Category: News

Posted on

GameBattles reopens its famous Super Smash Bros. online ladder, now for Smash 4

Alongside the now defunct All Is Brawl, GameBattles was one of the best places to train during the days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It helped birth many of the talents we now see dominating the top levels of Smash 4, with its playoffs and online ladder acting as major battlegrounds during Brawl’s lifespan. While Japan still has an active and fiercely competitive online ladder, nothing in the West has really captured the original spirit of All Is Brawl and GameBattles.

However, in a matter of minutes earlier this week after a suggestion by IMT|ANTi on Twitter, GameBattles has set up a new online ladder specifically for Smash 4. Top players like ANTi, TSM|ZeRo and CaptainZack have already signed up to the service, with there currently being over 380 players registered since the ladder’s announcement yesterday evening. You can expect more players to start filtering in over the next week, with MLG hopefully setting up incentives, premium tournaments and playoffs as interest increases.

This announcement has certainly garnered a lot of interest among both Brawl veterans and new-school wifi warriors, so there should be plenty of matches going if you are looking to level up your Smash skills.

Source: GameBattles

Posted on

– Fractured Space Updates with Phase 3 to Boost Action

Edge Case Games has announced that Fractured Space has been updated with Phase 3 that brings faster-paced action and speed to the game. The Conquest 2.0 game map is designed to bring “more direct confrontations” to bring players in more contact with one another. Special drone ships have been added that can be shot down to reduce an enemy’s resource pull.

Posted on

Esports Arena partners with MGM Resorts and Allied Esports to open new venue at Luxor Hotel and Casino

In a strategic partnership between Allied Esports and the MGM Resorts group, Esports Arena is planning to open a new venue inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas strip. Taking over a 30,000 square foot nightclub within the hotel, Esports Arena Las Vegas is set to open in early 2018 and become Las Vegas’ first dedicated esports venue.

According to a press release announcing this joint venture, Esports Arena Las Vegas will come equipped with “a competition stage, LED video wall, telescopic seating, daily gaming stations, a robust food and beverage offering, and state-of-the-art streaming and television-quality production studios.” This arena will also pave the way for Esports Arena and Allied Esports’ expansion across America, with Esports Arena planning to open between 10-15 new locations across North America in the next few years. Two venues in Oakland, California and Shenzhen, China are planned to open during 2017, with a touring gaming truck starting its journey across mainland Europe.

“Esports Arena Las Vegas will be the ultimate esports environment that people from around the world will strive to experience first-hand,” said co-founder and COO of Esports Arena, Tyler Endres. “The operation and programming will be unique, as the rest of our locations are very much driven to engage and support local communities, while here in Las Vegas we are developing an approach that will also create excitement for the millions of visitors who come to the city every year.”

The Esports Arena in Santa Ana has proved to be a welcome boon to the FGC, hosting regular events like Wednesday Night Fights and Mega Smash Mondays, alongside larger events like SoCal Regionals and 2GG’s Sagas. Hopefully, this grand expansion across the USA means that more tournament organizers and players can make use of its stellar facilities to continue the growth of local scenes.

Source: Esports Arena

Posted on

Next Injustice 2 Watchtower stream on April 12th features breakdowns for Gorilla Grodd, Firestorm, & Scarecrow

Following last week’s breakdown of The Flash, Bane, and Captain Cold, as well as the Scarlet Speedster’s official trailer, NetherRealm Studios has announced that the next Watchtower livestream for Injustice 2 will take place this Wednesday, April 12th. Community Specialist Tyler Lansdown already promised us another triple-header, with one of the spotlighted characters being Gorilla Grodd; now we know the names of the other two, courtesy of the Injustice Twitter account.

Joining Grodd for character breakdowns will be his Society compatriot Scarecrow, who was recently revealed in the “It’s Good to be Bad” trailer and Firestorm, who we first saw on UpUpDownDown last month. Aside from Steve “16-Bit” Brownback describing Firestorm as “a far-ranged character who has a lot of good projectiles,” whose Trait is his Nuclear Level (which has three degrees, similar to Bane’s Venom), and Gorilla Grodd being playable in very early builds of the game, we haven’t seen much from this trio–so it should be a very noteworthy stream.

The action kicks off this Wednesday at 3:00 PM CST (1:00 PM PDT) on https://www.twitch.tv/netherrealm. As always, NRS employees will potentially answer your questions on stream if you use #AskTheWatchtower. If you’re interested in more Firestorm gameplay to hold you over, check out his trailer here.

Source: InjusticeGame (Twitter); via Test Your Might

Posted on

Naruto rockets into the future with Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker; Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy remasters the past

Naruto’s fighting future is in the hands of a new developer with a fresh take on the hit anime!

Bandai Namco officially announced the next evolution of the Naruto fighter. Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a 4v4, 3D fighter set to release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Players compete online with their favorite characters in large-scale environments designed to inspire “Acrobatic Ninja Battle Action.”

CyberConnect2, the developer of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series, will not be developing the new title. That responsibility will be passed onto Soleil, a subsidiary of the Dead or Alive creator, Tomonobu Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios. Soleil is comprised of Team Ninja veterans with Katsunori Ehara leading development as the game’s director, and Yoshifuru Okamoto, who will act as the title’s producer.

No release date or window has been given yet, but a gameplay trailer has been made available to give folks an idea of what to expect from the new title!

Two compilations breath new life into the original trilogy.

Bandai Namco also recently announced two Ultimate Ninja Storm compilations titled Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy. The first compilation will include the first three entries with improved graphics and undefined DLC, and will be available only through digital retailers. Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy includes the earlier trilogy, and the most recently-released Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto. These four titles will come bundled with an exclusive Steelbook case, artbook, and anime bonus disc for $79.99.

