The fighting game community (FGC) has grown from holding local events to smaller venues to occupying ballrooms at four-star establishments with talent from all across the globe attending. Major sponsors such as Capcom, Namco Bandai, and others are responsible for the development of some of the world’s most famous franchises in gaming, and are showcased at a central tournament featuring the top fighting talent from across the world. With major prize pools, fighting games are now reaching a platform that can be compared to traditional eSports.

Each week, I’ll be posting interviews I’ve had the pleasure of conducting with members of the fighting game community. The interviews will touch upon their history in the FGC, where they got their start, and what they’d like to see from video games in general.

This weeks guest is a man who’s been a great help to me as well as a veteran in his own right: Jason Laboy aka VXG | Jason24cf.

Kash: Thank you for joining me today, please introduce yourself to the Broken Joysticks readers.

Jason: My name is Jason Laboy and I go by the GT jason24cf in the FGC. I’m mostly known for my interviews, team managment and now video reviews of gaming related products.

Kash: A fighter’s tag is like their identity. Some would rather use their name and some nicknames; how did you decide what yours will be?

Jason: My GT has been with me for 20yrs now. The “24″ stands for my universal sports number and “CF” stands for Center Field which was the position I played when I played baseball in the mid 90′s – early “00″.

Kash: How would you say you got your first start in the FGC?

Jason: Well I always played SF since Street Fighter 1 was in the arcades. I never really took the game serious because I played sports and I considered gamers who played all day as nerds who had no life. I played games but only sports games but I preferred to go out and physically compete in sports like baseball, football and basketball. But I just got tired of losing in SF so I took the game seriously because I hate losing.

Kash:  Your competitive nature from sports both real life and online crossed into fighting games.

Jason: No question it did. I never played a game to have fun. I play to win. When I win I have fun. It’s something my coaches installed in me during my playing days. So I can’t shake that mentality.

Kash: Which game(s) are you most known for playing and what character(s) do you use?

Jason: I only play Street Fighter and I only use Fei Long. I am a big Bruce Lee fan since I can remember so any character that looks like Bruce I will try to play that game and use that character. Tekken had a Bruce clone (Marshall Law) with the G.O.D track suit but I felt it was a whack attempt at making Bruce Lee a character in a video game. World Heroes from SNK had Kim Dragon. SNK and Capcom were the two that did the best back in the day, but overall Capcom did the overall best job at cloning Bruce with Fei Long.

Kash: Tell us a bit more about VxG and your job position with them. Are you both a player and their public relations go-to guy?

Jason: I gave up tournament play because I had way too many responsibilities with player management while at tournaments. I’m now public relations/social media manager for VXG now. I wasn’t a bad player because I beat many of the games best when we play FT5, but I couldn’t focus on my games because I had to make sure the players were where they needed to be, film the teams matches, work with sponsor’s and film my interviews.

Kash: If you could clone yourself, would you attempt to have one of you do the PR stuff and the other win the tournaments, or do you think you’re better off not competing to better manage the fighters possibly with the sports background you have?

Jason: In all honesty I never wanted to win a major because I knew I entered the game far too late, I just wanted to beat the best players and that was good enough for me. But I do wish I played better at tournaments.

Kash: It’s good though, you showed them what you were capable of for someone who wasn’t doing this all the time.

Jason: Yeah, hearing some of the best like K-Brad, Sanford, Dieminion and many others tell me “your really good and you would be so much more better if you played more often”. My main goal I set for myself was to beat my teacher Inthul.

Kash: I just recently set that as one of my two goals to accomplish between now and next year. Did you ever beat your teacher?

Jason: He retired before I got the chance to challenge him offline.

Kash: Do you think other people in the FGC like their characters because they like them, or because they need to use them based on the current tiers and meta game?

Jason: Some players are loyal to their character like Dieminion. He is as skilled as they get and he could use any character in the game but he is loyal to his character. Other players just pick the best characters because they want to win.

Kash: The FGC has been slowly evolving from something small to big as time continues to move. Do you feel the FGC is at the same level as eSports?

