Twelve former Irrational Games developers have announced the formation of a new company called Ghost Story Games. The new venture’s team includes Ken Levine, Don Roy, Jesse Kerns, to name a few. Levine et al have been involved in a number of stellar projects including System Shock 2, Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite.
The UK Throws Down The Smash Gauntlet with Albion 2 from July 1st-2nd
Following up on its success last year, DAT Team are beckoning the rest of the Smash world to the UK for the second edition of Albion, their international tournament series. Building on the experience the TO team has with running its monthly Dat Blast Zone events, Albion 2 is set to be a must-attend event in the European Smash calendar.
Held at the Bridge Academy in Hackney, Albion 2 will feature tournaments for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U alongside Super Smash Bros. Melee, with a 320-player cap for each event. With both UK Smash 4 and Melee steadily increasing in terms of skill and size, the local competition will be fierce for any attendees coming from outside of the country.
For additional information on pricing, scheduling and registration, check in on the Albion 2 event page later this week. The UK is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in Europe, so any players looking for a warm-up event before Evo 2017 should definitely consider a visit to London at the start of July!
Source: DAT Team
Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 Announced for Europe with a Possible Release Date
The European family is going to be on board with Guilty Gear players in North America, as publisher PQube has announced that the upcoming Xrd REV 2 expansion will be available in that region soon.
While PQube didn’t really offer additional details to the content of the game, or officially announce a release date, it linked an Amazon UK listing for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. This store listing is the first one visible for the game, available to pre-order. The retailer lists the release date as May 26, 2017. This is possibly just a placeholder date, as it is not yet confirmed by the publisher.
It lists the price at a hefty £44.99 (approximately $56 USD), however, keep in mind two things: for one, this may not be the same price in other regions, and secondly, already owning a PS3 or PS4 version of -REVELATOR- will allow a digital upgrade to REV 2 that will cost less. PS4 will be the only version available in stores as a physical copy.
There are no details about the Steam version of REV 2 yet. To read up on more details on what’s coming to REV 2, check out the American version announcement with the launch of the English site and move lists for Baiken and Answer.
Source: PQube
Street Fighter V Joins the TBS ELEAGUE on March 27th
In an announcement that many have predicted, ever since the success of Evo 2016 on ESPN 2 and ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown and King of the Hill series, Street Fighter V will be joining the ELEAGUE in March. For those who aren’t aware of it, the ELEAGUE is a televised esports league, shown on TBS and produced by Turner Broadcasting, which brings in CS:GO teams to fight it out across annual 10-week seasons. Now branching out into other esports, the ELEAGUE will be hosting a special Street Fighter V invitational, bringing many of the world’s best Street Fighter players to battle for the title of ELEAGUE Champion.
While details are scant on how this invitational league will play out, the competition is set to begin on March 27th, with the action continuing every Friday on TBS. Players will compete for a share of a $250,000 prize pool, with 16 players coming from Capcom Cup 2016 and the other 16 being chosen specially by ELEAGUE itself. It is unknown at this time whether the invitational will have a seasonal structure similar to the CS:GO ELEAGUE, but we will no doubt find out more in the coming month. Don’t worry if you don’t have access to TBS–you can watch all of the action via the ELEAGUE Twitch channel.
Source: ELEAGUE
The Fallen Titan Returns: Cyborg and New Story Details Shown Off in Injustice 2 Trailer
With Injustice 2 dropping soon, fans are itching to get their hands on the last few pre-release details. They’ve been pouring out recently, and today we just got another character reveal: in “Shattered Alliances, Part 1” we get a glimpse of Cyborg as he faces off against Blue Beetle:
Shattered Alliances Part 1: The Regime will rise – learn how #Superman became one of Earth’s greatest threats… #injustice2 pic.twitter.com/5CfGiQpvpO
— Injustice2 (@InjusticeGame) February 23, 2017
While we don’t see any direct gameplay for Cyborg, he’ll likely be playing fairly similar to his prior Injustice: Gods Among Us incarnation. He does have a new super move, which was shown in the Injustice 2 Mobile game, which launches the opponent to what appears to be Apokolips as they’re attacked by Parademons–both of those being calling cards of Darkseid, who will be available via pre-orders.
In addition to Cyborg, we get interesting bits of story regarding the upcoming title: Superman, Wonder Woman, Robin, and Cyborg seem to be allied, while Supergirl may have just arrived from Krypton and is slowly realizing what the Man of Steel has become. She may have even been the one to free him from the Red Sun prison we see him in, thinking she was doing the right thing.
Either way, we can certainly look forward to even more reveals, up until the May 16th release date.
Source: Injustice 2 (Twitter)
– God Wars Ready for Closed Beta Later Today
R2Games has announced that God Wars will be ready to begin closed beta testing starting later today. Players will enjoy customizable characters and “a strong emphasis on social and guild activities” all while moving through boss battles, running dungeons, challenging leaderboards and much more.
Classic Iori Costume Now Available on US PlayStation Store for The King of Fighters XIV
Another classic character gets their classic look back for the latest edition of The King of Fighters.
As promised, series mainstay Iori now has a classic outfit to match Kyo (and later, Athena) in The King of Fighters XIV: Iori’s classic costume is now available to purchase in the USA via the PlayStation Store, for $2.99 USD.
