official Killer Instinct

[trooper11]

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:

 

 

SSBM was there thanks to huge community interest. Considering that viewership for the SSBM was close to Marvel and SF last year and this year shows there is surprising interest.

 

I do wonder why you think it and KI will have short lives though. KI seems perfectly suited to the FGC crowd. Its a high energy game that just promotes hype, not to mention it holds its own as a quality fighting game. With another 8 characters added this fall, I think there is potential for growing popularity. Having good prize pools at EVO, etc will also help. Some of the more well known players in the FGC have picked up the game in a serious way, that helps too.

 

I see MKX taking the place of Injustice, but I'm not sure what would take the place of KI. We will see though.

 

 

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. 

 

 

Why do you think KI is unplayable?

 

I do think Capcom will push SF4 to next gen consoles before too long. Then there is MKX. Maybe GG Xrd will go multiplatform as well.

[Woelfel]

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. 

 

Did you do the dojo mode to learn how to play? Once you have mastered all the trials, you "should" be able to beat the computer on noob mode.

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

Did you do the dojo mode to learn how to play? Once you have mastered all the trials, you "should" be able to beat the computer on noob mode.

 

Yeah,

 

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. 

I have got through at least 5 opponents in less then 5 minutes, on the diplay machine.    But I used to play KI arcade as a kid, and some of the mechanics are embedded in memory i guess.

[FiB3R]

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.

I don't get my arse kicked quite so easily, but if you want to get the most out of it, you really need to put in some time. The training mode is pretty good.

I could very much do with taking my own advice there.

[Woelfel]

Also, playing with actual people help as well, giving pointers and such. I'm just getting back into KI and could help you out with some stuff. Most of the stuff I've learned is from playing with friends and watching the pros fight and learning stuff while watching. And looking at forums. The new forums are ultra-combo.com and I know the KI community can help you out.

[trooper11]

Wow is all I can say!

Iron Galaxy has not been wasting any time and the upcoming Season 2 rollout is going to be huge. They released the upcoming changes to the existing roster and to the general gameplay mechanics. Let's just say KI is going to feel like a new game in many ways. Fulgore got the biggest set of changes and as a Fulgore player, I'm very happy to see them!

http://shoryuken.com/2014/08/28/killer-instinct-balance-changes-coming-with-tj-combo-early-access-on-september-23/

Here is Iron Galaxy's archived twitch stream where they go over the changes:

http://www.twitch.tv/irongalaxy/b/562835335

I'm looking forward to getting started with all of these changes, should be fun.

[Woelfel]

Yea, the changes are cool. Happy Thunder has a little tool even though it has huge startup and recovery but that's fine, it needs to be balanced. Changelog is also at KI's new site:

 

http://www.ultra-combo.com/forums/index.php?topic=1576.0

[trooper11]

Big day for KI fans. Season 2 has officially launched and that means not just TJ Combo with his stage, but also Maya and her stage! Maya is really crazy with her dual daggers. I've already seen some very exciting play with her.

 

Here is the latest S2 trailer with hints at the other 7 characters to come, along with what else rolling out with S2:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chHrUttxv64&list=UUOgaIuQYGr6ow_jbote4BKA

 

In that trailer they mention visual upgrades and some of that is already present in the completely redone UI and a nice boost to 900p/60 (and they have hinted at working on the engine to hit 1080, so that would be a nice accomplishment). So far, performance is every bit as solid as it was before, so Iron Galaxy has done a great job so far.

 

Oh and the first stage Ultra has appeared in TJ's stage, so that is cool.

 

If there are enough people around here that want to play, we could run some lobbies sometime. It's still one of my favorite games.

 

 

Here is a run down of some S2 details from the Xbox Wire page:

 

http://news.xbox.com/2014/10/games-killer-instinct-season-2-launch

[Woelfel]

Introducing...KAN-RA (khan-RAH)!

 

 

 

Age: 2534
Height: 5?11?
Blood Type: (when he had it) O
Nationality: Babylonian
Gender: Male
Type: Sorcerer
Personality Traits: Arrogant, inquisitive, confident, and expressive
Weapon: Dark magic, matter manipulation

 

Here?s a part of his backstory:
 
Babylon, 559 BC: Kan-Ra is named Vizier, head advisor to the throne.
 
Over his years of study in this position, he becomes fascinated with the King?s enigmatic royal guard ? a living bronze statue ? and the magic that keeps it alive. From all of Kan-Ra?s cautious attempts to observe and study the creature, he deduces that its power source could theoretically keep it alive forever. The thought of being able to study and learn until the end of time enthralls Kan-Ra and feeds his obsession for knowledge.
 
