Category: News

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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle’s PSX trailer reveals new gameplay changes; next character reveals scheduled for Dec. 15

Amidst all of the insane hype for the newly-announced SoulCalibur VI and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition over the weekend, one thing that may have slipped under the radar during Sony’s PSX presentation was a new trailer for the upcoming BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Though overall it was just an alternate cut of the title’s announcement trailer we saw at Evo 2017, there were multiple notable differences.

Firstly, the cuts of gameplay clips come from the latest build of the game, as we see recently-announced characters like Persona 4 Arena‘s Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi (who has her Fire Break from Ultimax as one of her three Assists), BlazBlue’s Noel Vermillion, Under Night In-Birth‘s Waldstein, and RWBY‘s Weiss Schnee in action, complete with the now-maximum 5 bars of Cross Gauge.

We also see BlazBlue’s Jin Kisaragi unleash a third Distortion Skill, Yukikase, a move he did not have in the earlier Toushinsai build. Though we’ve also seen Chie packing all three of her previous Distortion Skills (God Hand, Agneyastra and Power Charge), it will be interesting to see what input the Counter Distortion will take, as all revealed so far use either double quarter-circle forward or double quarter-circle back motions to be executed. It should be noted that he was called in for a Crash Assault following Hyde’s Gyre Vortex, and only performed the attacking portion of the move, seemingly replacing Hiyoku Getsumei as his pre-determined DHC option. Ruby Rose is briefly spotlighted, comboing into her Petal Burst Distortion Skill on Yosuke Hanamura.

Finally, though the previous English reveal trailer for Gordeau, Yukiko and Azrael left the date of the next reveals ambiguous, Arc System Works has confirmed they’ll be holding their December Arc Nama stream this Friday, December 15th at 5:00 AM CT (3:00 AM PT, 6:00 AM ET; 20:00 JST on Thursday). You can catch the full trailer and tweet below.

Going off of previous teases and established patterns, I’m calling my shot of Tsubaki Yayoi, Kanji Tatsumi, Carmine and possibly either Makoto Nanaya or Blake Belladonna, though Yang Xiao Long may be saved for RTX Sydney the weekend of February 3rd. Let us know whom you’re expecting this round in the comments below. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle will be released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC sometime in 2018.

Sources: PlayStation; bk2128 (Twitter)

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SoulCalibur VI’s producer hints at both guest characters and character creation

New information on SoulCalibur VI is coming in thick and fast, with a recent interview with producer Motohiro Okubo in Weekly Famitsu revealing more about the character roster, mechanics like Guard Impact and the new Reversal Edge, as well as how far along the game is in development.

The theme of SoulCalibur VI is “reboot”, with Project Soul using this title to revisit the story and characters from the original SoulCalibur. The hope is that along with new players, lapsed SoulCalibur fans will return to hear the tale of souls, eternally retold. Despite it being a reboot, SoulCalibur VI will feature new characters, as well as fighters that may not have featured in SoulCalibur. As for guest characters, Okubo’s reply was simply “please look forward to it!”

Starting in SoulCalibur IV, character creation became an integral part of the series, so removing it would take away a core part of what makes modern SoulCalibur, reckons Okubo and his team. While he could not give a definite answer, it seems that character creation will return for SCVI.

In terms of system changes, Project Soul are hoping to make the game accessible to as many players as possible. The Reversal Edge mechanic is the result of their endeavor, with this defensive stance helping players “defend against almost all techniques with a single button, regardless of whether they are high, middle, or low.” SoulCalibur VI will also feature one button Critical Edges — similar to one button Rage Arts in Tekken 7 — along with the new Lethal Hit mechanic for advanced players. This system activates when players “land specific techniques with certain conditions fulfilled”, and results in “powerful combos depicted through special production and slow motion.”

Soul Charging makes a return too, with it sharing a meter system with the Critical Edge. While Soul Charge now takes meter, Guard Impact can be performed without using up your Critical Edge meter — a feature many OG SoulCalibur fans will greatly appreciate.

While we’ve only seen a tiny glimpse of SCVI, development is “70% complete” according to Okubo, suggesting that we could be playing SoulCalibur VI in the first half of 2018.

Source: Famitsu via Hachima Kikou; Gematsu

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– DomiNations Launches the Cold War Update

As the air turns frosty around the world, Nexon and Big Huge Games have announced the release of a new content update to DomiNations. The patch brings the Cold War Age into the game with new units including the M56 Scorpion Tank and the BM21 Grad Rocket Launcher. There will be special events running over the next few weeks with Supply Drops that assist in progressing through the ages.

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Final Dead or Alive 5: Last Round DLC pack celebrates Tecmo’s 50th anniversary

For some time now, we’ve known that Team NINJA would finally be ending DLC support for Dead Or Alive 5: Last Round. Now, we know what the final DLC costume pack will be.

