Console update for Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 launches March 1, 2018

The most recent patch to Rev 2, which released on Feb. 14 in Japanese arcades, will be coming home for console players at the beginning of March.

Arcade version 2.1 includes changes for all members of the cast, with varying numbers of alterations and levels of significance.

For now, the revision will only be launching for the PlayStation 3 and 4 iterations of Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2. The Steam version currently has no release date at this time.

ELEAGUE debuts Tekken competition with Team Takedown

Tekken 7 will apparently be making its ELEAGUE debut on March 3, 2018.

According to a story from TekkenGamer, Tekken Team Takedown will be taking place on that date at the Turner Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Tickets are currently available for the show.

The format of the show, as well as what players and broadcast talent ELEAGUE will be using for the event, is currently unknown. With March 3 fast approaching, it would seem likely that an official announcement will be coming soon.

Dissidia adding Orbonne Monastery stage in upcoming update

The refuge of Princess Ovelia is coming to both the arcade and console versions of Square Enix's arena fighter.

Orbonne Monastery appears much as it did in Final Fantasy Tactics, with no new obstacles or additions to the terrain. Players will, however, be able to run up the sides of the monastery to create multilevel fights.

Arcades will first get the monastery as part of an update on Feb. 22, while the console version of Dissidia will receive the stage as part of an update in late March.

Readers can check out the short trailer for the stage after the jump. Dissidia Final Fantasy is currently released in Japanese arcades, and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is currently available on the PlayStation 4 console.

Click to read more ...

Capcom Pro Tour 2018 schedule, details unveiled

Capcom has revealed the dates and rules of the upcoming Capcom Pro Tour 2018. As has become the standard, 32 players will qualify for Capcom Cup, with the tour starting at Final Round.

Qualification for Capcom Cup is much like it was in 2017: only six spots at are guaranteed, with four going to regional finals winners, one to a last-chance qualifier at Capcom Cup and the final spot going to reigning champ Mena RD. The other 26 competitors will be decided by the global points leaderboad.

Regional Finals events will see a change in 2018, however, as they will now be broken down into two events: an open-entry tournament that will grant points toward the global and regional leaderboards, as well as a location-restricted Regional Finals Top 8 that will see the players with the highest point totals in that region compete for a spot at Capcom Cup. 

Players can view Capcom's season teaser trailer after the jump, and can find a full breakdown of the 2018 system at the Capcom Pro Tour website, along with the schedule of offline events.

Click to read more ...

Broly and Bardock coming as first Dragon Ball FighterZ DLC

[Update Feb. 17, 12:41 p.m. CST]: ShonenGamez has provided a scan from the newest V-Jump, confirming the news. The release date for the characters will be announced in March.

According to a recent post, the first two DLC characters coming to DBFZ will be Goku's father and the Legendary Super Saiyan.

The leak comes from Ryokuta, whose blog has tipped readers off to previous character unveils before they were public information.

The post notes that both will appear with signature attacks, including Broly's Gigantic Meteor (or Omega Blaster, which will be his level 3 super) and Bardock's Revenger rush attack.

Ryokuta notes that pricing and release date are yet to be determined, but hopefully more information will be forthcoming if and when the characters are officially confirmed. 

Click to read more ...

Spectator mode, improvements come to Dissidia Final Fantasy NT

Two new updates—version 1.04 and 1.05—have rolled out for Square Enix's Final Fantasy arena fighter, giving players more ways to enjoy the title.

Along with nonspecific bug fixes and stability improvements, version 1.04 has also added the ability to spectate custom matches, with up to 24 people total watching and playing in a given match. This feature will definitely help the title if it tries to become a widely played competitive game.

Dissidia has also made setup easier by allowing players the ability to copy entire EX skill sets from one character to another when customizing. This change also seems to focus on competitive play, as it cuts down on the time players might need to prepare for a match.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is currently available for PlayStation 4.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle to feature dual audio, U.S. pricing detailed

Arc System Works has unveiled more information about the U.S. release of its upcoming tag fighting game.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle will ship in the United States featuring voice options for both English and Japanese, a feature that was lacking in BlazBlue Central Fiction to some players' dismay. This will include all characters in the game, which will give the title the English voice debuts for Under Night In-Birth fighters and some from BlazBlue.

Meanwhile, in terms of pricing, BBTag will cost players $49.99 for both physical and digital versions of the game, although those who buy digital can opt for a $69.99 version that will include access to all the DLC as it becomes available. For those who buy the DLC separately, each of BBTag's six packs will cost $4.99 apiece, or $19.99 for the entire Cross Tag Character Collection. The first pack, containing Orie, Kanji and Platinum will be free to players for two weeks after the game's launch, and RWBY's Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long will always be free downloads.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle comes to the U.S. for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam on June 5, 2018.

