Category: Entertainment & Lifestyle

Update: This story has been updated with day 4 results.

Street Fighter League Pro-EU 2024 is happening for the next two weeks in Paris, France.

The players participating are AngryBird, RB|BigBird, NIP|Phenom, Mouz|Problem X, Mouz|EndingWalker, Kusanagi, KC|Kilzyou, Aegis|Mister Crimson, JuicyJoe, Valmaster, SYG|Garnet, Akainu, Takamura, Guild|Rainpro, Reason|Boltstrike, Shivs, JoKeR JoKeZ, RZ|Xerna, NIP|Veggey, Imstilldadaddy, Shakz, Alphen, Samoel and Gamein99.

This time around, the Street Fighter League Pro-EU is being played live instead of pre-recorded, so the action will be going on daily until the competition wraps.

The six teams will play in a double round robin format, meaning they face each other team twice, once as the Home Team and once more as the Away Team, and points will be awarded based on set wins, with the final set counting for double as many points as each of the first two sets do on their own.

As the Away Team, you need to declare in advance what your player order is meaning that the Home Team has a distinct advantage of getting to choose their matchups relatively freely. Once the group stage is over, the top 4 teams will qualify to a bracket where a final winner be crowned.

The winning team also qualifies for the Street Fighter League championship which will be played at Capcom Cup 11 against the champions of the North American and Japanese Street Fighter Leagues.

Streaming is being done at Capcom Fighters.

We’re just one day away from Ghostface’s Mortal Kombat 1 debut and that means embargoes for extra early access are lifting as content creators like Super share brand new footage of the latest DLC character.

In one of Super’s new videos (embedded after the jump) we find that NetherRealm Studios animators actually included sequences in which Ghostface’s mask and hood come off to reveal his true identity. A familiar face pops up in the footage, which you can see for yourself below.

At around the 9:15 mark in the video, one of the two Ghostfaces pulls of a Fatal Blow on the other. During this scripted sequence, the defending Ghostface’s hood is fully removed and we can see that it’s the original main killer from the 1996 Scream film: Billy Loomis.

Loomis, who was portrayed by actor Skeet Ulrich, is technically one of two characters who don the mask and robe in the film, but he’s the brains of the operation and the story’s main antagonist. NetherRealm Studios also got the iconic Roger L. Jackson to return to voice Ghostface, as truly many actors came together to create the character.

You can see a still of NRS’ version of Ulrich’s Loomis in the embed below, though we do have to wonder if this will be the only unveiled face that pops up for Ghostface in MK1, seeing as he’s technically an amalgamation of three different fighters in this instance:

MY FAVE MALE GHOSTFACE YESSSS pic.twitter.com/B56xVsjj9g

— noah •Ghostface Waiting Room• (@GhostfaceThrone) November 18, 2024

As we learned during last week’s Kombat Kast presentation for the upcoming DLC character, Ghostface is a triad that includes Loomis and two Black Dragon characters from previous Mortal Kombat games: Kobra and Kira.

We naturally wonder if NetherRealm has also created animations for these two should you land your Fatal Blow when either of them are the active Ghostfaces on screen. We won’t know for sure until we see footage, but we’re leaning towards “no” for the answer.

The reason is behind the way the triad functions while fighting; Loomis is the point fighter who occupies the space most of the time, but you can tag out to either “The Assassin” (Kira) or “The Enforcer” (Kobra) after successfully landing a few of Ghostface’s special attacks or his throw.

Kobra and Kira remain in the fight for a maximum of 12 seconds before tagging back out to Loomis, and each has unique specials they can pull off. If they take damage, however, they are instantly recalled and thus cannot really be hit with combos. In fighting game terms, these characters act almost like armor in that they do not yield to hit stun when attacked.

It could be the case that landing the initial hit of a Fatal Blow locks Enforcer or Assassin Ghostface in and winds up showing us new models for Kobra and Kira faces in Mortal Kombat 1, but it could also be that they simply tag out and Loomis takes the brunt of the sequence no matter what.

In any case, you can see over 20 minutes of brand new Ghostface footage in the full video below. Let us know what you think of MK1’s newest DLC character in the comments.

Ghostface is slated to be released for early access on November 19 and will fully launch on November 26.

The Game Awards 2024 presentation is scheduled to take place on December 12, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT. Just like with previous years, awards will be given out to many games released within the year. Additionally, there will be some interesting announcements for future titles at the event.

