Fatality performed on kommunity rumors

NetherRealm Studios' creative director Ed Boon has shut down online rumors that the studio is preparing to reveal a brand new entry in the Mortal Kombat seri?es at this weekend's Evolution Championship Series (Evo) tournament.

As is always the case with MK, the rumors of the reveal came about because someone decided that they existed. Social media quickly started turning up the volume on whispers that Warner Bros. Games and NRS were preparing to reveal Mortal Kombat 12 during this week's Evo festivities. S??peaking on? Twitter yesterday, however, the usually enigmatic Boon chose to be more direct, openly squashing the reveal talk.

After IGN noted that several fighting game brands would be in attendance at Evo, including Mortal Kombat, Boon retweeted IGN's comments, succinctly adding "...except Mortal Kombat. Sorry." Boon would then follow this response up with his own tweet, stating "It's time for Street Fighter and ?other great fighting games to be in the sun! Let's enjoy tha??t!"

//?twitter.com/noobde/status/1554289885397278721?s=20&t=nvRPhgW2yrcGA-wphPTcUw

NetherRealm Studios ended support for Mortal Kombat 11 back in 2021, almost immediately after the release of the gory sequel's final DLC update. Despite earlier plans for MK11 to be the longest supported and most kompetitive MK title ever, it seems that the NRS team was instead pushed quickly onto their next project once the DLC had hit the market. It should be noted that the persistent circulation of Warner Bros. Games sales r??umors, as well as the disruption of the tournament scene due to COVID-19, has probably throw?n more than a few roped spears into NRS' fragile calendar.

Nevertheless, Netherealm Studios is currently working on its next release, and no doubt we'll be hearing more about it when the time is right. With Street Fighter 6 scheduled for launch in early 2023, and the Capcom marketing machine in full gear, I would be very surprised if we heard/saw any official reveal for a Mortal Kombat 12 (or any other N?RS title) during the remainder of 2022.

Of course... This doesn't exclude any possibility of seeing the krew in MultiVersus before then...

Evo 2022 takes place August 5-7 at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

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Follow the action and reveals all in one place

Evo 2022 kicks off this weekend, running from August 5 through 7 in Las Vegas. And for the first two days, PlayStation will be hosting a ??special Evo Lo?unge livestream to manage all the action and reveals in one place.

The Evo Lounge live show will run Aug?ust 5 and 6, under the PlayStation Tournaments banner. It'll be hosted by players and commentators, with highlights, bracket updates, interviews, and reveals.

If you're unfamiliar or haven't watched a bunch of Evo before, the event hosts tournament brackets in each of its main games. This year, the main lineup is:

Evo 2022 main game lineup

• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
• Guilty Gear -Strive-
• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
• Tekken 7
• The King of Fighters XV
• Melty Blood: Type Lumina
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Granblue Fantasy: Versus
• Skullgirls: 2nd Encore 

Throughout the?? weekend, each tournament will run, starting with pools of entrants that gradually whittle their way down to smaller and smaller denominations in a double-elimination format. Usually, the finals are marked by the Top 8 remaining players.

Each game will have its own stream, where commentators will hop around between the matches going on. And there will be a lot of matches going on; Strive leads the pack with over 2,000 entrants.

With all this going on, the Evo Lounge sounds like it will act as a multi-game, check-in and check-out stream to cover all the games and amazing moments. They've hosted ?a similar stream before, and it's usually worked well as a way to highlight cool moments across the different tournaments. Think of it as the NFL ?Red Zone of Evo 2022.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZud-p0QRvA

Of course, there are also reveals. The PlayStation blog entry advertises that Arc System Works, Warner Bros. Game??s, Capcom, SNK, and Bandai Nam??co Entertainment will all be in attendance. "Viewers will be treated to the latest news from our favorite games and a few sneak peeks of what's ahead," according to PlayStation.

While Evo always entails some fighting game news of some kind, sounds like it'll be a packed show this year. Evo 2022 runs August 5 through 7.

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New Capcops patch notes just dropped

Back in February of this year, Capcom angered many within the Street Fighter community, particularly those who organize and participate in tournaments, with its controversial "Capcom Community Guidelines" proposal. This initiative saw the publisher attempting to exert tighter control over all publicly run Street Fighter tournaments, from national gathe??rings to the smallest of local events.

The guidelines, some of which took legitimately positive steps forward, also raised eyebrows with their stringent rulings in regard to topics such as royalty-free media ownership, prize pool capping, a ban on merchandise sales, the banning of spectator tickets sales, and the reserved right to deny any Street Fighter tournament from taking place should it not fall within the new scheme's guidel??ines.

While one might understand Capcom's desire to ensure that tournaments and locals that feature the Street Fighter brand will be run correctly, especially given the wild west, generally unregulated nature of the FGC, many saw the rules as being less about safety and security and more about Capcom simply trying to take control of the entire Street Fighter competitive scene on all levels �from local gaming bar gatherings to national tournaments? with hundreds in attendance. Tournament organizers and players were quick to vent their feelings on social media, which led Capcom to make a tactical withdrawal in order to fine-tune its plan.

Yesterday, the legendary developer/publisher announced that it had completed its revision of the Capcom Community Guidelines, releasing a revised version of its "Street Fighter license" initiative. Amusingly, the revised document reads like patch notes for an SFV update, with buffs and nerfs made to?? several of the guidelines' more contentious rules.

