FGC Roundup - August 5th, 2016

Published: August 5, 2016 7:39 PM /

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Salt Ahead

The FGC Roundup is back with all the week's biggest fighting game community news and a look ahead to the coming weekend's most significant events. Hype! Salt! We've got it all on this week's edition. Let's GO!

Nearly Two Million People Watched EVO on ESPN 2

https://twitter.com/MrWiz/status/759905150702006272

Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar, the driving force behind the Evolution Championship Series, revealed on Twitter earlier this week that nearly two million people watched the Street Fighter V Finals for EVO on ESPN2. That is staggering. There has never been an event within the fighting game tournament scene that has gotten that much attention. It's safe to say that EVO will be featured on a Sunday timeslot again next year judging by the numbers. A further breakdown of eSports-related events on television is as follows:

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Those numbers in the "Viewers" column are an average number of viewers. The figures quoted from Mr. Wizard are direct from ESPN internal and, perhaps, more critical? The 18-49 demographic viewership of 73%. Not only did they knock it out of the park in regards to actual viewers but they captured the biggest share of the most critical portion of potential audience imaginable. Even getting someone to tune in for ten to fifteen minutes at a time for something that isn't a Sunday night baseball game? That's humongous and further affirms that this was not only a milestone for EVO but the entire fighting game community. We eSports now, fam.

Capcom Hasn't Forgotten About Daily Challenges

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Photo courtesy of Eventhubs.com

The recent fervor over the Capcom Pro Tour DLC announced at EVO didn't stop many concerned fans from voicing their opinions regarding a long talked about feature for Street Fighter V in Daily Challenges.

The idea was that players could earn Fight Money on a daily basis from completing specific goals within matches online. It, much like many other features such as proper rage-quit policy, better lobby support and better CFN event integration, seems to have fallen by the wayside in the wake of the release of the game and its subsequent updates. Capcom representative and community figure, Haunts, addressed this issue in a post on the Street Fighter subreddit (r/StreetFighter) that the CPT DLC issue has required more attention than previously anticipated and the general SFV FAQ will come after that. A blog post via Capcom-Unity will make its way to fans thirsting for answers in the coming weeks so says the beleaguered Haunts.

The hullabaloo over the CPT DLC, its cost ($24.99) and the amount of money going into the prize pool, etc. was addressed by Haunts via NeoGAF and r/StreetFighter regarding the questions and concerns raised by fans post-EVO. There will be an investment in both the 2016 season prize pool and beyond into 2017 according to the Capcom representative, but actual numbers won't be parsed out until later after download numbers, and other figures are compiled. "We didn't create this content with the intention of making a profit for ourselves, its to support the community." Capcom has, as of yet, to offer any actual numbers in regards to how much of the proceeds from the Capcom Pro Tour DLC will make their way into the 2016 season's prize pool, into next year's or anything else beyond a promise of "we'll tell you soon..promise!" Either way, it's still a fantastic idea considering the success of Compendiums in DOTA2 for the International prize pool and, hopefully, once the August update is detailed we'll have Urien, possibly Daily Challenges and more info to share. Stay tuned, warriors.

BlazBlue Central Fiction Won't Get Dubbed?

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BlazBlue Central Fiction, the next chapter in the ridiculous and far-too-fun BlazBlue saga, might not be dubbed according to recent reports from voice actors who've worked on prior titles. TechRaptor's very own Don Parsons talked about it earlier this week, and we have, as of yet, to receive any word back from Aksys, PQube Games or Arc System Works regarding a potential English voice track for the game. 

BlazBlue is a certified cult-hit by this point, and it has provided some intense moments at the EVO Championship series including one of my all-time favorite Top 8 performances in any fighter:

https://youtu.be/DrvY6BbiUE0?t=29m50s

This was one of the most amazing comebacks I've ever witnessed in any fighting game and the emotion afterward were intense. Both fighters put their heart and soul into every moment of this utterly magical Grand Finals, and it was proof positive of just how insanely hype anime fighters can be on the big stage with the brightest of lights shining down upon them. Amazing stuff.

That aside the implications for not having an English dub means that one of the biggest draws for fans of the series, the game's single-player story mode, will feel lacking in comparison to the rest of the series. This isn't a humongous hit for Aksys or Arc System Works by any means but to simply strip one of the best parts of the series away to possibly save a few bucks seems needless. I know I'm not alone in wanting Cristina Vee back for Noel Vermillion or Patrick Seitz for Ragna the Bloodedge. Do the right thing and round out what promises to be an epic conclusion to the Azure Saga started way back in 2008 with Calamity Trigger

VS Fighting 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHm0wjxtHU

Birmingham in merry old England is going to erupt this weekend as the Capcom Pro Tour pays a visit. Pride and CPT points will be on the line as Europe looks to redeem itself after yet another ranking event slipped through their grasp at Sonic Boom: Summer Edition 2016 thanks to MOV and Haitani. The biggest names in the Euro FGC will be in attendance and, much to the delight of those in the brackets; no Asian region players will be making the trip over to VSFighting 2016.

