Ca$hcom <3 DLC

Stay Free, DLC
-Capcom’s Love Affair with DownLoadable Content:

Up2Speed: Capcom has already released 3 FIGHTing games (SF4, MvC3 and now SFxT) in a row, for full price with plans to release more FIGHTers later. People are essentially paying for an incomplete game. Some say they are taking advantage of fighting gamer’s lust for fighters by holding them hostage, while others say you got what was advertised and you dont have to buy the extra content if you don’t want to

If you bought Street Fighter X Tekken already, it has many extra colors, costumes, gems and FIGHTERS locked on the disc. Capcom will only unlock them if you pay for them…when they allow it.

I’ve talked to many different moderators on Capcom about this particular issue. Deva, Espiowngae and D3v in particular. In which they all say, that it was so people that didn’t pay for the DLC characters/costumes etc. can play against them later. Also, so they can give the Vita version some exclusive content.

SONYs PS3′s version already has Kuro, Turo, Cole, PacMan and MegaMan and SONY wants MORE from Capcom?

Many people are upset about Capcom keeping content from consumers and releasing it for a price.
Capcom’s side:
#1 According to the law – Capcom or any Entertainment media, are only obligated to give you what was advertised to you.
#2 Capcom was doing it in their words “To extend the life of the product”
#3 Wanting to give their Vita something special.
#4 You should have seen this coming.
Consumer’s side:
#1 Keeping Core content from us to increase your profits.
#2 People want to use them now. Currently, only hackers can and that creates a paradigm shift. (almost forcing people to break the law to get content they technically own)
#3 Trust for in Capcom continues to decline.

In short, can Capcom do this? YES
Should they? No!
There are better ways to increase the life of a game rather than taking fundamentals away. Costumes or stages is fine to release later but not fighters. esp 12 of them….geez.
You want people to play longer? Make unlocking content difficult! THEN if they can’t do it within a set time…THEN give the players the ability to buy it! ala Gill in SF3 Online Edition

Thoughts: They already did this with RE5, SF4, MvC3, and Dead Rising…Basically for the past 4 years in a row. If you bought this and expected a complete game off the bat and you are mad? You should be mad at not seeing the patterns.
And Capcom?
DmC and RE6 BETTER be real, real, REAL good! Your trust declines with every game. Asura’s Wrath is a movie/QTE game and Dragons dogma is a co-op style RPG thats single player only?

- IvSedMyPeC -

Tags: SFxT Street Fighter cross Tekken DLC

Let’s get right to it.

Same game plus more.

If you are a fan of a character I wont tell you who is good and who isnt. However I will say that some of the new are not as viable as the older ones after extensive testing.

Like I explained in detail in my other article about casual gamers. They should still definitely stay FAR away from this. Simple mode will NOT help them at all. The only thing that they will like is some of the characters that play easy like Wolverine, Akuma, Ryu and…that’s about it. While the 3 I mention have advanced moves. Their basic Bread and Butter combos will do the job. Every other character is not played at all like those 3.

To save your time I will say a few things about the 12 new characters. They all play very different and they all are fun. Especially Rocket Raccoon. Dr. Strange plays different than I expected. I dont think he’s rush-down style at all.

Online is better, as they promised and spectating is real-time. For example, if it’s laggy for the combatants, it’s laggy for the viewers. The other people can clap and such after a match now too. (c/o MK9)

Let’s quickly talk about the tiny things that most wont notice.
#1 The color you pick is the color of the avatar.
#2 When you start over in Arcade Mode the game remembers the characters/colors/assist type you picked. (dont go off the character)
#3 Previously released DLC costumes for the old fighters come free with the game.
# 4 There are trophy’s for getting alot of points. (400k)
#5 The Mission Trials have changed to reflect the new moves

Is it worth it? Only if you can take that the same powerful characters minus Phoenix are still that way. If you have the patience to learn your character and game mechanics well.  If not, enjoy seeing the pros do it in the streams.

