Update 3

On Wakeup SRK E133 last night (May 8th) EVO director Joey Cueller (MrWizard) announced that due to Injustice blowing up in the FGC, they're going to do an official Injustice tournament. This means there's 9 games at EVO 2013, which hasn't happened since EVO 2004.

Update 2

The Breast Cancer Charity Drive has ended, Super Smash Bros. Melee is going to EVO!

1st - Super Smash Bros. Melee$94605

2nd - Skullgirls- $78760

3rd - Super Street Fighter II Super Turbo- $39567

List of nominees

• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• SFIII Third Strike, Online Edition
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Divekick
• Melty Blood Actress Again Current
• MLP: Fighting is Magic
• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Dead or Alive 5
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Injustice
• Skullgirls
• Street Fighter II Super Turbo
• Blazblue
• Soul Calibur V
• Darkstalkers 3

Over $200,000 in donations has been reached, a great day for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

-----------------------------------

Update - The line-up is official!

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Street Fighter X Tekken - Version. 2013
• Tekken TAG Tournament 2
• Persona 4 Arena
• Players' Choice?

8 Games? That's crazy.

What is the Players' Choice?

Mentioned below is a Facebook poll held on the EVO page to see which game you wanted to see at EVO 2013. Every game that got over 500 votes is now eligible. If you want to see your game at EVO, you must donate to Breast Cancer Charity!

The USA Road to EVO season

There will be 4 Road to EVO events with Seeding Points available this year, a much smaller amount than last year. Top 16 at each of these 4 events will get seeding points.

SoCal Regionals

NorCal Regionals

Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 9

CEO 2013

and more unannounced international events!

More info - http://shoryuken.com/2013/01/08/evo-2013-details-game-lineup-get-your-game-to-evo-and-road-to-evo-events/

-----------------------------------

The Road to EVO season is about the begin! Many events will hold seeding point tournaments between now and July leading up to EVO 2013 (July 12-14 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas). This evening we'll find out which 4 to 8 games will be given the main stage spots.

When?

Today (the 8th) 7PM PST / 10PM EST / 3AM GMT

Where?

• http://www.twitch.tv/keits- The official (live-streamed) podcast of shoryuken.com, WakeUpSRK.
• And here, once it's official

EVO 2012 Line-up

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Soulcalibur V
• Street Fighter X Tekken (2 on 2)

Potential EVO 2013 Games

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Soulcalibur V
• Street Fighter X Tekken - Version. 2013
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Tekken TAG Tournament 2
• Persona 4 Arena
• Dead or Alive 5
• Skullgirls
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
• Super Smash Bros. Melee?

My Predictions

The only two guaranteed to return are of course SSFIV and UMvC3. My guess is that they'll also replace Soulcalibur V with Tekken Tag 2, making its EVO debut.

After that? it's anyone's guess. Each game with the exception of the yet-to-be-released Injustice has something going for it, whether that's an existing fan-base, large community support or large developer/publisher support. Street Fighter X Tekken has a lot of negativity after its poor high-level showing last year, Capcom hopes to fix that with the Version. 2013 release. You may be wondering why the 2001 GameCube release Super Smash Bros. Melee has been included. The reason is that on the EVO Facebook page, a poll was created for users to vote for which game they would want to see at EVO 2013. The winner by some margin was Melee, the favoured game of the Super Smash Bros. franchise. Even PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, heavily influenced by the Smash Bros. series, has a shot with Sony's support.

NetherRealm Studios is in a strange place at the moment. With MK's competitive popularity fading and Injustice not out until April, it may be another year before you see a NRS game on the big stage. Unless Warner Bros. really puts in the effort to support Mortal Kombat for its 3rd (and presumably final) Championship.

Dead or Alive 5 may be the most played fighting game by casual fighting game fans this year, and has the support of IGN's IGN Pro League, but is that enough to ensure two 3D main stage games this year? Probably not.

The games I'm pretty sure won't be a main stage game this year are Skullgirls, Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. Skullgirls, through various problems, some the fault of its developer, some not, was unfortunately the disappointment of last year. Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter I believe will find themselves out in the cold in favour of their more popular 3D and anime counterparts, TTT2 and P4A.

The King of Fighters XIII had the 3rd largest entrants last year behind Street Fighter and Ultimate Marvel 3, and 95,000 viewers (on the English speaking Twitch.tv stream alone) tuned in to watch the Grand Final. But it hasn't had much to say for itself since, other than the recent Atlus Fighting Championships. Maybe this is Persona 4 Arena's time, with its fun game, supporting community and the pre-existing Persona fan-base.

