WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) will defend his title against fellow American Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The fight was originally scheduled for March 12, but Thurman had to pull out due to injuries suffered in a car accident. Thurman has now been cleared to resume training and fight former IBF champion Porter.
“Keith Thurman against Shawn Porter is one of the best matchups that can be made in the…
Felix Sturm fails drug test
WBA super middleweight champion Felix Sturm (40-5-3, 18 KOs) has reportedly tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol following his majority decision win over Fedor Chudinov in February.
The 37-year-old German could now be stripped of his WBA title and face a two-year ban, providing the B sample shows a positive result, which could spell an end to his career.
Sturm defeated the previously unbeaten Chudinov by scores of 115-113 on the cards of two judges, while one ruled it a…
Mad Catz No Longer Sponsoring Capcom Pro Tour Event at Tokyo Game Show
Mad Catz has had a rough year. On top of cutting 37% of their staff back in February, parting ways with the illustrious Mark “MarkMan” Julio soon thereafter, and (officially) dropping Tokido and Mago from their team of sponsored players, things didn’t seem like they could get much worse.
But things, sadly, aren’t always what they seem. The Mad Catz team took to Twitter yesterday to announce that they will be pulling their sponsorship for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show tournament, one of the many stops on this year’s Capcom Pro Tour.
Those concerned about what this means for the Tokyo Game Show itself need not worry, as representatives from Capcom were quick to note that the tournament is still very much a go, even without the support of the much loved peripheral maker. While many details surrounding the event remain unknown, we can find comfort in the fact that the tournament will still happen.
Tokyo Game Show is set to take place September 15.
Source: Mad Catz via The Daily Dot
Take Part in the Killer Instinct Pro League this Weekend
While it’s not yet been a full month since the release of Killer Instinct Season 3, new adopters of the game have still had a good bit of time to train up, and those who’ve been with the title since its original release have had time to adapt to the changes the third season brought. That means it’s the perfect time for the first official Killer Instinct Pro League tournament, which is set to take place this weekend. The event is free to enter, happens entirely online, and there is no cap on the bracket.
If you’ve been tearing up your local scene or making waves online, this weekend will be the perfect chance to show the world what you’ve got, and possibly earn some Killer Instinct World Cup ranking points at the same time.
Pools for the event begin Sunday, April 17 at 11AM PDT (2PM EDT), and the top 8 will go live on the Killer Instinct Twitch channel at 3PM PDT (6PM EDT).
For full details and rules for the event, as well as to sign up for yourself, head over to the official rules page.
Source: 8BitBeatdown via Keits
Pokkén Tournament Breaks One Thousand Entrants for Evo 2016
Late last night, the Cannon brothers took to Twitter to make an exciting announcement with regard to Pokkén Tournament’s Evo 2016 showing. The first part of the announcement, from Tony Cannon, noted a definite excitement surrounding the game at the upcoming event, and included the hashtag “#TresZeros.” Folks could have made a guess at what that message meant, but Tom decided to clarify his brother’s message by noting that the game’s number of entrants has officially hit the point where it now requires its first comma.
Their excitement isn’t misplaced, either, as Pokkén has only been available outside of arcades since last month, so a showing even half this size would be impressive. Registration is still open, too, so grab your R. Pika or Charizard and let’s see if we can increase that number even more before the tournament.
Evo 2016 is set to take place from 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sources: Tom Cannon, Tony Cannon
Pokkén Tournament Championship Series Event to Be Held at DreamHack Austin 2016
Back in January, The Pokémon Company shared plans to hold a series of Pokkén Tournament competitions culminating in the Pokémon World Championships event in San Francisco, California in August.
Earlier today, the folks at DreamHack Austin announced that their upcoming event will be one of the many stops on the way to that final showdown. Not only will the tournament–a Masters Division Minor–afford its winner a spot in the World Championships, it also includes a total of $5,000 in prizes, as well as Championship Points for runners up. If you’re itching to show off your Chandelure, you can sign up here.
DreamHack Austin is set to take place May 6-8. For more information surrounding this Pokkén Tournament event, as well as DreamHack Austin itself, head over to the event’s official page below.
Source: DreamHack Austin
Pokkén Tournament Championship Series Event to Be Held at DreamHack Austin 2016
Back in January, The Pokémon Company shared plans to hold a series of Pokkén Tournament competitions culminating in the Pokémon World Championships event in San Francisco, California in August.
Earlier today, the folks at DreamHack Austin announced that their upcoming event will be one of the many stops on the way to that final showdown. Not only will the tournament–a Masters Division Minor–afford its winner a spot in the World Championships, it also includes a total of $5,000 in prizes, as well as Championship Points for runners up. If you’re itching to show off your Chandelure, you can sign up here.
DreamHack Austin is set to take place May 6-8. For more information surrounding this Pokkén Tournament event, as well as DreamHack Austin itself, head over to the event’s official page below.
