January 2004

Saturday, January 31, 2004

A third Mortal Kombat movie on its way?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:28:49 AEST
There's been rumours circling around for a year or two now about the possibility of a third Mortal Kombat movie. Well, now it seems that there is finally solid evidence that at the very least, the movie is in preproduction. Linden Ashbey, who played Johnny Cage in the first MK movie has appeared on a talk show and discussed the third MK movie and how his character Johnny Cage is set to make a return. You can download the interview in MPEG format by clicking here if you're interested. It's a 12.5 Meg download so keep that in mind if you are on a dialup connection.

This is certainly looking promising for those people who wanted a third MK movie, let's hope it pans out!
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Server downtime
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:24:52 AEST
Site visitors may have noticed that the site was inaccessible for a period of about 30 minutes today. This was a problem in the datacentre where our server is located and many other sites were also affected. We still don't know what caused this, however the problem seems to have been sorted out. We apologise for any inconvenience but it was totally out of our control.

Friday, January 30, 2004

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:20:00 AEST
There has been many developers over the years that have attempted to break into the fighting game scene. However, only a handful have really stood above the pack and consistently produced good titles. In this new poll, we ask you what company you think makes or used to make the best fighting games. Your choices are:

Capcom (best known for Street Fighter)
Midway (best known for Mortal Kombat)
Namco (best known for Tekken and Soul Calibur)
Rare (best known for Killer Instinct)
Sammy (best known for Guilty Gear)
Sega (best known for Virtua Fighter)
SNK (best known for King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown)
Tecmo (best known for Dead or Alive)

Of course, if you can't decide, you have that option to vote for, and if think there's another developer that's not on that list, there's the option to vote for "other" as well. Why not join our forums and discuss it with other die-hard fighting game fans?
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:03:30 AEST
It's that time again where we make a new poll, but first, we need to check the results of the previous poll:

What was the best fighting game of 2003?

32.8% - Soul Calibur II
30.1% - One Must Fall: Battlegrounds
7.8% - Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
5.5% - SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos
4.8% - Guilty Gear X2
3.9% - Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition
3.4% - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
2.6% - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2.2% - Bloody Roar 4
1.4% - Samurai Spirits Zero
1.1% - King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood
1.1% - Kung Fu Chaos
0.6% - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
0.4% - Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance
0.4% - Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
0.4% - Double Dragon Advance
0.3% - Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus
0.3% - Rocky

This was our most popular poll to date, and in the end it was Soul Calibur II which emerged the people's choice as the best fighting game of 2003. If you don't like these results, well, you should have voted!
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Thursday, January 29, 2004

More new fan art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:54:57 AEST
Rachel York has sent us one more drawing, this one is of Andy Bogard and Mai Shiranau from King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. We've now had to open up a fourth Fan Art Gallerym so check it out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our fan art section. A talented artist yourself? Why not send it to us by following the above link or by following the link in the menu?
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Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Hyper Street Fighter II PAL release confirmed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:44:06 AEST
Street Fighter fans in Australia and Europe will no doubt be pleased with the news that Hyper Street Fighter II is on it's way to PAL territories. Capcom has recently confirmed that it will be released on the PS2 in Australia and Europe in April this year. The game will also come with a full-length animated movie titled Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. This is the same game that was released late last year in Japan as Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition, and celebrates SFII's 15th anniversary. It will feature all of the characters (and all of the character models) to ever appear in an SFII title as well as Champion Edition, Turbo, Super, Super Turbo, and World Warriors gameplay modes.

We've also got some new screenshots of the game right here, so if you're interested, be sure to check them out!
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Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Next Mortal Kombat to be titled Mortal Kombat: Deception?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:55:25 AEST
Gamer.nl, a Dutch gaming website, is apparently reporting that Midway games has just recently registered the trademark Mortal Kombat: Deception. If you visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, you'll find that this report is indeed true. This means the official name for Mortal Kombat 6 could very well be Mortal Kombat: Deception. While this isn't solid evidence, it certainly indicates that Midway are, at the very least, strongly considering that this will be the official name. We'll have more news on this as it becomes available.
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Monday, January 26, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:36:04 AEST
Rachel York has sent us some excellent new fan art. Her new selection of hand drawn artwork features Storm from the fighting games featuring the X-Men, Trunks from Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and Samus from the Super Smash Bros series. Check them out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our Fan Art section! Also follow that link or click the link in the menu if you are a talented artist yourself and you would like to submit your work on Blood-Sports.net for the world to see!
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Sunday, January 25, 2004

