Northeast Championships 16 Adds Caps to Killer Instinct, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Skullgirls Encore Brackets

If you’re planning to attend Northeast Championship 16, you may want to go ahead and get your registration taken care of now. Tournament organizer Eric “Big E” Small announced earlier today that a handful of brackets have received hard caps for entrants. The following games are affected:

  • Killer Instinct received a cap of 80 players, with 33 slots filled at the time of announcement.
  • Tekken Tag Tournament 2 received a cap of 80 players, with 31 slots filled at the time of announcement.
  • Skullgirls Encore received a cap of 64 players, with 35 slots filled at the time of announcement.

Small’s announcement is apologetic, but no word was provided as to why these caps have been put in place. One can assume that the general popularity of these titles had some impact on the decision, but nothing is certain. Even with these limits in place, there’s still plenty of room to get your name thrown on the list to show the world what you’re made of.

For more information about Northeast Championship 16, as well as to register, you can head over to the Big E Gaming website.

Source: Big E Gaming

South African boxer Mzwanele Kompolo dies after first round KO

South African boxer Mzwanele Kompolo has died after he was knocked out in the first round of a bout in Frere, in the Eastern Cape province.
The 22-year-old Kompolo collapsed in the ring after the TKO loss to Siphenathi Qampi in a light welterweight contest on September 12.
He was taken to hospital, where he went into a coma.
Kompolo died on Tuesday.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said: “It is indeed sad to hear of this news involving the passing of this young upcoming athlete.”
 

Smash Returns to Major League Gaming in October

During the period of larger schism between Smash and the rest of the fighting game community, Major League Gaming saw potential in Smashers’ overwhelming passion and brought them into the fold. Both Melee and Brawl would see inclusion through the 2000s, and the series most recently returned at MLG Anaheim last year. But despite a promising grassroots campaign, Smash was unceremoniously dropped from the tournament circuit.

With the community continuing to expand after their recent Melee revival and the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Major League Gaming is again returning to the scene they once supported by inviting them to participate at the MLG World Finals, an event that will feature competition in both of the aforementioned titles with separate $10,000 prize pools up for grabs.

While the money is certainly an exciting proposition, past dealings with the organization have left some Smash figures skeptical, most notably Jeremy “Fly Amanita” Westfahl and Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez. As prominent members of the Southern California community, both players attended MLG Anaheim, and again brought up their dissatisfaction with how the tournament was run after this announcement.

“It’d take some effort on their part to convince me they’re doing what’s necessary to prevent a repeat of MLG Anaheim,” Westfahl relayed on Twitter. “And knowing that it won’t go even half that badly would be a prerequisite for me to even consider attending.” Shortly afterwards, he shared with us an insightful piece he wrote on his experiences in Anaheim, describing a lack of organizer-competitor interaction that led to numerous issues.

Gonzalez, for his part, also cited his displeasure with Major League Gaming’s poor track record, as well as the way they handle community development. “I’ll pass,” he concluded succinctly.

As two of the best Melee players in the world, let’s hope their grievances doesn’t fall upon deaf ears.

MLG World Finals 2015 is scheduled for October 16-18 in New Orleans, Louisiana. More information, including details on competitor and spectator passes, can be found here.

Source: Major League Gaming

New York City Receives Tekken 7 World Championship Qualifier

Tekken designer Michael Murray announced this morning that the Tekken 7 world championships have granted the United States another qualifier, scheduled for October 18 at the New York City Dave and Buster’s in Times Square. This news comes just two weeks after a similar event was announced for Southern California.

Bandai Namco Entertainment’s Tekken 7 world championships, dubbed The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015, will see players from all over the world head to Japan for a shot at the massive ¥10,000,000 JPY (~$81,000 USD) prize pool. At this point in time, only Nobi and Ao are confirmed to compete due to their respective first and second place finishes at Evo 2015, but the bracket will soon be expanded by upcoming qualifiers in Japan, South Korea, Europe, and, obviously, the United States.

The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015’s grand finals are scheduled for December 12. Keep your eyes on the official website for more details as we near that date.

Source: Michael Murray

New York City Receives Tekken 7 World Championship Qualifier

Tekken designer Michael Murray announced this morning that the Tekken 7 world championships have granted the United States another qualifier, scheduled for October 18 at the New York City Dave and Buster’s in Times Square. This news comes just two weeks after a similar event was announced for Southern California.

Bandai Namco Entertainment’s Tekken 7 world championships, dubbed The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015, will see players from all over the world head to Japan for a shot at the massive ¥10,000,000 JPY (~$81,000 USD) prize pool. At this point in time, only Nobi and Ao are confirmed to compete due to their respective first and second place finishes at Evo 2015, but the bracket will soon be expanded by upcoming qualifiers in Japan, South Korea, Europe, and, obviously, the United States.

