MOV's canned oxygen confiscated at airport

It's reported that MOV's canned oxygen (2 cans) were confiscated at Japan's airport while he was on his way to South Korea.

MOV, the famous 3rd Strike player and the king of Tougeki, was seen using canned oxygen several times including at Capcom's 25th Anniversary Tournament Grand Finals in 2012. He's now in South Korea with Mago, Bon-chan, Fuudo, Kazunoko, Eita, Frieda for a tournament.

Umehara participaing SSF4 CR Edition launch event

It's revealed that Daigo Umehara and Fuudo will participate Super Street Fighter IV CR Edition launch event tomorrow in Japan. There'll be streaming on Niconico starting from 20:00 JST.

SSF4 CR Edition is a new pachinko (Japanese pinball) with Super Street Fighter IV theme, but Umehara and Fuudo will probably talk about the fighting game only, rather than trying the pachinko (but we can hope!).

Fuudo to do Harry Potter kumite tomorrow

It's announced since last week that Fuudo will do Harry Potter cosplay kumite on March 25 or tomorrow, at e-sports Square Akihabara. He'll also host "Kachitagari TV" from there, starting 21:00 JST.

Fuudo has declared in November that if he finishes 8th place or below in the 3rd TOPANGA League he'll do this. He finished 8th place.

Karipaku announces marriage

Karipaku, the female Cody player and one of the strongest female players out there, announced today that she was married a few days ago.

*Justin Wong is unrelated to this news.

[DBFC] Match video from Dengeki Online staff

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is released today and we have matches played by Dengeki Online staff.

Misaka/Touma vs. Shana/Wilhelmina (mini tournament)


Heiwajima/Innocent Charm vs. Asuna/Leafa (mini tournament)


Heiwajima/Kino vs. Shana/Wilhelmina (mini tournament)


Shana/Kouko vs. Asuna/Wilhelmina (exhibition)


Kirino/Mao vs. Kirito/Boogiepop (exhibition)


Kuroyukihime/Haruyuki vs. Kirito/Leafa (exhibition)


Tomoka/Touma vs. Asuna/Leafa


Learn how to play here.

Decapre announced as 5th character in USF4, trending No.1 in Japan

The 5th character of Ultra Street Fighter IV was revealed just a couple hours ago. She's Decapre, a member of Shadoloo's dolls. Apparently she's also voiced by the person who voiced Cammy in Japanese version (Miyuki Sawashiro).





The revelation put the word "Decapre" on top of Japan's Twitter trend.

Japanese players reactions

Acqua: Cammy with new costume announced? Cool. So when will they announce the new character!

Kindevu: ....New character?

Nemo: Might as well give Dhalsim a claw.

Banbaban: A charge character? Case closed.....

Tsukimiya (Guy player): It looks like [Decapre] can standingLP>Ultra, I [hope they do the same with (Guy's) Bushin Goraisenpujin].

Reiketsu (famous Claw player): If [that Ultra setup of Decapre] is viable, then make Splendid Claw faster like before.

Nekojita (Abel player): Pretty sure she's Abel's bad matchup.

ChocoBlanka: Charge character? YES! Let's see what Momochi can do with her then I'll think about it. (LOL) Anyway, I'll still main Blanka in USF4.

Mahou Shoujo Zangi-tan (Zangief player): [Fancy about cloth damage after mask and claw fall off]

Capcom announces SSF4AE2012 tournament featuring Umehara

Capcom announced today that a SSF4AE2012 tournament will be held on April 5 in Akihabara. Seven players are already confirmed and Daigo Umehara is one of them. The 8th player, who will join the rest, will come from a qualifier (single elimination, limit to 32 players) held on the same date. A live streaming is planned.

Confirmed players

• Daigo Umehara
• Fuudo
• Tokido
• Ebi@Baki-sei
• Younashi
• -R- (Boxer player)
• Amiyu

The Fall of GODSGARDEN

We wanted to write about this months ago but we didn't, because GODSGARDEN contributed so much to the Japan's fighting game community in the past. But last night was the last straw, when they streamed Koihime behind paywall.

