Late last month, we reported on IGN’s unveiling of the cover for the first issue of Injustice 2 #1: Two Speeding Bullets, Part 1, the new tie-in comic that will be released alongside the game, similar to its predecessor. With that first issue having landed on digital shelves this week, The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog caught up with writer Tom Taylor–who is returning to the series following work on Years 1-3 of the original–to learn what exactly the sequel book is all about.
Looking to tell the story of the immediate aftermath of Superman and The Regime’s fall from power, the first issue will see the story told from Harley Quinn’s point of view, whom Heat Vision dubs, “the most trustworthy of the leads.” When discussing the series’ core conflict between the ideals of Batman and Superman, and how their relationship’s evolved since the events of the first game (as well as to what role the debuting Supergirl might play) Taylor simply stated the following.
I don’t think anything in Injustice is completely black and white, and a lot of grievances Superman has are pretty well-founded. The reasons for why he did what he did, in his mind, are still right. He may have overstepped–Hell, he may have been a murdering tyrant–but he did stop wars. He was working for the environment. He was acting against inequality, even if it was all done with an iron fist. Batman isn’t exactly a shining beacon of good in all of this either. He’s done… questionable things as well, and we’ll see more of this in the early chapters [of the new series]. Supergirl certainly offers us something more pure. But this could turn when you realize why she comes to Earth.
For more details, including Taylor’s thoughts on the deterioration of the World’s Finest friendship, Harley’s progression in a world without Joker, and comic-exclusive characters who won’t be appearing in the game, be sure to read the full interview here.
The first issue of Injustice 2 is available for download now via the DC Comics App, readdcentertainment.com, iBooks, comixology.com, Google Play, Kindle Store, and Nook Store, with new chapters being digitally released every week. The first print edition will be released on May 3rd, ahead of the game’s release on May 16th.
Heat Vision has also released a preview page, showing a confrontation between Batman and Superman in the Red Sun prison following his defeat, which you can see below–featuring art by Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran, and Rex Lokus.
It’s a New World for Guilty Gear Xrd players. REV 2 not only refreshes the cast and the game’s UI, but also adds a hotly-requested character from the past games: Baiken.
From simpler midscreen combos to longer corner ones, Kei walks through a great sampling of Baiken combos. They occasionally show a few situations where Baiken uses her parry–Azami–and turns them into punishing combos. Check out the high-damaging combos on Chipp, a command grab combo, and a few awesome Potemkin-specific sequences.
If you want to get to know Baiken a little bit better, check out our Baiken spotlight.
The varsity jackets display either Ryu or M. Bison, with each jacket lined with the character’s promotional art from Street Fighter V, along with a character-specific print on the back. The M. Bison jacket shows off the Shadaloo logo, while the Ryu jacket sports the kanji seen on his now-signature gloves. These jackets will cost you a fair chunk of Fight Money, going for €99.00 (approx. $105.00 USD).
If you’re looking to take a trip to Kanzuki Beach this summer, Musterbrand also has both men’s and women’s beachwear, based around Street Fighter V. With M. Bison and Ryu designs on the swim trunks–alongside Shadaloo and Chun-Li themed bikinis–these items all go for €49.00 (approx. $52.00 USD).
Novril, known for his recent “Guilty Gear Crash Course“series, is back at it with new videos. His new series tackles explaining and redefining fighting game concepts from the ground up. Open to all kinds of fighting games, the inclusive video tackles the concept of footsies.
The episode begins with attempting to define the term, and looking at already established definitions of the term. Because fighting games are so diverse–and many include simple or complex aerial movement–it’s not that easy to embrace what exactly we’re trying to say with one word. Novril recognizes this complexity, and nails it with two fundamental, conceptual goal: controlling hurtboxes and hitboxes so that the opponent overextends themselves, and preventing them from doing the same to you.
Watch the new episode below, and let us know what thoughts and advice you have about the concept!
Good news for those who have been eagerly waiting for a PC version of Arc System Works’ 2D fighter. BlazBlue: Central Fiction, currently available for PlayStation 3 and 4, should be coming to PC soon–pending an official company announcement.
Twitter user Gatoray found that a Korean game rating board (similar to the USA’s ESRB) has listed BlazBlue: Central Fiction. The web page lists a few reasonings for its 15-year-old an up rating, but clearly marks the post for “PC.”
