Dive Into Doom’s Multiplayer Beta At The End Of The Month

If you’ve been itching to get your hands on Bethesda’s latest title Doom , you will soon have your chance on March 31 with its multiplayer beta.

, you will soon have your chance on March 31 with its multiplayer beta. The beta will be open to anyone who bought Wolfenstein: The New Order.

According to the FAQthe beta will run from Thursday, March 31, 2016 @ 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time to Sunday, April 3, 2016 @ 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, giving players a long weekend to try out the game.

During the beta players will have access to two maps, Heatwave and Infernal, two game types, 6 v 6 Team Deathmatch and Warpath, and the  Revenant demon. Players will also have a bevy of weapons and equipment to try during the beta’s run.

Here’s a breakdown of what will be in the beta.

Mortal Kombat X DLC Pack 2 Trailer Coming Next Week

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According to NetherRealm Studios’ Creative Director, an official trailer for Mortal Kombat X ‘s second DLC pack drops next week to show off brand new gameplay.

Ed Boon, the co-creator of the brutal fighting game franchise known the world over as Mortal Kombat recently took to his Twitter account to divulge the reveal of an official, never-before-seen gameplay trailer for Mortal Kombat X ‘s Kombat Pack 2sometime next week. Unfortunately, though, the tweet in question offers neither a specific date for its showing, nor does it disclose exactly what kind of content will be seen in the video.

It’s been about a month since Mortal Kombat X fans have been treated to news about the game, so Boon’s tease is sure to have would-be Kombatants excited. After all, the announcement seen below has more than 1,000 retweets, and nearly 2,000 likes, so it’s obvious that regular MKX players are looking forward to what Kombat Pack 2 has in store for them.

Kombat Pack 2. Game play video. Next Week. pic.twitter.com/EhYMOv300D— Ed Boon (@noobde) January 8, 2016

For those unaware, Mortal Kombat X ‘s second round of DLC is set to continue the tradition of previous add-ons by including familiar faces from the series’ past, as well as characters taken from horror movie franchises such as Alien ‘s Xenomorph and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ‘s Leatherface. As far as the possibility of new costumes and additional ancillary content for the game goes, though, such inclusions are still up in the air. However, considering the near-constant updates that MKX received last year, such as supplements like Klassic Skinsfor the title’s fighting roster, there ought to be more than just new characters in the pipeline.

With sales for Mortal Kombat X having drooped in the past few months — to be fair, the brawler has been out since April of last year, so it’s to be expected — the fresh DLC should garner more attention for the title. If anything, NetherRealm Studios has assembled a veritable dream team of characters from the series’ history and with its growing stable of horror icons. In truth, it’s hard to imagine film junkies not being excited at the prospect of pitting Jason Voorheesagainst Leatherface, so the developers’ decision to continue melding silver-screen fiends with old-school favorites is definitely a winning combination.

With Mortal Kombat X already having a stacked set of playable characters, the forthcoming DLC will bring the count up to a staggering collection of 33 available Kombatants, which is great for giving the game added replay value. And while there’s no telling whether or not NetherRealm Studios will continue releasing extra content for the title beyond Kombat Pack 2 – if developers decide to do so – MKX could potentially become the most successful entry in the franchise to date.

Are you excited about next week’s gameplay trailer reveal for Mortal Kombat X ‘s Kombat Pack 2? Which fighter are you looking forward to seeing in action most? Let us know in the comments below.

Mortal Kombat X is out now for Mac, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Ed Boone – Twitter

Overwatch Content You Get It All!

We live in interesting times of gaming where a lot of people blame the rise of smart phones and mini games as the reason so many people are willing to pay to play a game that has freemium features.

We live in interesting times of gaming where a lot of people blame the rise of smart phones and mini games as the reason so many people are willing to pay to play a game that has freemium features. Freemium games either give you very limited gaming features or just lack any ability to play the game in any real way without spending far more than you would on the game if they charged you $5 dollars or even $50 for some games.

This is especially true with games where you have ‘heroes’ or individual characters that game makers strive to make in a way that makes you feel like you have a bond with them. MOBAS are the biggest offender of this which is why it is so exciting to learn that Blizzard will not be doing this kind of feature in the coming Overwatch team based shooter.

Blizzard has confirmed that  all the Overwatch maps and the characters that you can play in game during beta will all be usable for everyone forever that it says Gamespot. This means that you can play and try all kinds of diverse characters and play styles without the need to purchase any additional content other than your box or digital copy of the game.

Their are currently twenty-one characters so that is a lot to chose from giving you a good feel for which one is your soul mate and virtual representation of you.  However it is expected that more characters and maps will be able to be bought at a later time possibly as a DLC package or with virtual currency of some sort. The game will be priced at $60 at release on Playstation 4 and Xbox One and 40 for PC.

Mortal Kombat X Details Next Major Balance Patch

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Fighting games get patched to make fights as balanced as possible, but each patch tends to have its ups and downs.

Fighting games get patched to make fights as balanced as possible, but each patch tends to have its ups and downs. They’re generally designed to fix game-breaking bugs, exploits, and unfair character advantages. However, there’s inevitably a ripple effect, where gamers find themselves needing to learn new combos due to their favorites being nerfed or altered.

Mortal Kombat X players have already seen a wide variety of patchescome and go, either ushering in new updates and skins or simply fixing problems. The support of the game is far from over, with major news supposedly coming this week, and a new major balance patch rolling out over the next few days.

The latestpatch is massive, and includes a wide variety of general gameplay fixes and updates, along with a ton of character updates, nerfs, and buffs. Some of the general gameplay fixes to exploits and glitches that may be of interest to players include:

Removed the ability to add extra inputs while doing a normal attack 2 in 1 cancel which allowed some characters to have the special move cancel only occur on hit / block
Removed the ability to have some specific input timings on a 2in1 cancel so it could come out on block but not come out on hit on some normal attacks

Removed the ability to option select execute a special move or throw reversal after block stun while still holding the block button

Removed the ability to option select execute a wakeup non enhanced special move attack, wakeup throw, or wakeup backdash while still holding down the block button

Fixed several jump attacks moving backwards slightly on hit

Fixed several attacks causing an extra frame of recovery when you blocked them ducking

While some players have undoubtedly been taking advantage of some of these exploits, most will probably be pleased to know that they’re about to be fixed. The patch also features a wide variety of character changes, which can be found in full with the rest of the update notes here. There’s no exact date given for the patch, but players should expect to see it added to their copies of Mortal Kombat X over the next few days.

The recent tease tweet coming from co-creator and director of Mortal Kombat X , Ed Boon, hints that something exciting and new is going to be announced for Mortal Kombat X this week. This patch may be getting applied now to smooth out some of the advantages and glitches in the game prior to the release of new characters, which will undoubtedly need some new fixes of their own after they’ve been out for a while. There’s also a strong chance that another free DLCskin will be released alongside this patch, as NetherRealm Studios previously promised to release a free skin with every major game update. While getting accustomed to this patch may take a little time for some players, it will ultimately create a more even playing field for all characters.

Mortal Kombat X is still going strong, and it looks like gamers will soon have even more to look forward to with the title. Sadly, Mortal Kombat fans that have been waiting for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 copies are probably still reeling from the last-gen port’s cancellation. However, the continuing updates to the current-gen version show that NetherRealm Studios is dedicated to creating the best game it can. It’s hard to say what the update coming after this patch will be, but considering that Boon is purposefully building hype for it, it’ll probably be pretty good.

Mortal Kombat X 8-31-14 Patch Notes

General Gameplay fixes

Many move list corrections Removed the ability to add extra inputs while doing a normal attack 2in1 cancel which allowed some characters to have the special move cancel only occur on hit / block Removed the ability to have some specific input timings on a 2in1 cancel so it could come out on block but not come out on hit on some normal attacks Removed the ability to option select execute a special move or throw reversal after block stun while still holding the block button Removed the ability to option select execute a wakeup non enhanced special move attack, wakeup throw, or wakeup backdash while still holding down the block button Slightly adjusted several characters collision regions while crouch blocking Slightly adjusted several characters collision regions while attacking while jumping Slightly normalized how far some characters get pushed back on stumble block animations Fixed several jump attacks moving backwards slightly on hit Fixed several attacks causing an extra frame of recovery when you blocked them ducking

Character Specific Fixes Cassie – X-Ray is now +1 on hit (up from -5) Cassie (Brawler) – Air Power Slam does 3 more damage and is now -2 on hit (up from -7) Cassie (Spec Ops) – Target Paint now hits mid when it explodes on the ground

D’Vorah – Slightly adjusted Ovipositor Charge & Ovipositor Rush collisions to hit more consistently in combos D’Vorah – Can no longer cancel into Air Throw after a blocked jump attack D’Vorah (Brood Mother) – Double Bug Blast and Double Bug Blast (Meter Burn) no longer trigger auto block but have reduced hit stun D’Vorah (Brood Mother) – Krawler will no longer have its hit stun aborted when hitting someone during the first 10 frames of block stun D’Vorah (Brood Mother) – Krawler will now always disable autoblock to allow a combo afterwards D’Vorah (Brood Mother) – Fixed a bug where a reflected Krawler would not travel D’Vorah (Venomous) – Bug Burst now has 13 frames startup (down from 28) D’Vorah (Venomous) – Bug Spray now has 20 frames startup (down from 28) D’Vorah (Venomous) – Increased the initial damage on Bug Spray and Bug Burst D’Vorah (Venomous) – The FP,FP / FP,FP,BP / Down+FP / Jump+FP / Jump+BP attacks now also add Poison stacks

