Umehara on Toyo Keizai

Toyo Keizai website published a 7-page article of Daigo Umehara today.

Toyo Keizai is the publisher of one of the leading business magazines in Japan.

Notes (we skip some of introduction or what we already know)
- Headline is "The genius pro gamer who came back from nursing world."
- The article introduces him as world's number one pro gamer.
- Umehara doesn't think he's a genius.
- When J-League was established in 1993 and Famicom boom started to fade, Umehara who was about to become junior high school student was left playing game alone, because his friends shifted attention from games to soccer.
- At the moment of Evo 2004 comeback, Umehara concentrated so much he didn't hear the noises from the crowd when he parried. The article pointed out his power of concentration.
- One year from Evo 2004, Umehara resigned from gaming and studied Mahjong to become a pro Mahjong player.
- During this 3 years, he worked at a Mahjong parlour 12 hours a day.
- Umehara said you can't make a big progress if you're obsessed with match results.
- Umehara wanted to do something completely different so he chose nursing job. One reason is his parents' jobs were about medical care. One reason is he was tired of the strong competitive nature of fighting games and Mahjong.
- Among his patients was person who couldn't remember what he ate 5 minutes earlier or person who couldn't walk. That's when Umehara learnt that if you can't decide whether to Do It or Not, always choose Do It. (It's like YOLO.)
- For the play style, Umehara avoids pre-planned approaches like "If you do this you'll win" or "If you do this you'll control the game." Umehara thinks that formulae are necessary for sure but [if all you have are things on the paper then you'll become one-trick pony.]
- While some people think fighting gamers start losing reflexes at late 20 (age), Umehara believes his passion for gaming will maintain the strength he needs to continue.

Under Night In-Birth gets big update this Summer, called Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late

4Gamers.net reported that Under Night In-Birth will get a big update this Summer and the game will be called Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late (pronounced Ekusereito).

There will be big changes in game system and each character for balance.

One new playable character is revealed as of now. The name is Chaos (but pronounced Keiasu instead of Kaosu or Keiosu).

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.

[Hands-on] Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen PC trial version

This's a trial version of Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen Sangokushi Engi. It comes with 1 character, 2 "strategists," and 1 stage.

The full game has 10 playable characters, 6 "strategists," and 10 stages. (See screenshots and stages here)

Info
- Trial version of Shin Koihime Musou fighting game released

System requirements
- Japanese version of Windows XP or Vista or 7 or 8
- Core 2 Duo E6600 or above
- 2GB RAM or above
- 512 MB VRAM or above
- 4.2 GB HDD space
- 800x600 resolution
- DirectX 9.0c

The installation
You don't actually need Japanese version of Windows, just change locale to Japanese so your PC can read everything. Unzip the file you download then click setup.exe. You only click N (Next) or F (Finish) during the installation. The desktop shortcut will pop up, click it to start the game.

Game Modes

• Arcade Mode (disable)
• VS Mode
• Training Mode (disable)
• Game Option (disable)
• System Config
• Game Controller Setting
• Ranking Data (disable)

What we really wanted to know is whether this game has online play or not. Under VS Mode, it doesn't say anything about online, but there's Ranking Data option so we think there's online play in some form. Offline versus is guaranteed for now.

In VS Mode, you can choose to play against CPU or watch CPU fight CPU. Either ways, you can only choose one character (Aisha) and two strategists (Shuri and Hinari). There're 8 difficulties for the CPU to choose from. You can change round count and time limit here.

In System Config, you can switch between Fullscreen/Windows. You can change resolution (max only 1280x720) or brightness. You can turn on/off bilinear filtering and stage effects. You can choose which player use which controller or keyboard.

Controller Setting
You can do button mapping here.
A = Light Attack
B = Medium Attack
C = Strong Attack
D = Special (for Throw or Tech Throw or assist)
A+B = For EX version of special moves
B+C = For Musou Hiougi move
Taunt = Taunt
Start = Pause/Resume the game

You can use D-Pad and analog stick at the same time so no problem there.

Gameplay
This game is close to Street Fighter IV. It's about footsie and "Hougeki." Hougeki works similar to SF4's Focus Attack. It doesn't absorb an attack like Focus Attack but it makes opponent "Crumble" on counter-hit (connect when opponent is in attacking animation). Each character in the game has 4 moves that have Hougeki property. These moves work just like normal moves so they're pretty safe when not overused.

3B = Overhead
6B = Launcher
3C = Sweep
6C = Long strike

When opponent is in Crumble state, you can do whatever you want until he hits the ground. The combo you do during this period is called Musou Rengeki.

Ultimate moves
Each character has 2 ultimate moves which share the same commands in all characters.

1. Musou Ougi (2363214+C) requires 3 bars.
2. Musou Hiougi (236+BC) requires all 4 bars, and can be performed only when opponent is in Crumble state or as a part of Musou Rengeki.

Strategist
You choose Strategist during character select. But some strategists are available only to certain characters (just like in the story). For example, Keifa only goes with Karin group.

A strategist can provide you an assist (236+D) at a cost of 1 bar.

Trial version of Shin Koihime Musou fighting game released

The trial version of Shin Koihime Musou fighting game PC version was released on May 24. You can download at the website or here (1.19 GB).

The game, called Shin Koihime Musou: Otome Taisen Sangokushi Engi, was first released in the arcades in 2011. The PC version will be released on May 31. Nothing indicates that it will feature adult contents so don't expect to unlock some "X factors." (For those who are interested you can preorder and import from Amiami.)

This 2D fighting game is based on one of the most famous adult game series Koihime Musou. A total of 39 episodes of the anime adaptation was released between 2008-2011. Both the original adult game and the anime have an official English localization.

Koihime Musou's setting is based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The big difference is all the male characters were recreated as cute girls.

Promotional movie


Shuuran vs. Renfa


Karin


Shaoren


Aisha vs. Rinrin


Shunran vs. Shuuran


Renfa vs. Shishun


Ren vs. Ren

Buy the stick and go beyond Umehara!

Mad Catz Japan reported that a Yodobashi Camera store in Kyoto has a corner for customers to try out arcade sticks with banner "Go beyond Umehara!"

Note that some stores already have autographs of Umehara, Mago, Tokido displayed near Mad Catz products. (Not to mention that some game centers also have Umehara's autograph displayed above the cabinets.)

Umehara to have Ver.2013 talk show at Taito Station Shinjuku

It's revealed in Daigo Umehara's Battle Tour 2013 event in Fukuoka that he will have a talk show at Taito Station Shinjuku Minami-guchi branch on June 15.

At the event, Umehara, Bon-chan, Kazunoko, Fuudo will come to talk about things such as the changes in SSF4AE Version 2013.

Despite the fact that Kazunoko always played and observed him during AE era at the game centers, Umehara revealed that they have never made an eye contact...