Category: News

Last year, Team NINJA supported the competitive Dead or Alive 5 scene with the Road to the Fall Classic, a tournament series that saw players from a handful of qualifying events earn a free trip to the final tournament at the Fall Classic 2014 and a chance to win a chunk of the $8000 prize pool. The developers plan to continue providing that support into 2015, going bigger with a new tour for the upcoming Last Round update.

With more tournaments added to the calendar, including Evolution 2015, Battle Royal 2015 features three times the number of events culminating in a grand finals tournament at Northeast Championships XVI.

Each of the events on the calendar will receive a pot bonus, but more importantly, the winners of a select number of events will have their travel expenses to the grand finals compensated by Team Ninja themselves.

Additionally, the top two placers for the remaining tournaments will also receive points towards qualifying for the main event, and the duo with the most will receive the same sponsorship package as the aforementioned outright qualifiers.

As for Northeast Championships XVI itself, Team NINJA will be providing a $3000 pot bonus to the proceedings, and the overall winner is set to receive a free pass into next year’s grand finals.

The full list of participating events can be found in the graphic below.

Source: Team NINJA

While it was initially only available for pre-order in the United Kingdom, those interested in picking up HORI’s Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai arcade stick in the United States can now do so as well thanks to our friends over at Arcade Shock.

As previously reported, the HORI RAP4 Kai features a revised Vewlix based casing first seen in the Real Arcade Pro Hayabusa for the Xbox One. In addition to this, it features a touchpad at the back, something no other arcade stick for the PlayStation 4 has.

Internally, the RAP4 Kai features HORI’s Hayabusa lever and Kuro buttons, the same ones used in some Taito Vewlix arcade cabinets.

Early orders for this arcade stick will be bundled with an Arcade Shock tee-shirt while supplies last. The distributors are expecting to receive these products by the end of the month.

Pricing for the RAP4 Kai is set at $149.99. Should you be looking to pre-order from Arcade Shock, be sure to head on over to Arcade Shock.

Source: Arcade Shock

As part of their latest round of coverage, the folks at IGN recently spoke with NetherRealm Studios marketing manager Brian Goodman to gather some details on Mortal Kombat X, most notably with regards to the game possibly utilizing microtransactions. When posed a question on the subject, Goodman responded with a non-committal, and potentially unsettling, “We are not releasing any details on that yet.”

Now, this doesn’t guarantee that we’ll be expected to drop wads of cash for some to-be-announced in-game feature, but, as IGN suggests, since the marketing director didn’t immediately shut down the idea of such a notorious income mechanic being implemented in the title, it’s not unreasonable to expect this sort of thing to exist in some form or another once we get our hands on it.

We must also consider the (very real) possibility that Goodman associates more innocuous things like downlaodable characters and costumes with the evils of the microtransaction, which, based on the amount of information surrounding the topic, seems about as likely as anything else.

What do you think of this possible move by NetherRealm? Let us know in the comments.

Source: IGN

If you’re like me, expressing deeply-felt emotions to loved ones can be like winning a 2-8 matchup, and the fact that Valentine’s Day is lurking just around the corner certainly isn’t helping anything. This year, forget flowers or chocolates or another six-foot tall teddy bear, and instead opt say what you’re feeling with Microsoft Studios’ line of free Killer Instinct cards that you can print and cut out right at home.

These greetings are the perfect way to say what’s really important this holiday. Things like Glacius’ “You warm my heart,” or Thunder’s wonderfully heartfelt question of, “Will you be the lightning to my Thunder?” And who could forget Orchid’s take on a classic poem?

You can download the entire set of high-resolution cards here.

Source: Microsoft Studios

This morning has seen a whirlwind of Mortal Kombat X news thanks to a couple of previews from IGN, and eagle-eyed fans have spotted a few interesting details that hint at content that wasn’t specifically mentioned by these reports.

