Category: News

If you plan to take part in the Tekken 7 tournament at Evo (or even just get in some casual play) and play on pad, you’ll need to be sure you have a DualShock 4 handy.

According to Mad Catz community manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio, previous models of the Sony controller will not work with the arcade boards they are lugging to Las Vegas for Evo 2015. He is expecting the developers to provide a full list of compatible controllers in the near future.

While you’ll typically see Street Fighter and Marvel players competing on arcade sticks, the Tekken community seems to include a higher number of pad warriors. It would be a shame to show up, ready to throw down, and miss your chance, so be sure you heed this warning before heading to Nevada this July.

Source: Mark Julio

In order to fix the multitude of issues that hampered Ultra Street Fighter IV’s launch on PlayStation 4, the folks at Sony recently pushed out a patch addressing graphical oddities like disappearing fireballs, Decapre’s “shortened” teleport, and more. Unfortunately, no word was released concerning the title’s increased input latency, which caught many by surprise as this version was supposed to erase the inherent lag of its predecessor on PlayStation 3.

Despite the lack of reassurance that this issue was being looked into, it appears as if the latest update did improve the PlayStation 4 latency, if only by a little.

Display Lag, who previously the aforementioned research, and Khaos Gaming took to Ultra Street Fighter IV separately after its upgrade to ver.1.02 to see if anything had been done to reduce lag effects. While both organizations came to slightly different conclusions, their individual tests show that a very tiny adjustment has been made, one that results in just under one frame of improvement.

That being said, the overall figures shown above are still rather disheartening. Display Lag found that latency in the PlayStation 4 version of Capcom’s flagship fighter continues to clock in at around 133ms (~7.2 frames), while Khaos Gaming came to an average of 113ms (~6.8 frames) during their experiment. These numbers are a far cry from what we’ve seen of the community-standard Xbox 360, which features 85ms (~5.1 frames) of lag, and even the PlayStation 3’s relatively poor average of 107ms (~6.4 frames).

While this port was developed by third-party studio Other Ocean Interactive, Sony and Capcom have promised that they are stepping in to make sure corrections are made.

For the time being, Capcom Pro Tour events that had previously switched to PlayStation 4, namely Evo 2015 and Community Effort Orlando 2015, are free from using it during their competitions. Both have officially switched back to Xbox 360.

Sources: Display Lag, Khaos Gaming

With the official release of this week’s issue of Famitsu, Arc System Works gives a peak of the direction they’re taking with their upcoming arcade title Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, the follow-up to the highly-praised Guilty Gear Xrd. The article offers a brief look at the two additional characters Jack-O’ and Johnny, as well as the expansions to the system mechanics that are set to take the game to the next level. General director Daisuke Ishiwatari also shares his thoughts on the upcoming title.

Arc System Works has also released the playing manual (PDF) for the first location test, giving some more details on the system additions.

Jack-O’: The Third Close Servant of That Man Appears!

An important character in the story of the Guilty Gear series, she is the third close servant of That Man. The particulars about her are unknown, but she’s likely to be deeply tied to the story.

Command List

Add Some Surprise to the Pace of Battle with Comical Attacks!

It appears that that Jack-O’ is able to set some sorts of objects on the battlefield. Look forward to seeing how they work.

Johnny: The Man of Chivalry Makes a Fashionably Late Entrance

The Iai master of the Guilty Gear series that you know and love. The leader of the air-raiding Jellyfish Pirates is back with some new moves up his sleeve.

Command List

The sunglasses, the black hat, the coat wrapped around his bare chest, the trademark appearance of Johnny.

The Battle Reaches a New Stage

GGXrd -REVELATOR- is being developed on the concept of pursuing strategy through expansions. The game follows the fundamental game balance of the previous one, while adding new characters and systems and brushing up on the existing system. Here is an introduction of newly added systems as well the expansions to primary existing systems, like Blitz Shield, which lets you repel attacks.

Throw Offset

Near the opponent, 4 or 6+HS

When both players complete a throw at the same time, the throw is nullified.

