Everything you need to know to help test the new Capcom Fighters Network.
Capcom has revealed the scheduled start and end for this weekend’s Capcom Fighters Network beta test; this time open to both PC and PlayStation 4 users, with active cross-play.
The test will begin on Thursday, May 11, at 6:00 PM PDT, and run throughout the weekend to end at 10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, May 14.
The beta test will include the new CFN functions and features, the upcoming balance patch, and all characters unlocked for use–including the not-yet-released “Young Commander” Ed. Only online functions are going to be available in the test. The beta test is open to all players even without a copy of Street Fighter V (PlayStation Plus is required on PS4), and is available to download now.
Keep an eye on SFV Server on Twitter for status updates throughout the test period.
As some of you may know, Lab Zero Games has been collaborating with Hidden Variable Studios to create a mobile adaptation of Skullgirls. The game is far from just a straight up port, rather combining RPG elements and a revamped combat system to better suit touchscreen play.
For those looking forward to this–or at least wondering how the adaptation plays like–wonder no more, as Lab Zero has revealed the launch date for the game. Skullgirls Mobile will be launching on May 25, 2017 for Android and iOS devices in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Skullgirls Mobile allows players to play as Filia, Peacock, Big Band, Parasoul, Painwheel, Valentine, and Cerebella. Players can take these characters through a story mode with multiple chapters, or participate in daily events. The game will implement a currency system with both a regular and premium currency. Regular currency can be used to upgrade characters and abilities, while premium gems can be used to re-energize characters for their next fight, as well as buy relics. Despite this, the developers assure us that people can play the game without having to pay for upgrades.
The launch itself is only the beginning: Lab Zero and Hidden Variable plan to continue supporting the game, and they’re already hard at work on the next round of characters, as well as story prologue chapters for the game.
NetherRealm Studio’s Injustice 2 is only a mere week away now, and with the largest base roster in the company’s history, there’s still a few characters left to be covered on the Watchtower live stream. While Green Lantern, Green Arrow and pre-order character Darkseid were analyzed last week, today’s Watchtower will look at two of the game’s most plot-centric villains: the Collector of Worlds Brainiac, and the Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker–who was finally revealed just over a week ago.
We’ve already seen a bit of gameplay of the two, and Joker follows in his fellow veterans’ footsteps in terms of being a legacy character: operating very similarly to his previous incarnation, though with very noticeable improvements to his tools. You can see the announcement tweet below, featuring an intro between the two that sheds more light on Joker’s return. As always, the stream will kick off today, May 10th, at 3:00 PM CST (1:00 PM PDT) at http://www.twitch.tv/netherrealm. There will also be an additional stream covering the Gear System on Friday, May 12th.
Sloclap has sent out a brand new Absolver game play video along with the big news that the game will be released for PlayStation 4 and PC on August 29th. The video goes into the three initial combat styles as well as takes a look at their Special Ability and how the main features of the Combat Deck play out in game.
Again, no specific reason for this particular batch of maintenance has been stated by Capcom; as this is the last day before the start of the new CFN beta test period, that is the likeliest culprit. Capcom still needs to restore the Temple Hideout stage to working order as well, so here’s hoping.
Although the upcoming release of Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 might be grabbing all the headlines, BlazBlue players don’t need to worry about being forgotten about. BlazBlue’s European publisher PQube have announced a partnership with Sony and ESL to host weekly events directly from your PS4 dashboard, with the results contributing to ESL’s leaderboard. The best in Europe will no doubt be duking it out every Sunday for the top spot, and PQube are planning to reward the winner with a special prize – though we don’t know exactly what that will be yet.
A big bonus for those hoping to take part is just how simple it will be to sign up, since you can sign up online or directly on your PS4. According to PQube, all you need to do is to:
Have an active EU PS Plus Subscription
Go to the ‘EVENTS’ tab at the top of the PS4TM menu
Select ‘TOURNAMENTS’
Select an upcoming ‘BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION’ tournament
Select ‘REGISTER’
Create an ESL account if you haven’t got one already and link it with your PSN account
Remember to check-in shortly before tournament start in order to participate
Check the brackets to identify your assigned opponent
Follow the tournament directions to start your match
For those not able to compete – whether that’s a time or location constraint – the tournaments will be streamed live thanks to London’s leading anime fighter enthusiasts Nth Gen Interactive, who will be streaming the events on their Twitch channel every week.
