We are happy to announce that this week we will be running the first of a series of region specific stress tests for Street Fighter V, which aim to gather information from those areas.

The first regional test will be begin in Europe on Thursday August 20 ^th from 16:00-00:00 BST, and continue on Friday August 21 ^st from 16:00-00:00 BST. When we are confident with the results from this test, we will share the dates and times for North America and Asia’s region specific tests, and once we have successfully completed each regional stress test, we will announce the dates and times of the official global beta test. The global beta test will still take place for the previously promised 5 days of time, so the regional stress tests are just an added bonus.

Please note that, although this time we anticipate these tests being a smoother experience, there may still be issues experienced by some users which could hinder their experience. We would like to reiterate that all data received during each regional stress test will help us ensure that the game performs at an optimal level.

It should be noted that your Street Fighter V beta will still work, and you should not require another code, however please ensure you have installed the latest patch, if your beta has not automatically updated.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

A new round of the ongoing  Resident Evil 0   In-Game T-Shirt Contest   is live, and this week’s contenders are as pictured above. Will this week’s round go to our adorably literal returning champion, the notably Brachydiesque “Hunter” submission, or the lovey-dovey nurse?  You decide! Voting only takes about a minute, and will get you free early access to the T-shirt DLC as well as the second Developer Diary video.

Think you’ve got a better design? Submit your own! You  might just end up in the next round. 

It’s that time again! Hit the jump to view the Top Five submissions for Round 5 of the ongoing Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition Style Tournament, then place your votes!

Vergil is a particularly versatile and powerful character, but the high enemy count and complicated geometry of this fight—not to mention the Dante Must Die setting stipulation—made for a tough round. Nevertheless, our entrants brought us some cool stunts, from Trick-canceled Perfect Judgment Cuts to flashy taunt finishers. This round also brought us some of our shortest entries, but there ain’t nothing wrong with that! Short and sweet is always better than long and meandering.

Now then! Let the voting begin.

Voting Deadline: Friday, August 21st at noon (PT).

• Devilnevercry124
• Mariotaz
• IKevinX
• Jack Moondivider
• Team McGirk Long

Number: DWN-040

Weapon:  Crystal Eye

Weakness:  Gyro Attack

A robot composed of crystal materials. His Crystal Eye is difficult to avoid, so take him out early with the weapon he is weak to.

Every robot serves a purpose (yes, even Adhering Suzy), and Crystal Man is the financier of Dr. Wily’s nefarious operation, using his unique ability to generate artificial crystals. By the time Mega Man gets to him, however, he’s been designated for combat, just like all the others.

Once you’ve made it through Crystal Man’s eerily beautiful lair, a battle with the fiendish financier awaits. He will attack with volleys of crystal balls which bounce off surfaces. These can be tricky to dodge, but try to stay close to him to make evasion more manageable. Use Gyro Man’s Gyro Attack to make the going a little less tough.

Upon victory, Crystal Man’s mystical Crystal Eye weapon will be yours! Use it to shoot stuff.

David Oxford  (The Mega Man Network)
Part of Crystal Man’s entire reason for being is to help fund Dr. Wily’s ambitions by manufacturing artificial crystals. How cool would it have been, then, if you could put a damper on Wily’s entire operation by taking Crystal Man out first? Sort of a reverse-DuckTales ending scenario.

Then again, given how bouncy the gems produced by the Crystal Eye are and the fact they disappear after a few moments, maybe that’s why Wily sent him off into battle instead of keeping him safe?

That aside, Crystal Man’s appearance is pretty neat, with all the rounded crystals adorning his armor, including the two found on each of his forearms. While the mask makes him look like another ninja-styled robot, perhaps the intent was to evoke the appearance of a mysterious fortune teller, seeing as that’s one of his hobbies?

Number: DWN-039

Weapon:  Napalm Bomb

Weakness:  Crystal Eye

A robot who protects Dr. Wily’s secret munitions factory. The explosive range of his Napalm Bombs isn’t as wide as it appears to be. So don’t worry, and just dodge.

Finally, a Robot Master that looks like he was designed to do some damage! Napalm Man is quite literally a walking tank—a bipedal robot with tank treads for feet, armed to the robo-teeth with explosives. No frills, no gimmicks, just firepower. By this point in the Mega Man series, you’ve already fought robot birds, robot fish, robot shrimp, robot hippos, and all manner of impractical costumed clown. You’ve got to wonder why Dr. Wily didn’t just start with Napalm Man.

Napalm Man will use an array of missiles as well as his trademark Napalm Bomb to lay some serious pain down on Mega Man. Lean on the Crystal Eye weapon to make the fight a little easier, but make sure you don’t miss any shots! They’re a hot commodity in this fight. Beat Napalm Man, and his bombs are yours.

