Capcom Pro Tour 2018 schedule coming Feb. 19, two dates revealed

Capcom has announced the first two Premier events for 2018's Capcom Pro Tour, along with a date when the whole schedule will be available.

The pro tour will once again start with Final Round, as 2018's iteration of the Atlanta major happens on March 16-18. NorCal Regionals will be the second Premier event, taking place from March 30 to April 1 in Sacramento, California.

The rest of the tour's schedule will be released on Feb. 19, and Capcom looks forward to "another year of high level competition on the Capcom Pro Tour with Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition and Season 3."

Team Liquid says goodbye to NuckleDu

Du "NuckleDu" Dang has ended his tenure as part of Team Liquid, according to a new video from the team.

Dang first joined Curse in November 2014, being added to Team Liquid as part of the merger of the two organizations in early 2015. Throughout his time on Liquid, Dang has had continued success in Street Fighter with his biggest accolade coming from his victory at Capcom Cup 2016.

In the video, Liquid's co-CEO Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet briefly talks about Dang's history with the team before wishing him the best in his future plans.

Readers can check out the video after the jump. Dang had posted in early January that he was open to accepting "new opportunities" with the end of his Liquid contract, so it will be interesting to see what plans NuckleDu has made for the future.

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Dragon Ball FighterZ hitbox viewer by Altimor

Reddit user Altimor has released a beta verson of a mod that will allow players to see the hitboxes in DBFZ.

For those unfamiliar with hitbox viewers, they will often show at least three type of box: the active hitbox, which represents the area covered by an attack; the hurtboxes of both characters, which show where they can be hit by opposing moves; and a pushbox that is used to as a way to prevent characters from moving through one another in the game. Depending on the game, there can be adaptations or changes to this rule.

While the mod is fully functional, the creator does note that "the boxes aren't filled in and there's no in-game toggle" to switch it on or off at this point.

Readers can find a link to the viewer as well as instructions on how to use it at Reddit.

Capcom announces fixes coming to next Street Fighter V update

A number of gameplay-related bugs have been discovered by Capcom in the time since the release of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, leading to future corrections by the developer.

These fixes will include small changes like combo scaling alterations for Laura, Ibuki and Urien but also much larger ones like the removal of Uriens accidental Tyrant Blaze invulnerability after armoring a hit using his Metallic Sphere V-Skill. Abigail, meanwhile, will no longer be able to activate V-Trigger on the first hit of Abigail Punch and his Metro Crash will have its armor reduced to two hits.

Capcom says these changes will be in the game's next update, but does not have a release date announced at this time. Readers can head to the Capcom website for the full list of changes.

Nintendo Switch Online coming in September 2018

Nintendo has set a release window for its paid online service, stating that it will become available in September.

This will mean the end of free online play for Switch titles, as that feature is only available until the paid service launches. To compensate, Nintendo will be offering a rotation of classic games, updated with online play, for subscribers as well as eShop deals. More basic online features, such as access to Nintendo's eShop and maintaining a friends list, will be unaffected by the rollout.

Switch Online will launch at a lower cost than online services from Sony or Microsoft, with a month of Nintendo's service costing $3.99 and a full year priced at $19.99. For more details on Nintendo Switch Online, readers can head to the official Nintendo website.

Aegislash smashes and bashes into Pokkén Tournament DX

The sword and shield Pokémon has joined Pokkén Tournament as part of the game's first wave of Battle Pack DLC, and brought with it a new gameplay trailer.

Aegislash is a steel and ghost-type Pokémon that can switch between Blade Forme and Shield Forme to adapt during battle. It is joined in wave one by support Pokémon Mega Rayquaza and Mimikyu.

Readers can check out the Aegislash trailer after the jump. Pokkén Tournament's Battle Pack DLC is currently on sale for $14.99 and will also include a second wave of content, launching March 23, that will feature Blastoise and support Pokémon Mew and Celebi.

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Dragon Ball FighterZ frame data by AnBi

The creator of GunFrame has added Dragon Ball FighterZ to his list of interests, compiling frame data for some of the game's characters and sharing his methods with the community.

