Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

After previewing Tri-Borg at the ESL Pro League finals, NetherRealm Studios is ready to show off fellow Kombat Pack 2 inductee Leatherface during their next Kombat Kast. This horror movie mainstay has been haunting audiences since the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre dropped in 1974, and he’s ready to treat the Mortal Kombat cast to some of that same brutality.

Little is known about Leatherface’s gameplay apart from brief snippets provided in the official trailer, and speculation has only increased thanks to the recent glimpse we received of his Killer variation.

Kombat Kast will be live on Twitch this Thursday, February 11, at 2 PM PST, 5 PM EST.

Sources: NetherRealm Studios, Tyler Lansdown, tip via NightmareSteam

Later this week, Capcom will be hosting a special pre-launch broadcast for Street Fighter V. The live event will include a “complete presentation” of the latest information on the upcoming title.

The developers also plan to hold a four-on-four exhibition featuring some of the strongest Street Fighter players in the world. Viewers can expect to see Evil Geniuses’ Momochi, Mad Catz’ Tokido and Mago, Red Bull’s Bonchan, Razer’s Fuudo, Kazunoko, Haitani, and Itabashi Zangief flex their muscles in Street Fighter V, so be sure to keep an eye out for the early strategies they employ.

Capcom’s broadcast is scheduled to go live on February 11 at 11 AM JST (6 PM PST, 9 PM EST on February 10). You can catch the entire thing on YouTube.

Source: Capcom via Gematsu

Despite previous statements failing to raise our hopes, it appears as if legacy controller support is a go for Street Fighter V.

This report comes courtesy of Spanish outlet Meristation, who revealed that their advance copy of the game recently received a rather hefty 5.9 GB update that adds support for PlayStation 3 peripherals. Their details were backed up by screenshots that, along with the entire article, have since been removed.

Furthermore, they were also able to confirm that Street Fighter V’s first downloadable character, Alex, will launch in March alongside the in-game shop and challenge mode. Rumor has it that Alex and all subsequent post-release characters will cost 100,000 Fight Money (Monies?) apiece

That number sounds pretty steep, but Capcom’s Matt Dahlgren previously told us that playing Street Fighter V on a regular basis should give users enough in-game currency to pick up characters as they are released, a concept he expanded on in a recent interview.

“If you play through all of the single-player content, or just a majority of it, you should be able to earn enough money to get the first DLC character for free, if not more money on top of that,” Dahlgren told GamesBeat.

We have reached out to Capcom for comment and will update this article should we hear back.

Street Fighter V is set to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16.

Source: Meristation via NeoGAF, translations courtesy of nothingxs

While we’ve always had our fair share of spectators, the number of people visiting fighting game tournaments just to witness the action unfold has grown tremendously in just a few years. Events will typically charge a smaller fee for visitors only interested in watching, but Combo Breaker announced today that they plan to give away spectator badges free of charge.

This experiment comes courtesy of the fine folks at Gaming Generations, who have provided Combo Breaker with the support necessary to do away with spectating fees. Now, if you have friends or family interested in your hobby, you can bring them with you and let them experience firsthand without having to dole out extra cash.

Founded on the foundation built by the Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament series, Combo Breaker only just appeared on the scene, but that doesn’t mean the pedigree isn’t there. Head organizer Rick Thiher is involved with an increasing number of tournaments throughout the year, and was able to provide a unique experience all his own in 2015.

Combo Breaker 2016 is scheduled for May 27-29 in St. Charles, Illinois. More details and registration instructions can be found here.

Source: Combo Breaker

Just a day before releasing their third quarter earnings report, Mad Catz has announced a number of resignations from leadership positions. These include president and chief executive officer Darren Richardson, chairperson Thomas Brown, and senior vice president of business affairs Whitney Peterson. All vacancies have been filled internally.

“We recognize the tremendous value that Thomas, Darren and Whitney have brought to Mad Catz during their tenure and thank them for their many contributions throughout the years,” newly appointed CEO Karen McGinnis relayed in an official statement. “Looking ahead, we are confident that we have a talented leadership team in place that will enable us to steer the Company on a steady course in its operations and financial performance as we look to grow our business and reward our shareholders.”

While previously notorious for shoddy third-party controllers, Mad Catz turned the ship around in recent years thanks to their various competitive products. Many of those who joined the community in 2009 likely transitioned from pad to stick thanks to Mad Catz, and their presence at numerous fighting game events cannot be overstated.

