has to use Rekkuu to get in, but that's when he has to take a big risk against Flying Buster Drop, with great reaction to boost. This leaves Mago to play only ground game, but Guile can use Sonic Boom to poke and he can poke better than Ryu even with his normals. (And Umehara is master of poking.)

    Mago's Boxer
    Many people didn't know that Mago has Boxer as a sub, but if you saw Kao TV, you'd know. In a very old video, Mago even revealed to Umehara himself that he's been practicing Boxer.

    Saturday, November 13, 2010

    Gamer's Vision team on Hori blog

    I just got this from MarkMan's Twitter, it's quite old though. Soushihan KSK, Tokido, Mago, and Kami-chan were on Hori's blog talking about Hori sticks and a bit about Mad Catz.

    (Kami-chan's main game is BlazBlue, and was an MC in many events. You can always find him at Gamer's Vision)

    KSK and Tokido both lean toward MadCatz because of the look. It's clearly Tokido prefers Mad Catz because he specifically asked for Mad Catz's TE stick in the BlazBlue's final.

    In the Ura Kao TV, KSK both list Hori RAP EX PREMIUM VLX and Mad Catz Chun-li stick as the controllers they're using. The sticks were given as a gift. But we only see Hori one on the screen. I'm not sure why, but it must be one of these.

    1) Chun-Li stick is limited, while Hori one isn't. (They want to keep it in a mint condition.)
    2) Hori is paying KSK. (LOL)

    Hori representative was at Nagoya Street Battle 17 promoting their sticks with the help of KSK, too.

    Hori don't have Daigo Umehara but they're trying to gain momentum in Japan. They sponsored the RAP VX SA to GODSGARDEN 2.5. When KayoPolice asked for a stick in Game no Jikan show, they gave a RAP VLX to the show, too.

    Anyway, many Japanese players don't like RAP VLX due to the size or the price or both. I even saw some people renamed Hori to Mr. "30,000 yen controller." (For reference, Mad Catz TE S is 16,800 yen.)

    Kao TV 2010.11.12

    Watch here.

    Summary

    - 4,300 viewers peak
    - Broadcasted from TGN gaming space, not Gamer's Vision.
    - Tokido paid for the trip to SoCal. (So it's not invitation?!)
    - Umehara shared his room with Tokido.
    - Tokido expected to win Tekken, no BlazBlue.
    - The Ustreamers named Filipino Champ "Kameda" since they saw the behaviors toward Japanese players. (Kameda brothers are Japanese boxers who act like an uneducated person, no sportsmanship, and one of them was banned before. Many Japanese hate them to the point that even they fight a foreign boxer, they'll cheer on the foreign boxer.)
    - Tokido won F. Champ 7 times straight.
    - Tokido said Umehara thinks Ryu against Dhalsim is still doable so he kepts using Ryu.
    - Tokido earned $2,000 from the trip. (prize money + money matches)

    Friday, November 12, 2010

    Time for Regulations?

    In the latest interview of Filipino Champ, he openly admitted that he dropped a fight (throwing a fight) in a tournament, and he said he WILL do it again. Wow.

    Street Fighter competitions are getting more popular and the community is getting bigger yet we showed no sign of making it better as in quality.

    I think many months ago there was a talk about getting Street Fighter into MLG (Major League Gaming) which is a big organization. Many people disagree about this. Some said it takes months to actually get the prize money. Some said SF will lose the charm or the spirit. Some don't like the idea of having SF to be just another game, under the control of people don't devote to SF.

    Some of the arguments are legit, some aren't. But one thing I think we need is the regulations like what MLG have. Not only to prevent match fixing, but also to prevent acts of bad sportsmanship in an event such as those we saw in the past weeks, both in front of camera and behind the camera.

