CEO 2018 to feature crossover event with New Japan Pro-Wrestling

In the last few years, pro wrestling and fighting games have converged on many stages, from WWE stars playing Tekken at Wizard World events to Kenny Omega and Austin Creed participating in events such as CEO and Final Round.

CEO 2018, however, will be raising the bar as it has announced a "crossover event" between the tournament and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

New Japan is the current home promotion of Kenny Omega and is the number two professional wrestling company in the world behind WWE. While the company is based in and runs events almost exclusively in Japan, it has started expanding outward in recent years with shows in Long Beach, California, and other countries such as Australia. It has also collaborated with the Ring of Honor promotion in the United States on multiple occasions.

According to CEO founder Alex Jebailey, "#CEOxNJPW is a live wrestling event at the Ocean Center on Friday June 29th" with more information and ticket sales beginning in April 2018. Readers can follow CEO Gaming on Twitter for more updates as they are released.

CEO 2018 takes place from June 29 to July 1, 2018, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Team Liquid signs Nemo, John Takeuchi

Team Liquid has unveiled its newest team members in the world of fighting games: Street Fighter V players Nemoto "Nemo" Naoki and Ryouta "John" Takeuchi.

The signings were announced in a video message from Liquid's co-CEO Steve "Liquid 112" Arhancet. In the video, Arhancet also revealed the opening of Liquid's Alienware Training Facility in Los Angeles, California. Nemo has signed a two-year deal with Team Liquid, while the terms of Takeuchi's deal were not disclosed at this time.

The two represent Team Liquid's "first step into Japanese esports," according to Arhancet. Readers can check out the reveal video after the jump.

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Mysterious version 5.2 update coming to ARMS

[Update March 7, 3:56 a.m. CST]: Nintendo has released the new patch, which adds Party Crash mode Big Time ARMS as an option in regular battle along with several different weapon and character tweaks. Readers can visit the Nintendo website for the whole list of changes.

Nintendo's arena brawler will soon be getting an unknown update.

A tweet on March 5 from the official ARMS Twitter account confirmed that a new update is on its way for the title.

According to Siliconera, the Nintendo had previously stated that the final update for ARMS would be version 5.0, which saw the release of Dr. Coyle.  

The update and what it will add or change in ARMS is currently unknown. The tweet is composed as a message from ARMS commentator Biff, who explains that information has been restricted. He does point out, however, that someone from the ARMS Laboratory was saying that certain experiments were a success.

Beyond the Summit reveals Summit of Power for Dragon Ball FighterZ

A 16-player invitational event will be coming to the Los Angeles, California, area in June 2018.

Beyond the Summit, a broadcasting company most known for its Dota 2 streaming and invitational events, will host a two-day in-house event for DBFZ on June 9-10, 2018, with $10,000 on the line for competitors.

Summit of Power will take place at the Summit House, the private location where Dota 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) events have taken place for previous editions of The Summit.

In previous Summit tournaments, players and teams have been chosen for competition through BTS choice, qualifying events and even fan voting. It will be interesting to see the format BTS chooses for its first foray into Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Tekken World Tour 2018 announced

During the ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown, the Tekken World Tour 2018 was officially announced.

Starting at Final Round 2018, 40 events will see players from across the world compete for more than $80,000 in prizes. The finals will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, sometime in November 2018 with a single-event prize pool of $25,000.

For this year of the TWT, there are no more regional leaderboards, and there will be less event overlap so that players don't have to pick and choose which event to support. The grand finals event will also now span two days and include 20 players, with one player earning their spot in a last-chance qualifier on day one.

For more information including the schedule and a breakdown of the new points system, readers can check out the official Tekken World Tour website.

Red Bull Conquest circuit to feature Guilty Gear, Tekken, Street Fighter

Red Bull has announced a new tournament circuit that will feature Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V.

Red Bull Conquest will feature 15 qualifiers, named Rally events, all around the United States, culminating in a grand finals tournament in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 16-18, 2018. The winner of each qualifying event, including a last-chance tournament, will be put into a final 16-person bracket to decide the champion for each game.

Conquest events will be held in "Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle," with the first taking place on April 28 in Chicago, Illinois.

For more information or to register for Red Bull Conquest, readers can check out the official Red Bull website.