Monster Mash

Recently Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 unveiled the ability to mash Hypers (supers). I hate this idea and I have very good reasons why it’s unnecessary.

#1 – OOPS: In a game where if you press all 4 attack buttons to activate your 1 time cancel called X-Factor Power-up mashing like crazy could can do an accidental X-factor costing you the match.

#2 – Huff&Puff: How hard do you have to mash? (Turbo switch required 4 max)  How often are we going to be doing hypers? (very often) How many matches do you want to play per session?
Ans: You will get tired!
Ans2: Reason being. That if you dont mash hypers, it does far less damage than if you do max mashing…AND the game doesnt tell you when to mash and when to stop? So most will be mashing like crazy…

#3 -Wear&Tear: How do you break something? By applying excessive force to it or by abusing it. THATS WHAT MASHING IS! Another form of abuse to your equipment. Not only do you have to mash the buttons like crazy but for some you have to spin the stick or pad like crazy. Think of how many matches most will play. Mashing causes unnecessary damage to your equipment that was not important before.

I cant think of a game that has been released in the last decade or since MvC2 that required mashing. It’s Not That Important. They take out post-hit KOs and they put this in instead.

On the Plus side…it causes more damage and makes the game go by faster. (I kinda like playing longer not shorter)

Tags: Mash MvC3 UMVC3 ultimate abuse

WWE need a REAL wrestling game.

Wrestling games mainly…suck.

OK Bye! See you next time.

What? You call that lazy?

Well that’s EXACTLY what wrestling game creators are doing since 1996 (mainly Smackdown games)

Here’s just a list of things off the top of the ole dome what fans WILL like if implemented into a wrestling game that NEVER has before for unknown reasons.
-The option for managers old and new to be put with anyone. The wrestler needs to react to the manager.
-Up to for 4 characters being able to come to the ring aka a faction
-Tag-Team ability with anyone. Wrestler has to react accordingly (positive of negatively)
-Entrance exactly like he stars do it.  Most of the time it’s generic when the wrestler does things with their arms or hands and the stage explodes but is cut from the game.
-Trash Talk before the match has QTE for some characters and powers them up before the fight if successful. up to 5 different openers per person with 5 paths)

In the ring (it’s gonna get good here)
REAL Animations not that of a robot.
The speed and impact need to change per performer.
Every few seconds the camera should change. AND MUST change after every successful hit. (It does that on TV)
Repetition is not allowed. The performer will get alot more meter for specials if they play to the crowd after a few hits. (Just attacking will not fill it up as much)
Audience boos and cheers appropriately for a taunt then eventually starts chanting themselves (you suck, u cant wrestle, etc.) That’s when you get the most meter.
No Mercy type of system with quick strikes and grapple modifications.
Managers can interfere.
Randomly (rare) one of your allies will come down to distract the referee. At that time BOTH Wrestlers will have their Signature Move fully ready to use.
A bell will ring when in a submission (1:100) and a loss occurs (Survivor Series ONLY)
No small wrestler will be able to pick up a big guy (alternative move is done)
No big guy can go to the top rope or fly to the floor often for increased damage. (They get tired faster)
Ring-Side crew is always there and will get out of the way appropriately.
Referee will randomly not get out of the way of attacks (only when a special is about to fill)
Referee during tag-matches will stop people from making the save.
Referee will tell the player how much TV time is left, if they dont finish the match and comply, game over (story mode only)
Ring Ropes and ring act an behave accordingly (if wrestler is near ropes they do a rope move if they press toward it)
There’s more like backstage, audience participation, announcing, jumping the rail etc.

Tags: wwe fake sports cena orton championship QTE ring real referee

Capturing Casuals

I was watching a stream recently and thought of Capcom’s strategy to try to get noobies to play fighting games.

