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'Street Fighter' pros hardly even look at their character
Do something enough and it becomes second nature: muscle memory and instinct kicks in. But does that hold for the high-twitch dynamics of pro gaming-level Street Fighter 4? Japanese gaming site 4Gamer rigged up a gaming PC with SteelSeries' Sentry Gaming Eye Tracker, watching the gaze of Street Fighter pro-gamer Sako as he indulged in a few rounds. Rather than focus on his own player, or the opponent, his view typically rests somewhere between the two; the pro-gamer likely trying to gauge incoming attacks and connect distance for their own. As the Japanese site notes, it wasn't exactly a high stakes bout, but the video suggests, at least, that it's not where your character is, but where it's going that's important. Which is also this editor's life philosophy, coincidentally. See where the pros are looking, right after the break.
New dogs learn old tricks in Ultra Street Fighter 4
The Street Fighter 3 pugilists invading Ultra Street Fighter 4 won't be mere visual callbacks to the earlier game, they'll also come equipped with fan-favorite attacks. In a Capcom Unity blog post, producer Tomoaki Ayano details the returning fighters' signature attacks. Rolento leaps into the air before throwing knives, Poison whips a pink projectile, Hugo crushes opponents in his massive, Andre the Giant-inspired hands and Elena extends a leg to kick her foe's head off. If you've spent any amount of time with the later Street Fighter 3 iterations, these attacks will be immediately familiar, and it should please players to see them return in Ultra Street Fighter 4. As Ayano points out, the moves he outlines are subject to change over the next few months, but it seems unlikely that they'll entirely disappear. The attacks Ayano outlines are iconic in the minds of Street Fighter fans, and if there's one group Capcom would hate to upset, it's the virtual fighting community.
Ultra Street Fighter 4 arrives April 2014, says Japanese arcade
Capcom's next iteration of Street Fighter 4 will make its debut in April of next year, assuming the claims of a Japanese arcade are to be believed. Located in the Kagoshima prefecture, Amusement Game Liberty is a largely typical Japanese arcade - not the sort of place in the habit of breaking gaming news. Yet, a recent tweet from the arcade claims that it will feature Ultra Street Fighter 4 as soon as April 2014. The tweet also notes that Capcom is charging arcade operators ¥30 (about $0.31) per play, which will likely force Amusement Game Liberty to charge players ¥100 (about $1) for each game. There is still no word on when Ultra Street Fighter 4 might see American shores, nor any official sources willing to corroborate the arcade's tweet. We contacted Capcom for more, and were told that the company was currently unwilling to attach a solid release date to the fighter.
Ultra Street Fighter 4 adds 'Ultra Combo Double' and 'Red Focus Attack' mechanics
Capcom's forthcoming flagship fighter update Ultra Street Fighter 4 will introduce two new gameplay mechanics, which add an additional layer of defensive and offensive utility to the game's existing stable of meters and gameplay systems. "Ultra Combo Double," the first new mechanic, allows players to select both of their character's Ultra Combos, rather than one or the other, as has been the case since the original Street Fighter 4. The price paid for this strategic advantage is that each Ultra Combo does less damage than it would under normal circumstances, trading raw power for the added utility of multiple Ultras. Classical, single-Ultra options are still available, of course. "Red Focus Attack," the other new addition, is a modified form of the game's existing Focus Attack system. Whereas regular Focus Attacks can absorb the damage from a single attack, Red Focus Attacks can absorb damage from multiple attacks, at the cost of Super Meter. Beyond the fact that Red Focus Attacks can still be dash cancelled, however, no further information was provided with regards to how a Red Focus Attack is executed, or how much meter the technique costs.