Check back or watch the stream to see who the EVO founders have selected this year!

PS. IGN's IPL picks up Street Fighter - Can the FGC become eSports?

PPS. @FLStyle on Twitter

Update 2

The Breast Cancer Charity Drive has ended, Super Smash Bros. Melee is going to EVO!

1st - Super Smash Bros. Melee$94605

2nd - Skullgirls- $78760

3rd - Super Street Fighter II Super Turbo- $39567

List of nominees

• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• SFIII Third Strike, Online Edition
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Divekick
• Melty Blood Actress Again Current
• MLP: Fighting is Magic
• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Dead or Alive 5
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Injustice
• Skullgirls
• Street Fighter II Super Turbo
• Blazblue
• Soul Calibur V
• Darkstalkers 3

Over $200,000 in donations has been reached, a great day for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

-----------------------------------

Update - The line-up is official!

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Street Fighter X Tekken - Version. 2013
• Tekken TAG Tournament 2
• Persona 4 Arena
• Players' Choice?

8 Games? That's crazy.

What is the Players' Choice?

Mentioned below is a Facebook poll held on the EVO page to see which game you wanted to see at EVO 2013. Every game that got over 500 votes is now eligible. If you want to see your game at EVO, you must donate to Breast Cancer Charity!

The USA Road to EVO season

There will be 4 Road to EVO events with Seeding Points available this year, a much smaller amount than last year. Top 16 at each of these 4 events will get seeding points.

SoCal Regionals

NorCal Regionals

Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 9

CEO 2013

and more unannounced international events!

More info - http://shoryuken.com/2013/01/08/evo-2013-details-game-lineup-get-your-game-to-evo-and-road-to-evo-events/

-----------------------------------

The Road to EVO season is about the begin! Many events will hold seeding point tournaments between now and July leading up to EVO 2013 (July 12-14 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas). This evening we'll find out which 4 to 8 games will be given the main stage spots.

When?

Today (the 8th) 7PM PST / 10PM EST / 3AM GMT

Where?

• http://www.twitch.tv/keits- The official (live-streamed) podcast of shoryuken.com, WakeUpSRK.
• And here, once it's official

EVO 2012 Line-up

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Soulcalibur V
• Street Fighter X Tekken (2 on 2)

Potential EVO 2013 Games

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Version. 2012
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• The King of Fighters XIII
• Mortal Kombat (9)
• Soulcalibur V
• Street Fighter X Tekken - Version. 2013
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Tekken TAG Tournament 2
• Persona 4 Arena
• Dead or Alive 5
• Skullgirls
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
• Super Smash Bros. Melee?

My Predictions

The only two guaranteed to return are of course SSFIV and UMvC3. My guess is that they'll also replace Soulcalibur V with Tekken Tag 2, making its EVO debut.

After that? it's anyone's guess. Each game with the exception of the yet-to-be-released Injustice has something going for it, whether that's an existing fan-base, large community support or large developer/publisher support. Street Fighter X Tekken has a lot of negativity after its poor high-level showing last year, Capcom hopes to fix that with the Version. 2013 release. You may be wondering why the 2001 GameCube release Super Smash Bros. Melee has been included. The reason is that on the EVO Facebook page, a poll was created for users to vote for which game they would want to see at EVO 2013. The winner by some margin was Melee, the favoured game of the Super Smash Bros. franchise. Even PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, heavily influenced by the Smash Bros. series, has a shot with Sony's support.

NetherRealm Studios is in a strange place at the moment. With MK's competitive popularity fading and Injustice not out until April, it may be another year before you see a NRS game on the big stage. Unless Warner Bros. really puts in the effort to support Mortal Kombat for its 3rd (and presumably final) Championship.

Dead or Alive 5 may be the most played fighting game by casual fighting game fans this year, and has the support of IGN's IGN Pro League, but is that enough to ensure two 3D main stage games this year? Probably not.

The games I'm pretty sure won't be a main stage game this year are Skullgirls, Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. Skullgirls, through various problems, some the fault of its developer, some not, was unfortunately the disappointment of last year. Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter I believe will find themselves out in the cold in favour of their more popular 3D and anime counterparts, TTT2 and P4A.

