Hello everyone!
The cold of winter is finally here, and Ono... Ono... was done in by a virus! It doesn't seem to be the flu though, so that's good at least. But, will he be OK in time for today's Midnight Live?
[A talkshow hosted by Famitsuu and Xbox Live -Jig's note] Hang in there, Ono!
Last week finally saw the revival of the Q&A section here on the blog, and I want to thank everyone for leaving so many comments!! No matter how many times I read them, they always lift my spirits! Really, there's so many kind comments... I might even cry a little!
OK, that's enough! I'm too busy for this!
Everyone, did you vote for the SF4 National Tournament Dream Team yet? The deadline is December 21, at 9 PM! So there's only three days left. If you haven't voted yet, head to the SF4 Mobile Site immediately and cast your vote!
[A "dream team" of players will be qualified for the Japanese nationals by fan vote. Voting is open only to SF4 players with an arcade IC card registered with the SF4 mobile website -Jig's note]
OK, so let's move on to SSF4.
A merry merry Christmas is almost upon us! So, PlayStation Home is hosting the "Christmas Illumination" event!
Of course, SSF4 will join the party.
12/19 0:00
12/20 18:00
12/25 23:00
12/25 22:00
Visit the PlayStation Home Square at the above times, and... W-w-what!? Felyne and Melynx from Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will introduce SSF4, and Jill from Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition will be there too! And Ryu! You can see amazing snow sculptures... and you will be able to receive exclusive, never-before-available items!! Wow, this is just something you can't miss! ...Ah, well, instead of coming at the exact times noted above, it might be a good idea to be a little early. I'm really looking forward to it too!
[This all refers to an event held on the Japanese PlayStation Home, of course - Jig's note]
Very well!
Today, I'll give a proper introduction to something you've probably seen a glimpse of here and there recently, namely the new stages in SSF4!!
SSF4 will have four new stages.
India Stage
This is the India Stage. Look at Dhalsim go! OK, let's take a closer look at this stage.
The cow is enjoying a free meal courtesy of the falling fruit.
When the battle heats up, the elephants will fall over!
And it's not just the elephants. Cows, people, everyone is falling over!
This geezer kind of sticks out.
Even Dhalsim's wife is here to cheer on! Actually, you will only see Sally cheering on when Dhalsim is fighting.
A cow feeding on some grass.
Everyone gets really excited when you win!
Korea Stage
Next up! Here's a stage from Juri's home country, Korea. This stage was created with a lot of support from Capcom Korea. Take a good look!
A busy marketplace. Vendors and customers, everyone's excited to watch the fight!
Here's a guy looking into the camera. And there's a pretty detailed park way back in the distance! (I noticed it just now)
Some kind of sausage... looks delicious! I want some! I want some right now!
The left hand part of the stage looks like this. All kinds of people are stopping by to watch.
Looks like they're a couple, huh. Hey, boyfriend, get a hold of yourself!
A lady who sells socks and shoes. With matching eyeshadow and scarf, she's seems like a pretty fashionable woman.
When you win the match, this old couple gets all lovey dovey!
Savannah Stage
This is the stage I want to brag about the most, the savannah stage! I'm sure that T.Hawk would agree that this stage's standout feature is the lovingly detailed depiction of all the animals. So I'll show you a lot of pictures of just that!
Meerkats. Their heads pop up as if they're asking "Hey, what's going on here?".
They start to gather, and soon enough a whole band of meerkat spectators will be watching.
A peaceful savannah scene. The sun is shining brightly...
Or so you'd think! In this stage, you'll get to witness a solar eclipse!
Those hippos are huge! But actually, in real life hippos are about 3.5-4 meters long and weigh about 1.2-2.6 tons. Just like elephants, these are some enormous land creatures. Kinda scary.
A giraffe, two zebras and a cheetah, running across the savannah. Wait, what kind of game is this again?
The meerkats and hippos get really really into the fight for some reason.
... I'm a little worried about the meerkats. Wait - there's something in the hippo's mouth!
Tada!
It's a white bird taking a break in the hippo's mouth! Instead of asking the staff, I looked it up myself and, this bird is an intermediate egret! I'm sure of it!
Ah...
Aaah...
Free at last!
The hippo falls over dramatically in all the excitement, but the giraffe just calmly looks on.
The giraffe gracefully drinks water, but what about when the match gets going..?
Its legs are long, so falling over must really hurt!
When you win the match, the meerkats start clapping and cheering!!
Construction Site stage
And here's the fourth stage. The construction site stage, that got everybody talking about Andore!
Here you can see the whole stage. When you look at the stage, you get a slight feeling that Servbots might appear somewhere...
Even behind that net in the background, people are moving about!
This guy in the red hardhat looks like he's the foreman. Lunch time!
This is the right hand corner of the stage. That guy is just playing around on that loading cart...
There he is, the much talked about Andore!! And way back in the foggy distance, you can see... the Mayor! It's the Mayor! Wow, that's quite the statue...
Andore is horrified to see his colleague about to fall. That pose really gets his emotion across.
Do a move that travels high up like this one, and you can even see the upper floors of the construction site! I kind of feel bad for Fuerte though, you can tell he's not getting out of that one...
OK!
Those are the four new stages in SSF4!!
The stage development staff created these with even more passion and enthusiasm than normal, so when you get to see these stages in motion, I'm sure there are even more things to discover!
Alright, so that was my attempt at introducing the new stages.
And finally, I have a correction to make. Unfortunately, when announcing the locations for the Street Fighter IV National Tournament last time, I made a mistake.
Last week I announced that the custom titles awarded at the regional qualifiers would be the following:
1st place: "2010 VIP"
2nd place: "2010 Generalissimo"
3rd place: "Proof of Friendship"
But actually, the "Generalissimo" title is for finishing in 2nd place at the National Tournament, like RF, who holds the title of "2009 Generalissimo" since the tournament in January of this year.
So in other words, I mistakenly mixed up the custom title awarded for getting 2nd place in the qualifiers, and the one for getting 2nd place in the actual National Tournament. I'm so sorry, RF!!
So allow me to set things straight. The award for getting 2nd place in a regional qualifier is the custom title "Telepath".
That's all. Sorry again!
Next week, I will announce the results of the Dream Team election! It will be the final update of 2009, so I'm working hard on it!
Well, everyone, see you next week! *runs away*