Celebrate the Holidays with Xrd Christmas Colors

Arc System Works was apparently thinking ahead to the eventual release date of Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- during development, because the company included a set of Christmas colors for the cast as downloadable content. Available now through Dec. 24 for owners of the Japanese version of Xrd and available Dec. 23-Jan. 13, 2015, for owners of the U.S. version of the game, the free DLC provides one new color for each member of the cast.

The color pack uses red, green and white palettes for every character in the cast—except Chipp, who becomes Rudolph—with some great results. To check out a preview of what the DLC looks like for each character, head on over to monoker0s' imgur. The page also shows previews of a 14th color for each character that may be the announced PlayStation Plus DLC.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 340 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

Just days after Capcom Cup, SDR had a lot to unpack from the event including the bracket mismatch—online and physical—that happened at the event. There was also talk about the trend toward a more eSports model for events like Capcom Cup, and how things like commentary, tournament format and even the playing of matches should be handled as Capcom looks toward Capcom Pro Tour 2015.

On the airdasher front, early streams of Guilty Gear Xrd DLC character Leo had popped up, and everyone weighed in on that character and the early days of the game in the U.S.

Lastly, SDR wouldn't stay the "leading Capcom podcast" without discussion about the early Street Fighter V footage shown at Capcom Cup, so the cast speculated on what everyone might be able to expect from SFV when it finally releases.

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.

Super Arcade is Moving

Southern California's Super Arcade is pulling up roots. In a tweet on Dec. 16, the arcade claims that it will use the Christmas holiday to move to a new, unrevealed location "very near our current one." The arcade goes on to assure its patrons that it is not closing, but does not give any other details on the move.

Super Arcade is one of the few remaining arcades in Southern California, and has spent more than 20 years at its current location in the city of Walnut. Owned by Street Fighter legend Mike Watson, the arcade held a Kickstarter in 2014 and recently remodeled its venue.

BlazBlue Chronophantasma Extend Announced

Image courtesy of FamitsuThe newest console version of BlazBlue will be coming to Japan in early 2015. According to Famitsu, Arc System Works is readying BlazBlue Chronophantasma Extend for release on April 23 of next year as a new standalone title.

Chronophantasma Extend will contain the new characters from the recent arcade release BBCP 2.0, Celica Mercury and Lambda-11, and will introduce new story elements for the console version. The game will be releasing not only on PlayStation 3 and 4, but also on the Xbox One console.

There is no word whether Extend will have any other console-exclusive content at this time.

Street Fighter V Match Analysis by LI Joe

At the end of Capcom Cup on Dec. 13, Peter "Combofiend" Rosas and Mike Ross sat down to play a couple matches of Street Fighter V to show off the new title to the public. Although the game is early in development, the matches contained a lot of information as to how the next version of Street Fighter will be played.

In a new video, Joe "LI Joe" Ciaramelli takes the time to break down as many of the new and different features in SFV as he could see throughout the matches. Watching the rounds along with his viewers, he stops, slows down and rewinds action to point out his thoughts on how and why certain actions are happening. From normals and throws to the new meter system, Ciaramelli tries to fit as much information as he can in roughly 30 minutes of video. Check it out after the jump.

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Here are the DLC Colors for Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-

User Monoker0s on imgur has created albums showing off the colors for each character in the latest version of Guilty Gear, including all the downloadable colors that will soon be available.

There are plenty of old favorites for returning characters, and each fighter has both a Christmas color and a color seemingly inspired by the movie Tron Legacy. Readers can check out the albums on imgur.

Currently, Ramlethal is missing from Monoker0s' imgur, but her palettes can be found here.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 339 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

It was a busy week, and SDR started with the big news of Street Fighter V's announcement. There was some brief specualtion based on the short teaser trailer before the crew focused on the visual direction of the game and how more information may be available during Capcom Cup on Dec. 13.

The release of Guilty Gear Xrd in Japan dovetailed with talk of NEC, as everyone discussed their favorite moments from the tournament including an amazing Guilty Gear XX AC+R event.

Lastly, SDR talked about the poor reaction to Tekken 7's new character, Lucky Chloe. 

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.

