Summer Steam sale brings discounts to many fighters until July 5

A new sale running through the beginning of July 2018 is bringing sizable price cuts to many popular FGC titles across publishers.

Games with dedicated pro tours such as Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, Injustice 2 and Dragon Ball FighterZ are included as well as BlazBlue Central Fiction, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, Killer Instinct, Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, King of Fighters XIV, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and more. The DLC for most of these fighters is also on sale under the current offer.

The Steam summer sale runs from June 21 to July 5, 2018, and includes plenty of titles across all genres. Readers can check out the full list of discounted games at Steam.

French Bread-focused Climax of Night event coming in November 2018

During Combo Breaker 2018, Ben "Shinobi!" Robinson announced a new event designed for fans of the fighting game developer named after baked goods.

Climax of Night: many breathe forfeit to champion's birth will be a two-day tournament taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, sometime in November 2018. The event will see French Bread games as the featured titles, with Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition in the spotlight. They will be joined by the new BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle to make up the main roster.

No other details about the event have been revealed at this time, but Robinson said on Twitter he hopes to have preregistration open in June before CEO. For more information on Climax of Night, readers can follow the event's official account and Robinson on Twitter.

Lineup announced for AnimEvo 2017

Daryl "DJCream" Bunao joined Super Desperation Radio to announce the games that will be part of AnimEvo at Evolution 2017 on July 14-16, 2017. 

The list contains 11 games at this point, but can be expanded if players step up to run other games. The AnimEvo games are: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax Ignition, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late, Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost, Vampire Savior, Nitroplus Blasterz, Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe, Aquapazza, Puyo Puyo Tetris and Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!!!!!

Players with questions about the AnimEvo lineup can contact the tournament series or DJCream on Twitter.

Winter Steam Sale brings discounts to many fighters

The annual Winter Steam Sale has arrived, bringing big discounts to many fighting games offered through the platform.

Arc System Works has cut prices on many titles including Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX!!!!!, Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, Battle Fantasia and older versions of the Under Night, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series.

SNK is once again offering low prices for King of Fighters XIII, 2002 Unlimited Match and '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition, as well as The Last Blade 2.

Lastly, there are also sizable discounts for Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat XL, Skullgirls, Blade Arcus, Koihime Enbu and many other titles. Sadly, it seems recently released titles such as Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- and Garou: Mark of the Wolves are not included in this year's sale. For a list containing most of the titles, head over to Steam.

Steam version of Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code coming April 19

The Type-Moon and French Bread collaborative fighting game will be on Valve's popular PC gaming delivery service next month.

Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code is coming to Steam on April 19 handled by Arc System Works. This wide release version will feature English localization, unlike the original limited Japanese release back in 2011.

Based on the screenshots featured on the game's Steam page, its widescreen mode will have the game maintaining the 4:3 aspect ratio while the rest of the screen will be filled by character art. The Steam version will also include a proper online mode with both ranked and casual matching.

The trailer can be found after the jump!

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Arc System Works to Release Four Fighters on Steam by Summer 2016

While the release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- on Dec. 9 may have come as a nice surprise to fighting game fans, ASW has announced that Xrd will not be the only new fighting game players can add to their Steam library in the coming months.

In a press release on the Arc System Works Universe website, the company has also announced Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, BlazBlue Chronophantasma Extend and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late will also be coming to the Steam platform. BlazBlue will be released in February 2016, followed by Melty Blood in spring and UNIEL during the summer. 

The games will be joined by a singular non-fighting title, River City Super Sports Challenge. That game will release sometime in December 2015.

AnimEvo Lineup, ASW-Sanctioned Team Events Announced for Evo 2015

During the May 18 episode of Super Desperation Radio, Daryl "DJ Cream" Bunao and Alan "St1ckbug" Bakes joined the cast to announce the side airdasher tournaments that will be taking place at Evolution 2015. The two announced eight titles that will be part of AnimEvo, which be handled by a collaboration of East and West Coast organizers.

In addition, Bakes also announced that Arc System Works and Aksys Games will be sanctioning two 3-on-3, single-elimination tournaments for BBCPEX and Xrd aside from the main tournaments at Evolution. The entry fee, prizes and rules for the tournament, however, are still to be announced in the future.

