March 2004

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact coming Fall 2004
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:13:35 AEST
SNK/Playmore have announced that the PS2 exclusive addition to the KOF series, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, is coming in the Northern Hemisphere Fall/Autumn. It will be the first ever game in the series, which first started in 1994, that will be in complete 3D.

"The King of Fighters franchise is one of the anchor franchises of the SNK product line," said Ben Herman, SNK NeoGeo president. "We're confident that KOF fans worldwide will be very excited about this great evolution for the series."

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

More fighting games to be included in Midway Arcade Treasures 2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:52:37 AEST
Well we know already that the original three Mortal Kombat arcade games are going to be featured in Midway Arcade Treasures 2. We've also now received confirmation that original arcade versions of Pit Fighter and Primal Rage will also be included in the new compilation. Not bad! Along with the rest of he games featured, these five classic fighting games should make Midway Arcade Treasures 2 a reasonable buy when it's released!
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Monday, March 29, 2004

Rumble Fish may not come overseas
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:47:43 AEST
Sammy's upcoming arcade fighter The Rumble Fish may not see the light of day outside of Japan, despite it's positive feedback so far. Sammy and the developer Dimps haven't really said anything about a release in the US or anywhere else in the world outside of Japan at this point, and may not release it overseas unless there is a high enough demand for it. Of course the game isn't finished yet and Sammy still haven't set a solid Japanese arcade release date yet, and we'll have more information on it as it becomes available.
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Sunday, March 28, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 8:52:31 AEST
LF has sent us some new fan art. He calls it "Spirits of the Damned" and it's an excellent drawing of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat and Hsien-Ko from Darkstalkers. Check it out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our Fan Art section. If you're a talented artist and want to see your work published here for the world to see, just follow the above link for the submission instructions!
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Saturday, March 27, 2004

New MK: Deception screens
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:44:19 AEST
We've got a few new screenshots of Mortal Kombat: Deception. Two of these show Nightwolf for the first time in action as he dishes out some pain to Baraka. You can see them along with our other MK: Deception screens in our MK: Deception image gallery.
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Friday, March 26, 2004

Sega to use new GPU in arcade machines
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:58:01 AEST
Sega have announced that they will be putting in Imagination Technologies' new PowerVR graphics processor in their next arcade board. This will be the third time Sega have used a PowerVR chip in their arcade boards, and coincidentally the fouth time Sega has used a PowerVR GPU (having used one in the Dreamcast).

"Together we have already proven our excellence in arcade games with the Naomi family, and it is safe to say that, once again, gamers will be looking eagerly to the arcades to see where the future of video gaming lies."

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Rag Doll Kung Fu announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:56:51 AEST
Lionhead Studios have announced a new game that is the brainchild of Lionhead artist Mark Healey. Titled Rag Doll Kung Fu, it's been described as "a kung fu fight with string puppets in which you don't have to worry about getting the strings tangled up or even having a kung fu fight at all if you don't feel like it."

This is a fighting game like no other, and certainly innovative. The characters are moved using a mouse and they work on the base that they are string-controlled puppets. To walk across the screen, you need to literally pick up your character's foot and move it forward. There's no prescripted animations and it's very free-form. Healey already has a version of the game that supports up to eight players.

"If all goes well, and I get the online stuff working properly, then you can act out various silly situations with people all over the world, have dancing competitions, chatting, fighting, that kind of thing.

I already have multiplayer working on a single machine – you can plug in up to eight mice (with a usb hub), and simulate all types of strange behaviour. "

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

New Dead or Alive Ultimate screenshots
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:02:14 AEST
We've got some new screenshots of what will be the first ever online 3D fighting game for a console, Tecmo's Dead or Alive Ultimate (formally known as Dead or Alive Online). I'm telling you, judging by these screenshots, this is gonna be one helluva good looking game, to say the least.

