For those of you who haven't heard of the EVO championship series, the biggest three North American fighting game tournament, here's a bit of news from the front. Mr. Wizard, the organizer of the tournament, has just announced via twitter that for the Mortal Kombat portion of the tournament, all DLC characters will not be playable, the reason likely being that there is not enough time to play-test the characters for balance purposes.

Here's Mr. Wizard’s tweet:

Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and all other dlc for Mortal Kombat will not be allowed at EVO.

Additionally, for the first time in its history, EVO2k11, has received a massive overhaul. Instead of merely gathering the best fighting game players in Las Vegas for a tournament, such as Alex Valle, Ricky Ortiz, Justin Wong and Diago Umehara, EVO2k11 will be organized in pools, with eight major stops across the US and Canada, with an international date to be determined at a later date. Fighters that win will earn points to move up the ladder and ultimately seed in the finals in Las Vegas. A full schedule of the tournament, as well as a full list of games being played, can be found at EVO's official website. Check back for more information about the tournament later in the month when it goes underway.