Platinum the Trinity, Orie, Kanji Tatsumi will be BlazBlue Cross DLC

Arc System Works has revealed the first of six three-character DLC packs that will come to BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle once it has been released to the public.

BlazBlue's Platinum, Under Night's Orie and Persona 4 Arena's Kanji will be joining the cast as the first paid downloadable content. Previously announced RWBY characters Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long are free DLC.

Arc also revealed the Japanese pricing for BBTag's DLC, with the all-in-one pass costing players 2,400 yen (roughly $22) while individual packs of three characters will each cost 600 yen (roughly $5.60). It is interesting to note that this first DLC pack contains one character from each of the three ASW franchises in the game, so it's possible this could be a precedent for the other five bundles.

Readers can check out the introduction trailer after the jump. The next character reveal will come in March, and according to the voice clip at the end of the video it may feature Izanami among others.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle releases on May 31, 2018, in Japan and June 5, 2018, for the rest of the world.

Click to read more ...

Celebrate love and war as Freyja joins Fight of Gods

The Norse goddess associated with everything from love and beauty to war and death has been added to Digital Crafter's deity-based fighter.

Freyja fights with a large fiery axe and seems to focus on melee attacks. She is FoG's first DLC character and will cost players $2.99 in addition to the cost of the full game. In addition, the game has been updated with a number of changes and balance fixes.

Fight of Gods is still currently in Early Access on Steam. Readers can check out the Freyja trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

The King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga coming to PS4?

The collection of five games spanning the initial years of The King of Fighters franchise looks to be headed to the PlayStation 4 in the near future.

PS4 trophies for the collection, which included KOF 94-98, have appeared online with specific missions for players to complete in all five games. Normally when a trophy listing appears for a title, an announcement of the game is not far behind.

While nothing is official about the collection at this time, it seems most likely that it will be a emulated version of the compilation's PlayStation 2 release from 2008. The Orochi Saga does come at an odd time, however, with KOF 94-98 currently released under Hamster's Arcade Archives NEOGEO banner and King of Fighters '97 Global Match coming in spring 2018.

Chun-Li dons Star Gladiator attire as new Extra Battle costume

The next crossover costume has been revealed for Street Fighter V and it sees Chun-Li dressed as Star Gladiator's Jun Lin Milliam.

Star Gladiator was a 3-D fighter first released by Capcom in 1996. It spawned a sequel, Plasma Sword, and most fighting game fans will remember its main protagonist, Hayato Kanzaki, from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. As with other Extra Battle costumes, players will have to complete four weekly challenges to unlock Chun-Li's new costume in SFV.

The Jun costume Extra Battle Challenges start on Feb. 15, and there will be additional Shadaloo soldier challenges to help players gain Fight Money or level up a character. Readers can head to Capcom Unity for more information including specific challenge time frames.

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 version 2.1 released

The newest revision to Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 has landed in arcades in Japan, bringing with it a list of changes to each character in the game.

The main news coming out of the patch is that seemingly all the changes that were made for the location test have been retained in the update. This means big changes for both Baiken and Answer, and buffs for characters such as I-No while Chipp has gotten nerfs.

These tweaks and alterations have been translated by GreatFernMan and can be found on Evernote. While the update is only in arcades for the time being, it is scheduled to be released on PC and console platforms sometime in March 2018.

Welcome to the jungle: Blanka joins Street Fighter V on Feb. 20

Capcom has unveiled the trailer and release details for the second of SFV's Season 3 DLC characters, Blanka.

Blanka returns in Street Fighter V appearing similar to his SFIV incarnation, but he has one major tool added to his arsenal: a command grab. Blanka's V-Skill is his Coward Crouch, which now has two follow-up abilities that can be used to either attack or advance on his opponent. His first V-Trigger, Jungle Dynamo, powers up his ball and electricity so that they do more damage and create juggle states for additional hits. His second V-Trigger, Lightning Beast, gives him the ability to follow any ball with a new move, Rolling Cannon, that can be angled in any direction. It is very reminiscent of Jon Talbain's Beast Cannon from the Darkstalkers series.

Blanka will be available separately or as part of the Season 3 Character Pass. Readers can check out his trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. 2 coming to arcades in 2018

A new arcade version of Bandai Namco's popular arena fighter will be coming before the end of the year.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. 2 will be the first numbered sequel of the Extreme Vs. series, which started in arcades in 2010. The most recent update is Extreme Vs Maxi Boost ON, which was first released in 2016 but has continually received updates in the form of new mobile suits.