Check out the new screens here, and if you want to check out the rest of our Dead or Alive images (including another gallery of DOA Ultimate) just click the Dead or Alive link under the "Images" menu section.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:27:31 AEST
Regular fan art contributor Rachel York has sent us some more excellent drawings! There's Mai from the King of Fighters, 2 pictures of Cammy and one of Fei Long from the Super Street Fighter II series, Rose from the Street Fighter Alpha series, 2 pictures of Jin Kazama from the Tekken series, Ayane from the Dead or Alive series and one of Quan Chi from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Check it all out, along with the rest of our fan art in our fan art section.

A talented artist yourself? Why not send it to us for the whole world to see? Follow that above link or click the Fan Art link under the "Features" section in the menu for submission instructions!
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Monday, March 22, 2004

Gamespy's Title Fight! The Ultimate Gaming Grudge continues
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:57:05 AEST
Well, unfortunately Street Fighter II was knocked out by Super Mario Bros 3 (ack!) but we still have one fighting game left in Gamespy's Title Fight! The Ultimate Gaming Grudge in the form of Soul Calibur II. This time it's up against Mario Kart 64 and Metal Gear Solid. A difficult challenge for sure, but the winner of this goes through into the final bracket, and we need to make sure SCII makes it through!

March 22nd is D-Day for all three games (that's actually the 23rd for those of you in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia), there's no second chances from here. So when the contest opens, make sure you vote for Soul Calibur II! It'll appear on the Main Title Fight page when it opens. If you want to check out the rest of the tournament brackets, click this link.
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Sunday, March 21, 2004

Game Informer posts MK: Deception preview
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:56:14 AEST
Game Informer also had a chance to take a look at Mortal Kombat: Deception, and their preview is a little more revealing than Gamespot's.

For one, they were a little more specific about the character roster. We now know that out of the 24 selectable characters, 8 of them are brand new, 6 of them will be returning from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and 10 of them will be classic MK characters that we haven't seen for a while...including the previously unrevealed Kabal!

I'll just go off on a tangent here just to confirm what the confirmed roster of selectable characters is thus far:

Baraka
Mileena
Scorpion
Sub-Zero
Nightwolf
Sindel
Kabal
Bo' Rai Cho
Kenshi
Ermac
Noob Saibot
Hotaru (new)
Ashrah (new)

The preview also goes into a little more detail on the battle arena interactivity.

You can read the entire preview here.
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Saturday, March 20, 2004

New Mortal Kombat: Deception details and screens
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:47:44 AEST
Gamespot have had an exclusive look at the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Deception, with details revealed by none other than Ed Boon himself. And not surprisingly it reveals some new details. It covers some new additions to the gameplay, including the fighting styles for the characters and battle arena interactivity, and goes into some depth on the subject of fatalities and other ways to dish out the pain. Even though the final roster of characters is being kept a secret, it does reveal that the game will feature a total of 24 selectable characters, 10 of which are unlockable. There's more information on the konquest mode and the two new mini-games, plus goes into a little detail about the online play feature.

You can read the full article here. You can also check out some new screenshots in our MK: Deception Image Gallery!
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Friday, March 19, 2004

First Flagship Studios game to be published by Namco
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:08:04 AEST
Flagship Studios, which was founded but several guys who left Blizzard, have announced that they will be working with Namco for the release of their first game due out this year.

“Flagship Studios is a top notch development group in its talent and industry wisdom,” said Nobuhiro Kasahara, president and chief executive officer of Namco Hometek Inc. “We look forward to beginning a strong, long-term relationship with Flagship so that we can make great games together.”

“This very exciting deal with Flagship Studios marks Namco’s official entry into the PC games publishing business,” said Robert Ennis, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Namco Hometek Inc. “Flagship shares our vision in bringing to market the most innovative and exciting games. We are thrilled to be working with such a talented development team.”

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Vivendi Universal to publish Konami's PC games
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:18:45 AEST
Konami are known in the fighting game business, being behind some titles in the Bloody Roar series and most recently putting out the modern side scrolling beat 'em up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It has recently been announced that Vivendi Universal will be distributing future Konami PC titles in the USA and Canada.