The King of Fighters XIII had the 3rd largest entrants last year behind Street Fighter and Ultimate Marvel 3, and 95,000 viewers (on the English speaking Twitch.tv stream alone) tuned in to watch the Grand Final. But it hasn't had much to say for itself since, other than the recent Atlus Fighting Championships. Maybe this is Persona 4 Arena's time, with its fun game, supporting community and the pre-existing Persona fan-base.

Check back or watch the stream to see who the EVO founders have selected this year!

PS. IGN's IPL picks up Street Fighter - Can the FGC become eSports?

PPS. @FLStyle on Twitter

At the very least, I'm hoping Persona 4 Arena gets its finals shown on the final day. PlayStation All-Stars will probably get a spot since Seth Killian and Mr. Wizard have been teaming up for Wednesday Night Fights, and Sony's been sponsoring the past few EVOs. I dunno, it's a bit hard watering down that list; I remember VF5 got some stage time on the last day, but that's only because Sega threw money at its promotion. Can't really say the same for DoA5, as much as I'd like to see that too.

Woo MK9! Regardless of how or why it's on there, I would be so happy to see MK9 have its last hurrah on the competitive scene at EVO2013. Both 2011 and 2012 were an absolute delight to watch the MK9 stuff, especially as someone who learned a lot not only about the game at that level but the culture and language of competitive fighting games. I would understand it's omission but hot damn I would be hype as shit for the MK9 tournament to end all MK9 tournaments.

I think SF4, UMvC3, and KOF13 are guaranteed.

My guess for the big four is SF AE, UMvC3, Tekken Tag and P4A. SC was interesting last year but it doesn't have the staying power to come back. 3-D fighters have it hard and the most popular one right now is Tekken, would love to see VF up there though. Of course AE and UMvC are shoe ins. Now P4A is debatable. KOF was hype last year but I'm not sure if that showcase sparked enough interest to keep it going after the curtains closed. I hope P4A makes the spot as it's seemed to gain a lot of popularity and is a blast to play and watch. The other game I wish could make it in is Skull Girls. The patch really changed it for the better and it's hype once you learn it.

I'm not expecting much more than what was present last year. As much as I would like to see it, Skull girls and Persona 4 arena don't have much of a spot on the main screen.

Unfortunately, 2013 will likely be a repeat of 2012.

In any case, I'll be there live to see it. It should be an exciting show.

Pretty good analysis. Though I am almost willing to double down on SFxT not making it. I don't know what the 2013 version does to fix the game, but the damage has been done to that brand.

Hoping for TT2.

@FLStyle: In all honesty, thank you for consistently bringing me the FGC news I like to read but don't care enough to search out for myself.

Last year's KOF final was the highlight of the tournament for me. Hoping for more awesome this year.

They really need to do something about this thing dragging on on the last day.

Fingers crossed for Ehrgeiz.

@Pessh: Do you have Tekken? There doesn't seem to be an active community on the site.

I love watching the streams but I can't get into fighting games. I try every now and then on big releases but they never stick. Still I love watching other people play it.

All I want is Baz McMahon to have a spot for the VGCW.

Stream is live! http://www.twitch.tv/keits

@thegoldencat7: Yeah got it for Christmas, game is soooo good but pretty hard, much more to it to SF, saw you on earlier, we should play some time.

Nice spread of games! Way to go P4A! I'm going to check out SF X Tekken again after the patch and see if I can get into it then. It's boring to watch but I heard it was one of the most rewarding fighters when you got into it's systems. Even if your favourite fighting game is not part of the main show you can be guaranteed fans that love it like you will be representing it there and organizing tournaments and casuals. Need to talk my friend into going. It looks too hype!

Somebody call Snoop Lion! TTT2 is in!

MOOOOOOORTAL KOMBAAAAAT

Controversy!

KOF!

KOF
Kof
KOF
KOf 
kOF
We're proud to announce MK9 for EVO.
wtf
Nooo
HAHAHA
LMao
Mk9 Kappa

I'm finding it really interesting and awesome MK9 is still getting some love.

Trash games :(

EDIT: I take it all back.

WHERE'S PERSONA DAMMIT

P4A GOT ROBBED.

YES! P4A MADE IT!

Holy shit, 7 games and the 7th is Persona 4 Arena!

FUCK YEAH EVO IS SAVED!

I still don't get how people enjoy watching MK9, it's the most awkward looking and dull fighting game out there. I do like it when someone trolls by doing a fatality though.

Just started listening.

