RedRapper EVO Game Intros Now Live

RedRapper uploaded all the intros for EVO2K10. Above is the Super Street Fighter 4 intro and you can view the rest on RedRapper's YouTube Channel.

King of Fighters XIII: Alternate Sprite Variants and Animated Cutscenes

It's looking obvious that a lot of passion is going into King of Fighters XIII. After XII, it was sorely needed.I was one of the many who was completely let down by King of Fighters XII, but King of Fighters XIII looks like it could totally redeem itself.  It seems to have improved in every conceivable way. Today we have some videos of the game's cutscenes from both before the match and after the match.  They do look very nice, with a good art style and just enough animated elements.

Just like the first game, some characters have slightly different artwork on their sprites depending on the color you select, which is similar to an alternate costume. Sure it isn't as drastic as Super Street Fighter 4's alternates, but for a sprite-based game even small changes take a lot of work and fans of the series appreciate the effort I'm sure.

Thanks to MMCafe and NeoGAF for pointing some of this out.

   

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BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Unlimited Characters Demonstration and Challenge Mode Videos

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift is out in Japan and videos are showing up online now showcasing some of the game's features. 

One of the bigger features in this sequel is the addition of the Challenge Mode.  This is similar to the Combo Trials in Super Street Fighter 4.  They do appear to be challenging just by watching the videos, but for those who like the challenge or for those who want to get combo ideas, the addition of this mode can be quite useful.

The second round of videos below demonstrate some of the Unlimited versions of the characters.  These characters have extra moves and changed/enhanced move properties.  They are generally considered to be overpowered and are thus banned from any tournament play but they can be fun to mess around with. They can be unlocked in-game by beating the character's Score Attack or they can be unlocked by purchasing an unlock key on Xbox Live Marketplace or Playstation Network.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift hits North America on July 27th and Europe in October! Pricing on Amazon is $39.99. Here are the vids:

This one shows the Challenge Mode in English

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EVO 2010: Taiwanese Players Gamerbee and RB Return to Taiwan to Hero's Welcome from Local Scene (UPDATE: It made National Taiwanese News!)

 

 

This was originally posted on NeoGAF by SnowWolf, but it's just too cool not to share it (I'm a sucker for feel-good stories).  Taiwanese players Gamerbee and RB returned to Taiwan to a hero's welcome.  A group from their scene drove to the airport to welcome them home. It is well deserved.

Bruce "GamerBee" Hsiang placed 5th in Super Street Fighter 4 using Adon. Arubi "RB" Kao placed 13th in Super Street Fighter 4 using Guy and Rufus.

I seem like I'm just cutting and pasting SnowWolf's post, but this seems like an awesome community. 

Thanks to SnowWolf from NeoGAF for bringing this to light and to TwFighter (Taiwanese fighting game community website) for the pics.

UPDATE! This made the National TV news in Taiwan!

Also check out "Taiwan Shocks the World", an article about the experience of these two players, at Protocol Snow's blog here.

EVO2K10 by 1UPs RICHARD LI

EVO 2010 from richhhard on Vimeo.

 

1UP.com's Richard Li just sent me this great video showcasing the ballroom of Caesars Palace and many of the people involved with EVO. If you didn't make it out to Vegas this year, watching this will ensure you don't miss next years EVO.

Notable Highlights:

• Ya boy Haunts, of course!
• Daigo signing a boob. What a pimp! When in doubt, pinky out, btw.
• Skisonic "in Wilson out" at the end!

 Here's Richards notes:

Las Vegas, Nevada 2010 -- EVO 2010 took place at Cesar's Palace, a fancy pants casino and hotel in Las Nevada, where thousands of fighting game fans attended the annual tournament hosted byShoryuken.com. For three days, players competed across several games including Super Street Fighter 4, all trying to get out of their pools. I, while waiting for my turn, shot some b-roll around the ballroom, aided by friend Ray, who also filmed with my other camera.