Blitz Shield

With the no directional input (or down for crouching), press HS and an attack button at the same time (excluding the D Button) 

After inputting a ground Blitz Shield, holding the HS Button will strengthen its properties. Release the HS Button in this state and a powerful attack will be released.

Offensive defense, giving birth to new options in battle: After a Blitz Shield, you can now unleash a powerful attack.

Burst Overdrive Attack

Certain Overdrive Attack commands + D

Activates an Overdrive Attack with increased damage. *Consumes 50% of the Tension Gauge and all of the BURST Gauge.

By spending your BURST Gauge when activating an Overdrive Attack, you can release an Overdrive with increased damage!

Stylish Mode

A mode that allows you to play the game with simple controls. Play by selecting “Stylish” on the character select screen.

Stylish Mode Major Features:

• Perform combos with repeated button presses.
• Activate special moves with the SP Button.
• Keep the directional input at neutral for automatic guard.

With the newly added Stylish Mode, you can enjoy intense battles with simple controls, performing combos with repeated button presses.

A Comment from General Director Daisuke Ishiwatari

The development concept of our latest work GGXrd -REVELATOR- is the same as the current version, ” pursuing strategy through expansions”. We’re trying to increase the depth of strategy through the addition of new characters and expansions to the general system, while purposefully not tuning the character balance of GGXrd -SIGN-. Because of that, you can enjoy our currently released GGXrd -SIGN- with peace of mind until the release of the next game. There are a number of GGXrd -SIGN- tournaments throughout this summer, so we want everyone to get into the spirit of battle!

Two characters have been newly added to GGXrd -REVELATOR-: Johnny, who’s making a return from past games and was highly requested, and the completely new Jack-O’. Of course both will have that unique play feel fitting of the Guilty Gear series! Jack-O’ in particular has some surprising elements in both looks and feel! We also plan to show the progression in the storyline at the time of release, so please look forward to that.

The game systems in this round of location tests are still in the testing stages, so in order to bring the new game to a completed state, we need everyone’s opinions. Please head to the location tests and leave your honest thoughts and impressions in the survey, by all means. And above all, enjoy these location tests and get a breath　of the new title.

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- is currently around 60 percent complete and is set to launch sometime this summer.

Sources: Weekly Famitsu via Kurushii, Famitsu.com, Arc System Works

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Evo 2015’s Mortal Kombat X prize pool will be boosted with an additional $50,000 according to a brand new announcement from Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios. The largest fighting game tournament in the world joins the likes of Combo Breaker and Community Effort Orlando in a collection of events that have seen extra dosh thrown their way from sales of the game’s Blue Steel Sub-Zero skin.

With this, Evo 2015’s payouts continue to rise to ridiculous amounts. Capcom and Sony are prepared to provide $50,000 to Ultra Street Fighter IV finalists, while Microsoft and Iron Galaxy Studios have joined forces to send over $50,000 of their own.

As the largest fighting game tournament in the world, Evo regularly brings some of the most fierce competition to Las Vegas, but this year’s installment is sure to be even more exciting thanks to these ever-growing prize pools.

Evo 2015 is scheduled for July 17-19. More details can be found through the event’s official website.

As Capcom Pro Tour soldiers on and more competitors make global trips to participate in premier tournaments, we’re starting to see automatic qualifiers fall to lower placings when the champion has already earned their way to Capcom Cup. In fact, Stunfest 2015’s qualifier dropped all the way to Infiltration in third place since the top two players were already locked in.

In order to combat this and sidestep any issues that may arise at events where the qualifier falls to the players tied for fifth, Capcom has seen fit to tweak the circuit’s rules slightly. Should the top four players at a double-elimination event already have a spot at Capcom Cup, that qualifier will be eliminated in favor of adding one more leaderboard player to the overall pool.

“We believe this is the fairest way to determine Capcom Cup participants,” the official announcement states, “and it will reward those who put in the work to accumulate points over the course of the entire year.” Prize money will not be affected in any way.

This rule change is set to go into effect immediately.

