Early details on the EVO Championship Series, the biggest fighting game tournament event in the industry, are beginning to roll out. This year's EVO will feature eight different tournaments for eight different games, seven of which are already decided upon (Mortal Kombat 9, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition) with the last to be voted upon by the community. Six months remain until the event, so it's time to train up and qualify already, noobs.

Here are the seven games already planned for the event, along with the list of potential games available to fill the eighth slot:

Current EVO lineup:

• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Mortal Kombat 9
• Street Fighter X Tekken 2013
• King of Fighters XIII
• Persona 4 Arena

Eighth slot nominees:

• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• SFIII Third Strike, Online Edition
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Divekick
• Melty Blood Actress Again Current
• MLP: Fighting is Magic
• Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Dead or Alive 5
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Injustice
• Skullgirls
• Street Fighter II Super Turbo
• Blazblue
• Soul Calibur V
• Darkstalkers 3

The first details on the Road to EVO qualifiers has also been released. Where in previous years, the highest seeds would have to attend each qualifier to acquire seeding points. This year, the top 16 finishers at each of the four events will qualify, but individual seeding will be handled entirely by the EVO organization. 

Here are the four Road to EVO qualifying events:

• Socal Regionals
• Norcal Regionals
• UFGT
• CEO

No schedule was provided for the qualifying events, but hopefully I can update the post as soon as that information becomes available.

Make sure to watch for more news and updates leading up to the July 12-14 event. It's seriously one of the most enjoyable eSports events to watch in the world. To be fair, they've had problems with certain controversial commentators in the past, but hopefully they can figure that out and make this year's series the best yet.