Scholarly research in the royal libraries into past wonders and lost arts of magic fuels his ambition; Kan-Ra feels that as the smartest person in Babylon only he is qualified to rule. He seduces the King?s wife using a charm spell and begins setting in motion a plan to take the throne by using the Queen as his assassin.
 
Lacking the power to control the spell effectively, it wears off prematurely. The Queen, thinking herself simply coming to her senses after being seduced by Kan-Ra, is overwhelmed by guilt, killing herself and leaving a note detailing her and Kan-Ra?s betrayal.
 
Enraged, the King has Kan-Ra hunted down and captured by his royal guard, who brings a bloodied a broken Kan-Ra before the throne. The King summons his most powerful sorcerers and curses Kan-Ra with a withering rot- a painful dark magic curse that disintegrates flesh and organs slowly? painfully. Writhing in agony, rotting a bit more every day, Kan-Ra is exiled, he and his ambition doomed to wither away into nothingness.
 
In exile Kan-Ra uses what little knowledge he has gained of magic to slow the rot. While the King assumes him dead, Kan-Ra?s intellect is focused on reversing the rot so that he can have his revenge. He tracks down sorcerers and occultists versed in dark magic, learning what he can. Unable to slow his rot further, he instead places upon himself other curses that work to offset the rot. He seeks out magical artifacts and talismans to ease the pains and ailments these layers of curses cause him, carrying them on him in ever-growing number; a magical balancing act of curses and boons at play throughout his being.
 
?to be continued!

 

TRAILER: Friday 11/21
ULTRA RELEASE: Monday 11/24
COMBO RELEASE: Sunday 11/30 (5PM PST)
 
We will also have a live stream on trailer day (next Friday!) to show the character being played and walk everyone through his moveset.
 
Finally, let?s talk about going forwards.
 
Starting in January, we?re going to try some things a bit differently with how we talk about upcoming characters, fuelled directly by your feedback here on the forums. Expect each character?s name, concept art, story, and gameplay preview streams to appear before their launch, not right around it.  We may show a character in stream before the trailer launches, even. We?re going to play it by ear and see what has the most impact, so each month may be a bit different in how things are released. Bottom line: More insight into KI?s development, earlier.

Why not starting in December? Because the December character will be released well before Christmas, so that month will be accelerated somewhat anyway.

Additionally, Kraig and I will start tag-teaming the textual streams going forwards. We?ll alternate weeks talking about characters and gameplay vs. UI, modes, and all other things KI.

 

Q&A:

• It?s been 31 days since S2 start. Where?s the next character? ?Every month? could more accurately be represented as ?every calendar month? instead of ?every ~30 days?. Not every update will drop on the same day of every month, as some months have a lot more features packed into them than others and requires more test and development time.
• Why isn?t KI on PC? Finding the right KI experience for PC is certainly something we?d like to tackle, but we have no plans for a PC version right now. We?re 100% focused on Season 2 and Xbox One.
• You had a 360 build?! Where is it? We explored the idea of KI on 360, but the time to build and maintain it while working on the Xbox One version was a non-zero resource impact, so we decided not to continue development of it.
• Why can?t I use 360 sticks on X1? Currently, there isn't a way to directly use 360 sticks on the X1. I fought very hard for this feature before we launched X1, but because of the new security protocols, it wasn't possible to maintain direct support. There may be options coming soon from partners that could help bridge the gap.
• Where is story mode for S2 characters? We can?t launch a story mode without having all the characters in place. Story mode will arrive with the last major season 2 update, just like last season. We do have a cool update coming for the S1 story mode that you?ll see in-game by the end of the year though. More on that in a future stream.
• Why aren?t you promoting KI with TV, tournaments, etc.? We?re looking into more ways to get the word about KI S2 out there in a bigger way, likely timed to some of the big features that are coming early next year. More details in the future, but you can help here too ? tell us how or where you?d like to see KI represented, and we?ll see what we can do. IG hosts regular events in the Chicago area, but we can certainly try to hit more.
• Why don?t we know all the character names, etc.? Why didn?t you show full concepts in the launch trailer? Are you that far behind? No, we?re not. Read on.
• Lack of new / big information every week means you?re going to delay a character release, right? No, we?re just being quiet because it?s hard for people to sometimes see the difference between ?work in progress? and ?final?, and as we?ve seen in the industry showing some things early or talking about a radical high-level concept can have huge negative reactions without context around it; we?ve been more picky with when we share certain things because we only get one chance to make an impression with most people ? early or not.