"VU Games' strong distribution network will help us reach a larger audience of PC gamers," said Geoff Mulligan, Konami America's chief operating officer.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Microsoft rumoured to be buying Midway
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:17:30 AEST
Well this rumour has been circulating around the Internet for a little while now. The source of such discussion is an article on InvestorsObserver.com which you can read here. This is a quote from the section of the article in question:

DYNAMIC MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

The world's most famous insider is buying Midway Games with gusto. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone loves Midway so much that he recently spent over $16.5 million on 4.8 million shares. Now, the world's most famous chairman could be about to join in too. The Microsoft chief badly needs more video games so his company's struggling Xbox console can compete with Sony's PlayStation 2 (which owns a 67% U.S. market share). Midway Games, famous for creating the Mortal Kombat series (over 20 million sales), needs help too. Despite the popularity of the game, Midway has posted 12 consecutive quarterly losses, and suffered a 75% drop in its stock price over the past 12 months. Some speculate that Midway is ripe for a takeover bid. And if Gates decides to enter the fray, it could spark an intriguing bidding war between him and Redstone (who currently controls 28% of Midway's stock). Ian Cooper and Erin Beale at the Profit Hog Insider investment group have watched with interest. Besides Redstone's recent purchases, Midway has some new key management players, a host of new products and an attractive chart. After recommending Midway at $4.40 on January 26, the duo is up 29%.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Boy threatens parents with knife over a...console?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:14:44 AEST
Well this isn't fighting game news but very interesting gaming community news all the same. Reuters has reported that a 13 year old Hong Kong boy lost his temper after his father pulled the plug on his console when the boy refused to go to bed at midnight. He apparently grabbed a knife and threatened his parents by waving it around wildly. No-one was injured as the father was able to overpower the boy. We don't know what game he was playing prior to the pulling of the plug or even what console he was playing. But it's an alarming story. You can read the Reuters article here.
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Monday, March 15, 2004

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:33:45 AEST
Mortal Kombat: Deception has been announced! And not surprisingly, our new poll asks you whether you'll be nabbing yourself a copy when it hits store shelves. Have you already made up your mind one way or the other, or are you going to wait for a while before making a decision? Vote now!

Also on this topic, don't forget about our Petition to get MK: Deception on the GC, if you're a GC owner and an MK fan, make sure you sign it!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:27:17 AEST
Time for a new poll, but first, as always, here are the results from the previous poll:

Do you prefer 2D or 3D fighters?

34.1% - Both
30.7% - 3D
25.1% - 2D
9.5% - Doesn't matter to me

Well it seems the majority actually prefer playing both kinds, and quite surprisingly more people preferring 3D fighters than 2D. An interesting result!
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Sunday, March 14, 2004

Site Updates
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:13:35 AEST
Just taking this opportunity to inform everyone of some recent site updates.

• New King of Fighters Character Art has been added, check it out in our King of Fighters Images section
  
• New Street Fighter Character Art has been added, check it out in our Street Fighter Images section
  
• A new Virtua Fighter 4 movie has been added, you can find it on our Virtua Fighter movies page
  
• A whole stack of new built-in avatars have been added to our forums
  

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Street Fighter III: Third Strike coming to PS2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:27:10 AEST
The 1999 arcade smash hit Street Figter III: Third Strike is on its way to the PS2 in Japan. Originally the only port was made for the Dreamcast in 2000.

No word yet from Capcom in regards to an exact release date or even if it will be released outside of Japan. We'll have more info on this as it becomes available.
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Friday, March 12, 2004

One Must Fall: Battlegrounds demo released
Posted by White_Pointer @ 8:20:06 AEST
Diversions Entertainment have finally released the demo version of One Must Fall: Battlegrounds (the retail version was released late last year). This offers a good taste of the action, both single player and multiplayer over the net. You are given three robots to choose from, three different battle arenas and two tournaments. You can download it from the OMF Official Site, or you can also grab it from Fileplanet if you have a fileplanet membership. Be aware that the download is about 300 megabytes.
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Thursday, March 11, 2004

New MK: Deception render
Posted by White_Pointer @ 6:54:21 AEST
Midway have released a new render of Mileena on their official site. This is the same image that was in the PSM article, except it's higher resolution and has a cool background featuring the MK dragon logo. You can view the high resolution version (which is about half a megabyte) on the official site, or if you prefer, we've got a smaller version in our MK: Deception image gallery.
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Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Gamespot's History of Video Game Controversy
Posted by Pube @ 19:43:08 AEST
Gamespot have compiled a list of the most controversial video games in history, and its no suprise that Mortal Kombat makes this list. Also mentioned are Dead Or Alive and Thrill Kill. To check out the whole list, click here.

