What a rocky start for the Street Fighter V Beta tests

The Beta tests for the upcoming Street Fighter V (Five) was supposed to start on July 23rd  but from two Youtube channels I've checked out they either can not get the game to load at all or only get as far as the training room fight ( 1 player vs dummy).
Below is just one tweet from the Official Street Fighter twitter account...

We are aware users are still having issues logging into the SFV beta. We are continuing to work on a fix. Thanks for your patience.

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) July 24, 2015

Note that the game is a console exclusive to Sony's PS4.  Capcom has been trying to make adjustments to their severs and Reboot the servers. If you want to follow the beta thread, I left a link below.

Here's the link to the official Capcom discussion thread  .

Just really disappointing because probably well over 50,000 viewers were watching the game being played at EVO 2015 but this Online multiplayer just doesn't seem to be working.  Most of the thumbnals on Twich.tv page are of error screens and face cameras of frustrated streamers.

Having to wait until early 2016 for Tomb Raider sequel to hit PC is fine

This has been the news that I've been waiting to hear. Somebody could have just said something at E3 2015 but at least it's been announced now. 

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Launches On PC Next Year - http://t.co/NX6KGcgcti pic.twitter.com/wcDpBpyq4a

— Game Informer (@gameinformer) July 23, 2015

 PC gamers may have to wait  until early 2016  release but the devs can use that time to fine tune the Windows/PC port (not have a possible Arkham Knight fiasco).  The PS4 players will have to wait the longest Holiday late 2016.

Watched some EVO 2015 streams

Evolution 2015 is  the annual gaming tournament going on right now that brings players from all over the world to compete in a variety of fighting games. The matches are being streamed on Twitch like it has been for the past few years. Evo appears to have more channels setup for the tournament.  The last few years were only 3. One main stage and the rest being side games. Now there are 7/Seven whole channels. Wow, even though I've only seen content on 4 of them.  The games that I've seen so far have been

• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Persona 4 Arena: Ultramax
• Super Smash Bros Wii U 

In previous years I would watch for Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs Capcom 3. This year I really wanted to watch "high-level" Persona 4 Arena play. It's been quite exciting.

New Gundam's Exterior revealed

There is going to be a new Gundam series coming and so soon after Gundam Reconguista in G which came out in Japan and online streaming last year. This new Gundam unit reveal has been slow over the past few days since early July with a mere silhouette. As of the twitter post below, The head, shoulders, and chest have details and colors now

The G-Tekketsu Gundam bares its chest today but also pretty much reveals its face. It's looking tough. pic.twitter.com/5G6g65jgR4

— Tom Aznable (@TomAznable) July 13, 2015

I'm going to reiterate what I posted on an Anime from my Twitter account but the Shoulders still remind me of the Talgeese #1 from Gundam Wing. The fully revealed image seems to show a red glow on the shoulders reminding me of Unicorn Gundam.  The rest of the unit  "G-Tekketsu" shows hints of Gundam 00 (chest area).

Yokai Doctor

I recently got the first two volumes as gifts. I've only skimmed the first few pages of the initial volume but I do like the artwork so far. The Yokai designs look nice a detailed. The creator is someone named Yuki Sato and this is also the first time I've ever come across their work.

This is/was being published by Del Ray  a few years ago Unfortunately only two of a total 15 volumes (in Japan) were released to the English speaking community. It doesn't seem to be all that popular because there are no fan translations past the first two books.  Even if I don't know how the story will end I hope the two books will at least be entertaining.

Persona 4/Golden related - Meat Gum is real!?

So  You're probably thinking What this has to do with video games. The following will contain minor, specific character spoilers for Chie Satonaka of Persona 4 / Persona 4 Golden ( The PlayStation Vita update. 

At the time I thought the idea was just a Japanese joke because Japan is known for having weird flavored snacks and drinks.

This was a picture I took of an Amazon.com (US site)  listing of "Roast Beef" flavored bubble gum. forget how much it was being sold for but is not listed anymore at the time of this post...

An Anime convention gets a shoutout from the local news

For some reason I keep on forgetting about this relatively new Anime Con. Anime Midwest  happened this 4th of July Weekend and ABC Chicago gave the event a short nod on the website. This is the newer fan convention that happens in Rosemont, Illinois.  The unique thing about it is that there is a attendance limit of 10,000 fans.  I really should attend this at least once.

Hi-sCool Seha Girls final impressions (9-13)

Turning objects/items into walking, talking female protagonists seems like a trend in Japan. The first time I ever heard anything about this was the "OS-tan". That's when Microsoft and Mac OS versions get turned into girls.  So why not Sega video game systems.

from left to right: Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast

One of the best things about this is the span of history that the show goes over. From the Arcade 80s all the way to game references released in the late 2000s. Kudos to Sega and TMS Entertainment for keeping the original graphics/ looks of the various worlds that the Hardware Girls visit.  

I can see a lot of Anime viewers just dropping or avoiding this show due to the varying graphical styles, About half of each episode is just the girls trying to crack cultural jokes and puns at one another.  Strangely reminded me of The Super Mario Super Show (minus the live-action).Episodes are half the length of a normal Anime Tv series  Definitely worth watching if you were a big Sega console fan growing up.

The final episode of  the show is really bittersweet since any current gamer will probably know that the last home console that Sega made was the Dreamcast .  I kind of wish that Game Gear got more representation than just a cameo in one episode.  Oh and "Segata Sanshiro  commerical are wacky. Even more so than the Legend of Zelda wrap  What was with the "Foreigner" running gag for Sega Saturn? Did the console sell really well in North American and Europe or something?

Seeing the Shenmue III kickstarter gives me hope for another Sega series

One of the great things that happened this past E3 2015 was the announcement of  a sequel to a 14 year old game. Shenmue II. Sony even brought Mr. Yu Suzuki on on the stage to announce and launch the Shenmue III kickstarter. While the Kickstater funding is still going on, the project has already reached it's main goal...

The game I would like Sega to either remake or do  a sequel for is Streets of Rage (known in Japan as Bare Knuckle)  A side-scrolling "beat 'em up" style of game where a group of friends fight their way to a a powerful crime boss. 

The latest thing being done with the license was a port to the Nintendo 3DS with the added stereoscopic 3D effect and extra options like setting the amount of starting lives and even a level select. What I'm wishing for is not  remaster but a full, official Streets of Rage 4 for PS4, XBOX One and PC (via Steam)