Another year, another EVO tournament. The best fighting game competitors around the world will congregate in Las Vegas for the 2013 edition of the the most well known and well respected tourney in the fighting game community. Here’s the top ten facts you need to know about the road to EVO 2013, the games that will appear, and even more information.
1. It’s Being Held at the Paris Las Vegas
EVO 2013 was initially announced on December 2, 2012. It’s going to take place at the Paris Las Vegas from July 12 to the 14. The official sponsors for this year’s tournament include Capcom, Mad Catz, Warner Brothers Games and Atlus. The video above answers the question that some of you may ask – “What is EVO?”
2. This is the 12th EVO Tournament
EVO 2013 stands as the 12th edition of this long-running video game staple. EVO (which is short for “evolution”) operates by using a double elimination format (two wins and you’re out). EVO was founded by Tom Cannon, who is known for his contributions to Shoryuken.com. At first, the tournament was called “Battle by the Bay,” a 40-person tourney that took place in 1996 in Sunnyvale, California. Eventually, EVO permanently moved over to its main venue state – Las Vegas. The tournament has grown to even include over 1,000 active participants (EVO 2009). To get a sense of the extreme hype that accompanies EVO, check out the two highlight videos above.
3. The Road to EVO 2013 Is Currently Underway
Months before EVO, a number of other fighting game tournaments go down. These tournaments usually entail building up the winners who eventually make their way to that year’s EVO. Those pre-EVO tournaments are the SoCal Regionals, Winter Brawl, NorCal Regionals, UFGT, and CEO. Smaller tournaments (Kuwait Battle Royale, South East Asia Major, Japonawa, Zenith etc.) also take place before the EVO tournament.
4. Nine Fighting Games Will be Playable This Time
Instead of eight fighting games, nine of them will be contested this year. Those games are:
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Mortal Kombat (2011)
Street Fighter X Tekken (Version 2013)
The King of Fighters XIII
Persona 4 Arena
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Check out the official livestream schedule for the each game’s tournament pool (courtesy of EventHubs).
5. Super Smash Bros. Melee Was Voted In
Shoryuken.com opened up a donation drive for the eighth spot game addition that would be a part of the official lineup. The goal was to raise as much money as possible for Breast Cancer Research from the community who wanted their fighting game to make it into EVO 2013. It turns out that the community behind Super Smash Bros. Melee had the most financial turnout, as they donated a total of $94,683. Their game ended up nabbing the eighth game tournament spot. In total, this donation drive raised $225,744.
Check out the tweet below to see how big this game’s tourney will be at EVO 2013:
#evo2013 is officially the biggest Smash tournament ever: twice as big as the previous record holder. Way to show up Smashers! Be proud!
— Tom Cannon (@ProtomCannon) July 1, 2013
@fwtravisbain @MrAdamAp Bingo. 696.
— Tom Cannon (@ProtomCannon) July 1, 2013
6. A Bunch of Notable FGC Players Are Competing
Some of the FGC’s most popular players will be making their return to this this year’s EVO – PR Balrog, Daigo, Justin Wong, Filipino Champ, BAS, ChrisG, Nemo and many more. EventHubs posted the full list of Japanese participants that are also planning to attend and participate. Check out the vid above for one of EVO’s most famous (infamous?) moments (Daigo’s full parry!). The next video offers a look at the average competitor’s EVO journey.
7. An Extra Cash Bonus is Up for the Injustice: Gods Among Us Tournament
For those participating in the Injustice: Gods Among Us tournament, a special cash incentive is in it for the winners. Warner Brothers Games is putting in a $5000 pot bonus for the top eight competitors for the game’s tournament. Another special event for the game will be going underway. Check out the tweet below from Ed Boon to find out what it will be:
Today, we're announcing, that tomorrow (Tuesday) we're announcing, that at EVO we will be revealing new info on future INJUSTICE DLC.
— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 8, 2013
5th DLC character for INJUSTICE will be announced (with game-play video) at the EVO tournament this weekend in Las Vegas! #Evo2013 #GetHype
— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 9, 2013
8. There’s Also A Cash Bonus for the Skullgirls Tournament
@skullgirls So I heard on Salty Cupcakes that there’s an additional $1000 pot bonus for Evo?Is that confirmed, then?
— Kristoph (@Thiediev) May 4, 2013
A cash bonus is also in place for the winner of the Skullgirls tourney. Marvelous AQL, the company that’s funding and publishing the PC version of the game, is throwing an additional $1000 into the winner’s pot. With the EVO offical pot already at $1000, this brings the pot’s total to $2000. Check out the confirmation tweet of this news above.
9. A Street Fighter Announcement Will Take Place
Yoshinori Ono, the prouder behind the recent Street Fighter games, alluded to a possible announcement for the future of the series at EVO 2013. The translated tweet that points to this event happening can be seen below:
Mik0x: Can we have a year of release or something for the next Street Fighter :D ?
Ono: Wait till EVO13 ;P
So SF r&d and strategy team will be making preparation about announcing something for SF update at EVO13 and SDCC! http://t.co/n3DiG1jNHA
— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) July 2, 2013
10. Wireless Dualshock 3 Controllers Are Banned
EVO is known for being a “bring-your-own-controller” event, but a change has been made to this year’s tournament – wireless PS3 controllers have been banned. More specifically, the PS3’s Sixaxis and Dualshock 3 controllers have been taken out of play. The official EVO website issued this statement on the matter:
Evolution 2013 is a Bring-Your-Own-Controller event. We provide the consoles, games, monitors and speakers for every game station, but it’s up to the players to bring the controller they plan to play. This year we are restricting the controllers players are allowed to bring to ensure fair play and guarantee the integrity of the results. Players will not be allowed to use wireless controllers at the event this year.
All EVO games will be run on the Playstation 3. The Playstation 3 Dual Shock and Sixaxis controllers are both wireless devices. Plugging your controller into a PS3 for the first time pairs your controller to that Playstation. This pairing will be remembered by the Playstation until you sync your controller to another Playstation. We have found no reliable workaround to remove this pairing. Since there’s no easy way to unpair a controller from a Playstation 3, any player who had previously played on a game console may accidentally interfere with another game in progress. In order to ensure the integrity of the event, players will not be allowed to use controllers which pair themselves with Playstation’s.
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EVO 2013: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know