Jason: It’s getting there but it’s going to take much more for it to reach that level. Games like League Of Legends, Call Of Duty and Starcraft attract a far larger audience. The FGC is making progress. It it’s still far behind. The only support the FGC gets are from FGC companies like Mad Catz. Until bigger companies like, for example, Pepsi or bigger, support the FGC it will never reach that eSports level. VXG has made great progress with getting those companies attention. Rolando and Triforce are marketing a event like VXG to get those companies and they have done an amazing job with getting many sponsors on board. The FGC is very hard to market because these companies look at it from a distance and with just a glance. The image they see is drama, pop offs, talk of collusion and top players who lack charisma. Many top players don’t do a good enough job helping new players.

Kash: How difficult do you think it is for a new person to enter the community and feel welcomed?

Jason: It’s difficult for new players to feel welcomed in the FGC because if they lose in a match in a easy manner they are called “free” and from that point on they are looked down on. That can make the player feel very discouraged and in turn it will turn him off to the FGC.

Kash: While it’s something that’s been going on for a while behind the scenes, what’s your take on pot splitting? Should there be ramifications for doing it?

Jason: I’m not against pot splitting as long as the 2 players put forth the best effort. We as spectators put our money into the pot when we enter the game so we want the players to still give us a show.

Kash: While this is something the readers don’t know but your interviews are what inspired me to do better at this; why did you decide to do interviews in the FGC?

Jason: Wow, thanks for the kind words! I like conducting my interviews because growing up and admiring athletes. I looked at Sports Center all day! I wanted to know as much as I could of my favorite players. So I do the same in the FGC because at times top players can come off as rude and its not their intentions. I want to be able to provide those fans the opportunity to learn about their favorite players. A lot of the questions I ask top players I get from fans. So I am honored when someone stops me at a tournament or in the street and thanks me for the interview I held.

Kash: You mentioned you played Sports game earlier but other than those and Street Fighter, what other styles of games do you play?

Jason: Growing up I was a big RPG fan. I loved the SNES and all the RPGs. I played RIFTS which was a real world RPG. I enjoyed action games and I spent a lot of time in the arcades. But I played them all. RE, the first 3, are my all time favorites as well. But lets not forget Madden, NBA Live, Jam, MLB2K, and every other sports game around. I owned them all.

Kash: What is your current system of choice and which system do you see yourself using for the next generation?

Jason:  Xbox all the way. I only own a PS3 for Blu rays. The system is trash! The frame rate is trash for Capcom games. It’s no secret that Capcom employees have said in public on many occasions that their fighting games don’t run at 60FPS on the PS3. Ono said it at a EVO panel back in 2011. I recorded the panel and loaded it. So when players say “the PS3 doesn’t lag” I laugh.

Kash: With the current release of Injustice: Gods Among Us, and all of its unique features in a fighter, how do you think the FGC will treat it? I know you picked it up, how do you feel about it personally?

Jason:   I really like the game. It’s something new but like with all games when they are released they have many flaws. My biggest issue with Injustice is as follows: every character has the same walk speed. To me that is a bad design. With some characters having a projectile in some way, characters should have different walk speeds to counter those projectile spams. The game lacks effective anti airs. A lot of this game is based on jumps and I personally do not like that. I trained very hard to reach the level I’m at in SF and I learned to love the footsies game. I prefer that style of fighter. Playing footsies, is so much fun. It’s like a battle of inches.

Kash: While Boon and the rest of the NetherRealm staff are using this as a building block, do you think the game will help start an evolution in the fighting game genre? So far it seems your character and stage selection are crucial as well as each character playing uniquely.

Jason:  I really like that idea. It’s new and it adds to the game. I just would wish that characters would have better walk speed and anti air. I respect Ed Boon and Hector Sanchez for all their work. It’s a great game but I have spoken to many of my Japan connects and I have been told “from what we seen the game looks fun but lacks a lot of fundamentals”

Kash: If you could grab any character from one game and put them in any other game, who would you pick, where would you place them and why?