First up, series veteran Jax Briggs has been spotted in the title’s new Living Towers mode, which throws players into unique fights with special mechanics, win conditions, and more. While this is far from confirmation that he will be playable if you think back to the previous title’s own Challenge Tower, which included characters outside of the main cast like Goro, Kintaro, and Tremor, this does indicate the metal-armed brawler does exist in Mortal Kombat X in some form.

The image to the right shows where Jax can be found, along with a preview of the bow character creative director Ed Boon has been hinting at for some time.

In more concrete news, however, it appears as if the Brutality mechanic will be making a return in the tenth installment. First introduced in the home ports of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, these Fatality-esque finishers play out more like an execution-heavy combo than their counterparts but still result in some nasty bodily harm.

This detail (included in the image above) was noticed by a YouTube user by the name of TheJayspyder.

You’ll find the full videos these screenshots were taken from in our previous report as well as IGN’s full report on the game’s various modes.

Source: IGN via Test Your Might

While attending a recent Mortal Kombat X preview event, the folks at IGN noticed something interesting about one of Kitana’s variations that may provide hints about another character’s whereabouts.

According to the report, the returning veteran utilizes weapons normally attributed to childhood friend Jade. This variation, dubbed Mournful, gives Kitana access to her ally’s staff and glaive.

Grief-stricken use of a companion’s tools? Sounds like things might not have turned out so well for Jade since her last appearance, though in a series like Mortal Kombat characters are rarely gone for long.

Additional character teases come from Mortal Kombat X’s new Living Towers mode, which modifies matches with special gameplay mechanics. Both Cyrax’s bombs and Rain’s water bubble make appearances in this mode, but much like its predecessor’s Challenge Tower, this is not indicative of their status in the new game.

Mortal Kombat X is scheduled to land on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on April 14.

Source: IGN

There’s a good chance that those who follow the Smash scene closely have noticed the sharp decline in Project M coverage, streams, and tournament appearances since the launch of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Some may have even guessed at what may have been the reasoning behind this, and a few big reasons do come to mind, but as of today, the folks at VGBootCamp have lifted their own unofficial gag order surrounding the topic.

Co-founder Calvin “GimR” Lofton came out earlier this evening to say that his production company will no longer provide a platform for Project M broadcasts. Not only that, but the group will also be removing all related material from their official channels. Lofton stressed that fans of Project M needn’t worry because he is currently looking for a good home for the content.

Since its inception, Project M has existed in a sort of limbo between legal and not-so-legal. While the game is drastically different than the Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc from which it draws much of its data, the fact remains that the characters, stages, and everything else in between that the game contains belong to and will always belong to Nintendo. This means that anyone who intends to produce content featuring the game runs the risk of suffering at the hands of whatever legal claim may or may not be thrown at them in the future.

“As a small business with limited resources, it’s too risky to invest a significant portion of our time and money into a game that could damage our business with a copyright strike at any time,” Lofton explained.

This may seem a bit odd as Project M grew to amazing popularity in the months leading up to the release of the most recent Smash offering, but do take into consideration the doors that the new title has opened for content producers. With Nintendo’s official sponsorship of Apex 2015 last weekend, we are seeing the company take strides in supporting not only Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but Super Smash Bros. Melee as well. This means that content producers now have the chance to assist in the growth of their community in more ways than ever before. Though it may not immediately seem so, this is likely a very positive move for the Smash community as a whole.

The statement closes by mentioning that the rumors of VGBootCamp’s contract with Team Apex having to do with this decision are unfounded.

To check out the full announcement, head over to Smashboards.

Source: Smashboards

As we near March, more and more players are being announced for the Red Bull Kumite, an Ultra Street Fighter IV invitational in France featuring high-level competitors from all across the globe. The latest additions are Mad Catz’ Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi and Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi, announced by community manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio earlier this evening.

These two Japanese masters join the likes of Ho Kun Xian of Razer, The Black Eye’s Naoki “Nemo” Nemoto and Olivier “Luffy” Hay of Meltdown in the ever-growing bracket, which Red Bull has mentioned will also include players from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

Red Bull Kumite is scheduled for March 28 in Paris, France. More information can be found through the official website and Facebook event.

Source: Mark Julio