Tekken 7: Fated Retribution launches July 5 in Japanese arcades

The update to Tekken 7 featuring Street Fighter's Akuma will be released in arcades shortly after the beginning of July.

Fated Retribution's release date was revealed at a press conference where Bandai Namco announced The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016. 

It is not known at this time if the North American finals of The King of Iron Fist will fit into the larger event, or if the two will be completely separate entities.

Furthermore, this release will give international players attending Evolution 2016 more than a week to study up and prepare for the new version being played at the tournament. 

Yomi Gaming opens its doors to the public

Team Yomi has established itself as a force in the fighting game community, and now the team's training grounds has become a public arcade.

Yomi Gaming in Atlanta, Georgia, is now open to the general public so that anyone can come grind the game of their choice. The venue will be offering weekly tournaments, monthly and yearly membership deals, fitness classes and more to potential customers.

For more information on Yomi Gaming, including hours and entrance fees, check out the arcade's website.

More details behind Tekken 7's The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016 North American circuit

While the Tekken 7 tour around North America has been in effect, winners of past events are qualified for a finals event as part the fully announced regional tour of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016.

Major tournaments across North America including CEO 2016, SoCal Regionals and Canada Cup will be handling some of the qualifying spots for this series. The remaining Wizard World conventions that will have T7 will bear spots as well. It all leads up to a finals event, with two last chance qualifying spots, that will be announced at a later time.

For now, the circuit will use Tekken 7 until follow-up expansion Tekken 7: Fated Retribution becomes publicly available in arcades.

Winners of each qualifier will earn $1,000 with second and third place recieving $700 and $400 respectively. The finals event will carry a larger pot with $20,000 for first place followed by $4,000 at second and $3,000 at third.

So far, Geesemaster, Anakin, Brawlpro, Mr. Naps and ZTS have qualified for the finals. While South Korea's Saint won the qualifier at Final Round XIX and that second place finisher Sodam also resides from the country, Circa eSports' Anakin was given entry to the finals as per the rules.

Dates and rules can be found here.

Archive of Samurai Shodown III & Fatal Fury Special from Mikado Odaiba Great Battle

The people behind Takadanobaba Game Center Mikado in Tokyo, Japan, organized a tournament event dedicated for two of SNK's less prominent fighting games.

Mikado Odaiba Great Battle ~Zansamu vs Garosupe~ was held at Tokyo Culture Club in the city's Odaiba island on April 24. Both Zansamu and Garosupe refer to Samurai Shodown III and Fatal Fury Special respectively. Despite not having the bigger playerbase, the event brought 29 FF Special players while SSIII held out at 24.

The full archive of the tournaments can be found after the jump!

Click to read more ...

Hokuto no Ken, Garou & The Last Blade 2 tournaments coming to E-Sports Square in March

Game Newton will host two tournaments at Tokyo, Japan's premiere eSports center this coming March.

At E-Sports Square, both Garou -Mark of the Wolves- and The Last Blade 2 players will converge on March 19 for singles tournament Seika Kyouen. On March 20, the fifth edition of the Seikimatsu Butoukai series will bring many Hokuto no Ken players for a 3v3 team tournament.

Expect Game Newton to stream both events on their Twitch channel. You can check out the trailers, and footage from last year's Seikimatsu Butoukai 4, after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Hades Izanami joins BlazBlue Central Fiction in Act 2

With BBCF's Act 2 trailer release on Jan. 14 there was speculation that the game would be adding another character, and it turns out that suspicion was correct as series antagonist Hades Izanami will become playable on the update's release on Jan. 28.

Famitsu has posted a brief preview of the character, who will be part of a feature in the Jan. 21 issue of the magazine. Given that its release is only days away, players will know more about Hades and her gameplay sooner than later.

Check out the image from Famitsu after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- story character Kum Haehyun added to playable cast

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- will have one unexpected character added to the existing cast.

A manly shell controlled by a woman, Kum Haehyun was previously shown in the arcade story mode of -Revelator- for various characters.

A breakdown of Kum Haehyun will be available in the Jan. 21 issue of Famitsu. While the preview of the character shows both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 listings, it's unknown if Haehyun will premiere in those platforms or on the arcade version first.

