Message from Hatoko to Evo organizer

What's the true standard of choosing a game? Is it based on tournament players or fanbase? Is it based on American scenes or international? Do you also request number from Japanese organizers? Do you count sales? Do you accept unlocalized games since you accept unfinished? Why is it inconsistent? How do you explain some games with smaller and less active scenes than others getting the spots? If money hatting is OK then why don't you let subcommunities have a donation drive and pay for the spots? What's your target audience? What's the point of "world largest" when you don't consider international scenes? Do you think you can get away with the side tournament trick AKA throwing a bone to please the scenes you dishonor? How do you feel now more than 20% of Evo isn't a fighting game? Why don't we call it Neuro already? Why don't you add LoL if you care that much about viewers? You hate being called e-sports because you want to feel independent so why you act like a tool? You hate being called e-sports because you want to retain that precious influence from simply being the old gen so why make yourself irrelevant? Can't you use that negotiation power and come up with a better solution? Why are you holding back the community? What's your escape plan if Nintendo decides to pull out and hold its own tournament while the rejected and legit fighting game scenes also do the same?

KEEP

BUILDING

A SCENE

THAT

DOESN'T

BELONG

TO

THE FGC

WHY?

なぜ？

わかんないよ

Nintendo party game tournament organizer steps down amid sexual harassment allegations

From Kotaku

Influential Smash Bros. tournament organizer Johnathan "Alex Strife" Lugo will no longer be involved with this year's Apex 2015 tournament following a string of allegations involving sexual harassment and other wrongdoing, an Apex representative said today.

See also

• Tales from the Creep: Capcom Pro Tour Asia
• The Cross Assault Incident

French Bread apologizes for inappropriate tweet

French Bread's Nobuya Narita* and Kamone Serizawa** had apologized yesterday for an appropriate tweet made by Narita after the Under Night In-birth national tournament (Jan 18).

*representative and a cofounder
**battle planner and programmer

Narita's tweet in question was

"It may sound like trolling again to say it's good that Gordeau and Merkava didn't win (laugh), still I'm glad that character such as Waldstein and Yuzuriha won. Thank you all the participants for the good games. (bow)"

(The winning team used Waldstein, Yuzuriha, Hyde. Other teams in semifinals have Gordeau.)

That apparently made fans angry because it's inappropriate in every ways. Narita later apologized and explained that since people think those two characters are over the top, he felt that the result was preferred.

Serizawa also apologized for the incident. He said that he gave the person some serious advice, and they'll prevent something like this from happening again.

Please note that Serizawa himself also has his own problem. The man is seen from time to time doing indirect negative campaigning, by tweeting or retweeting a picture or video about a bug or flaw of other fighting games.

French Bread is the developer of Melty Blood, Under Night In-birth, and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.

See also:

• Under Night In-birth developer interview

Is this the weirdest bug? P4U2 is now Play4U2

A Japanese player reported that a weird bug is found in the arcade version of P4U2 (Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold) after the latest update which arrived today (version 2.0).

The bug caused the CPU to take control of the player's character after the victim tried to challenge someone. A hundred yen was lost in the process.

In other news, Arc System Works already issued a statement regarding a known bug from today's update which prevents PSR from working properly when using new characters (Rise, Amada, Adachi, Marie, Margaret).

Girl banned for violent conduct during Guilty Gear match

A girl was banned from Kumite in Tennessee fighting game event (Jan 9-11) for grabbing a guy who was popping off during a Guilty Gear match.

See also:

• Noel Brown arrested for hitting ex-girlfriend

WECG2015 indefinitely postponed

Nishikin revealed today that World e-Sports Championship Games grand final tournament in South Korea is being postponed indefinitely due to Chinese sponsor pulling out.

Nishikin, the well-known Blanka player, qualified as Japan representative for the USF4 tournament.

This news reminds us that there is another shady large scale e-sports tournament called Video Games World Cup that is scheduled to take place (or be cancelled) this year.

Tales from the Creep - Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals

A day on fighting game stream....

And some people actually wonder why the FGC isn't getting the exposure it deserves.

For us, it's not about the games, it's about the presentation. If you present what you do professionally, people will also take you seriously. You must give audience the expectation of quality. We think the FGC should treat its stream like a product rather than "If you don't like it then it's your problem, it's free anyway, we owe you nothing."

We think the most effective way to grow a community is to make the viewers a part of the community. Converting viewers to players is a bonus. Sadly, some FGC VIPs actually think it's organizers and tournament players that counts–and they have love-hate relationship with the audience.

Video Games World Cup announced

Something called Video Games World Cup is announced today.

Our summary

• An online league will be formed for each sub tournament (42) in each country (said 180+)
• Up to 128 players compete each week for 29 weeks
• Winner of each week and top ranker qualify for national finals
• You can pay $30 each week for the chance (You keep the points)
• National champions qualify for continental finals (June 22-28, 2015)
• Continental champions take free trip (flight+hotel) to "World Cup Finals"
• "World Cup Finals" will be in New York, July 3-5, 2015
• Promise big money .....but only if there're enough players
• Website isn't properly constructed
• Games including "Street Fighter IV" (from the cover) not Ultra
• "Tekken" (what Tekken?)
• Starcraft II "Wings of Liberty" (from the cover) not Heart of the Swarm
• It's organized by French?

