Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

Those of you still holding a torch for Virtua Fighter, good news! Sega recently announced that the latest installment of their long-running Virtua Fighter franchise will be upgraded yet again early next year.

Few details were provided as to what this update will entail, but if previous revisions are any indication, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Version B may include balance tweaks for the existing cast in an effort to extend its competitive life.

Much of Sega’s original announcement has to do with Version B’s network services, mentioning that the upcoming title will not be compatible with their ALL.net infrastructure. Whether or not this means they will be rolling out something new remains to be seen.

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Version B is scheduled to appear in Japanese arcades sometime in March.

Source: Virtua Fighter

Newly-released scans of this week’s Famitsu magazine have revealed that Leo Whitefang, a character heavily featured in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-‘s story on consoles, will become a part of the playable cast sometime after launch as downloadable content.

Due to the nature of this reveal, little information is known about how Leo will play in the game as of yet, but we do have some idea of how he will factor into the series canon when the game appears on consoles next month. As one of the three governing kings of the Allied Kingdom of Illyria, this beastly figure will certainly play a large role in the narrative moving forward.

This news comes after heavy speculation pegged Leo as a playable fighter due to the way he was displayed in a recent trailer as well as his appearance on Xrd’s cover.

We’ll have more details on President Whitefang after Famitsu is officially published in Japan later this week.

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is scheduled to launch on December 4 in Japan, with a North American release following shortly after on December 16.

Source: Famitsu via Dustloop

With online play quickly becoming a must for any game touting multiplayer options, these arenas can quickly become less than entertaining if folks choose to quit a game early due to losing, inappropriately modify their game, or otherwise ruin the experience of their fellow competitors. Developers are quickly inserting precautions that either keep these issues from coming up or punishing those that would abuse workarounds for petty or malicious reasons.

In Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (as well as its upcoming console sibling), Nintendo has implemented systems that lay down temporary bans from online play for a number of infractions, including going idle on a regular basis, targeting a single player repeatedly, and more. While certainly noble, issues have begun to rear their ugly heads and impact the service.

Reports began to appear over the weekend that players were heading online, only to find that they had been banned from netplay for 71,582,459 minutes, which rounds out to just over 136 years. Though obviously a bug, little information could be gleaned as to why this issue was occurring. One popular opinion has to do with the way the game processes the numbers associated with a ban in the first place, but nothing concrete has been established.

Fortunately, it appears as if this glitch is already being corrected. A fan on Twitter who was previously afflicted with this lengthy timeout has since found his account restored and able to play online, so it’s possible Nintendo has already figured out a way to fix this problem.

A similar banning bug, involving Princess Peach using her turnip special in online modes that don’t allow items, surfaced some time back and was fixed by Nintendo, who issued an apology soon after. Let’s hope this is corrected just as quickly.

Have you ran into this issue while playing online? Feel free to sound off in our comments.

Source: Reddit via Destructoid

Earlier this morning, Nintendo of Europe announced their plans to change the release date of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in the region. Fortunately, it’s being pushed forward instead of back.

The console sibling to the previous handheld title will arrive in Europe on November 28, one week ahead of the previously announced launch date. This puts it only seven days out from North America and shifts it earlier than the Japanese release, a feat usually unheard of with other global releases.

In addition to shortening the waiting period for fans in Europe, this should also help to spread out the surge of new players competing online into separate waves.

Source: Nintendo of Europe via Nintendo Life

Last weekend, Capcom revealed that they will eventually roll out a brand new line of Ultra Street Fighter IV costumes, turning the entire cast of their flagship fighter wild in animal outfits. While live stream screenshots are well and good, the latest installment of Tomoaki Ayano’s Saikyo Blog includes much cleaner versions of the previously unveiled sketches.

As you see below, the developers have taken some interesting liberties with the appearances of some of their most iconic characters, most notably giving Ryu a fierce-looking wolf outfit and Dudley a super appropriate English bulldog transformation. Though Cammy’s is a little weak in that they felt giving her some cosplay accessories was enough to give off a fox-like vibe, we’re excited to see what happens with the rest of the characters.

Ayano also uses his post to go over a few more Omega Mode changes, so stay tuned for the translated information to make its way to Capcom-Unity in the near future.

Source: Saikyo Blog

For all you folks looking forward to new information about Mortal Kombat X (and possibly even interacting with the game’s developers yourself), you won’t have too long to wait for that chance.

NetherRealm Studios will be dedicating an entire stream to the upcoming fighter next week. Much like their Injustice: Gods Among Us broadcasts, this will give the community the perfect opportunity to check out additional footage of the game and speak to the folks directly involved with its creation.

I would personally ask (politely, might I add!) when they are going to reveal Rain but, hey, that’s just me.

The developers are in the process of taking questions from fans to answer live, so be sure to use #KombatKast on Twitter to possibly have your voice be heard.

NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat X stream is scheduled for Wednesday, November 5, at 1 PM PDT, 4 PM EDT.

Source: NetherRealm Studios via Test Your Might

Despite seeing diminishing numbers in the United States, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 continues to pull huge crowds in other regions, most notably Japan. With signups for this weekend’s MASTERCUP.7 closed as of September 21, we now have a good look at how attendance for the latest installment of the annual tournament series has shaken out.

According to the event’s official website, 176 teams have registered to compete, meaning a total of 880 players are ready to throw down in the popular 3D fighter.

Since its inception in 2007, MASTERCUP has become one of Japan’s premier Tekken events, regularly drawing enormous crowds of both competitors and spectators. In fact, attendance has continued to grow even over the past few iterations; 625 took part in the competition at MASTERCUP.5, a number that grew to 750 at the following event.

The scene’s dedication to MASTERCUP is also reflected in the level of talent these tournaments regularly exhibit. The sixth installment saw players like FRB|AO, Nobi, Yuu, Genkids, and many more come together to compete, resulting in some of the fiercest competition Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has seen since launch.

It’s unclear whether the game’s continued success in Japan can be attributed to the surviving game centers (they use the Unlimited arcade version), the country’s relatively consolidated fighting game community, or some other factor, but one thing is for sure: it’s great to see competition, no matter the title, continue to thrive.

MASTERCUP.7 is scheduled to take place this Sunday, November 3, at 8 AM JST. A live stream will be provided through Twitch.

Source: MASTERCUP via Katsuhiro Harada