Both compilations will be arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC later this fall. An announcement trailer was also released for the remasters, so check it out below!

Sources: Bandai Namco, Kotaku, Siliconera

Posted on

Street Fighter V servers down for maintenance between 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM this Tuesday

Probably too soon to hope for a significant update, though…

It’s been a couple of weeks, and right on schedule, another Street Fighter V server maintenance window will occur tomorrow (April 11), this time between 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM PDT.

Aside from an interruption to the online fight, no indication of any new content rolling out has been confirmed–the improved CFN was promised to arrive soon after the conclusion of the PC beta test, and additional new content has been promised for April, including the next balance patch–but it’s probably too early in the month to see these additions.

Source: SFV Server (Twitter)

Posted on

ElvenShadow’s homecoming to Japan has him facing Ain and 310 in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2

The Guilty Gear SlashSeries continues over at Japan’s Mikado arcade. As Japan’s REV 2 stars regularly face each other in the venue, American player and organizer Mike “ElvenShadow” Boczar traveled to the country, where he stayed for close to eight years. Of course, he couldn’t go about visiting his second homeland without making some stops at his favorite bars and arcades.

ElvenShadow’s Faust faces Ain’s Ky Kiske in a FT5 set. A bit of a grudge match, it’s fascinating to see this matchup played at high-level especially since it’s a very “random” zoning game. Also noteworthy are the REV 2 changes, such as Ky’s new normal move, which Ain already expertly utilizes to keep up pressure and gain a lot of Tension, and some of Faust’s new “Jackpot” items. We see a few of the latter during the matches. Anyone ordered a box of donuts? There’s also a serving of huge meteor.

Other than quick interviews with the players, ElvenShadow also fights 310’s innovative Venom. Again, English-speakers make sure to set your computer audio settings to right speaker only to hear MajinObama’s insightful English commentary.

Source: Jonio

Posted on

Polygon tells the rise and fall of Mad Catz in the eyes of the FGC

If you grew up in the general gaming community, the death knell heard as Mad Catz filed for bankruptcy was probably music to your ears. If, however, you have been a part of the FGC, Mad Catz’s demise sounded more like a dirge. Responsible for putting arcade sticks in the hands of many players over the last decade, the company was one of the sole beneficiaries of the fighting game renaissance experienced during and after 2009, as Street Fighter IV became the hottest fighting game in a long time.

But a lot of their success in the FGC  could be attributed solely to the community itself, with Mark “Markman” Julio’s efforts to shift Mad Catz brand recognition to a positive light, for example. Having started at the company in the role of technical support, Markman ultimately was the one that sparked the SE and TE Fightsticks that became the line we knew today.

In this interview with Polygon, Julio talked about his time there, stating that, “We created an ecosystem where players, competitors and fans can unite under a brand and really make impact-driven memories from the shared experiences.” He also talks about how Mad Catz began sponsoring and selling at events, saying that when he had asked for time off to go to a tournament, “My boss at the time asked me if the event would be willing to help promote the Mad Catz products, or even sell them during the event.”

Source: Polygon

Posted on

2GGC: Gekkouga Saga comes to the Esports Arena on May 20th

Decided after Ranai’s Greninja took first place at the special round robin at 2GGC: Civil War, this next Saga will be dedicated to the amphibian shinobi, Greninja. However, as many of the world’s best Greninjas–like iStudying and Some–could not make an event in April, 2GGaming have rescheduled the newly-named Gekkouga Saga (Greninja is called “Gekkouga” in Japanese) for May 20th at the Esports Arena in Santa Ana, California.

As with all 2GGC Sagas, there will be both singles and doubles events for players to try and earn those precious 2GGC Ranking Points, along with a special combo contest dedicated to the ninja frog. Greninja players are infamous for posting incredibly stylish and intricate combos on Twitter, so this event will finally pit them against each other for the title of greatest amphibian. Based on a tweet from 2GGaming, it looks like they will be flying in international Greninja mains like Elexiao, Waveguider, DarkAura, Eddy, Serge, Oisiitofu, Some, and more to compete at the event.

Signups are available over on smash.gg, and expect more details on this Saga as we approach May. 2GG are promising to host another tournament to make up for them missing an event in April, so don’t worry about losing a weekend of top Smash 4 action. Hopefully, it may be the rumored Pokémon Saga.

Source: 2GGaming

Posted on

Mid-South Championships 2017 offering $15 registration fee until May 10th

After a successful first event last year, the organizers behind Kumite In Tennessee and Panda X Gaming have teamed up once again to bring “the LARGEST gaming event in Arkansas,” back to Little Rock. Mid-South Championships will be held September 9-10, returning to the Holiday Inn Conference Center, conveniently located near the Clinton National Airport, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The event’s Featured games include:

  • Street Fighter V ($1,000 pot bonus)
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
  • Guilty Gear Xrd REV2
  • BlazBlue: Central Fiction
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U [singles & doubles] ($500 pot bonus for singles)
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee [singles & doubles] ($500 pot bonus for singles)
  • Project M
  • Tekken 7
  • The King of Fighters XIV
  • Injustice 2
  • Killer Instinct

Registration is currently live at smash.gg. From now until May 10th, the organizers are offering a limited-time $15 venue fee, as a response to concerns of last year’s high registration cost. Afterwards, the price will increase to the early-bird price of $20, which will further increase to $30 on August 1st. On-site registration will set you back $40, so competitors should act quickly for the discount. Just like last year, the hotel room rate will be $89 per night, with a booking link forthcoming.

Source: Mid-South Championships (Facebook)