Killer Instinct adds 8 more characters in season two

The new developer has revealed during a Play XBLA stream its future plans for the game’s Season Two, which according to them, will have a lot of surprises.

[maniacmayhem]

I really hope these guys can keep Double Helix's level of quality and commitment to the game.

Was never a KI fan but even I was impressed by how this game turned out. I think it was a HUGE mistake for MS to let Double Helix go, they should have swooped them up as soon as they saw the tech demo for KI.

TJ Combo has to be one of the eight characters for season two.

[Bigpappy]

Wouldn't know if it was a mistake until we see what these guys can do.

[maniacmayhem]

Killer Instinct and Strider was proof enough these guys are a very capable studio.

They did a fantastic job on KI and hopefully they will have a lot more input and give their help to Iron Galaxy since the engine was their own property.

[MorePowerOfGreen]

These guys lost the job to DH in the first place so it's not like a wild gamble they were 2nd place if you will.

[christocolus]

Man I'm so happy to hear this. I can't wait. Sweeeet.

[randomass171]

Kinda of a shame that DH was bought by Amazon. But hey, one ending means a new beginning for another developer.

[amazinglover]

Yeah DH did a great job sadly for me their worst character was Fulgore which has always been my favorite but other than that they did a very solid job.

[CYCLEGAMER]

Nah...I would say that Spinal is the worst, but hey thats just my opinion.

[mediate-this]

Fulgore is great, you just gotta give it time, as he becomes easier to controll

[abstractel]

I think gameplay wise they did a good job from my time with the game but I definitely expect more graphically out of a next-gen fighter game. It wasn't a purchase for me because I've come to expect the great single player mode that MK and Injustice had. I also expect their next-gen titles to look pretty amazing.

Also expect Capcom to deliver some graphical punch whenever they decide to make a next-gen fighter but with them as well I hope they put more effort into a great single player mode.

[randomass171]

They practically have a cheat sheet to work off. If they flub it up I will honestly be shocked.

[XisThatKid]

wasn't much of a KI fan in the past but if they bring Cinder back I'll consider.

[Gotcha5]

Did he say may show "No Mercy and Ultimates" at this years E3. I can't wait.

[Dark11]

Wow good to see MS supporting this game!
now we only need sony to make their own fighting game.

[Gotcha5]

@Dork11 Sony will pick up another Tekken or Failstation Allstars 1.5.... yeah?

[Chevalier]

PS4 doesn't need Sony to produce a fighter their getting Guilty Gear Xrd

[optimus]

I would like to know how much these characters will cost...this is the 1st time i ever heard of a game being referred to as having "seasons"; and quite frankly it's a bit disturbing seeing as how it could potentially have 5-6 seasons. Weren't people up in arms when the game was 1st announced that it would only come with 1 free character? All others had to be bought separately. So if this game runs past 4 seasons you could theoretically be paying over $100 for the game...whenever it ends.

[4logpc]

Its $20 for 8 characters. Thats a pretty good deal considering you would get 24 characters for $60 over the 3 year span of the game, plus all of the new modes.

People were getting upset because the internet made it out to be a piece of junk before it ever had a chance beacause Double Helix was developing it. Combine that with the horrible PR of Microsoft at E3 and you have a perfect mixture for haters.

Its nice to not have to keep buying the same game every two-three years (like mortal Kombat) and have the same characters over and over with a new one here and there. This game's design is to just keep building on the foundation season 1 set up,instead of just making a new product ever two-three years.

[optimus]

So they all ready determined they would not go past 3 seasons? I thought they were not planning to sell them as packs but individually so as to give the consumer the option to have characters they want and none of the ones they didn't, according to one of the programmers when they introduced a demo of the game. (i think it was at last year's E3)... I didn't realize they changed their plans since i dismissed the game after that...
Really though, this isn't any different than what capcom began to do with street fighter 4 and the subsequent roster updates and modes, except they also offer it as a separate game for $40... Not saying it's better since they offer less content than killer instinct but the premise is the same.

[4logpc]

They havent said how many seasons, I was just using 3 because it would add up to $60 dollars.

They have a few different ways you can play.

Theres a free character that is rotated every week or so that includes the first 6 characters.

You can buy characters individually for $5

$20 gets you all of the characters

$40 gets you all the characters, all of the costume packs including classic costumes, all of the customization packs, and a port of the original KI.

Not sure how you are saying the premise is the same as Capcom and SF.

Street Fighter concept is way different. They charge you $60 and then still charge you for other things like costume packs making the cost even higher.

When a new SF comes out it usually has some new characters but its twice the price of the KI pack which is $20. THats a huge difference.

The big difference is changes that are made to the core of the game. Whenever a new SF comes out, there is a huge balancing patch and new game types etc. In KI all of those things are free to any player. If you are a person using the free character, or if you spent $40 to get everything, you will get all of the new featrues and game types without paying a dime.

SHouldnt write of KI. Its a solid fighting game all around.

