Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

Yep, it’s that time again; time to secure your spot at the largest fighting game tournament in the world. Over the weekend, the Evolution Championship Series organizers opened online registration for this year’s event, giving competitors and spectators the opportunity to finalize their plans for July.

Attendees will have three options open to them: a $70 three-day pass to the tournament hall, a three-day pass to the viewing hall for $50, and a two-day pass priced at $40 for everything before finals. Each comes with their own unique accesses and restrictions, so be sure to read the fine-print carefully as you fill out the form. Prices will go up March 30, 2015, so make sure to act fast!

Unlike past events, Evo 2015 will not feature a separate competitor’s pass. Purchasing any of the aforementioned packages will allow tournament entry for an additional $10 per game.

Additionally, the event organizers relayed that 3000 seats will be available for Sunday’s finals in the main hall. With passes guaranteed to sell out, you will need to act fast in order to secure your spot.

If you’ve yet to book your hotel, you can take advantage of a special deal being offered by Bally’s / Paris Las Vegas here.

Evo 2015 is scheduled for July 17-19.

Starting in the Super update and moving into future installments, Dee Jay has long been considered one of the worst characters in the Street Fighter IV series. A far cry from his Street Fighter II incarnation, low damage and limited options cause the kickboxer to stumble in a variety of situations, but that doesn’t stop die-hard fans from continuing to compete with him.

Case in point, KitasenjuDJ. Long thought to be the strongest Dee Jay player Japan has to offer, Kitasenju has made his name known through both arcade and online play, recently reaching a very significant milestone in the former.

After making an incredible eleven-rank jump earlier this month, Kitasenju announced his breaking of the 10,000 BP mark in arcades this morning. Other than giving him a nifty five-digit number to boast about, a special Master ranking signifier will be attached to his name for all to see.

Kitasenju’s achievement goes to show that no matter how your chosen character is perceived by the competitive community, you can still put in the training and make them work.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kitasenju and his Dee Jay, check out the replays below for a look at how he fared against Ebihara’s Ibuki in an exhibition late last year.

Source: KitasenjuDJ via hige_daimyo and NeoGAF, videos courtesy of Pi-chan

The biggest part of Capcom’s Street Fighter V presentation at Taipei Game Show 2015 was, without a doubt, the exhibition between Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara and GamerBee of AVerMedia, but details are starting to trickle out about the short interview session producer Yoshinori Ono held with attendees.

Obviously, with only Ryu, Chun-Li, and Charlie revealed so far, much of the discussion centered around Street Fighter V’s cast.

According to Famitsu, the developers mentioned that they are heavily considering input from the community regarding which characters should make a return. That being said, they won’t go overboard; Ono expressed a desire to keep the overall selection small in order to reduce production costs and provide an easier entry point for new players.

Talk also turned towards Charlie Nash, who will be making his first playable appearance in a Street Fighter title since Street Fighter Alpha 3. Ono divulged that demand for the character has been high since the Street Fighter III era, but they couldn’t justify including both Charlie and Guile in the same game, presumably referencing the Street Fighter IV series.

There are a couple things we can infer from these statements–either Guile’s future in Street Fighter V is shaky due to his mentor’s reappearance or Charlie has been changed enough that featuring both won’t feel redundant. We’ve yet to receive any details on Mr. Nash since he was revealed, but it’s possible the strange mark seen on his forehead (pictured above) in the previous teaser is a sign of things to come gameplay-wise.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to appear on PlayStation 4 and PC. No release date has been announced.

Source: Famitsu, translations courtesy of USD.

Though many are eager to see if NetherRealm Studios will include guest fighters in Mortal Kombat X, the requests generally focus on characters from other video game properties or even movie franchises like Predator and Evil Dead. One community, however, is petitioning the developers to consider a cherished musician for their upcoming title.

David Brockie, who served as the lead vocalist for metal band GWAR under the stage name Oderus Urungus (pictured in costume above) before his death in 2014, is currently the focus of an online appeal for his likeness to appear in Mortal Kombat X.

