With Phoenix Comicon less than two weeks away, AZHP Gaming is preparing to hold its gaming room  for the 8th year running at the event. The group released their competition schedule late Monday night and are featuring over ten tournaments and plenty more.

The group will be running casual stations for the Thursday preview night from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. The action really kicks off on Friday. Their tournament schedule is as follows:

Friday-

All these tournaments is making Bob sweat!

Gears of War Judgment (360) – 11 a.m.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (PS3) – 1:30 p.m.

Halo 4 [2v2] (360) – 4 p.m.

Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS3) – 6:30 p.m.

Mortal Kombat (PS3) – 9 p.m.

Saturday-

King of Fighters XIII (PS3) – 11 a.m.

Persona 4: Arena (PS3) – 1:30 p.m.

Street Fighter x Tekken (PS3) – 4 p.m.

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (PS3) – 6:30 p.m.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PS3) – 9 p.m.

Sunday-

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – 11 a.m.

Call of Duty Black Ops II [2v2] (360) – 2 p.m.

The group will give away slews of prizes which include NoS energy drink packs, Aqua Red t-shirts, $20 giftcards to The Game Zone, Evil Controller controllers, comic books, prints and much more.

Along with regular tournaments, AZHP will be hosting casual game stations throughout the weekend for attendees to freely play. All the competitive action will be streamed by Team Hazmat and Team Mailorder. Tickets for Phoenix Comicon are currently on sale at their website.

May is now upon us and is giving us Arizona gamers a sort of calm before the summer storm of competitions and events, such as a return of last years’ Controllers and Canvas.

For those who don’t know, Controllers and Canvas is a casual celebration of video games in an eclectic number of ways. This Saturday at the Mesa Bookman’s store, and will feature trivia, casual gaming, art showcases, and tons of prizes. All the details can be found on Bookman’s official event page.

And for those who can’t get enough FGC action, Team Hazmat will be at Salt Fest in Utah this weekend, so watch the streams because you may see some of the local players making an appearance! 

As a gamer (especially in the fighting game community), we get the opportunity to see a lot of comic book characters in games these days.

One of the biggest competitive games is Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Not to mention the recently released Injustice fighting game, along with the success of the Batman Arkham series, and even the upcoming Deadpool game. Indeed, video games owe quite a lot to comic books and their lore. This weekend will give gamers all around the opportunity to support the comics from whence these games came from.

This weekend is the annual Free Comic Book Day. Locations across the valley will be holding various events and of course, passing out free comics and swag. Some of the participants will include Samurai Comics, Drawn to Comics, All About Books and Comics, Jesse James Comics and tons more.

So pick up your Injustice fight sticks and “When’s Marvel?” signs and head out to your nearest comic shop to show your support!

Well if you haven’t heard by now, the DC comic fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us finally released on Tuesday. As every gamer out there devours the title’s roster of characters vying for a main, this weekend will give you all an opportunity to test your new fighters against each other.

In Tempe Euphoria Gaming will be running Operation: Injustice, their tournament for the game, at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe on Saturday. The group will take sign-ups at 2:30 p.m., begin casuals at 3 p.m., and start the competition at 6 p.m.

The tournament is free to enter and will run on a double-elimination bracket with no character or stage bans. Matches will be decided on a best two out of three basis, with prizes going to the top three placers.

Prizes for first will include a Battle Edition copy of Injustice, a collector’s edition guide, and $20 credit for PSN or XBLA (winner’s choice), second place will receive a $60 Amazon gift card, and third place will get a $40 Amazon gift card.

Euphoria Gaming has stated that players are highly encouraged to bring their own fight sticks or controllers. For more information on the tournament, please visit their Facebook event page.

If you managed to miss out on all the fun had at last weekends’ Zapcon, there’s plenty more tournament fun to be had in the upcoming days. These events will include the season final of the Team Hazmat hazbats and the launch of the highly-anticipated fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Starting everything off proper on Saturday will be the conclusion of the Team Hazmat hazbats spring season. The standings are fair, with all the points on the table during these last matches. All weekend the team will be streaming SFIV:AE, SFxT, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, Persona 4: Arena, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 action from a multitude of competitors.

Entry fees run about $5 for each tournament, with grand places going to the highest placers in each ranbat bracket. For more information, check out their official Facebook event page.

And if superheroes are more your style, the DEVASTATION crew will be hosting a midnight launch event at the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale at 10 p.m. Monday night. The team also plans to hold a small tournament with prizes going to the top three fighters and the winner netting a copy of the game on 360.

Aside from the tournament and countdown, there will also be a raffle and snacks at the event. For more information, check out their Facebook page.

This weekend will allow local gamers to bask in retro and community gaming as Barfights and ZapCon in Phoenix kick April in proper. 

