Category: News

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Middle-earth Enterprises Partners with Athlon Games for New Lord of the Rings MMO

It appears that a new Lord of the Rings MMO is going to be coming in the future. The information comes via a “Voluntary Announcement – Business Update” by Leyou Technologies that has established a new publishing brand called Athlon Games. The document reveals that Athlon has partnered with Middle-earth Enterprises “to develop and publish a free-to-play massively multiplayer online video game based on The Lord of the Rings, the landmark fantasy literary work of JRR Tolkien”.

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eSports & the Olympics Unlikely – ‘So-Called Killer Games Are Contrary to Olympic Values’

Over the past weekend, the Associated Press (via GamesIndustry) interviewed Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee and asked a pointed question about the possible future inclusion of eSports. “We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination,” Bach said. “So-called killer games…they, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.”

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Tekken 7 Season 2 patch notes coming tomorrow, will be “mostly buffs probably”

Start getting ready for the next battle!

Season 2 of Tekken 7 is nearly upon us — with a balance update, new customization items, as well as the return of series veterans Anna Williams and Lei Wulong set for this Thursday, September 6th. Though we’ve already seen a trailer demonstrating the new Wall Bounce mechanic and new moves for certain fighters, fans are still eagerly awaiting the full list of changes to find out the fates of their favorite characters.

Fortunately, that wait will soon be coming to an end. During the re-stream of Summer Jam XII’s Tekken 7 pools at twitch.tv/avoidingthepuddle, game designer Michael Murray, under the user name MISIMAIKERU, noted in the stream chat that he has recently finished translating the patch notes and will be releasing them to the public tomorrow, two days before Season 2 officially begins. He went on to say that there are 1,600 lines of changes, and that most of the alterations will “probably be buffs,” with the goal of increasing the number of characters seen in competitive play during the remainder of the Tekken World Tour.

Additionally, the Tekken World Tour website has been updated with multiple new tabs under the “Latest News” section, such as, a “Main Hub” post for Tekken 7 Season 2 Patch Notes, as well as a “Common” section that will likely cover universal mechanic changes, and character-specific sections for the likes of Noctis, Paul, Heihachi, Devil Jin, Shaheen, Lucky Chloe, and Katarina. Clicking these sections obviously leads to broken links, as they’re still in the process of being constructed, but everything should be fully functional soon. Keep your browser locked on to Shoryuken, as we’ll have a full report about the patch notes as soon as they drop.

Sources: TekkenGamer; Tekken World Tour

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The SNK website is counting down to a new game announcement for Sept. 10

With SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy hitting stores in just a few days, some folks may be wondering about what’s next for SNK. Well, it seems that they will be revealing their future plans soon enough!

SNK has just put up a new page on their website with the title “New SNK Game Announcement”. The page lists a countdown to the date September 10, 2018 with the words “A new dawn rises…”

While SNK is known primarily for their fighting game franchises, this doesn’t automatically mean that we’re getting a new Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. Aside from their mobile game efforts, the company also has dabbled in several other genres. For all we know, this “new dawn” could herald them moving back to shmups, platforms, or golf games.

Source: SNK

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Learn about Studio French Bread’s design philosophy in latest episode of Exploring Fighting Games Extra 8

Learn about the history and design philosophies of Soft Circle French Bread!

Recently, in their 8th episode of “Exploring Fighting Games”, the Chemical Lovers decided to look at the design philosophy behind an increasingly-popular studio in the fighting game community, French Bread. This episode walks us through the team’s humble beginnings as they created small amateur fan games and doujin works. They eventually desired to create a licensed, professional, product, sending a proposal to visual novel company “Type-Moon” requesting to create a fighting game based off of their popular visual novel, Tsukihime.

However, they faced unique challenges when development began, as they had to strictly adhere to the source material, with heavy negotiations on creating each fighter’s moveset and play style. Despite these hurdles, the game they made (Melty Blood) went on to become a hit in Japan. They faced a crossroads with the transition to a larger screen size and increasing popularity of high definition resolution, as they lacked experience, and felt trying to release an HD sequel would be a risky gamble. Thus, they decided to create an original property, that became the game they’re currently known for, Under Night In-Birth.

While the differences between the two titles are vast, they both emphasize battle planner Komone Serizawa’s core beliefs that it is their responsibility to ensure that each fighter plays how player’s initially imagine based off of their looks. You can see the full video below, as well as further discussion in Bas Gros Poing‘s article.

For an alternate perspective on what makes Under Night so unique, check out Bloobop’s recent editorial on its “freshness.”

