NESiCAxLive2 location test coming to U.S. Round 1 stores

Taito's updated content delivery system for arcades will soon be coming to the U.S. via Round 1.

The official Round 1 Twitter account has announced that NESiCAxLive2 will be location testing at 10 stores around the country, and that the service will feature Fighting EX Layer, King of Fighters XIV and SNK Heroines.

The stores getting the NESiCAxLive2 test are: Puente Hills Mall (SoCal), South Center Mall (Washington), Shops at South Town (Utah), Southwest Plaza (Colorado), Grapevine Mills (Texas), Fox Valley Mall (Illinois), Great Lakes Crossing (Michigan), Stonecrest Mall (Georgia), Broadway Mall (New York) and Maine Mall (Maine).

There is no information at this time as to how long the test will last or a time frame for a nationwide rollout of NESiCAxLive2 if it is successful.

Tekken 7 coming to US Round 1 locations in December 2016

Tekken 7 is coming home to consoles and PC in early 2017, but those players who have a Round 1 near them will get a chance to grind the game a bit earlier.

The bowling and amusement chain has listed T7 as "Coming Soon!" to its host of U.S. stores, with an approximate date of December. The site does not say what version of the game players should expect, but as Bandai Namco has not announced a North American version of Tekken 7 for arcades it seems likely that the release will be the most recent Japanese update of Fated Retribution. 

U.S. Round 1 locations are familiar with the Tekken brand, having used the BanaPassport system for the always-online Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited and hosting a location test for Tekken 7 during the summer of 2015.

Persona fighters, Nitroplus Blasterz join US Round 1 NESiCA library

Round 1 locations in the United States are adding three games to their NESiCAxLive game selection on July 1: Nitroplus Blasterz, Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena and Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold.

While the first two titles are already available on consoles in North America, P4U2 was updated in Japan in January 2015 to version 2.0 on the NESiCA system but that update never reached home systems.

The P4U2 update contains many changes to both the system and individual characters, which left players in the U.S. disappointed by the seeming abandonment of support for the title.

King of Fighters titles added to US Round 1 NESiCAxLive library

Round 1 has announced that three more games are now available to play on their NESiCAxLive system all throughout the United States.

The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition and King of Fighters XIII Climax are now playable. All three titles have all been previously released on Steam, but before that had received no release outside of Japanese arcades.

The addition of these three games is another step forward in Round 1's U.S. expansion of the NESiCA system, and brings hope to people who would like to see some of the service's more niche titles at U.S. Round 1 locations.

NESiCAxLive Comes to the United States

Update: Due to licensing issues with much of the NESiCA catalog, only BlazBlue Chronophantasma Extend and Ultra Street Fighter IV will be playable on the cabinets for the time being.

Original Story: The popular online-only service NESiCAxLive, which allows arcade cabinets to download the newest games, is coming to the United States at Round 1. The R1 location at Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry, California, currently has the machines up and running and invited locals to come check the machines out.

According to Jyosua, the machines at Round 1 still have to download all the data from the service but once complete every NESiCA game will be available. This includes the update to Persona 4 Arena Ultimax that has not been available to console gamers.

The City of Industry location was the first Round 1 in the United States and has often been used to test systems that could be put in place at locations around the country. While there is currently no information about NESiCA spreading to the rest of the R1 locations around the U.S., this could be the first step in a countrywide expansion.

Tekken 7 Coming to U.S. Round 1 Locations

After months of speculation on if and when Tekken 7 will be coming to the U.S. shores in its arcade iteration, there is finally some good news. Sources inside Round 1, the Japanese amusement center that has opened U.S. locations in the last several years, say that three of the company's stores will be getting Tekken 7 in early July.

There is currently no firm date for the U.S. roll-out, but the stores in Seattle, Chicago and the Puente Hills Mall location in Southern California will be the first three locations to have the new Namco fighter.

This is great news for the U.S. arcade scene, but it remains to be seen whether this will have any visible effect on the players travelling to Las Vegas for Evolution 2015. It is also not clear if the other Round 1 locations in the U.S. will be getting the game at a later time.