@hassun: Hmmm, so free to play KOF card battle game coming?

Also pretty much all players and matchups of that special Xrd event have been revealed:

BATTLE 1 ： Susumu vs Machabo

BATTLE 2 ： Nage vs Kazunoko

BATTLE 3 ： FAB vs Sako

BATTLE 4 ： Ogawa vs Daigo

I really wonder how they are planning to make these matches competitive. Especially the Ogawa vs Daigo one since I at least know both Sako and Kazunoko play quite a bit of Xrd.

@hmoney001: I think you're saying that as a joke, but I bet there are people who would love to have a spiritual follow up to the SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters games.

@barrabas: Half joking half serious =\

Daily Dot interviews Snake Eyez about getting signed by Red Bull and his career so far, SFV and controllers. So cocksure!

Some Vega footage from Gamescom, courtesy of IGN.

P.S.
Fuudo looks really different without glasses:

@hassun: Kazunoko looks on with stern displeasure.

Still a lot of fighting game stuff going on these days:

FV Cup 2015 (CPT ranking tournament) happened in Malaysia, stream archive: http://www.twitch.tv/gamestartasia/v/10106512

Make sure you watch Itazan's matches, he had to go through a Sagat onslaught with Gief! Highlight match: http://www.twitch.tv/gamestartasia/v/10106512?t=8h15m35s

Top 8:

Another Topanga arcade tournament happened in Fukuoka Japan, stream archive: http://www.twitch.tv/topangatv/v/10112092

Top 8:

And last but not least, another CPT ranking tournament is happening right now in the UK: Versus Fighting 5

There is more than just USFIV being played there as well. MK, Tekken, Guilty Gear and Smash are represented as well. A lot of big names in the European scene are attending. Especially for MKX.

Main stream: http://www.twitch.tv/electronicdojo

Secondary stream: http://www.twitch.tv/vsfighting

Smash: http://www.twitch.tv/nintendoid

Schedule:

Time converter: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?pl=1&lid=2655603,5128581,4887398,5368361&h=2655603

@hassun: Who's at Versus Fighting?

@hmoney001: What's that from?

@fredchuckdave: Luffy, Damascus, Problem X, ISDD, Foxy Grampa, Pro Fluke, Hurricane237, Mustard, Ketchup, Tyrant, Infexious, RMZ, Madzin, F-W0rd, Logan Sama, etc.

@hassun: Screen cap from the nico-nico stream of Himouto! Umaru-chan episode 04.

@hmoney001: ah.

Oh and I almost forgot, there is a tourney in the US going on as well!

EGL Dallas offers competition for CoD:AW, USFIV, MKX and Smash 4. This is not a CPT tournament but there is some good money to be won and some big names (basically all the YOMIs) are there to compete.

Snake Eyez, Dieminion, Nuckeldu, 801 Strider, K-Brad, Justin Wong, Cast Blanka, SonicFox, DJT, Michelangelo, Slayer, Alucard, WoundCowboy, Foreverking, Saltface, Dizzy, Adonis, etc. should all be there.

and also hiphop gamer...

http://www.twitch.tv/epicgl (USFIV/MKX)

http://twitch.tv/tourneylocator (Smash)

http://mlg.tv/epicgl (CoD)

USFIV top 16 challonge: http://challonge.com/egl10kusf4

MKX top 16 challonge: http://challonge.com/egl10kmkx

@hassun: Some very solid Tremor play from Alucard. That up rock is so silly, it's like the only reason to use the character but good enough by itself to carry him.

@fredchuckdave: Crystalline definitely seems to be the variation for Tremor. Shame not to see his Kotal though.

This predator set play though. Jesus Christ.

@hassun: 56% midscreen, so balanced. The grab has like no scaling whatsoever so not that surprising. This chat is incredible, pretty much all the other MKX tourney players. Also 30+ second mic delay on the camera?

@hassun: Hopefully K-Brad wins the tournament so he can continue his tremendous success at non CPT events.

Snake Eyez + Hat looks really weird.