Using DBFZ's training mode record feature and YouTube streaming, AnBi has so far created frame data documents for Android 16, Gotenks, Hit, Captain Ginyu and Kid Buu.

AnBi's method does mean counting frames manually, so mistakes are possible, and it may seem tedious to some players, but for now it is the best way to get a fairly accurate idea of advantage and disadvantage in DBFZ. He has invited other players to use his method in hopes of getting the data for every character in DBFZ that much faster.

Readers can find the links to AnBi's work on his Twitter.

King of Fighters '97 Global Match coming to PC, PS4, Vita

At Evo Japan 2018, SNK announced that King of Fighters '97 will be coming to model platforms with online play.

The King of Fighters '97 Global Match will be a port of the classic game to PlayStation 4, Vita and PC with no changes to the core gameplay.

While few details about the port are available at this time, Code Mystics handled the PS4 releases of Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Samurai Shodown V Special so it's possible they will be working on this title as well.

The King of Fighters '97 Global Match is scheduled for release sometime in spring 2018.

Nakoruru joins SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy

A new trailer released by SNK has revealed that Samurai Shodown's Nakoruru is the sixth character announced for the upcoming SNK Heroines tag game.

Much like the rest of the game's characters, Nakoruru has had a radical visual transformation and appears dressed as a vampire while Mamahaha has changed from a bird into a bat. In the small gameplay footage shown in the trailer, however, Nakoruru seems to retain at least some of her classic moves.

Readers can check out the new trailer below. SNK Heroines releases for the Switch and PlayStation 4 systems sometime during summer 2018.

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Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 changes revealed, location test ongoing

The balance update coming to Guilty Gear Xrd has started its first location test, and Arc System Works has posted the character changes online.

Rev 2 version 2.1 will bring alterations to every character in Guilty Gear, although the number and depth of the changes will vary across the cast. The test began in Japan on Jan. 29 at three arcade locations and will run for an unannounced length of time.

Arc System Works has made the changes available in Japanese on its website, and GreatFernMan is currently translating and compiling them on Evernote.

Evo 2018 game list coming Feb. 6, Evo Japan 2019 confirmed?

After the end of Street Fighter V at Evo Japan 2018, Evolution's Director of Global Business Development Mark "MarkMan" Julio had some brief news to share regarding the tournament series' future events.

Julio stated that the game list for Evo 2018, taking place on Aug. 3-5 at the Mandaly Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, will be announced on Feb. 6.

He also seemingly confirmed a 2019 iteration of Evo Japan, telling the audience in attendance at Evo Japan 2018 "see you next year." No other details or official announcement was made at this time. 

Street Fighter characters coming to Monster Hunter: World

Armor sets that will allow hunters to look and sound like Ryu and Sakura will be coming to the newest entry in the Monster Hunter franchise starting in February 2018.

The sets are part of a collaboration between the two Capcom franchises that will also see Monster Hunter-inspired costumes coming to Street Fighter V.

To get the armor, players will have to complete specific quests to get "SFV tickets" that can then be used to forge the skins. Monster Hunter players who have Street Fighter V save data on their PlayStation 4 console will get the first shot at these missions, while other players will have to wait until the quests rotate in again at a later time. There will also premium shoryuken and hadoken gestures available for purchase at $3.99 each.

For more details on the armor sets, readers can check out Capcom Unity or watch the trailer after the jump.

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Ignite the soul with new Soul Calibur VI gameplay footage

With the newly announced characters for Soul Calibur VI has come gameplay footage, allowing fans more information about the upcoming title. 

Ian Walker recently recorded 20 minutes of footage of the game's up-to-date build, showing off all six characters. There's even footage of Kilik's demonic form, which seems to come from Soul Charge. Walker admits he isn't much of Soul Calibur pro, but does offer his thoughts on the title so far.

Kayane, meanwhile, has the pro part covered with 11 minutes of footage taken at Evo Japan 2018. Her matches, which also include all the characters so far, offer insight into how the game plays at a competitive level at this point in its development.

Readers can check out the videos after the jump.

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Pick a card: Oswald joins King of Fighters XIV

First teased by SNK in December 2017, Oswald will be coming to KOFXIV as an upcoming DLC character.

