Category: Fighting Games

Arc System Works is having a hell of a year. With the maelstrom of hype surrounding both Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, along with the growing popularity of both BlazBlue and Guilty Gear in the West, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese development studio set up a branch office for Western markets.

Announced by CEO Minoru Kidooka earlier today, Arc System Works is set to open a North American branch in Torrance, California which will focus on “expand[ing] its operations and offerings to fans in the region.” Kidooka states that this new operation should “open the channels of communication between fan and developer, ensuring your voices are heard and most importantly applied.” Based on the wording of that statement, this could imply that Arc System Works will be handling things like localization and marketing in-house, rather than using partners like Aksys or PQube.

It seems very early days for this new operation at the moment — the initial statement has actually been removed from the Arc System Works website — but it looks promising for Western fans of ASW games. I suggest directing your calls for English dubs of BlazBlue and Guilty Gear to this new office, when it eventually opens.

Source: Gematsu via Arc System Works

Arc System Works is having a hell of a year. With the maelstrom of hype surrounding both Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, along with the growing popularity of both BlazBlue and Guilty Gear in the West, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese development studio set up a branch office for Western markets.

Announced by CEO Minoru Kidooka earlier today, Arc System Works is set to open a North American branch in Torrance, California which will focus on “expand[ing] its operations and offerings to fans in the region.” Kidooka states that this new operation should “open the channels of communication between fan and developer, ensuring your voices are heard and most importantly applied.” Based on the wording of that statement, this could imply that Arc System Works will be handling things like localization and marketing in-house, rather than using partners like Aksys or PQube.

It seems very early days for this new operation at the moment — the initial statement has actually been removed from the Arc System Works website — but it looks promising for Western fans of ASW games. I suggest directing your calls for English dubs of BlazBlue and Guilty Gear to this new office, when it eventually opens.

Source: Gematsu via Arc System Works

The ELEAGUE Facebook page has created an interesting event set for this Friday. They will be hosting an “Amateur Tournament” that is free to enter and will have a $300 prize pool up for grabs. The tournament will be held at 7:30 PM ET, before the players of Group B battle it out for a place in the playoffs on TBS.

If you’d like to participate, you can RSVP on the ELEAGUE Facebook page, and must have a ticket to the event to get in. Check-in will begin at 7:30 PM, before the tournament begins at 8:00 PM. The winner will take home $250, while the runner-up walks away with $50. You can get tickets at ELEAGUE.com/tickets, if you feel you’ve got what it takes. No word on any streaming information for this event, but we’ll let you know if something is announced. You can also see the Twitter announcement below:

ELEAGUE Injustice 2 Amateur Tournament

Fri Nov 03 at 7:30pm
Free entry
$300 prize pool

RSVP now: https://t.co/HZD1kX5eVQ pic.twitter.com/5veVZpfDny

— ELEAGUE (@ELEAGUETV) October 31, 2017

Source: ELEAGUE (Facebook); ELEAGUETV (Twitter) via Test Your Might

Buying Red Bull can now get you some new threads for your favorite fighter.

Red Bull’s 30th Anniversary Street Fighter commemorative cans are now out in the wild. Cans decorated with Chun-Li, Zangief, Ryu, Ken, Guile, and possible other characters will be appearing on store shelves, starting yesterday — and they include codes that can be redeemed online for exclusive costumes in Street Fighter V. Capcom-Unity has given us some more details on how this promotion works.

An eight-character code is under the can tab, which you need to redeem via logging into Red Bull/Street Fighter. You’ll be prompted to select one of sixteen available exclusive costumes, and a code for the PlayStation Store will be generated for you to download the content for SFV on PlayStation 4. The character that appears on the can does not have an affect on what costume you can choose. (Unfortunately, these Red Bull costumes are not currently available for the PC version.) You can redeem up to sixteen codes — enough to get each costume, and you can only redeem for each costume once. The characters with a Red Bull-themed costume as part of this promotion are:

• Zangief
• Chun-Li
• Nash
• M. Bison
• Vega
• R. Mika
• Rashid
• Karin
• Cammy
• Balrog
• Ken
• Kolin
• Ryu
• Laura
• Guile
• Akuma

Here a glimpse at what some of what the outfits look like:

Click to view slideshow.