Luck Chloe Joins Tekken 7

During the Tekken 20th anniversary "Thanksgiving" event, Bandai Namco's Katsuhiro Harada revealed the newest character for the upcoming Tekken 7: Lucky Chloe. Wearing cat ears and matching gloves, she will join the cast when T7 is released in 2015.

Veteran Tekken player Reepal "Rip" Parbhoo described Lucky Chloe as "a cross between Lili and Ling and capos" but it's hard to say whether Lucky Chloe will play like any other Tekken character before her. Youtube user Tekken REC recorded her debut, check it out after the jump.

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Street Fighter V Coming to PlayStation 4, PC

A trailer released (and then subsequently pulled) this morning has announced the coming of the fifth entry in Capcom's Street Fighter franchise. The video, which shows many of the different games in the series along with scenes drawn from the fighting game community and fans of all kinds, takes about the passion and the drive it takes to move forward and push beyond imposed limits. The tagline "Rise Up" is displayed prominently.

The biggest news, however, from the trailer is that the game will be available "exclusively on PS4 and PC." And while the word exclusive has come to have different meanings—sometimes exclusivity is just a window of time—it will be interesting to see what Capcom has to say about this news when the company officially reveals the title in the upcoming days. Hit the jump for the trailer, courtesy of Polygon.

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Guilty Gear Xrd Limited Edition Delayed

The limited edition version of Arc System Works' Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- will not be hitting store shelves when the standard version does on Dec. 16. According to North American publisher Aksys Games, worker strikes have caused the LE to fall behind schedule:

"However, we regret to inform our fans that the Limited Edition will be delayed due to the unforeseen strikes at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, which have held up key components. Due to the unpredictable nature of the delay, there may be a one to two week postponement of the release of the Limited Edition.”

Aksys apologized for the delay and promises to provide updates on the situation as soon as it can. As stated above, the standard edition of the game will not be affected by the delay.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 338 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

With only a couple days before the Japanese Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- console release, SDR focused on the latest information for the game. This included a discussion of Sin and Elphelt, who were both added to 4Gamer's wiki of the title.

The wiki spawned another conversation, as Sanchez tried to answer why Google's automatic translation revealed the word "trombone" in the descriptions of many normal attacks throughout the guide. Thanks to the help of Ayaikun, the cast was mostly able to figure that out.

Meanwhile, with Northeast Championships coming on Dec. 5-7, SDR also talked about the number of entrants for UNIEL and why social media activity is not always indicative of a game's popularity.

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.

Bandai Namco Announces Tekken 20th Anniversary "Thanksgiving"

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Tekken franchise, Bandai Namco is throwing a special event featuring the latest game in the series, Tekken 7, on Dec. 7. According to Avoiding the Puddle, this event will be a special exhibition tournament of the new game featuring "world champions" and will also reveal the latest information on T7. 

The event will be streamed on Niconico and will feature special guests Katsuhiro Harada, Yuriko Tiger and others. It will start at 12:30 p.m. JST and run until 6:00 p.m., meaning those in the United States should tune in at 7:30 p.m. PST/10:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 6 to watch the event. 

NuckleDu Joins Team Curse

Professional gaming team Curse has announced its entry into the world of Street Fighter with the signing of Du "NuckleDu" Dang. NuckleDu has become a noted Guile player in the United States, and has recently added Decapre to his arsenal. According to Curse's website,

"NuckleDu has been on the rise, with his first big showing at NEC 13 and CEO Prologue earlier this year. He has also shown his prowess in Street Fighter x Tekken tournaments, with 4 major wins. In Ultra Street Fighter IV, NuckleDu has been rising up as one of the top 25 players in the world."

His first showing as part of Team Curse will be at Capcom Cup on Dec. 13 in San Francisco.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 337 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

The possible resurgence of older fighting games and a look at the recent 37Reloaded tournament were the main topics on this episode of SDR. The cast took turns talking about their experiences at or watching the tournament, and then conversation turned to how the momentum gained by 37 could be continued in the coming weeks and months.

Hellpockets also brought up entrant numbers for the upcoming Northeast Championships and how UNIEL currently has the second highest player count. 

