Final Showdown: No to the Dead or Alive Dress Code

There is no doubt that creator Tomonobu Itagaki wanted sex appeal to be a big part of the Dead or Alive series. With every iteration of the game including Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, that trait has been maintained. It's also acknowledgeable that the fighting game aspect has to be recognized and should be the focus. The sexuality, in that case, is more like icing on the cake.

In reality, however, the general gaming community finds the series less a competitive game and more as a vehicle to see bouncing breasts and revealing dresses. The series' stigmatization has thus limited the player base to a relative few.

Regardless, the players want to show the game beyond the visuals. To that extent, it's very admirable to see them, along with help from series developer Team Ninja, work hard toward that competitive end. Unfortunately, a rule is putting the scene in a position that isn't productive.

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Final Showdown: Ultra Street Fighter IV on PlayStation 4 at EVO? What You Can Do!

The announcement of Ultra Street Fighter IV being on PlayStation 4 at this year's EVO was a disappointment for many players. The conversation in various outlets focused on peripheral access, something not all people have. Many were so accustomed to the Xbox 360 version featured in the past two EVO events that the change is alien to them.

In one exchange, a player did mention that he might not go to EVO anymore because of this change. The community shouldn't be apathetic like this. There are a couple of solutions that players can use to get themselves to Las Vegas for the biggest fighting game tournament in the world.

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Final Showdown: Tekken 7 is a Tekken Game (& It's Not a Bad Thing)

Before the early location test, you probably encountered the conversation of "What can Namco do to make Tekken 7 appealing to the overall fighting game community?" This also surfaced on The Fray where Mike Ross was debating with both Aris and Bronson Tran about what Tekken can do to get more players to compete as well as make it viewer friendly.

Now with the test over, it's easy to say on the surface that Tekken 7 looks and plays like a Tekken game. It has new mechanics, a smaller character list and other things that seem to help newer players while maintaining the heart of the series. Yet even with these special aspects, it's still a Tekken game. It might dishearten some but let's break down the traits in the test as well as suggest what can be done to help those who want to finally play Tekken.

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Final Showdown: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 & The King of Fighters XIII Notables For EVO 2014

After strong demand, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 returns for another EVO showing! While South Korea is apparently absent this year, can North America hold their ground from the attending Japanese players?! With the additional pot bonus from Bandai Namco games, the stakes will be high!

The King of Fighters XIII also comes for its third outing! With this year's attending players, KOF will still be unpredictable. What country will win this year?!

Like Sami's notable articles, I have added slashes to indicate what players are in what side of the initial pool placement. For a list of the rest of the players in these pools, check out the brackets here! Otherwise check out the notable players and brief predictions after the jump!

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Final Showdown: New Age of Consoles, Pre-E3 2013 Edition

Another year is another Electronic Entertainment Expo, the North American holy ground for presenting video games of the future. This year also featured Sony and Microsoft's major reveals of next generation hardware, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One respectively. While the early conference reveals gave us gamers alike a peek, E3 will be the first wave of where they will shine light and determine if either of them are worth it.

For fighting games and the communities supporting them, it's going to be a weird road but eventually there will be solidified footing on either the XB1, PS4 or even Nintendo's Wii U. At this point, there is certain vagueness to the situation but lets take a look at some points before the big show.

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Final Showdown: The Shirt Monsters

The EVO brackets are finally up and I looked up me and my friends' placements in the pools. Along with the Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown side tournament, I also will be playing Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver. 2012 and The King of Fighters XIII. The latter game is the one I am most interested in. By surprise, I am confirmed to fight the Korean Machine, Chung gon "Totalheads Poongko" Lee in my first match. The initial feeling was dreadful but gathered myself and thought it over and said to myself I will do my best regardless of winning or losing.

What I also noticed is that KOF's brackets rivals of that of AE2012 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. For a game that's not made by Capcom it seems be great on paper but as the months of registration passed on by and me surfing the internet instead of getting good grades in school, there is this unusual feeling. A conspiracy mindset. An aspect of the registration was that every registered KOF player attending EVO would receive a bonus shirt featuring SNK character Mai Shiranui with her attractive cleavage and minimal clothing. While it's cool and all, is it really the reason why people are registering for the game? Will players actually play KOFXIII at EVO?

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