Category: News

Street Fighter isn’t the only title that’s suiting up for this year’s Halloween festivities. Japanese magazine Famitsu revealed that Dead or Alive 5: Last Round will soon receive another batch of Halloween costumes to spice up the jack-o-lantern-littered battlefield.

The celebratory costumes will only be available for 35 of the playable characters, leaving out the most recently released cross-over character Mai Shiranui (from the King of Fighters series). Folks will be able to purchase the new threads separately, or altogether in one discounted package on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Those on PC will need to purchase the complete set if they wish to participate in the Halloween party.

Those hoping to immediately expand their characters’ wardrobes will have to wait just a tad longer, since a release date for the new costumes has yet to be announced.

Check out the Famitsu screenshots made available by DualShockers below!

Click to view slideshow.

Source: DualShockers

In a historic double-signing by North American esports team Renegades, Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby and James “Swedish Delight” Liu have joined the team as their first Super Smash Bros. players. The esports team, owned by Boston Celtics player Jonas Jerebko, has picked the perfect time to sign these two big names: just ahead of The Big House 6 in Dearborn, Michigan this weekend.

Dabuz is currently ranked third on the Panda Global Rankings for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, gaining second place at Genesis 3 and Super Smash Con, first at WTFox 2 and Apex 2016 as well as third at CEO 2016. Widely regarded as the world’s best Rosalina & Luma player and one of the most consistent Smash 4 pros playing at the moment, Renegades have certainly picked a winner with signing Dabuz. Talking to ESPN Esports about his new team, Dabuz stated that “I have a lot of faith that Renegades will help me grow as a competitor and personality as I keep pursuing my dream to pursue being the best player I can be.”

Known for his top level Sheik and a surprisingly good Luigi, Swedish Delight is surging up the ranks of Super Smash Bros. Melee, racking up some great placings throughout this year, like a second place finish at Smash ‘n Splash 2, fifth at Pound 2016 and ninth at both Evo and CEO 2016. While currently ranked 31st on the MIOM Annual Rankings, Swedish Delight looks to surge up the table for this year’s ranking and his performance at The Big House 6 should only bolster his immense growth as a player.

Sources: Renegades (Twitter), ESPN Esports

This August, SNK announced The King of Fighters XIV World Championship: set for sometime next year, the tournament will see competitors from all over the globe fight it out in The King of Fighters XIV. Now, we know of the first of the global qualifiers. In a recent tweet, Canada Cup Gaming announced that Canada Cup 2016’s King of Fighters XIV tournament would be a qualifier for this KOFXIV World Championship.

We're proud to announce #CCG2016 is a KOF World Championship Qualifier!! #KOFXIV details at https://t.co/ZHaM7CrSKw @AtlusUSA pic.twitter.com/D0SsxFa7Q4

— CanadaCupGaming (@CanadaCupGaming) October 5, 2016

SNK and Atlus will be flying the winner of the event out to the KOFXIV World Championship next year, wherever that may be held. Interested competitors can sign up at smash.gg.

This makes the KOFXIV tournament at Canada Cup the third major qualifying tournament at the event; Canada Cup is a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event, with the winner of the Street Fighter V tournament flying to Anaheim for Capcom Cup 2016. It is also a part of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016: North American TEKKEN TOUR, with the winner qualifying for the North American finals later in November.

Source: Canada Cup Gaming (Twitter)

Throughout Street Fighter’s competitive history, for the most part Japan has been somewhat ahead compared to North America. While there has been an exception at times (Street Fighter Alpha 2 was considered America’s game), generally the West has been playing catch-up to the land of the rising sun.

With Street Fighter V however, many thought that the USA would finally be on equal footing with Japan, thanks to the fact that the game would not have an initial arcade release in the latter. However, that hasn’t been the case and Japan (and Asia in general) is still considered stronger than the US when it comes to the game.

In an interview with FloKO at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show, veteran fighting game player and analyst Mike Ross got straight to the point about why he thinks the US lags behind. According to him, it’s all about attitude.

Ross explains that American players tend to make excuses on why they lost, he states that “American players love to cry, love to complain, love to blame their character, love to blame something other than themselves.” This means that they think that there is nothing wrong with their play, that there is no way for them to get better.

In addition to this, he also explains how traveling and being able to meet and fight players from different regions is also important. This is something that he feels that American players aren’t doing enough and that it’s rare to see them compete overseas. The Japanese on the other hand tend to fly out and compete in international events more.

Of course, that’s not all that they talked about in the interview. Head on over to FloKO for Ross’s thoughts on other topics, including 2018’s upcoming Evo Japan.

Source: FloKO

Bandai Namco adds more fuel to the Xenoverse 2 fire.

Bandai Namco has released a brand new trailer showcasing the elements involved with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2’s “Expert Missions.” The trailer gives players an idea of what the tutorial session will be like when they get their hands on the full game.

In the new mode, players will engage in combat with massive enemies. The bosses in these “Expert Missions” will have the unique ability to enlist player characters to fight for their cause. Players are then required to enter the “World of Mind Control” to regain command. Mind control is one of the primary plot devices in the Xenoverse series. Characters both good and evil are constantly having their agency taken by the primary antagonists; this time, the players themselves will be faced with the consequences of this dastardly hypnosis. Check out the trailer below!

The power required to play on PC revealed!

