Smash @ Xanadu feat. Super Smash Bros. Melee Streaming Live

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The folks over at VGBootCamp recently went live with another installment of Smash @ Xanadu from Xanadu Games in Baltimore, Maryland. These weekly broadcasts provide a great look at the region’s Smash community, and tonight’s installment will feature competition in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

If you’re interested in some Smash Bros. action, be sure to tune in. The stream is live below, but you can also head on over to Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from VGBootCamp on www.twitch.tv

Source: VGBootCamp

ESL Mortal Kombat X Pro League Week 8 Streaming Live

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ESL’s Mortal Kombat X competition returns tonight with its eighth outing, the last one before the main event. A recent qualifier narrowed the playing field down to sixteen competitors, and those players will be going at each other’s throats tonight to prove they have what it takes to do well in this new arrival to the fighting game community.

Some of the more noteworthy names you can expect to see play tonight include Dab, C88|Cupcake, Pig of the Hut, Kitana Prime, Shunjinkydink, cR|WoundCowboy, and more.

The tournament’s stream can be found below, but you can also visit Twitch if you prefer to chat with fellow viewers.

Watch live video from NetherRealm on www.twitch.tv

Results

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Mortal Kombat X

1.
2.
3.
3.
5.
5.
5. Kitana Prime (Royal Storm Kitana)
5. Nerdd (Kobu Jutsu Tanya)

9. Bread
9. Shujinkydink
9. BugvMan
9. Crawlingshadow
9. Killstreak
9.
9. Wetwork
9. CryophobIKroniK

Semifinals

Gunshow (Tempest Kung Lao)

Top 8

Nerdd (Kobu Jutsu Tanya) vs. Gunshow (Tempest Kung Lao) – 1-3
Kitana Prime (Royal Storm Kitana) vs. Kidigital (Bone Shaper Shinnok) – 1-3

First Round

Nerdd vs. CryophobIKroniK – offstream
Wetwork vs. Gunshow – offstream
Dab vs. C88|Cupcake
Killstreak vs. Pig of the Hut – offstream
Crawlingshadow vs. Kidigital – offstream
BugvMan vs. Kitana Prime – offstream
Shujinkydink vs. cR|WoundCowboy – offstream
Black Mamba Moan vs. Bread – offstream

Sources: ESL, NetherRealm

Oh Hey, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND is Out in North America

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If you count yourself among the (probably rather limited) group of western players who enjoy BlazBlue but don’t go in for the whole ‘importing’ thing, you’re in luck! BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND made landfall in North America today.

With versions for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND adds two previously arcade-exclusive characters in Celica A. Mercury and Lambda-11, updates to the overall gameplay mechanics, new chapters for the story mode, and more. It originally launched in Japan on April 23.

Apart from being great news to American players in general, this release also marks the franchise’s return to Microsoft’s console line, which last saw BlazBlue: Continuum Shift EXTEND find its way to Xbox 360 in 2010.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND is currently available at a price of $49.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One or $39.99 on PlayStation 3 if you prefer the older platform.

Sources: PlayStation Blog, Xbox Live

Street Fighter V Makes an Appearance at Recent WinnerStaysOn Session

While Street Fighter V has made multiple public showings in the United States, folks living abroad have had little chance to try the game out unless they traveled outside of the their country. Capcom plans to alleviate that later this month with their tour of the United Kingdom, but recently gave a handful of European players the opportunity to play the game during a recent installment of WinnerStaysOn’s gameplay session broadcast.

Over the course of two hours, notable players like Problem X, F-Word, Shoryusengan, and more jumped into Street Fighter V to mess around with the various characters available in the early build and play a variety of exhibitions. We’ve seen quite a bit of footage of the game thanks to its time at E3 2015, but now we get to see what a fresh batch of players bring to the table with Ryu, Chun-Li, Nash, Birdie, and more.

If you missed out on the live stream, be sure to check out the archives below for your regular Street Fighter V fix.

Source: Capcom Fighters via Siliconera

Skullgirls 2nd Encore Heading to PlayStation 4 on July 7

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Lab Zero Games has announced that the upcoming PlayStation 4 version of Skullgirls Encore will launch next Tuesday, July 7.

Although bereft of major gameplay adjustments, Skullgirls 2nd Encore features a number of significant upgrades, including a fully-voiced story mode, a trial mode that promises to be more useful than its counterparts in other titles, and more. The title will also feature cross-play, meaning those still competing on PlayStation 3 will be able to face off against newcomers on Sony’s latest platform.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore is also scheduled to arrive on PlayStation Vita within six weeks of the PlayStation 4 release, and both will benefit from cross-buy, meaning that a purchase of one will net players the other version free of charge.

If you’re planning on picking this title up and happen to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription, you can take advantage of a special 20% discount until the official launch date.