A new game coming out in March 2012 called Street Fighter X Tekken(SFxT), a first of it’s kind cross-over game similar to Marvel Vs. Capcom has a very interesting feature to hook casuals. It was reported last month before NY Comic-con, that Capcom wants to make two types of fighting games. One for Casual people that just want to pick up and play and the hardcore that want a deep fighting experience. For SFxT, Capcom’s solution came in the form of gems. They didnt outright say it but when they said that AUTO-BLOCKING as a feature of the gems, this HAS to be what they meant. Do I have to explaining what Auto Blocking is?

Now on to the meat! To make a fighting game work for casual people there are a few things that casual people like. Pick up and play (P&P) and easy to understand. P&P is like Angry Birds or Tetris or PacMan, play for a bit, save after a quick level then go on your way. I dont think the Street Fighter that we all know will ever be like that, HOWEVER they can do something like that IF they game is not difficult to ‘get’.

While Capcom has great surprising gameplay with teching throws, cross-ups, footsies, dive kicks, cancels, meaties, etc. Most regular or casual people have no clue what that is. THAT…I TRULY BELIEVE is the problem, not the knowledge, but the application. If the game didnt allow these ‘exploit’ then the game would be about 50/50 guessing and reading your opponent.WHAT I BELIEVE is the reason you dont see many casuals PAYING for tournament entry fees is simple…They KNOW they are going to get ‘blown up’ or exposed by pros like Justin Wong or ComboFiend that will abuse every single exploit that most arent able to do effectively.

If said fighting game was straight forward it would be in my opinion more attractive to the casual crowd. No Unblockables, No Cross-ups that the opponent has to guess the angle. It is, what it is. While that may sound boring to hardcore fans that are used to it, it shouldnt be. All of the tools to open your opponent will still be there but there will be no advance tricks that will frustrate,intimidate or make jealous most other players that want to take you on . You can still overhead, throw,  juggle, but no 1 frame links, no high-lows, no broken moves. If someone is jumping in for what looks like a cross-up in most other fighters, it would make the aggressor land on the other side and miss. While some moves would be slower or faster they would compensate in other ways.

Fighting Games need to be what they are and stop hiding goodies for pros underneath, in order to capture the casuals.

-Ray Carter

Tags: MvC3 Marvel Vs Capcom Street Fighter Tekken Pros Combo Casual

The Feared Teams of MvC3, and the People Who Make Them Deadly

We are approaching the launch of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and with one more significant event being held before the original MvC3 is retired, I’d like to take a look at the players and (their teams) that have been most successful. When you see these guys pop up on stream, you gotta watch. I sat front and center at Evolution this year, watching the Top 32, cheering on a old friend Stone Nyguen, and saw most of these guys butt heads with each other.

I can’t get every big name on this list, so let me put a few that I have not written up PR Balrog (Evo 2nd Place – Dante/Wolverine/Tron), EG.fLoE (Wolverine/She-Hulk/Akuma), LB.ChrisG (Amaterasu/Ryu/Wesker), DRS.Masta CJ (Dormammu/Magneto/Wesker), MRN.Marn (Magneto/Zero/Akuma), BT.IFC Yipes (Dante/Wesker/Akuma), AG.MarlinPie (C.Viper/Magneto/Amaterasu), and new sensation, Flocker (Zero/Tron/Phoenix). Head to FADC.com to see some match videos with these guys and the ones I will speak about in this article. You won’t be disappointed at all!

Wesker/Haggar/Phoenix
Played by: Viscant (Box Arena)
The main team used by the current Evolution World Champion, Viscant. It combines one of the strongest characters in Wesker, with a destructive assist and the backup plan of the best option in the game. What makes the team strong is that it limits your options more than the common Phoenix team. If you get the snapback and remove the Phoenix threat early, you still have to deal with Wesker teamed with Haggar, which is a very nasty mix. Wesker is a hard one to take out, and it’s made worse with the fact you just can’t get aggressive with the assist lariating everything. If you don’t get the snap on Phoenix, just running Wesker and Haggar out of life will pretty much lock in Dark Phoenix. The mixup potential, combo extensions, and resets make this a Phoenix team that doesn’t need Phoenix to win. Paired up with Viscant’s strong mind for strategy, this team becomes very deadly.