David Oxford (The Mega Man Network)      
A submarine, a helicopter, and even a steam engine… why did it take Dr. Wily so long to get around to making a Robot Master based on a tank (complete with tread feet, no less)?

Napalm Man’s heavy-duty appearance and armaments are just awesome to behold, and makes for one of the more memorable moments in the opening to the Ruby-Spears cartoon show. As such, it’s all the greater a shame that he never actually got to appear in a cartoon episode itself, especially since his modified design for the show’s aesthetic looks even more wicked!

Despite being named for it and even having his main weapon be the Napalm Bomb, his attacks don’t seem to have very much to do with the actual real-life weapon/substance. Even so, Napalm Man has proven to be one of the more controversial Robot Masters in the series’ history. 

Number: DWN-038

Weapon:  Charge Kick

Weakness:  Power Stone

Yeah, I think we can all agree that steam locomotives are cool, but what if you made one that replaced those inefficient wheels with big, meaty legs, and gave it thrice as many cow pushers? Why, then you’d have Charge Man.

Now Charge Man is a pretty burly dude, so rather than devise some clever strategy to take out the Blue Bomber, he’s content to just “charge” at you full-force, striving ceaselessly to occupy the space you’re in. This can make for a frustrating fight, but carefully timed jumping and sliding will see you through it. Just watch out for when he spews flaming hot coals from his smokestack.

He also has a weakness to the Power Stone, and let’s face it, who doesn’t have a soft spot for the Dreamcast series’ unique brand of frantic, arena-based combat? Bwahaha, a little Capcom humor for you. Seriously though, equip Stone Man’s weapon and take this sucka out.

Doing so will yield the Charge Kick, which turns Mega Man’s normal slide move into a deadly attack. You’ll want this for later. 

David Oxford (The Mega Man Network)

The trend of vehicular Robot Masters kicked off by Dive Man is really in full force for Mega Man 5. Following Gyro Man’s cool copter-ninja, we’ve got Charge Man, who looks like Thomas the Tank Engine on a bad day (and is awesome for it). Making him even better is that he’s a train that you fight… while riding a train! (Yo, dawg…)

Apparently, Dr. Wily designed him to look like a steam locomotive as a means of camouflage. How that’s supposed to work, only Wily knows for sure.

Also: Why has no one made a Quad City DJs/Charge Man remix yet?  

Another episode of the Capcom Unity Official Podcast is up, and you can listen here or on iTunes! In Episode 31, Brett, Harrison and I weigh in on the impending release of Mega Man Legacy Collection,  and attempt to debate which game is the best. Spoiler: the debate resolves nothing. Hope you like it anyway! 

Number: DWN-037

Weapon: Star Crash

Weakness: Water Wave

A robot who manages the satellite base. You can only damage him when his barrier is down!

Built for space exploration, Star Man would’ve felt right at home in Mega Man 3’s planet-hopping tale. This time, however, he’s helping… “Proto Man”… harass Mega Man and prevent him from rescuing Dr Light.

Clobbering Star Man earns you the Star Crash, which is an odd name given that it actually protects you! It joins the shield/barrier tier shared by Wood Man , Skull Man and Plant Man. Which one do you think is best?

I do want to give a shoutout to his stage though – it takes the floaty jumps of Bubble Man’s underwater stage and repurposes them to simulate a low-g environment in space. Pretty cool!

Keisuke Mizuno (TruForce)

To me, this was a great design—powerful, dynamic, and understandable at a glance with its star imagery. I remember Star Man being popular among my friends because he was so cool.

I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for the Star Man plastic model kit that came out back then. I assembled mine kind of sloppily, so the star-laden torso parts would always break off I’d have to repair them with glue.

David Oxford ( The Mega Man Network )

Star Man has an awesome low-gravity stage in an unused space station orbiting the Earth. Why doesn’t Mega Man go into space more often? Wait — forget I said that.

His design is pretty cool, with the large inverted star covering his chest giving him a neat flared collar as well, to say nothing of all his star-shaped bling adorning his knees, elbows, and forehead. He even keeps up the motif with the barrel of his arm cannon — talk about commitment to your gimmick!

His special ability — the Star Crash shield — protects him from a wide assortment of attacks. Interestingly enough, just saying his name reminds me of another star which grants invincibility…

The results are in for Round 4! Hit the jump to see who this round’s Finalist is, along with the rules for Round 5 (Vergil), which starts now!           

GuardianE takes this week’s round by a landslide thanks to some impressive footwork, a very slick taunt application, and one brutal finisher. Congrats, Guardian! You secured 38% of the vote and are eligible for the Final Round.

