official Killer Instinct

[trooper11]

Some good news coming along with the Spinal update:

http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/30/5363086/killer-instinct-update-puts-rage-quitters-in-jail

They are pushing out a system to deal with rage quitters. I'm glad they got this out as quickly as they did. Several people were complaining about this. I have run into it a couple times, but not often. Sounds like a pretty good system to deter that behavior.

I would have posted a link directly to DoubleHelix's patch notes, but I couldn't get the link to work, so maybe its not up yet.

[trooper11]

Here is a link to the patch notes.  They didn't do much character tweaking this time around:

http://www.doublehelixgames.com/forum/index.php?threads/1-30-developer-notes-spinal-jail-system-and-fixes.7427/

[trooper11]

Just an FYI to anyone that ahs not been playing ranked matches since the update, there are some issues with the new rage quit system.  Its causing all sorts of issues like false positives and resulting in longer wait times for finding matches.  DoubleHelix is working on it and say they will try to have something out by early next week at the latest to resolve the issues.

[kaotic]

Amazon acquired Double Helix.

 

"Amazon has acquired a gaming studio called Double Helix Games, TechCrunch has learned, and Amazon now confirms. The deal was for both talent and IP, we understand. Financial terms have not been disclosed."

 

Source

 

There's good news for Killer Instinct though.

 

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[George P Global Moderator]

MS sounds like they'll just move KI internally after double helix is done, still though, I question why MS didn't grab the studio if they were up for sale, missed opportunity. I guess they have enough people in MSS to not need more. There is also the chance that people jump ship and go work somewhere else instead of staying with Amazon.

[trooper11]

Wow, I'm pretty shocked by this.

 

I wonder if any of the guys that are working on KI are moving to MS' internal team to continue working on it. 

 

I really hope MS' internal team is just as connected to the community and aggressive in addressing issues.  That's something the Double Helix team was good at.  I'm a bit nervous at the moment.  I'll wait and see how this new team behaves.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

MS sounds like they'll just move KI internally after double helix is done, still though, I question why MS didn't grab the studio if they were up for sale, missed opportunity. I guess they have enough people in MSS to not need more. There is also the chance that people jump ship and go work somewhere else instead of staying with Amazon.

 

 

Wow, I'm pretty shocked by this.

 

I wonder if any of the guys that are working on KI are moving to MS' internal team to continue working on it. 

 

I really hope MS' internal team is just as connected to the community and aggressive in addressing issues.  That's something the Double Helix team was good at.  I'm a bit nervous at the moment.  I'll wait and see how this new team behaves.

 

Phil already tweeted details on the hand-over:

 

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Our internal KI team is still here and franchise is in good hands. We had a plan in place for this transition.

 

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/431285692887351296

 

Hopefully some of them have experience in fighting games or KI is going to go to pieces.

 

I really don't think MS are interested in buying up studios. The same thing happened when Bizarre went up for sale and they could have secured PGR. Or even when Bioware was bought by EA. They could have secured Mass Effect as a continued exclusive (which it was at the time before going multi-plat).

[George P Global Moderator]

They didn't seem to care then but that was a different time and they had different people in charge.  Since then they have bought a few studios and also created more on their own. If they saw this coming in advance and probably didn't want to get into a bidding war they set up a new team in advance to get this going. I wouldn't be surprised to find out a number of DH developers have decided to move over.

[trooper11]

Yeah, my concern is who is part of the internal team.

I really hope they brought in experienced people and people from the DH staff. Hearing the details of the team would make me feel better.

[trooper11]

A little good news.  KI has been confirmed for EVO 2014, so hopefully we get to see some high level play from a healthy sized crowd.  It wont match the size of Marvel or SF4 since its in its first year after all and its a console exclusive title, but hopefully its a nice start.

 

Right now, Double Helix needs to focus on finishing up Season 1, but specifically get those fixes out for the Spinal patch.  The Jail system and the Spinal teleport bug need attention asap. 

[George P Global Moderator]

I have no doubt they'll finish it up like they said, probably under contract to do this which doesn't change even if Amazon owns them now. Until this game is done though I don't expect to hear about the new team that will be taking over, so we'll have to wait.

[trooper11]

I have no doubt they'll finish it up like they said, probably under contract to do this which doesn't change even if Amazon owns them now. Until this game is done though I don't expect to hear about the new team that will be taking over, so we'll have to wait.

 

 

Surely MS is going to try and poach some people from Double Helix since they have so much experience with the engine, etc behind the scenes. They put together a strong group of fighting game vets.  If MS doesn't then I hope they have been using the time to build up their own team of vets.