Wolverine/She-Hulk/Akuma
Played by: Justin Wong (Evil Geniuses)
Justin Wong is known for being a down-back turtle style player who patiently waits for his chance and capitalizes on it quickly, decisively, and without hesitation returns to his down-back position. Then he picked up Rufus in SF4 and showed people, yes, he does know how to run the triangle offense. And then he took it to the extreme in MvC3 when he brought out this evolution of his She-Hulk team. Wolverine is mixups for days with damage through the roof. When paired with Akuma’s Tatsu assist, he can literally hold forward, dive kicking and drill clawing everything like he just doesn’t care. His She-Hulk became overshadowed by his Wolverine, but is no slouch, and he innovated a few tricks that are also used by many She-Hulk users. His first two characters paired with Akuma create a devastating mix that can just cut though people before they know what has truly happened.

Wesker/Wolverine/Akuma
Played by: Noel Brown (Unveiled Gaming)
Noel Brown, until this year’s Evo, was known for two things. Being Justin Wong’s friend and giving Smooth Viper the Bionic Arm. Earlier, he played the mega-keepaway team of Sentinel/Dormammu/Dr. Doom (which is also used by Glltty, a young mid-west talent that had embarrassed many a grown man). This team he adopted before charging headfirst into Evo Top 8–which is also used by my sparring partner–is pure filth. All it needs is one opening and the lifebar disappears in large 70%+ sized chunks. Wolverine and Akuma we touched on above, but Wesker with Akuma is just as dirty. This team can utilize very fast movements with a strong assist to keep guessing games going seemingly forever. Or for 30 seconds, which by that time you’re already dead. If you watch a Noel Brown match, you might even get upset at how fast his opponents die sometimes. Isn’t this a two-player game? Wow!

She-Hulk/Taskmaster/Spencer
Played by: Combofiend (Complexity-Cross Counter)
West coast loves their She-Hulk, but without a doubt, the most fearsome She-Hulk out there, and probably in the world, belongs to Combofiend. First known in this game for his stunning Spencer comebacks, he has expanded his ability to the point that he now does mixups with She-Hulk+Spencer that are seemingly inescapable. He certainly isn’t giving his secret away–he just chops down your characters from full life to death and sticks you back into a blender that literally no one knows how to properly escape. Far from a one-trick pony, he can extend any combo with perfect DHCs, due to his team working well together. If any character from this team touches a character on your team and you don’t die, you should thank whatever higher power you believe in. Taskmaster relaunches, double Bionic Arms, Emerald Cannon resets (!), character-switch dizzy combos, nigh-inescapable dizzy resets. The list goes on, and nearly everything on it is filled with death.

Amaterasu/Dr. Doom/Phoenix
Played by: Clockw0rk (Brokentier)
Clockw0rk has always been known for his innovative offense, so in MvC3, he picked up the most deadly offense in Phoenix, and stuck with one of his MvC2 mains in Dr. Doom. What resulted was Doom technology otherwise unknown, unheard, or unexpected. Most played him like he should stay on one side of the screen. Clockw0rk played him like he should be wherever the hell Clock wanted him. Air dash loops? Doom got those! Midscreen self-relaunches? Doom got those! Corner relaunch loops? Doom got those! He can kill you with one character so well, you forget that he is also an Amaterasu innovator pulling off stance switch combos from counters or executing full screen zoning with a character many people have forgotten has the ability. And, oh yeah, he’s not bad with Phoenix also.

