Fighting Games – Page 1390

May 22, 2015

Arc System Works Readying Even More Games for Steam

Arc System Works has been in the news quite a bit lately, what with an upcoming PC release for Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- heading to Europe next month, and it looks like they aren’t ready to give up that spotlight.

According to Shini, one of the developer’s Steam representatives, they have quite a few games in the pipeline for the platform. “Some of them might even be out of your imagination, I can assure you that!”

While many will obviously assume they are speaking of ports for more recent Guilty Gear and BlazBlue installments, Shini was quick to add to the previous statement, saying that Arc System Works is aware of the two big titles folks want to see on Steam but that they have a lot more than the aforementioned franchises. Like Under Night In-Birth or Arcana Heart, which they help other companies publish. Perhaps even the pipedream that is Sengoku Basara X.

Combined with the fact that the Japanese developer is now handling much of their own publishing, the stars are definitely starting to align for Arc System Works fans hoping to see more of their titles on PC. Feel free to let us know in the comments which of their games you’d like to see appear on Steam someday.

Source: Steam

May 22, 2015

Combo Breaker Day 1 Streaming Live from Rosemont, Illinois

The Midwest will be getting some tournament action this weekend with Combo Breaker, going down in Rosemon near Chicago, Illinois. Born as the spiritual successor to the beloved Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament series, Combo Breaker will feature a bit of just about everything, from current to classic to obscure.

Combo Breaker will function as a Capcom Pro Tour ranking tournament, awarding ranking points to the top sixteen players in Ultra Street Fighter IV singles.

For those unable to attend, Combo Breaker will be brought to you live by the fine streamers at Team Spooky, VGBootCamp, Callisto and Galloping Ghost Arcade. Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez and Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong will be teaming up to bring you the after hours broadcast on Wong’s Twitch channel.

Schedule

Click for larger view.

Source: Combo Breaker

May 22, 2015

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Receiving European Digital Release on June 3

Hot on the heels of Arc System Works announcement that they will be directly publishing Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R to Steam, the developer has decided to let Europe in on the Guilty Gear fun.

Early this morning, Sony’s Playstation Blog has confirmed that Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- will launch in Europe on June 3, with the game receiving a digital release on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. They will be available for £32.99 and £39.99 respectively. No details have been revealed as to how downloadable characters will be handled.

Unfortunately, this comes about seven months later than the title’s remarkably close release dates in Japan and North America, not to mention a rather hefty price tag. But with rumors of Arc System Works dipping into direct publishing in other regions and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R heading to PC, this could be a small sign of the developer increasing their support in Europe.

Source: Playstation Blog Europe

May 22, 2015

See What Under Night In-Birth Newcomer Phonon Whips Up in This Loketest Footage

Location tests for Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] are well under way in Japan, and players have been able to test out the new changes to the game as well as get their hands on Phonon, the latest addition to the roster.

Many players have been clamoring to know more about the recently revealed character, but with videos from these public showings hard to come by, very little visual data of this arcade-exclusive cast member has been available. Luckily, Japanese publication Dengeki was allowed to record a sizable amount of footage for us to get a glimpse of what the new girl has to offer.

This is obviously still a test build of the game, but it gives us a pretty good picture of how Phonon will play. She has the large, screen-covering normals that you’d come to expect and want from a character in this series, and she can crack her whip to create projectiles and gain even more screen control. The player in the video above also shows off some of her basic cancel and special move options, as well as a couple of simple combo routes.

All in all, Phonon is shaping up to be a solid addition to Under Night’s playable cast. We’re sure to hear more about the game as location tests continue throughout the weekend, so stay tuned..

Source: Dengeki via Lord Walkman

May 22, 2015

Ultra Street Fighter IV on PlayStation 4 to Support PlayStation 3 Arcade Sticks

With Ultra Street Fighter IV’s release on PlayStation 4 rapidly approaching, Sony officially announced this morning that the port will support PlayStation 3 arcade sticks. This functionality comes courtesy of a driver crafted by Lab Zero Games, which they have implemented in early builds of Skullgirls 2nd Encore and made available to other developers.