Coming in second once again was GarudaPSNwith 22% of the vote, followed just behind by IKevinX with 19%.

Now then! Onto the rules for Round 5!

First, be sure to check the  initial tournament post  for important information about how to submit. 

FULL CONTEST RULES

Round 5 Rules: 

Character: Vergil

Difficulty: Dante Must Die

Modifiers: Turbo Mode is optional! You may choose the costume of your preference. Super Vergil is optional!

Mission: 17

Fight: Business District/Terrace. This is a huge fight with lots of different enemy types and plenty of open space. Just try not to let the objects in the road obscure your (and our) view of the action!

You do not have to perform the entire fight in 60 seconds, but the clip itself must be limited to a 60-second (or shorter) piece of the fight. It may, of course, be shorter than 60 seconds.

Please upload your video at 720p or better if possible! This is for your benefit as an entrant. J

Deadline: Monday, August 17th @12:00pm (noon) PDT

Good luck, and may the most stylish player win!

Hey everyone!

We are pleased to announce that the Capcom Cup will be held at PlayStation Experience (PSX) this year as a one-day special event on Sunday, December 6 ^th!

For months on end, players have been battling in events all over the world for CPT points and qualification spots, in order to make it into Capcom Cup. Out of thousands of hopeful players, only 32 will make the cut and have a chance to compete for the title of “Street Fighter World Champion” and a shot at the massive $250,000 prize pool, making this THE must-attend tournament of the year.

PlayStation Experience Event Details:

• Date: December 5~6 (SAT~SUN)
• Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
• Venue: Moscone West

San Francisco, CA, USA

• Ticket Prices:
  • Two-Day Early Bird Ticket: $60 // Early bird available until September 20th or while supplies last (whichever comes first)
  • Regular Two-Day Ticket: $75
  • Saturday Only Ticket: $45
  • Sunday Only Ticket: $40

Additionally, the Capcom Cup VIP Package is available for those who want the ultimate event experience! For an extra $75 on top of the PSX ticket price, you will get:

• Premium front area seating at the event
• Capcom goodie bag
• Exclusive access to the Capcom Cup after party, hosted by Twitch and Showdown.gg

Early bird PSX tickets, as well as the Capcom Cup VIP Package, are on-sale right now , so be sure to get yours before they sell out! It’s also highly recommend you register with your PSN ID when purchasing tickets.

For those traveling from out of town, you can book hotels at a discounted rate from any of these links: 

• San Francisco Marriott Marquis for $249 per night
• Courtyard by Marriott San Francisco Downtown for $209 per night
• Hilton San Francisco for $179 per night

Remember, you need to get either the Early Bird 2-day, Regular 2-day, or Sunday Only tickets in order to watch Capcom Cup! If you get the Saturday Only ticket, you will NOT be able to watch the event.

With a few months of the CPT season left to play out before Capcom Cup, the competition is sure to heat up as players scramble to qualify. The best has yet to come this season, and we hope to see everyone in San Francisco in December!

Number: DWN-036

Weapon: Gyro Blade

Weakness: Gravity Hold

Dr. Wily’s limited budget is what forced him to have a propeller. He will cowardly hide himself in clouds, but if you have the weapon that plays on his weakness, he’ll go down quickly!

So, we can all agree “gyro” is less intimidating than something like “chopper” or “jet,” right? And even the official description above suggests Gyro Man’s design is a little bit… ineffective. However, I’ve always liked this design, especially his landing-gear style feet that look plucked from a helicopter.

So yeah, poor Gyro Man. The fact he has a propeller is used as a rare example of Wily’s formerly limitless budget colliding with reality. If only he got that jet engine…

And in the end, you even take away his propeller as your own weapon! It’s actually kinda cool too, as you can fire and then control it afterward. It can only move straight up or down, but with so many enemies on ceilings, it has its uses.

Brian aka “Protodude”

From a design standpoint, Gyro Man is my absolute favorite of Mega Man’s rogues gallery. He’s essentially a walking helictopter… of doom! According to Mega Man & Bass’ CD database, Gyro Man is a huge fan of greek sandwiches. Ironically, he dislikes jet engines — this despite the fact he was initially designed to have a proper engine on his back!

David Oxford (The Mega Man Network)

It’s hard not to like Gyro Man’s design. Like Dive Man, he’s another of the pre-transforming vehicle-type Robot Masters who looks like a cross between a helicopter and a ninja — and there’s just something cool about those skids he has as feet. Seeing as Wily had to make some budget cuts to the design, one has to wonder what we could have wound up with instead — a jet samurai? We may never know.

When he’s not taking over hanging gardens and trying to destroy Mega Man, I hear he plays a pretty mean lead guitar. Some might even say that his tunes are hypnotic.