Umehara: "Skyfall was fun!"

4Gamer.net published yesterday a huge article which is a collection of short interviews with various people in the game industry. In the 9-page long article, they asked the same 4 questions to game creators, composers, authors, voice actors, singers, as well as Daigo Umehara, Tokido, Mago, Sako, and MadCatz's Markman.

Question 1
What game (that was released) in 2012 that you like the most or has the biggest impact? And why?

Umehara replied "I have nothing special. The reason is I haven't played anything except [SSF4AE2012] and Gunslinger Stratos."

Tokido replied "SSF4AE2012. From participating events around the world this year, I could feel that many countries love this game. It's now 5 years since [the original release] in 2008. It was adjusted gradually and is now extremely balanced. [Capcom] also held SF 25th Anniversary events."

Mago chose Gunslinger Stratos.

Sako chose Dragon Quest X (online game). He and his wife even have 2 separated sets of game/console.

Markman chose SFxTK and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.


Question 2
What is your most impressive entertainment content/product (in any genre) of 2012? And why?

Umehara said that [James Bond Skyfall] was fun and it was interesting throughout the entire film.

Tokido doesn't know much about entertainment so he chose Olympic.

Mago chose Gundam Unicorn and its premiere event. (A friend asked him to go and he was impressed.)

Sako chose Evangelion Q and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. For Evangelion, He just enjoys it without thinking too much about the mysteries. For KPP, he doesn't watch TV much but her name is so hard to pronounce that he memorized it. He said "I don't know about music but the songs (see also this or this or this) are catchy and she looks cute."

Markman chose WiiU.


Question 3
Who was/is the one to watch (have attention) in 2012? And why?

Umehara chose Infiltration because the Korean player has done very well in this year.

Tokido said "I'm looking at Umehara-san who is the leading person of Japan's pro gamers. This year he released the book Willpower to Keep Winning, works as Square Enix's Gunslinger Stratos Official Supporter, etc." Tokido is also looking forward to see more [of Umehara's activities] next year.

Mago chose Infiltration.

Sako chose Daigo Umehara. He said "[Umehara is] the most influential person. He always has my attention. What game will he be playing this time? Is he doing a new thing? Something like that."

Markman chose fans and consumers.


Question 4
What is your aspiration in 2013? And please send some message to the readers.

Umehara will maintain the quality of what he does as pro gamer, and also consider doing more things in 2013. He also thanks everyone for the supports and wants to keep making entertaining matches or activities.

Tokido will put even more efforts in 2013. He wants to have both good results and good games, and asked everyone to support.

Mago tried several new games in 2012 and realized that he didn't get a good result in all of them, so he will try to master one by one in 2013. He wants to improve [by participating in both domestic and foreign tournaments] more and asked for the support.

Sako just wants to have fun with games at his own pace in 2013. He also wants to spend time on non-fighting games. He then asked everyone to support.

Markman, speaking on behalf of MadCatz, wants to spread the world brand confidence. They will continue making cool products while supporting gaming community in 2013. They also let the fans know that they listen to all the requests. He thanked [the users and readers] for the supports and wished them a wonderful new year.

TOPANGA Z: Tokido vs VX result

Tokido (Magneto, Doom, Phoenix) 10-4 VX (Dante, Doom, Phoenix)

1. 1-0
2. 0-1 *Tokido's Dark Phoenix killed
3. 0-1 *VX's DP kills Tokido's DP
4. 0-1 *VX's DP kills Tokido's DP
5. 1-0 *Tokido's DP kills VX's DP
6. 1-0 *Tokido successfully snaps and kills Phoenix
7. 1-0 *VX's Phoenix killed before 5 meters
8. 1-0 *VX changes from Phoenix to Strider
9. 1-0 *Phoenix takes 1, DP takes 2
10. 1-0 *VX changes from Strider to Vergil
11. 0-1 *VX changes from Vergil to Phoenix
12. 1-0 *Tokido's DP kills VX's DP
13. 1-0
14. 1-0 *big mistakes from VX

Tokido will fight the winner between Nemo and Frieda next.

Official Under Night: In-Birth tournament announced for 2013

It is announced today that Under Night: In-Birth Official Tournament will be held on March 23, and the qualifiers (only in Tokyo) will begin in late January. The format is 3 on 3. Hilda and Eltnum* are allowed.

*Eltnum was selectable via secret input in November but was fully released just last week.

Note that there was an UNI tournament (2 on 2) as a part of Barracuda tournament on November 17. (Apparently it counts as unofficial national tournament.) The winner was Kubo's team. (Kubo shifted his interest from UMvC3 to UNI and now plays as blue Seto (aka. Vergil). You can check his vortex below.)


(Skip to 00:41:00 for the final)

Umehara's Willpower to Keep Winning is one of the bestselling pocket books on Amazon Japan in 2012

Amazon Japan has revealed a big list of bestselling books of 2012 (between December 1, 2011, to November 30, 2012)  in various categories, and Daigo Umehara's book Willpower to Keep Winning is placed at 7th in shinsho* category.

*Shinsho (新書) is for non-fiction pocket books. They are 2 cm. longer than A6 paper.

The world's most famous Street Fighter player's semi-autobiography was released on April 2 this year. Due to its popularity, there was a shortage after release, and it was able to reach 3rd place on Amazon Japan's bestselling chart in overall Book category. The book has sold 32,000 copies as of October 22. The Kindle version was released on October 26.

Umehara's new book Umehara Column: Ken no Maki will be released next year in January.

Under Night In-Birth OST coming on December 19

We know that a lot of people are interested in the soundtracks of this game, so this post is for you.

Under Night: In-Birth Original Soundtrack Side-Abyss will be released on December 19 (Wednesday). It has 28 tracks total, including the full version of opening theme and ending themes.

Track 8: Purity & Strictly (Orie's theme)


Track 13: Aruku Sugata wa Yuri no Hana (Yuzuriha's theme)

Umehara Column in Arcadia gets compilation

As the fans already know, Daigo Umehara began his own column "Umehara Column" in monthly arcade gaming magazine Arcadia since 2009. Now it is revealed that the column is getting its own compilation.

The book called "Umehara Column Ken no Maki -Toushin ga Kimi ni Sazukeru Taisen Kakutou Game Jutsu-" (Umehara Column: The Scroll of Fist -God of Fighting teaches you the art of figting game-) that will be released on January 31, 2013, will have the contents from the past 2+ years plus some new contents supervised by Umehara himself.

The 112-page book will be sold for 998 yen. As usual, you can buy this book from Amazon Japan here.

Umehara x Kana Ueda on Famitsu magazine

Famitsu's Otodoke Twitter account revealed that this week's Famitsu will feature a discussion about game center lifestyle between Daigo Umehara and Kana Ueda.

This week's Famitsu magazine (cover: Shin Hokuto Musou) is released today in Japan.

Umehara and Ueda appeared together several times promoting Gunslinger Stratos since January. Ueda voiced Shizune character in the game. They are often seen playing the game together in the game centers.