Bronies Fighting Ponies: The Magic of Friendship

Happy Saturday, all! 

In case any of you are still hazy on the details of Mane6's cease and desist from a while back, Polygon has released an in-depth special feature chronicling the story of the project and the takedown. The piece also goes into the reasons behind Hasbro C&Ds, covers Lauren Faust's involvement in mane6's new project, and puts a really positive spin on the Brony community in general.

Check it out here!

(April Fools) Super Bieber Racer

Super Bieber Racer

This article was written for April Fools 2013 and is not meant to be taken seriously. At all.

 Justin Bieber (the world's greatest singer) has long deserved a decent fangame, but even his incredible fanbase has been unable to solve this...until now. Well-renowned fangame developer Penta Studios has come bursting forth from the closet on this fabulous spring day to bring us Super Bieber Racer, which is undoubtedly the greatest Justin Bieber fangame to ever come out of the internets, and far better than those lousy kissing simulators.

Oh yeah, and there are several ponies in the game. Fighting is Magic also makes a cameo, as does yours truely.

Success! Mane Six Earns the Skullgirls Engine

Keep Skullgirls Growing

Despite the doubts of many (myself included), the Keep Skullgirls Growing campaign managed to reach the required goal of $725k with only 10 hours left, which means Mane Six gets to use the incredible Skullgirls engine for free. Congratulations to everypony who donated! I am proud of you all.

...In case you're confused as to what good this means for Mane Six and the future of Fighting is Magic, I would advise that you read their official FAQ on the subject.

Mane 6 New Game FAQ

Skullgirls Engine FAQ

Mane 6 released a FAQ about their new fighting game in the works, including some silhouettes of characters designed by none other than Lauren Faust herself. Although it's not directly pony related, we'll still follow this project, as it was born from pony, and features what appears to be a similar art aesthetic.

Sorry for the slow news week everyone - we've all been pretty dang busy over the past couple days. Also, that llama may already be my favorite character, even if I've only seen an outline. Discuss.

Mane 6 May Use Skullgirls's Engine

Mane 6's Announcement

Keep Skullgirls Growing

Update: Still have questions? Then visit Mane 6's Official FAQ, where they also have additional character teasers and whatnot.

 As of now Mane 6 is no longer producing My Little Pony fangames, but with Lauren Faust on the team they have a bright future; and if Lab Zero Games's Keep Skullgirls Growing IndieGoGo campaign reaches $750,000 their future will be brighter still. You see, Lab Zero Games has offered Mane 6 their Skullgirls engine for free if we can raise their campaign to $750,000, and this means that the spiritual successor to Fighting is Magic will be in full high-definition, run on consoles and have full Linux support. This would be a huge boost to fighting game enthusiasts everywhere, and even though the game doesn't include ponies I would still highly encourage you to donate to the campaign. I think I might even contribute a bit myself, although unfortunately I can't spare much...

 Will I post much on Mane 6's new game? It's a bit too early to say, but I will follow the development of their game whether it features ponies or not.

Lauren Faust to Help Make Mane 6's Next Game

Mane 6

 Unsurprisingly, Mane 6's negotiations with Hasbro over the C&D of Fighting is Magic didn't go all that well, and as most folks have already heard about Lauren Faust's offering to design new characters for them it should come as no real shock that Mane 6 decided to take up the offer. This means that Fighting is Magic will no longer be a My Little Pony fangame, but take place in its own setting with unique characters and have pretty much the same stuff as Fighting is Magic (with the notable exception of colourful equines).

 Also, a while back the dev team behind Skullgirls, Lab Zero Games, offered their engine to Mane 6, but there has been no official response as of yet. I believe that Mane 6 should accept the offer, as this would give them the opportunity to publish their game to consoles and use high definition sprites instead of being limited to 480p. It would mean that they would have to rewrite most of the characters, yes, but they could potentially end up with a higher-quality product by taking this route...

Sick of my rambling on the Skullgirls engine? Then visit Mane 6's original blog post for some more detailed information on the situation, along with a quote from Lauren Faust (and not a single mention of Skullgirls to boot).

Mane6 C&D Megapost

Mane6 C&D Megapost

As many of you know, earlier this month, Mane6's highly anticipated project, Fighting is Magic was shut down by a Cease and Desist demand from Hasbro. In this megapost, you'll find the devteam's reactions to the events of the past few weeks, a massive FAQ section, as well as some insight into the future of Mane6. It's definitely worth a read.

BREAKING NEWS: Fighting is Magic Receives Cease & Desist from Hasbro

 For the longest time Fighting is Magic has been the flagship Brony fangame, and has received much attention from the media. Unfortunately this fame has come at a cost, and Mane 6 has recently been on the receiving end of a cease and desist notification from Hasbro. From the announcement it seems that negotiations with Hasbro have been unsuccessful, so we can effectively flush all hopes of playing Fighting is Magic down the toilet.

 Quite frankly, I am quite upset with the whole situation. Recently Hasbro seems to have been cracking down on fan works, and their original tolerance of it that was so highly praised has been abandoned. Thankfully we still have Super Smash Ponies, but I doubt that it will ever rise to the heights that Fighting is Magic had achieved.

Fighting is Magic: Fluttershy Showcase

Fluttershy Showcase

 It's been quite a while since Mane 6 has released any gameplay videos of Fighting is Magic, although this is probably the fault of the anonymous tester who leaked a pre-release version of the game and caused the devteam to cease their fascinating weekly updates. That was entirely unnecessary on their part, but today they have somewhat made up for it by releasing a showcase video of Fluttershy (who appears to have been nerfed significantly since her infamous original incarnation) and her pet bunny, Angel.

 The trailer itself doesn't reveal a huge amount of information about the game that we didn't know already, although I was impressed with the quality of the character animations and whatnot. We are still entirely in the dark about any future release dates (the "coming soon" bit at the end doesn't help), but at least we know that Mane 6 is taking their time to make the best game that they can and are not rushing it. 

Oh, and in case you're interested the original post on this showcase has some behind-the-scenes information, but not much else.

Fighting Is Magic Possibly Featured in EVO Tournament Lineup

For the uninitiated, EVO is a yearly tournament and celebration of fighting games held in Las Vegas, Nevada--arguably the biggest and best event of its type in the world. Why is this important? Well, to determine the 8th game in the tournament lineup, the festival organizers have opened the floor to voting, and Mane6's Fighting Is Magic is among the nominees! You can vote here with a 5-dollar donation, and all proceeds will go to breast cancer research!

Update: Especially if you're considering voting for Fighting Is Magic, please read through THIS IMPORTANT STATEMENT from Mane6 detailing their position on the nomination.