Yes, it looks fishy and unlikely to live up to its name. We don't see 128 Japanese players paying $30 each week in a USF4 tournament, let alone Tekken or any other game.

SNK has police raid Square Enix office

From AnimeNewsNetwork

The Osaka Police's Consumer and Economic Crime Division searched the Tokyo headquarters of manga and game publisher Square Enix, as well as other locations linked to the publisher, on Tuesday. The police is investigating alleged copyright violations — specifically, the use of another company's popular game characters without permission in a manga series. 

The company emphasized that it repeatedly requested Square Enix to immediately halt the sales of Hi Score Girl's digital release, print volumes, monthly magazine serialization, and other releases. However, SNK asserted that it did not receive any kind of sincere response.

It looks like Phoenix Wright will be top tier in this SNK vs. Square Enix.

GODSGARDEN plans offstage PPV stream at Evo2014?

A six part (1,2,3,4,5,6) stream was planned yesterday by GODSGARDEN. The show, titled "EVO offstage stream in Las Vegas," will be streamed via GODSGARDEN's premium channel on Niconico. All of the stream pages have "Buy Ticket" button. While the button doesn't necessarily mean the shows are pay-per-view, they can kick non-ticket buyers out whenever they want to. (And we think they will.) (Update July 10: Yes, it's PPV)

We aren't sure if Evo organizer knows about this. Is this a collaboration and money will be split between GG and Evo? Or is this just a new scheme of GG's aggressive monetizing, and money is made behind Evo's back?

We wrote about GODSGARDEN's aggressive monetizing before, and this could be their new low. If it's as what we suspect, someone need to tap their shoulder and speak up.

GODSGARDEN founders are Hiroaki Inaba and KSK. Who's responsible to this downfall? We really hope it's not KSK.

KSK was once a homeless man in early 2011, due to the closing of Gamer's Vision–the game center (no longer sustainable then hit by earthquake) that is said to have caused him 90 million yen debt. He slept in his car that was given by someone at the hard time. He briefly worked as a bartender at a small bar where he met a rich businessman who then picked him up because of his fame. This's because he got a lot of supports from JFGC.

KSK is now living an upper middle class life. Beside GG's streams, he cohosts PPV Internet talk show "Mada Hashiritai" ("I Want to Keep Running") and sometimes game promotions. He also recently appeared on ads promoting highend PC brand as "the man who pioneered game streaming" "from the popular gaming stream on Niconico that has more than 25 million unique views."

Again, we don't want to write about this, but GG is biting the hands that feed them. They use the fame for various collaborations (which make them more famous itself), they get money from the companies, and still want fans to pay for something that should be free.

ECT organizers admit to rigging brackets

So East Coast Throwdown organizers made a post here and here to deny the accusation of rigging the brackets ..........by admitting to it.

Summary

1. Players of 2 big teams found in the brackets next to each other
2. They were moved so they didn't have to play each other in the next 2 matches
3. Organizers said it wasn't a rigging, because no one else made them (but what's the difference?)

So What Does This Mean?

• Next time when you go to ECT, just form one big team so you don't have to play at all. Then potsplit.
• Any tournament that accepts quota/seed from ECT now has their integrity questionable.

Progress? Probably not.

Apparently someone stole a combo video off Niconico, and SRK thought the thief was the contributor. This time, after some complaints, they decided to link to the real contributor.

While this's a good sign we doubt that things will change. FG news sites always post YouTube videos stolen from Niconico. We actually think some of them know but they try to not think about it simply because videos attract viewers. Another reason is Niconico videos require login so they post YouTube alternatives instead so the readers don't complain about not being able to view it.

Talking about thieves, it's sad to see that they still get publicity and the praises "Do it for community" and the real contributor is yet to be acknowledged.

If you see a YouTube video about Japanese players and there's unique black chat box on the right hand side, it's 100% stolen from Niconico, and it's from Zabac.

Zabac is hailed "The Stream Recording God" by Japanese FGC. He records almost every Japanese streams in realtime and uploads right away when it ends. He does this for years now.

Zabac helps thousands of people who don't have Niconico premium accounts to rewatch the streams. Zabac stays up for half day long to upload only matches with Japanese players in foreign tournaments.

On top of that, Zabac doesn't get any ads revenue (Niconico doesn't have revenue sharing program), and he remains anonymous. No doubt, he's the biggest contributor of the JFGC if you don't count players and organizers.

From this news, we hope SRK follow this standard of giving credits to the real contributors.

Noel Brown arrested for hitting ex-girlfriend

Kotaku reported that Noel Brown was arrested for hitting his ex-girlfriend and a player on the night during CEO 2013 fighting game tournament.

"After taking his testimony, police charged Brown with domestic battery violence and placed him into custody," according to police report from Kotaku.

Noel Brown is one of the infamous players of the FGC. He's seen many times coaching players at the stage whether they want it or not. He also paused the game while his character was delivering a killing move in the last game to force his opponent to give up before the match actually ended. (Pausing is allowed if you're about to win, even intentionally. It's a loophole of the rules.)

Ryan Hart suspended for rage tweet

International pro gaming organization Western Wolves announced that they have decided to suspend Ryan Hart indefinitely due to inappropriate comments on his Twitter.

The announcement came quickly after Hart expressed his anger over how his fellow Team Mad Catz player Mago "took the quota" of England qualifying tournaments of Capcom's Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Tournaments Grand Finals. It was after he lost to Mago, who later went on from Losers bracket to win the tournament over Momochi.

