Category: Fighting Games

At the conclusion of this weekend’s Capcom Cup, it was announced that the Street Fighter V beta is scheduled to open up for a third time later this month, and new details have revealed that both PlayStation 4 and PC players will be able to get in on the action.

The latest Capcom-Unity posting from associate producer Peter “Combofiend” Rosas lays out a number of details for this upcoming testing phase, including the presence of ranked and casual matches, training, an expanded presence for the Capcom Fighters Network, and more. Additionally, those who already have access to the beta will be able to send out a limited number of invites to those who don’t, greatly expanding its reach and, hopefully, feedback from the community.

It should be noted that training mode was present in previous iterations but only as a waiting room for online matches. As such, we’re unsure if its mention in Rosas’ breakdown means players will be able to take advantage of extended practice sessions outside of netplay.

Street Fighter V’s next beta phase begins worldwide on December 18 and will last through December 20.

Source: Capcom-Unity

Arc System Works has an early Christmas gift for all you Guilty Gear fans out there. The latest home version of the storied fighting game franchise, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, will be heading to Steam on December 9.

With this release, players on PC are will finally be able to play the same version as their console counterparts. While still behind the release parity achieved by their genre contemporaries, it’s definitely a step forward for Arc System Works.

As for how post-release characters Sin Kiske, Elphelt Valentine, and Leo Whitefang will work, ArcSys mentions that they can be purchased with in-game currency or as downloadable content.

Those who grab the game on Steam will also receive a digital copies of the Guilty Gear Vocal Collection and the -REVELATOR- arcade opening “Wanna Be Crazy” by Naoki Hashimoto.

But that’s not all! Arc System Works plans to expand this growing lineup with three more fighters throughout 2016. BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND is scheduled to release in February, Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code sometime next spring, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late will round things out during the summer.

It’s never been a better time to be a fighting game fan, and it’s great to see these opportunities extend to PC as well. Stay tuned for more details on these titles as we near their expected release windows.

Source: Arc System Works via Wario64, thanks to IPT.McArthur and Luis H. Garcia for their tips.

Back in 2014, we saw the release of Street Fighter Assassin’s Fist, a web series praised for both its faithfulness to the game’s story as well as its overall quality. Reaction was so positive, in fact, that Capcom has decided to move forward on a follow-up.

After Capcom Cup 2015 ended, executive producer Yoshinori Ono announced that they have partnered with the Assassin’s Fist team and Machinima to produce Street Fighter V Resurrection, a brand new web series centered around the upcoming title.

Aside from the above teaser, no other details were revealed. That said, we’re bound to learn more as we approach the series’ March 2016 release date, so stay tuned.

Sources: Capcom Fighters, Machinima

Not long ago the folks at Versus Scotland released a trailer teasing the announcement of information surrounding next year’s Hypespotting tournament. Earlier today, organizers lifted the veil and made Hypespotting 5 official. As luck would have it, this fifth installment of the Glasgow-based tournament comes within just a couple short months of the release of Street Fighter V. Needless to say, the flagship Capcom fighter will be making its mark at the event–one of the first majors to host the game–but it’s far from the only fighter that will be featured.

The event is also set to hold double-elimination tournaments for games ranging from classics like Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III: Third Strike to current crowd-pleasers like Killer Instinct, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and no, they’ve not forgotten Ultra Street Fighter IV either. With such a wide array of games in the lineup, organizers plan to run multiple streams to get the most action possible to those who can’t make it out to the event.

If you’ve already got plans to attend, now is the time to register. For the remainder of 2015, event tickets will be 25% off when using the code “AREYOUHYPE” (no quotation marks) upon registration. If you’re feeling confident, you can also gain entry to the tournament through Road to Hype seeding tournaments, the dates of which will be announced as they draw closer.

Hypespotting 5 is set to take place April 2-3 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland. For a full list of games, as well as any other Hypespotting information you could possibly desire, be sure to head over to the event’s official website.

Source: Hypespotting

King of Fighters XIV finally made its playable debut at PlayStation Experience this past weekend, giving attendees an opportunity to see what the upcoming title has in store. As a new numbered entry to SNK Playmore’s storied franchise, it brings with it a variety of changes in both gameplay and aesthetics.

Famitsu recently got a chance to talk to battle designer Yasuyuki Oda about why they’re making these changes.

According to Oda, one of their goals with King of Fighters XIV is to simplify the systems. This means that things like the Drive meter from King of Fighters XIII and their respective Drive Cancels have been removed, replaced by the MAX Mode of older games.

The reason behind this is to strike a balance that appeals to players of both combo-heavy installments, like King of Fighters 2002, and older titles that were less so, like King of Fighters ’98. And now that they are starting out on consoles instead of in arcades, SNK wants to attract more players to the franchise by keeping controls simple, but still giving the game depth to be explored.

King of Fighters XIV is scheduled to arrive on PlayStation 4 sometime next year. Oda mentions that the title is about 70% complete, so it might hit consoles sooner than you think.

Source: Famitsu via MMCafe, thanks to Zakeru for the tip.

SNK Playmore’s fighting game releases on PC have mostly focused on the King of Fighters series, with both old and new titles finding their way to the digital platform. But if a new database entry is correct, they’re also planning to bring Garou: Mark of the Wolves to Steam.

This listing doesn’t really come as a huge surprise thanks to prior hints from the developer, and with Garou staff member Yasuyuki Oda now acting as King of Fighters XIV’s battle designer, it only makes sense to refresh our memories.

As the last official release for this title was on mobile devices, this release would be great news for fans of old-school SNK fighters and would allow newcomers to experience it for the first time. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Source: SteamDB, thanks to Zakeru for the tip.

As we found out at the beginning of the month, Pokkén Tournament has a new character on the horizon. While no official announcement has yet been made regarding this upcoming addition, the folks at Siliconera have given us reason to believe that Sceptile will be filling this slot on the roster.

As you can see in the images below, the green creature appearing atop the featured Pokkén Tournament setup certainly bears a strong resemblance to the grass-type Pokémon. Additionally, upon closer inspection, the image potentially reveals two additional support Pokémon that will also be joining the fun: Electrode and Farfetch’d

Click to view slideshow.

Of course, all of this information is currently speculative–though quite likely–so stay tuned for the official announcement on Thursday, December 10.

Source: Siliconera via My Nintendo News