Umehara to talk about his book on Nico live show

Daigo Umehara's book "Willpower to Keep Winning" is coming in a couple days, and it is revealed that Nico Nico will have a special live show about it on April 8.

On the show, Umehara will come to talk, and also have "online autograph event" in which the books he signs, 50 of them, will be sold via Nico Nico's online shop. The books are now available for purchase until April 20.

Please note that the signed book will be delivered on April 9. The book actually comes out on April 2.

People from outside Japan who can read Japanese can import this book (no autograph) from Amazon Japan.

Umehara is famous on Nico Nico not just from his gaming skills alone, but also from Denpa Jikkyou Internet meme. And when you consider everything, the release of his book should warrant a live show like a celebrity.

Oricon (the so-called Japan's Billboard) also had a news about Umehara's book last week.

Gunslinger Stratos official site opens

The teaser site of Gunslinger Stratos is replaced with official site just now. There's a lot of juicy information and Beast Note has a summary of it.

General
- 200 yen (1 credit) for 2 plays. (both finished product and beta version)
- Players can check stats and customize weapons via smartphone at the official mobile site.
- Headshot and "Quickdraw" deal more damage. (Quickdraw - Quickly point the gun to the screen and shoot)

Basic rules
- Each team member has his own life point, but they share the same Power Gauge. Make enemy team's Power Gauge go down to zero in time to win the match.
- The Power Gauge is decreased when a team member is defeated. The loss differs according to the weapon the defeated player is using.
- A match has 180 seconds time limit.
- If the winning team has no credit left, they can continue next match for free (1 time only).

4 game modes

1. Online Players vs. Online Players - Team up and fight players from around Japan. The winning team gets one free play.
2. Local vs. Online Players - Players in the same arcade can form a team to fight online players. (Online players will be added if the team has less than 4 players.) The winning team gets one free play.
3. Individual Mission - Fight alone against CPU.
4. Team Mission - Local players fight against CPU.

Characters
Toru Kazasumi
Kyoka Katagiri
Kyoma Katagiri
Shizune Rindo
Olga Janetine
Aaron Burroughs
Jonathan Sizemore
Akira Rakando
Ryo Kusakage
Remy Odhner

Stages
Tokyo, Shibuya - Advantage: sniping
Osaka, Nanba - Advantage: close combat
Tokyo, Ikebukuro - Coming soon

Controls

• Side Style - Attach both left and right gun sideways to change into weapon such as machine gun.
• Tandem Style - Place the right gun on top of the left gun to change into heavy weapon such as bazooka, rifle, or missile.
• Close Combat - Point both guns outside the screen and use only triggers.
• Symbol Chat - Press right stick twice then select message using left stick.
• Move - Move left stick.
• Camera Control - Press both sticks at the same time then move camera using right stick.
• Jump - Press Jump button.
• Air Dash - Press Jump button twice in the air.

Gunslinger Stratos is an arcade 4 on 4 light-gun shooter from Square Enix. Daigo Umehara is "official supporter" of the game.

First official Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross tournament detailed

07th Expansion, Ougon Musou Kyoku maker, has updated the information about the first official Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross tournament.

Summary
- There'll be 2 tournaments for 2 modes -- Princess Mode and Normal Mode.
- Single elimination, 3 life bars, 180 seconds time limit, 1 round.
- Princess Mode is for female beginners (who couldn't beat CPU at Hard or don't usually play online).
- Normal Mode is for anyone.
- It's mini tournament so it's limited to 8 players each (selected by raffle).
- Application deadline is April 1.
- MC and commentator is Sentosu.
- There's possibility that footages will be uploaded later.

This OMKC mini tournaments is a part of "07th Expansion Party," a doujinshi (self-published works) event that will have only its series related products. It will be held on May 5.

Evo 2012: SFxTK rules announced

The rules of the Street Fighter X Tekken tournament at Evolution 2012 is announced.

- It will be 2 on 2 tag team (not in Scramble Battle mode). One player controls one character. Tagging in the game means tagging in real life. (as in the video below)
- Gems will be disabled.
- Seeding points of a team is the same with the seeding points of the player who registers. (The team member who has more points should register their team.)

The 2 on 2 tag team decision is rather good news. It differentiates the tournament from SSF4AE2012 one. And this is the first time for such gameplay. This alone should guarantee the hype.

Dropping Gem System is understandable. The system is a great idea but is badly implemented by Capcom, especially for tournaments. There is tournament support DLC, but it did not address all the problems. All players should be able to use all the Gems equally without DLC or unlocking, thus no unfair advantage in Gems knowledge or strategies. There should also be 30-second time limit in selection. (The first official tournament allows up to 3 minutes.) The match should start automatically after that, ready or not.

There is still no evidence that Daigo Umehara actually plays this game, outside Capcom's videos. He is an arcade gamer. So it is presumed that, like UMvC3, he will not be serious about it. His partner can be anyone but Mago and Tokido.

Evolution 2012 will take place between July 6-8.

First image of Umehara actually playing Gunslinger Stratos

It is revealed that Daigo Umehara, Mago, Tokido, and Fuudo participated in Gunslinger Stratos's close playtest yesterday. Square Enix also posted a photo of them.

Bunbunmaru (the Virua Fighter player, now working for Famitsu), Ayana Tsubaki (tarento), and Kana Ueda (voice actress) were also there playing on the opposing team.

They sure need some training since they will all be participating Gunslinger Stratos beta event in April.

KSK banned from Nico Nico

If you still remember, one of Soushihan KSK's jobs is stream producer. He streams concerts of indie artists including music contests. Today, something went wrong during a big local music contest that he was streaming. KSK's Nico Nico account got suspended for 1 week because of that.

The vocalist of the first band suddenly stripped naked during their first song. Everyone was shocked because they didn't believe what they saw so it took 7-8 seconds until they cut it.

The show went on a couple hours and stopped when KSK's account got banned. The show then resumed using other person's account and channel. The organizer later came out to apologize and announced that the band was disqualified for that.

But don't worry, KSK and GODSGARDEN's Nico stream should be alright.

[Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross] J replay #3

J, the top OMK player, uploaded video of his matches tonight.

1. George & Lambdadelta vs. Kanon & Battler
2. Lambdadelta & Ronove vs. Kanon & Battler
3. Willard & Shannon vs. Kanon & Battler
4. Willard & Shannon vs. Battler & Ronove

(J is on 1P side.)