Source: Capcom via NeoGAF

Hypothetical question: if you had a chance to sit down with Street Fighter V, what would you try out first? Maybe test Ryu and Chun-Li’s returning 3rd Strike moves? See how M. Bison’s teleports have transitioned to the new title? Get your first real shot at playing Charlie in almost two decades? There’s certainly a lot to be excited about when it comes to the upcoming fighter and, fortunately, that hypothetical question could become a reality for a select few of our readers.

The fine folks over at Capcom have provided Shoryuken with 75 (yes, seven-five) passes to E3 2015, which can then be used to stop by the developer’s booth and play Street Fighter V. That’s right, the game will be making its playable debut at the convention and you can be among the first to try it out for yourself.

Entering is easy! All you have to do is head on over to Twitter or Facebook, leave us a quick message detailing why you’re excited to play Street Fighter V, what you hope to try out during your time with it, or something else to that effect, and wait. We’ll be selecting winners this weekend, so be sure to keep an eye out for further announcements to see if you’ve scored a pass.

E3 2015 is scheduled for June 16-18. We ask that you please have a way of traveling to the Los Angeles Convention Center in sunny Southern California and feeding yourself before entering, because those accommodations are all up to you.

This week’s installment of Next Level Battle Circuit is now streaming live courtesy of Team Spooky. As always, 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 TeamSp00ky on www.twitch.tv

Sources: Team Spooky

EXAMU’s latest visual novel-based fighter, Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel, is currently exclusive to the arcade scene. Fortunately, fans of these titles will be able to get their hands on the game later this year.

According to the latest issue of Famitsu, Nitroplus Blasterz will be heading to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles sometime this winter. Both versions will receive additional playable characters, the first of which is Super Sonico, who was formerly only an assist character in the arcade version. Further roster additions are scheduled for the near future.

Source: Gamestalk via Siliconera and Tataki

Since announcing Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- last week, Arc System Works has revealed that the follow-up to 2014’s -SIGN- will introduce two playable characters to the current roster: returning Jellyfish Pirate captain Johnny and newcomer Jack O. New screens from Famitsu, however, hint at one more fighter debuting in the upcoming release.

As you’ll see in the rough scan below, the -REVELATOR- character select screen has been expanded to include the aforementioned additions as well as one conspicuous spot occupied by a question mark. While some have speculated that it’s merely the random select slot, it’s possible we could see another cast member unveiled at some point before the title’s launch.

Furthermore, it’s possible to narrow down the group of hypothetical veterans that could fill that slot due to character placement elsewhere in the select screen.

As you might have already noticed, many characters are mirrored by significant players in their respective stories, be it perennial rivals Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske, crewmates Johnny and May, or sisters Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine. With that in mind, we see that Faust is opposite the mystery spot, allowing us to dig through his past and suss out some possible scenarios.

Since many of the characters Faust encounters in previous titles (I-No, Venom, Slayer, etc.) are already playable, these leaves only two contenders: Dizzy and Zappa. While the former is probably the most likely due to the part she’s already played in the Xrd narrative, one could argue that Faust’s heightened importance in the latter’s story could make them more suited for the current character select arrangement.

Of course, like everything involving unreleased games, this is all speculation, so feel free to let us know what you think of this uninhabited character slot in the comments below.

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- location tests are planned for this weekend; stay tuned for more details in the near future.

Source: Famitsu via Kurushii

The folks behind the Evolution Championship Series have a new collaboration in the work with both Capcom and Gaming Generations, and will be offering artistic members the community the opportunity to join in as well with a special design contest.

By submitting your idea for an official Street Fighter x Evo t-shirt, you stand the chance of winning a couple of cool prizes if your design is chosen. The winner will see their art come to life on a shirt and receive a prize bundle including $250 and a pair of three-day passes to Evo 2015, while the runner-up’s artwork will be turned into a limited edition poster to be given away with each t-shirt purchase.

The deadline to enter is June 19 with winner announcements scheduled for June 22. There are a few guidelines you’ll need to follow to make sure your submission is legitimate, so check out the rules below for more details.