EVO Lounge live show to include reveals from Capcom and more

By Jesse Lennox August 1, 2022

The EVO Lounge live show on August 5-6 will feature new reveals from top fighting game developers and publishers such as Arc System Works, WB Games, and Capcom.

EVO is the largest fighting game tournament of the year, hosting thousands of participants fighting it out against one another for the top prize. 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the event and the first live event since Sony purchased the company in 2021. This year will feature top players competing in games such as Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, and more.

Ryu performs a special move in Street Fighter 6.

Evo Lounge is a new live show that will cover all the new and exciting announcements made during the event. It will be hosted by a rotating series of top players and commentators to keep viewers up to date on brackets, host interviews, and reveal new content from developers. While we don’t know what types of announcements are planned as of now, we do know that Arc System Works, Warner Bros. Games, Capcom, SNK, and Bandai Namco Entertainment will be making reveals.

New announcements and reveals are not unexpected at EVO. Previous events have often been home to new character and game reveals from the biggest fighting game developers looking to capitalize on the largest fighting game event of the year. The most likely thing we’re likely to see is undoubtedly new content from the upcoming Street Fighter 6, such as a new character or even more details on the brand new World Tour mode.

Warner Bros. Games will also likely announce something new for their recent crossover fighter Multiversus, but we’ll have to wait until the actual event to know for sure. Regardless, Evo Lounge shows that this time of year still will be the most exciting time of year for fighting game fans.

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Gaming

Street Fighter 6 director reveals World Tour mode’s true purpose

A player stands in Metro City's Times Square equivalent in Street Fighter 6 World Tour.

While Street Fighter 6’s traditional Fighting Ground experience made a solid first impression at Summer Game Fest, its significantly more ambitious World Tour mode is still shrouded in mystery. We briefly got a look at this ambitious mode during the game's State of Play trailer. We see what appears to be a player-created character explore Metro City and other locations from a third-person perspective, breaking boxes and getting into fights with the people he meets.
In the press release for Street Fighter 6, Capcom describes World Tour mode as a "single-player immersive story mode that pushes the boundaries of what a fighting game is and allows players to leave their own legacy with their player avatar." While Capcom isn't revealing more about the mode's moment-to-moment gameplay just yet, I spoke with Game Director Takayuki Nakayama at Summer Game Fest Play Days and learned how World Tour is emblematic of Capcom's goal to make Street Fighter 6 the premier entry point to the fighting game genre.
Street Fighter 6 - Announce Trailer
Finding World Tour's Purpose
In World Tour, players will explore Metro City and other iconic Street Fighter locales with a player-created avatar. Nakayama hopes this experience will strengthen Street Fighter 6's appeal to those who aren't already diehard fans of the series or genre.
"World Tour is a completely different mode that delivers a completely different experience than the traditional fighting," he said. "Even if someone's not a hardcore fan of fighting games, we wanted to incorporate things to make people become fans of Street Fighter outside of the traditional fights."
World Tour certainly looks unlike anything the Street Fighter series has done before. Still, Nakayama hopes that World Tour players will learn more about the world and characters of Street Fighter along the way and fall in love with fighting games as a whole."We want players to dive into this mode and be able to learn how to love fighting games through the things that you do during the journey of World Tour," Nakayama proclaimed. "There will also be opportunities to meet some of the fans' favorite characters, like Ryu and Chun-Li, through World Tour. We want to provide an experience where players can learn more about those characters' backstories and discover what kind of people they are within Street Fighter 6."

World Tour is one of Street Fighter 6's three main pillars, the others being the standard Fighting Ground mode and the multiplayer-focused Battle Hub. He commented how it's always hard to tell how much is enough to put in a game for fans, especially following Street Fighter V's rocky reception at launch due to a lack of content. However, he hopes World Tour provides enough to negate that criticism.
"We were definitely aware of some of the criticism that we faced with Street Fighter 5, and we want to continue to learn from those criticisms and make Street Fighter 6 a better product," he explained. "It's challenging to decide how much is enough for the users, but we continue to work very hard on it and strive to create something that will get appreciation from players."
Still, World Tour seems like it could occupy players for a long time while introducing them to the concept of fighting games and the world of Street Fighter. That's not too shabby of an addition when Street Fighter 6's core fighting game mechanics are already fantastic. And Capcom's goal to make Street Fighter 6 one of the most approachable fighting games ever can be seen outside of World Tour mode.
Everyone is here to fight
During our discussion, Nakayama constantly reiterated that he wants Street Fighter to be something that can entertain and entice those who've never played a fighting game before. Part of the developer's method for making Street Fighter 6 more approachable and accessible is the addition of the Modern Control Type, which allows players to execute flash combos with simple button presses.

Gaming

Resident Evil Village DLC, Exoprimal, and more headline Capcom Showcase

Ethan Winter's daughter Rosemary sits sadly on a bus in Resident Evil Village Shadow of Rose.