She will be joining Johnny, Jam and the anticipated Dizzy in the console builds of -Revelator- set for May 26 in Japan with a tentative spring release in North America.

Tekken 7: Fated Retribution set for February location test in Japan

The next chapter in the Tekken series begins in February, as Tekken 7: Fated Retribution will receive its first location test from Feb. 12-14, 2016, in Japan.

The test will run at three places in the country—Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka—and, according to the official Tekken site, a page dedicated to the location test will soon be made public with more details.

Tekken 7: FR was first announced in early December 2015. No final release date has been announced for the title.

Chandelure joins Pokkén Tournament

On Jan. 7, the official Pokkén Tournament Twitter account announced another forthcoming mystery Pokémon to join the game, and that fighter is Chandelure.

Not much is yet know about Chandelure or how the ghost type Pokémon will fight, but a video showing the character in action will be released at Game Party Japan on Jan. 31, 2016.

BlazBlue Central Fiction Act 2 coming Jan. 28, intro released

The second of three acts in Arc System Works' BlazBlue Central Fiction will launch at the end of January, and ASW has released the new introductory trailer for expansion.

In addition to the added story elements that will continue the BBCF narrative, ASW will be adding a new Speed Star Mode that will test players to defeat random opponents before the timer runs out. There will also be new changes to sparring mode to make it feel more like playing training mode at home.

Lastly, there is already plenty of speculation as to whether Act 2 will add another playable character to BlazBlue. Shoryuken has made note that Trinity Glassfille is showing up again in BBCF2, and series antagonist Hades Izanami appears in the Act 2 introduction. Players, however, will likely not know for sure until after Act 2 is released in arcades.

Hit the jump for the game's new opening.

Click to read more ...

Cognitive Dissonance: Wants and Needs

This head-to-head setup at Northeast Championships 16 was used for 3rd Strike and Super Turbo tournaments. The new year is always a time of false bravado and resolve: people make promises they won't keep, whether to themselves or others. It's hardly just a question of will or intent, because as the old adage goes “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” People are too easily sidetracked by that thing called life, which is quick to pull them out of their dreams and aspirations and send them back to mediocrity and drudgery in the workaday world. Many times what people want just doesn't mesh with the things they need.

Comprised of those very people, the fighting game community often finds itself in the same predicament. People have ideas or complaints they think will boost the popularity of a game or help the scene, but what players want to happen is not always grounded in the reality of what the FGC needs in order to function on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The argument of head-to-head play versus side-by-side play is one such debate, but while h2h may make some players happy it's not so easy to say there's a need for its adoption.

Click to read more ...

KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation A Session Organized by Former SNK Playmore Artist Falcoon

Osaka game center Kouhatsu hosted a session for one of the 3-D entries in The King of Fighters series featuring a well-known artist formerly involved in it.

Tatsuhiko "Falcoon" Kanaoka, character designer in The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact games, organized a Maximum Impact Regulation A session. Being a free play event, 18 players participated and was streamed on one of Kouhatsu's Twitch channels on Dec. 19, 2015.

Along with the session, Falcoon gave away a custom booklet with new character art along with a move list and beginner combos.

You can find the four hour archive after the jump! Also check out Falcoon on Twitter for some of his newer illustrations!

Click to read more ...

Team List for Cooperation Cup 14 Revealed, Biggest 3rd Strike Tournament on Jan. 10, 2016

The annual Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike 5v5 team tournament series in Japan returns in January 2016 with 89 teams!

Over 400 players will be playing in Cooperation Cup 14 to see if any of their teams can dominate the field. Many old and new school players such as Raoh, Spellmaster-J, Kokujin, Nuki, Matsuken and more will be there. The 89th team spot will be given to the team that wins a last chance qualifier.

In addition to the main tournament, Cooperation Cup will have its special character-specific tournament the day before. Both tournaments will be at Tokyo Leisure Land Palette Town.

You can find the full list for both tournaments here! Coopeartion Cup 14 will be streamed on Game Newton's Twitch channel!

Tekken 7: Fated Retribution Announced, Akuma Revealed

The next chapter in Tekken will have an expansion featuring Akuma from Street Fighter.

