Category: News

In preparation for their Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament at Tokyo Game Show 2015, Mad Catz published a preliminary bracket earlier today detailing the insane amount of talent they’ve pooled together for the event.

Players from all over the world have been invited to participate in this massive tournament, the winner of which will automatically qualify for Capcom Cup 2015 this December. With so much on the line, who will step up and secure this incredible prize?

While that’s a pretty loaded question, we do know that many in the bracket will be looking to play spoiler. Of all the players already qualified for Capcom Cup, only one–Razer’s Xian–won’t be in attendance, meaning the other competitors run the risk of being eliminated by someone who doesn’t necessarily need the win as much as they do.

Last year’s Tokyo Game Show invitational saw the rise of Fukuoka Gamers Club’s Pepeday and his incredible El Fuerte, and he returns this year to try for the repeat. But this time, other up-and-comers will be standing in his way, including Evo 2015 finalist aiai and Chun-Li specialist Matsuri, who recently broke new ground by being the first female participant in TOPANGA LEAGUE history.

Of course, I would be doing my country a disservice by not pointing out the three–yes, count them, three–American competitors. One can never count out Evil Geniuses’ PR Balrog, HooDaMan of Pandora House, and Red Bull’s Snake Eyez, so keep your eyes on that trio as they set out to make waves in Japan.

But really, you have to see this list to believe it; a complete look at the players heading to Tokyo Game Show has been included below for your perusal.

The original Challonge page these names were pulled from has since been taken down, so one can only assume that the bracket placements weren’t final. With that in mind, feel free to let us know how you think this event will shake out in the comments.

Tokyo Game Show 2015 is scheduled for September 20. We’ll have more details on the event as we near that date.

Source: Challonge via DaFeetLee, Shitaraba

With Street Fighter V’s first worldwide beta test completed (wel, the first successful one anyways), Capcom is looking for feedback from the community about your experiences.

The questions deal with numerous topics, including overall impressions of the beta, which characters were the weakest and strongest of the current roster, any bugs that were encountered, and more.

“Much like how playing matches in the beta provided us with excellent information regarding our servers and netcode,” associate producer Peter “Combofiend” Rosas explains, “this survey will provide us with important feedback towards the characters and battle system.”

If you think you spent enough time with the game to share your thoughts with Capcom, be sure to get started on the survey here.

Source: Capcom-Unity, tip via EyeOfThundera22

Southern California is set to receive its very own qualifier for Bandai Namco’s upcoming Tekken 7 world championship, according to Tekken designer Michael Murray. Much like they did for recent location tests, Round One in Puente Hills will play host, continuing their relationship with the Japanese developer.

The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015 will see players decided by various qualifiers congregate in Japan to take part in a substantial competition with over $80,000 USD in cash and prizes up for grabs. So far, only Nobi and Ao have been invited due to their first and second place finishes at Evo 2015, but Bandai plans to fill out the bracket with representatives from South Korea, North America, and more.

Folks interested in joining the festivities in SoCal should mark their calendars for October 3. Additional details on this and a second United States qualifier are still forthcoming, so stay tuned.

Sources: Michael Murray via Avoiding the Puddle, Mark Julio

While it may not be as revealing as we had hoped, we now know that a bunch of new content is heading to Mortal Kombat X next year.

A press release from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment mentions more characters and skins as well as a “new environment,” which leads us to believe that classic arena The Pit will be returning after numerous hints from NetherRealm Studios creative director Ed Boon.

These details came bundled with a higher-quality version of the “Who’s Next?” teaser that arrived yesterday, which we’ve included with the full press release below. These characters are apparently still in development, which may have contributed to the lack of specifics in the announcement.

Fans can expect to see these Mortal Kombat X additions drop throughout the first half of 2016. This article will be updated should we learn more later today.

This Friday will see the start of the fifth season of TOPANGA’s high-level Ultra Street Fighter IV league competition, TOPANGA LEAGUE. As usual, this season starts off with the lower B League. Over the course of ten days, twenty of Japan’s strongest Street Fighters will take each other on for a chance to ascend to the high-profile A League. Seasoned veterans, rising stars…and a Dee Jay player? This year’s B League is looking to be as entertaining as ever.