First and foremost, Capcom has stated that it will no longer take royalty-free ownership of any professional media (live streams, photos, videos, etc) that was captured at a Street Fighter tournament. This was definitely one of the most egregious and grossest demands of the original proposal, so it was a must that this particular rule was stamped out with comple??te prejudice.

The annual prize pool cap, originally decreed to be $2,000 USD per event and $20,000 or equivalent per year, has been wavied. The prize pool cap for a single event is now $10,000. There is no longer a cap on the total amount of money that can be offered over a 12-month period. Regarding sponsorship contributions, the cap for a single event may not exceed $6,000 USD or equivalent ?per event, while the annual total cannot exceed $30,000.

Tournament Organizers may charge for spectator tickets, but the money made must be used to offset tournament costs. This would seemingly imply that any host running the tournament is not allowed to make a profit on spectator tic?kets, and that spectator ticket revenue cannot exceed the overall cost of running the event. If so, then smaller venues might need to pay specific attention to this ruling.

Tournaments can be run at bars and other venues where alcohol is served, provided that the tournament is not run by the owner o??f the establishment itself, nor that the tournament is sponsored by or advertising any alcoholic beverages.

These are just a few of the most notable revisions Capcom has made to its Community Guidelines document, which you can check out? in its entirety right here. While all of the above will likely be welcomed by Street Fighter? tournament organizers, the antsy nature of having a multi-billion dollar organization hanging over your event like impending danger is a little unnerving �especially when such a decree has yet to be declared by the publishers of other major fighting games.

While it is extremely important that the FGC regulates itself in regards to player safety, insurance, rule legislation, and etiquette, many TOs might feel some nervousness at Capcom's proposals. Lest we forget, when Capcom thought that 2017's Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was going to conquer the world, a leaked internal memo exposed an extremely draconian plan to practically take complete co??ntrol of the failed sequel's entire competitive scene.

And thus, with Street Fighter 6 just around the corner, (already predicted to be the crown jewel of Capcom's future esports dreams), it's understandable to witness the full-time organizers of the Street Fighter competitive scene? eyeing these guidelines with trepidation. These are still the very early days of the initiative, and we'll see how Capcom's tentative handshake with the FGC plays out as its "Street Fighter license" scheme rolls out over the remainder of the competitive year. For ?better or worse.

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At least you get a burrito out of it

Over the years, games have solidified their partnerships with some of the most notorious gamer-foods, like Doritos, Mountain Dew, and Oreos, just to name a few. Now Chipotle wants to get in on the action, this time in collaboration with Halo Infinite's multiplayer.

Now through the end of the month, players can earn five Challenge Swaps per order if they order online or through the Chipotle App and use the promo code HALO117. Challenge Swaps allow players to reroll which challenges they get in-game, "just like customizing a burrito bowl," says a post on Xbox's website.

As part of the promo, the free multiplayer tournament, The Chipo??tle Challenger Series, will be making its return this year from December 10-13. $65,000 in prize money is up for grabs, along with other undisclosed prizes. On December 15, the event will end with a Show Match featuring creators like TimTheTatMan, Nadeshot, Myth, and Cloakzy.

Halo Infinite has both daily and weekly challenges for you to complete, and if you get through enough weekly challenges you'll unlock the Ultimate Challenge, which gives you some special loot. The actual challenges range from meleeing from behind, killing an enemy Spartan with a sniper rifle, or winning Capture the Flag matches. Challenges are also placed in one of three tiers, and randomized for e?ach player. In theory, if you have a set of hard challenges, you could reroll them with the Chipotle promo, but you could still end up wi?th bad challenges, so there's not even a guarantee it'll work out.

The tournament sounds like fun, but we can't deny that the Chipotle Challenge Swap situation is a bit... weird. Usually when you buy into a gaming partnership, you're getting extra stuff like double XP, but here you're just paying to not deal with certain types of challenges you might find annoying. That's supposed to be the reward? I get to not interact with parts of your game? Where's the fun in that? At least some of the campaign rewards transfer to multiplayer.

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Send your best monster off to fight the world's finest

Two classic Monster Rancher games are getting their deluxe ports brought over to the West next month. And to mark their arrival, Koei Tecmo has announced a special Monster Rancher tournament, dubbed the Monster Koushien W??orld Battle.

The first Monster Koushien was held in 1997 at the Tokyo Game Show. Ever since, it's been the representative tournament for the monster-raising series, and it's being held this year in a global fashi?on.

When Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX launches on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, you'll have the option to participate in the tournament. Simply raise a winner and upl??oad their data to a special server, where the top players in the world will be dec?ided.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZhhomNLR8s

More details will arrive in the future. The store pages for the Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX releases have also gone live, on both the eShop and Steam.

Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX are ports of the original Monster Rancher games, brought forward to modern systems. It's not a remaster, so go in expecting that same PlayStation 1 style from?? the original entries. That said, if you enjoy raising a monster, managing training and health, and then competing in the arena, it's still that Monster Rancher.

It's been ages since I first played these games, and I have to say, I'm looking forward to diving back in. I don't know if I'm quite up to snuff against the greatest raisers and trainers in the Monster Rancher world, but maybe I can teach my Mocchi or Suezo a few tricks by tournament time. And if these ports work out, then I can maybe hope beyond hope for a port of the Monster Rancher Battle Card games. There are ??dozens of us who played them, and they are pretty ??good!

Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX arrives on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in the West on Dec. 9, 202??1.

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