Updated schedule of Umehara Gunslinger Stratos kumite tour

The schedule of Gunslinger Stratos kumite tour featuring Daigo Umehara has been updated.

1. June 22 - Yokohama, Kanagawa
2. June 23 - Toyota, Aichi
3. July 27 - Nagoya, Aichi
4. July 28 - Mizuho, Gifu
5. August 24 - Yokkaichi, Mie
6. August 25 - Tokushima
7. September 7 - Nagoya, Aichi
8. September 8 - Osaka

Umehara confirmed for 2nd official Gunslinger Stratos national qualifier

It's announced just now that Daigo Umehara will compete in the Tokyo qualifying tournament of 2nd official Gunslinger Stratos national tournament on August 4. Umehara and Nyanshi (and 2 others) will play under team TOPANGA.

The tournament was announced since last year. This qualifying tournament is in Tokyo and the real tournament will be held in Osaka on August 31.

Prizes
1st place - 3 million yen
2nd place - 1.5 million yen
3rd place - 500,000 yen

Square Enix announces Gunslinger Stratos kumite tour featuring Daigo Umehara

Square Enix just announced a few minutes ago that a Gunslinger Stratos kumite event will be held in 8 locations in several prefectures. The official event allows the players to play face to face against Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, Mago (aka. pro gamer team).

Schedule

1. June 22 - Yokohama, Kanagawa
2. June 23 - Toyota, Aichi
3. TBA - Tokushima
4. TBA - Yokkaichi, Mie
5. TBA - Nagoya, Aichi
6. TBA - Nagoya, Aichi
7. TBA - Mizuho, Gifu
8. TBA - Osaka

Starting from January, players will be able to obtain a special in-game title from defeating a team that has the pro gamer(s) as a team member (in specific number of times). This means if the players defeat the pro gamers team they can obtain 3 in-game titles at the same time.

Gunslinger Stratos mook to come with Umehara's gameplay video

It's revealed that the mook (magazine+book) of Gunslinger Stratos which will be released on April 2 will come with a bonus DVD featuring match footages of Daigo Umehara's gameplay video from the official national tournament in January.

Umehara, Kana Ueda in Mago's birthday party

Kana Ueda posted a picture from Mago's birthday party (that they held privately) just less than half an hour ago. It's also revealed that Daigo Umehara and Gunslinger Stratos producer were also there.

January Gunslinger Stratos events summary

The 2nd Stratos Party on January 12
- Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, Mago, Nyanshi appeared in Gunslinger Stratos' 2nd Stratos Party. (Read about 1st Stratos Party here) The event is an offline event where players can come to find team members in order to compete in the official tournament on the next day. The location is the same as the tournament venue. There're free-play cabinets, UFO catchers, and merchandise for purchase.
- Umehara team played 2 rounds, won both.
- It was streamed here.

Official national tournament in Tokyo on January 13
- There're 2 official national tournaments. One in Tokyo, and another in Osaka (this Summer). Both will have 10 million yen total prize money.
- Umehara team (Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, Mago, Nyanshi) ended at third fight. It was revealed that they were in the group of death, full of high level players.
- Bon-chan and Tokido were also there at the venue.
- 275 teams participated.
- It is announced that in the next update (Ver. 1.4, releasing today) winning a team that has Umehara as a member in a certain number of times will get you special in-game title "Umehara: Ha." (Reported by 4Gamer) *The title is likely a parody of the title of Evangelion film (Evangelion: Ha = Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance in English)
- 4Gamer posted a tournament report.

Umehara x Kana Ueda on Famitsu magazine

Famitsu's Otodoke Twitter account revealed that this week's Famitsu will feature a discussion about game center lifestyle between Daigo Umehara and Kana Ueda.

This week's Famitsu magazine (cover: Shin Hokuto Musou) is released today in Japan.

Umehara and Ueda appeared together several times promoting Gunslinger Stratos since January. Ueda voiced Shizune character in the game. They are often seen playing the game together in the game centers.

Umehara wins local Gunslinger Stratos tournament again

Reported by the game producer himself, Daigo Umehara and his team won a local Gunslinger Stratos tournament at Adores Sunshine game center in Ikebukuro today.

The place was packed and there're 22 teams trying to get into the tournament although they accepted only 8. They had to choose by lottery.

The team today "TOPANGA" consists of Umehara, Fuudo, Nyanshi, and an unidentified player.

Pictures
- After winning [pic]
- Bracket [pic]

Umehara didn't show any interest in any genre other than fighting games before. But he invested a lot of time in Gunslinger Stratos after becoming the official supporter and was recently said by some to be the strongest Jonathan player in the game. He also won a local GS tournament in Akihabara last month.