With the first tournament taking place this very Sunday – May 14 – BlazBlue players can jump right into the action and start racking up points. It’s time to find out who the best BlazBlue fighters in Europe are.
During today’s EA earnings call, BioWare’s Aaryn Flynn announced that the as-yet unnamed new IP will be delayed to Fiscal 2019. It was originally planned for release prior to March 2018 but the new live service is integral to the game and is also delayed.
Echo Fox’s Dominique “Sonic Fox” McLean is a player who needs no introduction, particularly for players in the NetherRealm scene. Recently, the 4-time Evo champion for all three previous NRS titles shared his picks and insight for which characters in Injustice 2 will be the most effective in competitive play, before the title’s release next Tuesday.
Mainly focusing on the many newcomers to the cast, he notes that his Day 1 main will be Captain Cold, NRS’s first attempt at a true trap character.
It’s the first time that NRS is actually doing a trap character and setup-y character, like perfectly, and that’s my archetype I look for in fighting games. He has so much trickery and setups that he can just keep the opponent guessing over and over on their knockdown. He looks like he has a solid advancing mid, a very fast low that he can setup traps from, a D1 that looks like it’s about 7 frames. He looks like he’s all around very hard to get in on, very hard to approach, and if you’re put into the wrong situation, it might be game.
Conversely, he doesn’t think that Cheetah will be that great, as she not only has to get in as a pure rushdown character, but appears to live and die by her 50/50 mixups, that could be unsafe if the opponent guesses correctly. But he’ll reserve full judgment until he sees more of her. He also had an interesting perspective on DLC character Darkseid.
He looks top tier as I don’t know what. He has traps, 50/50s from just jumping at you, one of the best zoning games ever. A crazy Trait that allows him to combo after his grab. He looks like he might be a little too ridiculous, so that’s why I’m learning him too if he’s allowed in tournaments day 1. What’s his weakness?
Shifting to the subject of returning veterans, Fox expressed great hope in The Joker’s greatly-improved quality of life.
He’s going to take a lot of work, but he’s going to be a lot better than he was in Injustice 1. I’m really excited to try him. He looks really cool, and seems to have a lot of new trickery and setups. Hopefully they did him right this time.
You can catch the full video–where Fox also discusses Brainiac, Black Canary, Firestorm, Dr. Fate, Harley Quinn and Robin–below.
For any European Tekken fanatics looking to buy a console to play Tekken 7, it looks like Bandai Namco and Sony have something for you. Bandai Namco France has just revealed the first image of a Tekken 7-themed PlayStation 4 Pro.
Now, while the bundle in the image is of a 1 TB PlayStation 4 Pro, there is also a bundle of the slim version of the PS4 with 500GB apparently coming. A listing by UK retailer GAME has the PS4 Slim bundle costing £250. Prices for the Pro bundle have yet to be revealed.
As for whether or not a US bundle is coming, we have no word–as of yet. Since its launch in the US back in September of 2016, there have been no official PlayStation 4 Pro bundles released in the region, though some retailers have come up with their own.
You’ll still have to wait to play until the beta goes live on the 11th, though!
PlayStation Plus users can download the new Capcom Fighters Network beta test today, if you’d like to have the file already downloaded and ready to run when the beta test starts up on May 11. It’s available to grab right now on the US/Canada PlayStation Store.
Another little surprise turned up on the PlayStation Store today as well: if you’ve been holding out on grabbing Battle Costumes for the original 16-character cast, they can now be purchased in a single shot bundle for $29.99 USD. Check out the Original Characters Battle Costume 1 Pack if you need to complete your collection. It’s a little encouraging to see that the costumes are getting a bundling and price break, at least eventually–as the majority of Premium outfits for the game have only been sold individually so far.
At the time of writing, the new beta and the Battle Costume bundle don’t seem to have appeared on Steam yet. The beta test is planned to run on both console and PC from May 11 to 14; it will feature the new CFN features, the upcoming balance patch, and all playable characters unlocked–including the recently-revealed Season 2 DLC fighter Ed.