Ermac – Down+BK now hits low Ermac – Away + BP is now +1 on hit (up from -4) Ermac (Mystic) – Increased Levitate damage to 13 (up from 6) and Tele-Choke to 11 (up from 10) Ermac (Spectral) – Increased Soul Charge damage to 11 (up from 9) and it now has 9 startup frames (down from 10) Ermac (Spectral) – Can now perform Spectral Charge (enhanced Soul Charge) Ermac (Spectral) – Removed 10 frames from Soul Charge recovery Ermac (Spectral) – Can now chain combo FP > BP > FK > BK while hovering

Erron Black – Towards+FP,BP is now -1 on hit (up from -7) Erron Black – Throw is now -3 on hit (up from -10) Erron Black (Gunslinger) – Stand Off Stance now activates in 10 frames (down from 11) Erron Black (Gunslinger) – Stand Off Quick Shot is now -8 on block (down from -31) and is easier to juggle afterwards on hit Erron Black (Gunslinger) – Stand Off Spin Shot now has 20 startup frames (down from 22) and has 10 less recovery frames Erron Black (Gunslinger) – Slightly sped up Money Shot & Barrage and they have 7-9 less recovery frames depending on distance Erron Black (Gunslinger) – Money Shot & Barrage now hit overhead on the way down

Ferra/Torr – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Ferra/Torr – Increased damage of Tuck ‘n’ Trample to 13 (up from 9) Ferra/Torr (Ruthless) – Removed 20 recovery frames from Pain And Gain Ferra/Torr (Ruthless) – You can now dash cancel out of Pain And Gain after being stabbed, doing so will knock Ferra off of your back Ferra/Torr (Lackey) – Torr Charge (Meter Burn) no longer ignores damage scaling and had its damage increased by 2

Goro – Away+FP,BP,Up+BP has increased range Goro – Up+FP/Up+BP now has 9 startup frames (down from 14) Goro – Reduced the recovery on Stomp miss by 16 frames Goro – Adjusted the reaction to Towards+BP,FP,BK and it can now be 2in1 canceled out of Goro – Removed 5 recovery frames from Shokan Bolt Goro – You can now meter burn regular Punch Walk on hit Goro – Removed 2 startup frames from Stomp Goro (Kuatan Warrior) – Chest Lunge & Chest Charge now hit mid Goro (Dragon Fangs) – Removed the Down+Away+BP command attack Goro (Dragon Fangs) – Added Fang Low as a new special move (Away,Towards,BP) Goro (Tigrar Fury) – Removed 5 recovery frames from Flame Ball

Jacqui – You can now air 2in1 cancel out of Towards+BP,Up+BP Jacqui – Towards+BP,Up+BP,BP+BK now hits overhead Jacqui – You can now 2in1 cancel out of Away+BP and Away+FK,FK on block Jacqui – FP now has 6 startup frames (down from 7) Jacqui – BK has 8 starup frames (down from 11) Jacqui – BK~Up+BK has more pushback on block Jacqui – Down+FP now has 7 startup frames and is -4 on block (down from 8 startup and up from -7 on block) Jacqui – Down+BP now has 9 startup frames (down from 11) Jacqui – Away+FP,BP is now -3 on block (up from -18) Jacqui – BP,FK is now -5 on block (up from -12) Jacqui – BP,FK,FK is now -9 on block (up from -14) Jacqui – Fixed a bug that was causing BK to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Jacqui – Slightly speed up Air Fake Out Jacqui – Executing Air Fake Out and Tech Shield now gain a small amount of meter Jacqui – Air Ground Tremor now pops the opponent up for a juggle combo Jacqui (Full Auto) – Adjusted the reaction on towards +2,Up+2,BP+BK to make combos afterwards slightly easier Jacqui (Shotgun) – Adjusted the reaction on Towards+FP,BP,BP+BK to make combos slightly easier Jacqui (Shotgun) – Low Blast Double Barrel will now always stun regardless of distance Jacqui (High Tech) – Opponent is now forced to block the 2ndhit of Plasma Burst

Jason – Corpse Grab & Corpse Slam now has 10 startup frames (down from 12) Jason (Slasher) – Increased the cancel advantage on Towards+BP by 5 Jason (Relentless) – Damned no longer carries over between rounds Jason (Relentless) – Damned increased to 10%/20%/33%/50% damage at under 50%/25%/10%/5% health (up from 3%/7%/12%/18% damage at under 75%/50%/25%/5% health) Jason (Unstoppable) – You can now hold down to have Resurrection not trigger after losing all of your health when it is not your final round

Jax – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos

Johnny Cage – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Johnny Cage – Towards+BP is now -1 on hit (up from -8) Johnny Cage – Towards+FK,BK is now -3 on block (up from -8) Johnny Cage (Stunt Double) – Can now also execute Mimic Eclipse Kick cancel out of Mimic summon

Kano – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Kano – Slightly increased the hit cancel advantage on Away+FP, Away+FP,BP, Towards+BP, Towards+BP,FP, Towards+FK,FK, Away+FK, Away+FK,FP, Towards+BK Kano – Up Ball & Uprise Ball will now hit twice on block more often on ducking opponents Kano – Air Ball is no longer punishable if used at the end of some long combos Kano (CutThroat) – Decreased the dam buff on Charge Up to 33% down from 50% Kano (CutThroat) – Reduced the recovery on Charge Up by 13 frames Kano (Cybernetic) – Reduced the meter gain from Upward Laser Kano (Cybernetic) – Adjusted the reaction on Upward Laser (Meter Burn) to allow for slightly easier follow up combo Kano (Cybernetic) – Upward Laser now has 10 startup frames (down from 16) and does 7 damage (down from 9) Kano (Commando) – You can now meter burn the last hit of the FK,BP,Throw/FP+FK combo to allow for a combo follow-up

Kenshi – Down+FK now hits low Kenshi – Fixed a bug that was causing FP,FP,FP to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Kenshi (Balanced) – Removed 10 frames of whiff recovery from Tele-Flurry & Tele-Beat down Kenshi (Kenjutsu) – Removed 5 frames of whiff recovery from Tele-Toss & Tele-Strike Kenshi (Kenjutsu) – Away+BP now low crushes and has more pushback on block Kenshi )Kenjutsu) – Removed gap in the fp, fp, fp string

Kitana -Throw is now 0 on hit (up from -7) Kitana – Fixed a bug that was causing BP,FP to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Kitana – Towards+fk, fk is now +3 on hit (up from -4)

Kotal Kahn – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Kotal Kahn – Away+FP has 9 startup frames (down from 10) Kotal Kahn – Away+BP now low crushes and has 25 startup frames (down from 27) Kotal Kahn – Towards+FP,BP is now -6 on block (up from -14) Kotal Kahn – Air Takedown attack priority now happens on frame4 (down from 8) Kotal Kahn – Mace Parry & Master Mace Parry now works against most projectiles Kotal Kahn – Mace Parry now has 7 startup frames (down from 9) and Master Mace Parry now has 1 startup frame (down from 4) Kotal Kahn (Blood God) – Kotal now gains meter on being hit and when blocking while Obsidian Totem is active Kotal Kahn (Blood God) – Blood Offering will now add its damage to an active Blood Totem Kotal Kahn (War God) – Sword Shake & Sword Quake are now a hard knockdown Kotal Kahn (Sun God) – has a new move Soul Spark (Towards,Down,Away,FK) which will grant him 1 level of Sun God Power Kotal Kahn (Sun God) – Increased the life gain from Soul Scorch and meter gain from Soul Burn

Kung Lao – Towards+FK now has 19 startup frames (down from 21) Kung Lao – Towards+FK,Down+FK is now -12 on block (up from -22) Kung Lao (Tempest) – Increased damage scaling after Hat Spin & Orbiting Hat and added a slight pushback on block Kung Lao (BuzzSaw) – Low Grinder now starts slightly closer to Kung Lao making it less likely to miss someone running at him Kung Lao (BuzzSaw) – Increased Grinder, Upward Grinder, & Low Grinder damage by 2 Kung Lao (Hat Trick) – Decreased damage scaling after Hat-A-Rang

Kung Jin – Away+BP is now -14 on block and 4 on hit (down from -24 on block and -8 on hit) Kung Jin – Adjusted the hitbox on Away+BP to hit from it’s max range Kung Jin (Shaolin) – Low Chakram now sets hit state to ducking Kung Jin (Shaolin) – Removed a blocking gap from BP, BP Kung Jin (Shaolin) – Low Chakram will now low profile under high projectiles

Liu kang – Reduced the cancel advantage Towards+BP,FP,FK on block by 5 frames Liu kang (Flame Fists) – Removed a gap before the last hit for Windmill Flurry and reduced its cancel advantage by 4 Liu kang (Dragon Fire) – Must be in the Dragon Fire held loop for 4 frames before you can dash cancel out of it when opponent is in block stun Liu kang (Dualist) – Solar Flare, Low Solar Flare, & Air Solar Flare no longer trigger autoblock Liu kang (Dualist) – Removed 5 recovery frames from Solar Flare and Low Solar Flare and 10 recovery frames from air Solar Flare Liu kang (Dualist) – Removed 7 recovery frames on Light / Dark Metamorphosis

