Good news: New Killer Instinct

[A Black Falcon]

That video was very interesting. Double Helix may be ready to turn themselves around, I just might give this game a chance.... in the arcade... Except arcades don't GET new games any more around here. (Dave & Busters might once have BEEN the place to go for "modern arcade games", but the one around here hasn't updated their games in about 5 years.) So yeah, considering how wary I am of the XB1 at the moment, I will likely put off checking out this game.

One issue I've heard some people worried about is that if they're doing a tournament or something, it would be quite difficult to get them all online all the time, but there's no choice with this system... could be an issue.

If they intend to have an actual box version (I had heard otherwise), then their weird "demo version" works out fine.

The visuals look very impressive. However, the art design looks like they are attempting to add the "modern gritty" look to characters that are supposed to look "extreeeeme 90's". Not a big fan of that particular change.

I am very curious to find out if the combo breaker system is working well. That's one of the big things about the KI series, being able to break combos with the right move and timing.

Yeah, I know KI always was mostly about combos, combo breakers, etc. I never liked that, because I'm just not able to memorize those long combos... I can handle special moves, but long button-press combos, even if they've got various options to connect them or something... yeah, I've never been able to do that.

One last note. The fighting game community is toxic. I have zero desire to try to get in it, and frankly I don't think I'm WANTED in it. Even Smash Bros, probably the least sexist of all the fighting game franchises, has developed a rather toxic "professional" community. It is fortunate that the few local tournaments had at small shops around here tend to be led by people decidedly "outside" of this community, or I'd feel entirely unwelcome there too. (It is this community, by the way, that invented the "No items, Fox only, Final Destination" paradigm that's so widely mocked by everyone else just trying to have FUN in the game.)

http://www.plasticbrickautomaton.com/comics/45.jpg

So as much as I might enjoy playing a fighting game with friends, I end up terrified at the notion of joining the fighting community at large. It doesn't help that anyone else with such concerns is told in no uncertain terms "good, we don't want you here anyway".

I've heard about this, but there are so few female gamers that I doubt it'll change anytime soon... I mean, with almost all male hardcore audiences, the results, while sad, aren't terribly surprising, particularly with something like fighting games where the hardcore are perhaps more likely to actually meet in person than fans of many other genres are.