Interview with Bonchan: http://www.redbull.com/us/en/esports/stories/1331739616789/casuals-bonchan-street-fighter-s-sagat-king

MK starts in 30 minutes, pretty much all the good players there (sans Honeybee).

Predator Mirror to start things off! And a Tremor mirror immediately after that bahahaha.

@fredchuckdave: Quite a few of the good players are actually on the VS Fighting stream.
Speaking of which, VS Fighting 5 results:

USFIV

MKX

@hassun: I'll still give Foxy like 8th or so best in the world status, rest of EU needs to do some work though. EVO is the most random tournament as evidenced by Marvel so I don't put much stock there. Also PL destroyed Europe at ESL and is like 20th best or something. Infexious the only Hugo player in the world now since Alucard and RB are traitors.

Here's how you beat an annoying Kitana (obviously a good player since he had hundreds of matches played):

@fredchuckdave: Foxy is legit the best Kung Lao in the world, Madzin just might be the best Grandmaster Sub in the world, both Ketchup and Mustard are very good. Don't talk silly talk you silly person.

RB was never a true Hugo since he mains Guy. If you take out Alucard I'd say it's Infexious and StormKubo for the Hugo army. Although I guess Valle could be added as well.

Now let's watch Nuckledu, the best player in the USA, win another tournament. :V Would be cool if K-Brad wins it though.

@hassun: DJT has beaten Sonic Fox three times I believe, Foxy 0 so I'll give DJT that title. Just because he won one match doesn't make him the best. Grandmaster Sub isn't a good enough character (like top 15 variations) so being the best isn't that important, but DJT is probably also better at Sub. Ketchup and Mustard are unproven, could be good could be bad who knows, pretty good at commentating though.

Nuckledu with that amazing guile play.

Edit: Another boring US only SFIV tournament, going to have to watch the UK one now.

@fredchuckdave: Being the best at a character has little to do with being able to beat Sonicfox. And how on god's green earth are Ketchup and Mustard unproven!? That makes no sense at all. Grandmaster Sub can definitely win tournaments as well. Don't be silly.

Glad to see you've finally accepted Nuckledu as confirmed #1 US player though. That warms my heart.

@hassun: I think Nuckledu is top 5 or so (and have for a while), unsure where he stacks up exactly. I definitely think Dieminion has a better Guile though. I also think being the best in the US is a dubious distinction.

@hassun: Shinnok can be unlocked via paying for him and thus is also DLC tier it seems.

@fredchuckdave: Shinnok obviously isn't DLC tier since A) You can unlock him by finishing the story mode once and B) He was actually a bad character initially.
Also, why are you mentioning that? Because a Shinnok won? You know who has also won a US tournament with Shinnok? Mustard!

As for Du, I don't even think you can objectively match-up a US player to him when it comes to his individual stats and tournament performance. The only thing Smug and Rog have over him is more wins against Asian competition.

@hassun: The best Shinnok in the world won it of course, a US player! Also DJT beat Sonic Fox twice again. Did you actually watch it? You shouldn't avoid watching the highest level of play for spite, don't let me dissuade you. The losers finals was fantastic by the way. Shinnok is an extremely cut and dry and easy to use to character and thus wouldn't suddenly become top tier, people have been using him since week 2 or 3, the incomparable Valle included. He became FotM recently but that'll shift to Predator/Tremor and so on as it has from Kung Jin, Raiden, and Tanya. As I recall there weren't any Yomis or Sonic Fox at that MKX tournament, which makes it the same as winning SCR Prelude or what have you. To quote Mustard: "I appreciate the kind words man but I'd rather it not be blown out of proportion. It was a tough local but it was still a local."

There's no doubt Balrog and even Jwong have a better resume than Nuckledu. As far as base skill level Smug and Snake Eyez are higher but Smug has sucked this year probably due to college. Needs to learn the true Esports way and shed all real world responsibilities. I'd put Strider and Nuckledu on the same level right now but that could change rapidly.

