Author: Franz "d3v" Co

With E3 in full swing, it’s easy to miss news that isn’t from the big show. One such bit of news that hit recently was regarding the Japanese release date for BlazBlue: Central Fiction’s home version.

While the North American console release is set for sometime in the winter, Japan will be getting the game in the fall. Specifically, BlazBlue: Central Fiction will launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in Japan on October 6.

This is great news for those who just want the game to play it competitively and don’t care for the story and other modes that need translating, especially since both PlayStation 3 and 4 are region free.

Source: Famitsu via Gematsu

Atlus has recently updated their official North American site for the King of Fighters XIV with a bunch of new screenshots. While most of these are just the same shots that SNK has been sharing over Twitter, one of them is a new shot that gives a glimpse of a character that we’ve yet to see anywhere else.

The screenshot in question shows us our first glimpse of newcomer Love Heart. Hailing from the Sky Love pachi-slot game, Love Heart represents the third and final member of the Another World team alongside Nakoruru and Mui Mui.

In addition to this, the screenshot also gives a slight hint at her fighting style, showing that she wields a sort of energy blade.

You can check the screenshot in question, and a few others in the gallery below.

Click to view slideshow.

Atlus will be bringing the King of Fighters XIV to PlayStation 4 in North America on August 23.

Source: Atlus

When Deep Silver announced that it was bringing The King of Fighters XIV to Europe last month, fans breathed a sigh of relief as it meant that, unlike some other games, they would be getting KoF XIV at the same time as other regions.

Deep Silver’s Production Chief, Julien En Rab, recently spoke to Gamelove about various topic regarding the latest iteration of the game.

Regarding bringing the game to Europe, En Rab confirmed that they talked directly to SNK, without going through Atlus. He also states that, alongside bringing the game at the same time as other regions, any future updates to the game will also come at the same time.

As for localization, he confirmed that all of the text–barring special move names–will be translated, but the voices will remain in Japanese.

He goes on to mention that the game is a return to the series’ roots, focusing more on fundamentals in a way that fans of KoF 98 and 2002 will find familiar, while adding in mechanics that bring in new fans. The idea is to “get back” the fans of the older games while still cultivating new blood.

As for competition and eSports, he states that SNK is coming from an arcade background and, like a lot of companies, it’s still new to this whole eSports thing. That said, he stated that SNK has allowed them to bring the game to events such as Stunfest, and the upcoming Japan Expo in Paris. However, he notes that, for them to create an international, pro-level competition, they would have to work closely with SNK.

Of course, this is just part of what En Rab talks about in the interview. Orochinagi has an english translation of the interview, with a few added questions of their own on their site.

Source: Gamelove via Orochinagi

As we already know, Street Fighter V’s upcoming June update will bring with it a host of features, including the long awaited cinematic story expansion and returning character Ibuki. However, it will also bring a few other things aside from these.

Dengeki Online recently ran a bunch of brand new screenshots that showcase some of the new things happening with the game’s stages. We already know that the alternate, daytime version of the Kanzuki Estate stage is coming, however the screens show alternate versions of other stages, such as Shadaloo Base, as well.

More exciting, however, is a screenshot that shows that stage transitions–currently available only on the Bustling Side Street stage–are coming to other battlegrounds as well. The screenshot in question shows a transitioned version of the City in Chaos stage.

You can check these screenshots out in the gallery below, but do take note that these screenshots are from the Story and Extra Battle modes, so we will have to wait and see if they’ll be available in regular competitive play.

Click to view slideshow.

Source: Dengeki Online

As the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, Evolution attracts more than just competitive fighting game players; fans of all kinds are welcome to attend this celebration of the fighting genre. For fighting fans who are more artistically inclined, applications for Evo 2016’s Artist Alley are now officially open.

Evolution 2016’s Artist Alley is open to members of the community looking to showcase content such as posters, pins, perler beads/sprites, artwork, stick art, photo prints, and more; cosplayers are also welcome to apply.

Take note that Evolution 2016 is a family-friendly event, and anything on display or for sale must not be adult-oriented. Speaking of sales, anyone interested in selling merchandise must also arrange for a booth package.

