Pre-Pax Prime MadCatz Unveiled summary

Info
- Umehara confirmed for pre-PAX Prime MadCatz Unveiled

Umehara 10-0 Xian

1. 2-0 *nice Super punish in 2R
2. 2-1 *Arigataya finish in 2R *Ume won by timeout in 3R
3. 2-0 *Dominated
4. 2-0
5. 2-0 *nice 3 overhead in 1R *Mistake cost Xian 2R
6. 2-0 *Dominated
7. 2-0 *Xian had a big lead in 2R
8. 2-1 *Xian's backdash got caught in 3R
9. 2-0 *close 1R *perfect in 2R
10. 2-0 *Arigataya finish in 1R *big comeback and Arigataya finish in 2R

Note
- New tech: Umehara started using normal to help his okizeme timing (strong kick before jumping)
- Umehara jumped more (maybe he realized that Gen's antiair doesn't do good damage and worth the risk)
- Umehara dominated this game and there're only 2-3 really close rounds or so.
- Xian got only 2 rounds out of 22 rounds.
- Xian connected 0 Ultra.
- "Umehara" appeared in Japan's Twitter trend.

Interview
- Umehara said he did homework for corner game and okizeme.
- Umehara practiced blocking Gen's okizeme in training mode.
- Umehara didn't use or aim for unblockable setup.
- Umehara didn't practice with Japanese Gen and "Xian is different, I think watching video is better."
- Umehara said since Gen's Super can combo to Ultra so he played more aggressive and didn't care about getting FADC'd anymore.

Kana Ueda talks Umelog

The famous voice actress Kana Ueda mentioned about Daigo Umehara on her blog on Saturday. She said that her group went to a pastry shop that was recommended by Umehara. She personally likes the mille-feuille  and praised the "Umelog."

Umehara's hobby is trying out various restaurants and this's not the first time Ueda talks about his recommendation. She now called Umehara's restaurant guidance Umelog.

JoJo ASB to become best selling fighting game in past 5 years

Last year, Beast Note said P4U (Persona 4 Arena) will become one of the biggest impacts of JFGC, it did. But this year, something will beat it.



We can say with confidence that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle that is coming on August 29 will become the new best selling (conventional) fighting game in the past 5 years.

Main reason is JoJo's popularity in Japan. It's one of the longest (since 1987) popular manga and is still ongoing (108 volumes as of now). Most people in Japan know it. There're also a lot of female fans. A 26-episode anime was aired between October 2012 to April 2013. The game itself is top of Amazon Japan's best selling chart for more than a month.

We think that JoJo ASB will easily sell over 100,000 copies in its first week and top P4U. The real question is will it top Dissidia Final Fantasy?

Top 10 first week sales of fighting games between 2008-2013 in Japan by Media Create

1. [PSP] Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix) {2009.12.18} - 489,100 | NEW
2. [PSP] Dissidia: 012 (Duodecim) Final Fantasy (Square Enix) {2011.03.03} - 286,117 / NEW
3. [PS3] Persona 4: Arena (Atlus) {2012.07.26} - 128,485 / NEW 
4. [PS3] Tekken 6 (Namco Bandai) {2009.10.29} - 103,105 / NEW
5. [PS3] Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Storm 3 (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.04.18} - 87,661 / NEW
6. [PS3] Street Fighter IV (Capcom) {2009.02.12} - 86,000 / NEW
7. [PS2] Fate/Unlimited Codes (Capcom) {2008.12.18} - 82,900 | NEW
8. [PS3] Super Street Fighter IV (Capcom) {2010.04.28} - 80,882 / NEW 
9. [PSP] Naruto: Shippuden Narutimate Accel 3 (Namco Bandai) {2009.12.10} - 76,596 / NEW
10. [PSP] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces (Namco Bandai) {2010.01.21} - 76,088 / NEW

Nico to stream MadCatz TGS2013 tournament, Infiltration confirmed

It's revealed that the SSF4AE2012 tournament at MadCatz booth in TGS 2013 will be streamed by Niconico. Moreover, Infiltration is confirmed to participate.

The stream link isn't announced yet, but the tournament will be held on September 22.

Confirmed players

• Daigo Umehara
• Tokido
• Mago
• Xian
• Ryan Hart
• Kayane
• Infiltration

The winner of this tournament will earn a seed in Capcom Cup that will be held at the end of this year.

Capcom leaving behind Fate is a huge mistake

a-cho yesterday posted a casual matches video of Fate/unlimited codes that reminds us again one of Capcom's biggest slips of half decade.

Fate/unlimited codes from 2008 is one of the best selling fighting games in the past 5 years. It almost beat the sales of the original Street Fighter IV. Yet Capcom abandoned the series and went for something like Street Fighter X Tekken instead. And we all know the original SFxTK was a disaster (glitches and imbalance) and they had to spend more resources to fix it.

Fate series (from a novel game in 2004) is big - comparable to Persona series, as you can see from their merchandises. (Amiami has 1,065 articles under Fate, and 804 under Persona) This's one thing that Capcom doesn't realize. And you know what happened when Persona 4 fighting game was released.

