Month: September 2016

Degica Games, a Western publisher for Japanese titles that we had previously covered regarding CEOtaku’s Koihime Enbu pot bonus, has just released a lot of amazing information. Without further adieu, let’s get into it!

First, Degica has just released a free demo version of Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena on Steam. The game has 3 available characters–Xiao Mei, Rick, and Ryuga–and is playable online. If you are looking for a new title to get into, this game would be worth a try.

Second, Degica is announcing a community Thursday Fight Night on Steam. This is being billed as an event where you can “play fighting games, make new friends, earn points (which you can redeem for prizes, and have fun.” The event will take place on Thursday nights from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM PST, and will feature not only playing games such as Blade Arcus and Koihime Enbu, but also trivia games.

Finally, Degica will be starting a weekly stream hosted by Brett Young, who is well known streamer and tournament organizer in the anime FGC. Future streams will feature other top players.

Sources: Mitchell Scott, Degica Games (via email)

If you were at Evo 2016, you may have seen a bunch of shiny silver and gold metallic arcade parts from Sanwa Denshi on sale. If you missed the chance to get these at the event, we have some great news for you. After the limited release at Evo 2016, Sanwa Denshi will now be officially releasing their silver and gold metallic parts!

Starting on October 11, the Sanwa OBSF-30-AG (Gold) and OBSF-30-AU (Silver) pushbuttons, as well as the LB-35-AG (Gold) and LB-35-AU (Silver) 35 mm balltops will be available at retailers such as Arcade Shock, Paradise Arcade Shop, and Sanwa Denshi’s own store. Prices for these have not yet be released, and may very depending on region, exchange rates, and shipping costs.

In addition to these, Sanwa also recently showed off 24 mm variants of the metallic push buttons as well, and metallic dust and shaft covers for the arcade sticks. They have stated that they are looking into putting these into production, with the metallic dust and shaft covers being the last ones down the line.

Sources: Sanwa Denshi; Arcade Shock

While the genre is slowly growing as an esport, fighting game prize pools are still comparatively small compared to other genres, especially for games that don’t have large publisher backing. This is why when someone claims to have won nearly $30,000 dollars in a tournament, it tends to raise a few eyebrows.

When an unnamed temp staffer for Ota City, Japan held a press conference to claim that he had won ¥ 3,000,000 ($29,776 USD) for winning a Guilty Gear Xrd tournament held on September 20 and 21 in France, more than a few people were skeptical. With such a large prize pool, you’d think that this news would have been covered by major fighting game news sites, including us at Shoryuken. Indeed, not even Arc System Works’ own website lists such a tournament–a fact that, according to IT Media, had led many skeptics to dispute the player’s claim.

However, others also treated the story as legitimate. Both Jomo News and Asahi News reported on the story and the latter even interviewed the staffer in a now deleted article where he made statements on how his “driving force” to win was due to being mortified if he lost.

IT Media has shared a shot (with the player’s name removed) of one of the now deleted articles.

Faced with with mounting evidence and pressure from people on the net, the staffer finally admitted that the whole thing was too good to be true. “It was a lie,” he states to Mainichi News, which broke the story on the hoax. With this, the question now remains on what faces the player after his confession. According to FNN News (who covered the story on Japanese TV), Ota City officials are now looking at how to deal with him.

Sources: IT Media; Mainichi News; FNN; Kotaku

As Japan is gearing up for the console release of BlazBlue: Central Fiction, it’s Europe’s turn for an exciting announcement: dubbed “Azure Edition” and published by PQube, the latest in the BlazBlue fighting game series will go on sale this November with a handful of special goodies.

Similar to the US BlazBlue Limited Edition, the Azure Edition includes:

• An original 100-page artbook with a special collection ranging from all the games in the BlazBlue series
• The BlazBlue Song Interlude III Official Soundtrack (ten tracks)
• A Noel Vermillion Nendoroid Petit figure–the second version of the Bolverk-wielding fighter, fully supervised by BlazBlue creator Toshimichi Mori
• Exclusive artwork on the game box

This is available to pre-order exclusively through the Rice Digital store for £59.99 (PS3) or £69.99 (PS4), along with a special BlazBlue hoodie. While the date hasn’t been specified yet, the November release is closer in line with the US version.

Aksys Games also recently announced a BlazBlue: Central Fiction Limited Bundle with a HORI game pad.

Stay tuned to our continued coverage of BlazBlue as the Japanese version arrives on consoles on October 6th.

Source: Rice Digital