Category: News

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Bandai Namco release the stream schedule for Evo’s Dragon Ball FighterZ side tournaments

With Dragon Ball FighterZ being a major presence at Evo 2017, many were hoping that the announced side tournaments would be streamed as part of the event. Well, hope no more as Bandai Namco have revealed the stream schedule for their highly anticipated fighter.

Bandai Namco will be streaming its four side tournaments over on their official Twitch channel, starting today at 10am PDT and running until 1pm. They will then take an hour break, before returning at 2pm for the second tournament of the day, which will run until 5pm. Saturday will follow the same schedule, so there will be plenty of DBFZ action streaming direct to you.

Dragon Ball FighterZ producer Tomoko Hiroki will be making a brief appearance at the Arc System Works booth tomorrow at 12:30pm PDT, so expect a possible Future Trunks trailer to appear during that short presentation. The panel will be livestreamed via the Aksys Nation Twitch channel, which is also hosting panels with Ryo Nishitani from Arika, Katsuhiro Harada from Bandai Namco, Yasuyuki Oda and Yuji Watanabe from SNK and many more.

If you want to hear our thoughts on the current build of Dragon Ball FighterZ, make sure to read our preview.

Sources: Bandai Namco via r/dbfz; AllAksys

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DisneyXD will show Evo 2017’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Street Fighter V finals

As you may already know, Evo 2017 is returning to ESPN 2 this Sunday as the channel once will once again broadcast the Street Fighter V finals. However, that isn’t the only place to watch Evo 2017 on TV.  This year, Evo 2017 will also be broadcast on ESPN’s corporate sister channel Disney XD.

This Sunday, July 16, Disney XD will be showing the finals Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as part of their D|XP video game programming block. The broadcast will start at 3:00PM PDT/6:00PM EDT. D|XP have already posted a TV spot for this on their official Twitter.

Additionally, Street Fighter V finals are also scheduled to be shown on the channel at 7:00PM PDT/10:00PM EDT, the same time as ESPN2.

The choice of DisneyXD may be surprising to some. However, not only is it in the same corporate umbrella as ESPN2–both are owned by Disney–the channel has also started airing gaming related content, starting with its show Polaris Primetime and the D|XP block.

Source: DisneyXD

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– Dead By Daylight – Gift Key Sweeps! – (Round 3)

MMORPG.com has been given all kinds of special gift keys for Dead by Daylight – the all new multiplayer (4vs1) horror game where one player takes on the role of the savage Killer, and the other four players play as Survivors, trying to escape the Killer and avoid being caught, tortured and killed. Enter this sweepstakes now for a chance to win one of the four cool in game prizes!

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Tekken 7 pro Stephen “Speedkicks” Stafford gets signed by Panda Global

When I was putting together the EVO Spectator’s Guide for Tekken 7, one of the biggest surprises I had was the fact that Stephen “Speedkicks” Stafford was a free agent. One of the most dominant forces and well known faces in competitive Tekken didn’t have a backer, despite a string of top performances. Why?

The answer may be because something was in the works in the background.

As of today, Speedkicks will now be PG | Speedkicks, joining the likes of pros like Punk, Coach Steve, and MarlinPie. Prior to his signing it was easy to say Team ITS was the most dominant esports team in American Tekken. Panda Global now looks poised to put a stop to that at Evolution 2017.

Source: PandaGlobalPG

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Warm up to BlazBlue: Central Fiction’s Evo tournament by watching pro play: Fenrich, Monster, Souji, and more

As we gear up to watch the BlazBlue: Central Fiction on the main stage at Evolution Championships this weekend, it’s a great time to warm up by watching some top Japanese players duke it out. After all, their presence will be quite noticeable, and this is also the first Evo for Central Fiction–the previous games had a brief hiatus from the big stage.

iGS|Monster, who typically dominates with his Izanami, is just as proficient with Nine. The set below features him below NA|Ikamen, an Azrael player. It’s really great to see how both players watch Nine’s stock and act accordingly; Ikamen tries to predict projectile-based attacks and absorb them. Monster does switch to Izanami, though, so you can see both characters deal with Azrael. Expect to see a lot of Izanami and Nine action at Evo.

Arakune is also no doubt one of the scarier characters in BlazBlue’s large cast, and VER|Souji is the Arakune player you want to look out for. Watch OJA|Rikutoue face off against the “one touch death” character, though one can say the same about Izanami. The proper matches start after 4:00, and many rounds turn into grueling, zoning battles. The time-out at 9:30 is one of the closest. This was an extremely even battle, so definitely worth watching till the end!

And finally, who could forget about IO|Fenrich, the most famous Jin player. Here we have him versus Monster’s Nine this time. It never gets boring to watch Fenrich’s optimized, stylish combos and extremely intelligent callouts. The results of this set will surprise you, though. It will be most exciting to watch Fenrich face American players at Evolution–and likely grace the final stage.

Source: Japan Esports League Official / Jourdal

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Omen of Sorrow will be playable at Evo 2017

The last time we saw the horror-themed fighting game Omen of Sorrow, developer AOne Games was still showing footage from an old build from PSX 2016. Now, players will have a chance to not only see a new build, but also try it out at the biggest fighting game event of the year.

