Category: News

For those who are into the culture and community around video games, the NeoGAF forum is a familiar source for leaks and hints from folks with connections inside the industry. In the latest round of such leaks, known insider Verendus dropped a ton of info regarding a good number of games, including one that should be of interest for fighting game fans – a possible new Virtua Fighter from Sega.

Traditionally, a new installment has accompanied the start of each console generation, with the first iteration of Virtua Fighter 5 launching in 2006. This latest round of consoles, however, has been the first time that this hasn’t been the case. Since then, fans have had to make do with Virtua Fighter characters making guest appearances in games such as Team NINJA’s Dead or Alive 5 and  Sega’s own Dengeki Bunko FIGHTING CLIMAX.

If this leak is true, then it will be tremendous news for the competitive community, as not only would it mean a new Virtua Fighter game, but that Sega hasn’t just given up and decided to save the series’ character for guest appearances only.

Source: NeoGAF

When the PlayStation 2 first hit North America back in 2000, one of the first fighting games available for the system was Team NINJA’s Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore. Now, those with fond memories of the game can relieve them again, at least if this latest bit of news is correct.

According to an ESRB listing, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore will be coming to PlayStation 3 in North America. The interesting bit, however, is that SCEA is listed as the publisher, indicating that this the game will be released as a PlayStation 2 Classic via the PlayStation Network.

Like previous classic rereleses, this means that the game will be the exact same PlayStation 2 game that people played over a decade ago, just emulated on the PlayStation 3.

No official word has been released on this title, so stay tuned for more details in the future.

Source: ESRB via Siliconera

From all of us at Shoryuken.com, Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

For those of us that missed out of Shonen Jump’s 45th anniversary fighter J-Star Victory Vs earlier this year due to its exclusive Japanese relase, here’s some great news. Bandai Namco Games has announced that that they will be bringing an updated version of the game to PlayStation platforms in North American and Europe next year as J-Stars Victory Vs+.

J-Stars Victory Vs gathers together characters from manga publisher Shonen Jump’s many well-known series, such as Dragonball Z, One Piece, Naruto, and more, in a 2-on-2 battle royale. This updated version brings over all the features, characters, and locations from the original game and adds in a new arcade mode.

J-Stars Victory Vs+ is set to release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita in North America and Europe sometime next summer. In the meantime, check out this teaser for the game below.

Source: Bandai Namco Games via Gematsu

While folks in Japan (or those who decided to grab the game early through import) have been able to play as Leo Whitefang in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- for a few weeks now, today saw the newcomer make an appearance in North America. He is now available for purchase for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 at a price of $7.99.

Despite his kingly aesthetics, Leo is quite the brawler, capable of utilizing a special back-turned stance to gain access to more movement and attack options. For a further look at what he has at his disposal, check out the demonstrations below.

Source: PlayStation Network

UltraChen TV is back with yet another broadcast, and a whole new slate of topics to discuss. Tonight, UltraDavid and James Chen will be discussing a variety of fighting game community topics, so tune in.

The stream will be live in this article, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from ultrachentv on www.twitch.tv

Source: UltraChen TV, featured image courtesy of Kara “Karaface” Leung

[Note: This article covers a mechanic from the Skullgirls Encore Endless Beta build currently live on Steam. As this mechanic appears only in the beta client and since statements have been made confirming that it is, in fact, only a test at this time, please note that this may not ever actually make it into the live game. That said, read on to learn about the new superjumps!]

Just in time for the twentieth anniversary of the release of Capcom’s first foray into Marvel, Skullgirls lead programmer Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont has decided to tweak the superjump mechanic in Skullgirls Encore’s Endless Beta to be more like those that we remember from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Since it may be difficult to imagine what this looks like within the game’s engine, Mike Z game a quick breakdown of the mechanic in the patch notes to point our imaginations in the right direction:

• Everyone has double the takeoff velocity for superjumps, and has air control with the joystick.
• Hitting with a normal during a superjump cuts your upward velocity in half, just like all the old Versus games.
• Just for this experiment Painwheel’s flight speed (in all directions but especially upward) has been increased to help it compete with superjumps.

After spending a brief period with the mechanic myself, I can confirm that certain combos that used to work do not currently connect as they once did. But don’t be discouraged by this; when one combo door closes, another one opens. Since jumps accelerate at a much higher rate and result in much more height in general, I have faith that new combo discoveries are just a training mode session away.

Source: Steam