Gunslinger's Battle Arena 2013 in Tokyo detailed

The details of the first official national tournament of Gunslinger Stratos "Gunslinger's Battle Arena" in Tokyo have been revealed today.

Prizes
1st place - 3 million yen, trophy, special in-game title, exclusive in-game icon
2nd place - 1.5 million yen
3rd place - 500,000 yen

Schedules
November 22-29 - Team registration (you can register your team first then find members later)
December 5-17 - Team members registration
December 25 - End of registration process

Rules
- If a team has less than 4 members (absent or late), the space(s) will be filled with CPU(s).
- A team cannot have the same character, and they must use what they registered (one character per one player).
- Players are free to change weapon packs and costumes.
- Headsets are provided at the event, no headsets from outside allowed.
- Players can choose not to use the headsets in the qualifiers, but they must use them in the finals.

Gunslinger's Battle Arena 2013 Tokyo will be held on January 13, 2013. The second national tournament is already scheduled for Summer 2013. Both will have 10 million yen prize money in total.

Team Umehara get exclusive icon in Gunslinger Stratos

Square Enix announced today that the latest version update (Ver.1.30) of Gunslinger Stratos that is being released today will add an exclusive in-game icon to the authorized players. The icon will appear above the player name.

There're currently 3 types of icons (Special, Expert, Dengeki Musketeer) for 11 players.

Special
- Atsushi Abe (voice actor)
- Kana Ueda (voice actress)
- Masakazu Nishida (voice actor)
- Bunbunmaru (from Famitsu)

Expert
- Umehara
- Fuudo
- Mago

Dengeki Musketeers
- 4 players from Dengeki magazine editorial department

At this point, the icon is nothing but to tell people that the players are associated with the developers and they're official. The news said that, in the future update, players will receive an in-game title from winning a team that has these authorized players.

Gunslinger Stratos is an arcade 4 on 4 light-gun shooter that lets players battle in stages based off real locations in Japan. All the cabinets in Japan are linked so players around the country can find a team to play with in less than a minute. Players can buy new equipments and customize their characters. All the data and statistics will be saved using arcade player card and can be accessed via cellphones.



The game is heavily promoted in Japan. It had promotional events since beta test. It's having national tournaments with 10 million yen prize money. It has its own radio show. It's also recently extending 200 yen per 3 plays campaign to attract new players (normally 200 yen for 2 plays).

Daigo Umehara was appointed to be the "official supporter" of the game since January. He has spent so much time on the game, and also participates in the development.

Gunslinger Stratos was released on July 12 in Japan and they have also conducted beta test in Hong Kong.

Umehara on Gansuto Wave episode 3

Gunslinger Stratos net radio show "Gansuto Wave" episode 3 tonight had Daigo Umehara and Fuudo as special guests in video form. The short video was a match between Team Umehara (Umehara, Fuudo, Atsushi Abe, Kana Ueda) and the developer team. Team Umehara won all 2 rounds.

(The video itself was tiny so we have tiny screenshots.)

Umehara seen in Seiyuu Hyakkaten

An internet talk show called Atsushi Abe's Seiyuu Hyakkaten on October 17 had voice actress Kana Ueda as guest, and Daigo Umehara was seen twice in the pictures they showed when they were talking about Gunslinger Stratos.

Seiyuu Hyakkaten is a talk show about voice actors (but mostly about voice actresses) hosted by Atsushi Abe. Both Abe and Ueda voice a character in Gunslinger Stratos, and are often seen playing the game with Umehara and his team.

In-game character being played by Umehara is seen in the first picture.
Umehara, Fuudo, Mago are in the second picture (after 1st Stratos Party).

1st Stratos Party summary

Info
- 1st Stratos Party announced
- Stream

Summary

1. Bunbunmaru asked voice actor Atsushi Abe and voice actress Kana Ueda their game experiences.
2. Bunbunmaru and Fuudo coached voice actor Masakazu Nishida who is new to the game. Ueda came out to help.
3. Battle session: They began with Mago, Fuudo, Abe, Ueda.
4. Battle session: Umehara came out, then they started shuffling members.
5. They gave away posters with autographs (voice actors + pro gamers) to lucky viewers.
6. Developer's talk session (read announcements here)
7. The show ended with 41057 attendees and 38908 comments

Experiences

• Umehara - 2800 matches played, rank AA
• Fuudo - 2600 matches played, rank SS
• Ueda - around 2000 matches played, rank A
• Abe - 1850 matches played, rank AA
• Mago - 1700 matches played, rank AA
• Nishida - 180 matches played, rank D3

Gunslinger Stratos now 200 yen per 3 plays

The developers of Gunslinger Stratos announced last night on The 1st Stratos Party that the game will lower its play fee from 200 yen per 2 plays to 200 yen per 3 plays during Liberation War between October 9-22. (Although they still has 100 yen/1 play option.)