Nominations for the Best Fighting Game of 2024 have been revealed. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Tekken 8, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, and MultiVersus are the fighters that can potentially win this award.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero launched on October 11, 2024 with a roster of 182 characters. The game has seen quite a bit of success in a short time considering that it was reported that it had achieved over 3 million sales worldwide in just 24 hours on its release day.

Tekken 8 was released on January 26, 2024. Since then, DLC characters Eddie Gordo, Lidia Sobieska, and Heihachi Mishima have joined the fight, bringing the roster count to 35. Notably, Tekken 8 was the second most popular fighting game at Evo 2024 earlier this year after Street Fighter 6, which means that it will probably be the game to beat in this list.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising was actually released in December 11, 2023, meaning that it was released too late to be part of The Game Awards 2023 nominations for the Best Fighting Game award from last year. The Granblue Fantasy series is known to be immensely popular, so it’s certainly a candidate to consider during this ceremony.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is the long-awaited return to the Marvel vs. Capcom series that fighting game fans have been waiting for. It was released digitally on September 11, 2024. The power of nostalgia is certainly on this game’s side with this award.

Finally, there’s MultiVersus which was finally released on May 28, 2024. MultiVersus has a real shot considering that it holds the record for the most concurrent players on Steam for a fighting game, though this was during a pre-release phase for the game.

We’ll just have to see which of these fighting games takes the top spot on December 12, 2024 when The Game Awards show goes live.

Here are the ‘BEST FIGHTING’ nominees for the Game Award 2024 pic.twitter.com/nvUjGTlpTy

— Fighting-Games Daily (@FGC_Daily) November 18, 2024

Note: EventHubs participated in the voting panel for The Game Awards 2024’s Best Fighting Game award.

Before he was released, Terry Bogard’s Street Fighter 6 trailers gave a strong impression of the character. On the surface, it seemed like Terry had access to a lot of strong and unique tools that were befitting of a top tier.

However, it turns out that Terry struggles in the mid range due to a lack of normals that are good at controlling space. While it’s said that there’s very little reason to pick Ryu when characters like Ken and Akuma exist, there’s also not much merit in picking Terry over someone like Ryu in Street Fighter 6.

Despite the SNK rep’s perceived shortcomings at the competitive level, it seems that something about Terry called out to TM|OilKing. During the CPT 2024 World Warrior: Asia East event, OilKing opted to use Street Fighter 6’s latest DLC combatant.

Amazingly, OilKing managed to get to the finals of the event on the winners side and faced off against Micky’s Cammy. In the end, OilKing managed to prevail with a 3-1 victory over Micky.

Due to this, he is now qualified to compete at Capcom Cup 11. Though he did this with Terry, it’s possible he may end up pulling out Rashid during the series finale.

Leading up to this, 13 unique characters were qualified for Capcom Cup 11 (including Blanka as a secondary). Terry is the 14th unique character to accomplish this for Season 2.

Earlier this year, Kusanagi qualified with Ryu at a Premier event, surprising fighting game fans from all over the world. Needless to say, Capcom Cup 11 is shaping up to be a very interesting event featuring a set of characters that nobody could’ve predicted.

Congratulations to @leevylin for winning the 5th “WW Asia East” with Terry!
And secured a spot in “Capcom Cup 11” with the highest overall points!

1. @leevylin
2. @micky4101
3. @ugang_fgc
4. @chriswong1028
5. @mocklineex
5. FrankSoa
7. daimon
7. @HotDog29gg @CapcomFighters pic.twitter.com/ipCArbh1QC

— 魯比 Twitch Firemanruby2 (@firemanruby) November 17, 2024

after 5 times WW Asia East, I quality to Capcom, very happy can be back, let’s focus the Capcom Cup, thx everyone who always believe and support me.@TwisMinds @redbullgaming pic.twitter.com/W5REEUJNVh

— Oil King 五股石油王 (@LeevyLin) November 17, 2024

The Nintendo Wii was a strange beast for fighting game fans outside of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with little support given to the motion-controlled console (besides some Guilty Gear and Mortal Kombat), and what else was there… often ended up like this.

Matt McMuscles recently dropped his latest episode of The Worst Fighting Game taking a look at Tournament of Legends, which had an intriguing idea that waggled and fell straight on its face.

High Voltage Software had found a good amount of success on the Wii through the Conduit titles and the copious licensed games they made for the system, so it seems they wanted to take a stab at the fighting game genre late into the console’s life.

