Category: News

Quick! Use Instant Transmission!

Those who didn’t make it into the Dragon Ball FighterZ beta may have another chance at participating! Bandai Namco announced today that Xbox Insiders will now have access to the closed Dragon Ball FighterZ beta via their membership.

Spots are limited, so be sure to sign up as soon as possible. Anyone can become an Xbox Insider by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub application on their Xbox One and signing up for the program. You will get access to a variety of other perks for being an Insider so it’s worth taking advantage of the program even if you’re only entering to join the beta. Directions for downloading the beta can be viewed below.

Announcement: DRAGON BALL FighterZ Private Beta (X1) Opened for @Xbox Insiders (Limited Space) pic.twitter.com/Fj31VacYku

— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) September 15, 2017

The beta test will be taking place this weekend at specified times on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Hopefully one of the four sessions lines up with your schedule.

	USA (California) PST	EUROPE (France) CST	JAPAN JST
1st Session	2:00am-5:00am (Saturday)	11:00-14:00 (Saturday)	18:00-21:00 (Saturday)
2nd Session	10:00am-1:00pm (Saturday)	19:00-22:00 (Saturday)	2:00-5:00  (Sunday)
3rd Session	6:00pm-9:00pm (Saturday)	3:00-6:00 (Sunday)	10:00-13:00 (Sunday)
4th Session	1:00pm-4:00pm (Sunday)	22:00-1:00 (Sunday/Monday)	5:00-8:00  (Monday)

In other Dragon Ball FighterZ news, Bandai Namco also released a character overview trailer for the frost demon emperor Frieza, so be sure to check that out as well!

Source: Bandai Namco

Hot of the heels of the SNK Steam sale, which saw various fighters on sale last week, Bandai Namco now has a sale of their own on the PC gaming platform. From now until September 18th, Tekken 7 has had its price slashed on Steam to $29.99. Also on offer is Dragon Ball Xenoverse both 1 &  2, various titles within the Naruto Shippuden series of games, alongside various games in the One Piece series.

If you are wanting to capitalize on this great deal, make your way over to the Steam website and grab your title(s) of choice.

Source: IPlayWinner

As the end of Burst League — “the unified anime circuit” from smash.gg — is nearly upon us, their Twitter account announced a couple of exciting things for the upcoming second season.

For one, we’re getting some cool numbers: it turns out that since its inception in April 2017, 348 events took place under the Burst League banner, with players earning points to compete in a global ranking. As for players, that number is close to 7,000, but that’s counting repeats, it seems.

*Note: players is across all 348 events. Uniques is around 3K from what we were told. Still amazing to see in the AFGC!

— Burst League (@BurstLeague) September 13, 2017

Currently, Burst League covers Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and The King of Fighters XIV. There’s good news though: the Burst League organizers have been listening to feedback and decided to add Under Night In-Birth and Vampire Savior to the mix! There will also be an event in between Seasons 1 and 2, in the winter.

Y'all asked
We listened!#UNIST & #VSAV are now part of #BurstLeauge for Season 2 that'll end with @Anime_EVO perks!https://t.co/xZgu7gg6Bb pic.twitter.com/jb90AKeoHd

— Burst League (@BurstLeague) September 14, 2017

Source: Burst League

The wild crossover chaos of UDON’s limited series is drawing towards its close.

The last two issues of UDON’s eight-issue limited comic crossover, Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers, are now available to pre-order! Firstly, if you missed the Previews pre-order for issue #6, it is still available on UDON’s official online retailer, Focus Attack. What’s going down in issue #6…? From UDON:

As Chun-Li and her allies search for a way to escape from the frightening Majigen dimension, Hsien-Ko hunts down a feral World Warrior — the power-hungry Necalli! The crossover chaos continues in STREET FIGHTER VS. DARKSTALKERS!

Meanwhile, issues #7 and #8 are now available through their Previews order codes. About issue #7:

The gloves are off as the champions of two worlds all come head to head and fist to fist! This maelstrom of monsters and martial artists will shake the universe to its core, in a fight for existence! It’s the penultimate chapter of STREET FIGHTER VS. DARKSTALKERS!

Issue #7 will have two available covers, one by Edwin Huang (A) and Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz (B). The story is written by Ken Siu-Chong, and the main story is drawn by Hanzo Steinbach while the bonus story is drawn by Sean “Cheeks” Galloway.

Issue #8 synopsis, from UDON:

The frighteningly furious fighting game crossover comes to its chaotic conclusion! The demonic Jedah’s master plan threatens not only the World Warriors and the Night Warriors, but the universe itself! It’s the final chapter of STREET FIGHTER VS. DARKSTALKERS!

The last installment of the series will feature a wraparound cover, to match issue #1, by Edwin Huang — who will also provide the interior art for this issue — as well as a guest variant cover by Corey “Rey” Lewis.

Expect the last two issues to hit stores in November, while issue #6 is expected soon. Issue #5 came out just this week, and the prior issues are still available! Secure your copies of these books by heading to your local comic book store, or checking out Focus Attack or comiXology.