Both Mago and Momochi, as 1st and 2nd place finishers, are now qualified for the Grand Finals in San Francisco on December 8. The trip will be paid for as a prize.

Hart felt that Mad Catz should not send Mago there because they both have the same sponsor, and that Mago had his chance at the Japan qualifying tournaments. F-word was used twice in the tweet which was later deleted.

Mad Catz is one of Western Wolves' sponsors.

New Tougeki scandals (2012 edition)

Tougeki 2012 is this weekend but we cannot wait to unfold these scandals. There are already 2 scams, pre-Tougeki 2012 P4U tournament and Game Summer Festival 2012.

Pre-Tougeki 2012 P4U (mini) tournament
The first scam is PPV pre-Tougeki 2012 P4U tournament. The show was 5 hour long. But there were 3 corners before that. The time table was not written beforehand, so no one expected that. They had viewers wait 1 hour 48 minutes before the actual tournament. Luckily, it is offline tournament, it would have less value otherwise.

The time table

1. Opening talk (15 minutes)
2. A sample of Cho Tougeki Exhibition match (Umehara vs. Nuki, Kazunoko vs. Fei Long) (originally 1 hour, but they cut to 30 minutes due to complaints?)
3. Tougeki Q&A talk (20 minutes)
4. P4U introduction & gameplay demonstration  (35 minutes)
5. The actual content

Why did they use PPV stream to promote Tougeki?
Why did they show SF4 on a PPV P4U stream?
Why did they show Umehara when he is not confirmed to go Tougeki 2012?
Why did they introduce something that people are paying to see?
Time table is not showed outside the show, was that on purpose?

The actual tournament started at 0:40 (JST) after midnight. And again, this is pay-per-view.


Game Summer Festival 2012
In order to make more money from Tougeki, they make Tougeki a part of a big game event. Everything outside Tougeki is a filler.

This big event is not actually big judging from the contents. The stage shows are mostly a game played by a gamer. The concerts are mostly from minor artists.

Here is the important part. If you are not already qualified for Tougeki Finals (a blue ticket holder) and wish to participate the appointed day qualifier, you are forced to buy the ticket of Game Summer Festival which will cost up to 7,500-8,500 yen for both days. Moreover, number of participants is limited even though they will accept all the applications. It will be decided by lottery. You will not get a refund if you are not chosen.

In Japan, with 8,500 yen, it is the money you pay for a concert of a top artist(s) of the country with approximate 30 songs or more.

They are unfairly making big money off players, their friends or relatives, and their fans.


The monopoly
We again have to remind you that Tougeki will always get away as long as Japan does not have a new open national fighting game tournaments event. Currently, only the game publishers have the power to do so. Arc System Works is stepping up, but publishers like Capcom only do so once in a while to promote stuff. TOPANGA and GODSGARDEN does not have the power. They can only organize a small one or invite-only.

Evolution 2012 Day 3 summary

Info
- July 8, stream starts at 10 am.
- Timestamp is local time (Las Vegas)
- Evolution 2012 Day 0 summary
- Evolution 2012 Day 1 summary
- Evolution 2012 Day 2 summary
- Nico to stream GODSGARDEN Evo 2012 public viewing 
- Evo 2012 now finished, Umehara got 5th place - news from Famitsu

Soulcalibur V
- Kamaage, Decopon, ruka are Japanese.
10:25 [Losers] Cafeld Kura (Patroklos) 0-2 Woahhz (Patroklos) *20500 viewers
10:31 [Losers] Kamaage (Mitsurugi) 1-2 Shining Decopon (Tira) *26100 viewers
10:41 [Winners] Something-unique (Pyrrha) 2-0 Xephukai (Astaroth) *28400 viewers
10:51 [Winners] crna ruka (Patroklos) 1-2 Shen Chan (Cervantes) *34100 viewers
11:02 [Losers] Woahhz (Patroklos) 2-1 Xephukai (Patroklos) *33500 viewers
11:12 [Losers] Shining Decopon (Tira) 2-0 crna ruka (Patroklos) *34300 viewers
11:21 [Winners Final] Something-unique (Pyrrha) 0-2 Shen Chan (Cervantes) *36600 viewers
11:28 [Losers] Shining Decopon (Tira) 2-0 Woahhz (Patroklos) *38800 viewers
11:36 [Losers Final] Shining Decopon (Tira) 2-0 Something-unique (Pyrrha) *40400 viewers
11:46 [Grand Final] Shining Decopon (Tira) 3-1 Shen Chan (Cervantes) *44100 viewers *Decopon thought he won after winning only first 2 games
12:00 [Grand Final 2] Shining Decopon (Tira) 2-0 Shen Chan (Cervantes) *46000 viewers

SFxTK
[Losers] Combofiend/MikeRoss (Julia/Marduk) 0-2 Infiltration/Laugh (Rolento/Ryu) *31000 viewers
[Winners] Tokido/Fuudo (Chun/Ryu) 0-2 Ricky Ortiz/PR Rog (Ruf/Ryu) *42600 viewers
12:49 [Losers] Tokido/Fuudo (Chun/Ryu) 0-2 Infiltration/Laugh (Rolento/Ryu) *46700 viewers
12:59 [Grand Final] Ricky Ortiz/PR Rog (Ruf/Ryu) 0-2 Infiltration/Laugh (Rolento/Ryu) *47300 viewers
13:05 [Grand Final 2] Ricky Ortiz/PR Rog (Ruf/Ryu) 0-2 Infiltration/Laugh (Rolento/Ryu) *48700 viewers