Source: Lab Zero Games via Gematsu

Bandai Namco Provides $30,000 to Evo 2015’s Tekken 7 Prize Pool, Spiffy Shirts for Competitors

Evo 2015’s Tekken 7 tournament just got even more intense thanks to developer Bandai Namco, who will be providing a $30,000 boost to the game’s prize pool. Though currently exclusive to arcades, this should give participants outside of Japan and South Korea the added push they need to study up on the game’s characters, mechanics, and more.

With this announcement, Evo 2015’s pot bonuses now add up to $200,000 across all titles thanks to similar contributions to Ultra Street Fighter IV, Mortal Kombat X, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax from their respective developers.

Additionally, all players who are currently registered to compete in Tekken 7 will receive an exclusive shirt (pictured below) emblazoned with franchise veteran Lili and Tekken Revolution newcomer Eliza. Sorry shirt monsters!

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Evo 2015 is scheduled for July 17-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Further details can be found through their official website.

Source: Evo

Desk Explores Weird Super Freeze Situations in Ultra Street Fighter IV

After watching EG|PR Balrog and MCZ|Mago’s incredible losers bracket match at Community Effort Orlando 2015 this past weekend, Desk jumped into the lab to experiment with something that piqued his interest: super freezes.

As you can see in the video below, super freezes can get kinda weird when used in relation to other supers activations and cancels. While normally these situations would be lost to us due to their occurring over just two frames, the slowdown enacted by these moves gives us a deeper look at these interactions.

Numerous oddities can happen, including missing sound effects, whiffing instant grabs, and more.

Here’s Desk’s original explanation on what happens during these two frames:

Frame 1: P1 hits with a special move which has already had the super cancel command inputted (so after it hits, it will be cancelled into super). On this same frame P2 performs a special with armor which, again has been buffered with the command for a super or ultra. This is to allow P2 to ‘armor cancel’ into super or ultra on the following frame.

Frame 2: P1 automatically goes into the super activation animation without anymore inputs. P2 hits which ever button(s) needed to activate super/ultra and both player’s action happen on the same frame, at the same time (in this case P1: Super cancel/P2: Armor cancel)

Although the Street Fighter IV series is preparing to make room for Street Fighter V when it launches next spring, it’s cool to see folks are still exploring some of the more intricate portions of the aging title. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: Desk via Desora

ARC REVOLUTION CUP 2015 Adds Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] Side Tournament

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Next month, Arc System Works plans to host another installment of their annual tournaments series ARC REVOLUTION CUP. This year’s event has set its sights on two individual titles, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- and BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND, but that doesn’t mean the fun will end there.

In addition a side tournament for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (known as Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold in Japan), ARC REVOLUTION CUP 2015 will feature competition in Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], according to new details released by the event organizers. Unlike other titles in the lineup, however, the Under Night bracket will focus on singles competition instead of teams.

With a release date for Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] still unannounced, it should be interesting to see how players take to the upcoming title during a major competition.

ARC REVOLUTION CUP 2015 is scheduled for August 15 in Tokyo, Japan.

Source: Arc System Works

Evo 2015’s Final Registration Numbers Released, See Where Your Favorite Game Stands

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With Evo 2015 registration now closed, we have a clear picture of how each game did in terms of competitor numbers. While the largest fighting game tournament in the world has grown with each successive installment, this year’s has completely blown even the highest expectations out of the water.

Main event Ultra Street Fighter IV surpassed 2000 participants by a pretty wide margin, followed closely by Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, who narrowly beat out the fourteen-year old Super Smash Bros. Melee. After that, newcomers Mortal Kombat X and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- round out the top five titles, giving perennial favorite Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 a run for its money. And finally, Tekken 7, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and Killer Instinct comprise the bottom three with strong showings of their own.

Specific numbers for each game can be found below, courtesy of Evo organizer Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar.

  • Ultra Street Fighter IV – 2227
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 1926
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee – 1869
  • Mortal Kombat X – 1162
  • Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- – 968
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – 816
  • Tekken 7 – 458
  • Persona 4 Arena Ultimax – 437
  • Killer Instinct – 397

Evo 2015 is scheduled for July 17-19. More details can be found through the event’s official website.

Source: Joey Cuellar

Ultimate Fighter Tuesdays feat. Ultra Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat X Streaming Live from Ultimate Gaming Center

If you thought Panorama City’s Ultimate Gaming Center only played host to Skullgirls events during the week, you would be sorely mistaken. Tonight, the folks behind another regular event, Ultimate Fighter Tuesdays, will be featuring competition in both Ultra Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat X.

With Super Arcade currently out of commission, many of the same players who appeared during their weekly tournaments have migrated to Ultimate Gaming Center. While you can expect to see regulars like Brentt, Chris Tatarian, EGP|WonderChef, EGP|Krayzie, HB|Tyrant, and more making their way through the brackets tonight, the event will also have a special guest from Pakistan named MicroNuke in attendance, so be sure to tune in and see what they are made of!

You’ll find the live stream below, but you can also head over to Twitch to join the chat. More information on the venue can be found on their website.

Watch live video from UGClive on www.twitch.tv

Source: Ultimate Gaming Center, special thanks to Jeremy Lopez for his help with this article.