If you haven't heard (or expected) this already, GGXrd is getting a title update under the name "Revelator," adding two characters: Johnny (well, he was in the game before, but playable now) and some new lady (in silhouette so far) named "Jack-O." The update is going to be tested in Japanese arcades for two weeks starting June 5th, with no timetable yet for a console release, but be prepared to shell out an extra $40 if and when it does come out.

Still waiting for the version with Baiken, but this is pretty good news, unless you live in Europe and have been waiting super-patiently for Xrd to officially launch in your area only to hear it will be obsolete in a couple of days.

Trying to figure out what Jack-O's name is supposed to be a reference for. The easy answer would be Michael Jackson but he's not very METAL so I doubt it.

No thank you. I think after blazeblue and the previous guilty gear games i learned to wait till the third iteration before buying. Between the game itself and dlc it's pretty expensive. If this was a 20 dollar addon patch I probably wouldn't mind as much.

Would have totally put my money down on at least getting Johnny, DIzzy, and Gabriel...but I guess we need some more waifu-bait for some reason. uuuuuuugh it's just that stylistically, I think Jack-O looks super fucking boring. Maybe she'll be super interesting to play, so I guess it's sorta whatever at the end of the day, but nothing will make me like the way she looks. Different stroke for different folks I suppose.

I think Michael Jackson is still the likely reference since there's plenty of non-metal references from the million and one Queen references, to a character being named after Swedish pop group ABBA.

It came out Feb. 2014 in Arcades so more like a year and a half between versions.

@hadoken101: good point, forgot about some of the non-metal references with Ishiwatari's love of metal in the OST.

@i_stay_puft: Technically XX has five followups and Blazblue has four.

The more the follwups, the less consistent competition, the more overall experience for players who kept on playing and less likely new players to win matches against the experienced.

Waiting might not be best unless you can catch up easily.

Maybe this version will see a release in Europe.

@jacksukeru: Well at least you can technically download the Japanese or US builds.

I do understand the problems of Arc System Works games having problems releasing in Europe. Did Persona 4 Arena Ultimax even come there?

@thephantomnaut: It did, and just two months behind the NA release that time, which was a massive improvement over the first game's infamous, delayed launch.

I was hoping something like that'd never happen again but here we are in 2015 and Xrd was finally released in Europe today, six months after the US. @jacksukeru must've missed the big news!

The news of this update must be a massive bummer for those who chose not to import a copy!

@cettu: I did miss that. Neat.

I'm gonna go buy it now.

Might be a dumb question but will there be any substantial gameplay or graphical changes to the game or is it just Xrd with 3 new characters? And do you think they'd do any sort of add-on deal for the update if you got the original game? I don't mean to sound so naive but it hasn't been very long since the Xrd console release...

@technician said:

There are probably gonna be changes similar to the most recent update to Sign such as being able to blitz shield projectiles but as for new mechanics, very likely not. To GG players, character balance can be considered substantial since it can affect their character's design and matchups against others.

It will be another Xrd that plays like Xrd but with specific changes and newer content.

Arc System Works never really offered deals for owning a previous version since most of their releases are considered separate products. Blazblue had an exception I believe during Continuum Shift because of a couple of newer characters but that was DLC instead of being something like Extend. ASW is also known for releasing console builds later down the line only for the next version to be announced for arcades a bit after because it's their focus.

Still no Baiken? All I ask is for Baiken. Please?

@i_stay_puft: I think no matter when you buy a version of an Arcsys fighting game, you're going to have the next iteration coming out a year later. If you buy in with the 3rd version, either there'll be a 4th version later, or a new game in the series.

Really depends on how much you want to play the game. Want to have fun with friends? Play whatever the cheapest one is, or get the newest one and just play that forever. Want to try and be the best? Do what the series' fans do, keep buying the game over and over again, and when you're 2+ years in and a couple versions of the game in, you'll achieve some kind of competency.