Jason: I never been a fan of mashup or crossover titles. I’m in the minority but I feel like they really don’t work. I know they are way more people who feel I’m “crazy” but look at SFxT. Aside from so many issues the game has failed to build off the success of SF. That said if Fei Long was in SFxT I would be playing it lol. To me Fei Long is my all time favorite character. Next is Superman since he is good in Injustice. And to anyone who says “Superman is OP” I reply, HE IS SUPERMAN!

Kash: In this segment, I’m going to name two different characters, series, etc., and just tell me which one you’d pick over the other one.

Jason: Ok.

Kash: Tekken’s Jin Kazama or SNK’s Terry Bogard, which fighting game poster child can give Ryu a run for his money?

Jason: None, they are both cool but we are talking about Ryu! He is the poster boy. Which is why the term is used “he is like Ryu” main character with great tools and fundamentals.

Kash: Probably both known for their crazy style, NBA Jam or NFL Blitz, which is the better arcade sports title?

Jason: NBA Jam! Blitz was fun but NBA Jam was the ish at the arcades. Breaking backboards, hearing Marv Albert say “from downtown!” That was the best.

Kash: Probably two sports title in the same boat would be the NBA Live series and the NBA 2K series. Which of the two is superior?

Jason: This is tricky. During the Genesis days it was NBA live but with Dream Cast and Xbox 360 2K is the king of basketball games.

Kash: Gears of War or Call of Duty, which of these two high selling shooters you think will last the longest for better or worse?

Jason: Oh man! Gears of War 1 was the king to me. I had no better feeling then getting “seriously” but COD has done better as Gears always tries to add something which only makes it suffer.

Kash: With Cliff “Cliffy B” Bleszinski’s departure last year, does this cement your answer with Call of Duty?

Jason: Gears suffered with Cliff on Epic. I enjoyed Gears 2 but it was so filled with bugs. Gears 3 was also good but the double barrel shotgun and retro lancer turned off many vets, myself included. Granted the game shouldn’t be just about shotguns but that’s what set it apart from COD and Halo. That action movie feel was the best. If you want to kill a player from afar then we screamed at you and told you to “go play call of booty” lol

Kash: Had to go retro with his last one, Super Mario Brothers 1 or Sonic the Hedgehog 1, which was the better platformer in your eyes?

Jason: Mario. I remember the day the NES came out with R.O.B! 1985 was a good year.

Kash: What’s your top three favorite games of all time?

Jason: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 (FF3 on SNES) and 3rd is up in the air. I had to spend an extra year in HS because of all the HS I missed due to those 2 games. I own the soundtracks to both and still listen to them. I even sampled a Chrono Trigger sound to make a rap beat. Real talk I still own the original games in mint condition along with the Nintendo strategy guides!

Kash: Any upcoming tournaments that you’ll be attending, whether to interview or secretly compete in?

Jason: No more competing for me. I will be going to ECTV, CEO and maybe EVO.

Kash: With stream sites like Twitch becoming the easiest gateway for people to view the community and players in action, is there any particular stream were people may see you or even the players you manage play outside of a tournament setting?

Jason: Teamspooky is the go to stream. I remember the first time I met Sp00ky. I felt like a mega fanboy because his streams helped me fall in love with the FGC. As for me… You can find my work on Eventhubs.com and I will start working on getting my own domain. If people enjoy my work and ask for more I may do more for them.

Kash: Any last words for the Broken Joysticks reader as well as any way for them to contact you with any questions they might have?

Jason: Thank you for this interview, I’m a nobody in the FGC but if I help 1 person then I did my job. Follow me on twitter @jason24cf also subscribe to my YouTube which is also jason24cf. I enjoy the work I do and I take pleasure in hearing people enjoy my work. Also good luck to you and keep up your good work.

The next title in SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise will be exclusive to Nintendo’s Wii U home console and Nintendo 3DS portable system. Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata announced the details of a new partnership with SEGA during a new Nintendo Direct video announcement today. Sonic Lost World is a new action platforming game, and more information about it will be announced before the E3 2013 video game trade show begins on June 11.