ZapCon is a retro arcade and pinball classic convention which will be held in the Renaissance Phoenix Hotel in downtown Phoenix on Saturday and Sunday. The event starts at 10 a.m. Saturday morning and will feature not only the likes of Galaga, Donkey Kong Jr., and Mrs. Pac-Man, but will also feature musical act the Minibosses and a slew of documentaries about gaming. 

At the convention attendees will be able to freely play all arcade machines, as well as participate in tournaments such as the International Flipper Pinball Association qualifier going on over both days. AZHP Gaming will also be present on Sunday hosting Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 competitions. 

Passes for the convention can be purchased on the ZapCon official website. Tickets run around $15-$25 before the event and bump up to $20-$30 the day of. 

Also back for spring is AZ Barfights. One of the Arizona fighting game community’s more casual events, AZ Barfights will be hosted by Spiral Series Entertainment at the Armadillo Grill in Phoenix.

The event will kick off at 7 p.m. and feature exhibition matches, casual stations, and money matches. For more info, check out their official Facebook page.

The Con-nichiwa convention is just a couple of days away from its return to Tucson and it will be bringing a lot of guests and panels. Most importantly, the crew at AZHP Gaming will once again herald the gaming room for all three days of the event this weekend.

The group will be making its fourth appearance at the convention and plans to host a heavy tournament schedule during their stay. Among the normal staples, AZHP Gaming is planning to test attendees skills with the inclusion of the brand new game Gears of War: Judgment.

The schedule of competitions will go as follows:

Friday

Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND at 12 p.m.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl at 3 p.m.
Halo 4 (2v2 teams) at 6 p.m.
Persona 4: Arena at 9 p.m.

Saturday

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at 12 p.m.
Gears of War: Judgment at 3 p.m.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 at 6 p.m.
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition at 9 p.m.

Sunday

Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2v2 teams) at 12 p.m.

The prizes will include items from AZHP Gaming partners Boson, University of Advancing Technology, Aqua Red, and Evil Controllers for first and second placers.

Tickets for Con-nichiwa are currently on sale ranging from 25-45 dollars on their website.

After a slight lull in action last week, gaming events are ratcheting up in Peoria, Scottsdale, and Laveen in the coming days.

Starting off things will be LAN Speed Games in Peoria hosting their monthly Lock-In/All-Nighter event on Friday. For $20 attendees can reserve a seat at the venue for ten hours of straight gaming starting at 10 p.m.

Prizes and competitions will be held throughout the night and seats can be reserved at LAN Speed Games. For more information, check out their official Facebook event page.

If you haven’t seen how the Hazbats are rocking new setups, now may be the time to finally get in on the action!

Following up the action is the Team Hazmat Hazbats which will be taking up the weekend. Now in mid-season, the hazbats will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday with competitions in SFxT, Super Street Fighter IV: AE, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Mortal Kombat, Persona 4 Arena, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will follow on Sunday starting at 1:30 p.m.

Most of the competitions have a $5 entry fee. For further details, check out their official Facebook event page.

And blurring into next week, the drop of new Xbox 360 title Gears of War: Judgement will be accompanied by a midnight launch event at the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale.

The launch will consist of a tournament hosted by the DEVASTATION crew, a cosplay contest, prizes, free pizza and free play of the game as the midnight drop approaches. For more info, check out their official Facebook event page.

The tournament will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., with casuals starting as early as 12 p.m. that day. There will be a $10 entry fee for participants, which can be reduced down to $7 if an entrant brings their own console, controller, and copy of UMvC3. 

There is no known bracket cap at this time, but the tournament will be double-elimination. The prizes will be $30 for first, a $15 GameStop gift card for second place, and three free hours of game time at LSG for third place. 

For more information and to sign up, visit the LSG official Facebook event page.

In addition to LSG’s fighting game action, the Team Hazmat hazbats will continue this weekend starting on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The games that are included in hazbats are Street Fighter x Tekken 2013 ver, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (2012 ver.), Mortal Kombat 9, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Persona 4: Arena. Most tournaments will have a $5 entry fee and all competitions will be for a small point and season ranking points.

For more details on the hazbat structure or tournament rules, check out our previous post or the Team Hazmat Facebook event page. 

Starting off things right is the Geeks’ Night Out at the Tempe City Hall on Thursday. The repeat event is ocurring in conjunction with Third Thursday on Mill Avenue at 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.

The Night Out is free to all and will include the likes of Evil Controllers and Game Truck hosting gaming areas and controller displays (as well as the AZHP Gaming folks making an appearance at the event). In addition to that, there will be tons of other geek culture related programming and guests. For more info, check out their official event page here.

Following up is the LAN Speed Games monthly Lock-in on Friday. As per usual practice, attendees can get in on the 10 hour gaming action for $20.

Seats tend to fill up quick with Lock-ins, so it is advised that potential attendees reserve their seats ahead of time. Pizza and refreshments will be provided to all who have secured spots. For more info, check out their official event page here.