Source: novriltataki; Bas Gros Poing

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate demo events planned for select Best Buy locations Sept. 8th through Oct. 7th

When Super Smash Bros. was announced for the Wii U, Nintendo demoed the game at Best Buy locations around the country before release. They must’ve liked this method of “location test” because four years later they are going right back to the multi-national electronics chain for the much anticipated Switch sequel, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. If you want to attend, you’ll have to head to one of the locations below between September 8 – October 7:

New York

Best Buy Upper West Side
1880 Broadway
New York, NY 10023

Saturday, September 8: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 9: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

San Francisco Bay Area

Best Buy San Jose
181 Curtner Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125

Saturday, September 8: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 9: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Chicago

Best Buy Bucktown
2100 N. Elston Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614

Saturday, September 15: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 16: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Los Angeles

Best Buy Torrance
3675 Pacific Coast Highway
Torrance, CA 90505

Saturday, September 15: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 16: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Minneapolis

Best Buy Richfield
1000 West 78th St
Richfield, MN 55423

Saturday, September 22: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 23: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Dallas

Best Buy Park Lane
9378 N. Central Expressway
Dallas, TX 75231

Saturday, September 22: 10 a.m.–7 p.m
Sunday, September 23: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Atlanta

Best Buy Buckhead
2537 Piedmont Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30324

Saturday, September 29: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 30: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Denver

Best Buy Colorado Blvd.
4100 E Mexico Ave.
Suite A
Denver, CO 80222

Saturday, September 29: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 30: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Miami

Best Buy Hialeah
4001 W 20th Ave.
Hialeah, FL 33012

Saturday, October 6: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, October 7: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Seattle

Best Buy Bellevue
457 120th Ave. NE
Bellevue, WA 98005

Saturday, October 6: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, October 7: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

 

Source: Nintendo Everything

 

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NIS America teasing second guest character for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy

It seems that Thief Arthur isn’t the only guest character coming to SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. The game’s US distributor, NIS America, is teasing that a second guest is coming to SNK’s all girl tag-team fighter.

The hint was made at PAX West 2018 during NIS’s panel. They showed a silhouette with the words “who’s that heroine?”, while the official press release confirmed that the character was a “new guest”.

SNK_heroines_new_guest_silhouette

As can be seen from the silhouette above, the new guest character seems to either have no hair, or is more likely wearing a mask of sorts. Additionally, she might also have a scarf around her neck. Now considering that SNK has lent out Terry Bogard as a guest in Arika’s Fighting EX Layer, some have speculated that this may be a female Skullomania (in the same way we got a female Terry), based on the aforementioned details.

Other details announced during the panel include a day 1 patch for the game which will add Thief Arthur and arcade stick support.

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is coming to PlayStation 4, and Switch on September 6 in Japan, and September 7 in North America and Europe.

Source: KOF World

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Leaked images from Melbourne eSports Open show Cervantes and Raphael in Soul Calibur VI

Fear the name of the dread pirate!

With a short amount of time in which to unveil information, we may have accidentally received more information on returning cast members within Soul Calibur VI. From images and video reported to be from a build on display at Melbourne eSports Open in Australia, a leak of the new character select screen appears to show Raphael and Cervantes:

sc6selectscreenleakmeoimg2

sc6selectscreenleakmeoimg3

Both characters have been mainstays of the series, so much so that they were two of only a handful of legacy characters to make it into the previous title, Soul Calibur V. As such, they were highly anticipated for this title.

Further, video was leaked of actual gameplay of Raphael and Cervantes from the same event–yet quickly removed. It has been mirrored here:

With this leak and a verifiable location for it, it is likely we will see trailers for the two characters sometime soon.

Source: Avoiding the Puddle

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GUTS, the “ultra-violent” fighting game, is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

For any fighting game fans who think that Mortal Kombat is a bit too tame, here some interesting news for you. GUTS, the self proclaimed, “ultra-violent Tarantino-styled fighting game”, is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Released on PC via Steam back in November of 2017, GUTS lives up to its billing with generous amounts of blood and dismemberment shown on screen. Yes, dismemberment — one of the unique twists of the game is that characters can lose their limbs mid-combat and still continue to fight, even if all some of their limbs have been turned into bloody stumps. This dismemberment mechanic ties into how matches are actually won in GUTS. There’s no traditional health bar, and no timer. Instead, players need to cut off all four limbs off their opponents.

GUTS is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime this Fall.

Source: Gematsu

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Kill or be killed! Slice, Dice, and Rice coming to North America’s Nintendo Switch eShop in September

Parry and slice your way to victory in this no-life-bar fighter.

slice dice & rice screenshot trailer switch

Along with a new trailer, the indie one-hit-kill samurai-style fighting game Slice, Dice, and Rice just arrived on the Nintendo Switch eShop in Japan, courtesy of publisher Arc System Works and developer Dojo Games. It didn’t take long for it to be confirmed that we’d also be getting it on the Switch in North America: Slice, Dice, and Rice will be available on our own eShop on September 6th. The updated English trailer is below!

The game will run you $17.99 USD on release. Arc System Works already brought Slice, Dice, and Rice to the PlayStation 4; check out our review of the PC version for more details on the game.

Source: arcsystemworks