SF4

ULTIMATE MARVEL 3

MK9

SFXT

P4A

KOF13

TAG 2

And a vote for the 8th game which is ran by donations for breast cancer. The one with the most donations wins the 8th spot.

@Sooty said:

I still don't get how people enjoy watching MK9, it's the most awkward looking and dull fighting game out there. I do like it when someone trolls by doing a fatality though.

True, but there were a good chunk of people that competed in it last year for it so it's not surprising that it made it.

SMASH AT EVO!?!?! :0

Happy to see P4A and SFxT.

@Pessh: Yeah definitely man. I'll message you if I see you on. I know what you mean, it seems like the barrier to entry is much higher.

Couldn't give a shit about SFxT or UMvC3. Glad P4A made it.

I would love to go, but damn it's not cheap. There might be a slight chance for me to get next year, but probably not this year. I need a better paying job. :(

Yes P4A is in! Cant wait to see it.

Can't say I expected 8 games. Pretty mad. And I love the people's choice charity donation idea. Evo continues to be gdlk.

I'm surprised Xtekken and Mortal Kombat are still there. I guess they have faith in Xtekken but that should not be enough to get it on there. If the game were made by anyone but capcom it would be axed easy.

I'm so fuckkin' excited to see some KOF XIII up on the main stage again this year. Holy shit, you guys. GET HYPE.

@thegoldencat7: Sounds good. Who are you liking so far?

Cool lineup, seems like pretty much everything got represented.

Excited to watch the KoF and UMvC3 finals this year. Last year was crazy awesome. Will be interested to see how P4A plays, as I haven't seen it at all yet.

Seems like I'm still the only one who's cheering and excited for MK9 at EVO (save for a few passive supporters I guess). I've already said my piece on that game but part of the appeal is certainly the community, which is so tight and feel good compared to any other fighting game community. This is coming from a spectator's perspective and not a tourney player but I've heard enough from those who play over the years that MK9, while not necessarily as deep as SFIV, is still a solid tournament fighting game. It also helps that I've been a long time fan of the series and to see MK get this kind of love and execute on that tournament play at least enough to get 3 years in a row is just amazing.

I'm so gonna geek out about this with Hector Sanchez at PAX East this year.

Shenanigans on SFxT. That game is awful to watch played competitively. It was awful last year and no patching is going to fix the myriad fundamental things that are poor about that game. Yuck!

Surprised to see SFxT return, I thought it'd get bumped for even something like DOA5. Great to see P4A up there, I never doubted that it'd make the lineup. Some pretty cool stuff in the eighth slot. Leaving it to a charity donation seems like an interesting way to go. Skullgirls, Fighting is Magic, Melty Blood, and Playstation All Stars or Melee are all things I'd like to see in tournament. Kind of interested to hear Mane6 weighs in on this, last I'd heard they weren't planning on making another intermediate build, but maybe they plan on finishing the first release for summer.

Tekken Tag 2 might actually help me enjoy it, wish they had a 1999 Tekken Tag Tournament arcade machine instead though

Any idea if SFxT is going to be 2on2 again?

@HerbieBug: Have you been keeping up with the patch notes for ver.2013? They're making so many important changes to the way that game plays.

EDIT: Well in case you haven't, here are a few key updates they're making

• They've already done myriad changes to reduce the strength of characters that could just pokepokepokepokepoke to win
• Throws now remove all red life and come out faster, bringing back the tick game and making them a viable threat
• Anti-airs have been made more reliable overall, with a lot of AA normals being added to the Tekken cast, so no more jump-in city meaning legitimate footsies
• Pandora has been buffed so it might actually be a useful tool in certain situations
• Red health regenerates slower and the zoom-in screen-freeze from the crossover combos (L>M>H>H) has been removed to speed up matches

@StarvingGamer: Its singles this year, Wizard said they weren't happy with how 2v2 went.

Awesome to see MK still in there. Wonder if Injustice will take its place next year, or if we won't see something from that studio until MK10 is out.

@Pessh: I went straight to double Jacks. He has a pretty small set of useful tools and its all about learning how to use them properly. So hes a good transition character from SF. Tried to learn Jinpachi but he seems so slow and everything he does seems to be unsafe. Yourself?

@thegoldencat7: Miguel with either Jaycee/Michelle (they're pretty similar) or Anna. Dabbling in the the bears, Lili and Asuka too, havn't really settled on a partner for him yet.

Super cool to see that MK is still hanging around.