Since the console version of Guilty Gear Xrd is only a month away from its North American release on December 16th, I've decided it would be cool to host a week 1 Giant Bomb community tournament for it like I've done with other fighting games in the past. The PS3 version and the PS4 version of the game have cross-play compatibility, too, so there is no issue about which platform people are going to get since everyone can play together. Don't be scared of participating, either; it's all about having fun.

I've got a question concerning what people would like most, though: for this tournament to take place from December 19th to December 21st (a weekend) or from December 19th to December 26th (a week)? It's typically been the former, but I could go with the latter if it meant more people could make it and get their matches in without me having to DQ them.

Rules:

• The tournament will be played in a double elimination format, so players will need to lose a set twice to be eliminated.
• Matches will be best 2 out of 3 rounds for 99 seconds each round. The winner will be determined by the best 2 out of 3 matches.
• Losers finals and grand finals will be best 3 out of 5 matches.
• A player that loses a match is allowed to switch characters, however a player who wins must choose the same character as their previous match.
• If a player gets disconnected or drops out during a round, it is up to the opponent to decide if they agree to have a rematch or not.
• Saving a replay of your matches is recommended, because if there is a dispute between two players as to who actually won and no one provides proof, I'll have to disqualify both of the players for the sake of fairness. This hasn't ever been an issue before, though.

How to sign up:

Here's the Challonge sign-up page. Just go there and put your name in. After doing that, make sure to change your name to a "[GB Username] (GB) / [PSN Username] (PSN)" by going to your settings so that people aren't confused concerning who everyone is when the tourney starts.

This part'simportant: So it's a pain when people sign up for a tournament, but never show up once it starts or forget about it, so official sign-ups on Challonge will have a check-in period 24 hours before the tournament starts on December 19th, at 3:05 AM EST / 12:05 AM PST. Those who do not go on Challonge with their account and check-in during this period will not be able to participate in the tournament. I'll be sending mass PMs to everyone participating when the check-in period opens up so people don't forget about it.

When:

The tournament will start on Friday, December 19th, at 3:05 AM EST / 12:05 AM PST and end on Sunday, December 21st.

Again, the Challonge check-in period will be available for 24 hours before the tournament starts. Even after you sign-up via the sign-up page, you'll need to make sure you check-in during that time if you want to participate.

Other stuff:

There aren't any prizes as of yet, but donations for raffles and stuff are welcome. Same for streamers: if anyone's willing to stream matches, let me know so we can organize a room where people will go in to have their matches live streamed or something. Also, when the time for the tournament comes, people should use an IRC client like this one and go to #gb_ggxrd to organize their matches. Actually, I might enforce it, but I'll see.

So that's about it! The GB tournaments I've organized in the past have been a fun time, so I encourage anyone and everyone to join. Again, PS3 and PS4 players can all play against each other in the same tournament, so the platform one gets the game for doesn't even matter.

"Don't be scared of participating, either; it's all about having fun."

lmfao

I'm not entirely sure how i feel about playing this game without an arcade stick, since i don't have one for ps4, so i guess i'll wait until i try it until i can decide whether i want to participate in this.

Hey man, I've seen some people in previous tournaments I've organized and in tournaments I've participated go "It'd be a waste of time because I'd get my ass kicked." Even if that were the case, who cares? That's pretty much my point, heh.

Wish I could participate but I wont be around for the NA release of GGXrd. Hopefully a lot of people will give it a try and participate. I messed with the time limited Xrd demo that came out on PS4 awhile back and I can assure you all that it looks amazing and feels great.

For people new to the series check out some of these videos to give you an idea about how the game plays and some of it's new mechanics.

The new RC system

Youtube user Goldenrody has been uploading videos of GGXrd from Japanese streams since it's arcade release in Japan.

Twitch streamer Joniosan streams GGXrd live from Mikado arcade in Japan throughout the week.

Finally, a couple wiki sites that go over character moves and info.

• wiki.4gamer.net/ggxrd (A Japanese site. Pretty in depth even with translate)
• Dustloop GGXrd wiki

Keep rocking!

Europe won't be getting this for a while :(

@fluxwavez: I was thinking something else completely different haha. GG players are kinda known to be asshats lol.

Ah... I see. That seems to be the FGC in general, heh. No one should be like that during this tourney, thankfully.

It seems that the Limited Edition of the game is going to be delayed...

Whoa it has crossplay? That is something I wasn't expecting.

@gokaired: Since we don't have a release date for EU, I'm considering importing it through the HK PSN (cheaper exchange rates than JP). It's a bit of work but I'd recommend at least taking a closer look at it if you're, like me, not very excited by the prospect of half a year or more before a proper EU release comes along. The JP version got a patch day 0 that makes it possible to turn the entire game into English as well, so no worries about language.

Would be cool to participate but I'm not sure the netcode would handle NA <-> EU connections too well.

I'm trash at guilty gear but I signed up

Indeed which means it's highly likely I'll miss this tournament.

Ouch! Looks like I'll be missing out on the tournament too then :/

Oh, right! Damn that LE delay, heh, I totally disregarded the impact it could have on the amount of people who could participate. It's about a week away, but there's only 4 people signed up, huh.

Well, no matter. I'll obviously still hold the tournament and, because of the amount of people, it'll be from December 19th to December 21st. It'd be too excessive to have it last a whole week with a small group of people. I could always hold another tournament in the following month if there were a bunch of people who missed it because of the LE delay to the 23rd.

I would sign up but I'll be going home on leave so there's little chance of me getting online and playing...

Signed up because why the hell not. I haven't played GG seriously in a while so i'll probably get beat down, but it'll be fun.

Yeah, if it wasn't for the LE Delay, I'd have signed up. I was tempted to just order a regular edition one for the tournament, but that seems silly to have 2 copies of the game. I will certainly be interested in being a part of another tourney down the road.

I should be free to do this, I've never participated in one of these before or posted on the boards here in general but I will sign up.

I've mostly been a Street Fighter player all my life but I still actively buy/play every fighting game that comes out, I typically suck at anime fighters (This game, Blazblue, UNIEL, etc) but what the hell, looks like you need more players so I'll give it a shot

Oh eff it. I'm in. (bought the PS3 digital version while I await my PS4 LE copy)

Last call for anyone who wants to participate. I'll send a PM to everyone I see in the bracket a bit later today. I think the check-in time should have started by now, but I don't see anything on the Challonge page (first time I organize a tourney using check-in).

Whoa, Challonge spammed my inbox haha.

@l1ghtn1n: @irrelevantjohn: Heh, I just got spammed by Challonge as well. The check-in process was supposed to start hours ago; I specifically put 24 hours before December 19th at 3:05 AM EST, but ah well, this is fine.

Currently sending a PM to everyone involved. Someone by the name of "JoeBombable" signed up, but I have no idea who that is.

Checked in.

So how does this usually go down? Do we all hook up in a lobby at the same time? Or are we responsible to communicate with our opponent and work out a time to get our matches in?

Might be a dumb question but like I said before, I'm a first timer.

It's a bit weird to me as well since there were a lot more people with previous tourneys I organized and this one is more low key, but I usually really recommended that people should go in an IRC client like this one and, this time, the channel would be #gb_ggxrd. There was a tourney where I think I DQed anyone who wasn't in the IRC when the tournament was going on, but I think it'll be just fine if people get their matches done through any means, whether it's just through PMs and/or the IRC.

Once the bracket's set up, I'll be able to give some deadlines, but they probably won't be very rigid given the number of people participating. Heck, if people are on the ball and are willing to, we could potentially get this done before Sunday. There's not going to be a dedicated streaming this time, so people are free to have their matches whenever.

I recommend that people just idle in that IRC channel once the tournament starts, though. Makes things easier for everyone. I'll send another PM about this in a bit.

Also, I should say that it'd be neat if PS4 players (or anyone with the ability to) could record the tournament matches they have and upload them.

I can record most of the matches in 60fps if people show up around the same time. Probably can stream it too.

That'd be cool. I might set up a time when people should arrive in the IRC so that I could direct them to a lobby to have their matches streamed.

Just got off work and checked in. Ready to get...ahem...ready to destroy!

EDIT: Also, I don't get home from work till about 10:30pm cst, so I might be a little late to the party, but once I get home, I should be ready to go!

I'm hosting a room right now! Feel free to join in at: North America 1,District 1A, New england #21

Hey...kinda weird to post with an alt. account in the same thread but my sub ended yesterday on the other one (even though it still shows a gold badge for some reason?) and despite my love of Green Lantern, I decided to revert back to my original GB account.

Anyway, does anyone know where I would find the details for the weekly stuff MikeFightNight puts together? A couple of you mentioned it during this GG tournament and I wouldn't mind participating when I have the time.

Ah, ok...well maybe he will see this when he gets back, I will keep an eye out. Thanks L1GHTN1N.