Super Arcade Kickstarter Launched

After months of speculation, Mike Watson has launched the Kickstarter for Super Arcade in Walnut, Calif. The project hopes to revitalize and keep open the arcade that has become a central hub in Southern California's fighting game scene. 

The effort, which hopes to raise $44,000 by May 2, 2014, would modernize the arcade with a new physical infrastructure, new fixtures including a display counter to sell stick parts and aparrel, a card system for the games and a new lighting and PA system. Watson also promises to cater to more communities with a wider range of games and introduce a membership system that will save frequent vistors money for their continued support.

For the full list of upgrades, as well as information on backing the project and rewards for donating, check out the Kickstarter page. Interested parties can also contact Watson on Twitter.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 305 Archive Online

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

The dispute over button binds that occurred at Final Round 17 was a big topic of discussion for the cast, as they discussed Keits' UFGT 10 ruling along with the history of button binding in games from Tekken to Guilty Gear. This conversation then bled into one about the revelation of Decapre as the fifth new character in Ultra Street Fighter IV and opinions about her addition.

Lastly, since it couldn't be a recent episode of SDR without talking about Arc System Works games, the cast talked about the release of Ramlethal Valentine as a playable character in Guilty Gear Xrd sometime in April.

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

Keits Addresses Button Binding, Issues Ruling for UFGT 10

After the stick-modification controversy that occurred at Final Round 17, Adam "Keits" Heart has issued a ruling on the practice for the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 10 on May 23-25, 2014. In the statement, Heart talks about the difference between a button bind and a macro, and discusses many of the perceived problems in the practice. Heart sums up his ruling:

"Hardware Button Binds, so long as they trigger all of their inputs on the same frame, will be allowed at UFGT10 and any of my future events. Hardware Macros, which press a series of inputs on separate frames, will never be allowed."

The full ruling, along with explanation, can be found on the UFGT website.

Super Smash Bros. Melee Officially Joins Evolution 2014

Tom "Inkblot" Cannon announced this morning that the popular Nintendo title will make its appearance on the Evolution stage for a second time. No details of a possible agreement with Nintendo were discussed, but the Evo ogranizers had previously said they would not go forward with a Melee tournament at Evo 2014 without the company's approval.

Smash will join Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Killer Instinct, Injustice: Gods Among Us and King of Fighters XIII as part of the Evo lineup. Evolution 2014 takes place at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on July 11-13, 2014.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 304 Archive Online

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

The Super Desperation crew returned after a one-week hiatus to tackle numerous topics. After talking about the results and experience of SoCal Regionals, the conversation quickly moved to Street Fighter IV and its upcoming Pro Tour and "mystery" revelation at Final Round.

The cast also discussed the recent Guilty Gear Xrd team tournament in Japan, and how the game seems to be evolving as players put more time into it.

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

Capcom Announces Pro Tour for Street Fighter IV

Earlier this morning Capcom announced a pro tour circuit for Street Fighter IV that will culminate in next year's Capcom Cup. The tour, which will consist of tournaments and industry events, will grant 10 players automatic entry into the Cup finals for winning a premier event, with the final six spots being decided by ranking points earned throughout the year.

Twitch has partnered with Capcom to make the Pro Tour a reality, and all ranking events will be streamed on Capcom's Twitch channel.

For a complete breakdown of the events and point distribution, hit the jump. Capcom has stated there will also be more events added to the schedule as the tour progresses.

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BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Version 1.1 Changes to Valkenhayn, Relius, Makoto and Platinum Revealed

Famitsu has posted the upcoming changes to Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, Relius Clover, Makoto Nanaya and Platinum the Trinity for the patch coming later this month to BlazBlue: Chronophantasma. Each character received several different tweaks to their gameplay, but overall most backdashes were weakened and resistance to negative penalty has gone up.

Twitter user Tontinic has posted a Pastebin link to the translated changes. They can be found after the jump.