Check out the full list of games below.

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CEO to Present "All Anime" Tournament in October 2015

Alex Jebailey is looking to make the dreams of AnimEVO a reality in October as he throws a tournament dedicated to all games that fall under the umbrella of "anime." Taking place in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 17-18, the event will offer nine titles:

• Guilty Gear Xrd
• Blazblue Chronophantasma 2.0
• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax 2.0
• Under Night In-Birth 
• Dengeki Bunko FIGHTING CLIMAX
• Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX
• Skullgirls
• Melty Blood
• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R
  

Jebailey also said that more titles may be added in the future, and that the six games with the most entrants will have finals on Sunday with the remaining titles finishing on Saturday evening. For more information on the event, head over to the CEO website or directly message Jebailey on Twitter.

Cognitive Dissonance: Reports of my Death...

On Dec. 16, 2014, the U.S. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax scene will die. It will join the likes of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late and BlazBlue Chronophantasma as another game tossed aside to make room for the new game of the moment, Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign-. Or at least that is what a lot of people would have readers believe.

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Airdash Academy Episode Six Breaks Down Offensive & Defensive Jumps

Here is another episode of Airdash Academy!

Airdash Academy introduces movement by first explaining various jumps you can implement in a match. Each jump including crossups has its own offensive and/or defensive advantages, which work best in specific situations. Players need to understand the position as well as understand the risks and rewards when implemented.

While it shows footage of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, these concepts can carry over to other fighting games including Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.

You can find the episode after the jump! Subscribe to Novriltataki's YouTube channel for future episodes!

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Fifth Episode Of Airdash Academy Expands On Chain Attacks

Understanding the nuances when doing chain attacks is important when opposing your offense. Airdash Academy breaks down the necessary aspects when pressuring your opponent.

The fifth episode of Airdash Academy expands on the previous episode's introduction of how chain routes work. While episode four explained both the positioning and commitment aspects of performing chains, this episode delves deeper to what you can do when pressuring your opponent. Topics include using moves that have frame advantage/disadvantage, the gaps in between chains and jump cancelling to help expand your offense.

You can find both episodes four and five of Airdash Academy after the jump!

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Airdash Academy Episode Four Introduces Chaining Moves In Guilty Gear XX

This new episode of Airdash Academy gets into one of the aspects found in this genre of fighting games, moves that chain to each other.

Using Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R for reference, Airdash Academy episode four introduces traits found in using normals chained to follow up attacks. Chaining attacks is broken down to two sections, positioning and commitment. The former mentions that while bigger ranged normals can be used as poking tools, shorter attacks will yield advantages such as chaining follow up moves. The latter explains particular chain moves that can be best used based your own confidence on to deal with a situation.

You can find the episode after the jump! Stay tuned for a future episode expanding more on chains.

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Third Episode Of Airdash Academy Provides Advice In Digesting Information From Match Videos

Outside of actively playing fighting games, we spectate matches to learn and Airdash Academy has you covered in how to maximize the process.

Watching matches is the central topic in the third episode of Airdash Academy. The video provides advice on what you can do while watching in order to improve your game. Repetition is a major theme as you might have to watch the same matches over and over again until you can fully understand what is happening on screen.

You can watch the video, along with past episodes, after the jump!

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Episode Two Of Airdash Academy Helps Out With Understanding Notation & How To Fully Utilize It

The next episode of Airdash Academy helps players discover how to fully comprehend combos in airdash fighting games.

Episode two of Airdash Academy is all about how to properly communicate and digest move notations and combo structure for games like BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and more. Directional notations shown in the video are based on the keyboard numpad with five representing a neutral with the surrounding rest being specific directions; You can find a detailed breakdown of the notations here!

You can check the latest episode, and the premiere, in the playlist after the jump!

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Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign For BlazBits Series Initiated, Airdash Academy Premiering On Mar. 20

The followup to the Guilty Bits video series needs your help in making the successor the best as it can!

The team of Chemical Lovers, featuring members such as Novriltataki and Specs, wants people to directly help out in the BlazBlue edition of their video tutorial overview series, known as BlazBits, through crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Being a fixed campaign, Chemical Lovers need the minimal $9,500 goal to proceed in making BlazBits as best as it can be or none of the contributions will be used.

