We may be only a month away from EVO 2015, but that's no excuse to sleep on its biggest rival, Community Effort Orlando, CEO 2015!

CEO 2015 Preview

https://www.ceogaming.org/

CEO Jebailey on Twitter

CEO Gaming on Twitter

In truth CEO isn't a "rival" as such to EVO, a given FGC event doesn't tout achievements in comparison with one another but to itself, not unlike Ryu really.

And CEO has had a lot of success year on year to celebrate since its 1st event in 2010, breaking entrants/attendees and live-stream viewer-ship records alike, and CEO number 6 should be no different. The boxing/wrestling ring (depending on who Jebailey rents from on a given year) returns, both Street Fighter V (for the 1st time in the USA) and Tekken 7 will be playable!

Let's take a look at the games and entrants shall we?

1. Courtesy of the KI community fund drive which took 100% of money from sales during the time period specified to go to Combo Breaker, CEO and EVO prize money
2. Courtesy of sales from the "Blue Steel" Sub-Zero costume
3. A portion of $500,000, courtesy of CEO's premier tournament status as part of the 2015 Capcom Pro Tour

Stand up and take a bow Smash community! They get their own room for CEO, well deserved. It's a pity Nintendo isn't handing out any money to its players, especially when the MKX and KI tournaments have a lot less entrants for this event. Marvel is still hanging on (relatively) as it dwarves a lot of the other games as much as it itself is dwarfed by MKX, USFIV & the Smash games

Schedule and streams

Other June majors

Before CEO, East Coast Throwdown (June 13-14) and South East Asia Major (June 19-21) happened, they were great events, I've removed the preview stuff for those events as this blog is big enough as it is!

News

Street Fighter V details!

A pre-E3 event was held for Street Fighter V and articles and videos are going up everywhere! And then E3 happened and Birdie and Cammy were announced and a Giant Bomb Unfinished went up, videos!

http://shoryuken.com/2015/06/11/going-hands-on-with-street-fighter-v-versatility-has-its-v-benefits/

Ryu (Street Fighter) & Roy (Fire Emblem) confirmed as Smash Bros. Wii U DLC

Rumours have persisted via supposed leaks for the past few months that Ryu and Roy would feature as DLC characters in Smash Wii U and now we have some victory videos of their appearances.

While it's probably safe to assume that this Ryu will be a combination of his USFIV (there's definitely a focus attack in that 9 second video) & UMvC3 version you might want to check out Nintendo's pre-E3 Smash Bros. briefing just to be sure.

Capcom Pro Tour USFIV Rule Change

FGCers brought up a good point on Twitter last week. If a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event's top 4 was full of people already qualified for December's Capcom Cup, and keeping in mind that as fighting game tournaments 90% of the time are double elimination bracket style (meaning there's a joint top 5, a joint 7 etc.) who gets that event's Capcom Cup spot?

Well it turns out neither of the joint top 5 get that spot, instead that spot goes to another person on from the leaderboard (which consists of players who've gained the most seeding points from doing well in tournaments), making the ratio swap from 16:15 to 15:16

16->15 Premier Events Qualifiers

15->16 Leaderboard Qualifiers

1 Previous Year’s Champion

You might have heard that PS4 USFIV is not doing very well

Work has begun on patching the broken mess that is PS4 USFIV (some of it has been patched out thankfully), but CEO and EVO are solving a problem with maximum efficiently by declaring they will use the 360 version for their USFIV tournaments, here are some of my favourite glitches and problems.

Yatagarasu lives up to adding FGC commentators in-game

In case you forgot about this game or are seeing it for the first time, check out the indiegogo campaign that got the ball rolling, James Chen and Maximilian will also feature in the game. Ultradavid looks just like one of the Persona 3/4 characters from Arena/Arena Ultimax, does this mean he's anime now?

I love Killer Instinct's Shadow Mode

Killer Instinct's Shadow Mode is not just a great concept, it is surrounded by useful tools and ways to play against friends. if you're a Giant Bomb premium member check out Jeff and Jason trying it out on the Unprofessional Fridays: 05/29/2015!

Tekken 7's Kazumi Mishima with a true Tiger Uppercut

I get she can transform cause she's got devil powers but I've no idea why she can summon tigers, I don't care, it's awesome!

Thanks for reading and happy watching!

VGCW's End Game X was amazing! Bringing season 10 to a close. It's also the end of Bazza's time with VGCW, handing his creation over to a new person. You should totally check the archive to see such great matches as Guile defending the VGCW championship in a tables match against Sabin Rene Figaro and Dan Hibiki!

crazy hype!

SEAM is going to be beastly for USFIV. I just wonder how many of those players are going to make it to CEO as well. So far the Japanese contingent is looking rather paltry, making USFIV at CEO Momochi's tournament to lose.

Getting a playable build of SFV will increase Jebailey's head size to planetary levels I'm sure.

I'm still surprised at the massive registration numbers for both Melee and Smash 4 at CEO. So far ahead of all other games. Crazy.