KOF 2003 endings
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:00:07 AEST
KDASH has sent word that someone has apparently attained a copy of King of Fighters 2003 and has achieved the endings for the Fatal Fury team. Not only that, but he's taken heaps of screenshots and put them on the video game museum website for everyone to see! If you're interested, check them out here. There's a lot of screens on the page so it may take a short while to load, depending on the speed of your connection.
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Friday, January 23, 2004

A couple of new XBox titles
Posted by White_Pointer @ 23:04:27 AEST
KDASH has sent us some info of some new fighting titles on their way to the XBox this year. First of all, SNK Playmore will be releasing an XBox port of their popular arcade fighter SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos. Secondly, Sammy has announced that they are also porting one of their popular arcade fighters: Guilty Gear XX to the XBox. The XBox version will apparently support XBox Live which will use voice chat as well as the usual playing online. Seems like XBox owners will have a few things to look forward to this year!
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Thursday, January 22, 2004

Additional Info on Rumble Fish
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:31:45 AEST
Here's some more information that came out of the recent show put on by Sammy that showcased their upcoming game they are currently working on with Dimps, Rumble Fish. So far, the game only has 9 characters, with each of them containing a multi-joint system to apparently accomodate features like torn clothing. Characters apparently bleed from the mouth and nose and receive big swollen bruises on their cheeks when they get hit in the face, and they drop their stances, breathe slower and move more sluggishly as their health depletes, and continue to do so until they are KO'd. So far, it seems to be looking pretty good, let's hope they continue to add more characters.

Thanks again to KDASH for this news!
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Some release dates
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:19:48 AEST
EB Games have some release dates listed for a number of PS2 fighting games due this year. Some of them are:

King Of Fighters 2003 - 10/15/2004
Samurai Shodown V - 6/15/2004
SNK Vs. Capcom: Chaos - 2/10/2004
King Of Fighters 2002 - 4/15/2004

Thanks to KDASH for the info! Don't forget if you have some news of your own to submit, just click the "Submit News" link in the menu and send it to us!
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Sega in trouble?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:10:43 AEST
Just as Sega are beginning to get their name back, it seems they are in some serious trouble, largely due to Sammy buying a large portion of the company. Seems many development studios are being shut down and it's predicted that the company as we know it will no longer exist by the end of February. As far as fighting games are concerned, this will pretty much indicate the end of the Virtua Fighter series. It appears a group of people though want to save Sega from this fate and they've launched a website, savesega.com. Check the site out if you want to lend a hand in preventing Sega's demise.

Thanks to KDASH for bringing it to our attention.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004

New Review
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:14:30 AEST
Yes, it's been a while, but we've got another review for your reading pleasure! The subject? One Must Fall: Battlegrounds. The verdict? Read it here.
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Sunday, January 18, 2004

Sammy showcases two new fighting games
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:16:45 AEST
Sammy recently held an exhibition to showcase some of their upcoming arcade titles, and two of the games on display were fighting games. The first one is one that you should know about already if you have been following our daily news recently: Rumble Fish. It's a 2D fighter that will run on Sammy's Atomiswave arcade hardware and is currently under development by Dimps. We also have a new piece of information about the game: it is due out sometime in March (at least in Japanese arcades).

The second game was shown at the 2003 AM show but hasn't really been brought into the limelight until now. Titled Force Five, it will actually be a 3D fighting game that will run on the same Atomiswave arcade hardware. It's apparently due out sometime in the Northern Hemisphere spring, but not much else is known about it.

We'll have more information on both of these games as it becomes available.
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Saturday, January 17, 2004

ANOTHER Dragon Ball Z Fighting game?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:38:43 AEST
They just don't seem to know when to quit.

There's another DBZ fighting game on it's way, due out in Japan on March 26th this year for the GBA. Titled Dragon Ball Z: Bukuu Tougeki, it will be a 2D fighter with gameplay elements that seem to closely resemble Taiketsu's gameplay. This one is being developed by a different development house (the guys behind Guilty Gear) so we'll see how it pans out. No release date yet outside of Japan.
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Dead or Alive Online renamed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:23:49 AEST
Tecmo has sent official word that their upcoming XBox title in development at Team Ninja has been officially renamed. Dead or Alive Online will now be known as Dead or Alive Ultimate, as Tecmo says this better reflects what is in the game.

"Dead or Alive Online only signifies a portion of this game while the new name, Dead or Alive Ultimate, describes more accurately what fans will experience when they buy this game,”

Friday, January 16, 2004

SNK Playmore to focus on...Gambling?!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:51:35 AEST
It's true...it has been confirmed.