[optimus]

Ahh so you are merely speculating on having just 3 seasons. Therefore my concern remains. They could potentially go past 3 seasons which in this day and age wouldn't surprise me...

I have to say that pricing each character is somewhat shady. They expect people will see it as being expensive and opt to pay the $20, mind you that excludes the extras, in which case you may as well pay $40 for the whole thing...
i forgot to mention that capcom offers you all the upgrades for $15 digitally and $40 physically without the need for the original...

Now, i'm not totally against such a practice as i have invested in some pinballFX tables over the years. The difference being that those usually run about $1.50-$8 for packs...

i guess i just didn't like the way they introduced this killer instinct. They initially gave the impression that the game would be free so that people would get excited, then they said that it would be just 1 character. I'm not dismissing the quality of the game just the way they marketed it...like i said, it could potentially cost $100 or more for a game that was deemed as being "free".

[4logpc]

It honestly sounds like you "want" to hate it. Not trying to suggest anything but i am getting the vibe no matter what they would of said, you would of hated it. It sounds like you misunderstood the original messaging, or whatever your outlet of choice to read gaming news didn't have the right information.

When Killer Instinct was announced, they never said it would be completely F2P. They always said there will be an option to buy the game out right, but it took them some time to say what the details involved. But from day 1 DH said there will be a reduced price to get all of the characters as a pack.

I think you are missing the point of the capcom comparison.

Capcom charges you 60 bucks for the vanilla game, and then charges you for updates to balance things eventually. You aren't just buying the characters at that point, you are paying to simply keep the game current on the balancing side.

And Capcom doesn't always offer an upgrade path. I am not 100% on SF, but I am pretty sure one (or possibly 2) versions of the game didn't offer an upgrade path, and I know for a fact they screwed a lot of people over with the remake/redone version of MVC3. They offered a new version that you could only get by repurchasing the game.

^that is complete BS.

You essentially have to pay to keep your game current. If you want to have the latest balancing and new modes, you have to pay for them. That is not the case with KI. You are paying for the characters and thats it. If I purchase 1 character between now and season 10. I can take that one character and keep playing the game in its current state. Latest game modes, balacning, whatever it is. Much better than Capcom's way of doing it

Even if it goes past 3 seasons, its one season a year. So over a 3 year time (which is about the rotation for fighting games like Blaz Blue and Mortal Kombat) which would $60. Thats why I went with that comparison.

Selling characters individually isn't shady at all considering it offer players choice. It has nothing to do with being shady or manipulative to try and force people to pay $20 to get all the characters.

Is it a better deal to buy the characters outright? Of course, and thats awesome to the people that want all of the characters. $20 isn't a lot of money, and you get a greta game for a small price.

If you are like many people and play with whatever the free character of the week is, and find out its a character that really clicks with you, you only have to spend $5 to get the character that you want to play with. Many people only pick a character or two and sitck with them, and they only have to spend the money they want to keep the characters they like.

I find that model fair to everyone. The people who want to just buy the game get a great price, and the people who just want to play with the characters they want to dont have to throw down full price to get what they want out of the game. WHat isn't to like?

[optimus]

No, i didn't want to hate the game. As i said before, it's not the game itself, it's the marketing of it...in the video interview i saw, they indeed said "a new killer instinct will be coming to the x-1...and it will be free." days later they come out with more details and say that the core game is free with 1 character."... They could have said that from the getgo. That is what i find shady. On top of that, each character is $5 bucks when most other fighting games have them for less...
Now you're telling me that the free character you get get's replaced by another "free" character every week?? So it's not really free then when it is simply a demo they are offering. A tease to get you to try and buy basically...

i don't approve of the way capcom milks their games either but at least they tell you up front they are screwing you and how they are doing it. Which is why i still have my original street fighter 4 and refuse to upgrade until they come up with street fighter 5 or i find their latest update in the bargain bin for $5, whichever comes 1st.

[Dannyh]

20 dollars for each season is much better than 60 dollars for a sequel to a fighting game

[randomass171]

To be fair, this method is more cost effective than Capcom releasing remedial upgrades for the full retail price of $60.

[Chevalier]

Ultra SF and ultimate MVC are/were $39.99 for the upgrades, not $59.99.

[mediate-this]

Why not buy the character you want, and gradually buy more, plus they alternate characters every week.

[XStation]

This day keeps getting better and better.

[DarkLord1003]

Wait - season two? Is this a new way to market DLC?

[Skate-AK]

When the game came out it was announced that the updates would come in the form of Seasons.

[DarkLord1003]

Oh - sorry
my bad

[Skate-AK]

Good to see more characters come out.

[randomass171]

Agreed. More fighters means more variety, a la Smash Bros.

[FlameWater]

who cares?

[XStation]

The people who clicked on the article...

[hazard17remedy]

Nice'n'sweet

[SlavisH2]

YES!!!!!!!
P.S add 1080p patch please!

[SITH]

I freaking love playing Fulgore! He was the main character I used in the original.

https://onedrive.live.com/r...

[WiredX]

Me too :)