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Lupe Fiasco beats champion player at Street Fighter V debut event

Street Fighter V - Lupe Fiasco vs Daigo Full Match - SFV Launch Event
Rapper and record producer Lupe Fiasco earned a narrow victory over global fighting game champion Daigo Umehara during a high-energy Street Fighter V exhibition event held on the eve of the game’s official release.

Street Fighter V‘s launch event drew a large crowd at California’s Folsom Street Foundry, and attendees witnessed a stunning upset in an exhibition that extended to the final round of the last possible match before a victor was crowned.

Playing as classic Street Fighter series rivals Ryu and Ken, Umehara and Fiasco battled for top honors in a first-to-three set over the course of multiple rounds. After losing the first round to Umehara’s Ryu, Fiasco’s Ken responded with overwhelming strength and expertise, earning him victory in the next two rounds and the first match point in the event.

Umehara went on to win two matches in a row, putting Fiasco on risky footing for the rounds that followed. Fiasco then recovered to win a second point, bringing the event to its final possible matchup of the evening.

The night’s final battle saw Fiasco losing the first round but claiming victory in the second, turning what was expected to be a surefire win for Umehara into a surprisingly high-stakes matchup. Fiasco’s final-round victory over Umehara was so unexpected that neither competitor knew how to react until moments later when the final results were announced.

The Fiasco vs. Umehara matchup saw its genesis on Twitter earlier this year, and controller manufacturer Mad Catz stepped in to make the exhibition a reality. Street Fighter V launched globally in the wake of the event, resulting in a near-instantaneous server outage as early adopters swarmed online lobbies in search of competitors.

Street Fighter V is available exclusively for the PlayStation 4 and PC platforms.

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Street Fighter 6's recent beta left an amazing impression on me and, according social media chatter, lots of other fans too. The upcoming fighting game has already delivered on many fronts, even during its beta, with stylistic battles and a thoughtful social integration.

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I can’t wait to go back to Street Fighter 6’s excellent Battle Hub
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Fighting games live or die on their online communities. Of course, basic functions like rollback netcode and cross-play are essential to a healthy fighting game, but Street Fighter 6 goes further by creating an online hub that celebrates the series and gives players somewhere to hang out between matches. Call it a metaverse if you must, but in reality, the Battle Hub is one-third of the Street Fighter 6 package and will likely be home to the communities and tournaments that ensure people will play the game for years to come.
It was also the focus of the Closed Beta for Street Fighter 6 this past weekend, which gave me a second chance to go hands-on with the game after falling in love with it at Summer Game Fest Play Days. The core 1-v-1 fights are still a joy to play and the beta’s new characters -- Juri, Kimberly, Guile, and Ken -- all come with the exciting combos and flashy animations. But really, I came away impressed with the groundwork Capcom is laying for Battle Hub and its implications for World Tour mode.
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The Battle Hub is one of three options players can choose right from the main menu of Street Fighter 6, and when selected, it tasks players with creating a character avatar that will represent them. I didn’t spend too much time with these options, but they seemed quite in-depth for those who enjoy a detailed character creator. After creating a blue-haired and face-tattooed fighter, I was thrust into the Battle Hub’s futuristic arcade.

Multiplayer hubs as a replacement for simple menus aren't a new concept for fighting games (Bandai Namco games like Dragon Ball FighterZ have done this for a while). Still, for Capcom’s first attempt at one, the Battle Hub is full of personality and things to do. Its stark blue colors, a plethora of screens, and many gameplay cabinets make it feel like the high-tech arcade Capcom wants it to be.
As soon as I entered, I could walk around, emote, and perform classic Street Fighter moves the Hadoken with button presses. I was also near two kiosks. At one, I could register and view tournaments and Street Fighter 6 events, although none were available for me during this Closed Beta. The other one was the Hub Goods Shop, where I could buy clothes and other gear to customize my character further with the currency I accrued while playing.
The other kiosks on the main level weren’t available in this Closed Beta outside a screen that showed which player in our server was performing the best. I then headed toward the arcade cabinets, most of which form a circle around the center of the Battle Hub. One person has to sit on each side to initiate a Street Fighter 6 match. While it’s a bit annoying to sit and wait for someone to play with you, I could always find an opponent if I looked around at every cabinet. Hopefully, the final game will have an option to get into fights slightly faster for those who want to simply jump into it.

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Sifu garnered renown upon its release because of its dedication to being intense and tough. Compare it to Dark Souls if you want, but the game demonstrated the intensity of the quest its main character is on by making every enemy a real threat until players learn to master their kung fu moves and the game's unique aging mechanic. Over time though, developer Sloclap has made Sifu more and more approachable, even with more difficulty settings, while still retaining its vision for the game.
"Our intent was never to make a difficult game for the sake of it; it answers our intentions," game designer Theo Caselli tells Digital Trends. "We wanted a game that echoes the kung fu ethos of mastery via practice, and we wanted to put weight into the fight with a realistic approach. Fighting someone should be risky, stressful, hard, and feel like a single mistake could be the end. But we also understood that some people do not have the time or do not fancy this mentality, but still wanted to have the action movie experience nevertheless."
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To make progress on that approachability front, Sifu's spring update introduced an easy mode. Now, the newly announced summer update adds a plethora of gameplay modifiers. While some of these modifiers make the game more challenging by removing moves or buffing enemies, others, like infinite health, can make Sifu much easier for first-time players intimidated by the challenge. Mix in the update’s brand new scoring system and outfits, and it looks like the best time to play Sifu since launch will be after the August 31 update.
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"The easy mode was really intended for players just wanting to enjoy the ambiance, the environments, and the story with cool fight scenes," Caselli continued. "At the other end of the spectrum, we also wanted to give the most skilled players an even greater challenge and introduce a harder difficulty. The same philosophy guided our choice on the upcoming summer update. Make the game more tweakable, to make it more accessible, or more challenging, or even a little bit of both at the same time, both cheats and modifiers."
Some gameplay modifiers that will make Sifu a lot easier include Bullet Time, infinite health, and unbreakable weapons. Of course, players who like how difficult Sifu can be can also ramp up the challenge by making enemies faster, removing moves like blocking, or giving themselves a single hit point. Meanwhile, the scoring system entices players to defeat groups of enemies uninterrupted for the maximum point reward.

Truly skilled players can also show off with a brand new outfit called Master Hand, which gives players a hat that will fall off if they are hit even once. If you want to beat Sifu with a hat on, you’ll need to be really good. Players who do want to get all of Sifu's trophies will also have to avoid modifiers that make the game easier. Felix Garczynski, Sloclap marketing manager, confirmed to Digital Trends that gameplay modifiers that make the game easier will disable trophies. Slocloap also believes gameplay modifiers have a place in helping players who want to improve. To get better at Sifu, Garczynski recommends disabling blocking, though maybe you can still turn on zero gravity and have some fun.
“Blocking is never a good option in the game,” Garczynski says. “You can use it while you try to learn the combat system, but are more rewarded if you manage to parry at the right time or evade the blow. I think disabling it is a good way to make sure you are actually learning and not reverting to the easy option. And if I wanted to choose one just for fun, I think the low-gravity option is really cool because you have all the pieces and items you’ve broken in the environment and enemies floating around and create some really poetic scenes.”
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