osu!weekly #58 (osu!taiko World Cup 2016 Results!)

What a busy week! In addition to the conclusion of the osu!taiko World Cup 2016, we saw numerous announcements from the people that bring us updates around the game. Strap yourselves in everybody, this is going to be a big one.

A couple of changes are being made to the QAT as we know it! In what seems to be a move to bring us closer to the self sustaining model of Modding V2, the QAT now responds to the community's concerns rather than imposing their own. What this means is that disqualifications will now occur because members of the community want to improve a beatmap, rather than a member of the QAT trying to deduce what the best course of action is. While this isn't exactly the complete automated body that will be implemented eventually, it certainly seems like a step in the right direction!

The results are in for our April community poll! In an attempt to try to at least gauge how many people wish to map in comparison to people who already do so, the poll asked everyone what their current status in the mapping community is. While I can't say I wasn't expecting it, a greater portion of the community expects that they will map some time in the future! It's great to see so many people who want to help grow our game as much as we do, and we hope to make mapping and modding more accessible in the future to help everyone ease into the process.

Hopefully, we'll start seeing more people in the purple soon ;)

It would seem the speed of which we are progressing has caught flyte off-guard! In case you missed the previous issue with the nice (completely real) achievement graphic, new achievements and medal animations have been added into the game. We also have a couple of new original art popping up on the live preview on the new website over at new.ppy.sh, so be sure to check it out!

Peppy FINALLY has a new blog post for us! While his updates on the progress of the inner workings of the game have been sorely missed, he assured us that he is working as hard as ever to bring us the updates that will help modernize our game. While we're waiting though, you can check out some of the photos he posted over on his instagram showing off his photography skills!

It may come as a surprise for a lot of you, but the team representing Japan this year is filled with new faces and talent. Led by captain tasuke912, the high ranking super team devastated the competition coming into the Grand Finals. Throughout the course of the tournament, there was not a match where Japan did not deliver a convincing and complete victory.

The Taiwanese team coming from the lower brackets was facing a complete opposite scenario. Veteran player -[ ix Ishida xi ]- lead the almost unchanged 2015 team through many close calls and brutal trials of perseverance. They faced the runner-up Canadian team twice; first losing to them in the upper brackets before barely inching out a tiebreaker victory in the loser's finals.

For team Taiwan, every mistake in this final encounter cost them dearly. While Japan took the first 6 games in the set, the individual results were by no means completely one-sided. The first song was won by a marginal 5638 difference, and a couple of minor shakeups following switching out some of Japan's star players allowed the Taiwanese team to put 2 points on the board for themselves. Taiwan, who hasn't seen a osu!taiko World Cup victory since 2013, wasn't quite out of it yet.

However, the overwhelming might of team Japan extinguished that faint glimmer of hope as quickly as it came. The last game was played on OzzyOzrock's BlackY - Harpuia [Inner Oni], where Japan really put the nail in the coffin.

It is my pleasure to present to you the winners of the osu!taiko World Cup 2016!

For a full list of standings, please take a look at our wiki page. If you are back for some more of those juicy statistics, our doc is still being updated here.

Prizes:

• First Place: $1920 (320 for each player) + Profile Badge
• Second Place: $1450 (290 for each player) + Profile Badge
• Third Place: $480 (80 for each player) + Profile Badge

A big congratulations to team Japan for winning this year's osu!taiko World Cup! A big round of applause as well for teams Taiwan and Canada for putting on an amazing performance this year.

This week's TWC writeup was written with the help of -KousakaHonoka-. Without his help, I wouldn't have been able to provide as many interesting details as I did!

With so many things happening and the game evolving so quickly, it's starting to get just a little hard to keep track. Now more than ever, we need your help to make this weekly publication as great as it can be! If you would like to see something featured on the osu!weekly, be it a tournament you're running or a cool app you saw someone make, please send us an email at news@ppy.sh. If have feedback, or notice something wrong, leave a comment below and I'll respond to your concerns!

—Nyquill