Mileena – Towards+FK now low crushes Mileena – Towards+FK,BK is now -2 on hit (up from -4) Mileena – Towards+FK,BK,FK can no longer for 2in1 cancelled out of and is now -9 on block (up from -19) Mileena – Towards+FK,BK,BK can no longer for 2in1 cancelled out of, is now -11 on block (up from -26), and is now a hard knockdown Mileena – BK now has 11 startup frames (down from 13) Mileena (Piercing) – Away+FP is now -6 on block and 8 on hit (up from -16 and -2) Mileena (Piercing) – Away+FP,BP is now 2 on block (up from -3) Mileena (Piercing) – Towards+FP is now 2 on block and 9 on hit (up from -8 and -5) Mileena (Piercing) – Away+BPis now -4 on block (up from -9)

Predator – fk attack now hits high instead of mid Predator – Down+FP is now -3 on block (down from 1) Predator – Increased damage scaling on Scimitar Slam, & Smart-Disc Predator – Added combo damage scaling to regular Scimitar Stab and Throw Predator – Last hit of Scimitar Stab no longer ignores damage scaling Predator (Hunter) – Increased damage scaling after Snag & Trap Predator (Hunter) – Fixed a bug where the Snag would not go away when Predator was hit Predator (Hish-Qu-Ten) – Increased damage scaling after Plasma Shot & Plasma Barrage Predator (Hish-Qu-Ten) – Decreased hit advantage on Plasma Shot & Ground Plasma Shot by 5 Predator (Hish-Qu-Ten) – Adjusted the window of when you can choose the direction of the held Plasma Shot so you can no longer shot a low Shot that hits high

Quan Chi – Adjusted attack collision on Away+BP / Away+BP(held), Away+BP(held maximum time) now juggles for a combo afterwards Quan Chi – Down+FP now has 6 startup frames and is -7 on block (down from 9 and -10) Quan Chi – Away+BP is now -4 on hit (down from -8), Away+FK is now -3 on hit (down from -8) Quan Chi – Throw is now +2 on hit (up from -8) Quan Chi – Skull and Air Skull no longer force autoblock Quan Chi (Sorcerer) – Fixed a bug that would cause every 11th frame while standing in the Dark Curse rune to not have armor Quan Chi (Warlock) – Portal Scoop & Portal Slam now has 11 startup frames (down from 18) and is now a hard knockdown Quan Chi (Warlock) – Portal Scoop no longer ignores damage scaling on the last hit and had its damage increased by 2 Quan Chi (Warlock) – Portal Grab last hit no longer ignores damage scaling and had its damage increased by 2 Quan Chi (Summonner) – Demon Spark no longer forces auto block and allows for combos afterwards

Raiden – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Raiden – Lightning Projectile no longer causes auto block Raiden – Towards+BK is now -3 on block (up from -12) Raiden – Fixed a bug that was causing Away+FP,BK to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Raiden (Displacer) – Removed 10 recovery frames from Teleport Raiden (Displacer) – Teleport (in front) no longer costs stamina Raiden (Master of Storms) – Static Trap now does small proximity damage to the opponent before they are activated

Reptile – Towards+BP is now +1 on hit (up from -8) Reptile – Acid Spit no longer triggers auto block and had its damage increased by 3 Reptile – Changed the Floating Ball motion to Down,Down,BLK Reptile – Removed 4 recovery frames from Forceball & Slimeball Reptile – Slightly loftier reaction on Slippery Slide Reptile – Removed 4 recovery frames from Acid Puddle Reptile – Klaw Swipe is now -6 on block (up from -11) Reptile – Klaw Slash is now -15 on block (down from -10) Reptile – Klaw Pounce is now -7 on block (up from -17) Reptile – Klaw Bounce is now -20 on block (down from -17) Reptile – Reptilian Dash is no longer a hard knockdown and had its reaction adjusted Reptile (Deceptive) – Activating stealth no longer triggers auto block on the opponent allow to continue some combos Reptile (Deceptive) – Reduced the recovery of stealth ex by 11 frames

Scorpion – Towards+BP now low crushes and has 17 frames startup (up from 15) Scorpion – Increased the damage of Away+BP by 4 Scorpion (Inferno) – Low minion ex has 21 startup frames (down from 28) and does 5 damage (up from 3)

Shinnok – FK,FP is now +2 on hit (up from -7) Shinnok (BoneShaper) – Staff beam is now -12 on block (down from -4) and has increased pushback on hit Shinnok (Bone Shaper) – The range of Scepter Slam was slightly decreased

Sonya – Increased combo damage scaling after X-Ray Sonya – Away+FP,BK is no longer a hard knockdown Sonya – Fixed a bug that was causing BP,BP to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Sonya (Covert Ops) – Last hit of Air Strike no longer ignores damage scaling Sonya (Demolition) – Lowered the input priority of Bake ‘n’ Wake on wakeup Sonya (Special Forces) – Increased Away+BP damage by 4

Subzero (Cryomancer) – Air Frost Hammer is now -2 on block (down from -8) Subzero (Cryomancer) – Frost Hammer has 31 startup frames (down from 36) and is -9 on block (down from -10) Subzero (Cryomancer) – Increased the hit cancel advantage on FP,FP,FP and the damage by 1 Subzero (Cryomancer) – Increased the hit cancel advantage on Towards+FP,BP Subzero (Cryomancer) – Reduced the damage of Towards+BK,BP,Throw/FP+FK combo by 9 Subzero (Cryomancer) – Can now 2in1 cancel out of Towards+BK,BP,Throw/FP+FK combo Subzero (Unbreakable) – Changed the input of Frozen Aura / Ice Aura to Down,Away,FK / Down,Away,FK+BLK Subzero (Unbreakable) – Can now execute the Ice Burst & Frost Bomb special moves Subzero (Unbreakable) – Ice Burst & Frost Bomb do additional while Frozen Aura & Ice Aura are active while removing the Aura Subzero (Unbreakable) – Activating Frozen Aura & Ice Aura no longer triggers auto block which can allow some combos to continue Subzero (Unbreakable) – Ice Aura has 16 less recovery frames Subzero (Grand Master) – Adjusted the validity check on Ice Statue

Takeda – Removed gap in the towards +Fp, bp,bp +bk string Takeda – Adjusted several regular attack collisions to hit more consistently on ducking opponents and in combos Takeda – BP now has 14 startup frames (down from 20) and is now 3 on hit (up from -7) Takeda – Away+FP,FP is now +3 on hit (up from -6) Takeda – BP,FP is now +2 on hit (up from -27) Takeda – Away+BP is now +8 on hit (up from -7) Takeda – Away+BP,FP is now +3 on hit (up from -10) Takeda – Towards+BK now has 20 startup frames (down from 24) and is 2 on block (up from -6) Takeda – Fixed a bug that was causing Towards+FP,BP to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Takeda – Can now cancel into X-Ray after a blocked jump attack Takeda – You can now meter burn Fist Flurry on hit Takeda – Tornado Kick is now -6 on block (up from -21) and is now always a hard knockdown Takeda – Adjusted the reaction to Tri Kunai to connect more consistently in combos Takeda (Shirai Ryu) – You can now charge Quick Phase to delay for 2 seconds (up from 1) Takeda (Lasher) – You can now meter burn Whip Assault on hit Takeda (Lasher) – Removed 5 recovery frames on hit from Whip Strike & Whip Thrash Takeda (Lasher) – Has 2 new air command attacks on Towards+FP & Towards+BP Takeda (Lasher) – Down+Towards+FP Low Slash is now 19 on hit (up from 4) Takeda (Ronin) – Fixed a bug that was causing BP,FP to sometimes be more negative on hit on ducking opponents Takeda (Ronin) – Shirai Ryu Kan does 10 damage (up from 9) and Double Shirai Ryu Kan does 14 damage (up from 11) Takeda (Ronin) – Piercing Spark has 2 less recovery frames Takeda (Ronin) – Away+FP now hits mid, has 11 startup frames (down from 13) and is -2 on block (up from -23) Takeda (Ronin) – Away+FP,FP is now 0 on block (up from -21) Takeda (Ronin) – BP now has 12 startup frames (down from 14) Takeda (Ronin) – BP,FP is now +2 on block (up from -10) and now causes a different air reaction Takeda (Ronin) – Away+BP now has 12 startup frames (down from 15) Takeda (Ronin) – increased active frames on Shirai Ryu Kan until he is done rising

Tanya – There are now 8 min frames before you can dash cancel out of Teleport delay Tanya – Flip Kick is now always a hard knockdown Tanya – X-Ray is now 0 on hit (up from -6) Tanya (Kobu Jutsu) – Fixed a bug that was causing Tonfa Strike to have 2 hits of armor instead of 1

Tremor – bp and fk attacks now hit high instead of mid Tremor – Towards+BP has 1 less startup frame, is -6 on block (down from -11), and increased damage by 3 Tremor – FK,FK is now a hard knockdown Tremor – Rock Toss & Boulder Throw (including the variation versions) have 19 less recovery frames Tremor – Rolling Stone & Rolling Kutter (including the variation versions) have 10 less recovery frames Tremor – Stone Shatter & Rock Blast (including the variation versions) have 3 less startup frames and has 3 less recovery frames in Metallic while Golden Tremor – Stone Punch & Stone Slam (including the variation versions) have 3 less startup frames Tremor (Aftershock) – Airquake has 5 more block stun frames on the opponent Tremor (Aftershock) – delayed quake will no longer have its hit stun aborted when hitting someone during the first 10 frames of block stun Tremor (Crystaline) – Rock summon ex has 10 less recovery frames, increased rock throw damage by 3 Tremor (Crystaline) – Rockblaster will no longer have its attack cancelled in the corners of some backgrounds.