There is also a Snapchat scan code on the can that unlocks character-specific filters for Snapchat based on the character on the can itself. Since the demo filter shown on Capcom’s blog is for Cammy, that means there must be Cammy cans out there, right?

Some buyers have been voicing complaints on social media (or in the comments on the Capcom-Unity blog itself) that their codes did not work, or that they got an “already redeemed” error message when trying to download their costumes from PSN; we ourselves have encountered this problem firsthand, as well. We have reached out to Red Bull for clarification on this issue.

The cans are appearing in stores now, and can be redeemed until April 30, 2018.

Source: Capcom-Unity; Red Bull

Last year, Capcom released a special bundle of DLC, the “CPT Premier Package,” to help increase the prize pot for the Capcom Pro Tour last December. This included special costumes for Cammy and Chun-Li, which saw them adorned in fine formal wear, as well as the Capcom Pro Tour Champion’s Costume. Designed by Capcom Cup 2015 champion GGP|Kazunoko — who believed he would be maining Necalli in Street Fighter V — the devour-our-ourer of souls takes on a more human appearance, clad in samurai armor.

In addition, there was also a special stage, the “Ring Of Destiny,” as well as Capcom-themed colors for all 22 Season 1 characters, and a pair of exclusive titles, “Capcom Cup 2016” and “Capcom Pro Tour 2016,” which are only available for PlayStation 4 players.

Previously, this bundled content could only be purchased for $24.99, but is now available for both PS4 and PC players, for only $9.99. But act quickly, as it will disappear again on November 29th, along with the also currently-available 2017 CPT DLC.

Pricing breakdowns and a short FAQ about how much of the profit from this DLC is distributed back into the Capcom Pro Tour is also included in Capcom-Unity’s blog post. This is certainly a great deal for those who missed out on this content last year, as you can now grab it all at a much cheaper price. Let us know if you plan on taking advantage of the discount in the comments below.

Source: Capcom-Unity

Ever since it was first revealed some time back, Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s Dragon Ball mechanic has been source of both speculation and worry for the community. Alongside speculating about how they will work, more than a few players have expressed concern that the mechanic may detract from the game’s competitive nature.

It seems that we may have some news that may alleviate some of those worries: well-known Dragon Ball YouTuber Rhymestyle has mentioned, in response to some of these worries, that the Dragon Ball mechanic is locked under a separate mode.

Now while this isn’t direct confirmation from Bandai Namco, Rhymestyle is known as one of the community figures in touch with them. He’s been one of the people who’ve helped Bandai Namco do character breakdowns (alongside Chris “Hellpockets” Fields). Most recently, he helped clarify a mistake about Bulma being a playable character, due to a typographical error.

That said, Rhymestyle has also stated that he’s deferring to Bandai Namco for further confirmation of this. In the meantime, those curious about how the Dragon Balls work in the game should check out our previous coverage.

Source: Rhymestyle

Further growing its roster of FGC heavyweights, Japanese esports organization GRAPHT has signed Infiltration as their latest player. He joins players like MOV, Gllty, Haitani, Yukadon, and fellow Razer alumnus Fuudo as part of GRAPHT’s burgeoning fighting game division.

Infiltration has had a rough time of it during Street Fighter V‘s second season, failing to hit the heights that he saw during Season 1. While he has mounted a small comeback during the latter half of this year’s Capcom Pro Tour — winning Manila Cup and placing in top 8 for both Celtic Throwdown and OzHadou Nationals — he is currently out of the running for Capcom Cup 2017.

There is still a chance for Infiltration to make it into Capcom Cup via the Last Chance Qualifier in Anaheim, but it is unknown at this time if GRAPHT will be flying him out alongside Haitani, Fuudo, and Yukadon for that final roll of the dice.

I have any information for it now
Really want to join to last chance qualifier!

— GRPT INFILTRATION (@INFILTRATION85) November 2, 2017

Sources: GRAPHT; Infiltration85