SUPER NORCAL REGIONALS - RESULTS

Super NorCal Regionals concluded this weekend with some extremely tense matches and overall incredible play across the board. As many of you saw, iPlayWinner broadcasted the entire event over the weekend you can check out the USTREAM recordings on our channel.

Below is the outcome of many of the tournaments thanks to EventHubs who did an excellent job compiling the results.

HD recording of the matches will be available on YouTube shortly so stay tuned.

Super Street Fighter IV 

1. Justin Wong (Rufus)
2. AndyOCR (M. Bison)
3. Ricky Ortiz (Rufus)
4. Alex Valle (Ryu)
5. Shizza (Chun-Li)
5. Vangief (Zangief)
7. Mike Ross (E. Honda)
7. LPN (M. Bison)

Click to read more ...

Super NorCal Regionals Intro Videos

When I talked to people online about the previous NorCal Regionals, more often then not they mention the NBA-style intro video to the stream. It was cheesy for sure, but it brought the hype like none other. So for Super NorCal Regionals I decided to step it up a bit and aimed for video intros to every game represented at the tournament. My friend (and NorCal boxer) ILLiterate helped out a lot with the the brainstorming and script writing process, but to tell you the truth the collaboration went a lot like this-

ILLiterate: I have a dumb a idea!

Me: And I know how to make that idea even dumber!

When you're editing video all your lonesome until 4AM every night with little to no oversight, you tend to surrender yourself to your creative processes regardless of where they seem to take you. That's about as best as I can explain the utter insanity we at iPlayWinner subjected the audience to with these intros. Overall they went over pretty well and John Choi didn't punch me in the face for all the Sandstorm, so I'll put this one down as a win.

So here they are, all the intro videos as seen at Super NorCal Regionals, minus one: Capcom vs SNK 2, of which I'd like Switcher to upload that one himself. 

Super NorCal Regionals

LordofUltima, creator of the awesome 3-minute fundamental videos did all the heavy lifting on this beauty as he provided us with an HD take on the original NBA-style intro. He deserves all the credit for this one.

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Open Discussion : The Night Before NCR

The great battle approaches. How do you spend the night before a major tournament? A last minute grind session with your crew? Playing a different video game? Meditating like a jedi? 

Me? I plan on going for a nice, long jog tonight, followed by helping with set-up for tomorrow. And then sacrificing a live chicken to Baron Samedhi in order to curse two hundred Street Fighter players with leprosy in their fingers. 

You?

Tekken 7 Reportedly In Production

 

According to Eurogamer.pt, Namco's Katsuhiro Harada (director for the Tekken series) has announced that Tekken 7 is in production.  The announcement was made during an event in Madrid.  The only other information to come out of the event thus far is that it is in the very early pre-production stage of development.

Tekken 6 has been in the arcades for several years now and was released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 last year. It is also unknown if Tekken 7 is currently in production only for an arcade release at this point.

Harada-san image above courtesy of Eurogamer.pt

Source: Eurogamer.pt (see the translated version of the report here)

HI-RES MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3 SCREENSHOTS

"Of course, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is retaining the flashy, over-the-top look, like in previous Versus games." - Niitsuma-san

Good 'ol Seth has posted us some midnight treats tonight of high res sweetness! His blog over at Capcom Unity features some great peeks into this game's art from the recent issue of Game Informer! Each one has a caption from Marvel Vs Capcom 3 producer Niitsuma-san himself, detailing the direction of art each screen shot is illustrating.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL HI-RES MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3 SCREENSHOTS

I think this game looks gorgeous -- super flashy and over top will make it just as fun to watch as I'm sure it'll be to play! Can't wait to see the game in motion but it looks like CAPCOM is on the right track to capture that "moving comic book" feel. Be sure to check out the hi-res for all eight screenshots, but be warned, you may need to change your pants afterwards!