@hassun: CEO will probably have about as competitive a group as Final Round. SEAM is the most competitive event every year though even moreso this time around.

Then again with Momochi and Infiltration already being qualified for the Capcom Cup, CEO just might be Kazunoko's best chance yet to get a guaranteed spot. Him or Gamerbee.

YEAH EVO HYYYYYYPE.

Also why can the Tekken lady summon a tiger and also turn into a devil? Is she Heihachi's wife?

Yo what about the UMvC3 pot bonus? :P

Yes, was that a guess?

Yes. I'm afraid Tekken lore mostly goes over my head.

Weird to see Smash with such higher numbers than SF but that will probably change closer to the end of registration. MKX should jump up a bunch too. I am astounded that the registration numbers for Melee and Wii U are so close, I'm not into Smash at all but it seems weird to have both be so heavily populated.

Also is CEO just a ranking event or a premier event?

Still playing quite a bit of USFIV on PS4, latest patch made it way more tolerable but still not even close to PC. Way more people for me to play with a decent connection on PS4 though so I am suffering through it for now.

@l1ghtn1n: That Persia breakdown was super interesting. Looking forward to seeing more like it. That kind of detailed breakdown really helps a game like Marvel which is just insanity to the casual viewer. With how fast Marvel moves the commentators don't get much of a chance to explain stuff, unlike in say SF where there are often moments of footsies and whatnot that allow the commentators to discuss the mind games going on.

I can't wait for CEO! I will be there filming my friend for a documentary we are making.

The SF was so hype last year.

That UMvC3 match breakdown from Persia was fantastic. Thanks for mentioning it @l1ghtn1n.

Edit: Also, great blog as always @flstyle.

@andiznit: Definitely keep us updated on that. Sounds very interesting. Let's hope there will be more GB duders (m/f) there as well.

For those who need some action even earlier than ECT there is another Digital Sports/CPT event in Europe in the form of

Dreamhack Summer

When:

13 - 16 June 2015 (13 - 14 June for fighting games)

Where:

Jönköping, Sweden

Details:

In terms of fighting games there are two competitions at Dreamhack Summer.

On Saturday 13 June we have a CPT ranking event and on Sunday 14 June we have a general Mortal Kombat X tournament.

Stream:

http://twitch.tv/dreamhackfighters

Schedule:

USFIV

Saturday 13th June 2015 – Main Tournament

09:00 – Tournament area opens, player confirmation starts

11:45 – Player confirmation closes

12:00 – Group stage 1:1 – Groups A-P

14:00 – Group stage 1:2 – Groups J-F2

16:00 – Group Stage 2 – Groups A-P

18:00 – Double Elimination Round Of 32

23:30 – Top 4 – Grand Final

MKX

Sunday 14 June 2015

10:00 – Tournament Area Opens – Player Confirmation begins

11:00 – Tournament Start – Swiss Round 1

12:00 – Swiss Round 2

13:00 – Swiss Round 3

14:00 – Swiss Round 4

15:00 – Swiss Round 5

16:00 – Swiss Round 6

18:00 – Top 16 Single Elimination Round 1

20:30 – Top 16 Single Elimination Round 2

21:30 – Top 16 Single Elimination Round 3

22:00 – Grand Final

(source: http://www.dreamhack.se/dhs15/esport/esport-schedule/)

Time Converter: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?pl=1&lid=2673730,5128581,4887398,5368361&h=2673730&date=6/13/2015|5

CEO hype raising...

@hassun Thanks! Actually the first episode of the mini-doc was just uploaded today. Check it out :)

@andiznit: Impressive work! It looks and sounds really slick. Community Spotlight-worthy if you ask me.

Speaking of publishers adding money to the prize pools...

Can't wait. Jebailey might be a scumbag, but CEO is a really cool tournament. Only thing that keeps it from the being the best after EVO is no mystery game tourney.

Man SEAM is going to be so sick. If we get another GF/top 8 like they had last time Daigo vs Momochi was GF... I don't know if I can avoid exploding with the hype.

@amafi: Wait, why would he be a scumbag? AFAIK he's just big-headed.

@hassun: that would be great! I always love to see what the GB community is doing and if would be an honor to be featured along side them.

"Street Fighter V will be released on PlayStation 4 and PC in March 2016"

well there it is.

Awesome, EVO 2016 will be interesting!

Eventhubs has an article up with some details about the new mechanics

http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/jun/10/street-fighter-5s-v-trigger-activated-taking-damage-new-defensive-mechanic-v-skill-detailed-and-new-stage-confirmed/

I've seen speculation that maybe VSkills cost V meter. If so that leads to some interesting choices in do you want to build up to the special form or do you want to spend it to retake momentum etc.

@flstyle: Way to throw EVO 2015 under the bus. Just kidding.

Anyone know who's confirmed for Dreamhack?

I have to say I have never been a fan of systems where you activate a mode to do certain special moves. Makes me worry a little bit if I will like SFV as much as IV.

And there better not be any custom combo-type shenanigans either. That never ends well.