“These announcements in conjunction with SEGA demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3.”

The Nintendo Direct also announced Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games for Wii U, and revealed that additional SEGA Game Gear games would be coming to the Virtual Console service for Nintendo 3DS.

“The onetime rivalry between Mario and Sonic has grown into a friendship that has never been closer,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “These announcements in conjunction with SEGA demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3.”

SEGA Game Gear: Games from the classic hand-held system are headed to the Virtual Console service. These include:

• Columns
• Crystal Warriors
• Defenders of Oasis
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• G-LOC: Air Battles
• Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
• Sonic Blast
• Sonic Drift 2
• Sonic Labyrinth
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Tails Adventure
• Vampire: Master of Darkness

What do you think of the news?

The fighting game community (FGC) has grown from holding local events to smaller venues to occupying ballrooms at four-star establishments with talent from all across the globe attending. Major sponsors such as Capcom, Namco Bandai, and others are responsible for the development of some of the world’s most famous franchises in gaming, and are showcased at a central tournament featuring the top fighting talent from across the world. With major prize pools, fighting games are now reaching a platform that can be compared to traditional eSports.

Each week, I’ll be posting interviews I’ve had the pleasure of conducting with members of the fighting game community. The interviews will touch upon their history in the FGC, where they got their start, and what they’d like to see from video games in general.

This weeks guest is a man who’s widely considered as one of the top El Fuerte players in the United States: Renzo Vigo a.k.a. iPeru.

Kash: Thank you for joining me today, please introduce yourself to the Broken Joysticks readers.

iPeru: My name is Renzo Vigo aka iPeru and I am an okay Street Fighter player.

Kash: A fighter’s tag is like their identity. Some would rather use their name and some nicknames; how did you decide what yours will be?

iPeru: Ok well it started wayyy back when Halo CE came out; I was looking for a tag and couldn’t really come to one. Finally I decided since I’m Peruvian and that used to be unique back in the day I would use Th3peruvian (lol I know). As I went through Halo 1 then 2 I realized people were just calling me peru on online cause it was too long to say Th3peruvian when your making call outs every 3 seconds. Soo by the end of Halo 2 I changed my tag to IIPeru, since Peru was already taken. The “i” got added at seasons beatings 2011. I believe it was during a team tourney and they asked me my name for the stream, before that point I was strictly an online warrior soo I thought no one would recognize me by just peru, so I said IIPeru and they only heard one “i” and voila my tag was born.

Kash: How would you say you got your first start in the FGC?

iPeru: It would all have to start with vanilla SF4, it was the first fighting game I had ever played. My first tournament was some local at held at the University of Utah.

Kash: Which game(s) are you most known for playing and what character(s) do you use?

iPeru: I mostly and only known for Super Street Fighter 4. My main character I play is El Fuerte.

Kash: We don’t see many people pick up El Fuerte. What made you decide on picking him about the other characters on the roster?

iPeru: Initially the only reason I picked him was because he was Spanish and the only other Spanish fighter is Vega and he is whack lol. After I actually started learning the game however I realized I had made the right choice. His movement and the freedom he has in the game I couldn’t imagine playing another character.

Kash: Are you currently sponsored by anyone?

iPeru: Well, yes and no. I do have someone who who is sponsoring me currently to go to select events, but it’s not your traditional sponsorship between a company and player.

Kash: Do you think other people in the FGC like their characters because they like them, or because they need to use them based on the current tiers and meta game?

iPeru: It depends on the level of player I believe. If you look at all the people that are good, most of them are using the character they like best. When you go down to mid and beginner level players however you see them switch characters depending on what won the last tournament or who Sako is playing lol.

Kash: The FGC has been slowly evolving from something small to big as time continues to move. Do you feel the FGC is at the same level as eSports?

iPeru: Lol not at all have you ever seen a Korean StarCraft tournament? But seriously we are no where close unfortunately.

