Category: News

One of the best things about the competitive season heating up again is eagerly awaiting news on some of the biggest tournaments of the year. While we already have a good idea of where majors like Evolution, Community Effort Orlando, NorCal Regionals, and more are going to land over the next few months, folks in Washington are ready to stake their claim in April with another installment of Northwest Majors.

This annual event has grown tremendously over the past few years, expanding from a tournament attended mostly by folks within the state and nearby regions like Northern California to a large-scale competition that sees players travel from across the United States and internationally to take part.

And this year looks to be no different. So far, the organizers have announced three incredibly talented Japanese competitors will be making the trip west: Ogawa, KoujiKOG, and Dogura. As masters of very different titles, they will be lending another level of intensity to the proceedings for hometown heroes looking to represent their turf.

At this point in time, sixteen games are pegged for inclusion at Northwest Majors 7, including favorites like Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and more. Room has been set aside for further additions, most notably Super Street Fighter II Turbo and King of Fighters XIII, but the organizers will need to see a major push from their respective communities for them to make it in.

Northwest Majors 7 is scheduled for April 24-27 at Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. Further information can be found here. Registration is currently open, so be sure to visit the official website and do so before it’s too late.

Source: Northwest Majors

Yep, it’s that time again; time to secure your spot at the largest fighting game tournament in the world. Over the weekend, the Evolution Championship Series organizers opened online registration for this year’s event, giving competitors and spectators the opportunity to finalize their plans for July.

Attendees will have three options open to them: a $70 three-day pass to the tournament hall, a three-day pass to the viewing hall for $50, and a two-day pass priced at $40 for everything before finals. Each comes with their own unique accesses and restrictions, so be sure to read the fine-print carefully as you fill out the form. Prices will go up March 30, 2015, so make sure to act fast!

Unlike past events, Evo 2015 will not feature a separate competitor’s pass. Purchasing any of the aforementioned packages will allow tournament entry for an additional $10 per game.

Additionally, the event organizers relayed that 3000 seats will be available for Sunday’s finals in the main hall. With passes guaranteed to sell out, you will need to act fast in order to secure your spot.

If you’ve yet to book your hotel, you can take advantage of a special deal being offered by Bally’s / Paris Las Vegas here.

Evo 2015 is scheduled for July 17-19.

EXAMU has revealed a handful of new playable and support characters for Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel. Among these new additions are a couple of characters who should be well known to anime fans.

Saber, from Type-Moon’s popular Fate series, will be joining the game as a playable character. Meanwhile, Nitroplus music festival mascot Super Sonico will be a support character.

These two were already mentioned in the initial announcement, but this is the first glimpse that we’re getting of them in their official roles.

In addition,  Ethica Kibanohara from Tokyo Necro has been announced as part of the main cast while Akane Tsunemori from the hit anime series Psycho-Pass will serve as an assist.

You can check out images of these characters in the gallery below.

For more on Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel, check out our previous coverage of the game including screenshots, location test footage, and other characters.

Source: Dengeki Online via Gematsu

The folks at OverClocked ReMix have been putting together video game music tributes for quite some time now. There’s a good chance that you’ve run across some of their work in the past; Cross Counter’s Canada Cup international 5v5 promo from a few years back immediately comes to mind, but there are countless more instances.

The group’s most recent release hit their website yesterday to mark the beginning of Apex 2015, featuring a collection of ten songs remixed by ten different artists, making for a varied album that will almost certainly have something for everyone. The games featured include Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Killer Instinct, and many more. For a full track list, check out the spoiler box below.

And as always, you can grab a digital copy of the album right now for free at OverClocked ReMix.

Source: OverClocked ReMix via Smash Boards

Starting in the Super update and moving into future installments, Dee Jay has long been considered one of the worst characters in the Street Fighter IV series. A far cry from his Street Fighter II incarnation, low damage and limited options cause the kickboxer to stumble in a variety of situations, but that doesn’t stop die-hard fans from continuing to compete with him.

Case in point, KitasenjuDJ. Long thought to be the strongest Dee Jay player Japan has to offer, Kitasenju has made his name known through both arcade and online play, recently reaching a very significant milestone in the former.