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Persona 4 Arena DLC, AquaPazza on Sale on PSN

Atlus U.S.A has announced a sale on a number of digital titles and add-ons for the PlayStation Network. This sale includes many Persona RPG titles, as well as all of the DLC for Persona 4 Arena. The full color and glasses packs have been reduced from $5.99 to $2.99, and each of the additional announcers has been reduced from $2.99 to $1.49. For those who still do not have Persona 4 Arena, they can buy the Ultimate Edition of the game, which includes all the DLC, for $22.49.

In addition, AquaPazza is also currently on sale on PSN. The Examu-developed fighter is on sale for $19.99, down from its original price of $29.99.

ElvenShadow Talks Guilty Gear Xrd Release, The Game's Future

Mike "Elvenshadow" Bozcar was a longtime fixture of the U.S. Guilty Gear scene before his move to Japan in 2007. First playing the GG franchise with Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast, Bozcar became an integral part of the burgeoning Chicago airdasher scene along with players such as George "Juicy G" Fed and John "Blacksnake" Prucha. That scene helped anchor the Midwest, and Chicago provided the location for many of the big tournaments in that region.

"Bozac"—as he is somewhat affectionately known—has also continued to support U.S. players by organizing the Frosty Faustings series of tournaments every year when he returns to Chicago for the holidays. While many games are played at Faustings, Guilty Gear is always the star of the show.

With the release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- in Japan, IPLAYWINNER talked to Bozcar about his early thoughts on the game, and its future for both series veterans and new players alike.

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Footage from Guilty Gear Xrd Release Stream Online

Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- has officially released in Japan arcades, and to celebrate Arc System Works has been streaming the game on Japananese video sharing site, Niconico, since early this morning U.S. time.

While the stream itself is hard to watch due to the limited number of viewers allowed by Niconico, Kurushii has uploaded a short clip of the it to YouTube.

The hour and a half clip shows a small tournament for the game, complete with timestamps for individual matches and the names of the players.

Super Desperation Radio Episode 302 Archive Online

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

The Super Desperation crew welcomed special guests Steve "Lord Knight" Barthelemy and Eddie "Brkrdave" Sayles to talk about the future of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma. First, the crew talked about all the upcoming tournaments for BBCP, including the surprising pre-regisigtration turnout for SoCal Regionals on Feb. 28-March 2.

Talk then shifted to the upcoming patch for the game, and how it would affect BBCP. Both Barthelemy and Sayles had in-depth, if at times differing, opinions on how the changes would affect each character and the game as a whole. There was also plenty of sniping from both sides about the other player's perceived lack of skill, general mockery and by the end of the show even Jose "BananaKen" Llera's name was used to start arguments. It was definitely not a show to miss.

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

Sanwa Guilty Gear Xrd Buttons to be Unveiled at JAEPO

Sanwa Denshi will be unveiling a new set of pushbuttons designed using characters from the upcoming Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- at the Japan Amusement Expo (JAEPO) this weekend, according to Arcade Shock. The buttons will feature 14 characters from Xrd and will continue the collaboration that created the BlazBlue buttons and balltops.

However, A|S claims that Sanwa may only produce half the amount of buttons it did for the BlazBlue promotion, so these buttons may be in short supply as soon as they are released.

Super Desperation Episode 301 Archive Online

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

It was a podcast in two parts as the Super Desperation Radio crew talked about the Evolution 2014 games reveal from The Fray! on Feb. 6. Then turning their focus to the games that did not make the cut, the cast talked about possible BYOC events at Evo or other opportunities for games to make their mark this tournament season.

Hellpockets's Internet fizzled out creating a temporary respite, but the SDR returned strong with conversation about the end of Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament in May and the recent Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- footage that has appeared online.

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

Keits Discusses the End of UFGT and His Future

Photo courtesy of Adam HeartOn Feb. 8, Adam "Keits" Heart and the crew behind Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament announced that the upcoming event, UFGT 10, will be the last tournament under that banner. While the posting to the UFGT website answered some questions, however, the future of both a Midwestern major and Heart himself remained in doubt.