Mortal Kombat X is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: WB Games

Mortal Kombat X Getting More Downloadable Fighters in 2016

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It’s been a pretty good year thus far for fighting game fans.

It’s been a pretty good year thus far for fighting game fans. 2015 has provided fight aficionados with the solid, albeit incredibly violent, Mortal Kombat X which requires users to have skills to be anywhere near proficient in it, while the inevitable arrival of next year’shas been egging on consumers with a number of character reveals. The meat of the content arriving this year, however, has been from Warner Bros. Interactive’s aforementioned gore-filled beat ’em up, and apparently there’s still more for fans to look forward to from the game going forward.

After teasing an announcement yesterday, Warner Bros. officially confirmed thatwill be receiving additional fighters at some point in 2016. Not content with just that, it also sounds like additional skins and a brand new stage will be arriving for the game next year, but specifics on all of this content is currently nowhere to be found.

It’s probably for the best (at least for now) that gamers aren’t made privy to the details surrounding the forthcoming add-on content, as it’s still quite a ways off. Still, speculation is sure to kick off pertaining to which characters will be included in the next major batch of downloadable content. A handful of fan-favorites are still missing from the game, and many are eager to see them make a playable return sooner rather than later.

So far Mortal Kombat X has received a number of well-known characters through DLC. Aside from familiar franchise players like Tanya and Tremor, guest characters like Jason Vorhees and Predator have made for some of the more interesting additions to the title. Bearing the latter two in mind, it’s possible – if not incredibly likely – that another guest kombatant could be joining the ranks of Subzero and Scorpion in the the first half of 2016.

Franchise co-creator Ed Boon already seems to be teasing the previously touched upon stage too, seemingly hinting at the return of The Pit via Twitter. This stage is known for the moon that can be found in the background, so it seems a likely battleground in contention to return. Still, Boon has been known to throw fans off with images in the past, so take this with a grain of salt.

It’ll be interesting to see which characters join the ranks in the future, but it’ll be even more interesting to see how much it’ll all cost. The currently available Kombat Pack retails for $29.99 USD, so presumably the forthcoming content will retail for something similar. That said, the addition of a new stage could raise the price of the content as well, so only time will tell what NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive have planned from a price point perspective.

Which characters do you hope to see included in Mortal Kombat X ‘s Kombat Pack 2? Do you want more guest fighters or should it stick to franchise mainstays? Get at us in the comments.

Sources: Ed Boon, IGN

Blizzard Adds Voice Chat to Battle.net Service, Included in Overwatch Beta

Last week, Blizzard announced that they are taking signups for the closed beta of their new team based first-person shooter IP, Overwatch .

. The Overwatch update train doesn’t seem to be slowing down this week, either, as Blizzard announced today that they will be integrating voice chat into their Battle.net client, with Overwatch as the app’s testing grounds.

This is not the Blizzard’s first experience with in-game voice chats. W orld of Warcraft and StarCraft II both feature voice chat services, but their quality is notoriously inconsistent. Players often opt to use external voice chat programs as a result. With their recent foray into the MOBA genre with Heroes of the Storm , perhaps Blizzard has realized the importance of having a strong voice chat system in games that require heavy coordination like HotS and Overwatch and is taking extra strides to give players the best communication systems that they can provide.

Overwatch is set to release in early 2016. If you have an existing Battle.net account, you can sign up for the closed beta here. The beta is slated to begin on October 27 for both the North American and European regions, with a possibility that it will be open to anyone on the weekends.

Mortal Kombat X Director All But Confirms Kombat Pack 2 DLC

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Mortal Kombat X is one fighting game that certainly doesn’t suffer from a shortage of playable characters.

is one fighting game that certainly doesn’t suffer from a shortage of playable characters. In the base game, players have access to the familial trio of Johnny Cage, Cassie Cage, and Sonya Blade, along with newcomer likes Erron Black and Kotal Kahn, and of course the game includes iconic MK characters Scorpion and Sub-Zero. In fact, Developer NetherRealm Studios managed to add in Goro as a pre-order bonus.

But for a game like, with its over the top brutalities as well as all of the characters who have appeared in previous Mortal Kombat games, there were plenty of opportunities to introduce more kombatants to the game. And with the Kombat Pack Season Pass(the game’s season pass), that’s exactly what developer NetherRealm Studios did.

In content drops over a series of months, players gained access to four new characters (Predator, Jason Voorhees, Tanya and Tremor) along with 15 brand new skins and costumes, including Carl Weather as Jax.

With famous names and faces like that, and with the Mortal Kombat X’s ‘Tower’ modeallowing people to try out some of those characters before they bought the DLC, the Kombat Pack proved to be incredibly popular among the game’s dedicated player base. It’s unsurprising then that Ed Boon, a notorious tease and the co-director of Mortal Kombat X , has taken to Twitter to ask “who’s next?” suggesting that Kombat Pack 2 is on the way.

Tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/fMoXUSRvjf

— Ed Boon (@noobde) September 2, 2015

While Boon doesn’t explicitly say that those four silhouettes (which seem to represent four new characters) are meant to signify Kombat Pack 2, it seems incredibly likely. This is not the first time that Boon or someone on the game’s development team has teased the DLC, though. During a recent livestream the Kombat Pack was referred to as ‘Kombat Pack 1’rather than the Kombat Pack, leading some to suggest that future Kombat Packs would be on the way. And not only that but towards the beginning of August, Boon used the promotional meme for (blockbuster movie) Straight Outta Compton to say that Predator, Tanya, Tremor and Jason Voorhees were ‘ Straight Outta KP1‘, again pointing towards KP2.

As it stands, the next set of Kombat Pack fighters could be more or less anyone, though fans have used Boon’s Twitter clues to make some educated guesses. Earlier this week, Boon tweeted out two moon-themed teasers, and so some fans believe that The Pit (from Mortal Kombat 9 ) will make a return (fans confirmed that the ‘Encore’ image is a cap from the last game) and that Nightwolf will be one of the Kombat Pack 2’s stars.

Nightwolf is a Native American character who made his debut in Mortal Kombat 3 and he is famed for his connection with wolves and he is even able to shapeshift into one. The moon connection is quite clear then, but nothing is confirmed so fans will have to sit tight until Boon lifts the lid off of his big Mortal Kombat X reveal.

What would you like to see in Kombat Pack 2? Which characters do think NetherRealm will add next? Leave a comment and let us know.

Source: Ed Boon

Street Fighter V’s Laura Gets An Official Introduction

Last week, Street Fighter V ‘s newest character, Laura, was leaked unintentionally via a Japanese publication.

via a Japanese publication. While whether or not the leak hastened the official release is unclear, an official reveal trailer has been released by Capcom via the official Street Fighter YouTube channel.

If you didn’t see the previous coverage, Laura was leaked by a Japanese publication when they intended to reveal only Zangief with the consent of Capcom. Unfortunately, however, a gallery of screenshots featuring Laura in action versus Ryu, signature character of the series. Laura is a Brazilian fighter whose style focuses on kicks, grappling, and submission moves, sprinkled with a command of lightning itself. Like most other Street fighters, Laura’s mastery of her respective martial art has granted her an ability to manipulate the world around her in a way that augments and benefits her fighting style.

Laura sports a green, two-piece jumpsuit, with a top just as modest as any Street Fighter fan might expect. Half her hair is bound in skin-tight braids while the other half flows freely. Her ethnicity, if not hinted at strongly enough by the yellow and green she sports, is distinctly Brazilian, representing yet another new region of the world in Street Fighter ‘s ever-growing roster of represented cultures.

Mortal Kombat HD Remake Was in the Works

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According to NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon, the Mortal Kombat co-creator says an HD remake of the original game was in the works, but was unfortunately canceled.

Over the weekend, Mortal Kombat ‘s co-creator Ed Boon took to his Twitter account to reveal an image of an ill-fated HD remake of the very first entry in the popular run of fighting games. However, the NetherRealm Studios creative director didn’t clarify whether or not the still of a high resolution version of both Liu Kang and Sonya Blade—two of our top characters in the franchise—was an actual screenshot from the unfinished project, or if it was merely a conceptual design.

Apparently there’s a story behind why theHD edition was never finished, but Boon fails to share why it never came to be. Nevertheless, with one of the prominent minds behind the series tweeting an image of the game, it bears questioning if fans should keep hope alive for the upscaled iteration’s possible rejuvenation.

A quick visit to the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection ‘s Wikipedia page clarifies that the poorly reviewed compilation for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade was created from some of the scrapped materials of the ambitious HD Arcade Kollection . Plus, in May of 2014, a NeoGAF user going by the name “Slamtastic” posted picturesexplaining that the game was supposed to be remade with updated actors and backgrounds like the ones seen in Boon’s tweet above, but it became a generic port instead.