Mortal Kombat 9
13:44 [Losers] CD JR 2-0 M2 Dave *39400 viewers
13:49 [Losers] Tyrant 0-2 IGL MIT *41800 viewers
13:59 [Winners] Pig of the Hut 2-0 XBlades *45100 viewers *PotH didn't know any Fatality so he went to the movelist during the match and still couldn't do it.
14:04 [Winners] PerfectLegend 2-0 4EverKing *49100 viewers
14:09 [Losers] CD JR 2-1 XBlades *53500 viewers
14:19 [Losers] IGL MIT 2-1 4EverKing *59900 viewers *MIT used hidden select in 2nd game for some fun
14:28 [Winners Final] Pig of the Hut 1-2 PerfectLegend *60800 viewers
14:37 [Losers] CD JR 2-0 IGL MIT *61600 viewers
14:44 [Losers Final] CD JR 2-1 Pig of the Hut *65600 viewers
14:57 [Grand Final] PerfectLegend 3-1 CD JR *67800 viewers

Virtua Fighter
- Shironuko is Japanese
15:23 [] ItaZan 0-3 Shironuko *41000 viewers
15:29 [Grand Final] Fuudo (Shun Di) 3-0 Shironuko (El Blaze) *46400 viewers

KOF
15:52 [Losers] Lacid 2-1 Yang Yao Ren *48500 viewers
16:06 [Losers] Mad Kof 2-1 Reynald *59500 viewers
16:24 [Winners] Guts 1-2 Verna *60100 viewers
16:39 [Winners] Romance 1-2 Bala *62100 viewers
16:54 [Losers] Guts 2-0 Lacid *66900 viewers
17:08 [Losers] Mad Kof 2-0 Romance *68200 viewers
17:18 [Losers] Mad Kof 2-0 Guts *66800 viewers
17:28 [Winners Final] Verma 0-2 Bala *66400 viewers
17:38 [Losers Final] Mad Kof 2-0 Verna *70500 viewers
17:49 [Grand Final] Mad Kof 3-2 Bala *90200 viewers *Bala random selected his team in the 5th game but cancelled
18:13 [Grand Final 2] Mad Kof 3-1 Bala *peak 90500 viewers, average 83000

UMvC3
19:20 [Losers] Y2J 0-3 Frutsy *76300 viewers
19:31 [Losers] Justin Wong 1-3 ChrisG *81900 viewers
19:44 [Winners] Infrit 3-0 Flocker *87300 viewers
19:53 [Winners] F.Champ 3-2 Combofiend *92100 viewers *Combofiend got first 2 games.
20:14 [Losers] ChrisG 3-1 Flocker *91700 viewers
20:27 [Losers] Frutsy 1-3 Combofiend
20:39 [Losers] ChrisG 3-1 Combofiend
20:50 [Winners] F.Champ 2-3 Infrit *92800 viewers
21:14 [Losers Final] F.Champ 3-2 ChrisG *92100 viewers *very close match/last round
21:35 [Grand Final] F.Champ 3-0 Infrit *96800 viewers
21:42 [Grand Final 2] F.Champ 3-2 Infrit *98100 viewers *Infrit missed a big opportunity when he couldn't close the 2nd game.


SSF4AE2012
22:29 [Losers] Poongko (Set) 0-2 Xiaohai (Cam)*34280 viewers
0-2
1-2
22:34 [Losers] GamerBee (Ado) 2-0 Dieminion (Gui)
2-0
2-1
22:40 [Winners] PR Rog (Box) 2-0 Humanbomb (Sak) *69300 viewers
2-1
2-0
22:47 [Winners] Infiltration (Aku) 2-0 Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
2-0
2-0
22:54 [Losers] Humanbomb (Sak) 0-2 GamerBee (Ado)
0-2
1-2
23:00 [Losers] Xiaohai (Cam) 2-0 Daigo Umehara (Ryu) *peak & average viewers unknown but it was 80000 viewers right after the match ended
2-1
2-1
23:08 [Losers] GamerBee (Ado) 2-1 Xiaohai (Cam) *78500 viewers
0-2
2-0
2-1
23:19 [Winners] Infiltration (Aku) 2-0 PR Rog (Box) *76600 viewers
2-0
2-0
23:25 [Losers] GamerBee (Ado) 2-0 PR Rog (Box) *77100 viewers
2-0
2-0
23:33 [Grand Final] GamerBee (Ado) 0-3 Infiltration (Aku) *77700 viewers
0-2
1-2
0-2