Also in news today there has been some more details revealed about Mortal Kombat Deception's Konquest mode, at Playstation.com. You can read that article here.

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Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Gamespy's Title Fight! The Ultimate Gaming Grudge continues
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:23:42 AEST
They are down into the serious end of Gamespy's Title Fight! The Ultimate Gaming Grudge now. And there's a couple of fighting games in the contest that need your support!

March 9th (That's today for you guys in the USA) sees Soul Calibur II up against Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Make sure you show them a skateboard is no match for a sword!

March 10th (USA again, probably a day later for those living on the other side of the world) pits Street Fighter II against Super Mario Bros 3 and Final Fantasy Tactics. Keep this is mind and make sure you vote for the fighting game and vote out the platformer and RPG!

The main page for Title Fight! The Ultimate Gaming Grudge can be found here, and the complete tournament bracket can be found here, so make sure you vote for SCII and SFII!

An SCII vs SFII final...hmmm, THAT would be interesting!
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Monday, March 8, 2004

MK classics to be featured in Midway Arcade Treasures 2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:20:53 AEST
Midway have announced that the original Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 will all be featured in their upcoming compilation Midway Arcade Treasures 2. So, those of you too young to remember the classic MK games when they were released on arcade, you'll have your chance to experience them when this compilation is released. Midway still haven't set a solid release date for this yet, although they said they expect it to be available in the holiday season 2004 (I'm assuming that's in the US) for the PS2 and XBox.
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Sunday, March 7, 2004

Interactive Achievement Awards winners announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:07:06 AEST
The winners for the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards run by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) have been announced.
To refresh your memory, the nominations for the category of Console Fighting Game of the Year were:

• Def Jam Vendetta EA Canada, Electronic Arts
  
• Soul Calibur II Namco, Namco
  
• Dragonball Z: Budokai 2 Dimps, Atari
  
• Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution Sega - AM2, Sega
  
• Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain Yukes, THQ
  
• War of the Monsters Incognito Studios, SCEA
  

Saturday, March 6, 2004

Dead or Alive Ultimate delayed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 23:05:46 AEST
Tecmo have announced that their 3D online 1-on-1 fighter for the XBox will be delayed. Originally planned for release on March 25th, it's now been pushed back to sometime in the Northern Hemisphere summer.

“We have made the decision to push back [DOA Ultimate's] launch date to improve on the game's quality, increase its volume to a more satisfactory level, and to offer a better a [online] service”, commented Tecmo in a press release. “We appreciate the support from all fans of the Dead or Alive [series], and we will polish the game to make it meet the strong expectations from everyone.”

MK: Deception first official screens
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:35:32 AEST
We've got the first official screens of Mortal Kombat: Deception! Check them out in our brand new MK: Deception image gallery! Rest assured this will rapidly expand as Midway releases more official screens, so stay tuned!
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Friday, March 5, 2004

Guilty Gear Isuka announced for PS2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 23:01:38 AEST
Sammy studios have recently revealed that they will be bringing Guilty Gear Isuka to the PS2. The new PS2 version will by and large stay faithful to the arcade original, however there will be a few key differences. Three new characters will be introduced bringing the total roster to 23, and you'll be able to customise characters by earning new moves and costumes.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the game will support up to four players (each with their own controller), either in 2-on-2's or 4 humans vs 4 AI's.

The game is currently scheduled for release late this year. We'll have more information on it as it becomes available.
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Thursday, March 4, 2004

Soul Calibur coming to the big screen
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:15:31 AEST
First it was Mortal Kombat, then it was Street Fighter. Then we get news that Dead or Alive has jumped on the bandwagon, and now, yet another fighting game looks like it's bound for Hollywood. Yep, the Soul Calibur film rights have been purchased by Warren Zide, who if you aren't aware is the producer behind American Pie and Final Destination.

