Author: Sam "Trilby" Foxall

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Inspired by Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at Frosty Faustings IX? Join the Growing TvC Netplay Community

As seen with its exciting top 8 at Frosty Faustings IX, there is a bit of groundswell for a potential revival for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as players return to the 2v2 fighter ahead of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. With buzz returning to this Wii-exclusive title, the small netplay community for TvC is attempting to rally more people to the cause through the special Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Discord.

Since the Wii’s online matchmaking is now offline, members of the TvC Discord play together using the Dolphin emulator and have started to run weekly netplay tournaments to test the waters of competition. There is even a dedicated YouTube channel for tournament replays and match highlights, if you are interested in the current state of TvC netplay.

The winner of the Frosty Faustings IX tournament, MagnoMan is an active competitor in the netplay scene, as well as Obiiwan, a top player from Croatia. If you are at all interested in either learning or relearning Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, check out the replay channel and the Discord for extra information.

Source: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Netplay Community via Stephen MacIntyre

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Dissidia Final Fantasy Will Feature Story Mode on Console

In an interview for the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu, Dissidia Final Fantasy director Takeo Kujiraoka and producer Ichiro Hazama answered questions on the status of the PS4 version of Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade. Similar to the previous versions on PSP, the console version of Dissidia Final Fantasy will feature a Story Mode where the forces of good and evil will not doubt clash for the third time.

With Spiritus and Materia replaces Cosmos and Chaos as the champion deities for this edition of Dissidia, expect the Story Mode to involve players choosing to side to fight for balance or whatever. I doubt many players are going to pick up Dissidia for the gripping story, they probably want to watch Terra and the Onion Knight team up to smash Kuja and Sephiroth’s faces in.

Hazama explained that Dissidia missed the grand 30th anniversary for the Final Fantasy series as the game still is not in the greatest state to show off to fans. While the arcade version of Dissidia Final Fantasy is running on PS4 architecture, it must require extra tuning to perform on a standard PS4 system. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dissidia is a game which requires the PS4 Pro to run at top speeds.

Source: Dualshockers via Weekly Famitsu

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Ultimates Return to Killer Instinct on February 14th

Teased by Iron Galaxy at the end of the Kilgore stream back in January, they have revealed extra information on the first flashy Ultimates coming to Killer Instinct in February. In a sizable Q&A post by community manager Rukari Austin, 15 characters on the current KI roster are planned to receive Ultimates, with the first batch releasing on February 14th.

Each of the 15 characters will get one Ultimate, which can be activated by pressing Light Punch and Light Kick at the start of an Ultra Combo. You can only activate an Ultimate if you are about to win with a Supreme Victory, meaning you are still on your first health bar. Much like Ultras, Ultimates are the perfect way to really rub your victory in your opponent’s face.

The first Ultimate Master Pack will contain Ultimates for Jago, Maya, TJ Combo, Tusk, and Chief Thunder. The pack will be absolutely free to download for all KI players, with more scheduled for release in the coming months. As a treat ahead of their release, Iron Galaxy have released footage of Thunder’s Ultimate, with the final three for this pack coming out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week.

While it’s disappointing that not all characters are planned to have Ultimates, it’s great to see that they will be free to download on release. Rash has to have an Ultimate where he taunts his opponents to death, it’s only fair.

Source: Ultra Combo

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Smash Summit Spring Player Selection Is Now Open

The Smash Summit returns for its fourth installment, simply rebranding itself as “Smash Summit Spring,” suggesting that this invitational may become a seasonal event in 2017. Of course with every new Smash Summit comes a new round of voting to see which six fan-selected Super Smash Bros. Melee players will join the ten pre-invited players for a weekend of top-level Melee.

The opt in stage is currently open, where players within the top 70 of the current MIOM ranking can put themselves for possible selection for Smash Summit Spring. Twitter nominations will begin on February 6th, with 20 possible players going forward to the voting stage on February 10th. From there, the fierce player voting period with begin on February 13th with the final two players being voted into Smash Summit Spring on February 17th.

In order to close the voting loopholes which caused a significant amount of controversy at Smash Summit 3, players can only get extra votes by buying items from the Smash Summit 2017 shop, rather than from any tournament compendium. This is to clamp down on fans having a large stock of votes available to use, due to purchases made via other tournament compendiums.

So far, players like LG|Ice, Duck, MSF|The Moon, VGBC|Chudat, MIOM|Kirbykaze, Android and Syrox have opted into the Summit voting, with more being added in the coming days. Keep checking the smash.gg page for Smash Summit Spring for the up to date player lists.

Sources: r/smashbros; smash.gg

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Blue Beetle Coming to the Injustice 2 Beta Today, Alongside New Wave of Beta Codes

It’s a big day for Injustice 2 fans: as alongside the confirmation of characters like the Flash, Bane, and Poison Ivy on the roster and the reveal of Black Canary, additional characters are being added to the Injustice 2 beta. In a not-so cryptic tweet from Ed Boon, he states that Blue Beetle will be joining the Injustice 2 beta later today. By this logic, it’s possible to expect other characters like Gorilla Grodd or Wonder Woman to also join the beta in future updates, as they have been playable in previous pre-release builds.

Don’t worry if you haven’t made it into the Injustice 2 beta, as Boon also announced that another wave of codes will be winging their way to certain lucky Injustice fans as well.