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EVO 2010: The EVO Experience in Photos by Slash5150

Evil Geniuses' Ricky Ortiz stylin' as usual. NorCal had a strong showing in EVO 2010.Slash5150 posted an amazing gallery of photos taken from EVO 2010 in Las Vegas over this past weekend. Most of the top players are shown as well as different locations at Caesar's Palace and pics of custom joystick artwork. Some of them capture the emotions of the players as well.

The photos are broken down by day, so if you'd like to get more of a sense of what the event was like beyond the videos and the streams, take a look!

Go here to view the gallery!!

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Iron Man's Level 3 HYPER COMBO

The title says it all. Enjoy the show.

King of Fighters XIII Opening Movie and New Screenshots (UPDATE: Boss Fight Movie as well)

The opening movie for the King of Fighters XIII is here as well as a handful of new screenshots to celebrate the game's arcade release. Enjoy.

     

View the rest of the screenshots in the image gallery here.

UPDATE: Thanks to Akhan for pointing out this boss fight vid!

KOFXIII now in arcades. Player impressions and Game Info

The King of Fighters XIII has officially hit the arcades.  The Professor from MMCafe has played the game and has posted a detailed account of what he has found in the game and his impressions.

If you want to know a bit more about the game's storyline, visit the MMCafe thread here and highlight the spoiler text in the opening post.

Here are the impressions:

1.Story Mode-

The first two stages are dirt easy, then things get harder. But the game is overall easy to beat since the CPU isn't that strong at least by default, and you can always get mission bonuses by rolling around a few times or whatnot. The missions seem to be the same for every round.. or fighter, not sure. You keep getting the same easy quests over and over throughout the game, and you eventually start to ignore the missions until you find yourself in a tight spot.

I didn't meet a mid-boss, probably because I was trying out too many things and not aiming for a good score. There's an intermission after the 3rd or 4th stage-- it's the same thing we've seen in previous videos.
There's split paths at the end of the game. After the last match at Rose Stadium, you either get a bad ending, or advance to the boss. There might be other paths, but those were the two that I've saw during my limited time on the game.,

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BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Makoto Video

Another BlazBlue: Continuum Shift video has surfaced featuring new character Makoto.  This character will be released as downloadable content soon after the game hits shelves.  Details on the game's DLC plans can be found here but nothing concrete for releases outside of Japan are known at present. 

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift hits the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on July 27th for 39.99. It hits Europe in October.

EVO 2010: Justin Wong vs Gamerbee

If you haven't been keeping up with EVO 2010 over the weekend and took a look at the Top 8 finishers in Super Street Fighter 4 you may have noticed something missing. Justin Wong.  I was in this position myself, having missed most of the EVO stream due to work, and was absolutely shocked.

If you missed it, Justin was sent to the loser's bracket by Vangief (Zangief). You can see that video here. He was finally eliminated from EVO by Gamerbee (Adon).  Even watching it after the fact, it is a thrilling match to watch and the excitement of the event shows through.  It is certainly one of EVO's big moments.

We're not taking a jab at Justin Wong here with this article. It may be popular to root against number one for many, but I feel Justin Wong is still considered to be North America's overall top player with an incredible legacy already under his belt, and he will be back. 

If you haven't watched this match yet, sit back and enjoy some EVO 2010 hype.

The Salty Runback : Post-Evo M.O. Edition

Welcome to first official volume of "The Salty Runback". I apologize for the brief absence of my articles in the weeks leading up to Evolution 2010, but contrary to popular belief, I do actually play this game, and I've been in hard training. Now that we've put another one in the books, I'm revitalized and ready to get back to work. 

Spending five days of indulgence neck deep in the scene from a nation-wide lens, I've returned to NorCal with a lot to get off my chest, a honed sense of purpose, and a heap of creative ideas. The thing I'm most excited about is taking the sort of opinion-based commentary I provide on the iplaywinner.com streams and using it as a launching pad for a regular column, i.e. the Runback. Trust me; the salt will flow.

