Category: Fighting Games

While attending a recent Mortal Kombat X preview event, the folks at IGN noticed something interesting about one of Kitana’s variations that may provide hints about another character’s whereabouts.

According to the report, the returning veteran utilizes weapons normally attributed to childhood friend Jade. This variation, dubbed Mournful, gives Kitana access to her ally’s staff and glaive.

Grief-stricken use of a companion’s tools? Sounds like things might not have turned out so well for Jade since her last appearance, though in a series like Mortal Kombat characters are rarely gone for long.

Additional character teases come from Mortal Kombat X’s new Living Towers mode, which modifies matches with special gameplay mechanics. Both Cyrax’s bombs and Rain’s water bubble make appearances in this mode, but much like its predecessor’s Challenge Tower, this is not indicative of their status in the new game.

Mortal Kombat X is scheduled to land on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on April 14.

Source: IGN

There’s a good chance that those who follow the Smash scene closely have noticed the sharp decline in Project M coverage, streams, and tournament appearances since the launch of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Some may have even guessed at what may have been the reasoning behind this, and a few big reasons do come to mind, but as of today, the folks at VGBootCamp have lifted their own unofficial gag order surrounding the topic.

Co-founder Calvin “GimR” Lofton came out earlier this evening to say that his production company will no longer provide a platform for Project M broadcasts. Not only that, but the group will also be removing all related material from their official channels. Lofton stressed that fans of Project M needn’t worry because he is currently looking for a good home for the content.

Since its inception, Project M has existed in a sort of limbo between legal and not-so-legal. While the game is drastically different than the Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc from which it draws much of its data, the fact remains that the characters, stages, and everything else in between that the game contains belong to and will always belong to Nintendo. This means that anyone who intends to produce content featuring the game runs the risk of suffering at the hands of whatever legal claim may or may not be thrown at them in the future.

“As a small business with limited resources, it’s too risky to invest a significant portion of our time and money into a game that could damage our business with a copyright strike at any time,” Lofton explained.

This may seem a bit odd as Project M grew to amazing popularity in the months leading up to the release of the most recent Smash offering, but do take into consideration the doors that the new title has opened for content producers. With Nintendo’s official sponsorship of Apex 2015 last weekend, we are seeing the company take strides in supporting not only Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but Super Smash Bros. Melee as well. This means that content producers now have the chance to assist in the growth of their community in more ways than ever before. Though it may not immediately seem so, this is likely a very positive move for the Smash community as a whole.

The statement closes by mentioning that the rumors of VGBootCamp’s contract with Team Apex having to do with this decision are unfounded.

To check out the full announcement, head over to Smashboards.

Source: Smashboards

As we near March, more and more players are being announced for the Red Bull Kumite, an Ultra Street Fighter IV invitational in France featuring high-level competitors from all across the globe. The latest additions are Mad Catz’ Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi and Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi, announced by community manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio earlier this evening.

These two Japanese masters join the likes of Ho Kun Xian of Razer, The Black Eye’s Naoki “Nemo” Nemoto and Olivier “Luffy” Hay of Meltdown in the ever-growing bracket, which Red Bull has mentioned will also include players from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

Red Bull Kumite is scheduled for March 28 in Paris, France. More information can be found through the official website and Facebook event.

Source: Mark Julio

Over the past few months, we’ve heard a lot from former Team NINJA head honcho Tomonobu Itagaki regarding his thoughts on the current direction of Dead or Alive. However, those currently in charge of the franchise have been rather quiet – until now.

In an interview with MCV, Dead or Alive 5 producer Yosuke Hayashi and director Yohei Shimbori open up about the latest installment of the game, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.  Here, they talk about how consumer interest in the series is bigger than ever and how fan demand resulted in the creation of a new version, with new stages and characters, for the next generation of consoles, instead of a simple port.

More importantly, they address talk about why, after almost two decades of staying only on consoles, they finally decided to bring the franchise over to PC. “The adoption rate of high-spec PCs and related peripheral devices has traditionally been lower than consoles,” Shimbori explained. “But these days, the perspective of PC gaming has changed drastically and we expect more fighting games will be released for PC users.”

He expressed some concern about modding on the PC version – something a company used to developing on consoles usually doesn’t have to worry about. “We have to deal with mod issues from an IP holder perspective. We would like to ask PC users to play our game in good moral and manner. Otherwise, we won’t be able to release a title for PC again.”

While some may see this as referring to any possible nudity hacks, this concern could also be directed towards modding the game to get free access to its downloadable content, additional revenue that Team NINJA certainly relies on to keep supporting for the series and its community.

They also took time to address the series’ often controversial approach to female representation. “Our characters, male and female alike, are created in a fantasy setting and are using extraordinary abilities to compete with each other in a clearly light-hearted, over-the-top universe,” said Hayashi. “Their abilities are very balanced and we want to present all of them as dynamic, strong, sexy and confident.” For Last Round, this likely refers to the fact that even the male characters are getting their share of fanservicey outfits.

He added that the game has to appeal to fans all over the world. “What is important to remember is that Dead or Alive is a series developed in Japan, where the interpretation of beauty is very different to that of Europe or the US. Our philosophy is to try and make a game that our fans can enjoy, both in the East and the West, and regardless of gender.”

Of course, this isn’t all that the duo talk about, you can read the rest of the interview over at MCV.

Source: MCV via Free Step Dodge

With February in full swing, Microsoft Studios’ Adam Isgreen has gone live with an early edition of the Killer Instinct textual stream to drop some early information on the title’s next character, Aganos.

Previously codenamed Golem, this hulking fighter certainly lives up to size expectations, standing taller than Glacius and occupying a ridiculous amount of real estate when compared with even the bulkiest characters the game has to offer.

Aganos’ gameplay will focus around a replenishable resource, readily visible on the character model, that it can use to launch projectiles, build walls, and gain armor. This mechanic will also change up movement and attacks depending on how much of the asset the golem possesses.

Other tools include a unique roll attack (with controllable bouncing), a Shadow move that hinders the opponent while still allowing actions by Aganos itself, and more.

More details on the character’s background can be found in the original post, along with hints on future characters and a preview of additional color palettes heading to Killer Instinct with the Aganos update. Gameplay footage will be made available during the developers’ next broadcast.

Source: Ultra-Combo, tip via Ben2Gen