This is great news for fans, as the prices of arcade sticks compatible with Sony’s latest platform can be prohibitive for players looking to jump into the fighting genre’s latest releases, especially when paired with the cost of the console itself. Previously, NetherRealm Studios utilized the driver in Mortal Kombat X, though their method does come with its own issues.

Ultra Street Fighter IV on PlayStation 4 will also come bundled with all of the downloadable content already released for earlier versions of the game, including the Vacation and Wild costume packs, when it launches next Tuesday, May 26.

Sony reiterated that they have also removed the slight input lag associated with the PlayStation 3 version in this port.

Source: PlayStation Blog via Bobby Wesley Cruz

May 22, 2015

Stunfest 2015 Day 1 Streaming Live from Rennes, France

This weekend, 3 Hit Combo is bringing you another edition of its yearly gaming festival Stunfest from Rennes, France. Stunfest is a celebration of all things gaming, including fighting games. Each year the event is host to one of the largest fighting game tournaments in Europe, and as a part of the Capcom Pro Tour as a premier event, the stakes are particularly high this year.

Stunfest is a Capcom Pro Tour 2015 premier event. The winner of the Ultra Street Fighter IV singles competition will earn a spot in the Capcom Cup finals later this year, joining EG|Momochi, RZR|Xian, MCZ|Mago and MCZ| Daigo Umehara. A host of players from Asia will be looking to compete for the qualifier spot, ranking points and prize bonus. International players attending the event include MCZ|Daigo Umehara, MCZ|TOKIDO, MCZ|Mago, EG|Momochi, YBK|Santarou, Bonchan, Kazunoko, Eita, RF, D44 BAS, EBI and R of Japan; INFILTRATION and POONGKO of South Korea; RZR|Xian of Singapore; AVM|GamerBee of Taiwan; Dark Jiewa of China; and Misterio of Chile. Of course, expect a large number of familiar faces from the European scene such as MD|Luffy, FA|Prodigal Son, GL|Valmaster, FOX and more.

Stunfest will be primarily streamed on Dailymotion. The USFIV singles tournament will be streamed on the Capcom Fighters Twitch channel. Check Stunfest TV for a listing of streams.

English Stream

Grand Stage

VS Stage

Stands Stage

Friday

Event	CEST (Local)	PDT	EDT	GMT
Breakers Revenge	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
CvS2	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
SCV	3:00 PM	6:00 AM	9:00 AM	1:00 PM

Saturday

Event	CEST (Local)	PDT	EDT	GMT
GGXrd	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
SFIII:3S Teams	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
SSFIIT Teams	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
KOFXIII	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
USFIV Teams	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
UMvC3	2:00 PM	5:00 AM	8:00 AM	12:00 PM
MKX	3:00 PM	6:00 AM	9:00 AM	1:00 PM

Sunday

Event	CEST (Local)	PDT	EDT	GMT
USFIV	10:00 AM	1:00 AM	4:00 AM	8:00 AM
SSB4	1:00 PM	4:00 AM	7:00 AM	11:00 AM
SSFIIT	1:00 PM	4:00 AM	7:00 AM	11:00 AM
TTT2	1:00 PM	4:00 AM	7:00 AM	11:00 AM
BBCPEX	1:00 PM	4:00 AM	7:00 AM	11:00 AM

Source: Stunfest, Kakuge Checker, Capcom Fighters

May 22, 2015

Mad Catz to Release Limited Stock of Ultra Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition 2 Arcade Sticks

Mad Catz’ Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition 2 has been a hot item every time new batches have come around, selling out quickly time and time again. As such, the stick has been quite hard to get for anyone who isn’t fast or lucky enough to purchase one online.

If you’ve been wanting to pick one of these bad boys up, it’s time to get your wallets ready, as Mad Catz has announced that a limited stock of the stick’s Ultra Street Fighter IV edition will be coming this Friday on their online store, starting at 12:00 PM PST.