The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015’s grand finals are scheduled for December 12. Keep your eyes on the official website for more details as we near that date.

Source: Michael Murray

Shining Hearts’ Misty Debuts in Blade Arcus from Shining EX

When Blade Arcus from Shining EX lands on home consoles later this year, it will do so with at least two new characters. The first, Shining Resonance protagonist Sonia Blanche, was revealed a few months back, and the second just made her debut at Tokyo Game Show 2015.

Misty, the pirate princess from Shining Hearts and Shining Blade, was recently announced by Sega at the Japanese convention with a special gameplay presentation. Going from this early footage, Misty is similar to Guilty Gear’s Venom in that she has the ability to set up projectiles that can then be launched at opponents from various angles by attacking them.

The video below covers this ability before throwing Misty into a match against fellow Shining Blade representative Fenrir.

Blade Arcus from Shining EX is scheduled to release for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on November 26.

Source: Famitsu via Gematsu

Shining Hearts’ Misty Debuts in Blade Arcus from Shining EX

When Blade Arcus from Shining EX lands on home consoles later this year, it will do so with at least two new characters. The first, Shining Resonance protagonist Sonia Blanche, was revealed a few months back, and the second just made her debut at Tokyo Game Show 2015.

Misty, the pirate princess from Shining Hearts and Shining Blade, was recently announced by Sega at the Japanese convention with a special gameplay presentation. Going from this early footage, Misty is similar to Guilty Gear’s Venom in that she has the ability to set up projectiles that can then be launched at opponents from various angles by attacking them.

The video below covers this ability before throwing Misty into a match against fellow Shining Blade representative Fenrir.

Blade Arcus from Shining EX is scheduled to release for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on November 26.

Source: Famitsu via Gematsu

Ono Teases Capcom’s Upcoming Street Fighter V Announcement at Tokyo Game Show

By now, Capcom is all but certain to reveal another Street Fighter V character at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but the question of who we’ll see still remains. Will it be one of R. Mika’s companions from the Siliconera leak? Another newcomer? Who knows!

Our first hint towards this character’s identity has, as usual, been provided by Capcom executive Yoshinori Ono. Fresh off his appearance at GAMES15 in the United Arab Emirates, the noted trickster has shared a pair of new Street Fighter V screenshots that show Hot Ryu being demolished by a mysterious attack.

sfv-tgs-tease-1
sfv-tgs-tease-2

Taken in order, it seems as if this attack shoots the opponent across the stage and into the far wall, where they apparently stick and spin in place. Hmmm, who has a move like that?

Yep, this looks an awful lot like Dudley’s Corkscrew Cross, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Before Rashid’s reveal last week, folks were betting the farm on Cody joining the Street Fighter V roster due to their similarly cyclonic attack styles, and we all saw how that turned out.

As always, feel free to leave your feedback in the comments below. Capcom’s first Tokyo Game Show presentation is slated for September 17 at 2:30 PM JST (10:30 PM PDT on September 16, 1:30 AM EDT), so stay tuned for more details.

Source: Yoshinori Ono

Out-of-State Competitors Invited to Team St1ckbug’s October Tournament

While it normally draws in a good amount of talent from the local area, the Team St1ckbug tournament series will see its player pool expand in October with the arrival of four very special representatives: Nakkiel, Kid Viper, Blacksnake, and Marvelous Customs’ GCYoshi13. Each competitor has proven themselves over the years as some of the best anime players in the United States, and are sure to have excellent showings at this event as well.

This was made possible by Biscuits and Hotashi, both of whom donated money to make sure these players could be flown out. Additionally, Southern California’s Beautifuldude will also be in attendance thanks to separate donations made to his stream.

Due to the increased profile of this upcoming event, they will be focusing entirely on Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- and BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND, which special exhibitions rounding out the regular competition to bring even more hype to Next Level Arcade.

The east coast invasion is scheduled for October 3. If you’re interested in attending, be sure to check out the tournament’s official Facebook page for more information.

Sources: IPLAYWINNER, Dustloop, Team St1ckbug

Shoryuken’s World Rankings Add Capcom Pro Tour Support

Last year, Shoryuken worked closely with developer Bavo Bruylandt to create an extensive world ranking system for Street Fighter and Marvel. Since then, Bruylandt’s has continued to expand its functionality by adding in new games and features, keeping it on the cutting-edge as a valuable resource for the fighting game community.

The latest update, however, combines his system with the Capcom Pro Tour. As that tournament circuit goes by its own rankings, it can be a little annoying to have to switch back and forth between both to see how qualified players stack up on Shoryuken. Not only that, but Bruylandt’s support for Capcom Pro Tour stats also includes things like estimated winnings, score and rank differentials after every tournament, candidates for qualification based off points accrued, and more.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out this new page and play around with it. We are always collecting feedback through our tips line, so don’t hesitate to let us know where we can continue to improve.