A while back, we’d also uncovered that a Steam database listed the PC version of BlazBlue: Central Fiction. It’s unknown whether Arc System Works is planning anything special for the computer version (or the console version, for that matter). The latest version of BlazBlue on Steam is Chronophantasma: Extend.
With a host of new content such as new characters, costumes, and balance changes, now is as good a time as any to get into The King of Fighters XIV. For those with Asian PlayStation Network accounts, there’s another incentive for them to pick up the game–as well as other SNK classics on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita.
PlayStation Asia is currently having an SNK Spring Sale. This sale sees a 50% price reduction (60% for PlayStation Plus subscribers) on select SNK titles such as The King of Fighters XIV, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, The Last Blade 2, and more. You can check out the full list of discounted titles below:
Art of Fighting Anthology (PS2 Classic on PS3)
Fu’un Super Combo (PS2 Classic on PS3)
Garou: Mark of the Wolves (PS4, PS Vita)
The King of Fighters XIV (PS4)
The King of Fighters Portable ’94~’98 (PSP, PS Vita)
The Last Blade 2 (PS4, PS Vita)
Metal Slug Complete (PSP, PS Vita)
Metal Slug 3 (PS3)
Metal Slug XX (PS Vita)
Samurai Shodown 6 (PS2 Classic on PS3)
Twinkle Star Sprites ~La Petite Princesse~ (PS2 Classic on PS3)
The discounts on these apply to both the Japanese and English language versions of the game (as well as the Korean/Chinese version as well, for The King of Fighters XIV).
For those looking to avail of these discounts, however, take note that the sale ends on April 24.
To celebrate the 55th anniversary of Tatsunoko and the 30th anniversary of the Street Fighter series, both Capcom and Tatsunoko are coming together once again for a special exhibition to be held at the Aqua City Mall in Odaiba, Tokyo. Running from April 21st to May 7th, this exhibition will show off art from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, as well as offering various Capcom and Tatsunoko-themed activities like giant Monster Hunter balloons, stamp rallies, and panels where you can take your picture with your favorite fighter.
There is also going to be a special character poll, where fans can vote for their favorite character from the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom roster. By the looks of it, it’s probably nothing more than a popularity contest, but it could be the sign of something in the future. With dedicated fans keeping the game alive via the TvC Discord, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite coming out this year, there is certainly a raised interest in the Versus series as of late.
If anything does get announced, it will most likely be an HD remaster of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom–but even so, it would probably be Japan-only due to the previous difficulties in securing all the Tatsunoko character licenses for a Western audience. Even then, the question remains if it would be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch–like the original being exclusive to the Wii–or whether a potential remaster would come to other consoles and PC. This is all speculation at present, but keep an eye for any news coming out of this TvC exhibition when it opens a week from today.
Adding to their roster of sponosored fighting game players in games like Street Fighter V, Injustice 2, and Tekken 7, Broken Alliance Gaming signed on their first player for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- this week. Tianhang “dotNova” Ren, who played Potemkin in -SIGN- and now mains Jack-O’, joins their roster.
“I first started playing fighting games on Xbox starting with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger back in 2009. I was a netplay monster until, completely by chance, I discovered the local scene in Atlanta back in October 2013,” Ren said, in a statement on the BxA website.
“After regularly getting demolished by the stronger players, I attended my first major FR17. Ever since then I’ve loved competing and expanded my outlook on fighting games semi-casually playing Melty Blood, UNIEL, DFC, and GGAC+R. My main focus is on Guilty Gear Xrd, and I look forward to seeing how far the series will go. I really want to thank the people in my local scene for their amazing support and BxA for this opportunity. I’m far from where I want to be as a player, but hopefully one day I’ll reach the top.”
Go ahead and give BxA|dotNova a follow on Twitter. Congratulations on the sponsorship!
The Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League is going strong, despite Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2’s appearance in Japanese arcades. This week’s match has already been fought, so here’s the mixup: instead of previewing, we’re going to see what the players think after having faced each other. A big part of getting better at fighting games is drawing conclusions from previous games and footage, so let’s see what each combatant has to say.
First, check out the action between rubedoe’s Ramlethal Valentine and YanuCerda’s Sol Badguy. It’s an incredibly close set. After that, TSB|Blaze’s Raven pounced on Ryan Hunter’s devious Venom.
rubedoe
Your match was extremely close, and you did win in the end, but is there anything that you think you could have done better during the matches?: “Call out more 2D, 6HS, Gun Flames, and punishing Wild Throw, instead of just focusing on avoiding it. A lot of stuff was telegraphed, but I went in pretty cold due to real life and Nier: Automata. Usually better at combos than that but it was my own handicap.”