Interested artists can apply here.

Source: Evo

As previously reported, the rest of Street Fighter V’s post-launch characters will be playable (in a somewhat incomplete state) in the game’s upcoming Story Mode later this month. One of those characters is none other than Balrog, the series’ iconic boxer from Street Fighter II.

For those who absolutely can’t wait for the end of June to try Balrog out, here’s something that may brighten your day: Venture Beat fighting game specialist (and Shoryuken forum veteran) Stephen “Sosage” Kleckner was invited by Capcom’s Peter “Combofiend” Rosas to give the boxer a quick spin behind closed doors. While Kleckner’s time with Balrog was short–about 2 to 3 minutes total–he was still able to glean some important bits of information.

One big change, especially for players coming from SFIV, is that Balrog isn’t really able to jab his way out of trouble anymore. His jabs in this game aren’t as fast as they were in IV, and Rosas himself confirmed that this boxer is “a less jabby version.”

A bigger change, though, is that his Buffalo Headbutt appears to be gone. This is a major change for Balrog, as the move not only served as an anti-air, but could also be used to move him forward and apply pressure against fireball characters. When asked about this, Rosas simply shrugged. However, there are hints that the answer to this could be in his V-Skill. 

The boxer’s V-Skill has him spin like in his Turn Around Punch, and the move that Balrog throws out post-spin depends on what button the player presses. While Kleckner wasn’t able to test whether or not his V-Skill goes through projectiles, he theorizes that it might.

Of course that’s not all. You can check out the rest of the article, including Kleckner’s impressions of Balrog’s V-Trigger, over at Venture Beat.

Source: Venture Beat

Things are heating up for SNK’s The King of Fighters XIV. The game is making its rounds in Japan and is scheduled to make an appearance next week at E3 and Wednesday Night Fights.

Before that, SNK has dropped another one of their weekly team trailers, this time for Team Kim. Unlike previous installments where he’s teamed with criminals in need of reform, this time he’s teaming up fellow kick specialists Luong and Gang-Il.  We’ve already seen a lot of the former, however this is the first time we’ve seen Gang-Il, who’s supposedly Kim’s master, in action.

The King of Fighters XIV launches on PlayStation 4 on August 23.

Source: PlayStation

Now that the cat’s out of the bag and Injustice 2 has been officially announced, it’s that time when people start speculating which DC characters will be added to the cast.

To add some more fuel to the fire, NetherRealm’s Ed Boon has recently gone on Twitter with a poll, asking players to vote for who they would like to see the most in the new game. This particular poll includes only three character choices: Blue Beetle, Captain Cold, and Swamp Thing.

Who do you MOST want to see in Injustice 2 ?

— Ed Boon (@noobde) June 8, 2016

Blue Beetle has always been a favorite among DC fans. More importantly, his magical scarab-powered battle suit could fit in well with the game’s gear mechanic.

Captain Cold, on the other hand, is one of the Flash’s villains–one of his more popular ones at that. Some fans have noted that parts of the trailer already hint at his appearance in the game, so his inclusion in the poll is noteworthy.

Made popular by legendary creator Alan Moore, Swamp Thing is an elemental entity that can animate any plant and vegetable matter near itself. As with the Blue Beetle, this could play well into Injustice 2’s gear mechanic.

Injustice 2 is currently set for a 2017 release date. We’re bound to know more about it and its cast in the months to come.

Source: Ed Boon

With all the news coming out for many other fighting games these days, it may be easy to forget that Bandai Namco’s Tekken 7 has yet to hit home consoles. For those players looking for more on the game, it seems that the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo may have a few things in store.

IGN have confirmed that they will be hosting Tekken 7 on their live show at the event. The demo will take place on Thursday, June 16 at 2:40 PM PDT.

As for what the demo itself will entail, we have no idea as of yet. However, considering that Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada and Brand and Community Manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio are both attending E3, it’s possible that we might see either of them–or even both of them–together on stream.

Source: IGN, via YellowMotion