Hi-Res Kombat .... one of these days I'll post an article explaining how the MK HD edition never came to be..... pic.twitter.com/oubqNSIyiv

— Ed Boon (@noobde) November 7, 2015

Taking the above details into consideration, since the high definition version has been common knowledge for quite some time before Boon’s recent divulgence, it’s possible that his tweet about the game could be testing the waters for the project’s resurgence. After all, not only would MK fans surely jump at the chance to play a cleaner-looking version of the 2D fighter, the NetherRealm director is known for using social media to make cryptic announcements involving the series, such as his enticement with a Kombat Pack 2 DLC teaserfor Mortal Kombat X .

Should it actually be in some form of development, fans shouldn’t expect to play the Mortal Kombat HD edition for a while, considering Warner Bros. Interactive has confirmed its commitment to Mortal Kombat X for the foreseeable future with more DLC being released through 2016. At any rate, the hi-res picture Ed Boon released will definitely make most, if not all would-be Kombatants wish for the venture’s revival.

Would you have been interested in playing a high definition remake of the initial Mortal Kombat title? Why do you think the game never came to fruition?

In the meantime, Mortal Kombat fans can get their fighting game gore fix by way of Mortal Kombat X , available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, as well as iOS and Android devices.

Source: Ed Boon – Twitter(via Game Informer, GameSpot)

Mobile app analytics: How Grindr monetizes 6 million active users (webinar)

What does it take to monetize over 2 million daily active users in 196 countries?

Image Credit: Grindr

What does it take to monetize over 2 million daily active users in 196 countries? Join Grindr CTO Lukas Sliwka and VB analyst Jon Cifuentes in a free webinar to get an inside scoop on how mobile app analytics solutions help you powerfully leverage critical user data.

Grindr, the first and largest gay dating site in the world, has 5 to 6 million monthly active users and 2.4 million daily active users. At any given time, there are over a million users active on the platform, says Lukas Sliwka, the company’s CTO.

Those users are a rich and crucial source of data as Grindr continues to grow its popularity with current clients and expand its reach globally. “From a business perspective,” Sliwka says, “It’s critical for us to know what features are working — and why — and how the app is being used in the wild to make the right product decisions.”

It’s how Grindr is continuing to expand its business model by introducing value-add services, transforming itself into a broader gay lifestyle platform. “We can finally do that,” he notes, “because the maturity of our organization and our data science is at the point where we can start answering some pretty interesting questions.”

Analyzing and data mining chat transcripts revealed that their users were already starting to use Grindr in new ways — interacting with people around them, asking for travel and accommodation advice, and widely socializing. Those revelations are driving Grindr’s product decisions in terms of which new features are added, and when.

“You need to make choices about where you direct your resources,” Sliwka says about their raw data findings. For instance, their scrutiny of user analytics across the globe revealed that Brazil is one of the fastest-growing markets, particularly in recent months. This has allowed them to pivot to focus on location-specific marketing and pricing analytics to drive business there.

“From the monetization perspective,” Sliwka continues, “we need to keep an eye on whether the subscription model is effective.” They look at revenue metrics in terms of subscriptions, which include terms of one month, three months, six months and 12 months.

“One surprise was how popular our 12-month subscription was,” he notes. The assumption was that in a dating space, the subscription pattern they’d find would be cyclical as users dated, found a mate, and ended their subscription. But what they found instead is that the year-long subscriptions are far and away the most popular.

Says Sliwkas, “It points to the fact that Grindr isn’t just used for finding a mate, but as a social platform as well.” And that data adds even more ammunition to their arsenal as they make a major push toward becoming a gay lifestyle destination.

The tools to power those analytics bring their own set of issues. “The most annoying thing on the engineering side is that it seems that almost every month another vendor pops up,” Sliwka says. “Then business people pop up, and say ‘Oh my god — I love their dashboard, they’re doing something interesting, I want you to put this SDK into an app.’”

And that’s the way you can quickly end up bloated with far too many SDKs from a wildly different bunch of companies, all gathering similar data and offering performance issue in return.

While hunting for the best technology platform is essential, this throw-everything-into-the mix approach also introduces a lot of security risk, Sliwka emphasizes. It can also mean losing control of your data pipeline. Too many analytics platforms siphon data off, then deliver aggregates rather than raw data.

“What we decided was that we really wanted to put our foot down and standardize our ecosystem,” Sliwka says. “We need to own the pipeline on both the server side and the client side, and we want to own all that data.

Sliwka will be joining VB analyst Jon Cifuentes who will be sharing the important findings of VB Insight’s recent report on app analytics and what solutions are fueling the most successful apps.

Don’t miss out!

What you’ll learn: The top app analytics solutions The most important features in an analytics platform The KPIs that matter to the most successful developers The most overlooked app analytics methods
Speakers:

Lukas Sliwka, CTO, Grindr

Jon Cifuentes , Research Analyst, VB Insight

Moderator:

Wendy Schuchart , Moderator, VentureBeat

Mobile users: Acquiring high-revenue users on the cheap (webinar)

The battle for high-quality mobile users has never been more fierce.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The battle for high-quality mobile users has never been more fierce. Find out how companies who are killing it in UA are achieving phenomenal success — without paying through the nose.

Most apps fail. That’s the simple, brutal, but honest truth for developers entering the mobile app market. As we reported earlier, 70 percent of apps will not generate more than 5,000 downloads, and 60 percent of them will never be updated. While the odds certainly aren’t favorable for global developers, that’s not stopping them from adding close to 2,500 new apps daily on iOS, Google Play, and Windows Phone. It’s imperative for app makers to have a competitive user acquisition strategy in place — not just to win over the average user, but to land high-quality users who will use your app on a regular basis.

Conceiving a winning user acquisition strategy, however, takes on many forms and if not handled properly, could jeopardize your business. A poor strategy for monetizing your app may lose more users in the process than gain.

For these reasons and more, we produced a VentureBeat Insight reportabout mobile user acquisition, comprised of data based on 230 app developers with over 9,000 active apps and 397 million monthly active users

While cost-per-install by placing digital ads across various media is the favorite marketing method for developers, it’s actually the least effective way to acquire high-quality users. Sure, CPI marketing campaigns are safe because you’ll know how much it will cost to ensure it’s on budget, but the users you’ll be acquiring via CPI channels — ranging from $1-$10 — are low-return users. Over two-thirds of users acquired via CPI have a lifetime value below $10, including almost one in six with LTV profitability of zero. You’ll need more than an audience of hold-outs to make your app thrive in the digital marketplace.

Now, compare the disappointing results of CPi to cost-per-lead (CPL) — an online advertising pricing model indicating exact revenue earned by a publisher for creating a lead for an advertiser — where LTV users began at $26 and go up from there.

The few publishers investing in CPL marketing campaigns are acquiring users worth 2X of CPI users on average. Publishers using CPL as their primary method are seeing users averaging $44.25 versus the $26 LTV for companies using CPL as their first user-acquisition method. Fantastic results for a marketing campaign surprisingly deemed unfavorable by developers.

This is but a taste of the richly-filled Insight report about mobile user acquisition, but it you want all the valuable nuggets of info delivered quickly and efficiently, sign up for this webinar today. VentureBeat analyst Jon Cifuentes will tell you what you need to know about acquiring high-quality users in the most cost-effective ways possible.

Don’t miss out.

In this webinar, you’ll: Learn the price app publishers are currently paying to acquire quality users across several categories Review the top user acquisition platforms and why Understand the role of timing in UA Maximize organic installs of your mobile application
Speakers:

Jon Cifuentes , Analyst, VentureBeat
Wendy Schuchart ,Moderator, VentureBeat

More speakers to be announced soon.

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Signups For Overwatch Beta Now Open

Blizzard’s newest franchise in 17 years (not counting spinoffs) Overwatch just got it’s beta launch date of October 27, as announced today .

. Signups are now openfor those wishing to participate.

The developer lays out two important purposes for the beta. First being getting feedback on the gameplay to help fine-tune the shooter to the highest standards. Second involving stress tests to their server infrastructure to ensure no technical problems may occur. Beta testers will be split up into two groups to further help accomplish these goals.

A small group of testers will be placed in the Closed Beta group. These individuals will have regular access to the public beta test and sole purpose is to provide gameplay feedback through the beta forums. Leaving feedback on different heroes, maps, and abilities is highly encouraged.

Though the amount of players admitted into the Closed Beta group will be limited, though more spots may open in the future.

Mortal Kombat X Director Promises ‘Big News’ This Week

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Mortal Kombat X has far exceeded the lofty expectations that fighting genre fans had placed on it prior to release.

has far exceeded the lofty expectations that fighting genre fans had placed on it prior to release. The popular brawler is already the best-selling gamein the history of the franchise, and with its constant stream of DLC, NetherRealm’s adrenaline-inducing gameplay remains fresh and interesting. Due to its anything-goes game world, in which a resurrected ninja can go toe-to-toe with the Predator, teasers about Mortal Kombat X and its future are a sure bet to incite wild speculation from fans.

Some announcements, however, are bound to generate a little more hype than others. Although many of‘s strengths lie in its newer gameplay elements, a recent tweet from one of the fathers of the franchise has fans clamoring to learn more about a possible callback to a beloved arena.