Following livestreams from Sony, Microsoft, and Geoff Keighley, Capcom decided to get in on the video game showcase fun. During its June 13 showcase, Capcom revealed the Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil Village and provided some new looks at its other upcoming games like Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak and Exoprimal.
Capcom Showcase | 6.13.2022
The biggest announcement of the show by far was Resident Evil Village's long-awaited DLC. It stars Ethan Winter's daughter Rosemary, plays out from a third-person perspective, and is fittingly titled Shadows of Rose. It will be released on October 28 alongside the multiplayer Resident Evil Re:Verse and an update for Resident Evil Village that adds new content to Mercenaries mode and a third-person mode to Village's main campaign.
While that was the biggest reveal from the show, we also got a look at plenty of other Capcom games. The showcase started by giving us another look at Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak and revealing a demo for the expansion that launches on June 14. Capcom then reminded players of the release windows for Street Fighter 6, Capcom Fighting Collection, and Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium but didn't reveal much in the way of new info for them. After that, Exoprimal got a brand-new trailer featuring its evil AI, Leviathan. Capcom showed how Exoprimal's PvPvDinosaur matches play out and the Exosuit classes players can choose from, then teased that a Closed Network Test will be held prior to the game's launch.
We also learned that a 10th anniversary Dragon's Dogma stream will be held on June 16 before getting another look at Resident Evil 4's remake. Capcom showed an extended version of the State of Play trailer before showing some new gameplay featuring improved visuals. It looks much more in line with Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3's graphics. The show concluded by revealing that PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of those remakes and Resident Evil VII launch today, June 13.
It was an underwhelming showcase overall, but painted an extremely clear picture of what we can expect from this lauded Japanese publisher over the next year.

Gaming

Street Fighter 6 does everything it needs to as Capcom’s next grand fighting game

Street Fighter 6 made a strong first impression during its State of Play gameplay unveiling. It made an equally strong impression when I went hands-on with its traditional 1v1 Fighting Ground experience at Summer Game Fest Play Days.
Thanks to the technical prowess of the RE Engine, Street Fighter 6 is a marvelous game to look at. Its gameplay is equally impressive as it’s deepened with the new Drive Gauge and Modern Control type. While being the next grand mainline entry in the most important fighting game series of all time is a tall order, Street Fighter 6 already seems prepared to take on that challenge.
A Visual Marvel
The build of the game I played let me go hands-on with four characters: Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke, and brand new character, Jamie. Ryu and Chun-Li’s redesigns look fantastic, while Luke and Jamie have distinctive styles as relative newcomers to the franchise. In general, Street Fighter 6 is an utterly gorgeous game.
Street Fighter 6 - State of Play June 2022 Announce Trailer | PS5 & PS4 Games
Powered by the RE Engine behind games like Resident Evil Village, Street Fighter 6’s character models are incredibly detailed and colorful. The inner-city alleyways of Metro City and the cherry-blossom-filled Genbu Temple I fought at were vibrant and lively, and pre-game presentation always got me hyped as the Street Fighter characters pumped themselves up for the impending fight.
Fights and special moves aren’t too visually busy, so you’ll always clearly understand what moves you’re doing. Drive Impacts create gorgeous, paint-like streaks across the screen, giving these disruptive moves more satisfying visual feedback. Especially on next-gen consoles, Street Fighter 6 will be one of the prettiest fighting games ever.
Street Fighter 6 loads super fast-on PS5 too, with rematches loading nearly instantly. Those quick load times helped ensure I stuck around for even longer than my allotted demo time, but so did Street Fighter 6’s satisfying gameplay.
A delicious combo meal
Street Fighter titles have always been very lauded and popular fighting games. As genre trailblazers, the last few Street Fighters mainly focus on evolving the combo-based gameplay that sets a standard for the rest of the genre. Street Fighter 6 is no different.

You’ll punch and kick as your favorite characters, stringing together button press and stick movements to pull off wild special moves and combos. Many of the iconic combos and button presses return just as you remember them, so you shouldn’t have trouble pulling off a Hadoken a Ryu when you finally get your hands on Street Fighter 6.
In Street Fighter 6, players draw from two different gauge meters. The more traditional Super Gauge lets your character pull off their special moves. Meanwhile, the new Drive Gague lets players do up to five colorful offensive and defensive moves like the Drive Impact counter, the Drive Parry, and more. Players must manage this meter wisely, as they’ll take more damage if it fully depletes. It doesn’t revolutionize the fighting game experience but adds an exciting risk-vs-reward element to each fight.
Even though I’ve played less than an hour of Street Fighter 6, it already feels fantastic to play and like a solid evolution for this classic series. For fans that might not be as familiar with fighting games, Street Fighter 6 isn’t leaving them in the dust.
This game introduces the Modern Control type, which lets players execute special moves like the Hadoken or the Shin Shoryuken with simple button presses. Holding R2 and mashing triangle is much easier to understand than a complicated string of button press and stick movements, so fans who want to see each character’s flashiest moves should enjoy this new control scheme.