What were your thoughts on this matchup?: “Him as a player, it was easy to tell he’s the kind of Sol that likes to force you to adapt to him, and if you don’t, you just die. Ram can beat these types of Sols, but he did do some stuff to shut down my air options, and he did block or Blitz some of my mix-ups that have those kinds of weaknesses if you recognize them, so good on him for that.
“He tended to hard call-out my going into the air too much by putting himself in the air without reacting to me being in the air myself which is the only reason I won. Once he does this, I can 2S him on the way down, or if he air-dashes above me willy-nilly, which he did. When he did get me in the air though, I was screwed, because air throw shuts Ram air neutral down.
“Sol vs. Ram is bad for Ram unless the Sol is slow to adapt, and the Ram can outplay him.”
Afterward, what lessons did you draw from the set? Did your opinion change because of it?: “Lessons I learned are mostly that I have to work on being more reactionary on my defense and not letting my opponent run his game as easily. The Arm was right, that I only Charge Blitz so I need to work on mixing that up. A big weakness I’ve always had was jumping a lot but not being proactive at defending my space from air throws so I need to figure that out.
“Otherwise, my opinion on the matchup is the same as ever. Ram has downfalls that are pretty steep, but she can outplay her opponent once, and ride the momentum to a won round pretty easily. Matchups just depend on how hard it is for her to outplay that specific character in neutral.”
YanuCerda
At one point in the set, you were down, 4-6. What were you thinking about then to motivate you to push back?: “When I was down, my train of thought was that he was showing me some patterns I should be focused on taking advantage of. I started to play specifically anticipating the patterns I was looking for, and that helped me swing back, I think. Now, that I try to remember what those patterns were I definitely have already forgotten all of them.”
What were your thoughts on this matchup?: “I have never felt very comfortable against Ram with Sol, her hurtbox is a bit strange so I can’t be as fun with my combos. Ignoring the matchup though, his style was different than I was used to… for a while, I kept getting more command throws than I thought I deserved because I felt he was passive in pressure. It started to make me more uncomfortable, as I had to rely on the risky command throw more often and once he started jumping out, I did not adapt quick enough.”
Afterward, what lessons did you draw from the set? Did your opinion change because of it?: “First lesson, my fun cross-up setup (Bandit Revolver > YRC > cross-up jK, 2HS into Riot Stomp) doesn’t work on Ram…cost me the final round I believe, and I won’t be trying that again.
“Second lesson is, I have to work on in chaotic sets to avoi making choices that end me up in the corner. It’s clear a strong Ram will make full use of any mistake that winds me up in the corner, and I will be more aware of that from now on.
“Third, make sure my next match isn’t with 5 frames of delay ;). How do you block Ram in that delay?”
Blaze
At one point, you were down 2-5. How do you think you mounted an impressive comeback?: “I had to change my strategy, Venom outdamages Raven really easily, so I started using the stance to see if the damage difference will be on par with his. Which it was!”
What were your thoughts on this matchup?: “On the matchup itself, I personally think it’s in Venom’s favor. He can control a lot of space and make Raven come at him how he wants. Also, Venom’s wake up timing is a lot faster than the [rest of the] cast, so a lot of okizeme that I usually use does not work on Venom. He can easily back dash, super jump, and even 6P me if I glide at him, which can hit me before the ball is even active.”
Afterwards, what lessons did you draw from the set? Did your opinion change because of it?: “Opinion stayed the same. Venom vs. Raven requires Raven to work in neutral a lot. Also, Ryan knows the matchup very well since he plays Mystic (Florida Raven) a lot. I have to thank Daiandoh and Grover for the experience I got from playing them here in NYC.”
Ryan Hunter declined to comment.
What’s next for the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League? It’s time for a Europe special! On April 16th, European Guilty Gear warriors will duke it out Silva’s stream.
MMORPG.com has been given gift keys for Brawl of Ages – THE Collectible Card Arena game on Windows PC! These keys will give players 250 gems, 2 Silver Spins of the Big Brawl Board and a vermilion red, white and blue skin for characters. This is a $15 value so get your key now!
