Umehara's "I Love Arcades" T-shirt design contest announced

A T-shirt design contest was announced on Daigo Umehara's official website. The theme is "I Love Arcades!" and the deadline is February 12, 2012.

The contest is a part of his Japan's local arcade tour, a campaign to promote and support arcade scenes.

OMKC: Guard Touch Forward, Recoverable Damage system revealed

Two new systems were revealed in the past 2 weeks on Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross website.

Guard Touch Forward
Press Forward and Touch at the same time while blocking. This will push opponent away further than normal Guard Touch. Cost 1 SP gauge.

Recoverable Damage
You can regain a portion of your life (the darkened portion) using Normal Touch.

There is also a note saying there are some other changes such as in old characters and gauge consumption in Meta engagement.

Fuudo plays UMvC3 at Capcom press event

Yesterday, Capcom held a closed press event for media to try PlayStation Vita's UMvC3. They also had an exhibition match between Capcom's Hagiwara and Ayana Tsubaki + Fuudo.

Fuudo bought UMvC3 at launch even he said he doesn't play fighting games on consoles. And it looks like some players also started the series while waiting for SSF4AE Ver.2012 update.

Rare footages of Umehara actually playing Vampire Savior

Someone uploaded more than 40 video clips of Daigo Umehara's Vampire Hunter/Savior matches in the past on Nico today. Two of them actually show him playing Savior in a tournament. This's very rare since we don't usually see his face (or any indication) so it's hard to verify if it's really his match.

Vampire Savior was released in 1997.

[Ranking Battle Final] Nasu (Sasquatch) vs. Umehara (Bishamon)


[??? Final] Umehara (Bishamon) vs. Yankee (Bishamon)

Umehara tries Cammy

Trusted sources reported that they've seen Daigo Umehara playing Cammy yesterday which is the first day of SSF4AE Ver.2012 at Taito Station. He was also seen having 22 win streak at the time.

It's really too early to say Umehara is switching to Cammy, he probably is going to test all the characters eventually. But choosing Cammy on the first day is really something.

Umehara used to play Cammy before in a tournament in England last year.

Kokujin in Ver.2012 trailer

SSF4AE Ver.2012 hits Japanese arcades today, and Capcom now released a trailer showing off some of the changes.

The trailer has 2 version -- English and Japanese. There's a reason why you should watch the Japanese one. It has Kokujin's (scripted) expressions.

The consoles will get the free balance update on December 13. Capcom already posted the complete change log a few days ago.

Import Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross now at Amiami

Amiami is now accepting preorders for Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross. People who live outside Japan can import it now as the online store ships internationally.

If you still don't have the original game, don't forget to buy it together, since Cross is its expansion disc, not a full game.

And if you really want it you should place an order now to avoid possible shortage. The game will be shipped probably after the first week of January.

OMK Cross will be released on December 31.