STREET FIGHTER VS. DARKSTALKERS #7/#8
32 pages, full color, $3.99 (each)
RELEASE DATE: November 2017
AUG172095 STREET FIGHTER VS DARKSTALKERS #7 (OF 8) CVR A (HUANG)
AUG172096 STREET FIGHTER VS DARKSTALKERS #7 (OF 8) CVR B (CRUZ)
SEP172009 STREET FIGHTER VS DARKSTALKERS #8 (OF 8) CVR A (HUANG)
SEP172010 STREET FIGHTER VS DARKSTALKERS #8 (OF 8) CVR B (LEWIS)

Source: UDON Entertainment

Another arena for fencing fans!

To celebrate the selection of Nidhogg II as the final level of PAX West’s Omegathon gaming competition earlier this month, the new “PAX Place” level was created to provide a fitting dueling ground for the Seattle event. That level is now available as a free update to all Nidhogg II players on Steam and PlayStation 4 — if your game has automatically downloaded an update, you have the level already!

Game creator Mark Essen claims that new content like this will continue to roll out for the game in the future, possibly as often as once a month.

The standout soundtrack for the game — featuring a variety of sweet electronica tracks from Mux Mool, Daedalus, Geotic, Doseone, and Osborne — is also now available to purchase from Bandcamp. You can grab a download for $7.00 USD, or show your devotion to the wurm by upgrading to a CD, cassette, or vinyl copy.

Sources: Mark Essen (Twitter); Bandcamp

Another chance for NorCal to compete in three of the hottest fighting game titles!

Hadocon VIII is set to blast NorCal with some fierce competition in three of the current crop’s hottest titles. The event will hit Burlingame, California on November 25, 2017, and hold tournaments in the following three games:

• Street Fighter V
• Tekken 7
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Event streaming will be provided by Team Spooky. For registration, pricing, and venue information, head over to the event’s smash.gg page!

Source: Hadocon VIII (smash.gg)

Better start saving for a plane ticket, as you can now register for the first ever Evo Japan. Registration is completely free for both spectators and competitors, but you will have to buy a ticket to watch Sunday finals in Akiba Square — which acted as the venue for Evo Japan’s 賽 [sài] event.

Besides Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and ARMS, each game will have a prize pool of 1 million yen (approx. $9000). While it may not be much compared to Western tournaments, it’s a significant amount when you consider Japan’s strict anti-gambling laws that prevent the majority of events from giving out cash prizes. If you need a reminder of Evo Japan’s game lineup, it is as follows:

• Street Fighter V
• Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2
• Tekken 7
• The King of Fighters XIV
• BlazBlue: Central Fiction
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
• ARMS

Registration is available on smash.gg until December 31st, so you’ve got plenty of time to plan your travel and book your accommodation. If you are looking for hotels in the area, this article from 4gamer points out good places to stay around the Evo Japan venue. For more information on Evo Japan, make sure to check out its official website.

Source: Evo Japan

As some of you know, this weekend will see the first round of closed beta testing for Dragon Ball FighterZ.  Select players have been given the chance to try out the game and play it online by Bandai Namco and Arc System Works.

For those who are in the beta — or are looking forward to people streaming it — the beta isn’t exactly available for the entire weekend. Rather, Bandai Namco has set specific times during which the beta will be live and people can log in. You can check the beta schedule out below:

	USA (California) PST	EUROPE (France) CST	JAPAN JST
1st Session	2:00am-5:00am (Saturday)	11:00-14:00 (Saturday)	18:00-21:00 (Saturday)
2nd Session	10:00am-1:00pm (Saturday)	19:00-22:00 (Saturday)	2:00-5:00  (Sunday)
3rd Session	6:00pm-9:00pm (Saturday)	3:00-6:00 (Sunday)	10:00-13:00 (Sunday)
4th Session	1:00pm-4:00pm (Sunday)	22:00-1:00 (Sunday/Monday)	5:00-8:00  (Monday)

Now, whether or not further beta tests will be opened is as of yet unknown. However, some players who applied have reported receiving emails from Bandai Namco stating that, while they didn’t make it in to this testing cycle, they have qualified as “potential candidates” for future beta tests should they occur.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment

A look at different philosophies in the FGC, and how the players follow them.

There can be a lot of friction between those that feel games should be just for fun — or pure competition — and those that explore the business aspects of professional gaming and esports. In this article, Fighter 101 explores this dichotomy, describing how the viewpoints can be categorized as either following a “Ryu” or “Ken” philosophy — considering the outlook and approach to fighting these two Street Fighter characters follow — and reiterates that video games are primarily a business, plain and simple.

Fighter 101 follows up with their view on how many of the professional players and personalities — such as Daigo Umehara, Justin Wong, Alex Valle, and Smug, to name a few — approach the FGC’s burgeoning steps into business and profitability. Follow the link to read Fighter 101’s thoughts on this topic in detail.

Source: Fighter 101 [Thanks to Trent for the tip.]