B League Competitors

Below are the players of TOPANGA LEAGUE 5 (B). Included in the list of participants are A Leaguers who were demoted last season, losers of the replacement battle, high placers from last season’s B League, champions of each TOPANGA RANKING BATTLE 2015 region, winners of the online qualifier, and other players showing exceptional performances and skill in the past year. Chun-Li specialist Matsuri joins as the first female player in TOPANGA LEAGUE history.

Schedule

B League
Sep 4 (Fri)	Sep 5 (Sat)	Sep 6 (Sun)
Sep 11 (Fri)	Sep 12 (Sat)	Sep 13 (Sun)
Sep 21 (Mon)	Sep 22 (Tue)	Sep 23 (Wed)
A-B League Replacement Battle Playoff
Oct 4 (Sun)

Rules & Format

Players will be broken up into two groups of ten. To prevent repeated matchups, players using the same character will be separated into different groups. The remaining rules are the same as previous years: B League will be played online in best-of-five game matches. Players are ranked by win-loss record, or in the case of a tie, by game win-loss difference, followed by head-to-head matchup results.

First and second place in each group will be promoted to A League. Third place in each group will join BE|Nemo and MCZ|Tokido in a four-player offline playoff league for a shot at promotion. Each match there will be a best-of-thirteen game set, with deuce rules to ten wins. The top two players will be promoted to A League.

Prizes

With the increase in players comes an increase in prize money. The top three placers for each group will be awarded a cash prize.

Placement	Prize
First Place of each Group	100,000 Yen (~830 USD)
Second Place of each Group	50,000 Yen (~415 USD)
Third Place of each Group	30,000 Yen (~250 USD)

Broadcast & Pricing Information

TOPANGA LEAGUE 5 will be streamed on Niconico Live as a pay-per-view series of broadcasts. Purchasing a season ticket for each League will allow viewers to watch the entirety of that league, or in the case of the full league ticket, all 22 days of TOPANGA LEAGUE 5. One Niconico point is the equivalent of one Japanese yen. While the most practical payment method for foreign viewers is by credit card, be aware that some credit cards may not work.

Ticket	Price
B League Individual Day Ticket	300 Niconico points (~2.50 USD)
B League Season Ticket (10 Days)	2000 Niconico points (~16.60 USD)
A League Individual Day Ticket	500 Niconico points (~4.15 USD)
A League Season Ticket (12 Days)	3500 Niconico points (~29.10 USD)
Full League Season Ticket (22 Days)	5000 Niconico points (~41.55 USD)

 

A League Information

A League will begin shortly after the completion of B League. Six players are confirmed to return this year, with six players to be determined by B League’s results to fill out the league of twelve. The prize pool has been increased, with the champion taking home a clean 1,500,000 yen.

sako Leaves TOPANGA LEAGUE

Team HORI’s sako is a legend. Lauded as one of Japan’s five fighting game gods, he is known for his precise execution, extensive knowledge, and brilliant offense. After being demoted to B League after the third season, sako showed the world what he could do with Ultra Street Fighter IV newcomer Elena, effortlessly rising back into A League and finishing at a strong third place.

Unfortunately, sako won’t be making a return to TOPANGA LEAGUE this year. On Kachitagari TV, it was announced that sako would be exiting the competition. sako’s wife Akiki confirmed, stating that sako is currently “taking on new challenges.”

While normally three players are automatically promoted from B League to A League, sako’s departure opens an extra slot, meaning four players will advance.

Sources: TOPANGA LEAGUE, Kachitagari TV, Akiki

This week’s installment of Next Level Battle Circuit is now streaming live courtesy of Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez. As usual, the event is being broadcast from its namesake, Next Level Arcade, in New York City. Tonight, they’ll be running Ultra Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat X, featuring some of the best players on the east coast.

If you would like to check out these weekly tournaments, be sure to head on over to Next Level Arcade and take part every Wednesday. The address has been included below.

4013 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11232

The stream is currently live below, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat. Full brackets will be made available through Challonge.

Watch live video from nycfurby on www.twitch.tv

Sources: Arturo Sanchez