Source: Capcom-Unity

FRAME-ADVANTAGE.COM PRES. SANFORD VS INTHUL AT ECT2

Frame-Advantage.com broadcasted East Coast Throwdown 2 this past weekend, and this is the match everyone is talking about.  Inthul, a pad Fei Long player, made 3rd place in the tournament, taking out just a few big names in the process. Check it out and head over to FADC's YouTube Channel for more videos. 

Dan: Master of Taunting

Here's a video that popped up on NeoGAF the other day and I thought it was pretty funny, so I thought I'd start your morning out right with a good old-fashioned ragequit. Don't expect any pro gameplay here, but the taunting is pretty S-rank.

SUPER NORCAL REGIONALS THIS WEEKEND - MAY 29th - 30th

SUPER NORCAL REGIONALS is this weekend people! May 29th through the 30th at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale, CA! If you have not registered for the tournament, you only have a couple days left to register online!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR SUPER NORCAL REGIONALS!

This will be the largest West Coast tournament before EVO, with a ton of top players in attendance so this is one tournament not to miss. On top of the prize money, EVO seeds will be given out to top placers as well.

iPlayWinner will be providing a top notch live broadcast of the entire tournament so if you can't make it, be sure to tune in!

Click here for the SRK thread for more details on the tournament.

Special thanks to BOSSLOGIC at Shadowloo for the flyer.

Know Your Roots: Marvel vs Capcom by G4

G4 put together a nice video giving the legacy of games that lead up to Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, starting with X-men vs Street Fighter.  Know your roots!

 Source: Tip from Capcom Unity

Third Set of Alternate Costumes Available Today

 

   

The third set of alternate costumes will be made available today.  The Super Femme Fatales Pack includes costumes for Chun-Li, C.Viper, Sakura, Rose and Cammy.  It costs 320 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live Marketplace for 360 owners and costs $3.99 on Playstation Network for PS3 owners.  The pack is available now on Xbox Live and will be up soon on Playstation 3 as of this writing.

The remaining costume pack release schedule is as follows:

June 8: Super Challengers Pack 2 (Juri, Ibuki, Cody, Adon and T.Hawk)

June 15: Super Brawlers Pack (Zangief, E.Honda, Rufus, Abel and El Fuerte)

June 22: Super Shadaloo Pack (Vega, Sagat, Balrog, Bison and Seth)

June 29: Super Classic Pack (Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, Gen and Fei-Long)

July 27: Super Complete Pack (All 35 costumes in one package)

Click here to see screenshots of all alternate costumes for all characters.

RUMOR: DLC Characters Coming for Super Street Fighter 4

The cast of 35 characters is already impressive. Would Capcom add more by DLC?Gootecks, a well-known Super Street Fighter 4 player and prominent tournament event organizer, made a very interesting Tweet.  Apparently, he got word from a "strong source" that new characters will be added to Super Street Fighter 4 via downloadable content (DLC) at some point in the future.  Here's exactly what he Tweeted:

From Gootecks' Twitter:

Got confirmation from a strong source that there are DLC characters coming down the pipe for super.

Now, this is RUMOR. However, coming from such a prominent member of the community we have to take it seriously and at least report it.

It true, how will Capcom handle the DLC? Will it be free or paid? What characters would you like to see added to the game? Feel free to discuss!

Source: Gootecks' Twitter

Understanding Blanka's Lightning Cannonball (Ultra 1)

This Ultra is often misunderstood by both Blanka players and opponents alike.  From almost the outset of Street Fighter 4's release, fearsome Blanka player Viscant has been worked to clear up the mystery behind this potentially devastating Ultra. This article is based on posts Viscant has made on Shoryuken on the subject*.  If you are a Blanka player, it is a good idea to know how this Ultra works so that you can apply it in your game more effectively.  Opponents who play against Blanka can also benefit from knowing its mechanics so that you have an idea how to deal with it.

This article specifically deals with how the Ultra 1 works. Applications, setups, tricks, and other information will be presented elsewhere.