Injustice 2 Legendary Edition arrives March 27

A complete and expanded version of NetherRealm Studios' DC fighter will be arriving at the end of March 2018.

Injustice 2's Legendary Edition will come with all 10 DLC characters, from Darkseid to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as the five Premier skins included the game's Ultimate Edition and a new Bruce Wayne skin.

The game will also include the introduction of an expanded tutorial in the Learn Hub; new gear and an increased level cap (30) for all characters; a new augment slot at level 30; and God and Demon shaders for the cast.

Injustice 2 Legendary Edition is currently listed for $59.99 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Patch notes for first Dragon Ball FighterZ online fix now available

[Update Feb. 27, 9:46 p.m. CST]: Bandai Namco has posted the patch notes in English, along with a more detailed breakdown of character-specific fixes. Most notable is that the glitch allowing Captain Ginyu players free supers during Ultimate Z Change has been removed. 

Bandai Namco has detailed the contents of the first update to DBFZ in a post on the game's official Japanese website.

The notes, which have been translated by GreatFernMan, don't speak to many specifics in terms of online fixes, instead claiming the company has changed things to improve the experience.

There are, however, noted improvements to the Replay Channel, as Follow and Search functions are being in the new patch. The new patch will disable old replays, however, so players who want to save that footage should find a way to do so as soon as possible.

There is also the addition of a Party Match mode as well as several gameplay tweaks, with fixes to in-game cinematics and effects along with a vague comment about improving "consistency of actions."

Readers can check out the translated notes at Evernote. The update is scheduled for the end of February 2018 so it should be rolling out within the next few days.

Shadowgeist joins Fighting EX Layer, game launch in June 2018

Street Fighter EX2's Shadowgeist will be joining the cast of Fighting EX Layer when it arrives for the PlayStation 4 before the end of June 2018, a stream by Arika revealed.

EX Layer will ship as a digital-only title in two versions: the game's standard edition will cost players $59.99 and ship with 12 characters and 15 preset Gougi "decks," while a light version will cost $39.99 and come with all the characters and five Gougi decks. The game may also received both a physical and Steam release based on its success.

Fighting EX Layer will ship without legacy controller support at launch, however, and will only feature Japanese voice acting for its characters. There will also be downloadable color packs, one that increases the number of colors to 15 for each character, and special gold colors for each fighter.

In addition to unveiling Shadowgeist, Arika also revealed the silhouettes of the two remaining characters in the FEXL cast, letting players speculate on who will join Allen Snider, Doctrine Dark, Blair Dame, Darun Mister, Garudo, Shirase, Jack, Kairi and Skullomania as part of the game's cast.

Bandai Namco planning fixes for Dragon Ball FighterZ online play

In a short video released on Feb. 22, DBFZ producer Tomoko Hiroki announced Bandai Namco's plans for alleviating the online issues that have plagued the game.

Players of Dragon Ball FighterZ has had many issues since the game's release with connecting to other players or being disconnected from matches or the game's lobby system. To correct that, the company plans to release a patch in late February 2018 to repair some of the issues and then will further patch the title sometime in mid or late March to try and fix any remaining problems. 

According to Hiroki, the company "will not stop until the fix has been completed."

Zasalamel, Ivy to cross blades in Soul Calibur VI

Two more classic Soul Calibur fighters have been announced for the upcoming title.

Ivy and Zasalamel will join Kilik, Xianghua, Gr0h, Nightmare, Mitsurugi and Sophitia as playable characters in the new Soul game.

While Isabella "Ivy" Valentine has been a playable character in all Soul Calibur games, Zasalamel makes only his third appearance in the series. The seemingly immortal sorcerer was previously a base character in SCIII and an unlockable one in SCIV.

Both new trailers show off the characters' Critical Arts as well as normals and special attacks. Readers can check out the footage after the jump.

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Heidern reporting for duty in King of Fighters XIV

The leader of the Ikari Warriors will make his return to the KoF series in spring 2018.

Heidern will be one of four new characters, along with Oswald and Najd, that will be released in April 2018.

He returns to KoF as a playable character for the first time since King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match. He retains many of his classic normal and special attacks including Moon Slasher, Cross Cutter and even Backstabbing from 2002.

Readers can check out Heidern's trailer after the jump.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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