In celebration of Tecmo’s 50th anniversary, Team NINJA revealed that the final DLC costume pack for Dead Or Alive 5: Last Round will feature costumes based on classic Tecmo properties. The three costumes shown so far represent Monster Rancher, and the original NES Ninja Gaiden. More classic games are likely to be represented once the remaining costumes are revealed.

DOA5LR_Monster_Rancher_Honoka
DOA5LR_Ninja_Gaiden_Hayabusa
DOA5LR_Monster_Rancher_Marie_Rose

In addition to this, a special “Tecmorabbit” costume will be released for free on December 12 for Kasumi. This costume is separate from the Tecmo DLC pack.

DOA5LR_Temorabbit_Kasumi

All of these costume are available for download on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC now.

Source: Team NINJA via Free Step Dodge

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– Harry Potter: Hogwart’s Mystery – A Narrative Mobile RPG Coming in 2018

Jam City has inked a deal with Portkey, the Harry Potter games division of Warner Bros. Interactive, to bring Harry Potter: Hogwart’s Mystery game to mobile devices in 2018. The game sees players working through years of study at Hogwarts. “Along the way, players will participate in all of the magical classes and activities they have come to love like Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Duelling Club and more. Most of the iconic professors from the Harry Potter stories reprise their roles”.

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– Conqueror’s Blade Headed for PC Beta Testing ‘Soon’ – Check Out the Trailer

If you’ve got a bent for medieval warfare, we have good news today. Booming Games has announced that Conqueror’s Blade will be launching its first-ever PC closed beta test in the near future. The game was first revealed during this year’s E3 and has been in development for over five years. The game brings medieval civilizations to bear along with “legendary weapons and fighting styles” all set in a massive, immersive game world with players in command of armies.

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– Orbus VR Launches Into Early Access on December 15th: ‘Buy Once, Play Forever’

Fans of virtual reality who’ve been looking for an MMO to “live” in may want to check out Orbus VR. On December 15th, the game will enter Steam Early Access with fans able to opt in to the development process for $40. After a successful closed beta test, developers at Ad Alternum Game Studios went back and upgraded the artwork that now features cel-shaded interactive elements and hand-painted environment textures.

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– New Zealand – Loot Boxes Not Legally Gambling, UK May Beg to Differ

Showing the volatility of the “loot boxes as gambling” issue, New Zealand and the United Kingdom seem to be at odds with one another. New Zealand’s Gambling Compliance Office is of the opinion that loot boxes do not meet the legal definition of gambling. The UK Gambling Commission is taking a different tack and honing in on third-party sites that let “children as young as 11 wager weapon skins for real money” and thereby explosing them to gambling.

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Toaru Majutsu no VIRTUAL-ON demo coming to PSN on December 14

Some players may still be trying to wrap their heads around Toaru Majutsu no VIRTUAL-ON‘s concept of a crossover between the VIRTUAL-ON and Toaru Majutsu no Index franchises. For those still confused about this, it seems that there’ll be a chance for players to try the game out soon!

In a recent interview with Dengeki Online, producer Juuro Watari confirmed that a demo for the game will be coming out on December 14. The demo will allow players to try out all 13 characters (and virtuaroids) in both tutorial missions, and battles against the AI. In addition to this, ad-hoc versus games are enabled locally for the PlayStation Vita demo.

Sadly, the demo will not have online battles. That said, having all 13 characters playable is a pretty significant thing for a demo.

Aside from this, Watari also addressed concerns from some fans regarding some characters from Toaru Majutsu no Index not making the game. He stated that he does want to do something about this, but that it depends on player feedback.

Toaru Majutsu no VIRTUAL-ON launches on PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 in Japan on February 15, 2018.

Source: Dengeki Online via Siliconera

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Red Bull TV’s “Away from Keyboard” returns for another season of esports players pushing their limits

See prominent players take on challenges outside of the game!

Red Bull TV’s series Away from Keyboard is back for a second season; in this next batch of episodes, you can watch esports competitors Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis, Lil Chen of the Smash Sisters, Cloud9’s Mang0, and members of Tempo Storm take on a variety of limit-pushing activities — from whitewater kayaking to swimming with sharks. Comfort zones will be left behind.

“Binge releasing” today on Red Bull TV, you can see the following four episodes:

  • Episode 1 – Mang0 with female wakeboarder of the year, Meagan Ethell (swimming with sharks)

  • Episode 2 – Lil Chen of Smash Sisters and World Champion climber, Sasha DiGiulian (rock climbing)

  • Episode 3 – Tempo Storm’s Frodan and Reynad with professional cliff diver, David Colturi (cliff diving)

  • Episode 4 – Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis and expedition kayaker, Rafa Ortiz  (kayaking)

Watch all of this season’s Away from Keyboard episodes on Red Bull TV.

Source: Red Bull Esports