Arc System Works has announced that the first location test for Guilty Gear Xrd will begin in Japan next month. Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN is the latest sequel in the venerated Guilty Gear series, and the first fighter in the series to use 3D graphics instead of Arc System Works’ trademark hand-drawn 2D sprites.
Like most other Japanese fighting games, Arc System Works will be running a location test (a beta test for arcades, basically,) before the game’s official launch. Players interested in getting their first crack at Xrd should find a way to get to Sega’s Akihabara Building 1 in Tokyo on August 9th. The series’ creator, Daisuke Ishiwatari, will be there to greet fans and answer questions on the first day of the game’s location test.
Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN is set one year after the Dynasty Warriors-esque spin off Guilty Gear 2: Overture, and is the first fighting game in the series to feature entirely 3D graphics. The game runs on the Unreal 3 Engine and is powered by Sega’s RingEdge 2 arcade board. While the Guilty Gear games have been constantly upgraded with incremental updates and balance changes, Xrd SIGN is the first true “sequel” in the series since 2006’s Guilty Gear XX Accent Core.
Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN has only been announced for an arcade release, but Arc System Works Minori Kidouka has mentioned that there’s a possibility that they may port the game over to the PS4 and Xbox One.