The requirements for the PC version of the game were also released, for players hoping to head to battle on Steam. The game requires a PC to have an operating system of Windows 7 or higher, an AMD Phenom II X4 945, 3.0GHz or an Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz processor, 2 GB of memory, a GeForce GT 650 or Radeon HD 6570 GPU, 2 GB of VRAM and DirectX: 11 at minimum. The game recommends players to have a PC with Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-3470 3.20GHz or AMD FX-6300 3.5Ghz processor, 4 GB of memory, a GeForce GT 660 or Radeon HD 7770 GPU,  2 GB of VRAM and DirectX: 11.

Don’t forget about the upcoming beta!

PlayStation 4 users will be able to enjoy both closed and open betas for the game later this month. The closed beta begins on October 8 and the open beta starts on October 14.

Those unable to join the beta won’t have to wait for long! Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 releases in North America on PS4 and Xbox One on October 25. Those in Europe will be able to get the game on October 28. The Steam version will release on October 28 as well with an international release. The Japanese version of the title will become available on November 2.

Sources: Attack of the Fanboy; Bandai Namco; Dual Shockers; Steam

Dynamite Entertainment announced the development of a comic book adaptation of the hit Xbox One title: Killer Instinct. This announcement comes a few days prior to New York Comic Con, which takes place on October 6.

Dynamite Director of Business Development Rich Young made a few comments about the venture on ComicBook:

This is a game that has a rich history now… and they keep adding to it with more cool characters and game features on a regular basis. I’ve spoken a couple times with the KI team, and their passion really comes through… It’s going to be a very fun world to play around in!

The first issue of the comic book is set to be released in late 2017. Additional details will be shared in the near future.

Killer Instinct received a Definitive Edition on September 20 that includes 26 characters and 20 stages from the game’s past three seasons of content.

Sources: Comic Book; DualShockers; Ultra-Combo

Earlier today, a mysterious screenshot of BlazBlue: Central Fiction surfaced on Twitter:

The image, which reportedly comes from a console version that broke street date, reveals Susano’o, a yet unrevealed BlazBlue character. It’s known that Terumi and Hakumen wear a Susano’o unit armor, so fans speculate that it’s a fusion of those characters. Susano’o has seven mysterious seals above the Heat bar.

The All-Aksys Twitter account confirmed the existence of the character though there are no more details:

Oh, since the feline has fled its luggage-themed prison, those expecting Susano'o to play like Hakumen are going to be very VERY surprised.

— All-Aksys! (@AllAksys) October 4, 2016

Toshimichi Mori also talked about whether he wants to release BlazBlue: Central Fiction Extend.

We’ll find out more about Susano’o soon, as the console release in Japan is October 6th, November 1st in America, and November 4th in Europe.

Sources: All-Aksys; Garrygawd

In the latest Weekly Famitsu, Toshimichi Mori answered some questions regarding BlazBlue: Central Fiction. While many fans predict the seemingly inevitable Extend “expansion” to the game, Mori said there’s nothing like that planned.

As the story mode teeters around 30 hours of content, Mori explains that Central Fiction has enough content to last a long time. At some point, he would like to do a balance adjustment to the game, and potentially add new characters should there be demand for them (*cough*, Jubei). What’s confirmed is that the producer’s next venture is not fighting-game-related, and will be something in a different field. Mori said that fans will “understand” the stance on a BlazBlue sequel if they play through the story.

Curiously, Mori also said that if he were to make another fighting game, he would like it to “upset the balance of what we know about fighting games.”

BlazBlue: Central Fiction is launching on October 6th in Japan for the PlayStation 3 and 4, November 1st in North America, and November 4th in Europe.

Source: Gematsu

Another Smash Summit event means another period of fierce campaigning on social media to decide the six other players that will be entering the Summit house, alongside the 10 already invited guests. The player nomination page has officially gone live over on smash.gg, currently showing off the Twitter bios of 13 players who have put themselves forward to run for the Summit. The Twitter nomination phase goes live on October 10th, with 20 players with the most Twitter nominations going through to the actual voting.

Six players will then be chosen over three rounds of voting, resulting in the final 16 who will go to the Summit House to compete. People can earn free votes through interaction with smash.gg like attending tournaments or submitting fantasy drafts so get busy if you want to stock up on votes for your favorite player. The Summit has made their criteria to be eligible for nomination much stricter, as a player must be ranked in the top 50 of SSBM rank or have placed in top 8 of either Heir 3, Get On My Level 2016, The Big House 6, Super Smash Con 2016, CEO 2016, or Pound 2016. This means only 53 players are eligible for attending the Summit, with 10 of them already invited to compete.

Expect Twitter wars, ridiculous campaign videos and streams, and some beef between players as people fight tooth and nail to attend Smash Summit 3.

Source: smash.gg

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters is finally coming to Steam. According to an announcement on the Steam Community forum, the free-to-play version of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is now available to download on Valve’s distribution platform.

Originally spotted via an entry on the SteamDB data-mining website, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters allows players to play the basic DOA5 Last Round experience: arcade, online and offline versus, trials, and training mode for four base characters. Additional characters, costumes, as well as story mode can be purchased separately.

To celebrate the launch of the free-to-play edition on PC, Team NINJA is giving away one free character for the month of October. Starting today up until October 30, DOA5 newcomer Mila can be purchased free of charge on Steam.

Interested folks can head on over to Steam to check out DOA5 Last Round: Core Fighters.

Source: Steam