There were actually several announcements from the event. The rest is below.

- The game will be updated to version 1.20 on October 9, with a new stage, a new campaign, 2 new characters, new weapon packs.
- The new stage is Umeda, Osaka.
- A new theme song was showed.
- The new campaign "Liberation War" will be available between October 9-22. Players will get to choose from 2 sides (Frontier S and 17th Far East Imperial Control Ward) and stage atmospheres will be changed according to players' influences. The winning side gets new character unlocked (below).
- 2 new playable characters (Mondo Makabe, Xi 988) will be added.
- Mondo Makabe looks like Master Asia from G Gundam. He is even voiced by Yousuke Akimoto, the voice of Master Asia himself. He is unlocked if 17th Far East Imperial Control Ward side wins.
- Xi 988 (who looks like Persona's Aigis) is voiced by Saki Fujita (Miku Hatsune's voice). She is unlocked if Frontier S side wins.
- The first official tournament in Tokyo is now scheduled for January 13, 2013.
- The 2nd Stratos Party: Official Offline Meeting is planned for January 12, 2013. Users can come to play the game free of charge and find team members at the same time.

Umehara confirmed for Dengeki 20th Anniversary

Dengeki revealed yesterday that Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, Mago will participate Dengeki 20th Anniversary event on October 21 at Makuhari Messe. He and his teammates will be there to play Gunslinger Stratos with the attendees.

Dengeki has almost 20 magazines under its name, basically almost about anything an otaku would want.

Team Umehara wins local Gunslinger Stratos tournament

Both Fuudo and Mago announced tonight that their team "Team Umehara" has won a local Gunslinger Stratos tournament at Taito Station Akihabara branch on Saturday. There were 16 teams on that day.

The members of Team Umehara were Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, Mago, Nyanshi.

Fuudo started introducing Gunslinger Stratos on Kachitagari TV (TOPANGA TV spin-off) in September, but it seems to be a hard work. The game is not spectator-friendly and it favors a static team over a group of 4 strangers. Fuudo also revealed on the show their strategy is letting Umehara stay in the frontline while other teammates snipe enemies from behind.

Gunslinger Stratos theme released today

Gunslinger Stratos' theme song "Transfer" is being released today. Below is its promotional video. The single also comes with a campaign code for "headphones," an in-game accessory.

The song is produced by Livetune (composer of various Miku Hatsune songs and Ore Imo theme "Irony") and sung by Megumi Nakajima (voice/song of Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier).

1st Stratos Party announced, featuring Umehara

Square Enix announced today the first official event of Gunslinger Stratos called "The 1st Stratos Party: Tenkuu Matsuri." Daigo Umehara will also participate. There will be an introduction to the game, online match, and a special talk session. The event will be streamed by Nico Nico on October 8, starting from 8 PM.

Participants

• Atsushi Abe (voice actor, Toru role)
• Kana Ueda (voice actress, Shizune role)
• Masakazu Nishida (voice actor, Kyoma role)
• Umehara
• Fuudo
• Mago
• Nobuki Kadoi (game producer)
• Shinichirou Obata (game director)
• Kazushi Nakamura (game developer)
• Bunbunmaru as MC (the Virtua Fighter player who now works for Famitsu, also a GunStratos player)

Gunslinger Stratos radio planned

Square Enix announced today that a 13-episode web radio program of Gunslinger Stratos will be aired between October 7 to December 30 at Chou! A&G+. The personalities are voice actor Atsushi Abe (Tohru role) and voice actress Kana Ueda (Shizune role).

Kana Ueda, a gamer herself, has been playing Gunslinger Stratos seriously for months, and was often seen playing in Daigo Umehara team after work. Abe Atsushi was also seen playing together with them recently.

Square Enix to begin Gunslinger Stratos location test in Hong Kong

Square Enix announced today that it will begin location test of Gunslinger Stratos in Hong Kong starting from September 12. The test will last approximate 2 weeks.

The test will use Japan servers and Hong Kong players will be able to play with Japanese players. It is unclear whether they will get their own (Hong Kong) servers or not.