    These are rules taken from MLG's 2010 Pro Circuit Conduct Rules

    Rules
    2. No communication between Players and Spectators during a Match.
    3. No excessive use of vulgar language.  Excessive use of vulgar language is defined as consistent use of vulgar language at a volume that is audible to Spectators of the Match as well as a single use of vulgar language at a volume that is audible to spectators of another Match.
    4. No taunting of opposing Players, or Coaches, by Coaches.  Taunting of opposing Players, or Coaches, by Coaches is defined as derogatory language or gestures, aimed at an opposing Player(s), that is audible/visible to the opposing Player(s).
    7. No use of vulgar language directed at a Player, Coach, or Spectator.
    8. No inciting Spectators into taunting a Player, Coach, or Spectator.
    9. No excessive taunting or celebration by Coaches or Players.  Excessive taunting or celebration includes, but is not limited to, post-Match taunting or celebration directed at or referencing an opposing Player(s) and/or Coach.  Post-Match interactions between opposing Players and Coaches must be limited to acts of sportsmanship.
    10. No intentional Forfeiting or conspiring to manipulate Rankings or Brackets.
    11. No unsportsmanlike physical contact.

    Penalties
    4. ...Players found breaking Rules #10-11 may be ejected from the venue and disqualified from the Event.
    6. Players found breaking Rules #6-13 may be subjected to further punishment such as a Temporary Ban from the MLG website, a Site Ban from the GameBattles website, the loss of Pro Player Benefits, a fine, and a Competition Ban from future Combine Competitions and/or Pro Circuit Competitions.

    Will some of these rules kill the hype? That IS debatable.
    - In-game taunt is possible.
    - Screaming and swinging your hands as a celebration is possible, as long as you don't aim to someone.

    If you feel you NEED to use vulgar language then it's your problem and that's why SF competition won't be on TV or get any bigger and get the attention it deserves.

    Daigo Umehara confirmed for NorCal Regionals

    From Mr. Markman's Twitter, Daigo Umehara will return to California again for Northern California Regionals 2010! The event will take place on November 20-21.

    Wednesday, November 10, 2010

    e-Sports Nippon Senshuken 2011 powered by GODSGARDEN

    This tournament was announced weeks ago but it looks like the details just came.

    CyAC, a PC gaming comunity site, is having an event called e-Sports Nippon Senshuken. Recently they jumped into console gaming, too, so beside Starcraft II and Call of Duty: Black Ops tournament, they'll have Super Street Fighter IV single tournament with GODSGARDEN's help.

    Details
    - First round qualifier is December 4. (Online, PS3, Xbox 360)
    - Second round is December 18. (Online, PS3, Xbox 360)
    - Group stage is January 12-31, 2011. (Online, PS3, Xbox 360)
    - Final is March 12, at Akihabara, Tokyo. (Offline, PS3)

    Prize
    1st = 40,000 yen
    2nd = 20,000 yen
    3rd = 12,000 yen
    4th = 8,000 yen
    6-8th = 5,000 yen

    I looked at the list of participants, only 23 players now. I don't know anyone except Desora and STRIPFIGHTERIV.

    Tuesday, November 9, 2010

    NSB TV and NSB Online announced

    Nagoya Street Battle (NSB) TV (tentative name) will be streamed every Wednesday between 21.00-24.00 and hosted by Eita, Kin Devu, Kokujin, Choco, and guests.

    The show will have 3 corners (as of now)

    - "Kouryaku! Choco Musume" (tentative name) aims for beginners. (The name is a parody of Shinryaku! Ika Musume.)

    - Ranked matches against the viewers.

    - NSB Online

    NSB Online is like GODSGARDEN Online but is an open online tournament, not invite-only like GGO. The winner of this tournament will receive official SSF4 online title "Shishifunjin" from Capcom. The qualifier starts on November 17. The participants must have 4,000 PP or above.

    A separated online tournament "Beat By Contest Online Qualifier" was also announced, the winner from 8 nominees will get a free trip (plane ticket and travel expenses) to Beat By Contest tournament (with Mago) in Switzerland next year's February.

    Gamer's Vision redesigned

    KSK himself revealed in the BlazBlue casual stream that Gamer's Vision is under redesign process, and it WON'T be a game center!

    Someone speculated that it probably will be a gaming space or gaming event space, which makes sense.

    In Japan, there're places that provide tables, chairs, food and drinks, wireless Internet for gamers (and probably computers, too) and charge hourly. You bring your own gaming device (DS/PSP). This business seems good, because once a customer enters the venue, you're guaranteed money.

    Tokido Real Shun Goku Satsu: The aftermath!

    The aftermath!