This version shares the same features as the Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- variants. Aside from the usual, arcade-quality Sanwa parts, it is also compatible with both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. For a more detailed breakdown, you can check out our review here.

With Ultra Street Fighter IV heading to PlayStation 4 next Tuesday, now is as good a time as any for players lacking a next-generation arcade stick to pick one up. Remember, these sticks sell ridiculously fast, so be ready!

Source: Mad Catz

May 22, 2015

Human Reaction Times and Fighting Games, or Why Blocking Isn’t Always Easy

Frame data matters to some extent in every competitive game. Many of these games, however, lack a static framerate against which to compare these numbers, so any gathered frame values are, at best, a rough estimate of the times that players can expect before the attack in question connects with their character.

Since fighting games do run at a static 60 frames-per-second, we are able to discern the exact fraction of a second that we have to react to any given attack. Infil, on their blog dedicated to helping Street Fighter players transition to Killer Instinct, recently put up an excellent post discussing how human reaction time ties into the latter in particular. Through some simple math, they were able to discern that the average human reaction time of about 265 milliseconds equates to roughly 16 frames in a 60fps game. If you’d like to test your own reaction time to see how you compare to the rest of humanity, you can do so by following this link.

This average reaction time means that any attack with a startup time above 16 frames should afford enough of a gap for a reasonable reaction—blocking, in particular. But Infil makes it a point to note that this reaction speed relies upon a single input from an expected source, like clicking when the screen turns green or, in fighting game terms, blocking an overhead. As soon as other stimuli begin piling onto this single source—lows, throws, potential unblockables that require an entirely different form of defense—things get a lot hairier.

With this in mind, here’s a more FGC-friendly (and I use the word “friendly” quite loosely) reaction speed benchmarking tool designed by Teyah and posted to the Dustloop forums back in January of 2011. Instead of providing a simple red-to-green shift—as offered in the test linked above—to denote when one should press an appropriate button, users of this application are tasked with blocking Millia Rage’s overhead options. That’s all. However, these animations push human reaction times to the absolute limit, thanks to their sheer speed. Don’t flinch when she goes for a low, either, as pressing anything against a low will also count as a hit for Millia. It also counts what Teyah appropriately calls “yomi blocking” as a fault, so you have to actually be reacting to Millia’s animations, not simply guessing.

It’s hard. It’s genuinely hard. Try it for yourself.

In USFIV, Ibuki's overhead has 25 start-up frames.

In Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ibuki’s overhead has 25 startup frames.

These tight reaction times and the number of actual reactions possible is why, in a game like Ultra Street Fighter IV, we occasionally see players not use an overhead for an entire set, and then throw it out after a long string of hits to secure a stun in the final round to take the tournament. The overhead wasn’t even on the radar for the opponent that found themselves on its receiving end, so it hit.

With regards to Killer Instinct in particular, Infil cites various bits of frame data for comparison against the average human reaction time, and there are plenty of things to choose from. From the grab bag of potential examples, they pulled Sabrewulf’s Jumping Slash overhead because, “you execute the move out of a running attack, which also has a low option (Hamstring).” So immediately, a defender has two sources (high and low) to potentially block on reaction. Infil goes on to state that “Jumping Slash has 15 frames of startup, which is already on the low side of the reaction limit, but it also doesn’t have a particularly obvious visual tell until the move is almost ready to hit you. This means Jumping Slash is designed to be mostly unreactable to the average gamer.” In other words, defenders have to read their opponents and predict which option they’ll take and block appropriately before the attack even begins.
These same sort of tight reaction windows occur within the game’s combo-breaking system as well, with light auto-doubles allowing only 14-15 frames to react and manuals offering as few as 5 frames.

This got me thinking about Mortal Kombat X—as plenty of things do at the moment—and the way that 50/50 okizeme dominates the current playing field. This is one of the reasons that a character’s strength (or lack thereof) is so heavily influenced by their ability (or inability) to execute fast overhead and low-hitting attacks that convert into combos.

[The frame data used below is taken from the current PC build of Mortal Kombat X; these numbers may have shifted slightly in either direction due to corrections or slight changes implemented in the most recent console patch.]