TEKKEN 7: FATED RETRIBUTION SCREENSHOTS

Following The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015 Grand Finals, Bandai Namco Games announced that the Tekken 7 follow-up is subtitled Fated Retribution. FR will be the basis of the console version coming in the future.

The trailer after the jump depicts more story details behind Heihachi Mishima and his wife Kazumi while showing destruction of major cities in the world. It is revealed that the person Kazumi was talking to in the flashback from previous trailers was Akuma from Street Fighter. The iconic character will feature many of his abilities from SF including the Shun Goku Satsu. The game also contains new outfits for characters and a graphics upgrade.

Make sure to check Tekken 7: Fated Retribution's gallery above and the trailer in full 1080p and in 60 frames per second after the jump!

Click to read more ...

100-Man Kumite in Virtua Fighter Feat. Old School Player Ikebukuro Sarah

A legendary player in the Virtua Fighter scene celebrated his 50th birthday on Nov. 5, 2015, by playing what he is well known for.

Player Ikebukuro Sarah fought 100 others in the original Virtua Fighter as part of a kumite event in Takadanobaba Mikado game center. Ikebukuro Sarah is one of the major players of the early Virtua Fighter scene who was able to beat almost 100 players in a kumite years back. Many young and old players of the scene came to participate in this event.

If you want to see competitive old school VF, you can find both videos after the jump!

Click to read more ...

"Who's That Pokémon?" Sceptile Joins Pokkén Tournament

The rumors about Pokkén Tournament's next fighter were true, as Sceptile is joining the playable cast in the Pokémon arena fighting game.

The grass type Pokémon fights with a flashy assortment of moves including an izuna drop and a super that entangles the opponent in a mass of vines.

Sceptile will be joined in the update by support characters Farfetch'd and Electrode. For a look at Sceptile in action, hit the jump for the trailer.

Click to read more ...

Sceptile Rumored to be Pokkén Tournament's New Fighter

One week ago, the official Pokkén Tournmanet Twitter account announced that the game will be receiving a new playable character as well as a new support Pokémon on Dec. 10 and it appears that character may be Sceptile.

A new image has surfaced showing the presenter of a Japanese Pokémon show playing the arcade game, and below the game's marquee there is an introductory move list for Sceptile that also names Electrode and Farfetch'd as supports in the game.

The original Pokkén Tournament tweet suggested the new addition to the game "contains the “ン” character (an “n” by itself, without a vowel)" in Japanese, and Sceptile's name in that language is "ジュカイン," or Jukain.

While this is certainly not a confirmation of the upcoming announcement, it seems like a pretty good guess before the official reveal on Dec. 10.

Nine The Phantom Released in BlazBlue Central Fiction

Two weeks after Central Fiction released in arcades, Nine The Phantom is now a playable character.

A user of magic in the game's storyline, Nine's normal attacks all have elemental properties with the A, B and C buttons each tied to a different element. Her drive allows her to combine up to three elements to create spells, similar to how Dormammu powers his abilities in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The similarities end there, however, as Nine apparently has 20 possible spells and can even stock a spell for later use.

Famitsu has provided a guide to Nine's moves, specials and spells, which has been translated by Greatfernman in two parts.

Players in Southern California can check out Nine at the Round 1 in Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California.

Dueling the KOF 14th Season on Nov. 21-23 at Neo Amusement Space A-Cho

The annual Japanese team tournament series for The King of Fighters will be returning this weekend.

 The 14th iteration of Dueling the KOF will be returning to Kyoto's popular Neo Amusement Space A-Cho gaming center. The King of Fighters '98 (3v3), The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match (2v2) and The King of Fighters XIII Climax (3v3) are the featured games.

The weekend event will be streamed on Dueling the KOF's Twitch channel. From Nov. 21-23, make sure to tune in at around 5:00 p.m. PST for the stream.

BlazBlue Central Fiction Released at Southern California Round 1

BlazBlue Central Fiction is now available to play at Round 1's anchor store inside the Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California.

The game is currently only on one set of the arcade's head-to-head NESiCA setups, but hopefully the title will be fully downloaded on the other soon.

There is no word on when other Round 1 locations will be able to utilize the NESiCA system.