Stretch goals include an extra episode dedicated to the game system and the ability to make a Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- version of Guilty Bits. People can contribute to one of the many perks featuring their own benefits! The crowdfunding drive will end on Apr. 14, 2014 so check it out here!

Along with the campaign, Chemical Lovers are currently working on Airdash Academy, another tutorial series focusing more on the ins and outs on how an airdash fighter generally works. It will feature content from Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Arcana Heart, Melty Blood and more! Bookmark the YouTube playlist as the premiere episode will be on Mar. 20, 2014!

Melty Blood Actress Again : Current Code Ver 1.07 PC Release, New Combo Video

Bear with me as I know pretty much nothing about this game but received a few tips via Facebook and saw a few stories on Siliconera that the latest revision of Melty Blood Actress Again: Current Code is set to release on PC come December, 31st. A demo was released over the past few weeks as well for netcode testing purposes. To my understanding, online multiplayer will be patched in with the full game sometime after its release. 

The full version of the game adds two new characters, Powerd Ciel and Archetype Earth. Check out a 10 minute combo video after the jump. In the future, be sure to check out Melty Bread for all your Melty Blood news.

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New Podcast for Melty Blood: The Melty Breadcast

Our friends over at Melty Bread have started a new weekly podcast for Melty Blood.  It is called the Melty Breadcast.  Hosted by Master Chibi, Mizuki, and MakotoFox, the show will apparently be available on Tuesday evening/Wednesdays.

The first show features an hour long chat with Arlieth, the owner of Melty Bread. Go here to visit the site and download!

Melty Blood: Actress Again Tutorial Videos

Melty Blood: Actress Again hit the big time when it was featured in this year's EVO. 

If you would like to learn more about the game's mechanics, Honyakusya has put together two excellent tutorial videos to get you started. Check them both out , along with the notes associated with each video, after the jump!

Thanks to Keits from Shoryuken.com for the tip on the vids!

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Norcal's Finest Melty Blood Player

With the introduction of Melty Blood into the Evo roster, communities all around America have a chance to step into the light of mainstream fighting games. Often considered a niche game with Western audiences, Melty Blood now stands at a crossroad: will it finally gain its recognition after Evolution 2010 or will it fall into obscurity beneath the shadows of other popular games?

To answer this question and give some insight into the community, I was invited to a Melty Blood session by Norcal’s best player, Yat. Considered the “Robot” by his colleagues, Yat is Norcal’s strongest representative for Evolution 2010. Below are some question asked during the interview:

Try to ignore the EngrishQuestion 1: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the Melty Blood community?

Yat: I first started playing Melty blood three years ago at the advent of the PC release, Melty Blood Act Cadenza. I randomly showed up to SJSU and met a lot of the people in the Melty scene. I’m actually not that active on Meltybread (an online community of Melty Blood players).

Question 2: Can you tell us which character(s) you use and why?

Yat: I use everyone because… I get bored too easily with characters. That’s literally the reason.

*However, Yat admits that Tohno Shiki is probably his strongest character.

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A Closer Look at Melty Blood: Actress Again Written by its Players

You can be forgiven if you've never heard of Melty Blood: Actress Again. It isn't a household name outside of Japan. However, it does have a very dedicated fanbase and its players are passionate about the game. Melty Blood is also one of the games being played at Evo 2010, the largest and most important fighting game tournament in North America, so it will undoubtedly become more popular after being in that massive spotlight.  So, what is Melty Blood? Are you curious?

This article was put together by Melty Blood players to give you an overview of the game. It gives a brief history so you can get some reference, goes into what makes Melty Blood unique as a game, some info about the community, and why they love the game. Don't be afraid to read on.

You can probably figure from the game title and screenshot that this is a Japanese fighting game.  Until recently, the Melty Blood series of fighters was almost exclusively that; Japanese.  But now, the vastly improved sequel has, by the merit of its mechanics and the enthusiasm of its originally small American following, turned the heads of enough gamers to find itself a featured game in Evolution 2010.  As the game's American community grows rapidly to rival regional tournament scenes of Blazblue and Tekken, there is no better time to learn more about the game and what it can offer you.  This article will tell you the basics and give you resources to learn more, with everything split into manageable sections.

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