This news comes less than a year after community and sponsorship manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio revealed that he will probably be leaving the company sometime before Evo 2016.

Mad Catz previously conveyed to investors that their financial stability hinged on the success of Rock Band 4, for which they designed numerous peripherals as well as helped distribute. While they enjoyed net sales of $38.9 million during the last fiscal quarter, the company still posted a net loss magnitudes greater than the same quarter in 2013 and 2014.

At this point, it’s hard to determine what this means for Mad Catz, let alone the fighting game community. While arcade sticks are readily available from other manufacturers, their support of players and tournaments alike has been a boon for the scene as a whole. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as more details surface.

Source: Mad Catz via Polygon, NeoGAF

As some of you might already be aware, CW Seed is currently airing a Machinima-produced series focused on ESL’s Mortal Kombat X pro league. By following various participants, they’ve provided a fantastic look into the fighting game community for folks who may not be familiar with competitive gaming.

But that’s not all. An eagle-eyed Test Your Might user recently caught a brief glimpse of upcoming characters Alien and Leatherface during the finale preview. While not heavy on details, the brief glimpses of gameplay reveal the names of one variation for each guest character.

We won’t spend a whole lot of time speculating on what these variations bring to the table (that didn’t work out too well last time), but the icons are pretty interesting. Konjurer Alien may make use of facehuggers, the nasty egg-layers of its home franchise, and possibly has some kind of lunging attack capable of being performed in the air. Killer Leatherface, on the other hand, will apparently put a greater emphasis on his iconic chainsaw.

The series finale of Mortal Kombat X: Machinima’s Chasing the Cup is scheduled to air on The CW next Monday, so stay tuned for more details. You can check out the rest of the series on CW Seed.

Source: CW Seed via Test Your Might

We don’t talk about fighting game apparel here on Shoryuken all that often. This is mostly due to the fact that, outside a few outliers, clothing designed for fans of the genre is pretty mediocre, but one shirt has set the bar so low that we are ready to reconsider that stance.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, Street Fighter V is almost here. That’s really exciting, so much so that you may be looking for a shirt or two to share that excitement with the world. Luckily, there’s a good deal of source material for hypothetical designs: the game’s official logo, the iconic notation for a hadouken, the characters on Ryu’s gloves, or even something like the ‘FIGHT’ and ‘K.O.’ effects that bookend every match.

GameStop, in their infinite wisdom, took all these ideas, opened up Photoshop, and just went to town.

I’m not going to act like I’m the most fashion-forward individual, and far be it from me to put down anyone for their choice in clothing, but what the hell was GameStop thinking with this one? It’s almost as if they forgot they needed to send Capcom a design and grabbed a kid from the mailroom for a hasty lesson in “what’s hip these days?” Even the model has given up on trying to make it look good!

Oh, and you probably already noticed that they used effects from Street Fighter IV. On a Street Fighter V shirt. Whoops.

If there’s any consolation here, it’s that this shirt won’t be appearing on store shelves any time soon. It’s currently only available as part of GameStop’s Power Up program, which means folks won’t be spending actual money on it. But still…wow.

Be sure to take time out of your day to show folks like BROKENTIER, Eighty Sixed, and Hungry Human some love. They deserve it.

Source: r/StreetFighter

Street Fighter V still has a few days left until its official release, but one lucky NeoGAF user was able to get some time in with the final build during a tournament at their local GAME location. While they didn’t provide gameplay details, they were able to try out the early story mode that will be available at launch.

Story is never the most important part of a fighting game, but Street Fighter V’s features a number of cameos from important characters in the universe. In the shots they provided, a younger Sean Matsuda can be seen having a tender moment with his sister Laura, Nash speaks with the mysterious woman (who is apparently named Helen) from the cinematic trailer, and Guile reunites with Chun-Li and Cammy in a more casual version of his military uniform.

Click to view slideshow.

We can glean a few things from these images, as random as they may be. For one, Sean seems significantly different than he did in Street Fighter III, with red hair and lighter skin. Also, we may be looking at an early version of Guile’s design before he becomes playable later this year.

This art was created by famed Capcom illustrator Bengus, and will act as the initial, character-focused story mode before the full cinematic narrative drops this June.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16. For more specific details on what happens in these various story scenes, be sure to check out this additional post.

Source: NeoGAF