Not much more has been revealed about the movie yet, in fact it's probably not even likely that a script has been finalised yet, so don't hold your breath waiting for it to come out! Rest assured though, with over 5 million copies of SCII sold worldwide to date, it'll come. It's likely going to be a couple of years though before we see much of it.

We'll have more info on it as it becomes available.
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New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:23:11 AEST
Adam VanDoom has sent us a great hand-drawn colour picture of Ivy from the Soul Calibur series. Make sure you check it out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our Fan Art section. Don't forget if you also fancy your hand at creating some fan art and would like to see it published for the world to see here on Blood-Sports.net, just follow that above link (or click the Fan Art link in the menu) for the easy submission instructions!
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KOF 2002 coming to XBox
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:20:25 AEST
SNK/Playmore have recently announced that King of Fighters 2002 is on its way to XBox, and US gamers should expect to see the title hit store shelves on October 12th, 2004. This is the first time the series has appeared on the XBox, and one of only two releases of the series to home consoles in recent times (the other was the 2000/2001 compilation for the PS2). As far as we are aware the game will by and large stay faithful to the arcade original, with a few enhancements like extra game modes and crisper, clearer graphics.
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Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Still more info on MK6
Posted by White_Pointer @ 13:01:16 AEST
The news on Mortal Kombat: Deception just keeps rolling in at the moment, thanks to PSM Magazine's exclusive preview.

Even more characters have now been revealed, including Bo' Rai Cho, Sindel, Nightwolf, Kenshi, Hotaru (a new male character) and Ashrah (a new female character). The Dragon King will also be featured as the big boss.

As far as the gameplay goes, not too much has changed since MK: DA. Of course it has been enhanced and the game now flows much faster. There are hazards in the various arenas, including multi-tiered battlegrounds and stage fatality areas. Ed Boon has also stated that each character will have at least two fatalites, possibly more. Perhaps the biggest enhancement is that characters can now pick up weapons that are scattered around the various battle arenas (in addition to their armed fighting style), which are more powerful than their standard weapons.

As expected, the game takes place after the events that transpired in MK: DA. The apparent absence at least at this point of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung suggests that they were unsuccesful in resurrecting the Dragon King's army.

Konquest mode is back, although time around, rather than being just a straight set of tutorials, it's set up more like Weapon Master Mode found in Soul Calibur. Even this has been enhanced though, you actually move around the Konquest map as if you were playing a 3D 3rd person behind view action game and could even pass as an entirely seperate game by itself. You can also create your own character from this, starting out as a generic monk and building up his levels and abilities so you can use him in the actual game. The mini-games are also back, one new mini game is a tetris-style puzzle game called "Puzzle Kombat", the second is a strategy board game similar to chess than requires players to fight to take each other's pieces.

Check out the latest issue of PSM Magazine for much more details!
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Tuesday, March 2, 2004

BAFTA Games Awards winners
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:12:13 AEST
The winners of the 2003/2004 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) games awards have been announced.

First we'll do a recap of the fighting games nominated for awards in case you missed our news story when the nominations were announced a month or two ago.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was nominated for Best Action Game
Soul Calibur II was nominated for Best Animation or Intro, Best Design, Best XBox Game and Best Gamecube Game

Out of all these nominations, only Soul Calibur II won any awards. It won the award for Best Animation or Intro.

If you're interested in checking out the full list of nominations and winners just visit BAFTA's official site.
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Monday, March 1, 2004

2004 Japanese arcade fighting game lineup
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:51:40 AEST
A few big Japanese developers have announced their plans to bring a number of games to Japanese arcades this year. There's quite a number of fighting games in the list as well. Here they are in no particular order:

Sammy

The Rumble Fish - Due March

Sammy also confirmed the earlier announcement that SNK/Playmore will now be developing all future games on their Atomiswave hardware.

Taito

Chaos Breaker (formally Dark Awake) - release date unknown

Sega

Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned - due in the summer

Capcom

Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (arcade port) - release date unknown
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