There are some foreigners jetting over to the UK to button bash their way to CPT glory, though. The Americans are coming! Naventic's Peter "Flash" Susini, Evil Geniuses Kenneth "kBrad" Bradley, two of the Ken Trinity in EVB's Chris Tatarian and Brentt "brenttiscool" Franks will face off against the likes of RB| Luffy, FA| Ryan Hart, Valmaster, PxP| ProblemX, UM|Imstilldadaddy, AWS|CCL, PRLS|Packz, MD|Mr. Crimson along with other hopefuls. BX3|Phenom already locked up a spot in the Capcom Cup finals thanks to his victory at Dreamhack Summer 2016, but the real question is can another European take the win and secure their position there too? It isn't a Premier, but 128 points will help both Mr. Crimson and CCL (both outside the top 20 globally) to ensure they're within the safe zone for points. Crimson won the year's first event with Cannes Winter Clash while CCL won FFM Rumble. 

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Maybe the bigger question, though, is where the hell has EVO 2014 champion Luffy been? The Red Bull star has been consistent but has yet to win a single Capcom Pro Tour event this year. He won in twelve separate events before this year, and he seems shaky at times with R. Mika. Can this be the weekend that it all comes together for Luffy to snag a victory, 128 points and build towards a Capcom Cup berth? 

The Americans involved in the fray will have a lot to do with that as kBrad is not to be underestimated (winner of The Fight! 2016 and 3rd place finisher at Defend the North 2016) as his Cammy has only gotten more dangerous as the season rolls on. NV| Flash wields deadly efficiency with Vega yet never seems afraid to experiment with the character and he might just Barcelona his way to victory? He's getting better with a pair of ninth-place finishes, second at ComboBreaker and fifth at Defend the North. You can't count out Chris Tatarian either as his Ken is deadly no matter what side of the globe you hail from. Two first place finishes (Japonawa and West Coast Warzone) so far this year. Can he add another trophy to the shelf? Can the lesser known member of the Trinity, brenttiscool, make his presence known and start building towards his a Capcom Cup finals appearance? 

No bones about it! Them USA boys will be ready to play. Can the EU defend its turf this time around? Brackets can be found at Challonge and all the action starts on Saturday at 5 AM EDT (2 AM PDT) on Twitch. There are also two CPT online events this weekend as well found at the CapcomFighters channel on Twitch. The Latin America event begins on Saturday at 3 PM EDT (12 PM PDT) and the Asia-One on Sunday 4 AM EDT (1 AM PDT). The Recap, as always, will break down all of this weekend's Street Fighter V action next week. 

Clutch City Clash 2016

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Houston where you at?! Clutch City Clash is about to unleash a whole lot of Smash onto Houston, Texas this weekend as one of the biggest tournaments in the Lone Star State kicks off. Super Smash Bros. MeleeWii U (Smash 4) and Project M will all be in the mix over the next few days and big names such as MVG| Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Selfless| Joey "Lucky" Aldama and POUND 2016 winner Abadango in the mix along with 961 other hopeful competitors to see who can bring the house down. 

Brackets are at Smash.GG as per usual and all the action can be found at SmashUnited for Smash4 and TourneyLocator for Melee on Twitch starting on Saturday at 11 AM EDT (8 AM PDT). 

https://twitter.com/SmugDaBeast/status/760846460996952064?lang=en

That will do it for this week's edition of the FGC Roundup. I'll leave you with this glimpse of some the epic amounts of sodium that EU pro player, Imstilldadaddy seemed to be guzzling after facing off against everybody's favorite Dudley player converted Karin player, SMUG. Dr. Smuggles prescribed nothing but pain for this Guile player. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSu19q32AdQ

Blaming American lag huh? I guess there's a reason you only have 1 Capcom Pro Tour point this year, scrub. Better get good as VS Fighting is tomorrow, chum. Stay free, Internet. 

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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| Staff Writer

Defender of waifus. Fighting game aficionado. Nearly 100% anime nonsense at this point. IT Specialist for the US Government by day but by night? JRPG/MMORPG… More about Jeff