Kung Jin’s 18-frame overhead in Mortal Kombat X

There are certain characters—Bojutsu Kung Jin is an excellent example—who can easily dish out over 30% damage from landing a low or an overhead. Here are the startup times for two of his openers:

Back+1 (low) has a 12-frame startup
Forward+2 (overhead) has an 18-frame startup

Much like Sabrewulf’s Jumping Slash, these attacks are awfully close to the 16 frames of average reaction time. Add in the threat of a throw and those defending are better off spending meter in order to escape pressure through an armored attack than actually try to block, unless their opponent seems to always go for the same okizeme option.

The takeaway here is that we’ve all probably got faster-then-normal reaction times by now, but we can’t react to everything. This drives home the importance of a varied approach to the offensive side of whatever fighting game you prefer. Don’t always go for a low. Don’t always throw. Be sure to mixup your approach, but also know when to keep some of your options out of the opponent’s mind—like the overhead in the Ultra Street Fighter IV example above—to throw out when they least expect them. And if you get hit with the occasional mixup, don’t get discouraged; we’re all only human.

And don’t forget to head over to Infil’s blog to check out their full post regarding Killer Instinct and reaction times. It’s a great read.

Sources: Infil, Dustloop Forums

May 22, 2015

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R Heading to Steam on May 26

After having its release spoiled by a recently discovered listing on the Korean game rating board website, we now know for a fact that Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R will be released on Steam. And the best part is, fans won’t have to wait very long at all, as its launch is scheduled for next Tuesday, May 26.

One of the more interesting things to point out here is Arc System Works is publishing the title themselves, breaking from recent traditions of handing off ports to H2 Interactive. Could this be a sign that they plan to bring newer titles to the platform or perhaps begin placing an emphasis on PC versions for future releases? Only time will tell.

By purchasing Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R on Steam, players will also be given a bonus soundtrack full of the classic music the series is known for. A price point is unknown at this point in time, so stay tuned for more details.

Source: Steam

May 22, 2015

Everything You’ll Need to Know About Combo Breaker, Battle Arena Melbourne 7, and Stunfest 2015 This Weekend

Over the next few days, three very different tournaments will grace the fighting game community. The first, Combo Breaker, is making its debut as the spiritual successor of Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament; the second, Battle Arena Melbourne, has set its sights on Australia’s southeastern coast for a seventh outing; and the third, Stunfest 2015, will once more show the prowess of the French scene.

If you’re interested in checking out what they have to offer but can’t make the respective trips to check them out in person, don’t fret! Like many other events, they will both feature a bevy of live content and excitement for you to partake in throughout the weekend. Keep reading for further details.

Combo Breaker

Taking place in Chicago, Illinois, Combo Breaker is looking to fill the void Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament’s departure left behind. With a ton of the same organizing talent behind the scenes and a unique personality rarely seen in the fighting game community, its primed to have a great first showing.

Combo Breaker will feature a lineup consisting of 20 (yes, two-zero) games, from current powerhouses like Ultra Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat X to old-school favorites Vampire Savior and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Hell, they’ve even sprinkled in a fair share of indie goodness as well with appearances by Skullgirls Encore, Divekick, and Lethal League. With so much love being spread around, it should be pretty easy to find something to enjoy.

The excitement will also be kicked up a notch thanks to the variety of pot bonuses being offered. Mortal Kombat X and Killer Instinct have both received an added $10,000, Skullgirls Encore players can look forward to another $2,000 in their prize pool, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will see a cool bonus of $1,000, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- has been given $750, and, last but not least, Divekick’s payouts will see an upgrade to the tune of $250.

And, lest we forget, Combo Breaker is also serving as a ranking event on the Capcom Pro Tour, meaning the top sixteen finalists in Ultra Street Fighter IV will be rewarded with qualifying points based on their placing. These will go a long way to securing a spot in the Capcom Cup 2015 bracket later this year, so expect more than a few fierce matchups.

You’ll find links to every stream as well as adjusted schedules below, so be sure to tune in!