After making an incredible eleven-rank jump earlier this month, Kitasenju announced his breaking of the 10,000 BP mark in arcades this morning. Other than giving him a nifty five-digit number to boast about, a special Master ranking signifier will be attached to his name for all to see.

Kitasenju’s achievement goes to show that no matter how your chosen character is perceived by the competitive community, you can still put in the training and make them work.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kitasenju and his Dee Jay, check out the replays below for a look at how he fared against Ebihara’s Ibuki in an exhibition late last year.

Source: KitasenjuDJ via hige_daimyo and NeoGAF, videos courtesy of Pi-chan

The biggest part of Capcom’s Street Fighter V presentation at Taipei Game Show 2015 was, without a doubt, the exhibition between Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara and GamerBee of AVerMedia, but details are starting to trickle out about the short interview session producer Yoshinori Ono held with attendees.

Obviously, with only Ryu, Chun-Li, and Charlie revealed so far, much of the discussion centered around Street Fighter V’s cast.

According to Famitsu, the developers mentioned that they are heavily considering input from the community regarding which characters should make a return. That being said, they won’t go overboard; Ono expressed a desire to keep the overall selection small in order to reduce production costs and provide an easier entry point for new players.

Talk also turned towards Charlie Nash, who will be making his first playable appearance in a Street Fighter title since Street Fighter Alpha 3. Ono divulged that demand for the character has been high since the Street Fighter III era, but they couldn’t justify including both Charlie and Guile in the same game, presumably referencing the Street Fighter IV series.

There are a couple things we can infer from these statements–either Guile’s future in Street Fighter V is shaky due to his mentor’s reappearance or Charlie has been changed enough that featuring both won’t feel redundant. We’ve yet to receive any details on Mr. Nash since he was revealed, but it’s possible the strange mark seen on his forehead (pictured above) in the previous teaser is a sign of things to come gameplay-wise.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to appear on PlayStation 4 and PC. No release date has been announced.

Source: Famitsu, translations courtesy of USD.

Though many are eager to see if NetherRealm Studios will include guest fighters in Mortal Kombat X, the requests generally focus on characters from other video game properties or even movie franchises like Predator and Evil Dead. One community, however, is petitioning the developers to consider a cherished musician for their upcoming title.

David Brockie, who served as the lead vocalist for metal band GWAR under the stage name Oderus Urungus (pictured in costume above) before his death in 2014, is currently the focus of an online appeal for his likeness to appear in Mortal Kombat X.

For those out of the loop (I admit, I had to do a bit of research myself), GWAR styles themselves as an “elite group of chaos warriors” who were banished to Earth for their “cosmic crimes.” After being reawakened by our planet’s pollution, they now dedicate themselves to the “destruction of the human race and the eradication of existence itself.”

As purveyors of the shock rock genre made famous by acts like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson, pulling one of the numerous GWAR characters from their outrageous stage shows is a no-brainer for the continuing brutality exhibited by the Mortal Kombat brand.

In all honesty, it’s probably a long shot that we’ll see Oderus duking it out with the likes of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Kitana, but that hasn’t stopped fans of the group from loading the petition with nearly 8,000 signatures since it first appeared online.

Should you count yourself among GWAR’s dedicated fanbase and want to see the late frontman join Mortal Kombat X’s cast, be sure to check out the petition here.

Source: care2 Petitions via Metal Injection, tip via SiriusBusiness

After the crazy happenings of this morning, which saw Apex 2015 completely change venues due to some rather awful building violations at the original location, many were eager to see how condensing a three-day tournament to only two would affect the event. Would any particular games need to be done away with to make sure the festivities ran smoothly?

Fortunately (and rather miraculously), that won’t be the case. The hardworking Apex staff have just released a revised schedule for this weekend’s event, and there’s enough room to retain the same lineup at the high-profile event.

Furthermore, on-site registration will continue as planned for titles outside Smash, so players who were banking on jumping into the brackets for Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, or other traditional fighters will have no problem doing so at the new location.

This turn of events is just another brick to add to the legacy of the Smash community, who continue to weather whatever storms come their way and push their scene forward. If you need inspiration or just a little pick-me-up, there are far worse places to look.

For links to the new floorplan, scheduled, and more, be sure to visit SmashBoards.