SNK Playmore (creators of King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown, amongst other titles) has recently announced that they will be shifting their focus onto the Japanese legal gambling machine sector. More specifically, on Pinball and Slot Machines, better known in Japan as "Pachinko". They will be releasing 5 slot machines this year, then 12 machines in 2005 and 15 machines in 2006. The first machine will be based off their Metal Slug series, with others being based off not only their own game franchises but other company's game franchises as well (at least that's what they are hoping).

Why are they doing this? Well, SNK Playmore believes the market for Pachinko is growing and is very profitable, generating over 30 trillion yen (US$279 billion) each year which equates to about 8 percent of Japan's GDP. So, they are obviously after the big bucks.

So what does this mean in regards to King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown and their other gaming franchises? Well, they said that although their main focus will be shifted towards the slot machines, they will still keep publishing games, and they have plans to extend the release of these titles onto multiple platforms (including mobile/cell phones). So fans of SNK fighters have no need to really panic, but time will tell what impact this change will have on SNK Playmore's future game development.
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Thursday, January 15, 2004

Namco hires new personnel
Posted by White_Pointer @ 8:27:37 AEST
Seems like a lot of companies are going through some big staff changes at this time of year, and Namco (creators of Tekken and Soul Calibur) is one of them. Rod Nakamoto (formally Vivendi Universal) is the new executive vice president of research and development. The new president and chief executive officer of Namco Hometek is Nobuhiro Kasahara, the new chief operating officer and chief financial officer is Robert Ennis, and Garry Cole has been promoted to executive vice president of sales.
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004

More info on Rumble Fish
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:17:20 AEST
Not so long ago we reported that Dimps (creators of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 1 and 2) and Sammy were teaming up to create a new arcade fighter on Sammy's Atomiswave hardware with the working title of Rumble Fish. We now have some more info about the title. The game will have 3D backgrounds but will play as a traditional 2D fighter. The game also appears to have an Offense/Defense alternating battle system, with an offense gauge and a defense gauge. How these will work in practice is currently uncertain however.
If you are interested in checking out some early screenshots, The Magic Box has a few.

Kudos again to KDASH for the heads up!
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Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Fighters featured in the top 100 selling games in Japan
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:52:44 AEST
The Magic Box has published a full list of the 100 best selling games in Japan throughout the whole year of 2003. Fighting games are featured, with some surprising results, with SCII ranking surprisingly low and DBZ: Budokai ranking surprisingly high. The fighting games amongst the list are:

Soul Calibur II (PS2) placed 92nd
Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen (GC) placed 74th
One Piece Grand Battle 3 (PS2) placed 61st
Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 2 (GC) placed 60th
Naruto: Narutimet Hero (PS2) placed 44th
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (PS2) placed 10th

The Playstation 2 was the best selling hardware device of 2003, closely followed by the Gameboy Advance SP. Nintendo was the best selling publisher of the year.

To check out the full list, just follow this link. Thank you to KDASH for the info!
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Monday, January 12, 2004

Microsoft to publish Dead or Alive Online in Europe
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:41:41 AEST
Well, a few days ago we reported that Ubisoft were the ones to publish all future Tecmo games...seems this doesn't apply to Europe however. Microsoft has recently announced that they will be the ones publishing Dead or Alive Online, the first ever console 3D fighter (which is a combination of DOA and DOA 2) to support online play, in Europe. Microsoft will also be publishing Ninja Gaiden in Europe, which features the character Ryu Hayabusa from the DOA series.
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Sunday, January 11, 2004

A Korn fighting game?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:53:57 AEST
This may be hard to believe, but the lead singer of Korn Jonathan Davis has apparently started work on his own celebrity fighting game with the working title of Pop Scars. This is not supposed to be like Celebrity Deathmatch, but more along the lines of Soul Calibur or Mortal Kombat. According to the Korn front man, the game will feature many musical celebrities such as members from bands Korn, Limp Bizkit, Staind, Marilyn Manson and Mary J. Blige. Well known comic book artist Marty Emond is also said to be involved. However the game has no publisher or confirmed developer yet, which sort of raises the question as to whether this is actually real, but the information does come from a reliable source.

I just think....what the hell?
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Saturday, January 10, 2004

Onimusha Blade Warriors coming in 2004
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:40:13 AEST
Capcom have kept details about their new fighting game Onimusha Blade Warriors very quiet...until now, that is. Based on their Onimusha Universe, Onimusha Blade Warriors is the first fighting game based on the franchise (and also Capcom's first fighting game for the year) and is a 3D fighting game featuring 24 characters and up to 4 player simultaneous battles. There will be 4 modes of play: Story, Fighting, Mini-Game and Practice.