Magneto/Dormammu/Phoenix
Played by: Filipino Champ (Complexity-Cross Counter)
To contrast, the Champ is probably the best straight out Phoenix player. He is incredibly slippery and hard to take out his threat with a snapback. The problem with Phoenix, however, is that even when you are on point with her, you can get blown up by randomness. Despite being very strong (as evidenced by his top 8 performance at Evolution), he sometimes falls to things that make you wonder how that happened. His strength lies in the fact that he has a team that in theory should not work well at all with the biggest meter hog paired up with what could be the second biggest one all tied together with the fact that he plays unconventionally. But he makes it work. He transitions from 100% defense to 100% offense better than almost anyone, and having Magneto and Dormammu on his team magnifies that. He is not afraid to use meter, because he is not afraid to mix it up with regular Phoenix. In fact, after he evades the snapback attempt to kill his Phoenix, when people are trying to bait him into tagging in another character, he’s killing them with Phoenix!

Magneto/Storm/Sentinel
Played by: Fanatiq
And finally, Fanatiq. He is a MvC2 legend who plays MvC3 like it’s MvC2 and is probably the only person to have made it work. He pairs old strategy, with an old team, with some new tech and ended up narrowly missing the top 8 cut at Evolution. He throws out hypers without regard to meter. He rarely will use Magneto’s level 3, opting instead for a three-stage DHC (usually incorporating the DHC glitch). If he sees the ability to punish something full screen he will hyper and immediately DHC to Storm’s Ice Storm for the punish–sometimes burning three meters for it. When it’s time for chip, he will Ice Storm to Hyper Sentinel Force, pop the X-Factor and then Hyper Sentinel Force into Ice Storm. Thus, filling the screen up with so much junk that it’s nearly impossible to survive–classic MvC2 style. His strength lies in his unconventional nature and ability to always do something that his opponent doesn’t expect, despite using something that makes them confident that they know what’s coming.

Tags: marvel vs capcom 3, top players, top teams

Dissecting MK9: Refiguring The Tiers

Mortal Kombat has experienced a real resurgence this year.  It’s most recent iteration, MK9 even won best fighting game of the year from the Golden Joystick Awards. As experienced by the more than 3 million gamers who have purchased it, MK9 has shown staying power throughout the summer, long past its release in April of this year. This is in part due to the additional downloadable characters that were strategically released by Netherealm Studios.

In an earlier post on FGS, I expressed some concerns about the possible threat to balance in MK9 with the DLC. Luckily, with several patches made, those fears ended up being unfounded. Freddy Kruger would not rule everybody, and all is well in MK land. (For now) However, the question still remains about where exactly these characters all fit in on the tier. The only codified tier list that I have seen is the one done by Prima Games when the game first debuted. From what I hear from MK players on the web, this tier is way off. I knew it was off as soon as I saw Jax as a low tier character. This listing is about 7 months old, and doesn’t account for the patches nor the new characters unveiled. So it requires an update. Lets first get a brief  idea of which characters have what strengths. Remember folks, these are my assessments. Feel free to scream on me if you think I am way off base. LOL!  Here goes:

Rain: Juggle friendly. Can hold their own against Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Gets trashed by Ermac though. Roughly a tie with Smoke.

Kenshi: Great in close. Good combo power. Can zone you out. Gives Ermac some trouble.

Freddy Kruger:  Projectile game is ridiculous. Zones well. Mean juggles. X-Ray can follow most combos. Kabal is his arch-enemy. LOL.

Skarlet: Plays pretty cheaply. Very predictable. Once you adjust to the teleport move timing, its fairly easy to counter.  While she can zone well with the dagger tosses, if you get in close, she has limited options. Gets owned by Jade, Kitana and Mileena. Don’t even put her up against Sonya or Sindel, that’s not even a fair one.

What are your opinions out there in MK land? Am I on point, or on that good stuff? Let me know something!  Before I get out of here, I’d like to congratulate Netherealm Studios for winning the Best Fighting Game Award of 2011. It is well deserved. Alot of us Kombat fans are still playing the game. Take care, and keep practicing out there!

-Marc W. Polite

Longtime MK fan

For more on Mortal Kombat you can see the following posts:

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection Review

MK9 Review

Tags: Best fighting game of 2011, DLC, Freddy, Golden Joystick Awards, Kenshi, Mortal Kombat 9, Rain, Skarlet, Tiers