GG announced since October 2012 that they'd offer paid subscription for some special contents on their PPV channel. It's begun October last year however. But they haven't offered anything new since then. The PPV channel has casual streaming, offers mirror of their own free stream with a different angle, occasional field trip–all free in the past. It charges 525 yen monthly. The stream isn't even daily or has any schedule (as good as it gets). (This cost also adds up to 525 yen a month for Niconico's premium membership, which is needed to even watch GG's free streams on Niconico due to its 2,000 viewers limit. It'll kick free users to make room for paid users.)

They only had BlazBlue behind the paywall at first, after getting permission from the publisher. And now they added Koihime Musou to the list.

Although there's Koihime Musou boom, but it looks like the game has sold around 5,000 copies or less. Putting it behind the paywall isn't how you support it.

GODSGARDEN these days isn't the same organization as we know from 2009-2011. They're not the hype machine anymore, especially after TOPANGA and TOPANGA League was formed. They try hard to stay relevant by not relying on SF4 series and build hype on anything else they can catch. But eventually, they lost their way, and publicity and money becomes more important than community. It's no longer "what people want to watch" but "what I can sell."

This's their crimes in recent years.

• Partnered with a small video-on-demand site to hold a pay-per-view SF4/Tekken tournament called GODSGARDEN Gate. Ticket was too expensive (2,000 yen). There weren't many stars. The live stream was down in the grand final. Buyers had to watch the archive. (June 30, 2013)
• Partnered with various companies to promote (force) things such as League of Legends and World of Tanks to the community.
• Make an unnecessary long BlazBlue tournaments that last 8 months (Dec - July). Paid subscription (GG's PPV channel, 525/mo) required to watch the qualifiers. Pay again 1,500 yen to watch all the finals. Only the grand finals in July is offline.
• Girl Gamers Club is mainly for publicity and their own good. One time, it's just amateur models playing smartphone game on the stream. Possible net cafe cross-promotion.

While GODSGARDEN still do offline fighting game events to keep the scene alive, this aggressive monetization makes us question their motivation everytime.

Anyway, one good news is GG isn't working on Evo Japan, as far as we know.

[Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross] Piropii's combo video for beginners

An Ougon Musou Kyoku player Piropii posted his new combo video on February 3. It aims to teach basic or standard combos, but also includes some advance combos.

Note that some combos can be used to buy time for your Meta Gauge or Touch Gauge to fill.

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax release date, OP revealed

It's revealed that Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax will be released in the Japanese arcades on March 18. The opening movie of the game is also revealed.

You can read How to Play here.

Meet Shin Kubo

Remember Kubo who was said to be one of the best Japanese Marvel players in 2012 (and the one who introduced "Kubota Escape")? If you recognize him by his appearance back then then there's a chance you don't recognize him now, as he took some serious diet.

Before

After

Koihime Enbu site updated with screenshots and voices

The official site of Koihime Enbu has been updated with screenshots and character voices.

It looks like there's no big change to the system (little tweak to HUD). However, the character sprites (already look impressive in the first game) are significantly improved. It's sharper and smoother.

Koihime Enbu is the sequel of Shin Koihime Musou Otome Taisen Sangokushi Engi. There're 3 new characters: Sui, Nagi, ans Minmei.

Shining Ark 80% discount

Beast Note's most anticipated fighting game of the year, Blade Arcus, is coming out this Summer but you've never played the most recent RPG of the series–Shining Ark? Let's fix that, for cheap!

From March 4 until March 26 on Japan's PlayStation Store, you can get Shining Ark for only 980 yen, from 5,600 yen.

This game works on both PSP and PS Vita. It doesn't have English version. So there's no reason not to get it.

This's why you shouldn't play Street Fighter IV

It's no secret that Beast Note hates comeback mechanics. Today we remind you again Street Fighter IV's Ultra Combo which is one of the most disgusting things out there. Free massive damage for playing badly each round. Not to mention that some characters get easy setups and don't rely on FADC.

This match (Xian vs. Shiro from Evo 2011). Never forget.