Capcom missed a good opportunity to pick it up and ride the popularity of Fate/Zero anime when they were busy preparing for SFxTK. The 25-episode anime was aired during 2011-2012. A new spinoff anime Fate/kaleid liner: Prisma Illya is being aired starting from July.

P4U sequel revealed with 2 new characters

News flash from Famitsu has revealed this morning that there will be a location test of the sequel of Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena on August 16-18 at Tokyo Akihabara Hey and Osaka Nipponbashi Taito Station. Two new characters from Persona 3 series are revealed - Yukari Takeba and Junpei Iori.

The JRPG Persona 3 was first released for PlayStation 2 in 2006. A remake version was released on PSP in 2009. Persona 3 The Movie is scheduled for November 23, 2013.

Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (or Persona 4 Arena) had sold more than 130,000 copies in its first week in Japan, making it the best selling conventional fighting game in the past 4 years in the country.

Update: Famitsu has follow-up play report.

Umehara confirmed for pre-PAX Prime MadCatz Unveiled

MadCatz and MarkMan revealed that Daigo Umehara will join pre-PAX Prime MadCatz Unveiled in Seattle on August 29 and will be playing exhibition match against Xian. The match will also be streamed.

In March, Umehara played against Alex Valle in pre-PAX East Mad Catz Unveiled.

PAX Prime will be held between August 30 to September 2 in Seattle.

Umehara and Xian last fought each other in TOPANGA Asia League in what considered to be an epic match.

Nico to stream Persona concert today

Niconico will be live streaming Persona concert "Persona Music Fes 2013 in Nippon Budokan" today at 18:30 JST.

This's pay-per-view and the net ticket is 2,000 yen. For those who will miss this, you can still buy the ticket and watch the recorded stream which will end on September 30.

(quote from our old news)
Persona 4: Arena (known as Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena in Japan) had sold more than 130,000 copies in its first week in Japan, making it the best selling conventional fighting game in the past 4 years in the country.

The soundtracks of Persona 4 series is one of the most famous of its genre. Despite most of the songs being English, all of the soundtrack CDs combined have sold over 100,000 copies in Japan. The arrange album in 2011 was top of the weekly sales chart, which is very rare for a game OST. The band in charge of the music performance is Persona 4 Music Band. The vocalists are Shihoko Hirata (most of Persona 4 songs) and Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 songs). Last year, they had their own concert and were selected to perform in Animelo Summer Live 2012 (the world's biggest anime song concert).

Video: Hirata (miniskirt) and Kawamura singing Key Plus Words (Persona 4: The Animation 2nd opening)

[Video] Umehara's Guilty Gear legend from Tougeki 2003

 

- This's a documentary about team "Ore to Omae to Daigorou" (Me and You and Daigorou) in Tougeki 2003's Guilty Gear XX finals. The format was 3 on 3.
- The team consists of Arisaka (Slayer), Pachi (Faust), Daigo Umehara (Sol).
- Pachi is now working on BlazBlue series in Arc System Works.
- Umehara qualified for the (Tougeki 2003) finals (last day) on 4 games: Capcom vs. SNK 2, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Guilty Gear XX, Super Street Fighter II X.
- Arisaka and Pachi formed the team and invited Umehara.
- It has matches until semifinals. Arisaka couldn't win a game before that.
- You can hear Gama no Abura's voice in the background as he was Tougeki commentator.
- The legendary match was when they faced team "Hoshi no Koe". Denpa Jikkyou meme was born from the game between Umehara and Shishamo.

MadCatz reveals plan for Tokyo Game Show 2013

Famitsu reported.

- Daigo Umehara, Tokido, Mago, Xian, Ryan Hart, Kayane are confirmed to be at the booth.
- There'll be exhibition matches on September 21, 3-4 PM.
- A 64-man SSF4AE2012 tournament will be held on September 22 (11 AM - 4 PM) at the MadCatz booth. From semifinal will be first-to-five. Co-organized by TOPANGA. Champ will earn a seed in Capcom Cup that will be held at the end of this year in the US.
- There'll be players photo session on September 21-22, 4-5 PM.
- MadCatz's android based home console called M.O.J.O. will be showed.

Tokyo Game Show 2013 will be held between September 19-22 at Makuhari Messe.

How not to make a good fighting game

http://youtu.be/ufuK7YsGo-Y?t=42m29s

A 61-hit combo
- out of a normal grab
- that deals only 20% damage
- and wastes 30 seconds (preventing late game comeback)
- with no way to escape (no Burst out of hit-stun)
- and you don't even need half of the meter
- and you end up having more meter!

Well, if you're still interested in this game we just happen to have a How to Play Under Night: In-Birth.

Umehara named one of 10 greatest players in esports history

Tip from MadCatz's MarkMan. Daigo Umehara has been named one of The 10 Greatest Players in eSports History by an online newspaper The Daily Dot.

Umehara is one of the two fighting game players on the list. The list has 4 StarCraft/Warcraft players, 2 FPS players, 2 Dota players.