Month: August 2019

Bandai Namco made a number of big announcements for SoulCalibur VI during EVO 2019. Producer Motohiro Okubo appeared on the stage to first announce that Cassandra will be joining the fray as a DLC character. The much-loved Athenian warrior will be available from August 5 and looks to have the same quick but deadly fighting style, utilizing her sword and shield combination to overwhelm her opponents.

On top of that, Bandai Namco also revealed Season 2 of Soul Calibur VI, which includes a new gameplay system. While it didn’t go into detail on what exactly the new mechanic will entail, it looked to be a new counter of some sort. Okubo said that more details on Season 2 will be revealed in the future.

Season 2 of SoulCalibur VI also means a new pass to purchase and, by doing so, players will get access to four new characters. One of these characters is Haohmaru of Samurai Shodown and Samurai Spirits fame. The swordsman can currently be seen and played in the latest Samurai Shodown from SNK, which was released in June 2019 and also had an exciting tournament at Evo.

SoulCalibur VI launched in October 2018 and received favorable reviews. In GameSpot’s SoulCalibur VI review, the game was awarded an 8/10.

“SoulCalibur VI is a fighting game that’s easy to recommend,” it says. “Like all the best titles in the genre, it has a low barrier to entry and high skill ceiling. For those looking to get in a few games with friends it’s welcoming and immediately enjoyable.

“For those committed to ploughing the depths of its systems to get tournament ready, it has plenty to unpack and understand. Better still, those that want to play alone will find SoulCalibur VI has some of the most substantial single-player content in any fighting game today.”

Tonight during the Tekken World Tour 2019 Evo event, Bandai Namco announced new details about Tekken 7‘s ongoing post-launch support. A brand-new character, Leroy Smith, is coming to the fighting game through its Season Pass 3. The character Zafina, who was first introduced in Tekken 6, is also in Season Pass 3.

Two more DLC characters, as well as a new game feature and a new stage will be added to Tekken 7 through the Season Pass 3 as well in between September 2019 and Spring 2020. However, no further details were shared during the presentation.

Bandai Namco did, however, share some light story details about Leroy:

“50 years ago, a young boy was caught up in a large-scale gang conflict in New York, losing his family and home,” reads a line from his description. “Missing for decades, he has finally returned to New York, now as a seasoned master of martial arts–and he’s out for revenge.”

As for the mysterious upcoming DLC characters, one of them could be Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. A brief teaser shown to those in attendance (see below) contained what might be a reference to the classic game character. The codec screen appeared, and it contained a line attributed to Snake: “That was some good ass Tekken.”

Commentators on the livestream referenced this tease and strongly suggested that they knew what it was about but wouldn’t share more details. Snake is already featured in Nintendo’s Smash Bros. fighting game series, most recently appearing in Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Tekken 6 Season Pass 3 launches in September for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Tekken 7, which was originally released on console and PC in 2017 (following its debut in Japanese arcades two years prior), has sold more than 4 million copies.

GameSpot’s Tekken 7 review scored the game an 8/10. “Tekken fans will find their next favorite game–one that’s the product of decade’s worth of refinement,” reviewer Peter Brown said. “And while some of this depth will be lost or out of reach for newcomers, there’s enough fun to be had outside of hardcore competition to keep players from all walks of gaming thoroughly entertained.”

Halo Infinite is releasing in Holiday 2020 as a launch title for Microsoft’s new and more powerful next-generation console, Project Scarlett, as well as the standard Xbox One in addition to PC.

Halo boss Frank O’Connor spoke about this distributed release in an interview with YouTuber Blackmist523. O’Connor said the Halo development team worked alongside the hardware developers behind Scarlett to allow for the game to look and perform “amazingly” on the next-generation system.

That being said, O’Connor said people playing on the standard Xbox One (and presumably the Xbox One X) will still have a good experience. “The Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen. We’re building it so it plays and looks fantastic on Xbox One,” O’Connor said.

Halo Infinite is also launching for PC, on the same day it comes to consoles. That’s a big change for the series, as Microsoft never released the mainline instalments after Halo 2 on PC (though they are coming to PC now through The Master Chief Collection). The PC version of Halo Infinite might end up being the best version of Halo Infinite–provided your rig is beefy enough, O’Connor said.

Here are his full thoughts on the matter:

“Obviously the special citizen [for Halo Infinite] will be Scarlett, and we’ve worked with that hardware team to make sure the game shows up amazingly on it, and work with them to make sure that we know how to make sure the game look amazing on it, but it will be for Xbox One and it will look incredible. And it will also be for PC for the first time, day and date so that’s exciting for us too.

“That’s changed the way we develop and the way we think about things, but we are always shooting for the best possible hardware target. This time it’s going to be up to you to decide–is it going to be Scarlett or PC; it kind of depends on your PC at that point. But the Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen. We’re building it so it plays and looks fantastic on Xbox One, and then everything else is plus-plus-plus, but we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves that we’re thinking about. “

Given the increased horsepower of Project Scarlett, and O’Connor’s statement that developer 343 Industries is developing toward the “best possible hardware target,” it remains to be seen if the standard Xbox One version will be limited in any capacities. Presumably the better hardware with Project Scarlett will allow the game on that platform to look and run better, but any other differences between the versions are unknown for now.

Also in the interview, O’Connor spoke briefly and at a high level about Halo Infinite’s story and how it is connected to the events of Halo 5: Guardians but also aims to be approachable to newcomers. O’Connor also talked about how while the E3 2019 Halo Infinite trailer did not show any new gameplay, it did introduce players to some of what to expect about how the game will look and feel at the start.

While Halo Infinite isn’t scheduled to release until Holiday 2020, a beta for the game will be held prior to release.

The CW’s upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, which will bring the various Arrow-verse shows together for their biggest showdown yet, just got a bit more interesting. It was announced at the TCA press tour that none other than Bruce Wayne himself would finally appear in the universe.

What’s even more exciting is who will play the role. Batman: The Animated Series star Kevin Conroy will appear as a version of Bruce Wayne from the future. It’s interesting to note that the press release from The CW notes this Bruce is from the future. That means he likely won’t be the version Batwoman‘s Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) is familiar with. It was not revealed whether he would also portray Batman.

Conroy joins Burt Ward as previous Batman stars that will appear in Crisis. Additionally, Legends of Tomorrow star Brandon Routh will suit up as Superman–a role he played in 2006’s Superman Returns.

The CW has also revealed that stars of Black Lightning will finally join the Arrow-verse in the crossover. In its first two seasons, the show was kept separate from the rest of the network’s DC Entertainment shows. With Crisis, though, it’ll be joining the pack.

Crisis on Infinite Earths will air over five episodes of TV. It kicks off with the December 8 episode of Supergirl, followed by Batwoman on December 9, and The Flash on December 10. Then, the event will conclude with installments of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow on January 14.