Now if only this would happen in a tournament:

@fredchuckdave: Like I said before, beating Sonicfox is not a measurement of character mastery. And yes I did watch the tournament. I watched both tournaments. Shinnok was definitely not a good character at the start and definitely became a very good character after he got buffed. Don't confuse flavour of the month with DLC introductions and legitimate nerfs and buffs either. There just simply is more to MKX than YOMI and Cr. No need to disregard players because they're not part of those two.

As for USFIV, I obviously mean recent records and not all-time records. How do you even figure his "base skill level" is lower than Smug or Snake's anyway when he's both younger and has better results than them? What data do you have to support this? Putting Strider and Nuckledu on the same level is just ridiculous as well. You know you actually have to win tournaments to be considered the best right?

Come on now. Give the young'un his Dues.

@hassun: I think "Du's" is a better pun than "Dues" personally. Yomi is like 6 or 7 of the best players in the world and then 13 other pretty good players all training together (all on a mountain of pot evidently) so naturally they'd be the best inherently aside from Sonic Fox (who is sort of like honorary Yomi considering how often they play each other); Cr is getting better. We probably need more tournaments that involve both sides to get an overall assessment of Europe's skill level but I think they have 4-5 players in the top 20 or so which is fine.

Strider beat the best two players in the world (at the time) in one tournament, I mean if you want to put Momochi above them then okay but they're still 2 and 3 this year, maybe 3 and 4 if you want to stretch for Infiltration. Nuckledu is really good at stomping US only tournaments which will lead to him having the most tournament wins by a US player I imagine.

Aside: Hsien Chang didn't get 9th at a tournament! Will he stray from his Seth Killian ways (according to Seth)? And Jwong did after getting sent to losers by him, Jwong is supposed to do alright in the free tourneys. That marvel curse.

@fredchuckdave: I considered just Du as well but that would be too on the nose so I settled on dues but with a capital letter. As for best players in the world. To be considered the best you need 2 things: Tournament wins and consistency. Strider beating Daigo and Mago at 1 tournament doesn't mean that much.

When you look at SFIV's history I think you can only have an undisputed top 2 right now and that is Daigo and Infiltration. Even as high as #3 I can't give a clear answer. Xian? Momochi? Tokido? Hard to say.

Well this didn't take very fucking long. E-sports sponsor Zeveron has dissolved. We do not yet know exactly what this means for Kazunoko's sponsorship but I think we can assume the worst until proven otherwise.

Because I don't want to end this on a down note, here is the Catherine tournament from EVO2K15:

That sucks! Hope Kazunoko is picked up by someone else. I confess I'd have never had heard of Zeveron before this all happened, but I didn't think it would go wrong so quickly.

@flstyle: They were a new group.

Damn I hope Kazu finds another sponsor. He deserves to travel more.

Marvel replay archive.

http://www.thesaltmines.net/

oooooooooo

It's not a bad idea to combine the events. Let's see if it brings in more outside interest.

In other news, more info on CEOtaku

P.S. FightingGameESL finished his translation of the Topanga EVO top 8 talk. Very interesting stuff: http://fgtranscribe.blogspot.com/2015/08/topanga-evo-talk-top-8.html

I just hope that its 3/5 and no stupid half time show.

@hmoney001: Capcup will be spread over 2 days, the half time show is what you do inbetween.

I've been seeing people on twitter say Sunday only now, not 2 days like originally planned.

Didn't they already confirm it's 3/5?

Here's the post

http://capcomprotour.com/capcom-cup-date-location-details/

December 6th. 5-6th is the entire PS Experience, 6th is for this event.

@westernwizard: That's going to be like 8-10 hours, no way they do that without a break. Half time confirmed.

@fredchuckdave: Agreed. I was so looking forward to a 2 day event too. When I saw this my heart sank, plus no way they stream every match now, with a 32 man bracket and 3/5 sets.

@westernwizard: Could do 2 streams. Run winners through one, losers through the other.

Said it before and I'll say it again, 32 players is way too many for this type of tournament.

@starvinggamer: I think the commentators (and consistency) are actually a really huge deal in this case so I'd be surprised if they went with two streams, not impossible though.

Edit: Commentators mattering is the definition of Esports.