Kash: How difficult do you think it is for a new person to enter the community and feel welcomed?

iPeru: Not at all I’ve said this a lot and the more and more I go to fgc events the more I believe it. The fgc is the most open, welcoming community out of all game genres. I dont know any other community where someone will let you just borrow a piece of equipment that costs over $120 and not bat an eye. If you were to ask a Halo or COD player to borrow their Xbox controller, they would look at you like you just asked them to sleep with their first born daughter.

Kash: How nervous do you get during a tournament match?

iPeru: In the beginning I was nervous just like anybody else, but now almost never. I only get a little bit jittery when I am playing international comp, but even then it’s not nervous, more hype than anything.

Kash: While it’s something that’s been going on for a while, what’s your take on pot splitting? Should there be ramifications for doing it? Do you believe players are insulting fans, their previous opponents and their sponsors in doing so?

iPeru: I feel like when it affects the product for the viewers or is blatantly obvious then yes, there should be some sort of punishment. People are tuning to see the best play the best with their best characters, and when people pick random teams or secondary characters it’s like spitting in the viewers faces.

Kash: Other than fighting games, what other styles of games do you play?

iPeru: Honestly I play everything, if I had to narrow it down I would say rpgs and fps.

Kash: What is your current system of choice and which system do you see yourself using for the next generation?

iPeru: Xbox 360 and only Xbox from here on out. Microsoft 4 lifeeee yaaa boiiiii *shoots guns off in the air* lol

Kash: With the current release of Injustice: Gods Among Us, and all of its unique features in a fighter, how do you think the FGC will treat it? Will you consider picking it up?

iPeru: Well what I think and what I hope are two different things. I think the fgc will treat it like every other new game that comes out. Play it for a month or two then jump back onto SF4. What I hope is that it becomes a mainstay and competes with Marvel and SF4 and doesn’t become another Mortal Kombat. Yes I am picking it up, and am liking it so far, it’s just taking a little bit to get used to playing a different kind of fg when SF is all I know.

Kash: Do you think the game will help evolve the fighting game genre? So far it seems your character and stage selection are crucial as well as each character playing uniquely.

iPeru: Oh ya of course but I don’t think interactables would work with every fg, it is definitely a cool thing and works very well with Injustice.

Kash: If you could grab any character from one game and put them in any other game, who would you pick, where would you place them, and why?

iPeru: I would put Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 in Final Fantasy 8. Why, so he could pimp smack Squall and Seifer and show them who is the best FF character of all time.

Kash: In this segment, I’m going to name two different characters, series, etc., and just tell me which one you’d pick over the other one.

iPeru: Yezzir

Kash: Chun-Li or Sonya Blade, which veteran female is stronger?

iPeru: Hmm Chun-Li she’s got bigger thighs to choke people out with lol

Kash: Haggar or Zangief, which big man is the true king of the squared circle?

iPeru: I’m gonna have to go with Haggar he’s the mayor and he’s got dat PIPE!!!

Kash: Fei Long or Marshall Law, who is the better tribute to Bruce Lee?

iPeru: Definitely Fei he’s all business and he’s a movie star that’s a no brainer.

Kash: Princess Peach or Princess Zelda, which lady should rule the lands of Nintendo?

iPeru: Hmmm I’ll go with Zelda, Peach has no powers and controls a kingdom of mushroom folk and non teenage mutant ninja turtles bleh.

Kash: Last one, Batman or Spider-man, which of the two most popular comic icons reign supreme?

iPeru: Oh the easiest one of all Batman hands down. He would find a a way to defeat Spider-man easily if he hasn’t found one already…

Kash: What’s your top three favorite games of all time?

iPeru: I would have to say Final Fantasy 7, Street Fighter 4, and Halo 2.

Kash: Any upcoming tournaments that you’ll be attending?

iPeru: Ya I will be attending CEO and EVO I hope to see everyone there!

Kash: With stream sites like Twitch becoming the easiest gateway for people to view the community and players in action, is there any particular stream were people may see you play outside of a tournament setting?

iPeru: Of course I’m usually always on Solid Panda’s endless stream at twitch.tv/pandaxgaming and always looking to help people promote if they’re starting out.

