Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

During a recent Asian Champions League soccer match between Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal and Persepolis F.C. of Iran, fans collaborated on a pretty spectacular showing that combined support for their home team with a love of the iconic fighting game franchise Mortal Kombat.

This choreography, colloquially known as a tifo in the world of football, displayed a gigantic image of Sub-Zero before imploring the Saudi team to FINISH ‘EM.

Al Hilal would go on to defeat Persepolis and earn a spot in the next round of competition. Whether or not the crowd’s collage had anything to do with it is still up for debate, but this fighting game fan likes to imagine it gave the players that last push they needed to secure victory.

Source: Al Hilal via Bleacher Report and Destructoid

Thanks to recent location tests in Japan, folks who were unable to try out Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] for themselves could at least keep up with impressions from players on the ground.

The last week or so has been a flurry of information about the forthcoming update to French-Bread and Ecole Software’s newest franchise, but fortunately the folks over at Dustloop have done a fantastic job compiling details from various sources. While none of these changes are final due to the nature of these public showings, they do provide a nice look at what the developers are focusing on heading into the update.

That being said, two of the more interesting pieces of information fall outside the arena of character adjustments. The first, which was mentioned in the initial announcement, gives players in Vorpal the ability to cancel attacks into Veil Off if they have 100 meter, effectively resetting the bounce limit in the given combo. In addition, first hits now grant Vorpal state automatically unless either player has already entered into the powered-up state during the match.

For a complete look at what French-Bread has in store for Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], be sure to visit Dustloop.

Source: Dustloop

Speaking with Siliconera, Arc System Works’ Toshimichi Mori mentioned that he has some interesting possibilities in mind for the next full installment in the BlazBlue series. Apart from mentioning a tentative 2016 release date, the idea of the playable roster surpassing 30 characters has the producer thinking of radically different gameplay mechanics.

While team battles are a mainstay in the fighting game community thanks to games like Marvel and King of Fighters, BlazBlue has remained a one-on-one affair since it debuted in 2009.

As for how these team dynamics may manifest, Mori brought up two distinct possibilities, citing Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament as examples. With the added power afforded by the PlayStation 4, real-time character switching is certainly possible, according to the developer, though some of the series’ traditional style may need to be toned down a bit.

For more of Siliconera’s discussion with Mori, as well as some hinting at a Guilty Gear crossover, be sure to check out their interview here.

Source: Siliconera

With the utter avalanche of problems cropping up in Ultra Street Fighter IV for PlayStation 4 on a regular basis, folks were obviously upset on a personal level with how things went down. But, in a competitive sense, the greater issue came from the port’s importance to the Capcom Pro Tour, especially with regards to Evo 2015 and Community Effort Orlando 2015.

While both Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar and Alex Jebailey made separate statements suggesting that they would not use the PlayStation 4 version at their respective events as long as it remained unpatched, many community members were waiting on word from Capcom as to how they would handle the tournament circuit moving forward.

Earlier tonight, a statement was released on Capcom-Unity from the developers themselves to shine a light on where they stood. “A lot of our more competitive players have wondered how the [PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV] will affect them and the [Capcom Pro Tour],” the message reads. “To that we’d like to advise that the integrity of the Capcom Pro Tour is a top priority for us and we will continue to work with tournament organizers worldwide to ensure that the highest quality event will be run.

To attain that goal, Capcom has officially stated that each tournament will continue to use whatever hardware is standard to their region throughout the rest of this year’s pro tour. Further word on when the PlayStation 4 release will see a return to competition is expected later.

As for their involvement in fixing Ultra Street Fighter IV, Capcom is currently working with Sony to resolve the buggy game’s glaring problems “as quickly as possible.” The community can expect updates on their progress along the way.

Although it’s apparent Capcom had very little to do with the development of this title, one has to wonder how it would have fared if they had kept a closer eye on it. Let’s hope the corrections come fast now that they are actively involved in the process.

Source: Capcom-Unity

While he was content to speak in riddles just a few days ago, NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon has once again taken to Twitter to discuss upcoming Mortal Kombat X character Tanya. This time around, however, his details are much more specific: Kombat Pack owners will be able to play as the returning fighter starting next Tuesday, June 2, one week before she’s made available for separate purchase.

The title’s last update gave us a brief look at the devastating finishers Tanya brings to the table as well as confirming she will utilize her kobujutsu weaponry from Deception and Armageddon in some fashion, perhaps as one of her three variations.

Tanya’s arrival will also bring three new costumes to the game, classic digs for Sonya Blade, Kano, and Liu Kang based off their appearances in the very first Mortal Kombat.

The second such post-launch roster addition, Tanya will eventually be followed by the Predator and Tremor to complete Mortal Kombat X’s season pass.

Source: Ed Boon via Test Your Might