The newest character for 'Street Fighter V' arrives on August 29

By Mark Austin August 27, 2017

SFV: Menat Reveal Trailer

Capcom has officially announced the newest addition to the

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Street Fighter V roster of fighters. Menat, The Eyes of the Future will be available to download on August 29, 2017

The company had teased that the newest Street Fighter V character would be revealed during the Hong Kong eSports Festival 2017 “Top 8” competition. Many fans had speculated that it might be Menat, also known as the Fortune Teller, as the Twitter announcement featured a crystal ball.

“Menat seems to be heavily based around her crystal ball, which she uses for a variety of mix ups, combos and attacks,” commented Jonathan ‘Catalyst’ Grey at the Event Hubs blog. “It’s also a juggling tool. She even has a dive kick which looks to be effective in baiting throws.”

“Rounding out some of the other moves showcased in the trailer, she appears to have a slide attack, and a reflect move to deal with projectiles,” he continued. “Her V-Trigger summons six orbs on screen, and they attack the opponent one at a time, plus can be used in conjunction with her crystal ball.”

This Egyptian mystic was first hinted at during Ed’s story mode cutscenes as Rose’s apprentice. She was also very similar to the silhouette in the Season 2 teaser image.

Menat has three outfits: her standard costume, campaign mode look, and battle costume. In addition, several 30th anniversary costumes for other characters will also be available when the DLC drops.

Capcom is certainly making good on their promise to keep things lively after the launch of SFV. The second season of Street Fighter V has given us the return of Akuma and the introductions of Kolin, Ed, Abigail, and now Menat, bringing the total numbers of fighters on the roster to 27. Judging from the veracity of the internet leaks about the DLC so far, Guy’s master Zeku is likely the last character to be added later this season.

Street Fighter V saw a worldwide initial release almost exactly a year and a half ago, on February 16, 2016, and is available for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4. A Steam version was also released, though the promised Linux port never materialized.

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Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…

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The protagonists of GTA V pose for the camera.

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The mod is called Sentient Streets and was created by a modder that goes by Bloc. In it, players are a Los Santos Police Officer investigating a cult called the NihiAIists, who think they live in a game world and worship an AI god. During this investigation, players can speak to over 30 NPCs, but these conversations aren't scripted, and Bloc didn't hire professional voice actors to portray these characters. Instead, Sentient Streets uses AI to create both the NPCs' responses and their voices. To make this mod, Bloc used the Character Engine from Inworld and ElevenLabs, two tech companies heavily invested in AI.
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This mod serves as the grand kickoff of Inworld and ElevenLabs' partnership, and they plan to make these Character Engine tools available to modders and game developers who want more reactive NPCs with AI-generated voices. Sentient Streets is an intriguing proof of concept, but its release also raises questions about how ethical the data sets from ElevenLabs that are being used to create these AI voices actually are. A press release from Inworld says that Character Engine voices can come from someone making "custom voices, cloning their own voices using a one-minute sample, or by synthesizing entirely new voices from scratch," and we got more clarification on this from a spokesperson for Inworld.
Digital Trends was told that the voices in Sentient Streets are some of the default options from the AI voice technology provided by ElevenLabs. As for the data ElevenLabs used to create those voices, it cites public domain data, data acquired in agreements with commercial partners, and vaguely defined publicly available data. That last part leaves a few question marks, as it's unclear what exactly constitutes as "publicly available."

The mod has launched in the middle of a building firestorm in the games industry. Several actors have voiced potential concerns about AI replacing their jobs or replicating their voices without consent. Assassin's Creed Syndicate actress Victoria Atkin told Axios that a mod that added her voice to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim without her knowledge was "very frightening" and made her "upset and confused." With the rise of tools like Inworld's Character Engine, situations similar to this could become more common without stricter guidelines about what machines can be trained on.
If you want to try Sentient Streets out for yourself and see how its AI voices are handled, it's available to download on Nexus Mods.

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Exosuit Ryu in Exoprimal.

As part of Exoprimal's post-launch road map, we know that the game will feature a crossover with Street Fighter 6 that will let players pilot Exosuits that look like Ryu and Guile. However, it wasn't clear if these were purely cosmetic skins for Exosuits, or full-on variants of certain Exosuits that players can use. In an interview with Digital Trends, Exoprimal's developers confirmed the Street Fighter 6 Exosuit looks are purely cosmetic and not variants that change up an existing Exosuit's playstyle.

"In terms of the Street Fighter 6 collaboration, in the trailers, you've seen that Exosuits can change into the aesthetic of Ryu and Guile," game director Takuro Hiraoka told Digital Trends. "Those will not be variant Exosuits, those will be skins that will change the appearance of the player."

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Capcom released a brand new Street Fighter at the start of the month, and it fixed almost every issue that plagued its predecessor. The core fighting gameplay felt as amazing to play as ever, bolstered by a flashy new Drive Gauge system. Those who enjoy the series for its hardcore, competitive elements will like that, as well as its multiplayer Battle Hub mode. That said, Street Fighter 6 is also the friendliest fighting game ever for newcomers to the genre. New modern controls, as well as a meaty RPG World Tour mode that teaches the ins and outs of many of the game's characters and mechanics, means there's a ton of enjoyment to be had no matter one's skill level.
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