    A video of Tokido's winning pose (Shun Goku Satsu or Raging Demon) after ClakeyD match was uploaded on Nico Nico yesterday. It's now ranked at 11th place on Nico's daily most "My List" ranking in Overall catagory, and 2nd in Anime and Game category.

    After 24 hours, the video received around 72,000 views, 1,600 comments, and 2,400 MyLists.

    *Nico's My List = YouTube's "Favorite" or bookmarked



    Reactions from the media
    - Games Radar
    - Capcom Unity
    - Kotaku
    - G4TV

    Reactions from fans
    - The moment before and after Tokido's Raging Demon on Twitter using "Tokido" keyword search
    - A Tokido artwork from Botsu at Pixiv
    - A Tokido artwork from Inocamellia at Pixiv
    - A Tokido artwork from Low Fierce
    - Japanese Tweets

    Kokujin in Evo 2011?

    Someone said he wants to go to Evolution for once in Twitter and Kokujin replied "Let's go together next year! But I already went there anyway. LOL"

    It's safe to say it's just a tease.

    Thanks to the streams, many Japanese players want to go to Evo seeing how big it is (Mago is one of them). I think the big problem is they don't know how to start or they don't have a guide. I think it's a good idea for the Evo organizers to offer an "Evo Tour" for Japanese players with the help of GODSGARDEN. You paid a fixed amount for plane ticket and hotel, plus a translator/guide for the group.

    P.S. Mago was at Evo 2003, but after seeing Evo 2010's stream, he showed strong interest.

    The origins of UmeShoryu and Arigataya

    I, and probably many people, first heard "UmeShoryu" from Seth Killian in Season's Beatings IV (2009) and thought it was made by him. However, serveral months ago I found this video. It points out that Kokujin, in fact, came up with both UmeShoryu and the Arigataya at the same moment.

    The video is from a match (for a seed right) of Cooperation Cup's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike 3 on 3 at Gamer's Vision. The upload date is April 21, 2007. It begins around 6:35 after Umehara used Shoryuken then Super Arts. A commentator said "Shoryu Jinrai" then Kokujin renamed it to UmeShoryu" and said Arigataya. Arigataya is the word you say when God granted you something, it's "Thank God" or "God has blessed us."

    Today, UmeShoryu is being used for unexpected Shoryuken'ing, and Arigataya is being used after the opponent got Shoryuken'd FADC Metsu Hadoken.



    P.S. Kokujin is actually Umehara fanboy, they're not rivals like some people think.

    SoCal Regionals Day 2

    - Official site here.


    Daigo Umehara
    - He lost to Alex Valle in Winners Bracket, won Justin Wong (hard fight), came back from Losers to win SSF2 Turbo HD Remix.

    - He won Alex Valle, lost to F. Champ in Winners, won Tokido (hard fight) in Losers, brought F. Champ down to Losers, but lost (in the last round possible) in the grand final of SSF4.

    Tokido
    - He came back from Losers to win Zong One (hard fight) in BlazBlue grand final. I think his friends at KSK's game center are actually a lot better than him, and the commentators mentioned that he tried to chain a combo that is impossible! (and he didn't use his own stick, he borrowed from the audience.)

    - He came back from Losers to win Rom (hard fight) in SF3: Third Strike grand final.

    - He lost to Justin Wong in SSF2 Turbo HD Remix Losers top 8.

    - He went rampage in 5 on 5 exhibition matches between international team and California All-star team. In the first set he won 2 and GamerBee took care the rest. In the second set, he OCV'd all of them, other players didn't have a chance to play.

    - In the Losers, He won ClakeyD, won Justin Wong, but lost to Umehara in SSF4, got 3rd place. In the last round with ClakeyD, he finished with Raging Demon and went in front of the projector to have the "Ten" (Heaven) sign cast on his back, the crowd went crazy. (Many said the tournament was finished in that moment, and I can agree!)

    - F. Champ revealed that he lost to Tokido in the money matches twice, 3-0 and 3-0. He said he would've lost if they met in the final.


