Hello, everyone, I haven't done a weekly update for a while, but I'm back with today's weekly update to let you guys know what's going on.
Let's start with the elephant in the room, which is as usual, another update regarding Autumn Games' acclaimed IP, Skullgirls. Annie's official release was supposed to be early May, but apparently, she has been delayed to either late June or early July. It's not because of the recent announcement entailing Umbrella's playable debut. It's because of the hurdle they must clear out, which is Sony's submission. The release process on Steam is much more straightforward and quicker than on Sony's end.
But the good news is, after waiting three weeks since the delay, they are getting closer to officially releasing Annie and Season Pass 1 on the PS4. The Annie Beta changes have been finalized, by transferring them to the retail version and her character tutorial and Trials have been implemented on Steam as a preparation patch to make way for her official release that comes with her story and hopefully her Japanese voice. However, her story won't be fully voiced at launch, but will be in a later date. The same will go for Umbrella's story and the others.
The Beta version has been retired until Umbrella's Alpha phase, also on the horizon. Seriously, I don't know how did Skullgirls manage to get the first Season Pass. I think without Mike Z's involvement might be the explanation. After all, Mike Z was the source of shackling Skullgirls. He announced that the Japanese voice patch will be the final one and after that, the development is finished, until Annie's playable debut to 2nd Encore revives things.
Once they have Annie's official launch done, the next thing is focusing on getting Umbrella and her stage, Boardwalk ready for her Alpha phase and it's the perfect opportunity to get Active Angel ready to be played upon her entrance after the death of a teammate or as a point character in MvC1 mode, even though she is in a sketchy state and for when Boardwalk, which uses a bright and cheerful setting is selected while on MvC2 mode. If there is a nighttime variant of Boardwalk, Active Angel will fit perfectly with it as well. I seriously hope they get Umbrella's official release done before announcing the next character.
So far, Umbrella's development is turning out well and they do developement streams every Wednesday and behind the scenes updates every Friday to hold us off until the Alpha phase. So to recap the previous animation streams...
5/12 - Jumping HK Animation by Kinuko
5/19 - Special Move Animation by Persona
5/26 - Tag Out Animation by Atrox
6/2 - Super Animation by Kinuko
6/9 - FX from Umbrella's Super by Persona
6/16 - Time Out Lose Animation by Atrox
These are the Umbrella animation streams I kept track. Accordingly, it appears that they have about a couple more animation streams before hitting the Alpha phase, but there are a tons more development streams beyond that. If you remember last week's animation stream, her time out lose animation entails Umbrella's temper tantrum over her time out loss, akin to Platinum the Trinity. That's how Active Angel fits well with Umbrella, just like with how Justice Sword fits well with Annie. In fact, Active Angel is so bright, peppy and cheerful that it fits perfectly with Umbrella and Boardwalk.
Here is a little gameplay degree that I'm gonna do once Annie, Umbrella and the TBA DLC characters get released on PS4. This degree will be updated.
Phase 1: Play Umbrella's Tutorial.
Phase 2A: Play solo Umbrella against any solo character in Training.
Phase 2B: Play your duo or trio team that must have Umbrella in Training.
Phase 3A: Play solo Umbrella in Arcade Mode.
Phase 3B: Play your duo or trio team in Arcade Mode. You must have Umbrella in your team.
Phase 4A: Play matches with solo Umbrella in Quick Match.*
Phase 4B: Play matches with your duo or trio team in Quick Match. You must have Umbrella in your team.*
*Phases require a paid PlayStation Plus membership to play online.
And you know what else is exciting? I was spectating a lot of Skullgirls matches and holy frick, I gotten my opportunity to play Yang Mix during Cerebella vs. Beowulf and Fatal Judge during Ms. Fortune vs. Robo-Fortune, though I was a bit late. This gets me pumped up for Annie's PS4 release and those two really bang well with the following solo matches.
I think they should make loading screens long enough to display what characters they have on their team to make things easy when I'm deejaying BBTAG music during MvC1 mode, the character section. Or better yet, give the spectators the opportunity to watch them choose the characters. So yeah, I'm part of the finals when you least expect it.
Speaking of the finals, if you haven't noticed, weeks ago, the SPL and the SCC games were suspended due to unforseen circumstances that happened behind the scenes and that is the death of John Finch. He was 28 years old and I don't know how he died. He died, and then the Morgan Le Fay reveal trailer pops up. Our newest SMITE Goddess of the Arthurian pantheon has been released.
May he rest in peace and he will be missed forever. I'm gonna miss that smile and his ecstatic nature that talked about Space Jam. It's too bad that he missed the SPL Phase 1 Playoffs, which just finished because the Jade Dragons have won the Phase 1 Playoffs after pulling that Houdini from the Olympus Bolts and finally cleared the conflict of me spectating Skullgirls matches while deejaying BBTAG music on the character section of the chart.
Now, for the future. This week is gonna be a blockbuster. Emphasis on "blockbuster" because the developers of SMITE and Paladins have announced their Crossover Passes based on their hit blockbuster series for their upcoming Mid-Season Update Show where they output a bevy of drastic balance changes to characters and ranked stuff and new content on the second half of every year. On the SMITE side, a Crossover Pass based on Netflix's blockbuster drama series, Stranger Things is announced. On the Paladins side, a very first Crossover Pass based on Rooster Teeth's blockbuster anime series, gen:LOCK that contains 5 skins is announced and a new Support Champion that is a furry, like Io and is a House Aico Champion, like Lian and Khan.
With the Crossover Passes coming in their next update, it's gonna be a bonanza mid-season blockbuster we will enjoy and honestly, I don't think someone who wants to watch Stranger Things and gen:LOCK is just gonna drive to Blockbuster Video in Oregon to rent them.
It's weird that we haven't gotten a mid-season patch in Paladins for over two years since their update cadence has changed, but their two month update cycle has turned out well this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which is waning down, hoping they go back to their in-person Update Shows.
Heck, I took two of my Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots and the reason for that is because I want to get back to my normal activities without the need to wear a mask nor socially distance because the CDC states face masks and social distancing are no longer required for fully vaccinated people, including me. In fact, I want to get me and my family protected from the deadly virus.
And if you reading this, unvaccinated people, please take the vaccine if you want to return to doing your normal activities, like hosting offline tournaments, in-person working, etc. and stop that annoying Delta variant from emerging and don't give me that "vaccines kill people" or whatever excuse. Because the sooner you get vaccinated, the sooner we can end this pandemic. Please take the darn vaccine. We want our country to trigger herd immunity.
This has been this week's update to let you know what's going on this week. And again, stay safe and please get vaccinated. Signing out.