According to Gematsu, a location test for the new game is scheduled for summer 2018 in Japan. It is unknown at this time if the release of Extreme Vs. 2 will have any effect on Gundam Versus, or if the PlayStation 4 and arcade versions of the Gundam Vs. series will remain independent but related titles going forward.

Readers can check out the game's teaser trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

February update brings changes to Injustice 2

As part of the addition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Injustice 2, the team at NetherRealm Studios has prepared a new patch to further tweak the game.

Along with some general adjustments to gameplay, like the addition of premier skin selection to tournament mode, there are character-specific changes to the DC brawler. Not every combatant will be affected by the patch, and some will only receive a small change. The big news, however, is that Catwoman and Supergirl are receiving nerfs, while characters such as Poison Ivy, Sub Zero, Raiden and Aquaman got various buffs.

Readers can find the full patch notes at the official WB Games website.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kick shell in Injustice 2 on Feb. 13

NetherRealm Studios has unveiled gameplay footage and a release date for the next DLC characters coming to Injustice 2.

Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael will launch on Feb. 13 bringing four new styles of combat to the NRS fighter. While all turtles will have similar base moves and strings, each will bring his own flair to the attacks. All four turtles will also have individual character powers that reference their personalities: Leonardo has assists because he is the leader; Donatello uses gadgets; Michaelangelo fights with his trusty skateboard; and Raphael launches into an attacking frenzy by "getting hype."

As usual, players who own the Ultimate Edition of Injustice 2, Ultimate Pack or Fighter Pack 3 will have the turtles on release, and those looking to purchase them separately will have to wait.

Readers can check out the turtles' trailer after the jump, and for more a in-depth description of each turtle can also view the Injustice Watchtower stream archives as well.

Click to read more ...

Yang Xiao Long joins BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

During the games lineup announcement for Evolution 2018, a video from Arc System Works revealed another RWBY character will be coming to BBTag.

Yang Xiao Long is the last of the series' fourth protagonists to be announced for BBTag. However, she will be free DLC for the title along with the previously announced Blake Belladonna. According to Arc System Works' Toshimichi Mori, the company plans to have those characters available for players as soon as possible.

No in-game footag of Yang was shown at this time. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle comes home on May 31, 2018, in Japan and June 5, 2018, for the rest of the world.

Evolution 2018 lineup announced

In a sit-down interview with Mark Julio on Red Bull eSports, Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar revealed the games that will be part of Evo 2018.

The Evolution staff has chosen eight games for competition at this year's Evo: Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev. 2, Injustice 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Dragoin Ball FighterZ.

Cuellar also revealed that Rev 2, Melee, T7, SBFZ and SFV will be the five games that are featured in the stadium during Evo Sunday finals.

In addition, Arc System Works made two announcements in videos. The first showed BBTag's Toshimichi Mori revealing that RWBY's Yang Xiao Long will be coming to the game and that both her and Blake Belladonna will be free DLC coming out soon after the game's release. The second featured Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari saying that the game's new balance patch will be coming to the PC and console platforms in March 2018. 

Registration for Evo 2018 starts on Feb. 15 at 12 p.m. PST on the official Evo wbesite. Evolution 2018 is coming Aug. 3-5 at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevadad.

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 version 2.1 comes to arcades on Feb. 14

After a short location test, the next update to Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 will be released in mid-February.

The new version will arrive roughly a month after Arc System Works announced its existence during the ASW Fighting Game Awards 2017. The company added a lengthy list of changes to the game for the location test (translations by GreatFernMan), but it is unknown which modifications have stuck for the update and which have been discarded. Hopefully ASW will provide a document listing the changes closer to or on release of the patch.

Although the update will also roll out to the console and PC platforms, no date was given for its release at this time.

Them's Fightin' Herds coming to PC on Feb. 22

Mane 6's upcoming four-legged fighter has an official release date for the end of February 2018.

Them's Fightin' Herds will launch on Feb. 22 with six characters; a "unique overworld story mode" and online lobby system using pixel art; and GGPO netplay. A seventh character—a goat—will be added to the game after release and according to the Mane6 Twitter account the team plans to bring the game to Apple and Linux platforms within 2018.

The title will see its first official launch despite being available in its earliest days as a My Little Pony fan game, named Fighting is Magic, before twists and turns changed the final product.

Readers interested in Them's Fightin' Herds can head over to Steam for more information on the title, and can check out trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...