Kash: Any last words for the Broken Joysticks reader as well as any way for them to contact you with any questions they might have?

iPeru: Ya I’m reachable on twitter @801iPeru  of course shout outs to the Utah scene, Andy Nguyen aka Hadoukenmd aka without him I would be nothing in the FGC and wouldn’t be able to go to any of the majors I’ve gone to. 801 Strider the best player in Utah and one of the best in the world. Without having someone better than me to train with I would have never got to level I am now. If you guys see me at tourney don’t be shy come say what’s up and lets get some games in! I can also be of help in terms of coaching, lets get #CoachiPeru trending!

Lots of stuff today in the eShops, including a ton of new titles for the Wii U Virtual Console and the 3DS Virtual Console.

Check them out below!

Nintendo adds new titles to the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS™/Nintendo 3DS XL system, to the Nintendo DSi™ Shop for the Nintendo DSi system and to the Wii™ Shop Channel for the Wii console at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Thursdays.

This could quite possibly be some of the best news I’ve heard in quite a while in regards to Electronic Arts (EA). It’s been known for quite a while that EA’s upcoming game Fuse will not require an Online Pass to play the multiplayer component of the game, but who knew that EA was actually listening to its fan base (for lack of a better word) when we say that Online Passes suck!

According to a recent interview with GamesBeat,  EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg, told them that, “Yes we’re discontinuing Online Pass. None of our new titles will include that feature.”

I think the question remains is how EA will get around this. It’s not a matter of “if”…just “how” and “when”. This could have something to do with the possible success of micro-transactions through games like Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3. But, either way it’s good to see that they are doing away with these Online Passes that were “supposed to extend the server life” of games because the them being bought used. Which we all know that didn’t happen as most of the game servers are still taken down pretty much two years after the games have been released – mostly sports titles though.

Anyways, what are your thoughts on EA getting rid of the Online Passes? Perhaps EA is trying to get back on the right track with consumers…?

Dark is in development over at Realmforge Studios, which is located in Munich, Germany and is being published by Kalypso Media (who just happens to own Realmforge Studios as well).

Dark puts you in the shoes of Eric Bane, a newly turned vampire who has no recollection of how he came to be a vampire. He sets off with his new found vampire powers in pursuit of his lost memories and to find out just what the heck is going on. There are various ways to go about playing Dark and obviously being a vampire, stealth is one of those choices…

Dark is set to release sometime this summer on Xbox 360 & PC.

Trion Worlds, creator of Defiance, have announced the first details on DLC for their epic MMO Sci-fi shooter. For the Season Pass holders, you should know the deal by now, you will get 5 DLCs at a reduced price. But the question always remains: Is that content going to be good enough to warrant my purchase of the Season Pass?

Well, I know this is just the first DLC but it looks like Trion Worlds will be doing everyone justice. Not only for the Season Pass holders, but there will also be free DLC so that it won’t isolate friends from playing with each other regardless of what content each other have. Which is a good thing seeing how Defiance has now surpassed over 1 million registered users and I’m quite sure that many of them are waiting it out to see what kind of DLC we will get from the Season Pass.

Buy the DLC for $10:

• Access to play the Castithan Species
• Access to a new Story Mission Line with new Battle Arena Game Mode
• Access to the new Castithan Battle Arenas
• Castithan Charge Blade & Ceremonial Mask as a reward from Story Mission Line
• A unique version of the Raptor, a new 4 player truck of doom
• A unique Castithan version of an outfit
• A Charge Weapons Starter Pack
• Access to New Pursuits
• New Xbox and PS3 Trophies and Achievements

You get this in the DLC for free:

• Access to the new Charge Weapons Class and Castithan Blades
• Access to Sieges, a new Open World Game Mode
• Access to the new Monolith Major Arkfall
• Access to a new PvP Map – Military Academy
• Join a friend into the Battle Arenas Game Mode
• Duel your friends and neighbors in the Duels Game Mode
• Enemies, lockboxes, and events can drop Charge Weapons
• Select a new voice for you character
• Multitude of game improvements from UI to content

You can buy these individually from the store:

• New Mods that tint the color of your Castithan Blade
• Lockboxes have a chance to get Charge Weapons
• More versions of the Raptor, the new 4 player truck of doomed compensation
• Character Customization changes: Appearance change, name change, or everything change

There hasn’t been a confirmed release date on the first DLC, but we’ll keep you informed as we hear more!