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Capcom's Yoshinori Ono Expected to Unveal New Game in 2 Weeks: Leaves Clue

Clue as to new game!

Capcom's Yoshinori Ono, the producer behind the Street Fighter 4 series of games, has been leaving clues about his next project over the last several weeks.  Until recently many suspected that his next game would be a new entry in the Darkstalkers series, but that does not appear to be the case. 

At EVO, Ono said that "I strongly believe in two weeks, you guys are gonna be like, 'I'm gonna buy that game next year." So, that would mean he is expected to reveal the new game at Comic-Con.

Yoshinori Ono will be speaking on the Street Fighter panel at Comic-Con along with Seth Killian, so perhaps we'll see more then.

The pic on the left was posted on his Twitter account.  It has several clues. It has an Xbox 360 controller and a Playstation3 controller, which probably indicates it will be on those consoles. It looks like Street Fighter's Ryu is on the left panel but it is unlear what is on the right. New Street Fighter game or perhaps another cross-over in the "vs" series? What do you all think?

Marvel vs Capcom 3 Footage from EVO Build: Level 3 Supers

Capcom chose EVO to unveil Level 3 Supers. Below is some video of the "EVO build" of the game, which features some new moves as well. Capcom's Seth Killian stated on the stream during the Marvel vs Capcom 3 Exhibition that the game is about 50% complete.

This is the one many have been waiting for. Deadpool's Level 3 actually has him pull the opponent's lifebar down from the top of the screen and beat his opponent with it!

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Might Not Be News Blurb: Arc System Works Expected to Reveal New Game on July 23

Arc System Works, the publisher behind the Guilty Gear and the BlazBlue series of games, has put up a new countdown as you enter their website.  It apparently teases the reveal date of a new game. The counter will hit zero on July 23.

Keep in mind that Arc System Works publishes a lot more than fighting games, but we thought we'd bring it to your attention in a quick blurb so that you're aware of it just in case it is.  If it is indeed another fighter, we'll of course keep you posted.

First-ever EVO Japan Announced for September 11 and 12th

Thousands entered but Daigo "The Beast" Umehara took home the win for Super Street Fighter 4. Photo courtesy of Kineda.com.This year's EVO had the biggest turnout in the tournament's history with "over 3,000 player signups".  Now the tournament will be expanding to Japan. 

At EVO 2010 it was announced that the first-ever EVO Japan would take place on September 11 and 12th.  This puts it just before the Tokyo Game Show, Japan's biggest videogame expo, as well as Super Battle Opera (SBO).

Versus City states that the event will take place "somewhere in the Tokyo/Kawasaki area".  It will be put together by EVO staff as well as by staff from Godsgarden.

IPW is a huge supporter of Godsgarden (and EVO of course) so we are very excited about this event.  With more high profile events such as these, the competitive fighting game e-sport gets closer to the mainstream.

Super Street Fighter 4 Xbox Live Avatar Items Coming July 15th

Finally we can show our Street Fighter love on our Xbox Live Avatars!As a huge Street Fighter fan myself, I've been wondering for many months now why we haven't gotten any Street Fighter 4-themed items to put on our Xbox Live Avatars.

Now they are almost here! On July 15th you'll be able to get the Avatar costumes and items pictured on the left.  Each of the costumes will cost 320 MS Points ($4). Hopefully the Super SF4 t-shirts on the bottom row will be cheaper and be in line with other single garment prices.

EVO2k10 RESULTS & VIDEOS

Yo! We took a little time off here at iPlayWinner for EVO but I'm back in NorCal now -- though I might still need another day or two to recover from the madness! Overall I'm extremely proud of how well NorCal repped with Ricky Ortiz placing second, Vangief sending Justin Wong to losers and many of our other players doing serious damage in the pools on Friday. 

