Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

After successfully raising $450,000 to release a Shaq Fu sequel, former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and developer Big Deez Productions have been awfully quiet about the project. Fortunately, that’s all going to change tomorrow night at The Game Awards 2015.

According to the big man himself, Shaq will be making an appearance at the Los Angeles event with a Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn surprise in tow. The awards show often prides themselves on the amount of exclusive reveals they are able to pack into a few hours, but this is certainly the biggest one yet.

While more focused on single-player and cooperative action than competitive multiplayer, A Legend Reborn is set to feature a one-on-one mode that will form the basis of a backer-exclusive tournament with $25,000 on the line. It was also originally planned to launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, but it’s likely many of these details have changed in the year following the Indiegogo campaign.

Be sure to tune into The Game Awards tomorrow, December 3, at 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST to hear more.

Source: Shaq

When details first surfaced about Nine’s upcoming appearance in BlazBlue: Central Fiction, imaginations raced regarding what kinds of attacks she would have at her disposal. Similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s Dormammu only with three elements instead of two, Nine is capable of building up an arsenal of moves by mixing and matching water, wind, and fire over the course of a match.

And while imagination is well and good, a brand new report from Famitsu has broken down how the former hero will be able to utilize these elements when she joins the game later this month. As usual, greatfernman has contributed another set of excellent translations, and their work forms the basis for much of the information that follows below.

During battle, Nine can store up to three elements for use as special attacks. These range from spells that consume single, double, or triple mixtures of the same element or more unique moves that make use of more than one element.

Some of the more notable spells include Heliodor of Submission (Water/Air), which gives all of Nine’s attacks guard point until she is hit or it runs out; Citrine of Rotation (Air/Fire), a projectile-reflecting mirror that moves across the stage; and Nephrite of Demise (Water/Air/Fire), a countdown timer that, with each full rotation, summons fire that can’t be normal blocked.

Click to view slideshow.

Furthermore, Nine’s Sea Moss Gate special rotates spells between the Active and Stock slots, allowing her to have two of these attacks at the ready at any given time. This switch apparently happens pretty quickly, and can be canceled into the D button, meaning Nine can use a built-up spell immediately.

In addition to the text-based information, Famitsu also provided quick video showing how Nine can incorporate these spells into combos. It appears that building up elementally pure attacks with repetition will go a long way at the most basic levels, but things can get crazy rather fast.

For more information on Nine’s spells and other special attacks, be sure to follow their respective links to greatfernman’s complete translations.

Source: Famitsu via Kurushii, translations courtesy of greatfernman

If you’re currently experiencing Street Fighter V withdrawals, you’ll be happy to know that the beta is set to open back up later this month.

This news comes courtesy of eagle-eyed NeoGAF user Inaba Resident, who spotted a small promotion on the PlayStation Network advertising the upcoming title and a brand new beta period of December 17-20.

Whether or not this applies to PC users remains to be seen, but there have been reports that this morning’s PlayStation 4 update has also made its way to Steam. We’re sure to learn more when these details are officially announced, but for now you can plan to stay awake for that Star Wars midnight showing with some good ol’ Street Fighter fisticuffs.

Source: PlayStation Network via NeoGAF

By now, it’s no secret that WWE superstar Xavier Woods has at least a passing interest in fighting games. When he’s not breaking faces and playing trombone as part of two-time tag team champions The New Day, he can be found producing content for his video game channel UpUpDownDown, which frequently features professional wrestlers slugging it out in our favorite competitive genre.

But while he’s been known to belt out the Final Fantasy victory tune on television, Woods has never (to the best of my knowledge, anyways) paid homage to fighting games in the same way. Never, that is, until tonight.

Earlier this evening, Woods and New Day teammates Big E and Kofi Kingston opened Raw with a segment dedicated to the WWE’s current heavyweight champion, Sheamus. This, of course, included some jabs at previous title-holder Roman Reigns, who lost the belt to Sheamus only a few minutes after being crowned champ. His reign (wink) was so brief that The New Day missed it entirely while they, as Woods put it, were preparing for Evo and Final Round.

That’s right, he gave a shout out to two of our community’s largest events in front of nearly 20,000 people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not to mention countless fans watching the segment from home.

Does this mean we’ll see Woods at fighting game tournaments next year? Will Evo feature an appearance by WWE 2K16? Maybe not, but you have to admit this is pretty cool.

Source: WWE via Joel Ortiz

Ever since the release of an image teasing more Mortal Kombat X content, fans have been eager to learn more. Unfortunately, developer NetherRealm Studios hasn’t provided details past the promise of more characters in 2016, but that should all change later this week at The Game Awards 2015.

Despite numerous issues in their portrayal of the fighting game genre, the awards show will play host to the opening round of information on future Mortal Kombat X characters. According to NetherRealm creative director Ed Boon, we’ll find out “Who’s Next?” during the exclusive reveal, likely the first of four characters they are planning to release early next year.

The Game Awards 2015 is scheduled for this Thursday, December 3, at 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST. You can watch live on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, YouTube, Twitch, and various other platforms.

Source: Ed Boon