Source: DreamHack Austin
Mai Shiranui and Newcomer Banderas Join the King of Fighters XIV
SNK Playmore has done a great job of revealing characters for the King of Fighters XIV every week for the past few weeks. This week, they reveal the return of a franchise favorite alongside another newcomer.
Returning to the King of Fighters XIV is none other than Mai Shiranui. The kunoichi from Fatal Fury is one of SNK Playmore’s most popular characters and one of the most iconic female characters in fighting games.
Accompanying her is newcomer Banderas, another Latin American newcomer joining the previously announced Nelson. From what we can see in the footage, Banderas seems to be some sort of Latin ninja, and spends most of the trailer trying to get Mai to become his teacher.
The King of Fighters XIV is coming to PlayStation 4 later this year.
Source: PlayStation
Pokkén Tournament Region Lock Remedied, More Robust ver. 1.2 Patch Notes Now Available
Yesterday’s update to Pokkén Tournament brought with it some welcome changes, including the removal of Shadow Mewtwo’s blockstring infinite as well as a reduction in damage tied to the Rehiram assist. But not every change that came to the title was a welcome one; on top of these and other intended fixes, the patch inadvertently region locked the American version of the game.
After a brief stint of emergency maintenance earlier today, this region lock was removed, bringing the American version of the game back in line with the European and Japanese versions. The good news doesn’t stop there, either, as the Pokkén Tournament website now has a full changelog for the 1.2 update to the game, which you can find below.
Pokkén Tournament version 1.2 Changes
These notes outline the fixes and improvements made in this update to Pokkén Tournament. After the update, “Ver. 1.2” will be displayed in the upper left of the title screen.
Note that if you do not download the update, you will be unable to use some modes, such as online battles.
You will need 367MB of available space in your Wii U console’s memory in order to download the update. Please use separate USB media if you do not have enough available space. Please click here for details. The update may be automatically downloaded and installed for users who have enabled Standby Functions in their Wii U console’s system settings. The previous save data will remain usable after the update.
Battle Related Changes
- Adjusted to ensure Shadow Mewtwo is no longer able to force its opponents to continually block by repeatedly using certain moves.
- Adjusted Mewtwo’s battle balance.
- Reduced effect of the Support Pokémon Reshiram for gameplay balance.
- Repaired several bugs that affected battles.
Pokémon-Specific Changes
Sceptile
- Repaired an issue that caused Sceptile to pass through the ground when transitioning from Bullet Seed: preparation into Hang.
Mewtwo
- Lowered the hitbox of Confusion to make it possible to evade it by jumping. Made it so combo damage doesn’t increase as easily. Altered the animation of characters hit by Confusion as a Critical Hit during Duel Phase and reduced the amount of hit stun it causes.
- For jumping attack / midair strong attack / midair weak attack to strong attack follow-up, removed the property that makes this move nullify long-range attacks. Also adjusted it so that when this move is counter attacked, that counter attack will be a Critical Hit.
Shadow Mewtwo
- Adjusted so that when a side ranged attack is used repeatedly while the hitbox is still on the screen, the hitbox that is already on-screen disappears quickly.
- Increased the recovery time when Miracle Eye is used in Field Phase.
- Delayed the timing of when players can transition to Miracle Eye after a ranged attack.
- Decreased the ease with which follow up ranged attacks that have been altered by Miracle Eye can cause Guard Break.
- Slowed the start-up of the backward ranged attack and increased its recovery time. Also, adjusted it so when the move is used repeatedly while the hitbox is still on the screen, the one already on-screen disappears quickly.
- Decreased the block stun time that the backward ranged attack into Miracle Eye move deals to opponents and increased the distance that it pushes opponents back. Also changed it so that the first hit causes a Phase Shift.
Pikachu Libre
- Repaired an issue that caused Pikachu Libre to pass through opponents that are wall stunned when using midair strong attack.
Support Pokémon Umbreon
- Repaired an issue that stopped the attack effect of Snarl from being displayed when Pachirisu’s Follow Me is also active.
Support Pokémon Reshiram
- Decreased the base damage of Blue Flare. Also decreased the ease with which it can cause Guard Break.
Thank you for continuing to enjoy playing Pokkén Tournament!
Source: Serebii, Pokkén Tournament, special thanks to the folks at Pokkén Arena and the comments section of yesterday’s post
The King of Fighters XIV to be Playable at PAX East 2016
The folks over at the PlayStation Blog just released a full list of games they’re going to be bringing to PAX East 2016 for attendees to try out. That list includes plenty of big names like Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted 4, as well as some VR titles. But, let’s be honest, the most exciting game to make the list is The King of Fighters XIV.
Since the information provided by PlayStation comes in the form of a simple list, we can’t currently say which version of the game will be playable, but since it has been so long since folks in the states have had a chance to get their hands on the game, any version will be exciting to see.
PAX East 2016 is set to take place April 22-24 in Boston, MA. For more information, head over to the event’s official site.
Source: PlayStation via The Mad Man’s Cafe