No solid release date has been set yet, but it is due sometime this year and will be exclusive to the Playstation 2. For more details and some screenshots, check out the official site.
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Friday, January 9, 2004

Tecmo and Ubisoft team up
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:44:42 AEST
Game publisher Ubisoft has just entered into an agreement with Tecmo (creators of the Dead or Alive series) to exclusively publish and distribute Tecmo titles. While the first game to be published by Ubisoft under the agreement isn't part of the DOA series (in fact it's not even a fighter, it's a survival Horror game called Project Zero 2 – Crimson Butterfly), it's a pretty safe bet that all future titles in the DOA series will have the Ubisoft logo on the box.
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Thursday, January 8, 2004

New Bigwigs at Midway
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:43:59 AEST
Midway (creators of the Mortal Kombat series) has recently announced the appointment of a number of new guys that will be in charge of various departments. Robert N. Waxman and Jay N. Whipple III are two new independent Board directors. Steve Allison is the new chief marketing officer, Brad Wiles is the new director of sales, and Paul Flynn is the new regional sales manager of its operating subsidiary. In addition, Mona Hamilton has been appointed new vice president of marketing, Greg Mucha is the new director of channel marketing, and the new media relations director is Reilly Brennan.

Seems like lots of changes are going on at Midway, does this mean the company is planning something big?
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Wednesday, January 7, 2004

Weekly UK Game Sales chart
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:22:28 AEST
ELSPA has published the latest UK game sales chart for the week ending January 3rd, let's take a look at it:

1 NEED FOR SPEED: UNDERGROUND
2 THE SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN
3 MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN
4 FIFA 2004
5 LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING
6 THE SIMS: BUSTIN' OUT
7 GRAND THEFT AUTO: DOUBLE PACK
8 TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF LA
9 NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2004
10 TONY HAWK'S UNDERGROUND
11 PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
12 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2004
13 XIII
14 EYE TOY: PLAY
15 MAX PAYNE 2: THE FALL OF MAX PAYNE
16 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: SEASON 03/04
17 TOTAL CLUB MANAGER 2004
18 CRASH NITRO KART
19 SOUL CALIBUR II
20 WWE SMACKDOWN! HERE COMES THE PAIN

Well, despite being released back in September 2003, it seems Soul Calibur II is still selling quite well and still appearing in the top 20 list of best selling games in the UK. There's other surprising results on there too, but we are obviously most concerned about the fighting games!

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Tuesday, January 6, 2004

Sony's PSP due November
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:50:01 AEST
This news is for anyone who has been following the news on Sony's upcoming handheld, the PSP. Prior to today, Sony had only given an expected launch of "late 2004". Now, in a recent interview with Chris Deering, the new president of Sony Europe, it's been given a more specific date. They are aiming for a launch in November this year. Whether this means PAL or NTSC or both is uncertain.

You can read the whole interview at Sony's Official UK Playstation site.
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Monday, January 5, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:51:51 AEST
Well, not exactly "new" in the true sense of the word, but Rachel York has sent us some updated versions of art she has previously sent us. The new images use more colours and are of better quality than the first ones she sent us.

Check them out, along with all our other fan art in our Fan Art section. A talented artist yourself? Want to show off your fighting game fan art to the world? Why not send it to us? Just follow the above link (or click the link in the left hand menu) for the simple instructions!
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Sunday, January 4, 2004

King of Fighters 2003 location test
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:56:38 AEST
Well, for those of you who were unaware, SNK/Playmore conducted a location test for their upcoming title King of Fighters 2003 in early December last year, and reports coming from it indicate it was a huge success. For the most part, KOF fans were very happy with how the game is turning out. Everything from the backgrounds to the overall game speed seems to have been improved. It certainly doesn't look like KOF fans will be disappointed. snk-capcom.com have a whole stack of pictures from the USA location test, check them out here.

Thanks again to KDASH for the news!
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Saturday, January 3, 2004

Sega to remake classic fighter?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:45:04 AEST
We've received word that Sega are currently working on a Playstation 2 remake of their classic Master System Fighting title Fist of the North Star. While this is certainly nothing concrete (no official word from Sega as far as we are aware), the information does come from a reliable source so it will be interesting to see if it pans out.

Thanks to KDASH for the heads up on this news!
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Friday, January 2, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:01:15 AEST
We kick off the new year with a new addition to our Fan Art section. Videogame Answer Man (visit his homepage here) has just us a sketch of Mai Shiranui from the King of Fighters series. Check it out, along with all our other fan art in our Fan Art section.
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Thursday, January 1, 2004

Happy New Year!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:16:28 AEST
Welcome to 2004!!

Happy New Year to everyone around the world, and may everyone have a safe holiday. 2003 was a great year for fighting games, what will 2004 hold? I can't wait to find out!
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