Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

After a successful inaugural run in 2015, Team NINJA is prepared to support another year of competition with Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Battle Royal 2016. While the circuit has been significantly shortened, there’s more money on the line than ever before.

As is detailed in the graphic below, the tour begins at Final Round 19 next month and stretches into October for The Fall Classic 2016. Winners at each of the tournaments on the official schedule will earn an all-expenses paid trip to the grand finals event at Northeast Championships 17, which is set to feature a $6000 pot bonus.

Some of you may have also noticed that the image above confirms another Battle Royal event for 2017, so get ready for at least two more years of excellent Dead or Alive competition.

Source: Team NINJA, FreeStepDodge, tip via NightmareSteam

King of Fighters XIV is currently playable at the C3 Expo in Hong Kong, and you know what that means: off-screen gameplay! A gracious fan by the name of penpen35 recently uploaded a handful of videos from their time at the convention, highlighting various matches between attendees.

The videos in question include quick looks at Leona Heidern, Robert Garcia, Kyo Kusanagi, Andy Bogard, Iori Yagami, King, Kula Diamond, and Chang Koehan. It appears as if Billy Kane is also present in the build on display, but he doesn’t make an appearance in the captured footage.

Of course, you shouldn’t expect a ton of high-level strategy from these matches, but King of Fighters XIV’s sporadic showings make any footage worthwhile. Check out the videos below and let us know what you think.

King of Fighters XIV is scheduled to launch on PlayStation 4 sometime this year.

Source: penpen35 via Romance

Remember that Krimson Ermac skin that surfaced in Mortal Kombat X last week? Well, it just enjoyed an official reveal during yesterday’s Kombat Kast, and NetherRealm Studios is hoping it finds the same success as the similar Blue Steel Sub-Zero.

See, instead of just dropping an alternate outfit and calling it a day, the developers will be using this skin to give back to the community. A portion of the proceeds they earn are set to be collected in a tournament prize pool and doled out as NetherRealm sees fit.

Last year, the developers shared $100,000 with events like Evo, Community Effort Orlando, and Combo Breaker, and it’s likely we’ll see the same level of support moving into 2016. We’ll be sure to share more details as they become available.

Source: NetherRealm Studios

Pokkén Tournament is set to receive a ton of new content in its transition to Wii U next month, including playable Pokémon like Braixen and Garchomp as well as a support roster made up of Cubone, Diglett, Magneton, Quagsire, Espeon, and Umbreon, among others.

While legendaries, the ultra-powerful Pokémon that make up much of the franchise’s lore, haven’t had any representation in the title apart from Mewtwo, two new support pairings featuring these titans popped up during a recent Nintendo Life broadcast.

According to the build on display, Yveltal is bundled with Latios while Reshiram and Cresselia form their own squad. They all seem rather powerful, as is befitting Pokémon of their importance, and are capable of debilitating the opponent with a variety of status effects.

Pokkén Tournament is set to release for Wii U worldwide on March 18. Be sure to check out Nintendo Life’s entire stream below for footage of some of these newcomers in action.

Source: Nintendo Life via Serebii

Earlier this morning, Red Bull finalized their list of invitations for this year’s Kumite event with a pair of Evo champions: Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara and Olivier “Luffy” Hay.

The final two players for Red Bull Kumite are here: @Louffy086 and @daigothebeast! pic.twitter.com/o3SurmC0g7

— Red Bull ESPORTS (@redbullESPORTS) February 18, 2016

Daigo obviously needs to introduction, with championships spanning decades at this point. In recent years, the Japanese legend opened Street Fighter IV’s tenure at the Evolution Championship Series with back-to-back victories in 2009 and 2010, and would go on to have success in each successive iteration.

Luffy, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer. He first gained notice at World Game Cup 2010, where he sent Daigo to the losers bracket, and his notoriety would grow steadily until he secured a first-place finish at Evo 2014. Since then, he has parted ways with longtime sponsor MeltDown to pursue a career with Red Bull.

This pair will join Twitch’s Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang, Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong and Yusuke Momochi, r/Kappa’s Lee “Poongko” Chung-gon, Razer’s Kun Xian Ho and Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo, Alioune Camara, Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue, Keoma Moutsatsos Pacheco, and Red Bull’s Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis and Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi, and Mad Catz’ Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi as they compete in Street Fighter V just a few months out from its official launch.

Two more competitors will be decided by last-chance qualifiers held the day of the event, registration for which opens on February 20.

Red Bull Kumite 2016 is scheduled for April 23-24. More details can be found here.

The largest fighting game tournament in the world is getting even bigger this year thanks to their finals venue. Mandalay Bay’s massive arena is capable of holding up to 12,000 spectators, giving players who find themselves vying for an Evo 2016 championship a ridiculous amount of attention.

Should you want to be a part of history, tickets are now available! The organizers were made aware of a few unforeseen fees that have drive prices higher, so they decided to drop the prices of the regular two day pass for the first week. Players can sign up for $20 plus an additional $10 for each game they plan to compete in until next Thursday, February 25.

As was previously reported, Evo 2016’s finals at Mandalay Bay’s Event Center will be separate from the rest of the event, meaning you won’t need a two-day pass to buy an arena ticket and vice versa.

Evo 2016 is scheduled for July 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mortal Kombat X, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will close out the event at Mandalay Bay, with tournaments for Pokkén Tournament, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Killer Instinct, and Tekken 7 Fated Retribution planned for earlier in the weekend.

Registration is now open on Evo’s official website, and Mandalay Bay arena tickets can be purchased through AXS.

The Pokémon Company and Bandai Namco Entertainment are banking on 2016 being a big year for Pokkén Tournament. Apart from the previously announced championship series, this unique fighter will also be included as part of Pokémon’s world championships in San Francisco, joining the original video game and its trading card spin-off.

While simply winning a tournament on the circuit will earn players a shot at the world championships, Pokémon has also teamed up with GameSpot to host a number of regional qualifiers at locations across the United States on February 27 as part of Pokémon Day. The full list of participating venues is detailed below.

• Preston Road, Plano, TX
• Chamblee Tucker Road, Chamblee, GA
• Barranca Parkway, Irvine, CA
• S. John Young Parkway, Orlando, FL
• W. Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL
• Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA
• E. 14th St. – Union Square, New York, NY
• Rivermark Plaza, Santa Clara, CA

Winners at these events will then move onto the Pokkén Tournament Early Access Competition finals at the Nintendo World Store in New York City on March 17, the champions of which will earn training with a professional player and a shot at nationals. Walking away with the gold at nationals will, finally, lead to the aforementioned world championships.

Phew, that’s a lot of steps! But this course of action will be the next best way of qualifying apart from placing first at a tournament like Evo 2016.

Pokkén Tournament is set to launch for Wii U worldwide on March 18.

Source: Polygon

Street Fighter V’s launch was less than optimal, but Capcom have provided constant attention and updates concerning their efforts to improve it. One such update dropped yesterday, detailing the steps the developers have taken towards correcting things like matchmaking and battle lounges, and today they’ve returned with another progress report.

“As many of you know, there were some issues with the Street Fighter V servers but we’re happy to report that the majority of those issues have now been resolved,” Capcom’s Neidel “Haunts” Crisan explained. “That said, we know there is still a lot left to optimize and not everyone’s experience has been the same so I’ll be checking in each day here to give everyone an update on how things are progressing.”

So far, matchmaking should be working properly, and battle lounges are on their way to functioning as intended. That said, there are still a few lingering bugs concerning match result recording and replay searching, so stay tuned for further updates.

Have you noticed your online experiences with Street Fighter V improving since launch? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Capcom-Unity