AOne Games has confirmed that Omen of Sorrow will be at Evo 2017. They will be showing off a new playable build of the game that features the previously-revealed Caleb and Gabriel, updated vampire character Vladislav, and new character Zafkiel.

In their press release, combat designer Felix Muñoz had this to say on development of the game and fighting games in general: “A fighting game engine has very specific and strict needs that need to be solved in order to deliver a top-quality experience the community has come to expect; to have a constant 60 fps frame rate, deterministic physics, and consistent collisions has allowed us to develop a precise and fast paced gameplay we strived for.”

Muñoz continues saying, “We’ve got the certainty that players will enjoy what we’ll show at Evo, our next challenge is to finalize our custom matchmaking server to avoid the problems other fighting game titles have suffered. Fortunately Microsoft Azure has placed their trust upon us, so we’ll be able to use their global infrastructure to provide a superior quality experience.” Omen of Sorrow also plans to make use of GGPO netcode.

Omen of Sorrow will be playable at booth #110 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center this weekend at Evo 2017. In the meantime, check out some updated gameplay footage from the new build!

Sources: press release; Gematsu

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Japan unveils its new Smash 4 Power Ranking, ahead of Evo 2017

First the PGR, then SSBMRank and now the Japan Power Ranking! With Evo coming up on us fast, Japanese statistician haruki has finally released the country’s full Smash 4 Power Ranking. Larger than most Western variants, their ranking lists the country’s 200 best players, with the top 30 having their achievements memorialized in video form.

The videos showing off the top 30 are truly something–with each player getting a breakdown of their best wins, a map showing where they have competed and even a special end-card which relates to a memorable moment from their Smash career. I’d love to see haruki and editor cooder collaborate with the PG Stats team for the PGR v4, as the editing in these videos really add some personality to the whole affair.

As for the actual rankings, KEN has held onto the title as Japan’s best Smash 4 player, with 2GG’s komorikiri retaining his second place position. LG|Abadango has moved up from seventh to third place, while former bronze medalist Shuton has dropped down to sixth. You can find last season’s list here, if you want to check how the positions have changed.

JPR Smash 4 v3

Out of the top 15, only four–Choco, Shuton, T and Hikaru–are not attending Evo this year. With Japan fielding so many heavy hitters for this year’s event, I’d be surprised if you didn’t see at least two or three players on this list making it to Sunday finals. You also have to note the huge character variety in Japan’s ranking, when compared to the West. Every top 10 player mains a different character and the only repeating characters are Bayonetta, Rosalina and Luma, Pit and Duck Hunt.

Source: Harukisb

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Check out UltraChen TV’s Evolution 2017 pre-show!

David “UltraDavid” Graham and James Chen are the hosts of the aptly named UltraChenTV show. This livestreamed series is a weekly discussion of the latest news and chatter in the FGC, and there’s no FGC topic bigger right now then this weekend’s Evolution 2017.

The two renowned commentators break down the game lists, rules changes, stats, and what their expectations are for the event.

There are also special guests to discuss various major tournaments. For The King of Fighters XIV, Giby “Dr KOF” Zia gives his predictions for the top players. Since his 2014 predictions were 100% accurate, it’s worth listening to his analysis!

To talk Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, they bring on the one and only Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott.

UltraDavid happens to be a strong follower of Injustice 2, so he leads the way in this NetherRealm Studios discussion.

To discuss Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Nintendo’s favorite commentator D’Ron “D1” Maingrette was brought on board.

Circa ESports manager Brandon “Tuboware” Brockman sings the praises of Tokido for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

James “XiePlus” Xie thinks this year’s BlazBlue tournament is too close to call, citing the unprecedented number of champions attending for the first time.

Reepal “Rip” Parbhoo of Level Up Your Game thinks top 8 will be all international players in Tekken 7.

And, of course, as Street Fighter experts, Team UltraChen tackle Street Fighter V.

And that’s every main-stage game broken down for your listening pleasure! Hopefully this Evo preview tides you over ’til Friday.

Source: UltraChenTV

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Vasyl Lomachenko to meet Miguel Marriaga in world title defence on August 5

WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) will defend his title aganist Colombian challenger Miguel Marriaga ( 25-2, 21 KOs) on August 5 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California.
The Ukrainan boxer had hoped to avenge his only pro defeat in a rematch with three-time featherweight world champion Orlando Salido, but the Mexican turned down the fight.
“Of course, I wanted to fight Salido but that’s not happening,” said Lomachenko. “Now I must deal with Marriaga,…

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Samurai Shodown V Special is coming to PS4 and PS Vita, and it’s playable at Evo 2017

Teased by SNK earlier today and then revealed on the PlayStation Blog, an uncut version of Samurai Shodown V Special is coming to PS4 and PS Vita. This port contains all the blood and gore from the arcade original, with a beta version playable at Evo 2017.

SNK are working with Code Mystics for this port–the company who handled the recent PS4 and PS Vita rerelease of Garou: Mark of the Wolves. As a result, this version of Samurai Shodown V Special will feature Trophies, online multiplayer and a special Gallery mode where players can unlock artwork and other behind-the-scenes bits and pieces.

If you want to try out the beta build of the SNK classic, it will be playable at the Sega/Atlus booth on the Evo show floor.

Source: PlayStation