The game that would become the subject of today’s unfortunate spotlight made its debut in 2009 under the name Gladiator A.D. as a more brutal, gritty and bloody affair pulled straight out of 300 that would look quite different from the final product.

After the poor performance of other Mature rated ventures on the Wii, Sega apparently wanted High Voltage to tone down the violence and led to Tournament of Legends taking on a more cartoonish aesthetic (while also ditching the Mortal Kombat-like finishers).

What players ended up getting for a bargain price in 2010 was a weird experience that tried to marry the gameplay of Punch Out with arena fighters plus Wii motion controls that did not work out for anybody really.

Funnily enough, this wouldn’t be High Voltage’s last foray into fighting games either although their focus would be on bringing the titles of other studios to more platforms.

They were also behind the PC ports of Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X and Injustice: Gods Among Us, which were not exactly well regarded versions of the NetherRealm Studios games for a myriad of reasons / issues.

We highly recommend checking out Matt McMuscles’ new episode below for the full history and breakdown of what makes Tournament of Legends bad and also see if it has what it takes to dethrone Pit-Fighter on the SNES as the worst fighting game ever.

Capcom has hired and worked with many of the most iconic and recognizable video game artists over the past 40 years, and we’ve gotten lucky with how much their talents have been used to bolster their fighting games from the arcades to now.

Quite a bit of that classic artwork is currently on display in their latest Capcom vs. Tezuka exhibit, which they’re showing off more of online now before it closes next week.

The official Capcom artwork social media account has been sharing photos of some of their displays containing a bunch of early design sketches of their characters and fighting games.

Currently, they’ve posted images containing the rough art for the Street Fighter Alpha games as well as Darkstalkers and even Star Gladiator.

Longtime fans will probably recognize quite a few of these pieces including Sakura’s initial takes from Bengus in Street Fighter Alpha 2 plus those from others like Edayan and Akiman.

Click images for larger versions

We normally wouldn’t be able to see these collections without going to the exhibit in person since outside photography is prohibited, but it’s alright if Capcom shares it themselves.

These Capcom vs. Osamu Tezuka Characters exhibits began as an unexpected crossover with the Astro Boy creator’s studio back in 2021 where it’s popped back up multiple times since.

The latest Capcom vs. Tezuka iteration is taking place at the Toshima City Tokiwaso Manga Museum in Tokyo, Japan though it is scheduled to end in a week on November 24.

#テヅカプ 終了まであと10日！！『ストリートファイターⅡ MOVIE』セル原画展示中。11月24日（入館は17時30分）まで！#カプコンアートワーク #CAPCOM #ARTWORK pic.twitter.com/XTtOtLu53E

— CAPCOM OFFICIAL／ARTWORKS (@CAPCOM_AWT) November 15, 2024

While these artwork displays are one of the main attractions, that’s not all they have to offer with things like a timeline of Capcom’s fighting games included as well as new crossover works with Capcom artists drawing Tezuka’s characters and vice versa.

#テヅカプ 終了まで後三週間11月24日まで #テヅカプ #カプコンアートワーク @tokiwaso_mm pic.twitter.com/39TjThlLYe

— CAPCOM OFFICIAL／ARTWORKS (@CAPCOM_AWT) November 3, 2024

Some of them are also exclusive products too like art cards (including one featuring Morrigan and Dororo’s Hyakkimaru), a poster, key chains, coasters, acrylic stands and more.

Last year, this museum exhibit is also where Akuma and Ed’s concept art was first unveiled for Street Fighter 6 as well though it seems we aren’t getting that for Season 2.

Much of this and / or similar art may have shown up in their recent compilation galleries or upcoming ones like the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 — but it’d be much more special to see them in person on the paper.

#テヅカプ ストZEROシリーズ開発資料展示中！11月24日（入館は17時30分）まで！#カプコンアートワーク #CAPCOM #ARTWORK pic.twitter.com/a1oxI00xUu

— CAPCOM OFFICIAL／ARTWORKS (@CAPCOM_AWT) November 16, 2024

While prospects are growing for new entries in Marvel vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK, the company’s other fighting games outside of Street Fighter probably won’t be that lucky any time soon.

That comes especially after learning about the modern Darkstalkers project that was canceled and Hideaki Itsuno leaving Capcom before getting to make Rival Schools 3 from his wish list.

At least most of their classics are finally able to be easily accessed again.

More information about the Capcom vs. Tezuka exhibit can be found on the museum’s website.