Updates
8:59 - More than 80 attendees now at GG event (GODSGARDEN Evo 2012 public viewing)
9:30 - Nico stream starts with Kami-chan and Ren.
9:40 - A Namco's Soulcalibur V developer now on Nico stream, replacing Ren.
10:22 - Commentators: Aris & Markman.
12:12 - Decopon didn't know it's FT3 in grand final. He thought he won after winning 2 games. He thought his opponent wanted to highfive when trying to explain.
12:16 - Mike Ross and Gootecks appear. They interview in the hall.
12:16 - Nekojita and Naruno replace Kami-chan and SC guy on Nico stream.
12:26 - Commentators: UltraDavid and Reepal
13:37 - Commentators on Nico: Ren and Frieda
13:43 - Commentators: MedinaTV and Delriach
15:22 - Commentators: LA akira and shidosha
15:43 - Video of Zhi asking stupid questions to people while acting stupid (like always). Why do they force people to watch this on main stream? (This time Umehara and KayoPolice are the victims.)
15:52 - Commentators: hellpockets and meta_abe
17:53 - OMG hellpockets guy burped during the match quite loud.
18:34 - Commentators on Nico: Kami-chan and Frieda
18:49 - Tekken Tag Tournament combo video and exhibition match
19:16 - Niitsuma (MvC3 producer) is on the stage, but nothing happended.
19:19 - Commentators: Magus and Yipes
20:58 - Nico stream surpassing 150,000 attendees.
22:08 - Awards time.
22:12 - Air throw exhibition video
22:24 - Nuki appears on Nico stream.
22:29 - Commentators: Seth Killian and James Chen

Updates from Nico stream (right after Evo stream)
- Timestamp in JST
16:00 - Ayano (new SF4 producer) appears.
16:13 - MadCatz's Japanese staff and Markman appear.
16:28 - GamerBee and Karaface appear. GamerBee wanted to rematch with Umehara.
16:33 - Ryan Hart, Infiltration, Laugh appear. (Nuki asked RH in Japanese, RH asked Laugh in English, Laugh asked Infiltration in Korean!) Infil said he studied Umehara matchup from videos.
16:45 - There're 128 people at the event. The stream ends with 200,000+ attendees, 137,000+ comments.

Salty Suite (money match)
- We don't have all the results, this's just what we have.
- This happened after Evo.
Fuudo (Fei) 2-5 Latif (Vip)
Nyanshi (Sag) 2-3 Humanbomb (Sak)
Xiaohai (Cam) 3-1 Kazunoko (Yun)
Bon-chan (Sag) 5-2 Fword (Ibu)

Days after Day 3
- Choco group, Umehara group, UMvC3 group are in the same flight back. And the flight was being delayed.

Evolution 2012 Day 1 summary

Info
- July 6
- Evolution Day 0 summary
- Event report from 4Gamer.net

• Vicious Hellsing (Jur) 0-2 Bon-chan (Sag)
• Laugh (Ryu) 2-0 Booth (Hon)
• Baybladex (Box/Gen) 0-2 Mr. SNK (Hon)
• blackskillz (DJ) 2-1 Lexy (Chun)
• Karasjet (DJ) 0-2 Tokido (Aku)
• Warahk (Gui) 0-2 Air (Ryu)
• sidthesquid (Hon) 0-2 Mike Ross (Hon)
• Online Tony (Set) 2-0 Ruin (Aku)
• Cameron (Ado) 0-2 Tokido (Aku)
• Zhi (Zan) 2-1 Viscant (DJ)
• 11:50 [Winners] Tokido (Aku) 1-2 Eric Hai (Ryu) *Tokido played carelessly and lost after a big lead in last round
• Air (Ryu) 2-0 Huang (Zan)
• 12:18 Kazunoko (Yun) 2-0 Onilord (Oni)
• Latif (Vip) 2-0 Onielsky (Bla)
• 12:30 Umehara (Ryu) 2-0 (2-1, 2-1) Woolie (Bla) *great first round ultra finish in 2nd game
• LI Joe (Sag) 2-0 VerticalStyle (Dic)
• Sherm (Yun) 1-2 Poongko (Set)
• CJ Truth (Fei) 2-0 Paramisery (Zan)
• Dakou (Ryu/Fei) 2-1 Mike Chow (Abe)
• James Chen (Cam) 2-0 shinryuken (Yun)
• Dakou (Ryu) 1-2 Kazunoko (Yun) *36700 viewers
• Latif (Vip) 2-0 sange_tencho (Fei)
• Dogura (Dic) 2-0 Vic the slik (Dic)
• 14:00 Umehara (Ryu) 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) DR-Ray (Fei) *37600 viewers
• Chilldog (Zan) 0-2 Alex Valle (Ryu)
• Ryan Hart (Sag/Ryu) 0-2 Filipino Man (Ros) *36700 viewers
• 14:32 ChocoBlanka (Bla) 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) MyLegBroke (Fei) *38300 viewers
• 14:41 Uryo (Sak) 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) Roogle (Ros) *a keyboard player *39000 viewers
• 14:47 sako (Ibu) 2-0 Joel (Fue) *39600 viewers
• 15:10 Deedogg (Gui/Box) 0-2 Kindevu (Set) *39500 viewers
• Haagendazs (Set) 0-2 Min (Hon) *37500 viewers
• 15:22 Eita (Aku) 1-2 ClakeyD (Ibu) *37600 viewers *Eita made some gesture after winning first game *perfect in last round
• 15:32 sako (Ibu) 2-0 Ismael (Ryu) *38000 viewers
• Adam (Haw) 0-1 Dieminion (Gui) *38700 viewers
• [Losers] DeeDogg (Box/Gui) 0-2 Xian (Gen) *39300 viewers
• Mr. Naps (E.Ryu) 2-0 Alfonso (Aku/Ken) *37300 viewers
• Luken (Ryu) 1-1 Buktooth (Ibu) *36300 viewers
• iPeru (Fue) 2-0 Dragonfist (Guy) *37100 viewers
• Mago (Fei) 2-0 Noah (Dic) *39000 viewers
• Infiltration (Aku) 2-0 Bahn (Ros) *41000 viewers
• 801Strider (Abe) 2-0 Vogel (Sag)
• 16:52 Haitani (Mak) 2-0 Ugly JoeCamel (Vip) *41700 viewers
• John Choi (Ryu) 2-0 Richard Nguyen (Ado)
• 17:02 Kokujin (Ryu) 2-1 OCR Mike D (Dic) *42800 viewers
• 17:12 Itabashi Zangief (Zan) 0-2 Snafoo (Dha) *41300 viewers
• Infiltration (Aku) 2-1 Chris (Ken) *41700 viewers
• iPeru (Fue) 2-0 Cesar de Alba (Ros) *41600 viewers
• Mr. Naps (E.Ryu) 2-1 Gordortz (Fue) *41300 viewers