For those out of the loop (I admit, I had to do a bit of research myself), GWAR styles themselves as an “elite group of chaos warriors” who were banished to Earth for their “cosmic crimes.” After being reawakened by our planet’s pollution, they now dedicate themselves to the “destruction of the human race and the eradication of existence itself.”

As purveyors of the shock rock genre made famous by acts like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson, pulling one of the numerous GWAR characters from their outrageous stage shows is a no-brainer for the continuing brutality exhibited by the Mortal Kombat brand.

In all honesty, it’s probably a long shot that we’ll see Oderus duking it out with the likes of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Kitana, but that hasn’t stopped fans of the group from loading the petition with nearly 8,000 signatures since it first appeared online.

Should you count yourself among GWAR’s dedicated fanbase and want to see the late frontman join Mortal Kombat X’s cast, be sure to check out the petition here.

Source: care2 Petitions via Metal Injection, tip via SiriusBusiness

After the crazy happenings of this morning, which saw Apex 2015 completely change venues due to some rather awful building violations at the original location, many were eager to see how condensing a three-day tournament to only two would affect the event. Would any particular games need to be done away with to make sure the festivities ran smoothly?

Fortunately (and rather miraculously), that won’t be the case. The hardworking Apex staff have just released a revised schedule for this weekend’s event, and there’s enough room to retain the same lineup at the high-profile event.

Furthermore, on-site registration will continue as planned for titles outside Smash, so players who were banking on jumping into the brackets for Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, or other traditional fighters will have no problem doing so at the new location.

This turn of events is just another brick to add to the legacy of the Smash community, who continue to weather whatever storms come their way and push their scene forward. If you need inspiration or just a little pick-me-up, there are far worse places to look.

For links to the new floorplan, scheduled, and more, be sure to visit SmashBoards.

After Red Bull revealed their plans to hold a special Ultra Street Fighter IV invitational just a few days ago, news has broken that both The Black Eye’s Naoki “Nemo” Nemoto and Olivier “Luffy” Hay of Meltdown have been invited to the event alongside Razer’s Ho Kun Xian.

Much like Xian, these details come not from the Red Bull, but the players themselves, who received rather elaborate invitations complete with cans of the organization’s energy drink and a smartphone supposedly containing information they will need to participate. It’s entirely likely that the corporation is allowing players to make announcements of their own accord to keep the early dissemination of information more grassroots and personal than something like a press release.

In any case, we now know three of the fourteen players who have earned automatic qualification into the event’s bracket.

Red Bull Kumite is scheduled for March 28 in Paris, France. More information can be found through the official website and Facebook event.

Sources: Nemo, Luffy

If the wait to get your hands on Killer Instinct’s latest content was becoming too much to handle, good news! Microsoft Studios and Iron Galaxy Studios have rolled out the game’s latest update, bringing it to ver.2.3 and adding a brand new playable character, additional costumes, and a whole load of bug fixes and balance changes.

The biggest part of this patch is undoubtedly Omen (showcased in the trailer above), herald of classic Killer Instinct antagonist Gargos. Considered a bonus character by the development team, the shadowy figure brings a mixture of familiar and unique gameplay styles to the table to set him apart from Jago, who canonically once hosted the spirit in his body.

After that, players will surely find the balance changes to be something they’ll want to keep an eye on as competition moves forward. You can find a full list of what’s changed in the update by checking out our previous report.

And who doesn’t like spiffy new costumes? Both Kan-Ra and Maya have been given fresh alternates to play around with, the former gaining a single piece of premium attire and the latter receiving her very own retro outfit and a trio of accessory bundles, all of which are pictured below.

As with past updates, this one is being rolled out in waves, so if you haven’t seen the patch pushed to your copy of the game yet, hang tight. All of this content should be available to you before the day ends.

Be sure to let us know what you think of Killer Instinct after this latest patch in the comments below.

Source: Ultra-Combo