Month: December 2014

Corrections: This article incorrectly assumed that the Adam spoken of during the announcement was Adam “Keits” Heart of Iron Galaxy Studios, but we were recently informed that was incorrect. Also, the event will not be held at Ultra Arcade itself. Our apologies for these mistakes.

Since opening in February, Ultra Arcade has served as a home base for Texans in the San Antonio area, hosting numerous tournaments and high-profile invitationals like Curleh Mustache South, and a recent announcement definitely shows they are in it for the long haul.

During a special birthday broadcast, Evo 2014 champion Emmanuel “TSC|CDjr” Brito welcomed Ultra Arcade owner Brandon Alexander onto the stream to reveal their plans for a major Killer Instinct tournament.

Disappointed by the turnout for the game at recent tournaments, Alexander thought it may be a great idea to emulate Capcom Cup and hold qualifiers for a major Killer Instinct tournament. After discussing the idea with individuals at Microsoft, he worked out concrete plans for the Killer Instinct World Cup.

Similar to Capcom’s tournament series, Killer Instinct World Cup will be made up of players who qualify through events next year, such as Evo 2015, Ultra Arcade’s own Kombo Klash competitions, and other major events. A point system will also be in place to award consistent placers.

Other official details are still in the planning stages, but Alexander mentioned wanting to provide points to this year’s Kumite in Tennessee as well as online tournaments ran by Level|Up Series’ Alex Valle and Brito himself.

At this point, Alexander is personally providing $10,000 to the prize pool, but that number may grow as more support is thrown behind the event.

More information is sure to trickle out over the next year, so stay tuned.

Source: CDjr, special thanks to Rotendo for sending this our way.

Tomonobu Itagaki has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, and his latest shot was taken at a series he himself helped create.

Itagaki, who is currently working on the Wii U title Devil’s Third as part of Valhalla Game Studios, recently responded to a critical statement made by a fan with regards to Dead or Alive’s direction after the developer’s highly publicized resignation from Tecmo Koei in 2008.

In his response, Itagaki agreed with the sentiments expressed by the initial poster and those that followed, saying, “[Dead or Alive] was totally ruined, spoiled. I can’t/shouldn’t avert my eyes from that fact.” He followed that up by saying he is interested in doing something for the franchise after his work on current projects has completed, though what that something is remains to be seen.

Itagaki hasn’t worked on a major title in the series since 2006’s Dead or Alive 4 due to the aforementioned parting of ways with Tecmo, but the fighter survives to this day without his input thanks to multiple iterations of the fifth installment. Another update, Last Round, is scheduled to release in February of next year, with upgraded graphics for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, balance changes, and new characters.

Whether you agree or disagree with Itagaki, his emotions are understandable for a man typically seen as the father of the Dead or Alive series (which he’s referred to as his daughter in previous instances), though they could also be construed as sour grapes from a developer no longer in control of a franchise.

In any case, it’s rather hard to see him returning to the series any time soon thanks to his strained relationship with Tecmo Koei, so any hopes of a glorious rebirth for Dead or Alive under his leadership should certainly be tempered.

Source: Tomonobu Itagaki via Siliconera