    Media
    - Match video in official YouTube channel
    - Behind the scene video from Kara Leung's YouTube Channel
    - Photo from kapwan
    - Videos from PIKACUAKUMA

    Thought


    The tournament is a huge success. It's not a perfect one, but still success. The international players who know each other were invited, it's a good thing because they'll not feel left out. They had a warm welcome. Thanking the Japanese re-streamer was a nice move, too. (The Japanese viewers were impressed by what Valle said because of the translation.) The English commentators are good (Ultra David, James Chen, and Seth Killian). Etc.

    Umehara was great. Hard fights, good results. He needs a counter-Dhalsim character, though.

    Tokido is MVP, unexpectedly. Hard fights, good results.

      Monday, November 8, 2010

      SoCal Regionals Day 1

      News

      - Umehara now plays with headphones.

      - Umehara went to top 8 without losing a game. (SSF4)
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 Ken 
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 Chun-Li player
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 Futile
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 Bren2XT
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 ClakeyD
      • Daigo Umehara 2-0 Chris King

      - Tokido went to Losers early, but still in the top 8.

      - S-Kill said Tokido ate a lot in the buffet. He had the breakfast with Umehara and Tokido.

      - In the last round with ClakeyD, Umehara did fullscreen-walk-throw.

      - Umehara still in the top 8 Winners both SSF4 and SSF2THDR

      See this for more results. (But I don't know why they missed 3 matches of Umehara)

      Thoughts

      The stream: It's laggy because they use a setting that requires high bandwidth. I see the re-stream channel and it's more smooth. I wish Alex Valle contact KSK and ask about Nico Nico re-stream possibility, because Nico Nico has a better stream. I think KSK'd be happy to do it, if his team has a free time. KSK has over 16,000 subscribers in his community.

      The venue: It's great, but that's how it's suppose to be. Umehara can play in peace once again. In Season's Beatings, the audience is allowed to stand too close to the players. and that's distraction. It'd be at least better if you're not surrounded by rival's supporters like Umehara was.

      Saturday, November 6, 2010

      Ume Tokido 4 Koma

      Daigo Umehara is known to play with only one face expression, it's a result of his high concentration. But there's one match that he played while smiling. It was when he played with Tokido in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix's top 8 in the last day of Evolution 2010.

      Umehara and Tokido are good friends so they laughed at each other like a casual match, even it happended on the big stage. However, Tokido didn't look happy at the end, so this 4-koma was born.

      Kao TV moved to Friday

      The Soushihan KSK's Kao TV broadcasting time now changed, as voted and told earlier. It's starting on November 12.

      Old: Monday's night, 2 AM (Tuesday's morning)
      New: Friday's night, 11 PM

      Japan Standard Time

      Umehara on Canadian newspaper

      As a part of a Canada Cup news, Daigo Umehara is mentioned in Calgary Journal.


      Source: SRK

      Friday, November 5, 2010

      Gamer's Vision closed

      KSK's Gamer's Vision game center is now closed, since November 1. KSK did say it's not over yet as it's temporarily, however, it's indefinitely temporary.

      As you may know, the game center suffered a serious financial problem and also affects KSK's health.

      The Kao TV on November 2 really made the fans sad, and Mago's "speak-before-think" habit made it worse.

      Thursday, November 4, 2010

      Umehara going Kuwait

      He did mention about this several months ago but the comfirmation and details just came out a couple days. Daigo Umehara will attend a fighting game event in Kuwait on November 26. He'll play an exhibition match (1 game of 3 rounds) with anyone who purchased the challenge ticket.

      Mago wins GGO #2

      Mago defeated Daigo Umehara 10-3 to win GODSGARDEN Online #2. He received 500,000 yen prize money and Super Street Fighter IV Xbox Live title "Tenka Fubu" from Capcom. Umehara, who won 10 out of 11 matches from the first stage, only finished in 5th place.

      I forgot to see the viewers around the end but it's surely more than 17,500. This does not include 1,500 viewers on KSK's mirror and probably 1,000+ in an unofficial stream. Anyway, it's the most viewers in a single Street Fighter match.

      KSK in Game no Jikan #17 (Nov 4)

      KSK appeared as a guest in Game no Jikan episode 17.

      Recently KSK came to assist the show behind the camera, but today he appeared in front of the camera as a guest. There's a casual corner where he and KayoPolice raped the show's producer who's a Ryu player, it was very entertaining though.