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SXSW cancels online harassment panel, because of harassment
Online harassment is a real world problem, and you don't need to look any further than a cancelled South by Southwest Interactive panel for more reasons why. Citing "numerous threats of violence" the SXSW planning team has annulled "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games" at next March's event according to an email sent to panelists that was obtained by Jezebel. What's more, the festival has cancelled a pro-GamerGate panel, dubbed "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community," as well. An official statement from the organizers says that since announcing the two panels they've been inundated with threats of on-site violence and in the interest of keeping the marketplace of diverse people and diverse ideas (their words) safe, the best way to do that was simply not act as a venue for the discussions. "Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session," the statement reads.
Latest UMvC3 costume pack contains mysterious, unexplained Nova outfit
Every time a new costume pack is released for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Capcom explains the often obscure sources for said costumes. The "Viewtiful Strange" pack that came out last Tuesday, for instance, contains a Doctor Strange variant from a 1960s comic-book subplot, among other esoteric digs.There is however one costume without an explanation, one that leaves our interests sufficiently piqued. Nova's new threads (as seen above) legally cannot be expounded upon, according to Capcom Unity, which means that the inspiration for this costume must come from a Marvel production that is currently unannounced. We know that Marvel will be making some sort of announcement during the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin next month, and while we're not willing to say that Nova will be getting his own game or anything, it's not beyond impossible for the two events to be related.
The Boondock Saints cast to announce mysterious gaming thing at SXSWi [update]
Update: A flyer for the event (added below) mentions Austin-based Critical Mass Interactive as part of the panel. A quick trip to the developer's website resulted in the banner image above, which pretty much removes any doubt about what this announcement could possibly be for. According to its LinkedIn profile, Critical Mass Interactive handles outsourced art, design and programming duties for other developers, listing The Outfit and The Incredible Hulk among its past projects. Joystiq has learned that cast members from the 1999 cult classic film The Boondock Saints will be making some manner of gaming announcement during the ScreenBurn Arcade portion of next month's SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX. Now, whether that announcement is actually Boondock Saints related is anyone's guess, but that seems like the logical conclusion. At the moment, all we know for sure is that Norman Reedus (aka Murphy MacManus) will be in attendance.We've got our money on it being one of those cross-over fighting games the kids seem to like so much these days; Boondock Saints vs. Pulp Fiction: Bullet Break Valencia, or maybe Boondock Saints vs. Snatch: Sceptered Isle Showdown. We're also not entirely counting out Willem Dafoe: Boy Detective, but we feel pretty good about the fighter thing.%Gallery-148453%
SXSWi ScreenBurn Arcade to host Street Fighter X Tekken tournament
SXSWi, the "interactive" technology portion of Austin's South by Southwest festival that runs between March 9 and 13, also hosts ScreenBurn, a three-day gaming conference and expo. The ScreenBurn Arcade portion of ScreenBurn is open to the general public, and to kick things off the first day of the Arcade will feature a Street Fighter X Tekken tournament, presented by IGN Pro League.An exhibition-style tournament, the event will be more of a spectator activity, rather than something that the public can enter and participate in. Still, it'll be a good opportunity to see highly technical play of the game just after its release. Since attending the ScreenBurn Arcade doesn't require a SXSWi pass, Austinites interested in the future of fighting can swing by the Palmer Center between 3PM and 7 PM Central on March 9 to scope out the tourney. If you see a complete dork dressed like Dan Hibiki, come say hi.