A recent Twitter post from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon suggests that Mortal Kombat X ‘s upcoming balance patch isn’t the only thing fans have to look forward to. Boone cryptically tweeted that there would be “BIG (new) MKX news koming this week…..” while attaching a picture of the a full moon surrounded by stars.

Boon has said nothing since the tweet, obviously preferring to let fans speculate on what the news could be. But Boon’s statement coincides with NeatherRealm community specialist Tyler Lansdown stating earlier today on stream that there was a big Mortal Kombat X announcement in the works for later this week.

BIG (new) MKX news koming this week..... pic.twitter.com/desb2xWbmu— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 31, 2015

Assuming that Boon and Lansdown aren’t exaggerating the importance of the news, there is one strong explanation for Boon’s mysterious moon that could justify the hype being built around it. Fans of classic Mortal Kombat will remember an arena called “The Pit”, a bridge suspended above a sea of steel spikes that was located on villain Shang Tsung’s island. More importantly, though, The Pit features a gargantuan full moon looming over the bridge, and provides one of the more memorable settings present in the early days of Mortal Kombat. Adding credence to this theory is the fact that Mortal Kombat X already features a series of “klassic” callbacks to past characters and costumesin the series. Has the time come for an arena to get the same treatment?

The Pit has long been a favorite of Mortal Kombat players, and has also been the source of some memorable franchise moments, so it makes sense for it to receive the honor of being the first arena “klassic”. Whether it be the silhouette of a witch flying past the moon in Mortal Kombat ‘s version of The Pit or the very first instance of a Stage Fatality, The Pit has been a near constant presence in the evolution of NetherRealm’s legendary fighting game. As it stands now, Boon’s tweet seems to suggest that The Pit will be present in this latest iteration as well.

Do you think the next DLC for Mortal Kombat X will feature “klassic” arenas? Are you still upset Mortal Kombat X isn’t coming to last-gen consoles? Let us know in the comments.

Mortal Kombat X is now available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Twitter

Street Fighter 5 Originally Had a Realistic Art Style

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Producer Koichi Sugiyama reveals that Capcom originally intended to create photorealistic visuals and characters for Street Fighter 5 rather than the stylized look it has now.

The Street Fighter series has always been known for its bright colors, flashy characters, and solid mechanics. While Street Fighter IV added in anime-esque 3D models as if they had been brushed in ink, Capcom decided to take the look and feel in an entirely new direction for the fifth iteration. Thanks to a recent interview, Street Fighter 5 producer Koichi Sugiyama reveals just what the development team had been originally planning for the series.

“In fact, in the very early stages of development, we actually put together a build of SF5 that was rendered in photorealistic graphics. But when we did, we realized that it just wouldn’t be Street Fighter without the bold, anime-esque look and feel to the game, so we decided to shelve the whole photorealism idea altogether.”

When work began on Street Fighter 5 the team wanted to move away from the brush inspired and exaggerated graphics the series had enjoyed in the past. Considering that Unreal Engine 4 is powering the gameand is well known for its realistic rendering capabilities, Capcom planned to instead use photorealistic graphics. While the idea was later shelved in favor of the art style fans are now used to, proof can be seen in the Street Fighter 5 book that comes in the E-Capcom version of the game in Japan.

It was also during this phase that Capcom developed the idea for Ryu’s battle outfit or the “Hot Ryu” costume as it is known throughout the community. While the original designs for Karin, Birdie, Chun-Li, and Nash are all pretty much in line with how fans see them now in Street Fighter 5 , the most radical change in this realistic engine was with M. Bison. While still sporting a traditional red outfit, Bison no longer wore his iconic dictator hat or long flowing jacket. Instead, the character featured slicked back white hair and wore what appears to be a red bodysuit with some sort of purple veins running through it, probably related to his proficiency with psycho power.

The article also reveals a number of interesting character costumes which artists were planning on adding to the game such as a ninja outfit for Nash and a militaristic Shadaloo outfit for Birdie. With an online shop expected to be patched into the game with the March update, it’s entirely possible some, if not all of these concept designs make it into the game. As of now, players are not able to see what Capcom is planning on offering including purchasing any story costumes currently unlocked until the store is up and running.

That reason, along with the fact that many other modes such as a traditional arcade ladder are not present, is why many fans view the current Street Fighter 5 as incomplete. While Capcom has laid out their DLC plans through the summer, they’re asking fans to be patient while additional modes and characters are implemented over time, a strategy which certainly could alienate some folks in the meantime.

How do you feel about the visual change? Would you have rather seen a more realistic Street Fighter or are the stylized visuals the series is known for a better choice? Sound off in the comments below.

Street Fighter 5 is available now on PlayStation 4 and PC.

Source: Event Hubs

Why LinkedIn bought Lynda.com last year: Train users for jobs ‘at scale’

LinkedIn’s head of consumer products Ryan Roslansky, speaking on stage at VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit conference, explained how the company’s Lynda.com acquisition could allow it to redefine online education “at scale across every city and every skill.”
On the learning side, specifically, there is fundamentally a flaw in the education ecosystem that we know very well.

Above: LinkedIn VP Ryan Roslansky and Re/code's Kurt Wagner talk at VentureBeat's Mobile Summit.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnel / VentureBeat

Roslansky told Recode’s Kurt Wagner[emphasis ours]:

that we know very well. 50 percent of college graduates are graduating under-employed or unemployed. Student debt has now outpaced credit card debt in the U.S. And there exists a ton of jobs that just aren’t being filled on the flip side. …

In order to go and solve that problem, you need a couple of assets: You need to know all of the professionals in the world, all of the jobs available in the world, and all of the companies. You need to know what skills are required to fill those gaps, you need the coursework to make that happen, and it just happens that we have all of those assets. And we’re very passionate about our ability to put those assets together, and to start to help fix some of the skills gaps that exist … and get people into the right jobs.”

[For example,] here’s coursework to get you trained up as a Python developer, because, by the way, there are 30 jobs right now that are waiting for you — or someone like you — to go through this coursework for that job. We can do that at scale across every city, every skill … the piece that we missed out of all of that is that really good coursework that an employer could stand behind .

You can watch the full interview below.

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Need For Speed Beta Sign Ups

Buckle up, check your mirrors and get ready to push down on that gas as Need for Speed is making its way back to the streets.

is making its way back to the streets. The upcoming reboot, which previously announced by Electronic Arts, has begun taking sign ups for a closed betain anticipation of the game’s launch in November.

The registration for the beta closes on Sept. 25 and it will not be offered on Windows PC – XBOX One and Playstation 4 players will be the only ones allowed to take part in this beta. The beta will be available in the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe. A EA/Origin account will be needed to access the beta. The account must be linked to a Playstation or XBOX account.

Need for Speed is being developed by Ghost Games’s UK Studio, and according to EA’s E3 2015 announcement, will launch on Nov. 3.

Mortal Kombat X: NetherRealm Considered Terminator for DLC Roster

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Mortal Kombat X has been a huge success for NetherRealm Studios, and that success has continued since the game’s release thanks to a steady stream of DLC keeping the community engaged.

has been a huge success for NetherRealm Studios, and that success has continued since the game’s release thanks to a steady stream of DLC keeping the community engaged. The most exciting DLC forhas consisted of new characters added to the roster, which has included veteran Mortal Kombat fighters as well as guest characters pulled from movies.

While it’s nice to have another chance to destroy people as Tremoragain, the more interesting new fighters are definitely the special guest characters. As it turns out, one especially exciting guest character that would’ve fit right in with the ultra violent Mortal Kombat X universe was actually discussed to be added as DLC to the game, but it ultimately didn’t pan out.

As revealed on Twitter by series co-creator and current creative director at NetherRealm Studios, Ed Boon, there were talks to include The Terminator as a guest DLC character in Mortal Kombat X . The Terminator would definitely have been right at home with the likes of other 80’s film icons such as Jason Voorheesand Predator. It would’ve been especially interesting to see a Terminator version of Arnold Schwarzenegger battle it out with the Predator, considering Arnold played the lead role in the Predator movie as well.

" @Desolater48The Terminator wants to join our game ed boon @noobde pic.twitter.com/gmsVzn3rdhEB: That conversation DID happen! :)

— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 21, 2015

It’s a bit of a bummer that we didn’t get The Terminator as a DLC character for Mortal Kombat X , but there’s still some hope for the time-traveling murder machine to be added to the game in the future. Even though NetherRealm has satisfied the contents of the first season pass for Mortal Kombat X , it seems that they are planning a Kombat Pack 2, which would presumably include four new DLC characters. We’re still waiting on official word regarding Kombat Pack 2, but it will probably be revealed within the next few months.

In the meantime, those that are just dying to play as The Terminator in a video game will have a chance to do so later this year. The Terminator is a DLC pre-order bonusfor the upcoming WWE 2K16 , as a continued element of the joint promotional efforts between WWE and Paramount Pictures. That being said, Terminator as he will appear in WWE 2K16 won’t be able to be his brutally violent self, so it’s not quite as satisfying as it would be to see him pop up in Mortal Kombat X down the road.

Would you play as Terminator in Mortal Kombat X ? What other guest characters would you like to see added to the game in the future?

Mortal Kombat X is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A last-gen version of the game for PS3 and Xbox 360 is also planned, and there’s a mobile version of the game for iOS and Android devices as well.

