Tag: Phones and Gadgets

A.K.I. is the latest character to join Street Fighter 6’s roster. Like F.A.N.G in Street Fighter 5, A.K.I. has a unique playstyle that relies on inflicting the poison status upon the opponent.

Unfortunately, early impressions indicate that A.K.I. may have inherited another of F.A.N.G’s quirks. A.K.I. might be one of the worst characters in Street Fighter 6, just like how F.A.N.G was one of the worst in Street Fighter 5.

As one might expect, BST|Daigo Umehara has also been exploring A.K.I.’s capabilities in Street Fighter 6. Thanks to FGC Translated Alpha, we have a clear picture of what Daigo thinks of A.K.I.

“A.K.I. is definitely not strong, but she’s fun,” noted Daigo in the video. He also mentioned that he feels that it would be difficult for him to achieve a 20 win streak even in Diamond 2 with A.K.I.

“In fact, she’s really fun,” continued Daigo. “But I’m afraid that she’ll follow the path that F.A.N.G took. She will never be relevant and disappear from the scene. It’s such a shame.”

During the video, Daigo would go on to note that he was having difficulties pulling off shimmies, checking Drive Rushes, whiff punishing, and more while playing as A.K.I. In particular, Daigo ended up declaring Cammy as being A.K.I.’s worst match up.

Check it all out in the video below:

The more players have been diving in deep through Mortal Kombat 1’s mechanics and systems, the more it feels like the game unfortunately may have needed some more time in the oven.

A new game-breaking glitch has been discovered in MK1 that’s probably going to make the life of any General Shao player pretty miserable for the time being.

Evan ‘WonderChef’ Hashimoto recently shared footage of the bug in action that is apparently quite simple to recreate.

Basically, General Shao needs to have his ax stuck into the ground, and then an opposing Shujinko has to use his DF Kameo attack. That’s it.

This causes Shao’s ax to disappear off of the ground, and though it shows up back in his hand, he can never use it.

Oh and in case anybody is visually confused, the axe goes back to Shao’s hand, but he isn’t actually using it.

All of those normals are axeless normals.

— Evan Hashimoto (@EGPWonderChef) October 7, 2023

The big brawler is stuck using only his bare-handed normal moves, and what’s more is he apparently loses access to all special moves as well.

Currently, there seems to be no way to undo this glitch mid-match, and the ax won’t even return between rounds.

Oh and in case anybody is visually confused, the axe goes back to Shao’s hand, but he isn’t actually using it.

All of those normals are axeless normals.

— Evan Hashimoto (@EGPWonderChef) October 7, 2023

So this puts any Shao player right now in danger of having their character broken in half at any given point if the opponent is using Shujinko.

It’s not just a Training Mode only bug either with this occurring in actual matches on PlayStation 5 and PC confirmed though Xbox probably isn’t safe from that either.

The discovery has WonderChef and other players requesting that Shujinko be banned as a Kameo pick in competitive tournament play until a fix is issued, and it’s certainly not hard to see why.

Others are also claiming this isn’t even the only way Shao can permanently lose his ax in matches either.

@Heyunclejesse pic.twitter.com/gXQ4VQdbgu

— RBamb (@soaDdevil) October 7, 2023

Distressingly, the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition is scheduled to begin in less than two weeks from now, so an official decision may need to come down on Shujinko before then unless NetherRealm Studios releases a new hotfix / update soon.

This is unfortunately not the first glitch impacting gameplay found within MK1 since its launch last month with another recent discovery apparently showing some characters turning around much slower when they should.

That’s on top of the bad player 1 advantage bug that was thankfully patched out among a few others.

NetherRealm has yet to officially comment on this Shao Shujinko glitch, but hopefully they will have something to offer in the next few days.

It feels like just about every major fighting game has a mobile title out in the wild now (except for Guilty Gear), and some of them even have multiple now.

NetherRealm Studios finally announced that Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is releasing later this month.

After first getting revealed almost a year ago, MK Onslaught will be launching on Android and iOS devices starting October 17, 2023.

Mark your calendars! The fight to save the realms begins on 10.17.23 #mkoslaught pic.twitter.com/uCBzC8RhYM

— Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (@mkonslaught) October 4, 2023

There’s a pre-registration campaign going on for the game now with more rewards as they approach 1 million signups, which sits at over 600,000 as of the time of reporting.

Instead of a fighting game, MK Onslaught will be a gacha team-building RPG using characters and designs from across the Mortal Kombat realms.

Bountiful riches await. Recruit your friends to unlock even more rewards! #mkonslaught pic.twitter.com/6I3dsmrI6N

— Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (@mkonslaught) October 3, 2023

The other big draw of the game is what it’s calling the series’ “first mobile-exclusive cinematic story experience.”

Like Street Fighter: Duel, Onslaught finds itself in an odd spot considering it’s taking after Mortal Kombat 11’s designs and characters while the new game is now available.

MK Onslaught did actually briefly leak online last year too, but the official launch is right around the corner now.

More information can be found on the official website.

Currently only available for PlayStation 5 users, other platforms following soon

Bandai Namco is preparing for their next public test for their upcoming 3D fighting title, Tekken 8. A Closed Beta Test is set to take place later this month, and some fans can get ahead right now by preloading the update for the beta.

The company put out an announcement this morning letting fans know that they can currently preload the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test update if they participated in the previous Closed Network Test. Right now, this option is only available for PlayStation 5 users.

“ATTENTION FIGHTERS! ” wrote the official Tekken Twitter account. “Participants in the #TEKKEN8 #PS5 Closed Network Test can now preload the Closed Beta Test update.”

“The preload update will be available on Steam and Xbox X|S on October 10, 2023,” the tweet continued.

Tekken 8’s upcoming closed beta is set to run on October 20, 2023 at 1 a.m. PDT to October 23, 2023 at 12 a.m. PDT. Sign ups close on October 11 at 12 a.m. PDT, so be sure to register if you’d like a chance at joining in on the action.

ATTENTION FIGHTERS!

Participants in the #TEKKEN8 #PS5 Closed Network Test can now preload the Closed Beta Test update.

The preload update will be available on Steam and Xbox X|S on October 10, 2023.

The Closed Beta Test begins on October 20, 2023.

— TEKKEN (@TEKKEN) October 5, 2023

“The purpose of the Closed Beta Test is to test the network and monitor the gameplay experience of TEKKEN 8,” says Bandai Namco about the upcoming beta test. “Players will be able to test the new ‘aggressive’ battle system as well as battle matching and communication with other players in the ‘TEKKEN FIGHT LOUNGE’, a large-scale online lobby.

“We aim to obtain feedback on the quality of the network and gameplay,” Bandai continues. “We would greatly appreciate it if all participants could provide feedback through an online survey that we plan to send out via email after the Closed Beta Test. Your valuable opinions will be used as a reference for adjustments to the battle system.”

This Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test will feature a whopping 19 playable characters. The choices consist of:

• Jin

• Kazuya

• Jun

• Paul

• Law

• King

• Lars

• Nina

• Xiaoyu

• Jack-8

• Asuka

• Leroy

• Lili

• Hwoarang

• Bryan

• Claudio

• Azucena

• Raven

• Feng

There will be six playable stages as well. These will include Urban Square (Evening), Yakushima, Rebel Hangar, Sanctum, Arena, and Ortiz Farm — a brand new stage for the game’s only current newcomer, Azucena.

Additionally, those who get into the closed beta can look forward to the following options and modes.

• Ranked Matches (Up to 10 rank)

– Support Cross-platform Matchmaking

• TEKKEN Fight Lounge

– Avatar Customization

– Player Customization

– Text Chat

– Ghost Match

– Matching from Arcade Machine

• Quick Match

• Battle Tutorial

If you’d like to sign up for a chance to be selected to participate in the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test, be sure to visit the game’s official website for more details. PlayStation 5 users who took part in the Closed Network Test can and should go in now and update their file to preload the beta update.

Up until now, Street Fighter 6’s most recently released tier lists haven’t featured the sinister new DLC character, A.K.I. Today, we have our first pro giving their official thoughts on the game’s current rankings with A.K.I. included.

Top level competitor and content creator WRZT|Nemo has been playing a lot of A.K.I. since her official release a little over a week ago, and last night he went ahead and released a new tier list that includes her among the rankings. This tier list might turn some heads as Nemo has a surprising placement for the newcomer.

Changing things up a little from recent tier lists, Nemo lists six different categories for Street Fighter 6’s cast. We see GOD tier, S, A, B, C, and D on this chart.

Only three characters manage to grab that highly coveted god tier rank, and the picks really shouldn’t surprise you. At the top of the heap we have Ken, JP, and Luke, all characters who have been well represented online and in the top 8s of major tournaments.

Nemo’s S rank adds an interesting pick, though. While opinions tend to vary on Chun-Li quite a bit, it appears that Nemo feels she is very strong in this game as she leads S rank and secures the #4 spot in the entire game.

Now, we don’t want to spoil everything here, but we will say that Nemo has placed A.K.I., Street Fighter 6’s second DLC character, quite low on the tier list. It’s actually surprising how low she ranks here in her first week on the job, but some players have definitely cited a lack of good defense as one of her potential biggest weaknesses.

As far as strengths go, though, A.K.I. can dish out amazing damage when her opponent is cornered and she has proper resources. Her movement is also very slippery, and her ability to convert stray hits into big damage (when poison is in play) is also quite good.

Check out Nemo’s full Street Fighter 6 tier list below. Let us know in the comments if you agree or disagree and why!

Click images for larger versions

Tier list created on TierMaker.

We know Akuma is en route to Street Fighter 6 as the final entrant of the first batch of DLC, but eagle-eyed X (Twitter) user Quasimodox has spotted what looks to be an early look at the demonic fighter.

In a behind the scenes video of some of Capcom’s developers showing off progress on A.K.I., a screen in the background shows a character that looks conspicuously like Akuma… save for the fact that he’s bald.

We already know Akuma’s basic design in SF6 as we got to see an artwork example in the DLC presentation trailer (and his now white mane seems even more out of control than it was in Street Fighter 5), and also caught an obscured gander at him back in May when developers shared another behind the scenes look at Street Fighter 6’s development.

We can’t be certain that this is indeed Akuma, especially since it’s truly just a bald head, but the eyes as well as the facial structure do both point to it being him. We isolated the image and blew it up so you can see it for yourself below. We also included the previously revealed concept art pieces for comparison’s sake:

Click images for larger versions

It’s not at all uncommon to see models of characters without any hair, and so we don’t really suspect that Akuma might be getting a shaved head, but rather that we’re simply seeing a work in progress here. Having the hair missing will naturally have a heavy impact on how the model looks, so we’re not passing too much judgement here, for better or worse.

You can see it in the background of the original video here. It’s most obvious from around the 54 second mark to the end of the clip:

ゲーマーなら自然と読めるやつ

＋
＋
＋

YOU WIN!!!#波動拳_昇龍拳_竜巻旋風脚

▼何度でもリプレイ！(～10/10まで)https://t.co/rSq1MCFOge#100カメ#オードリー#ゲームメーカー pic.twitter.com/riefNncuoA

— 100カメ公式 (@nhk_100CAM) October 5, 2023

Capcom has been playing with Akuma’s visual design in more recent years as he garnered the aforementioned lion’s mane for his Street Fighter 5 debut back in 2017. Seeing as SF6 is the latest on the timeline, chronologically speaking, it makes sense that the long time Street Fighter character might look a little older and even more rugged.

Especially with how Capcom has been doing things as of late, we suspect we’ll also be getting a nostalgia version of Akuma where he looks more like his traditional self (as seen in Street Fighters 2, Alpha, 3, 4, and the many crossovers he’s appeared in).

That said, one does have to wonder if Akuma will be getting a demon mask for one of his first alternate looks in SF6, as it looks as though he’s wearing one in the snapshot from back in May (image 3 in the gallery above). He’s also just in basic underwear for this costume, save for his trademark beads, making it almost look as though he took a page out of Zangief’s book when it comes to wardrobe.

All questions should be answered during or before the spring of 2024 as that’s when Akuma is slated to join the SF6 roster. Despite having one of the absolute best attendance records in all of Street Fighter, he’s often late to the party joining as either an unlockable boss or a delayed DLC addition.

What do you think of Akuma’s white-haired design in Street Fighter 6? Are you looking forward to playing him when he drops next year, and do you think he’ll continue his trend of almost always being one of the most powerful characters on any roster he’s on?

Today cosplayer Choni brings us all the beauty of Street Fighter 5’s Laura without the soul-deflating V-Trigger mix ups.

She dons the Brazilian beauty’s classic green jiu-jitsu gi (and looks stunning while doing so) but also slips into the specialized costume designed by the top Laura player on the planet, Derek “iDom” Ruffin, following his Capcom Cup 2019 win.

We kick things off with a few standard shots as Choni brings Laura to life. Her costume is spot on and even includes the details such as the multi-colored bracelets that show just how experienced the character is when it comes to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

The cute chibi doodle of Laura from the banner and below boba photo is the work of Mishacharms, by the way. If you’d like to see more like it, and even order her artwork on stickers, key chains, and more, you can do so over at her shop.

Be sure to use the arrows in the embed below to cycle through and see the multiple photos of the costume as it was being created. We always appreciate when a cosplayer opts to put in the time to actually create their costumes, (as opposed to simply purchasing them in already completed form) especially when they’re this good.

All that stitching and dying to get everything just perfect really shows in the final product, though we’re admittedly a little intimidated to think just how long this all might have taken.

Below are the shots of iDom’s aforementioned Champion’s Choice costume. Choni took this one to Evo and even got some shots with two of the head Street Fighter developers.

The final photos are a bit more professionally produced than most of the others as evidenced by the lighting and backgrounds. Check them all out and then let us know in the comments what you thought of Choni’s awesome work, and be sure to follow her on Instagram for plenty more.

We actually got to meet and take some quick video footage of Choni at Evo this year as she donned her Street Fighter 6 Kimberly cosplay. You can see her around the 1:30 mark in the compilation video below:

No video game ever releases in a perfect state, and from what we’ve been seeing lately, that sentiment can definitely apply to Mortal Kombat 1.

We’ve been witnessing some complaints and examples in MK1 that seems to suggest the game may have an issue with characters not wanting to face the right way.

Akromaniac recently released a fascinating and concerning demonstration video about how fighters don’t appear to turn and face the opponent going over their head until way later than you’d expect.

The video clearly shows Reiko jumping over Sindel’s head, and the queen doesn’t correct her position until just before his foot is about to touch the ground on the opposite side of her.

This doesn’t appear to be just a design choice either, as Akromaniac points out that the issue seems to apply differently across the cast with Sindel’s being the most noticeable for just how long it takes her.

Anyone else notice this? The running theory is that the character models dont realize what side they’re on at the appropriate times. Thus causing this kind of response#MortalKombat1 #MortalKombat pic.twitter.com/Tzc8uQZvRP

— Akromaniac (@akromaniac27) October 3, 2023

Obviously, that can be bad on its face for not having anti-airs auto correct to the right side and missing completely though there are other complications.

Some players have been posting online that their side-switching combos can drop when they shouldn’t or can suddenly find themselves facing the wrong way, especially in the corner.

It’s going to take some more testing to figure out exactly what’s going on here, but it doesn’t seem very fun to deal with.

NetherRealm Studios already just patched out the bad player 1 advantage bug earlier this week, and things are looking like they still need to work out a few kinks in the gameplay department unfortunately.

More Street Fighter 6 tier lists are being released now that players are feeling more comfortable playing as and against the game’s latest DLC character, A.K.I.

This time, a group of some of Japan’s best competitors have gathered together to create a collaborative Street Fighter 6 tier list that does include a placement for A.K.I. Here is what Sako, Moke, Nuki, Uryo, Santarou, Kishiri, and Go1 think of the current character standings.

This collaborative tier list features only four categories. We have S rank, S-, A, and B rank, with no fighters falling below B here.

These seven top players have placed seven characters up into S rank. As one might expect, we see JP as #1, though some of the other placements are interesting.

Guile, who is often considered top tier but usually not in the top 3 is ranked #2 on their list, and someone like Ken — who is often considered either #1 in the game or #2 — sits at #4 here on this collaborative list.

Most surprisingly, though, we see Chun-Li placed at #3. All of the players involved with this list (short of Kishiri who I could not confirm) play Chun-Li at a very high level, so if there were ever a group of players who knew what they were talking about with this character, it would be them.

Chun-Li is a highly technical character in Street Fighter 6, and her steeper learning curve definitely turned some fans off from playing her early on. However, those who stuck with her continue to explore what all she has to offer, and she does have strong normals, good damage, and some tricky movement options to keep opponents on their toes.

As far as Street Fighter 6’s latest character goes, the gang placed A.K.I. at the very bottom of the list. While this may seem surprising, we did also see Nemo — the #3 ranked A.K.I. in the world — place her as a bottom two character earlier this week as well.

Check out Sako, Moke, Nuki, Uryo, Santarou, Kishiri, and Go1’s collaborative Street Fighter 6 tier list below, and let us know in the comments whether you agree or disagree with their placings.

Click images for larger versions

Tier list created on TierMaker.

A new major fighting game tournament circuit has been announced this morning. NetherRealm Studios, Warner Bros. Games, and RTS are teaming up to bring fans across the world the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition — a new global eSports program featuring the latest Mortal Kombat title.

This large scale tour will be kicking off later this month, and it is set to feature a $255,000 total prize pool.

“Warner Bros. Games, NetherRealm Studios, and RTS today announced the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition, a new global esports program operated by RTS featuring the latest installment of the iconic Mortal Kombat videogame franchise,” reads the Pro Kompetition’s official press release. “Featuring a $255,000 total prize pool, the new league aims to build an international ecosystem of players and will kick off on Oct. 20 at the East Coast Throwdown fighting game tournament. The Pro Kompetiton will conclude with 20 players competing at the Final Kombat World Championship event in June 2024.”

Qualification for the Final Kombat World Championship will be determined by the global Pro Kompetition leaderboard (players will earn leaderboard points based on their placements) or the Regional League Finals. The tournament standard for the events in the Pro Kompetition will be 1v1 double-elimination.

As previously mentioned, the first stop in the Pro Kompetition will be East Coast Throwdown (ECT), which is taking place on October 20, 2023. Including ECT, there will be four in-person Pro Kompetition partnered events that will allow all players to compete, and these will include Ultimate Fighting Arena in Paris, France (November 24 – 26, 2023), CCXP/Comic Con Experience in São Paulo, Brazil (November 30 – December 3, 2023), and Combo Breaker in Illinois, USA (Spring 2024).

“The Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition will also feature three regional programs comprised of segmented sub-regions, including three online qualifier events and a Regional Final,” the press release further explains. “The three regions include the North American League (North America East and North America West), Interkontinental Kombat (Europe East, Europe West, Oceanic, and Middle East), and Liga Latina (Brazil, Mexico, South America North, and South America South). The top 8 players within each region will punch their ticket to the online Regional Final for a chance to qualify for the Final Kombat World Championship.”

Those who aren’t able to qualify for the finals through the standard means will have the opportunity to try and do so at the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) event. The LCQ will be an open registration, first come first served basis and will cap at 256 players as they compete in a double-elimination bracket.

The Final Kombat World Championship will be doing things a bit differently, though, as once the 20th player is decided for the finals by way of the LCQ, all 20 players will be organized into four groups of five players each to compete in a round-robin tournament format. These groups will be chosen based on regional qualification and leaderboard ranking, and two players from each group will advance to the top 8 for the finals — which will also be a double-elimination bracket.

According to the NRSEsports Twitter account, the 20 player spots for the Final Kombat World Championship will consist of 10 Online Regional Finals winners, the 9 top players on the global leaderboard, and one winner of the Last Chance Qualifier.

More information on the Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition are expected to drop soon.