[trooper11]

Good news everyone, Double Helix has released a new patch that fixes several issues, including Spinal's game breaking instance, the rage quiter jail system and more:

http://www.doublehelixgames.com/forum/index.php?threads/patch-notes-spinal-jail-general-fixes-2-19-2014.8352/

So thats great to hear, Spinal is now safe to play and he has been improved a bit. I still think he will need some balance tweaking at some point, but its ok right now.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Killer Instinct gets a new developer, Fulgore title update arrives April 9

[George P Global Moderator]

Sounds good to me, maybe MS should keep an eye out before this studio gets bought by someone else and they have to move KI yet again. :P

[neoadorable]

When is the story mode being added? Or was it added already? Haven't loaded up KI in a while...hey i paid $20 for this, I'M ENTITLED TO A CAMPAIGN! Compensate me, MS! :rofl:

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

When is the story mode being added? Or was it added already? Haven't loaded up KI in a while...hey i paid $20 for this, I'M ENTITLED TO A CAMPAIGN! Compensate me, MS! :rofl:

 

The story mode is included in the April 9th patch/update.

[neoadorable]

Thanks for the update, that's very good to know!

[trooper11]

I like the new developer choice for now. They have fighting game experience and they were very interested in developing the game before Double Helix was chosen, so I look forward to seeing where they take it.

 

Still, it's fulgore and the arcade mode that I am excited about right now.

 

Also, the addition of custom lobbies with up to 8 people is great.

[trooper11]

Wanted to update this thread to draw everyone's attention to EVO. The finals will be tomorrow and the Top 8 winners and losers brackets are thankfully fairly varied. Only one Jago player made it, which I don't mind at all :laugh:

Looks like viewership and participation in KI has grown significantly in the FGC, so that is a great sign for the future and continued support by MS. A quick comparison tonight saw ~20k on average watching KI semifinals vs ~50k for MvC3 semifinals, so not bad at all.

Anyone that is looking to follow the KI finals tomorrow, the Twitch channel will be:

http://www.twitch.tv/srkevo1

11am PST/2pm EST

Of course, there will be great matches to watch all day across all of the fighting games being represented tomorrow, so anyone really into following the scene is in for a treat.

Also, if anyone missed it, Maya was officially announced at EVO yesterday:

http://shoryuken.com/2014/07/11/maya-set-to-return-in-killer-instinct-season-two/

Its crazy that they announced her before say Cinder which was hinted at during the official trailer for TJ Combo, but many people were happy to see the announcement.

[trooper11]

Well the finals turned out great and there was a lot of . There was some drama and close matches right up to grand finals. I noticed twitch viewership was good too for finals, averaging ~95k which puts them in the middle of the pack with Smash. Marvel and SF4 can easily hit 150-175k though, so they will remain the kings viewership wise.

Its a good sign for next year though.

[George P Global Moderator]

I lucked out and missed the chance to watch any of the EVO stuff, but it's good that KI is part of it, that means it's liked enough and looked at as a serious enough fighting game to even be part of it.

 

Or maybe they just don't have enough fighting games and everyone's tired of watching SF and MvC each year?  :P

[trooper11]

Or maybe they just don't have enough fighting games and everyone's tired of watching SF and MvC each year?  :p

Oh no, there are plenty of fighting games they could squeeze in there. Heck, MK9 didn't get a spot. KI viewership and participation outdid favorites like KOF 13, BB:CP, and Injustice.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

The lineup is decided on over many factors, most importantly of all is balance and interest. MK9 was dropped because support was dropped to keep it short. Injustice has had more recent balance patches, which if it didn't release would have probably seen it replaced with another game.

 

MS are pushing KI quite heavily and wanted it to be part of the event (including the whole event using 360s as much as possible). Same story with SSBM. Both games will probably have short lives at the tournament (Melee is obv a classic that has yet to be replaced). MKX will probably be part of Evo15 if it's out in time. Depending if SSB Wii U doesn't repeat the same mistakes as Brawl, it'll probably make an appearance too.

 

Anime games aren't very popular and don't see the support even from the fanbase they do have. Same story when it comes to SG etc.

 

As for SF/Marvel, they never get boring. Without them there is no Evo. They went 10+ yrs replaying SF3S/MvC2 :yes:

[HawkMan]

I really really want to like KI. but every time I try to play it I get my ass handed to me by the AI on noob mode.

 

XO needs some playable fighting games I can actually enjoy.