Source: Twitter

PS4 Software 3.00 Beta Details

The beta for Playstation 4’s system software 3.00 was released yesterday.

The beta for Playstation 4’s system software 3.00 was released yesterday. The beta launch, codenamed Kenshin , was announced by Sony’s VP of Platforms Marketing John Koller on the official Playstation blog.

Many new key features have been added or improved upon. Koller noted that some of these key features may be removed from the system software’s final build.

Online storage capacity increases from 1GB to 10GB for PS Plus members. A usage meter is added to easily monitor available storage space

Video sharing is made a lot easier, especially when it comes to livestreaming as players can now livestream directly to YouTube. Their broadcast will be viewable on all YouTube platforms including the new YouTube Gaming apps for iOS and Android. Users can also upload a 10 second maximum video clip to Twitter. They will have the ability to trim down longer length videos if needed. Gamers can even watch their friends gameplay sessions by sending a ‘Request to Watch’.  It will either start a live broadcast or a Share Play session with the person currently gaming.

Startups on the cusp of success get major push at ECS

This sponsored post is produced in association with Nvidia.

Image Credit: Nvidia

In startup land, financing is getting harder. Valuation inflation is dissipating, and investors are demanding profitability, and fast. The pool of resources required to build a successful tech company is also larger than ever as the technology industry matures and the demand for vertical integration booms.

“Even if you have great technology and people, even if you’re in a big market space, sometimes you still don’t make it,” says Jeff Herbst, vice president of business development at Nvidia. “Getting your voice heard, getting funded, getting the attention of and partnering with companies like Nvidia is not always easy.”

Nvidia decided to tackle that challenge in their arena by adding the Emerging Companies Summit, which features the Early Stage Challenge, to their annual GPU Technology Conference.

For new startups, conferences are an essential investment, offering opportunities to network, gain insight from peers, critique from leaders in the space, and build the vital connections a company requires to grow.

But a more focused conference, Herbst argues, has an even stronger value proposition. “Our GPU Technology Conferences and Emerging Companies Summit are amazing because all the folks who come, they share a very deep, common technology interest,” he says. “They’re using a GPU-based platform, or they desire to use a GPU platform, in some shape or form.”

It’s a scenario that seems to offer unmatched visibility for GPU-based companies in front of investors, customers, and partners — a platform to deliver their message directly to the people who matter the most. For the 12 companies chosen to present in the Early Stage Challenge, it’s a chance to leverage the notoriety of Nvidia, even if they don’t win the $100,000 prize.

The conference is also an opportunity to spotlight companies dominating the fast-surging trends in the industry. This year they’re focusing on China’s startup explosion with the China in Focus event, and the major growth in the virtual reality ecosystem with the VR Showcase, which allows new companies like BioflightVR to reach a broad compliment of technologists, artists, technicians, and dreamers in the VR space.

BioflightVRwill demonstrate its virtual reality platform, designed to revolutionize medical diagnostics, training, and education to the people who matter the most. “GTC and ECS are critical to support and grow the VR community,” says Bioflight CCO Rik Shorten. “At an event like this, we get all the stakeholders in one place for a week to discuss where we want to take this industry together.”

Co-founder of EASE VR, Fred Spencer, agrees. “We’re extremely excited to share what we have been working on to such a large, focused audience,” he says. “In many ways, this is our public launch. Our ideal is to expose as many people as possible to our vision and revolutionary analytics experience engine technologies.”

The scope and opportunity of the conference brings back previous attendees, too. “As runner up of last year’s Early Stage Challenge, we wanted to come back and showcase all the progress we have made over this past year,” says Faris Alqadah, co-founder and CEO of QM Scientific, which leverages deep learning and computer vision for their predictive shopping brainchild. “ECS is a great opportunity for getting publicity for our venture, honing in on leads for strategic partnerships, and meeting great entrepreneurs.”

With their GPU technologies, Nvidia is providing a platform for companies to innovate on top of. It’s not just a chip, but a complete platform that involves tools, technology, and APIs, as well as developer and marketing support.

“We’re actually taking a lot of business and technology risk out of the equation for them,” Herbst says, “and letting them just innovate and go serve the markets or the opportunities that are most interesting to them.”

This has resulted in some extraordinary, creative projects that are pushing the boundaries of the technology.

During the Emerging Companies Summit and the VR Showcase, startups will have the opportunity to pitch their work in front of a live audience of VCs, technology executives, and press, and take home major cash prizes.

Showcases like these, where young companies have the opportunity to lay out their business plans and their ambition have given Herbst a unique view into how startup companies need to evolve.

“One thing I have observed about business plans and projections is the first couple of iterations almost never get it quite right,” he says. “And many companies often end up in a very different place from where they started. Be willing to pivot. Listen, learn, and be responsive.”

The Emerging Companies Summit,part of the annual GPU Technology Conference, takes place Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at the San Jose Convention Center, in Silicon Valley.

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New Iron Maiden Music Video Tips Hat to Video Games

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There’s no doubt about it: Iron Maiden is one of the most iconic and successful bands in the history of humanity.

There’s no doubt about it: Iron Maiden is one of the most iconic and successful bands in the history of humanity. Even though they’ve yet to be included within the hallowed chambers of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with more than 85 million records sold worldwide over a career that has spanned 35 years, the heavy metal act has unquestionably gone on to solidify themselves in the pantheon of rock gods.

As a matter of fact, the potency of Iron Maiden’s influence extends well beyond the ethereal and intangible realm of music, as the group has also impacted the gaming world as well. For instance, the band’s songs – most notably “The Trooper”, “2 Minutes to Midnight”, and “Run to the Hills” – have been featured in multiple iterations of the rhythm games Guitar Hero and Rock Band . Not to mention, Iron Maiden has even had a first-person rail shooter called Ed Hunter built around their undead mascot Eddie the Head, which put players in the perennial zombie’s body as he toured the stories and universes behind of the ensemble’s album covers.

Considering all of this, with Iron Maiden’s past being somewhat intertwined with video games, it kind of comes as a surprise that the new music video for their song “Speed of Light” features the virtual medium so heavily. As it happens, the entire thing takes a cue from Tron and has the band’s collective avatar Eddie traveling in a wormhole of sorts as an amorphous skull, warping throughout gaming history.

Not only does Iron Maiden’s music video make reference to video game trends, but it also connects the visuals with the group’s records. For instance, the initial “level” Eddie explores has graphics from the 8-bit era, and has a stage setup akin to the very firstarcade standup cabinet, wherein he hacks through some enemies with a hatchet – inspired by the cover artwork for Iron Maiden’s album Killers – in order to rescue a red leather-clad damsel from what is ostensibly a hulking brute of a building superintendent.

Later, Eddie gets transported to the 16-to-32-bit era to revisit the band’s Somewhere in Time imagery, as he blasts bad guys away à la side-scrolling shooters like Contra . After that, the video pays homage to the popular 2D fighter Mortal Kombat , as it pits Eddie against “The Beast” AKA Satan (an allusion to the seminal LP The Number of the Beast ), and has him decapitate Lucifer as his fatality. Finally, the footage caps off the loose plot with the perspective shifting into first-person 3D action in the vein of Skyrim and Call of Duty with Eddie slashing and shooting his way through reanimated skeletons and a giant dinosaur, bringing to mind the designs from the album Powerslave .

At any rate, Iron Maiden’s new song is nothing short of stellar, as it sounds like a return to form for the British heavy metal band. Plus, a lot of the mock-up gameplay featured in the footage actually seems like they could be lot of fun if they were playable titles.

“Speed Of Light” is the first single off the upcoming album The Book of Souls , Iron Maiden’s first album since 2010’s The Final Frontier .

Source: Iron Maiden

Fallout Shelter’s New Big Update Adds Crafting And More

A little more than half a year after Bethesda released their first free mobile app, Fallout Shelter, they have planned for a major update to be released this week.

they have planned for a major update to be released this week. Based on this major update maybe the developers are really considering continuing their branch into mobile gaming? Because of their successand the complexity of this update, Fallout Shelter could really be opening up the door for them.

The details on the new update for Fallout Shelter was released earlier today on Bethesda’s website. In this big update, you will be able to build new rooms, get new items from lunchboxes, and even give your dwellers pets! Lunchboxes will now contain five cards, and the fifth card will be junk, which Bethesda says is more useful than it sounds. Not only can you now get outfits and gear straight from Fallout 4 on your quests, but you can also craft them in the safety of your vault.

These new rooms allow for further customization of your dwellers. Build a barbershop to customize their appearance, or build a crafting room to make your own gear and clothes. You can also give your dwellers little critters to accompany them, such as dogs, cats, and birds with their own bonuses.

If you have not downloaded this game on your iOS or Android devices yet go and give it a try for a great Overseer and Fallout experience.

Mortal Kombat X May Tease New DLC on Monday

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It’s no secret that NetherRealm Studios is keen on injecting as much longevity into the wildly successful Mortal Kombat X as they can.

as they can. Whether the development team is offering new fighters like horror film icons Jason Voorheesand Predator, or a patch that adds new costumes, it’s obvious that the goal is to keep Kombatants playing for as long as humanly possible. The strategy is undoubtedly working, as Mortal Kombat X has gone on to become the best selling game of 2015 so far.

