Upcoming December KOFXIII UK Tournaments.

Seems like KOFXIII is picking up fairly quickly in the UK, with tournaments being announced thick and fast, bit of a shame that as KOF has finally started to become popular here that I'm going to be out of the bloody country for a year... =_=

But still, great times for the other UK KOF players and of course for the community as a whole.

Coming up this weekend -

Nth Gen / Neo Empire @ London Gaming Con (3-4th December)

Then up in Scotland they will be starting their Ranking Battles on KOFXIII starting the 8th December.

And finally the One Month Later tournament held by EX Dragon Project on the 18th December.

Of these I am aiming to attend the One Month Later tournament, even though I would love to enter them all I still have loads to pack away and things to sort out...Stressful month... =_=

Fio - Metal Slug - 1/8 Scale Figure [Embrace Japan]

Saw this over on TinyCartridge just now.

A figure of Fio from Metal Slug, as well as a mini Metal Slug tank and mini prisoner, made by Embrace Japan.

From the information I can find via Google it should be about 20cm tall, and according to the listing on Playasia it will be released next March.

Considering when I used to play Metal Slug X on a weekly basis that my main character was Fio, and the fact that I should be able to pick it up while in Japan, I feel inclined to buy this.

Also not many official Metal Slug figures (that I know of) have been produced, my friend managed to find one of Marco at a car boot sale but wouldn't sell it to me. =_=

KOF02/KOFXIII - A Kuso Introduction To BC/HD Bypass Technique

Finally decided to make the video public after a few edits here and there, there's not much else I could think to add but if then if there is later I could always just make another video.

Pretty much I decided to make this video after discovering BC bypass worked in this game as well, and as when originally learning KOF02 a few years ago this was how I learnt to get used to the BC combo system I thought it would be useful for some of the newer players to know about it.

Something introduced in XIII though is the ability to EX BC bypass, as you can see in the video with Clark the result can be quite devastating.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to make a couple of more videos before I head off to Japan.

KOFXIII Console Version - Day Four

Spent most of today working on the BC Bypass video i mentioned in the previous entry, going to check it again tomorrow to see if I've made any mistakes before publishing it to the public. For now you can check out a preview of it here.

Also as you can see from the opening images I also worked on a 'B.Jenet' colour scheme for Mai today.

As I seem to remember B.Jenet was supposed to be like the 'replacement' character for Mai in MoTW so I thought it was fitting to create a colour scheme for this. It's also made picking Mai a bit more interesting for me.

I've not made many other colour edits today, I think the only one I REALLY wanted to make since before the game came out was nude raiden and I've already done that so have run out of ideas. xD

KOFXIII Console Version - Day Two/Three

I've pretty much been playing in whatever spare time outside of work so forgot to post up last night.

Found out you could edit the colours of Yuri's bottom area to skin colour, as well as her bra, so that had to be done.

Also finally got enough colours to attempt a Ninja Turtles version of the FF Villains Team.

Was supposed to be spending my day packing away my belongings today, but ended up working on a BC bypass video. There's still more work to be done on it but you can check the first version of it here. 

Any feedback on it would be great, it kind of makes sense to me but I also know that I'm not very good at explaining things xD

Had a quick run through of Story Mode today as well, not as impressive as I would have though but not too bad either. I didn't particularly like the lack of animation, especially after seeing the cut scenes from the Arcade version. (They do throw these in to Story Mode though.)

Also browsed through the Art CD that came with the PAL version, contains about 4 folders with some of the artwork that i believe is from the Japanese preorder phone cards, the original sketch work, and a few wallpapers for PC desktops. It also includes a combo video produced by the guys over on eLive.

At some point I will upload the contents of the Art disc but not for a while, as I think people who can buy the PAL version should do.

Haven't had any more play time online since Thursday, should probably get back to packing to be honest. xD

KOFXIII Console Version - Day One

Just wanted to share my first colour edit and a quick impression of the netcode before i popped off to bed. (Almost 4:30am here...)

Netcode so far I've found 2 bars to be a bit similar to 02UM's level of input lag, and 3 bars a bit more playable but still slight delays. Both online sessions I played with players in the UK.

Still I am enjoying the game so far.

KOFXIII - Console Version ! \o/

I received both of my copies of KOFXIII earlier today both without the preorder CD, apparently they are being sent out seperately...But an e-mail I receieved from Shopto seems to say that i might only get one set instead of two. =_= I've sent an e-mail to them so hopefully they'll clarify what's going on.

So far I've only played through the game once, unlocking Saiki along the way (apparently you just have to complete as many target actions as possible by the time you finish the third match in arcade mode).

I did get in a little bit of practice mode, discovering you can do quick maxes (inputting a special move whilst pressing B+C to get the special move and BC activate at the same time).

I also discovered how horrendously bad the lag is on my TV, struggling to do st.B -> st.C with Clark. =_=

Once I get home tonight I will be spending a little more time in practice mode and hopefully testing the netcode on Xbox Live, will try to write a bit more later if I can.

KOFXIII - Fanta Stick PX / US KOFXIII -360 - Region Free

Playasia now has stock of the KOFXIII Edition of the Fanta Stick PX, according to the product description it has compatibility with both Xbox360, PS3, and also PC.

At £64 it is not a bad price for a stick that is dual supported right out of the box, although shipping seems to be quite high at £48 for Fed Ex. (No ordinary shipping options appear to be available on this item.)