In development at 2K Marin is the newest installment in the XCOM legacy of games titled The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. With the success that the first game on this generation of consoles it was only a matter of time before another one would be on the way. This game is not a direct sequel, in fact it’s not even played from the same perspective. At it’s core, The Bureau is still an XCOM game, but a few changes have been added to make use of the first person perspective that the game is played in.

Here are a few details that have been released so far:

• Gameplay for The Bureau has been redesigned to make strategy, tactics and careful planning crucial
• Designers thought it would elegant to stick a single viewpoint, so the first-person view has been dropped in favor of a third-person tactical view
• Gameplay is likened to Gearbox’s Brother’s in Arms
• Players control William Carter, the main character, and must use the ‘Battle Focus’ command wheel to deal with enemies
• The wheel is split into three sections for Carter, the commander, and two agents
• Time slows when Battle Focus is activated and players can issue commands using a free-roaming, almost top-down camera. It feels like XCOM, but in real-time
• Battle Focus is primarily used to maneuver characters, but becomes very effective in conjunction with powers and combos, which are unlocked by capturing aliens
• Engineers can place turrets, Carter can then lift these up and hold them in the air to reach entrenched enemies
• In many respects, The system is a carryover from BioShock 2, which required players to use traps, weapons and plasmids in similar ways. 2K Marin wants players to experiment with powers, gadgets and weapons to cater play styles to themselves
• The Bureau is set in 1962, when aliens first arrive on Earth
• Players will see XCOM form as an offshoot of the FBI
• Art style mixes ’60s American nostalgia and modern sci-fi. The agents are described as what it would look like if Mad Men’s Don Draper joined the Ghostbusters
• Agents in The Bureau can be customized, named, individually leveled up, and they all have their own skill trees. Their deaths are permanent
• The story is “fully-formed”, and has interactive, branching dialogue, as well as environmental storytelling
• Not classic XCOM, but also not a shallow shooter
• The Bureau will have an explorable HQ, let players research and develop new weapons and powers
• There will also be side-missions, and a story affected by choice and consequence

And the first trailer, courtesy of CVG:

So what do you all think of the first person perspective for this game? I know it’s not classic XCOM, but it could work really well.

The UK branch of the International Business Times has reported that it seems the next Xbox may be called Xbox Infinity. The above logo however hasn’t been confirmed, and has even been called into question by a user on VG Leaks. Developer sources have apparently confirmed that the big reveal coming on May 21st will be named the Xbox Infinity. Is this true?

Keep in mind, none of this is confirmed for certain but this is a new possible name for Microsoft’s new console. Personally I liked Xbox 720 which was one possible name for the system which has earlier been code named Durango. Rumors also speculated this next version would just be called ‘Xbox’ dropping any numbers.

I guess we’ll have to wait till May 21st to see if this is the actual name. Whatever it’s called, we’re eager to see what the Next Gen Xbox details will be!

Revealed by an accidental Xbox Live listing as shown here Nether Realm has since revealed that Batgirl will indeed be a DLC character. The Mortal Kombat developer stated “Looks like the bat’s out of the bag. Batgirl is a playable DLC character in Injustice. Catch her gameplay next week!”

This brings us up to two of four DLC characters we know of with Lobo being the first announced who will be released on May 7th. He was announced when the game was released presumably (spoilers) due to his inclusion in one of the characters ending sequences in battle mode.

No pricing has been released for Batgirl, but presumably since the Season Pass is $15 for, “4 characters for the price of 3,” she will cost $5, same as we assume Lobo will cost. It also hasn’t been announced what this Batgirl’s background identity is. I guess we’ll have to wait for the video next week!

It was also noted on Gamespot recently that Wii U gamers will get access to Injustice’s DLC this summer. A specific date was not given.