Author: Luke "Woocash" Siuty

San Diego Comic Con 2018 took place this weekend, and the Bandai Namco team took the opportunity to feature the latest developments of SoulCalibur VI. The most recent additions to the growing roster are Talim and Voldo, and after their character trailers, we now get to see them in action.

IGN had the opportunity to interview Bandai Namco Brand Manager Mark Religioso. Religioso goes over Voldo and his origins, mentioning how the venerated Soul character became a staple of the series over the years. Unfortunately, there isn’t really much information revealed; they reiterate the fact that Character Creation will return in some form, and remind us that SoulCalibur VI will be at Evo 2018.

Talim was one of the most popular characters, according to a character poll. Religioso also mentions that the game is much more cinematic and features slow-motion in order to make it more appealing as a spectator game. There is some Voldo footage in the background, but keep scrolling below to see dedicated game-play clips.

Featured partially in the clips above, here’s a more substantial look at Voldo in action. The player pulled off a couple of interesting combos and attacks, using classic Voldo stances.

Here’s some more of Talim in action against Yoshimitsu and Grøh:

Source: IGN

Traveling to Japan, the mecca of fighting games, carries one condition with it: it’s better if you’re a player who can use arcade sticks, or else you won’t be able to perform at your best at numerous arcade centers you’ll want to visit. Though some tournaments in Japan ran on consoles, for the most part, you have to know how to play on a stick. But this could change in the future, and one person is showing a successful modding of an arcade cabinet that allows players to use some console pads.

パッド勢にもマイスティック勢にも朗報。反応が大きかったギィルティ用にXBOX360、PS3、PS4のUSBコントローラーが使えるUD-USBDecorderをミカドのB筐体に取り付けました。
簡易チェックは付けましたがあくまで自己責任でお願いします。
家庭用パッドのデフォルトと同じ設定はDだそうです。 pic.twitter.com/vY2rEN7krx

— TMF (@tmf68k) July 15, 2018

TMF posted on Twitter about how they used a USB decoder to hook up pads onto a Mikado arcade cabinet. In further tweets, they said that PS3 and Xbox 360 tended to be less stable and more buggy, and of course, they have to remain wired.

Here’s a video of this in action, with the pad working and using a macro in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2:

ギルティにパッド勢からの要望でロマキャンボタン取り付けました。L1で発動します。アケコン使った場合もL1で発動します。
新品レバーでも好みのメーカーや個体差で納得がいかないことも色々経験してきましたが、自分の中の1つの答えだと思っています。
パッド勢遊びに来てね！ pic.twitter.com/rh3Py607rU

— TMF (@tmf68k) July 15, 2018

And here’s another video from Joniosan which shows a player successfully using this to play matches:

プレイ動画はこちら。
パッド対応台増えて欲しいとの事だったので皆で沢山遊んで増やしていきましょう(^o^) pic.twitter.com/b3iuR3gcMD

— じょにお (@jonio_mikado27) July 17, 2018

Maybe there’s hope for a future when pad and stick players alike can play on any platform, regardless of preference? This could be an important, first step for arcades to start including USB ports that let pad players bring their own devices.

Sources: TMF; Joniosan

The time has finally come, PC warriors! As the latest version of the Under Night In-Birth, aptly subtitled Late[st], arrived on consoles earlier this year, many fans were eager to see if it would arrive on Steam as well. Arc System Works PC developer Shini just announced the Steam version of the game Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] on Twitter.

The Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] Steam page lists the release date as August 20th, this year (it will be August 21st in Japan). The teaser image Shini posted does list the Force of Fragment digital soundtrack, and he confirmed that it will be available as free DLC until August 28th, a full week after the release. If the Steam version is in-line with the console edition, it should cost $49.99.

For those who don’t know much about UNIST — While it does have a heavy anime aesthetic, it’s unlike typical air-dashers like BlazBlue: Central Fiction or Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. It’s a bit more footsie-oriented and rewards good defense. At the center of its mechanics lies the GRD system, a sort of tug-of-war mechanic that can shift the tide between players. It features 20 unique characters, most fairly easy-to-approach but difficult-to-master.

Check out a trailer of the opening animation here:

For more information about the game, check out Shoryuken’s Under Night In-Birth:Exe Late[st] review.

Source: Steam; Shini_Zack; PQubeGames

France is known as a mecca for SoulCalibur, and it seems like that will stay the same for the next iteration. Recently, a few famous French players ventured to Bandai Namco’s offices to sit down for a little bit longer with the game. Kayane, Hayate, Keysona, and Keev spent as much time as they could combing through the game’s mechanics and garnering impressions on SoulCalibur VI‘s growing cast.

The players compiled their thoughts in a SoulCalibur VI Feedback Doc, divided into several sections. Overall, their opinions are positive, agreeing that the E3 build has come a long way from the earlier version. They would like to see an option to turn off armor breaking, and their major complaint about game mechanics is slightly-too-high combo damage. They suggest lengthening Soul Charge but reducing its power slightly, because it lasts for only a very short time.

As for characters, they dub Mitsurugi and Sophitia as the most basic, beginner-friendly characters, unsurprisingly. They consider this game to offer best version of Zasalamel, dubbing his combos “stylish.” Interestingly, they also said that Geralt “seems very strong;” he’s mostly an unexplored character at this point.

If you’re more of a watcher than a reader, they also recorded footage of their matches.

Here’s an extended clip of Kayane using Geralt and showing his potential.

Hayate uploaded a clip of him using Kilik against Keev’s Nightmare.

The SoulCalibur.fr channel uploaded several clips of gameplay with various characters.

In case you missed it, check out the Talim reveal trailer.

Sources: Google Docs; KayaneTV; SoulCalibur.fr; Hayate EIN