If I wasn't heading out to Japan next month I'd probably consider importing it, hopefully I'll be able to find it at some point whilst I am there.

Also confirmed by Playasia is that the US version of KOFXIII for 360 is region free.

Apologies for the lack of blog updates lately, as I mentioned I am currently preparing to spend a year in Japan so I have had quite a lot of things to sort out and pack away. =_=

[Edit]: As pointed out to me by Gunsmith, you can find more details about this stick on Gammac's website, which shows all the features of this stick as well as images of it's internal parts.

KOFXIII - Neo Magazine Review

Just a quick note to mention that the thread on Neo-Geo.com regarding the review of KOFXIII in Neo Magazine has been updated with a few images.

Also SNKPlaymore updated the official KOFXIII blog yesterday with some details about the game's Network and Replay Mode. (Translation available via MMCafe.)

ON Show 23 - This Saturday (Tomorrow)

I will be joining Gunsmith, and Cristina, on the Orochinagi Show tomorrow where we will be streaming live footage of KOFXIII.

Amongst the things we should be showing are basic character tactics/'tutorials'.

I will be demonstrating with Athena, and a joint demonstration with Gunsmith about Clark.

Check out Orochinagi for more details, and the actual stream will be running on General Skirmish's Twitch channel.

MCM Expo - KOFXIII Tournament - Semi Final pt.1

Gamespot uploaded the matches from the MCM Expo to their Youtube channel a couple of days ago, only just found out whilst browsing through Neo-Geo.com's forums.

The uploads include the missing video from the archived stream, where I played MichelS in the semi finals.



Also seen on Neo-Geo.com's forums is that the latest issue of Neo Magazine (no relation to Neo Geo) contains a feature on KOFXIII, according to the topic creator it is a four page spread/review.

If I get the chance I will try to browse through (maybe buy if I have the spare cash) at some point during the weekend.

Usagi - New Elisabeth Cosplay Photo

Usagi has just uploaded a new photo of an Elisabeth cosplay to her Cure page.

Also whilst browsing through her gallery again today I found an older photo with her cosplaying a Maximum Impact version of Athena. <3

In unrelated news I went to pick up the results of my working holiday visa to Japan today, and my application was successful. So I will be off to Japan for a year from the 27th December, all I have to hope for now is that the £ -> Yen exchange rate improves before I go !

DontDropThatCombo - EX Iori

Dontdropthatcombo has updated his Youtube channel with a special EX Iori combo showcase, amongst the things shown you can see his tap -> scumgale, and his EX hcb+KK blowing them up on the floor.  (This is also shown in a video uploaded by EXDragonProject, see second video.)





I'm liking the hcb+K -> DC -> scumgale.

KOFXIII - Wednesday Brawl - GamerBase Live Stream

Streaming right now @ http://www.twitch.tv/exdragonproject

[Edit]: I ended up heading out to Gamer Base after work since I finished work earlier than usual, and although I did not enter the tournament I did play a few casuals.

Unfortunately the machine which was being used for casual matches did not have Saiki, Billy or EX Iori unlocked for play, the machines used for the tournament did have them, so I did not get the chance to test out much new things.

Cristina did tell me however that it is possible to do tap -> scumgale with EX Iori, as she had tried it out.

I mainly started to learn how to use Daimon and messed around a little bit with his dp+K -> Super cancel -> heaven to hell (hcbx2+P).

After heading home I watched the end of the stream, which you can watch the archived version of here.


Watch live video from EXDRAGON Project on Justin.tv

KOFXIII Official Blog Update - Console Changes pt.4

The next part of the console changes have gone up on the Official KOXIII blog, an English translation is available over on MMCafe's front page.



From what I've been reading on forums, the reaction is that Kensou has been considerably buffed although I'm not too sure considering I still haven't worked out how to play Kensou in XIII yet.

Duo Lon is also looking quite interesting, possibly the closest thing I am going to get to Lin in this game, so I might try to pick him up at some point.

Finally a video I watched a couple of weeks back but forgot to post, a great match on KOF02UM featuring Kyappu.

KOFXIII Sprites / Backgrounds

As you may have noticed I changed my blog's banner last night. As Raiden's drop kick was a point of personal obsession for a while I have dedicated it to (some of) the wonderful drop kicks of KOFXIII.

The sprites themselves come from a site called Logical Bends (click here for sprites), which i found via MMCafe's forums.The great thing about these sprite rips is that they are all on a transparent background, so are perfect for creating avatars/sigs/banners without having to manually remove white backgrounds.

Not all characters are available currently but there is enough there to have some fun with editing character sprites.

Here's one i made earlier:

As seen via DreamCancel's forums a dub of the third place match from MCM Expo, which made me laugh quite a bit.



And finally over an hour's worth of footage from France of the console version where you can check out various console exclusive changes in action:



As noted by SABCA in the video comments -

Saiki Cancel Combo at 32:20
Hwa Jai using Drink Mid combo at 33:44
New Benimaru Pressure, setup, combos 1:11:34
Use of Duo's new-style f+AC for combo extension: 1:12:20
Hwa Jai's new-to-console pressure strings: 1:18:20
Goro's new Throw Super Cancel in action! 1:20:50
Vice with the new Splash -> Overkill Cancel: 1:22:20