The information in this article is for Super Street Fighter 4, although most of the mechanics of how the Ultra works are accurate for regular Street Fighter 4.

This article is meant for players who are of any level of skill.

If you have anything that you feel should be added to this article or a correction needs to be made, (regarding the situations in this article, further articles are planned for other situations), feel free to hit the comments. If we incorporate it into the article we will add your name to the article as a contributor.

Contributions by: Viscant, Dannyc

ULTRA 1 - LIGHTNING CANNONBALL

CHARGE BACK, TOWARDS, BACK, TOWARDS + THREE PUNCHES 

Frame startup: 1+3
Damage: 500 if the four ground hits land. 495 if landed from the ground shock hit (120, 125, 125, 125). 150 damage on chip (30, 30, 30, 30, 30)

SUMMARY OF HOW TO DEFEND: To block this Ultra, block low at first as the Ultra is initiated. As the ball descends onto you, block high. Then block the rest however you wish once it hits the ground (High or Low).

Details:

The first hit of this ultra (1) is an invisible hit that does not show up on the combo meter but can be combo'd into. It has all the properties of a low hit and must be blocked low. It trip guards as well, however the timing of this is very hard to pull off since it is only active for 2 frames. Exact frame data for this is 2(20)46 (for those who want precise numbers).

Click to read more ...

IPW SPECIAL FEATURE: THE BOX ARENA INTERVIEW WITH YEB

Continuing our series of interviews with top San Diego players, The Box Arena presents Yeb! Yeb is a household name in the West Coast Street fighter scene, making a name for himself worldwide with his intricate knowledge of Gen. Yeb talks about switching from Gen to another character in Super Street Fighter 4 and also why he chose the Pelican stick over all others! 

Next up we will have the final interview with Shady K, so keep an eye out for it in the following days.

INTERVIEW: YEB

Hi, I'm yeb.  If you've heard of me, it's probably for my Gen, and showing that he could be competitive by placing top 8 at West Coast Warzone.  I'd only been going to tournaments for about 4 months at that point, and it was just my second trip to a major.  I made top 8 at SoCal tourneys pretty regularly after that.  I actually started playing fighting games back with CvS2 on xbl, but I didn't start going to tournaments until SF4.  People were calling me the best Gen on xbl, but I just wanted to see how well I'd do offline.

Capcom was so amazed by my Gen that they decided he was broken and nerfed/removed *everything* I liked about him.  Now, after finally getting reasonably good at SF, I have to start over.  Thanks guys! 

1. How often do you practice to be so Godlike?

I try to get in at least some time every night.  There's always some combo I want to work on, habits I want to develop for certain matchups, etc.  I can easily get distracted by other games though, and I always need to wind down for a while after tourneys.

Click to read more ...

TETRA INTERVIEWS CHOCO BLANKA & GAMA NO ABURA

Tetra put together a great interview with both Choco-Blanka and Gama no Abura. If you're not familiar with these two, Choco Blanka is a great Blanka player and the best female SF4 player in Japan, famed for defeating Mago last year. Gama no Abura is responsible for organizing tournaments such as the Nagoya Street Battle and the legendary GODSGARDEN event.

Below you can view the famous Choco Blanka vs Mago video if you have not seen it yet, and a short excerpt from the interview. You can read the entire interview by clicking here.  

Tetra: What do you feel about the idea of console tournaments?

 
Choco: I like how everyone go “Wai Wai” while a match is on.
Tetra’s Note: Wai Wai basically means cheering and other forms of loud coordinated voices.

 
Choco: I became a tournament organizer because I want to hype up the atmosphere in the arcades. There is a possibility that even the players who only played at home would come to the arcades. But arcade and console SF4 is slightly different.

Click to read more ...