Quarter finals
18:56 [Winners] Justin Wong (Ruf) 1-1 (2-1, 1-2, 2-0) Kazunoko (Yun) *32000 viewers
19:07 [Winners] sako (Ibu) 1-2 (2-1, 1-2, 1-2) Kindevu (Cam) *perfect in 1st round by Kindevu
19:20 [Winners] Dieminion (Gui) 2-0 (2-1, 1-2, 2-0) Uryo (Vip) *39000 viewers
19:28 [Winners] Umehara (Ryu) 2-0 (2-0*, 2-0) Alex Smith (Abe/Juri) *perfect in 2nd round
19:33 [Winners] Evans (Fei) 1-2 (2-1, 0-2, 0-2) Poongko (Set) *42100 viewers
19:41 [Winners] Veloc1raptor (Gouken) 0-2 (0-2, 0-2) Fuudo (Fei) *41100 viewers
19:48 [Winners] Justin Wong (Ruf) 0-2 (1-2, 1-2) Hsien Chang (Yun) *42000 viewers *very close last round
19:57 [?] Mago (Fei) 0-2 (0-2, 0-2) Dieminion (Gui) *44600 viewers
20:04 [Winners] Chris G (Sak) 0-2 (1-2, 1-2) Poongko (Set) *45300 viewers
20:13 [Winners] John Choi (Ryu) 2-0 Mr. Naps *46000 viewers
20:20 [Losers] DRS Chris (Ken) 2-1 Chris G (Sak) *44500 viewers
20:29 [Losers] sako (Ibu) 2-1 (2-0, 0-1, 2-0) ClakeyD (Ibu) *perfect in last round
20:37 [] Infiltration (Aku) 2-0 iPeru (Fue)
20:42 [Winners] Hsien Chang (Yun) 0-2 (1-2, 1-2) Umehara (Ryu) *nice first round
20:51 [Winners] PR Rog (Box) 2-0 (2-1, 2-0) Fuudo (Fei) *perfect in 1st round of 2nd game
20:58 [Losers] sako (Ibu) 2-1 (2-0, 1-2, 2-0) Alex Valle (Ryu)
21:07 [Winners] Dogura (Dic) 0-2 (0-2, 0-2) Poongko (Set) *48000 viewers
21:13 [Losers] Justin Wong (Ruf) 2-0 (2-1, 2-1) MOV (Ken) *49600 viewers
21:23 [Losers] John Choi (Ryu) 0-2 Dogura (Dic) *48100 viewers
21:32 [Losers] Justin Wong (Ruf) 0-2 (0-2, 0-2) Fuudo (Fei) *48600 viewers
21:4X [Losers] Dogura 2-0 Mike Ross *50500 viewers

Top 16
21:53 [Winners] Infiltration (Gouken) 2-0 (2-1, 2-1) Dieminion (Gui) *50100 viewers *double KO in 1st round of 2nd game
22:01 [Winners] GamerBee (Ado) 1-2 (1-2, 2-1, 0-2) Umehara (Ryu) *53400 viewers *Ultra finish in 2nd round of both first 2 games and both round of 3rd game
22:12 [Winners] Humanbomb (Sak) 2-1 (1-2, 2-0, 2-0) Poongko (Set)
22:20 [Winners] PR Rog (Box) 2-0 (2-1, 2-0) Xiao Hai (Cam)
22:30 [Losers] GamerBee (Ado) 2-0 (2-0, 2-0) Dogura (Dic)
22:38 [Losers] Dieminion (Gui) 2-0 (2-1, 2-1) Fuudo (Fei)
22:46 [Losers] Haitani (Mak) 1-2 (1-2, 2-0, 0-2) Xiaohai (Cam)
22:52 [Losers] Kindevu (Cam) 1-2 (0-2, 2-0, 0-2) Poongko (Set)

Top 8 (to play on Sunday)
[Winners] Infiltration (to play Umehara)
[Winners] Daigo Umehara
[Winners] Humanbomb (to play PR Rog)
[Winners] PR Rog
[Losers] GamerBee (to play Dieminion)
[Losers] Dieminion
[Losers] Xiaohai (to play Poongko)
[Losers] Poongko