IPLAYWINNER caught up with the man known as Keits and asked him about the end of an era, the changes in his life and how the Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament made it this far. Hit the jump for the interview.

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USF4 Location Test, Special Announcement at Final Round

On his Capcom-Unity page today, Peter "ComboFiend" Rosas revealed that the crowd attending Final Round in Atlanta on March 14-16 will not only get an Ultra Street Fighter IV location test and party, but there will also be new information revealed about the game.

Rosas would not go into detail, but he claims that Final Round will be where "the greatest mystery in Ultra Street Fighter IV will finally be solved."

While no other information is available at this time, it is speculated that this announcement will uncover the fifth character for USF4. Interested viewers should check out the Capcom Fighters channel on Twitch during Final Round to find out what Capcom has in store for fans.

This is the Evolution 2014 Lineup

Tonight on The Fray!, Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar announced the games that will be part of the upcoming Evolution 2014 tournament.

Continuing last year's tradition, there will again be seven games played at Evo in Las Vegas. The participating games are Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Killer Instinct, BlazBlue Chronophantasma, King of Fighters XIII and Injustice: Gods Among Us. There is also a spot for Super Smash Bros. Melee pending further discussions between Evolution organizers and Nintendo.

In addition to the announced games, Evolution 2014 will host the first X-Mania U.S. event for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

Cuellar also announced changes to the Road to Evo, with no set group of tournaments being granted seeding points. Instead, tournament organizers from across the scene will be asked to submit results from their tournaments, which will then be weighed for possible seeding at Evolution. Cuellar said they are still working out the details to this process.

Evolution 2014 takes place at the LVH Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on July 11-13, 2014.

ShadyK Releases Statement on His Departure From compLexity

Long "ShadyK" Tran has released a statement regarding his departure from compLexity Gaming on Feb. 3. Claiming he saw the move as "a long time coming," Tran said it only made business sense for a company like compLexity to part ways with him, as fighting games are "dying in terms of viewership."

"I do feel bad that I couldn't do more to help," Tran said. "We can all wish for the scene to be growing and drawing in a wider audience, but it's just not."

Tran was a bit more surprised at Ryan "FilipinoChamp" Ramirez's departure, calling him the "hardest working fighting game player" who is a "needed icon" for the community.

Tran made no comment on his immediate plans for the future. Hit the jump for the full text of his statement.

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Ryan "FilipinoChamp" Ramirez and Long "ShadyK" Tran Leave compLexity Gaming

This morning compLexity Gaming announced that Ryan "FilipinoChamp" Ramirez has departed its team. Ramirez has been a part of Complexity since 2011, when he and Peter "ComboFiend" Rosas were added to the roster of compLexity CrossCounter, and was the last active fighting game player on compLexity's roster.

Joining Ramirez is his departure is Long "ShadyK" Tran, who was hired in July 2013 as the media manager for compLexity's fighting games division.

On its website, compLexity said it would like to "thank Ryan and Long extensively for their contributions and wish them the very best in the future." No other details about the move are available at this time.

IPLAYWINNER has reached out to Ramirez and Tran for comment on this developing story.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Arcade Update Coming in March

In addition to the forthcoming release of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma for the PlayStation Vita, Famitsu is reporting that in March the arcade version of the Arc System Works game will be getting an update. This update will include the three console downloadable characters Terumi, Kagura and Kokonoe as well as balance changes to put the game in line with the Vita version.

It is unclear at this time if the balance changes will affect just the previously console-exclusive characters or the entire cast.

Animation on Display Tournament Stream, Saturday, Jan. 25

Northern California's Animation on Display convention happens this weekend, Jan. 24-26. For fighting game players looking for something to watch, there will be a stream on Jan. 25 of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, BlazBlue Chronophantasma and Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition ver. 2012.

The stream will be hosted by Nicholas 'Mizuki' Murphy at his Twitch channel. Anyone wanting more information can message Mizuki on Twitter. Hit the jump for the game schedule.

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