#テヅカプ ヴァンパイアシリーズ開発資料展示中！11月24日（入館は17時30分）まで！#カプコンアートワーク #CAPCOM #ARTWORK pic.twitter.com/ll9R0UurmH

— CAPCOM OFFICIAL／ARTWORKS (@CAPCOM_AWT) November 15, 2024

Update: This story has been updated with final results.

Don’t Park on the Grass is back in 2024 and taking place in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Notable players participating include FaZe|Sparg0, Fennel|Miya, Moist|Zain, Nouns|Cody Schwab, RB|aMSa, RC|Shuton, Moist|Light, Nouns|Aklo, Plup, Liquid|Hungrybox, TSM|Leffen, Moist|Moky, FLY|Jmook, Junebug, LG|Wizzrobe, Trif, Moist|Joshman, LG|Soonsay, KoDoRiN, S2J, SOL|Raru, TW|Snow, SBI|KEN and Big D though there are of course many more as well.

The main event at Don’t Park on the Grass 2024 is without a doubt Super Smash Bros. Melee, boasting almost 900 entrants. Following behind it is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate which comes in at almost 350 participants and Rivals of Aether 2 which came in just short of 200 signups.

There’s plenty of traditional fighting game events as well, with tournament play being held for Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, Under Night In-Birth 2 [Sys:celes] and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

Doubles competitions will also be held for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Streaming is being done at Level 1 TV, BTS Smash, Galint Gaming, Liquid|Hungrybox, Rivals of Aether and OlyTRC.

Although we’re long past the golden era of fighting games on the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s consoles are once again a good option for most modern fighters in a world of cross-platform play — especially when you can pick up good stuff for cheap now.

The Xbox Black Friday Sale is officially underway and is offering up some great deals on the biggest fighting games around and then some that has some better discounts from PlayStation’s November Sale.

Mortal Kombat 1 is the big standout compared to Sony’s direct deals because they have the base game for 50% off when it’s still $50 on PlayStation 5.

While Sony is offering 35% off on the Khaos Reigns Expansion, the Xbox sale applies that half off discount to the new content as well as the Khaos Reigns Bundle with the first Kombat Pack.

So though they aren’t discounting the full package, you can still pick up all the content cheapest on Xbox at $55 USD total.

Tekken 8’s sales are the same across both platforms, but Xbox cut the price in half of all Street Fighter 6 versions as well as 35% off each Year 1 Pass offer.

There is some notable absences, however, with no SNK or Arc System Works deals to be found here.

Microsoft is also taking $50 off the Xbox Series X until November 23 and $50 off the Xbox Series S from November 21 through December 2.

The Xbox Black Friday Sale is scheduled to go on until December 2. Please note these prices represent the United States store and availability may be different in other regions.

• Bleeding Edge – $3

• Brawlhalla: All Legends Pack – $20

• Capcom Arcade Stadium Bundle – $16

• Capcom Fighting Bundle – $19.79

• Capcom Fighting Collection – $16

• Dead or Alive 5: Last Round – $16

• Dragon Ball FighterZ – $9

• Dragon Ball FighterZ Legendary Edition – $38.49

• DBFZ FighterZ Pass – $10.50

• DBFZ FighterZ Pass 3 – $8

• God of Rock – $3

• Injustice 2 – $4

• Injustice 2: Ultimate Pack – $6

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R – $10

• JoJo’s ASBR Season Pass – $10

• JoJo’s ASBR Season Pass 2 – $10.50

• Killer Instinct: Anniversary Edition – $12

• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite – $8

• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Deluxe Edition – $12

• Mortal Kombat X – $5

• Mortal Kombat XL Pack – $5

• Mortal Kombat 11 – $5

• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Add-on – $5

• Mortal Kombat 1 – $25

• Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion – $25

• Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Bundle – $30

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Deluxe Edition – $21

• Soul Calibur 6 – $9

• SC6 Season Pass – $9.89

• SC6 Season Pass 2 – $17

• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection – $9.89

• Street Fighter 6 – $30

• Street Fighter 6 Deluxe Edition – $42.50

• Street Fighter 6 Ultimate Edition – $52.50

• SF6 Year 1 Character Pass – $19.50

• SF6 Year 1 Ultimate Pass – $32.50

• Tekken 8 – $35

• Tekken 8 Ultimate Edition – $66

• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – $10

• Ultra Street Fighter 4 – $3