Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

Earlier today, Mad Catz community manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio announced that Tekken 7 has seen yet another entry added to its North American itinerary in Community Effort Orlando 2015. After making trips to Northern California, Texas, and (soon) Chicago, the currently arcade-exclusive title will settle down in Florida and allow a new crop of locals to try it out for themselves next month.

As the last major before Evo 2015, this will also serve as the final chance for folks outside of Japan to get practice in before competition heats up in Las Vegas. Luckily, Julio informed us that they are working to make sure they have an updated build for Community Effort Orlando, which means there’s a distinct possibility visitors will be able to try out Yoshimitsu and his new tentacled attire, pictured above.

Community Effort Orlando 2015 is scheduled for June 26-28. More details can be found through their official website.

Source: Mark Julio

Although East Coast Throwdown made waves by announcing perennial favorite Mortal Kombat will close out this year’s event instead of Street Fighter, they are ready to move into uncharted waters by adding two Smash titles to the lineup.

Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will add a mixture of old and new gameplay to the proceedings, an arena of competition that has yet to be seen at East Coast Throwdown. In order to make sure things go off without a hitch, the organizers have brought in an experienced lineup of tournament runners and broadcasters to oversee the new titles.

Additionally, both games will see a $500 pot bonus added to their prize pools, adding a little extra incentive for Smashers to check out the event.

East Coast Throwdown 2015 is scheduled for June 13-14 in Morristown, New Jersey. Feel free to check out the official website for more details.

Source: East Coast Throwdown

The developers behind Killer Instinct will be providing substantial pot bonuses to tournaments thanks to their recent fundraising efforts. The first to be announced, Evo 2015, is set to receive half of the $100,000 raised, but new details released on Ultra-Combo reveal two more tournaments that will be getting in on the action as well.

Community Effort Orlando 2015 and Combo Breaker have been granted $15,000 and $10,000 respectively for their Killer Instinct prize pools, adding to some already impressive support heading their way. The higher amount of the former will allow organizers to spread the bonus throughout top sixteen, while folks who make it into top eight at the latter can look forward to a slice of the pie.

The community fund’s $100,000 cap was raised in just three days thanks to the sale of Killer Instinct downloadable content, which included the first public release of the Shadow Jago skin. Thanks to the dedication shown by fans across the world, Shadow Jago will eventually join the playable cast as his own unique character.

Combo Breaker is scheduled to take place May 22-24 in Chicago, Illinois, with Community Effort Orlando 2015 planning to turn up the heat in Florida this summer the weekend of June 26. Be sure to follow the previous links for more details on these events.

This announcement leaves $25,000 in the community fund, so stay tuned for word on more tournament support in the near future.

Source: Ultra-Combo

Thanks to their marketing strategy over the past few years, there’s no doubt Community Effort Orlando has the most unique identity in the fighting game community. From having competitors play out high-profile matches in a wrestling ring to the intricate championship belts they award finalists, organizer Alex Jebailey and his partners definitely put on a fantastic event.

That being said, they plan to kick things up a notch this year specifically for Persona players. Thanks to a partnership with Atlus, the first-place finisher in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax will receive a special piece of apparel based off the Teddie belt depicted on the game’s cover.

As you can see in the images below, they did a really fantastic job matching up the real-life item with the one from Ultimax.

While the first-place finisher in every game will be given a belt, this certainly sets Persona players apart from the rest of the pack and should make competition much more interesting as they vie for this piece of fighting game history.

Community Effort Orlando 2015 is scheduled for June 26-28 in Orlando, Florida. Further event details can be found here.

Source: CEO Gaming

Out of any competitive genre, monitors are arguably the most important when it comes to fighting games. The pinpoint precision needed to land intricate combos, the ability to read an opponent’s movement, and more all contribute to a necessity for the lagless display around.

In an effort to maintain their legacy as the most prominent tournament in the community, Evolution recently announced a brand new partnership with BenQ, with the specific intention of using the company’s RL2460HT model for this year’s tournament.

While that seemingly random collection of letters and numbers may seem foreign, it’s likely you’ve heard of this monitor before. During development, BenQ worked with Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong to create a special display mode specifically devoted to fighting games. With the assistance of one of our scene’s most legendary players and a reported 0.001-frame input lag, it’s likely these monitors will serve competitors well in Las Vegas.

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

Late last night, Panda X Gaming’s Jonathan Oudthone was alerted to something alarming: his car had been broken into and much of his broadcasting equipment was stolen. Having just wrapped up his work providing a live show for folks unable to attend Texas Showdown, there’s no doubt the juxtaposition was jarring.

“[I] loaded up after the event and went out for dinner with a few players. Jan called me saying he saw someone digging through my car and my window was busted,” Oudthone described to Shoryuken through email. “Rushed down and most of my equipment was stolen, [including my] personal laptop with photos and videos of my kids growing up.”

When all was said and done, multiple cameras, capture cards, headsets, splitters, an audio mixer, and a variety of other necessary broadcasting materials were taken. Shortly afterwards, Oudthone filed a police report, which he says was augmented by Jan’s clear description of the suspect, and they are hoping the venue’s surveillance leads to more details.

This is the second such event to occur in as many months. Mad Catz community manager Mark Julio saw much of his personal equipment and even a key to the Tekken 7 board granted to him by Bandai Namco stolen during his trip to Washington for Northwest Majors, though little evidence pointed towards it being connected to our scene. This time around, however, the theft hits a little closer to home. “I suspect this guy was scoping me out at the event because he went straight to my car and knew what he was going for,” Oudthone speculates. “My windows are tinted so he couldn’t have seen anything just walking by.”

At this point in time, there’s very little evidence as to how connected the suspect is to the fighting game scene and not much else to do but wait. Oudthone is currently on his way back to his home in Arkansas, where he will have access to pertinent information like serial numbers.

A prominent community member, Oudthone is frequently called upon to stream tournaments of all levels and also organizes his own online competitions. With work at Midwest Championships rapidly approaching, there’s definitely an added sense of urgency with regards to the return of his belongings, but there’s also a sentimental edge to this unfortunate affair with the loss of family recordings and photos.

It goes without saying, but this is an incredibly shitty turn of events, and we hope everything can be corrected in the near future. If you have any information on this crime, be sure to contact Oudthone through Twitter as soon as possible.