Source: noobde

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Elevate Signs Joseu “Grief” Herrera as Their First Killer Instinct Player

Getting back into the world of traditional fighters after a brief absence, Elevate has announced their return with the signing of Joseu “Grief” Herrera to the team. Having previously been a part of Mutiny eSports, Grief racked up some stellar placings in 2016, getting second at East Coast Throwdown, seventh at Evo 2016, fourth at CEO 2016 and fifth at Killer Instinct World Cup 2016.

He has yet to get on the board in 2017–but with a new sponsorship behind him, expect Grief to be tearing up brackets very soon. As players like F3|HollywoodSleep, Circa|Nicky, Thompxson and UA|Bass are establishing themselves as the combatants to beat in what remains of Killer Instinct Season 3, Grief has to be ready for anything as we head towards Killer Instinct World Cup in March. With a character pool including ARIA, Arbiter, Orchid and Sadira, Grief should be well equipped to fight anything that may come his way in 2017.

Source: ElevateGG

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NorCal Regionals Returns on April 14th-16th, Will Act as Capcom Pro Tour Premier Event

Acting as NorCal’s premier fighting game tournament, NorCal Regionals is returning for 2017 on April 14th-16th. Held at the Holiday Inn in Sacramento, NorCal Regionals 2017 promises three days of top-quality fighting game action, for a whole host of games.

Much like last year, NorCal Regionals will be a Premier Event on the Capcom Pro Tour, so expect talent from around the world to descend on Sacramento to fight for one of those auto-qualifier spots. Currently, there is no news on whether the infamous “death pool” will return, but based on the excitement it generated last year, I would not rule it out. The games that will feature at NorCal Regionals 2017 are:

  • Street Fighter V
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
  • Pokkén Tournament
  • The King of Fighters XIV

There will also be a community choice game, where the game with the most signups will also feature on the NorCal Regionals stream. The community choice games are Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- and BlazBlue: Central Fiction. There are tournaments running for these four games, but only one will be officially streamed by the event, so rally the troops to get your game on the main stage.

Early bird registration is available now, along with hotel bookings, so head over to the NorCal Regionals website to ensure your place at one of California’s most prestigious events.

Source: NorCal Regionals

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Black Canary Screeches into Injustice 2 with New Character Reveal Trailer

Teased by NetherRealm earlier this week, Black Canary has been revealed as the latest character coming to Injustice 2. Shown off via IGN First, she seems like a mix of Sonya Blade and Sindel, using athletic flip kicks and leg throws to dominate her opponent, along with her famous Canary Cry to stun enemies.

She can even throw a stun grenade like Demolition Sonya, incapacitating foes for a brief second to set up a combo. Her super move has her kicking opponents high into the air, before letting off a massive screech to force them into the floor and then slamming into them with a massive punch.

As well as seeing Black Canary, this trailer showed off a new Arkham Asylum stage, where players can transition from the courtyard to inside the prison, by way of knocking an opponent throw a few prison cages and a Gothic window.

Injustice 2 launches on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on May 16th, 2017!

Source: IGN

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Wizard World Returns for Its 2017 Tour, Adding Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to Its Game Roster

Following a successful tour last year,–where it acted as the place to play Tekken 7 in the USA before its console release–Wizard World Gaming is returning for another year of traveling fighting game tournaments. Starting off in Portland, Oregon on February 17th-19th, Wizard World Gaming will visit Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Orlando, Chicago, Madison and finally Austin on its country-spanning US tour.

While the 2016 tour mainly centered around Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is now joining in on the fun as a regular game to appear at Wizard World tournaments in 2017. So, if you are looking for yet another of the plethora of Smash tournaments to attend this year, you can now add Wizard World Gaming to your list.

Wizard World Portland features a $3,000 prize pool for Tekken 7, and $2,000 prize pools for both Street Fighter V and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, so get signed up over on the Wizard World Gaming website to ensure your spot.

Source: Wizard World Gaming

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CEO Gaming Announces the 11 Games Lined Up for CEO 2017

In a flurry of teaser tweets over the past few days, CEO Gaming has confirmed the eleven games that will be present at CEO 2017 in Orlando, Florida. Registration for the event will open this coming Friday on February 3rd, so start pinching those pennies if you’re looking for a trip to Florida in June.

The eleven games that will be at CEO 2017 are as follows:

  • Street Fighter V
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
  • Tekken 7
  • Injustice 2
  • The King of Fighters XIV
  • BlazBlue: Central Fiction
  • Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- (REV 2 will be used if it is available before CEO 2016)
  • Killer Instinct
  • Pokkén Tournament
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee

There was a bit of light trolling surrounding the 11th game, with CEO president Alex Jebailey having some mock polls to see if Melee would be the final game on the title card. It successfully beat out games like Def Jam: Fight for New York, Ultra Street Fighter IV, ARMS, Them’s Fightin’ Herds and Shrek Super Slam for that coveted 11th place. Many of the losing games will still be playable at the “Jebaileyland” arcade at CEO, so there will definitely be chance to get those Def Jam sets in.

For additional information on CEO 2017, read the Facebook event page and check out CEO’s official website on Friday to register for the event. CEO 2017 takes place at the Wyndham Orlando Resort from June 16th to 18th.

Sources: CEOGaming; CEOJebailey