Updates
9:00 - Ricky Ortiz qualified the pool.
10:00 - Cabbage and MOV qualified the pool.
11:00 - Kokujin began his broadcasting but no sound. He used his own channel because GODSGARDEN stream is being used.
11:23 - Kokujin finally has sound.
11:30 - Kokujin was mad (and cussed) at Ren for using GODSGARDEN stream too long even it's not actually his fault (no one told him). Ren let Kokujin use it. Ren fans are mad at Kokujin.
11:30 - Bon-chan qualified the pool.
11:50 - Tokido went to Losers.
12:00 - Fuudo qualified the pool.
12:10 - KayoPolice is in C. Viper costume again this year.
12:30 - Umehara is using MadCatz limited Evo stick ($160).
12:40 - Momochi qualified.
12:45 - Brackets of SSF4AE2012 from Get Your Tournament guy [pic1][pic2] Tokido qualified the pool in Losers.
12:50 - Umehara & sako [pic]
15:45 - ChocoBlanka qualified the pool after 4th fight.
15:46 - Alex Valle qualified the pool.
15:50 - sako qualified the pool after 4th fight.
15:55 - Fuudo qualified the pool in Winners in SC5. (Kayane in Losers)
16:00 - kubo qualified the pool in Winners in KOF13.
16:03 - Eita is eliminated by Jason Cole.
16:27 - Kindevu qualified the pool in Winners. (Ryan Hart in Losers)
16:46 - KSK streaming
16:51 - KayoPolice is eliminated.
17:04 - Choco's next opponent is Dieminion.
17:37 - Haitani sent to Losers by Juice Box.
17:40 - Cabbage qualified KOF13 pool.
18:08 - Quarter final brackets from Alex Valle. [pic]
18:34 - Umehara defeated Latif.
18:34 - sako defeated his 5th opponent Min.
18:38 - Justin Wong has to play Kazunoko next.
18:43 - It seems like sako defeated his 6th opponent.
18:46 - Bon-chan defeated Wolfkrone.
18:50 - Snakeeyez beat Ricky Ortiz. Zeng beat Sabin.
18:53 - Dieminion beat ChocoBlanka.
19:01 - Uryo has to fight Mago.
19:05 - Umehara to play with Alex Smith.
19:07 - Bon-chan defeated a Ryu. Next is Humanbomb.
19:14 - MOV beat Momochi.
19:17 - Alex Valle lost to GamerBee.
19:39 - [Losers] F. Champ got disqualified in match against Ryan Hart.
19:43 - [Losers] Kazunoko beat Latif.
19:44 - Nyanshi lost to ClakeyD.
19:50 - Ricky Ortiz is eliminated.
19:59 - Kindevu to play GamerBee.
20:03 - Tokido vs. Mago offstream.
20:07 - Haitani eliminated Bon-chan.
20:20 - Finally the commentators are changed to UltraChen! GOD BLESS THE TRUE FGC.
20:44 - Latest brackets [link]
20:55 - [Losers] Justin Wong eliminated Kazunoko.
21:33 - Fuudo eliminated sako.
21:51 - Top 16 bracket. [pic]
XX-XX - Credits for the results go to Get Your Tournament guy, sako's wife, UltraDavid, all the reports from players.
XX:XX - Kazunoko won Guity Gear side tournament. (He's originally a Guilty Gear player.)

Top 8 again
In 2011, Daigo Umehara became the only player in history to enter Evolution top 8 Street Fighter IV tournament 3 consecutive years.

In 2012, today, Umehara nailed it by becoming the only player in history to enter Evolution top 8 Street Fighter IV tournament 4 consecutive years.

Versus GamerBee
The match Daigo Umehara vs. GamerBee was so amazing "Daigo" became a worldwide trend on Twitter.

Commentators
Making Zhi a commentator is a serious mistake. Not only the guy can't draw a line between kids in the chat and a decent commentator, he took advantge of it (as expected). Humming a song or talking off-topic on the stream of biggest FG tournament is bad enough. There was something that needs to be addressed.

He said something like "I wonder if I lost a passport in Japan, will there be some help like the case of Mago?" He talked like Japanese players are not generous like the American.

The truth behind this is he was the one who used to ask the Japanese FGC to let him stay in their house at least 2 occasions for free or minimum cost. Apparently not many people wanted to get involved.

FYI, KSK used to let backpacking American player SubZero sleep/stay at his game center long time ago. And Sako also let GamerBee stay at his house this year.

This's the same case with a certain foreign player living in Japan who is being given cold shoulder. Because the guy is a real troll trolling both in and outside the game.

Back to the topic, it was also Zhi last year at Evo 2011 who forced Momochi and ChocoBlanka to kiss, and forced Gama-san to shout Denpa Jikkyou meme, just for entertaining.

When Zhi was paired with skisonic today, it was a torture. Because they're good at going off-topic.

On the bright side, we have Juice Box and Magus. These two are good at play-by-play as we already mentioned. Magus improved a lot since NorCal 2 years ago. He has a weak point in JFGC stuff, but he was really smooth in everything else.

Marn perma-banned from Level|Up stream

Level|Up announced that Martin "Marn" Phan and Christian "ETR" Cain will not be invited to speak on its future broadcasts. This happened after Kotaku broke the story about inappropriate remarks on Level|Up's Wednesday Night Fights stream.

Level|Up issued a statement (with the announcement above) and handled things very well in this case. It's clear that they are the only stream team (and one of a few FG organizations) who actually dare to improve and do something for greater good.