If you're interested in checking out some photos of the event, check out Slash5150's SmugMug account, Terry's photos at Kineda.com and keep an eye on Kara's SmugMug account considering she was taking many pictures at EVO as well. 

Here are a couple of my favorite videos from EVO courtesy of the EVO2K YouTube Channel although there are many more matches I'd love to see be uploaded such as Lamerboi vs Daigo. You can find the results for all the games below thanks to EVO2K.com.

Super Street Fighter IV — Top 8
1. Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
2. EG.Ricky Ortiz (Rufus, Chun-Li)
3. Infiltration (Akuma)
4. Mike Ross (E. Honda)
5. Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang (Adon)
5. Vance “Vangief” Wu (Zangief)
7. Henry Cen (E. Honda, Dhalsim)
7. Shizza (Chun-Li)

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sh/f Super Fireball Battle

New tool-assisted video comes from SonicHurricane.com! If you enjoyed Maj's previous work you should definitely check this video.

...and not too long from his first upload, here comes another one!

EVO2010: EVO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 2010 BEGINS TODAY

            

Evo 2010 kicks off today at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas! Go HERE (http://www.g4tv.com/evo)to watch the live stream, which will begin at 9:00AM Pacific (12:00PM Eastern)! The stream is being brought to you by a collaboration between G4, Level|Up, and Stickam. Be sure to return to check back with us as well for any news that comes out of the event. 

TODAY'S SCHEDULE:

The schedules are as follows (all times are Pacific Time, so plan accordingly if you live in a different time zone):

Saturday July 10th

9:00AM - 1:00PM: Tekken 6 Pool Play

1:00PM - 3:00PM: Tekken 6 Semi-Final Bracket (Highlighted matches between the top 64 players)

3:00PM - 9:00PM: Super Street Fighter 4 Semi-Final Bracket (Highlighted matches between top 64 players)

RESULTS SO FAR:

Tatsunoko vs Capcom Top 8 (Finals played on Sunday)

• Winner's Bracket: Marn vs. Psychochronic and KBeast vs. Kurasa
• Loser's Bracket: Royal Flush vs. SkiSonic and Keits vs. Justin Wong

Results for semi-finalists. Semi-Finals will be played on Saturday.

Winner's Bracket:

• Daigo Umehara (Ryu) vs. Lamerboi (Guile)
• Allex Valle (Ryu) vs. Shizza (Chun-Li)
• Dr. Chaos (Ken) vs. Soon Young Yim
• J.R. Rodriguez (Akuma) vs. Mike Ross (Honda)
• Henry Cen vs. Rico Suave (Abel)
• Ricky Ortiz (Rufus) vs. fLoE (Rufus, Sagat, Chun-Li)
• Justin Wong vs. RB
• Vangief (Zangief) vs. Banana Ken

Loser's Bracket:

• Long Island Joe vs. FYC Ryder (Abel)
• Arturo Sanchez (Rose, Dhalsim) vs. WarhahK (Guile)
• Eita (Akuma) vs. GamerBee
• Tatsu (Vega) vs. Online Tony (Seth)
• Sanford Kelly (Sagat and Cammy) vs. John Choi (Ryu)
• Tokido (Akuma) vs. Hugo101 (Dictator/Bison)
• Juicebox Abel (Abel) vs. Wolfkrone (Viper)
• Infiltration (Akuma and Juri) vs. Big Marcus

Melty Blood Top 8 (Finals to be played on Sunday) - Thanks to DJCream

Winners: Lord Knight (NYC H-Kohaku), Brandino(Midwest C-Ciel?), Garu (Japan H-Shiki), Kusanagi (Mexico - H-Aoko)
Losers: YAT (NorCal H-Shiki), Numakie (SoCal ???), HF-Blade (SoCal H-Ries), Xie (Cali C-Mech)

Click Through for Remaining Schedule

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