@fredchuckdave: So far I only know 1 for sure, Luffy.

Details on SFV at E3, a lot of big names will attend:

http://www.capcom-unity.com/combofiend/blog/2015/06/10/street-fighter-v-e3-exhibition-details

ComboFiend Kumite:

It’s been a while since I’ve been on the big stage and there will be no SFV stage bigger than the one at E3. During the ComboFiend Kumite, I’ll be playing against world renowned Street Fighter teams such as Team Evil Geniuses (Justin Wong, Ricky Ortiz, PR Rog, Momochi, K-Brad, and ChocoBlanka), Team Mad Catz (Daigo, Tokido, Mago), and Team Razer (Xian, Fuudo, and RB) in a few sets. Who will have more wins, me or them? Although the game is brand new, these amazing players have shown great Street Fighter prowess, so I’m sure I’ll have my hands full!

Character Demonstrations:

During the Character Demonstrations I’ll hop on the stream and show off all the characters revealed up until E3. I’ll go through their V-Triggers, V-Skills, and general explanations of the characters themselves and may even run a set showing off new tech against a foe or two.

Pro Exhibition: Team Tournament:

It’s a 3v3 team battle royal as teams Mad Catz, Evil Geniuses and Razer battle one another for Street Fighter V supremacy. With only a few hours to practice prior to the start of this, it’ll be interesting to see what tricks and tactics these pros will come up with!

Pro Exhibition: Singles Tournament:

Team loyalty goes out the window as each pro player fends for themselves in what’s sure to be a slobber knocker. With big cash on the line, which of these pros will rise up and become the first ever official SFV tournament champion?

We should find a way to sneak @unastrike into the Editor Elimination Exhibition tournament as well.

Beast's Fury is a 2D fighter with anthropomorphic characters that needs $185,000

Hey what are you thoughts on the latest SFV screens? Looks phenomenal at a stand still. There's an imgur with more.

stole this comparison pic from gaf but it's just such a great idea:

Bison's V-Trigger is 3 bars instead of 2 like everyone else's. Does that mean it takes 50% more damage to fill or that each V-Reversal takes 33% less damage? I'm guessing the latter, since reversing fireballs isn't nearly as potentially powerful as a parry.

Also holy fuck grafix!

EDIT: Ah, nm, looks like V-Reversals are separate from V-Skills. No idea what's up with Bison's V-Meter then.

Hands-on with SFV:

http://shoryuken.com/2015/06/10/going-hands-on-with-street-fighter-v-versatility-has-its-v-benefits/

was that a parry i saw...

@l1ghtn1n: Well by definition a one frame link can't be more lenient so I'm guessing they just made it so plinking happens by default and one frame links are two frame links or something.

Yeah, that's a decent write up and I'm sure all the websites who went to this pre-E3 event will have plenty of articles that the casual fighting game fan will give a read, but I think we'll get our proper look next week during Capcom Fighters' E3 streams with all that good stuff combofiend has written about.

@hmoney001: If it was Ryu, then probably yes.

@flstyle: Tamoor Hussain and Rob Crossley over at Gspot has also posted a nice article (+videos) going over the new mechanics and systems:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/street-fighter-5-your-expert-guide-to-what-s-new/1100-6427983/

@fredchuckdave: Could be similar to the BB system where if you press and hold a button it repeats the input for... 5 frames or something like that? I mean yeah it technically won't be a one-frame link at that point but from a frame-data standpoint it's still a one-frame link.

Holy shit I just realized Bison's V-Skill generates V-Meter. Does that mean he just automatically annihilates the ability to zone him?

EDIT: Oh wait, so do the other V-Skills. For some reason Nash's V-Skill didn't generate meter in the Capcom trailer but it is definitely generating meter in the Gamespot walkthrough. Also it looks like it took Bison about 50% damage to fill his V-Meter but only about 30% for Ryu to do the same. Is Bison's V-Trigger really so strong that it warrants the harder gating? Guess there's ~9 months of balance to go.

Hm

So now I'm not sure what to make of it. Poor phrasing by the dev in the Shoryuken article? Is everything just more + on hit? Does that mean there will still be 1-frame links but rarely/never for optimal damage? ARGH!

EDIT: Also this:

HYPE!

EDIT2: Also anyone else notice the stun gauge? Finally!

@starvinggamer: The guy in the Shoryuken article started by saying he's far from a Street Fighter expert, it was to be expected that his article wouldn't be 100% accurate.

Ryu being able to parry to build V meter could be absurd. It rewards him for getting in the opponents face and forcing them to press buttons.

Also on the front of making things more lenient, on top of holding the button down (also works for normals in KOFXIII I believe) the devs could simply put in a buffer so the next time a move can come out the last thing you did happens if it hasn't already been done. Probably even more ways i'm not thinking of.

@flstyle: Article writer was a lady actually, and the part about 1-frame links was her directly quoting a dev.

@starvinggamer: Pretty confusing all around.

Super Turbo = Vanilla Sagat returning once again no doubt