IPW PREMIERE: THE BOX ARENA SSF4 2V2 RANBAT 1.1 VIDEOS & RESULTS

The first installment of The Box Arena  Super Street Fighter 4 2v2 RANBAT results are in, and we've got the premire on the videos! Below you can check out the matches and also see the overall standings. Click here to see pictures from the event. 

Don't forget, we have more exclusive interviews coming soon for more top players from San Diego!

Ranking Battles 1.1 - (2v2) Teams Tournament - Grand Finals Playlist

- Team FMRoss - ShadyK (Akuma) & Sann Sann (Dhalsim) protected San Diego's Home Turf. 

- Team IfyouLikeCyclopsoverwolverineuradouche Tatsu (Vega), Warahk (Guile) came down from the OC. Manage to reset Grand Finals which took 40mins because of the Guile & Dhalsim match ups. They put up a very good and exhausting fight.

Click to read more ...

"Rose is Good Now!" Super Street Fighter Rose Tutorial and Combo Video by Renegade

For those of you who were wondering why Rose has moved up in our tier list, here are a few reasons.  Rose has gotten some nice buffs in Super Street Fighter 4 which really helps her game tremendously.  This video tutorial by Renegade is rough on the video quality side but is A+ in content.  It features combos, option selects, mixups, matchup-specific tips and tricks, some of the many uses for Rose's Ultra, and more. 

Thanks to Valkyrie for the tip on the vid.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Trailer

A new BlazBlue: Continuum Shift trailer has surfaced.  The first installment in the BlazBlue series looked amazing and had great gameplay.  The sequel has all that plus several new characters, new modes (like the Legion mode found in the BlazBlue Portable release for PSP), and balance tweaks. 

Thanks to Nite for the tip!

GameShark's Beginners Guide to Super Street Fighter IV’s New Characters

GameShark has written a nice overview Super Street Fighter 4's new characters aimed at new players.  The article gives their opinion on the characters' strengths and weaknesses as well as a general overview of some of the characters standout traits and moves as well as a tip or two.  If you are new to the game and are looking for a quick, broad look at all of the new characters in order to decide who you will play, give this a look.

Source: GameShark

SUPER STREET FIGHTER 4 PATCH COMING JUNE 15TH WITH TOURNAMENT MODE

Remember the days when we used to look forward to the next Japanese Super Street Fighter 4 blog update each week? With the game out and all the secrets revealed, I haven't thought too much of it up until now.

According to the new Saikyo Blog, there is an update coming on June 15th that will not only include the upcoming Tournament Mode, but will patch certain elements of the game as well.

Anoop Gantayat over at AndriaSang translated the blog to give everyone a rundown on what the patch will adjust in the game:

• Certain Fei Long combos turning into an endless combo
• When you unleash an Ultra Combo and time freezes, your guard input cancels out. This, Ayano admitted, is actually something that was known prior to the release, but they left it in as an interesting play mechanic. After the game's release, they realized that there were a number of characters that ended up in being able to unleash their Ultra Combos with no risk.
• The effect of Sagat's Angry Charge move does not reflect on his EX Tiger Uppercut in some circumstances.
• Counter damage against Bison's Ultra Combo II Psycho Punisher move is too low
• When Ibuki attacks a ducking Chun-Li, the second hit of the attack will not register
• When Ibuki rises from the ground in certain instances, she'll retain her invincibility for a long time.

Some of the stuff I've known about such as Sagat's Angry Scar only powering up EX uppercuts when used in combos, and I'm sure everyone has heard about the unblockable set ups by now. Though, Ibuki having some sort of invincibility when she rises which I had no idea about up until now -- I'm not even sure how it works exactly. 

Source: AndriaSang 

NEW KING OF FIGHTERS XIII TRAILER

Every new video of King of Fighters XIII makes the game look better each time and this new trailer is no exception. It covers all the bases for the new game, from the new characters added to the roster NEOMAX Specials (Hey, who put Ultras in my KOF?) and Drive Canceling. 

There are also some new gameplay videos and other random footage over at SRK, check it out.