Finally, everyone was a bit concerned by Walkman's seeming obsession with Bette Midler.

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.

Combofiend Details New Ultra Street Fighter IV Patch

Capcom has revealed the details of its new patch to USFIV, numbered 1.04. On his Capcom blog, Combofiend writes that Edition Select will now be added to unranked online play, and that the omega versions of each character will be selectable in that mode. Omega characters will only be usable in Edition Select, as there is no omega mode in the game.

Combo adds that the trials for characters will be updated to reflect changes in Ultra, and that new trials for Yun, Yang, Oni, Evil Ryu, Hugo, Elena, Decapre, Poison and Rolento will be added to the game.

Patch 1.04 will also include new balance changes to make all characters viable—Combofiend singles out DeeJay especially—and fixes to the recently discovered Vega and Yun bugs.

Lastly, the download will contain the compatibility files for the new wild costumes, which will be available for purchase. Combofiend, however, did not give a date for the patch at this time, saying only that it would release "shortly after Capcom Cup."

Super Desperation Radio Episode 336 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

The release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- is fast approaching, and SDR took some time to provide opinions on some of the games currently available to players as the holiday season begins.

Conversation then moved to upcoming events, as the cast discussed both 37Reloaded and Capcom Cup, taking time to talk about the different costs in attending each and what to expect.

Finally, SDR looked back at the recent Marq Teddy/BushinStyle grudge match from Super Arcade, and Walkman asked how older titles could be updated for the new generations.

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.

Learn Faust Quickly by Honzo Gonzo

Honzo Gonzo is learning Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R in anticipation of the release of Xrd in December, and he has released two small videos for Faust that may help other players new to the game. The first video is a brief rundown of combos that +R Faust can do that will still work in the new Gear title, and the second is a brief description of the main tools players will need to know as they work to improve their gameplay.

Both of these videos are targeted at new players, so they do not touch on more advanced combo techniques such as jump installing and do not explain in depth how to execute Faust's fautless defense cancel. And while Faust has several changes to his special moves and normals in Xrd, these two guides should help players looking for a quick breakdown of how the character handles as they venture into Guilty Gear.

Hit the jump for the videos. 

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Nintendo Will Offer Retailer-Exclusive Amiibos

Nintendo's amiibo figures will launch the same day as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in the U.S., Nov. 21, but the company is already planning the release of figures beyond the initial assortment.

These plans include retailer-exclusive Amiibos, with GameStop listing Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles as one such figure. Nintendo, meanwhile, said that "some of our retail partners will be releasing a certain number of these [amiibos] as exclusive figures, so stay tuned for details."

Shulk will be part of the third wave of amiibos, which releases in February 2015 and includes Rosalina and Luma, Bowser, Lucario, Toon Link, Sheik, Ike, Sonic, Mega Man, King Dedede and Meta Knight. With the wave offering a number of high-profile characters, it will be interesting to see just how many Nintendo offers in such limited release.

KOF 98 UM Final Edition and 2002 Unlimited Match for Steam Delayed

As mentioned on Super Desperation Radio, the upcoming Steam versions of King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Final Edition and 2002 Unlimited Match have been delayed.

While previously the two games were scheduled to launch before the beginning of 2015, with 98 in November and 2002 in December, the two titles are now only scheduled for sometime in the winter.

There are still no details about pricing or available features for either title.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 335 Archive Online

The latest episode of Super Desperation Radio is now available for watching on IPLAYWINNER'S YouTube channel.

It was a wild and, at times, seemingly random episode of Super Desperation Radio this week.

The recent parting of ways between Super Arcade and Level|Up in SoCal was the big news that opened the episode. The cast talked about the schedule of Super going forward; how tournaments and streams could change; and where Level|Up may choose to take its brand in the future.

The show then mentioned several other news pieces before Walkman broached the show-extending topic of what makes a video game "good" or "bad." Factors such as nostalgia and technology were taken into consideration as the hosts weighed in with their thoughts about "retro" games versus modern titles and whether objectivity can actually exist in game reviews.

Super Desperation Radio is live every Monday at 6:30 p.m. PST on Twitch and YouTube.