Some stream teams let just almost anyone have the microphone and don't take any responsibility for the things said on their streams.

And while we always have a hard time understanding articles on Kotaku, it doesn't matter who and how. A watchdog is good, and the "FGC" should get used to a bigger and hungrier watchdog by now after the Cross Assault scandal.

Sexual harassment on Capcom's FG reality show

So mainstream media just found out the ugly side of "fighting game community."

Penny Arcade reported a new FGC scandal.

If it's too long and you don't want to read. Here's summary.

1. Aris, the Tekken player, said sexual harassment is a norm in FGC, and "not being welcome" is the beauty of FGC, on Capcom's reality show stream. (He was there as the Tekken Team's coach.)
2. A female contestant who was offended by Aris forfeited a match from the mistreatment.

What is happening right now is the "FGC" is deploying shoguns, ninjas, and foot soldiers to cover up/prove point/derail/damage control the incident (the usual procedures).

Luckily, mainstream media don't read Beast Note, because they will get some salts to the wounds and some nails to the coffins.

It'd be more fun if they follow up with a scoop about FGC's forbidden topics.

Examples

"A staff of a well-known stream team who refused to play with a Japanese player on the stream to avoid losing in front of the world at Evo 2011."

"A commentator of a well-known stream team who told big lies about his rival Japanese player in 2010."

"The deleted footage of underage girl getting sexually harassed by commentators from a well-known stream team in the middle of a tourney."

"A staff of a well-known stream team who couldn't hide the hate toward Japanese players and their fans through his 'commentating' and works."

Anyway, Aris did a good job explaining things on screen as an Evo commentator last year as we mentioned. This's a big loss in respect for him. His apology statement was great, but only for the first half. He should've just acknowledged the mistakes without defending "FGC" which will eventually go down to just some people with the same attitudes as his.

Real FGC doesn't need hostility, not even a mild one. Japan proved it. They successfully convinced Nico Nico (22 million subscribers) and established a real FG league this year. They clearly have the people with the right attitudes and the star players whom the fans want to see even they have to pay. They also beat the system (the strict laws) that prevented them from doing big things. And you know what? The commentators have to avoid saying the word "died" on the stream. Nothing is lost here.

American "FGC" does have bigger tournaments and better equipments, but in term of progress, they now fall behind the Japanese. They have yet to get rid of the dark image, let alone be more accessible. (Though it's not like they actually care.)

Don't let anyone tell you that the "FGC" is all about enthusiasms and energies to make violence, racism, or sexism acceptable in any degree. People enjoy WWE and pay to see even the villains because we know the dramas are fake and it's entertaining. But in "FGC" the real dramas are real and it's disgusting.

Let's hear the whole story (SBO related)

I want to comment on fubarduck's story on Wakeup Shoryuken E073.

"SBO should be like Evo"
That's not going to happen, as everyone should already know. SBO itself is organized by Arcadia acarde gaming magazine. It's I-help-you-you-help-me relationship like many companies out there. Arcadia's main objective is to stimulate arcade scene, so they can sell the magazine. However, the tournament is also a good thing since it's actually the only true national level unofficial tournament. (because they have local area qualifiers) This's where players around the country can test their skills and get some prize. It's as-good-as-it-gets standard. The point is you can't treat it like community's event.

"SBO had 40,000 viewers on the stream"
Nico Nico doesn't display number of viewers. The number he referred to is attendee. (more like total unique session) It will only increase and never go down. I'd be surprised if the actual net ticket buyers exceed 10,000. The most realistic guess is 7,000 maximum.

"They made a lot of money from the stream"
Like I said, I don't think they made a lot of money. The costs of equipments, the big space in Makuhari Messe, the Nico stream, the staff. And since it's not organized by the community, they probably pay a lot for the staff, as opposed to asking for volunteers. These costs is also another reason why they shouldn't want a longer tournament (AKA double elimination) because some fees are charged hourly.

"SBO was so obsessed with getting Daigo to play in the tournament (and that caused the incident)"
Half truth. Do you know how Mago and Tokido got their spot in SBO? Because Mago won SSF4AE x Tougeki: Natsu no Jin, and then he chose Tokido as his partner. Mago played 4 matches. Tokido won zero round. (Shiro-Shungoku Neurosis probably played at least 18 matches for the spot including the retries.) On top of that, they both were invited by Capcom. They didn't come from participating any selected tournament or the qualifier like the rest of the players in Natsu no Jin. By directing all attention to Umehara alone is not fair.


That's all. I'm not saying SBO's miscalculation/management was acceptable. I just feel that unnecessary things were said just because someone read too much strangers' posts on a message board (and probably the same persons with different IPs who try to act like the majority). Some people attack SBO just because they want a free stream. Some are mad because they didn't see their favorite player enough after paying 1,500 yen. Some do it just for fun. If you continue to listen without thinking, eventually you'll become a tool for them.

On another topic/subject, I saw certain pretentious haters riding SBO scandal wave. It's pretty funny because what they condemn is actually what they did.

Who blatantly mistreated a certain Japanese player on several occasions both in and outside a tournament?
Who prevented a certain Japanese player from playing on the stream after he paid 200,000 yen to be there?


You won't find the answers elsewhere. Because this's how Fighting Game Community (笑) works.