In addition to Kyo’s and Athena’s classic outfits, this joins the recent add-on costumes for Nakoruru and Shun’ei, as well as “Nightmare” Geese.
Regular KOF YouTuber Gato Ray has already uploaded some footage of Iori’s new (old) duds in action, so check it out here:
Also, have a look at even more goodies expected in the future for KOFXIV fans, as revealed at the World Championship.
Sources: PlayStation Store via Gato Ray
Gundam Versus Gets 38 Playable Mechas in Its Upcoming Closed Beta
Revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu, we’ve received more information about the different Gundam players will be able to pilot in Gundam Versus’ upcoming closed beta test. There will be 38 playable Mobile Suits from 11 separate Gundam works, including Gundam Barbatos from Iron Blooded Orphans, and Gundam Throne Zwei from Gundam 00. You can find the full list of playable Gundam below, courtesy of Famitsu:
- Turn A Gundam
- Jesta
- The-O
- Gundam Throne Zwei
- Jagd Doga
- Gundam Sandrock Kai
- Z Gundam
- ZZ Gundam
- V2 Gundam
- Jinx
- Union Flag Custom
- Full Armor Gundam
- Gundam Barbatos
- Gundam Kyrios
- Gundam Exia
- Sinanju
- Unicorn Gundam
- Tallgeese
- Wing Gundam Zero
- v-Gundam
- Gouf
- Guncannon
- Gundam
This closed beta, which will be happened on PlayStation 4 on March 10th, March 18th, and March 19th will feature four separate game modes and will only be available to users in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Trial Battle and Free Battle are single player modes, with Free Battle acting as a sort of training mode to test out new techniques and practice with certain mechas. Trial Battle is like your traditional Arcade mode, where players battle against computer opponents and progress along various battle routes until the end of a campaign.
Ultimate Battle is a sort of Survival mode, where players have to upgrade and repair their Mobile Suit in between waves of new enemies. After certain battles, special scenarios may appear where you may have to face off against teams of enemy pilots or even special giant mechas. You can play Ultimate Battle offline, but playing it online means you can team up with up to five other pilots for some proper robot-battling action.
Finally, there is Player Match where you can create rooms of up to 18 people for select two on two battles. These multiplayer lobbies will allow players to fight against other nations who are in the closed beta test, so plenty of chance to test your Gundam piloting skills. If you have a PSN account registered for any of the previously mention regions, you can sign up for beta access, but do be aware that the connections could be quite unstable. While no Western release date has been announced for Gundam Versus, there is an Asian English version in development if you are hankering to watch giant robots beat the bolts out of each other.
Sources: Gematsu; Hachima Kikou via Famitsu
More Kolin Impressions from Capcom’s Latest WinnerStaysOn Session with Street Fighter V
If you missed the stream live, check it out here to catch up on some more Kolin footage and details.
Yesterday’s WinnerStaysOn stream from Capcom UK naturally featured more gameplay with Street Fighter V’s upcoming ice queen Kolin–she joins the roster officially next Tuesday (February 28th). If you weren’t watching it live, you can see the footage here, via Capcom Fighters.
Kolin is being described as a very technical fighter, requiring a lot of lab time to get good results in-game with. The players explore specific aspects of her moveset and V-Trigger in the video below, so check it out if you’re hyped to give this new fighter a try at the end of the month.
If you prefer a quicker rundown of the Kolin data from the WinnerStaysOn stream–rather than watching the full three hours of play–YouTuber VesperArcade has provided a detailed summary below.
Sources: Capcom Fighters; VesperArcade
The Wii U Version of Pokkén Tournament to Feature at the 2017 World Pokémon Championships in Anaheim
Following the announcement of the second World Championships for Pokkén Tournament earlier this month, players have been desperately awaiting more details on the actual circuit surrounding the event. Well, the Pokémon Company are now starting to release information on this year’s World Championships, detailing the overall prize pot, alongside the version that the Championships will be using.
First off, players will all be competing on the Wii U version of Pokkén, as opposed to the arcade version of the game. Unless the Pokémon Company finally decides to push the DLC fighters–which are currently only available on the arcade version–to console, we won’t be seeing Darkai, Empoleon, Croagunk or Scizor going for the Worlds title in August. This may deepen the disconnect between Western and Japanese players–who may have to literally play on an older version of Pokkén, unless the Wii U version is actually updated to be in line with the arcade edition ahead of the Championships.
Besides the mention of a Last Chance Qualifier on the Friday before the World Championships, The Pokémon Company did not state how players can actually qualify for the Pokkén World Championships, outside of this final qualifier. One would assume that players can win spots by competing at regional Championships, like the North American International Championships in Indiana, but it has not been explicitly mentioned by The Pokémon Company. They could follow the example set by Bandai Namco with the numerous King of the Iron Fist qualifiers at events like Wizard World, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.
The Pokkén World Championships will unfold on August 19th, with Pokémon trainers battling for a share of $20,000. Unless The Pokémon Company chooses to update the Wii U version of Pokkén to finally be on par with the arcade version–complete with additional fighters and balance updates–fans will probably have to wait until the conclusion of this tournament for any news of a comprehensive version of Pokkén for the Nintendo Switch–if at all.
Source: The Pokémon Company