Oswald is a professional hitman who assaults opponents with playing cards. He has previously only appeared in King of Fighters XI as a playable character.

According to PlayStation Europe, Oswald will be one of four new DLC characters—along with original character Najd—coming to KOFXIV in April 2018.

Readers can check out his debut trailer after the jump, and those attending Evo Japan will get to try out Oswald during the event on Jan. 26-28, 2018.

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Grøh steps onto the stage of history as Nightmare, Xianghua, Kilik are revealed in new Soul Calibur VI trailer

A new trailer for Soul Calibur VI has revealed three returning characters and one new to the franchise.

Grøh joins the cast of SCVI fighting with two blades that can join together and form a double-edged weapon. Meanwhile, Nightmare, Kilik and Xianghua return to the series with many of their classic attacks.

The three-minute trailer shows super moves for all four characters, and hints at a possible story development by showing Kilik possessed by Soul Edge.

Readers can check out the trailer after the jump. Soul Calibur VI will be playable at Evo Japan on Jan. 26-28, 2018, so it will be interesting to see which characters will be available to the public.

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Monster Hunter costumes coming to Street Fighter V

Ken, Ibuki and R. Mika will be getting new skins from Monster Hunter in February 2018 as part of the game's Extra Battle mode.

Ken will sport Rathalos armor, R. Mika will don the claws of Zinogre and Ibuki will fight with the power of the elder dragon Kirin after these costumes are unlocked. These costumes are obtained after completing four Extra Battle challenges, each of which will cost 2,500 Fight Money to attempt.

The Monster Hunter costumes are time exclusive and for now will only be available as part of the Extra Battle challenge in February. Readers can check out Capcom Unity for more information.

BBTag DLC, release decisions discussed in recent interview

A recent Famitsu interview with BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Director Toshimichi Mori has unveiled new details about the choices the team at Arc System Works has made while developing the game.

In the interview (via Ryokutya and Siliconera, respectively), Mori points to many decisions being seemingly based on making the game more accessible for the largest number of people. The game will come out on console to avoid giving arcade players a head start with the game, and was designed with a gamepad as the main control scheme.

Furthermore, BBTag is being released at a lower price point so that players are encouraged to try the game out. While Mori did not discuss the exact price of the game's DLC characters, he did say that when combined with the cost of the base title buyers would only be spending slightly more than the cost of a normal game. He also said that if BBTag is successful, he would like to continue supporting the game in the future.

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

Wish granted: one more round of DBFZ beta coming to Xbox One

Xbox One players will get a final chance to play the open beta of Dragon Ball FighterZ right before it releases to players in North America.

The beta will run from Jan. 23, 2018, at 9 p.m. PST until the same time on Jan. 24, and is a result of Bandai Namco making "the necessary improvements in order to enable X1 users to experience DRAGON BALL FighterZ in all of its online multiplayer glory" after problems with the second test. 

The beta will still contain the 11 characters found in the previous open beta sessions.

Dragon Ball FighterZ comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in North America on Jan. 26, 2018.

Arika teases "a guy of loyalty" for Fighting EX Layer

Arika has released a teaser trailer for the next character joining Fighting EX Layer.

Although donning a much different attire than in previous games, the character looks to be none other than Cracker Jack. Jack was formerly portrayed as a bouncer-turned bodyguard, but this Jack dresses as a cowboy.

If this is indeed C. Jack, the only Arika character from the original Street Fighter EX (outside of the wire-frame Cycloids) missing from Fighting EX Layer would be Pullum Purna. Readers can check out the trailer below and decide for themselves.

Fighting EX Layer is set for release on PlayStation 4 sometime in 2018.

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Official DBFZ Android 21 trailer ready for consumption

With only days before the game's release, Bandai Namco has released the trailer for Android 21's playable appearance in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

As revealed by V-Jump magazine, Android 21 undergoes a radical transformation before fighting. Once transformed she unleashes her full power on opponents, including the ability to transform them into food, much like the abilities of Majin and Kid Buu.

Readers can check out the trailer after the jump. Dragon Ball FighterZ releases for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Jan. 26, 2018, in North America.

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