Up to this point, NetherRealm Studios has definitely kept the popular fighting title chock full of content, but it seems as if developers are intent to makeone of the most heavily updated titles of its generation. Today, the game company’s Creative Director Ed Boon took to Twitter to announce a Kombat Kast to be hosted on the well-known streaming site Twitch this Monday, which could mean the tease or reveal of new DLC.

The coverage officially begins on August 31, 2015 at 3:00 PM CDT on NetherRealm Studio’s Twitch channel, and is being called the “Patch Notes Stream”. The title of the broadcast indicates the high possibility of developers simply reporting on updates to rectify glitches or a patch for new stage brutalities, but Boon’s imploring of fans to “Tune in on Monday for the latest Mortal Kombat X news & klues!!” hints at something more.

Been a while since we've had a Kombat Kast. Tune in on Monday for the latest Mortal Kombat X news & klues !! pic.twitter.com/mcYExX9QYQ— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 27, 2015

Several days ago, the Creative Director confirmed that NetherRealm Studios considered including the Terminator as a DLC character, and typically Boon’s activity on social media regarding Mortal Kombat X builds to a bigger announcement of some sort later on down the line. Not to mention, when Tremor was introduced to the roster during an online stream a little over a month ago, developers hinted at more DLC characters being incorporated with a Kombat Pack 2. Taking that into account, it’s still possible that we might see Arnie reprise his role as the T-800 in the game. Adding the time-traveling assassin would certainly be perfect, considering Predator’s also a Kombatant and that Schwarzenegger starred in both of the ’80s films.

Bear in mind, this is all speculation on our part, but again, the fact that Ed Boon uses the term “klues” in this afternoon’s announcement suggests a bigger disclosure. At any rate, Mortal Kombat X fans will have to wait until Monday to find out what comes to pass.

What surprises do you think NetherRealm Studios has in store for its fans with the upcoming Twitch stream on Monday? Do you believe that the developers will announce fresh characters via another Kombat Pack? If so, which fighters do should be added next? Smoke? Fujin? Spawn? Or maybe a long shot like Ash Williams from the Evil Dead series?

Mortal Kombat X is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while a last-gen port of the fighting game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is also planned, and there’s a mobile version of the title for iOS and Android devices as well.

Source: Twitter

Far Cry Primal Leads Top Selling Games of February 2016

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Far Cry Primal tops the best selling games list for February 2016, beating Street Fighter 5 , but hardware sales suffer a huge decline in the NPD Group’s latest report.

Set in pre-historic times, Far Cry Primal ditches the series’ vehicles and modern weaponry for spears, clubs, bows, and animal companions. However, while the game’s pre-historic gameplay had many intrigued, there were concerns that Primal was just a re-skin of Far Cry 4 (the fact that the two games seem to share a mapalso raised eyebrows). Moreover, some players were frustrated that the game doesn’t include co-op.

This didn’t seem to matter too much, though, as Ubisoft’s open-world game topped the software sales list during February 2016, according to a newly released report from the NPD Group. Coming in second was 2015 release Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and in third place was Grand Theft Auto 5 , with the game continuing strong years after its release (the most recent tally put it at over 60 million sales).

At number four, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 was the next new release on the list, followed by basketball sim NBA 2K16 in fifth place, and LEGO Marvel’s Avengers , which was released in the last few days of January, in sixth.

Arguably the second biggest release of February, Street Fighter 5 , was way down at seventh place. While Street Fighter 5 ‘s incredibly short story campaignmay have put some players off, it’s important to note that the NPD Group doesn’t track digital sales (a majority of sales on PC are digital) or physical game sales outside the US.

The top ten finishes out with Minecraft in eighth place, Fire Emblems Fates: Birthright in ninth, and Fallout 4 at number 10. The NPD Group says that if all three versions of Fire Emblem Fates were combined, the game “would have ranked third for new physical software sales”.

As for hardware sales, the PlayStation 4 once again beat out its competitors to become the best-selling console for the month. However, the NPD Group says that total hardware sales dropped by 26% in comparison to February 2015, with figures heavily influenced by the decline of current-gen consoles, which dropped by 77%.

Sales of current-gen consoles, on the other hand, only declined by 6% in comparison to February 2015 and are likely to bounce back this month. Tom Clancy’s The Division has become Ubisoft’s fastest selling game everand likely helped move a few consoles in the process, while (console-only release) EA Sports UFC 2 will surely help shift some console units when the fighting sim releases next week.

Source: IGN

Journey,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ & ‘Far Cry 3’ Lead D.I.C.E. Awards Nominations

‘Journey,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ & ‘Far Cry 3’ Lead D.I.C.E.

‘Journey,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ & ‘Far Cry 3’ Lead D.I.C.E. Awards Nominations

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has announced the nominees for the 16th annual Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (D.I.C.E.) Awards. Leading the pack this year is thatgamecompany’s Journey , which scored eleven total nominations, including Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Downloadable Game of the Year, Casual Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Story.

Each of the remaining Game of the Year nominees (all of which placed on Game Rant’s list of the Top 10 Games of 2012) earned multiple nominations, as well, with five for Borderlands 2 , seven for Far Cry 3 , eight for The Walking Dead , and three for XCOM: Enemy Unknown . Other heavily nominated games include Halo 4 (six nominations) and Dishonored (five nominations).

The awards will be handed out on Thursday, February 7th, during the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, and the ceremony will be streamed live on Machinima.com starting at 7:30pm PT. Nerdist head honcho/comedian Chris Hardwick will assume hosting duties for the event, replacing longtime host Jay Mohr.

Hardwick, who tweetedthat he’s “EXCITED like heated electrons” to be hosting the show, discusses the event.

“The D.I.C.E. Awards are VERY important to me. I have been playing video games since there were video games. I hope there is some type of Dovahkiin Shout that will make sure I don’t mess this up. I will find one! If not, I’ll just look like a psychotic, screaming a**hole leading up to the Awards.”

Take a look at the full list of 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards nominees below.

Game of the Year

Borderlands 2 Far Cry 3 Journey The Walking Dead XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Journey Dishonored Far Cry 3 The Unfinished Swan The Walking Dead

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Journey Nintendo Land Sound Shapes The Unfinished Swan The Walking Dead

Downloadable Game of the Year Fez Journey Mark of the Ninja The Unfinished Swan The Walking Dead

Handheld Game of the Year

Gravity Rush Paper Mario Sticker Star Resident Evil Revelations Sound Shapes Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Mobile Game of the Year Fairway Solitaire Hero Academy Horn Rayman Jungle Run

Web Based Game of the Year Bingo Bash Burrito Bison Revenge CityVille 2 Sim City Social Song Pop

Action Game of the Year Borderlands 2 Far Cry 3 Halo 4 Hitman: Absolution Sleeping Dogs

Adventure Game of the Year

Assassin’s Creed III Darksiders II Dishonored New Super Mario Bros. Wii U The Walking Dead

Casual Game of the Year Fairway Solitaire Journey Puzzle Craft Rayman Jungle Run Sound Shapes

Family Game of the Year Dance Central 3 Just Dance 4 LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Nintendo Land Skylanders Giants

Fighting Game of the Year Persona 4 Arena PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Souldcalibur V Street Fighter X Tekken Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Racing Game of the Year

Forza Horizon LittleBigPlanet Karting MotorStorm RC Need for Speed Most Wanted Trials: Evolution

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year Diablo III Dust: An Elysian Tale Guild Wars 2 Mass Effect 3 Torchlight 2

Sports Game of the Year FIFA Soccer 13 MLB The Show 2013 NBA 2K13

Strategy Game of the Year FTL Minecraft Xbox 360 Orcs Must Die 2 Total War: SHOGUN 2 – Fall of the Samurai XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

Assassin’s Creed III Far Cry 3 Hitman: Absolution Mark of the Ninja Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Borderlands 2 Dishonored Far Cry 3 Halo 4 Journey

Outstanding Character Performance Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina Far Cry 3: Vaas Montenegro Halo 4: Cortana Mass Effect 3: Female Commander Shepard The Walking Dead: Lee Everett

Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity Call of Duty: Black Ops II Halo 4 Nike + Kinect Training

Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering

Dishonored Gravity Rush Journey The Walking Dead XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay Borderlands 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops II Diablo III Halo 4 Journey

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Diablo III Far Cry 3 Journey Mass Effect 3 World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design Assassin’s Creed III Diablo III Journey Medal of Honor: Warfighter Syndicate

Outstanding Achievement in Story

Dishonored Journey Sleeping Dogs Spec Ops: The Line The Walking Dead

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Call of Duty: Black Ops II Halo 4 Hitman: Absolution Need for Speed Most Wanted Total War: SHOGUN 2 – Fall of the Samurai

Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim dominated the D.I.C.E. awardslast year with wins in five categories. Following strong showings at the 2012 Spike VGAs, will Journe y and The Walking Dead be able to keep their winning streaks alive? Will either game earn more awards than Skyrim ? What do you think?

Ranters, are there any games that you think the AIAS has unfairly overlooked? Do you find any surprises among the nominations? And who would you pick to win the major categories? Let us know in the comments below.

The 16th annual D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony takes place February 7, 2013. Check back with Game Rant for a full list of the winners.

Follow me on Twitter @ HakenGaken.

Source: The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences