Details on the Evolution event in Japan were finally revealed on Monday. The tournament series will be heading to Japan on May 6 and 7 and will team with the Godsgarden tournament series.

It is called Evolution vs. Godsgarden.

There are three games on the lineup: Super Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The event also will count as part of the Evolution tournament season, meaning that points will be awarded to the top eight or 16 players in Super Street Fighter IV and MvC3 depending on turnout.

Here's more at Shoryuken:

For the first time in history, the world’s largest open tournament from the West is crossing over with the strongest players from the East for a world’s first in Street Fighter history. That’s right–Evolution is collaborating with the GodsGarden team to bring you Evolution vs. GodsGarden on May 6-7, 2011.

Evolution vs GodsGarden marks a number of firsts in the fighting game community. Not only is it the first time the tournament has made the trek to the birthplace of Street Fighter, but it’s the first time the highly-revered Japanese fighting game community will be able to duke it out, Evolution style – open to all gamers anywhere in the world, two out of three games, and a true double-elimination bracket.

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The Baltimore Madden Challenge is back once again. This year's tournament is scheduled for April 16. The tournament organizers have announced a prize pool of at least $5,000, making it what would be the biggest prize amount in the Madden 11 season.

The main sponsor of the tournament is former University of Maryland running back Keon Lattimore; he is scheduled to be in attendance as well as current Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.

More details are set to come in the days ahead. 

Hit the jump for the trailer. 

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The tournament organizers for Super Battle Opera have made an announcement regarding its 2011 tournament series. There are four games:

• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift
• Aquapazza
• Super Street Fighter II X

The Street Fighter series will be team competitions, while the other two games are singles events.

More info can be found on Tougeki's site (here's the translated version).  no comments

Is this a sign that Aaron Rodgers will be the Madden 12 cover athlete when that's announced later this year? He was given a 99 overall rating in the final Madden 11 roster update. This comes just a couple weeks after helping the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XLV.

I'm fairly sure no player that received a 99 overall rating one year was the cover athlete the next. Rodgers is the overwhelming favorite, in part because he won the Super Bowl and that's been the trend recently.

In other 99 notes: Nnamdi Asomugha, who will be a free agent, dropped to a 98 overall. He will remain on the Oakland Raiders until the next game comes out. Pittsburgh's James Harrison also lost his 99 overall rating, going to a 98.

Here's more from EA Sports:

We've finally reached the end of the 2010 NFL season.  We have new Super Bowl champions in the Green Bay Packers and the next big event on the NFL calendar is the 2011 NFL Draft in April.  This week we focused on getting the Super Bowl teams and their IR players off the injured reserve and back on to the team's depth charts.  We also spent some extra time getting as many practice squad players on the rosters or free agency list as possible.  And finally, player ratings for all positions were tweaked in a way to try and reflect where we are heading into the 2011 NFL season.  Here are a few of the highlights for this week:

 

• Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers has reached 99 Overall! Safe to say Aaron Rodgers has arrived.
• Over 320+ transactions, rating adjustments and depth chart moves are updated in this pre-Super Bowl roster update.
• From the "Did You Know" department....To finish up Madden NFL 11, we have had nearly 5000+ total roster moves this year in over 20 weekly roster updates

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The NFL and EA are extending their exclusive licensing agreement through 2013, according to several sites, including Sports Business Journal and PastaPadre.

The two parties restructured the deal, which was supposed to end in 2012. But because of the league's uncertain future -- the fiscal year ends March 3 -- a year was added. It'll be Madden 14 before another company possibly could create a video game with the NFL's likeness.

Madden 11 was the second best-selling game in the EA Sports franchise, trailing only to FIFA 11.

Here's more from the SBJ:

The league is believed to have so far rebuffed pleas for fee reductions from other licensees and sponsors, many of which, like EA, find it difficult planning for the next season under the threat of a work stoppage. The league’s collective-bargaining agreement with the players expires March 4, and the two sides are far apart on reaching a deal.

EA, however, is a special case, with its iconic “Madden” video game title. The licensing deal it agreed to with the league in early 2008 is believed to be worth well into nine figures in guarantees and royalties over its original five-year term. That stands as one of the most, if not the most lucrative non-TV contract the NFL enjoys.
The NFL Players Association, which signed a companion EA deal for rights to the players, reaps regularly between $30 million and $40 million annually, according to the union’s annual filings with the Labor Department.

The league deal allows EA to use team colors, names and logos.

“For one of our core partners in a difficult environment, we say let’s look at this, and maybe it makes some sense to extend something out longer and give our partner some relief in the short term but gain something on the back end,” said Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, chairman of the NFL’s business ventures committee. 

EA’s games allow for continuous updating during a season to account for weekly player performance, so lost games in an NFL season could impair the video game’s attraction.

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Unfortunately, Arcade Infinity will indeed be closing. A message posted on Facebook stated that the owners couldn't get the extension that they had hoped and have chosen to shut down.

Here's part of the message posted earlier:

L.A. County denied the application for a business license extension that was requested by the owners of Diamond Plaza. The County wants the Tao brothers to close shop, pay for a new license, and wait for all of the hearings and city counsel votes in order to stay open (this could take up to 8 months). Ken stated that it wasn't the money that was the problem this time, it's how long AI would have to remained closed while waiting for the final word, which would have likely been "no" anyways. The arcade is closing it's doors on February 26th, 2011.

The arcade is selling some of its games, and you can check out the list on Bemanistyle.  no comments

Capcom has knocked down the price of iPhone Street Fighter IV to 99 cents. Go get it if you haven't bought it yet. Or you can wait until Thursday when the iPhone is available by way of Verizon Wireless.

Ten games are available at 99 cents. This includes Capcom Arcade, which has Street Fighter II and Championship Edition.

Go here to see the full list of games and the Capcom announcement. no comments

The New York Times posted a few graphics about usage in Madden 11, and the overwhelming choice was the Philadelphia Eagles once Michael Vick was implemented as the starter.

The Times made note of how team usage reflected what happened during the actual NFL season. The Eagles and Minnesota Vikings were two golden examples of this. The Eagles never really took off -- literally and in the game -- until Vick replaced the injured and ineffective Kevin Kolb. The Vikings were one of the top teams early in the season and usage spiked once Randy Moss joined the team. But when Moss was traded, usage spiked back down.

I'm surprised that the Baltimore Ravens were third, but it could be because of a decent offense and a great in-game defense. Cincinnati was the fourth most-popular team to start the season, but they ended up being the fifth least-popular team.

Hit the jump for more analysis ...

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In it's biggest move yet, the Traveling Circus team has signed Taiwanese player Gamerbee.

Gamerbee has been one of thhe biggest names in the international circuit over the past three quarters of the year. Now, he will be joining Tokido and Toxy as members. While the other two are Akuma players, Gamerbee has rolled with Adon.

The contract lasts one year, according to The Traveling Circus. Here's more from their news release:

2010 marked Gamerbee’s first visit to the United States. There, he competed in one of the world’s largest and most reputable fighting game tournaments, and made a name for himself by eliminating one of the world’s best ‘Street Fighter’ players.

The crowd erupted in cheer, for the then unknown competitor, and popular gaming forums/websites literally crashed immediately following his breakout performance.

Gamerbee has tested his skills, and proven himself as one of the world’s very best. Having won and placed ‘top 8′ at international tournaments. Making himself a household name within the fighting game community, in only 6 short months.

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The DFW Fight Club has announced it will be running an HD Remix tournament at Evolution 2011. Obviously, this will be a side competition because HD Remix is not a part of the main roster of games for this year's tournament series.

The tournament is scheduled to take place July 30, which is the second day of Evolution. PlayStation 3s will be used, although if there's a need or want for the Xbox 360, that will be used instead.

Hit up this page on Shoryuken for the details and let the tournament organizers know you want to participate. I am planning to go to Evolution this year and will try my best to get as much media of this tournament should it happen. no comments