April 2003

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Fighting recognition in Edge awards
Posted by White_Pointer @ 14:12:57 AEST
Edge magazine, argueably the most respected gaming publication, has this month declared it's pick of the crop in it's annual Edge awards. There's a few surprises in there with Nintendo taking many of the larger awards, but we're well respresented in the fighter scene as well. Tecmo, developers of the Dead or Alive series won an award for the best developer of 2002. Capcom won two awards, one for Technical Achievement of the year for Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the GBA, and one for Hardware innovation of the year with the Steel Battalion controller. Lastly Rocky by Rage/Ubisoft won the award for Surprise of the year.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003

We've finally got some articles!!
Posted by Rampage @ 21:33:34 AEST
Well, I finally got around to publishing an article. Its all about MAME32, the who, why, what and where, if you like. Check it out, and feel free to submit your own articles. Have fun. Rampage out.
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Sony's sales in 2002
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:30:39 AEST
Sony have recently announced their sales for the Playstation and Playstation 2 for the fiscal year 2002. They are as follows:

PlayStation 2 Hardware - 22.52 million units shipped in 2002 (4.45 million increase)
Japan - 3.05 million
North America - 11.62 million
Europe - 7.85 million

PlayStation 2 Software - 189.9 million units shipped in 2002 (6.81 million increase)
Japan - 37.6 million
North America - 92.1 million
Europe - 60.2 million

PSone Hardware - 6.78 million units shipped in 2002 (620,000 decrease)
Japan - 890,000 unit
North America - 3.22 million
Europe - 2.67 million

PSone Software - 61 million units shipped in 2002 (3.0 million decrease)
Japan - 9 million
North America - 30 million
Europe - 22 million

*Statistics courtesy of MB
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Sega to show Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution for PS2 at E3
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:24:07 AEST
As the E3 show draws ever closer, more developers are coming out and announcing the games they will be showcasing at the expo, and Sega is no exception. They've announce a huge lineup of games, and one of them is Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution for the PS2. The game of course has been in Japanese arcades for a while now, so VF fans will be more than happy to receive the news that the game isn't too far away from being released on the PS2! Here's an excerpt from Sega's press release:

More than 500,000 beatings can't be wrong ...SEGA's best-selling fighting game gets a major graphical and gameplay upgrade in "Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution." But as any Darwinist will tell you, Evolution is not about looks – it's about the survival of the fittest. Stakes are raised as players throw-down against aggressive, highly-tuned A.I. opponents modeled after the top players from the arcades of Japan, with new exceptionally detailed arenas, more than 1,500 new costume items and two all-new characters hungry for their place at the top.

Monday, April 28, 2003

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Revenge renamed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:05:20 AEST
We've discovered from a pretty reliable source that Mortal Kombat: Deadly Revenge, the sequel to MK: DA on the GBA, has been renamed to Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition by Midway. This is due to some new features that Midway are adding, including new modes such as team battles and tournament battles. Apart from that, we also know that the game will basically feature all the characters that were left out of the GBA version of MK: DA, and there's been some various rumours floating around the net that Sektor will make a return and there will a new character named Dairou added. But take those exactly as they are: rumours, until they are confirmed.

We'll have more information on this as we get it.
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Sunday, April 27, 2003

New Mortal Kombat on its way!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:46:48 AEST
Yep, it's a fact. With the tentative title of Mortal Kombat VI, Ed Boon has confirmed that the next title in the Mortal Kombat series is in development at Midway, which is currently scheduled for a release at the end of 2004. But this isn't the only piece of great news for MK fans around the world.

Details on the new game are sketchy at best, and Midway aren't planning on releasing any more details or press releases on it for a good long while, with the only real bit of info being that it will be released on multiple platforms. Ed Boon said that the game will be rebuilt from scratch, and that it may or may not support online play...until now, that is.

There is something else they have revealed that is very exciting. Midway and Ed Boon himself have confirmed what was once a rumour, is now a reality. It's been set in concrete...The new Mortal Kombat game will DEFINATELY support online play!

And, need I say, it's about damned time?! Now, We can finally fight online! Too bad we're going to need to wait another 2 years or so before we can! But I can't wait until I start kicking some butt online!

Want to discuss this some more? Why not join our forums?
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Saturday, April 26, 2003

SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos characters revealed!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 0:21:35 AEST
Playmore have made available more characters that will feature in the new upcoming crossover Fighter SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos!
The lineup so far is:

Capcom:
Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Hugo, Guile, Tabasa (Warzard), Dhalsim, and Akuma.

SNK:
Kyo, Iori, Mai, Terry, Earthquake, Ryo, Shiki (Samurai Shodown 64), and Choi.

It hasn't been revealed yet whether there will be any more characters added or whether this is the final roster, but either way, this is great news for the fans looking forward to the game! It's due out in Japanese arcades this summer. Stay tuned for more updates as we get them!
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Friday, April 25, 2003

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance advertisement banned in the UK
Posted by White_Pointer @ 14:28:06 AEST
Well, we all know that Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is one of the most brutal and bloody fighters to be released, but it seems Midway have overstepped the boundaries of advertising it in the UK. Midway has been forced by the UK Advertising Standards Authority to stop advertising Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance using a poster which featured a teenager wiping his bloodied hand on a businessman's shoulder.

The ASA also ruled that future Midway ads must first be checked by an advice-board. It seems like the UK Advertising Standards Authority have been a little melodramatic about this, and now Midway needs to get every ad they do, whether it's for Mortal Kombat or not, checked out before they are allowed to post it.
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Capcom in trouble?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:46:42 AEST
Following the announcement of Capcom's poor sales in the past fiscal year, it appears they may be in more trouble than they are indicating. Capcom have suddenly, without warning, shut down their Studio 4 website. They have yet to make an official announcement on why they've done this, but all that appears when you access the site is a 'CLOSED' message in Japanese. Both the English and Japanese sites have been shut down.

This certainly isn't a good sign for Capcom. Just a few days ago, Shinji Mikami stepped down from production manager and it was revealed that Capcom needed to cancel 18 games. What's the future going to hold? Be sure to check back here to find out, we'll report it as soon as we can.

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Thursday, April 24, 2003

Sega to decide on merger next month
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:49:56 AEST
Sega is expected to announce their merger plans early next month. Two companies, Sammy (a pinball/arcade machine company) and Namco are the two frontrunners, but Sega has clearly stated that they will only be merging with one of the two.

"In order to strengthen Sega's position in the market. We will have to carefully examine which company would be better to merge with,"

Capcom Fighting All Stars to be shown at E3?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:23:18 AEST
There's a rumour floating around the net at the moment that Capcom will be showcasing Capcom Fighting All Stars for the PS2 at next month's E3. While I have yet to confirm this, the original news has come from a reliable source, so I wouldn't doubt that it's true. We'll keep working on it to try and confirm it all for you, expect more news on this soon.
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New Age rating system for Europe
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:47:30 AEST
The new Pan European Game Information (PEGI) System will be introduced in 16 European countries in the next few days, including the UK, following the full endorsement of the system by The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. The new system consists of both an indication of the game's content and the age rating.

"ELSPA identified the need for a clear ratings system for the UK nine years ago, and it's great now to see a consistent system for the whole of Europe," said Roger Bennett, director general at ELSPA. "We are delighted to support the PEGI initiative and look forward to enforcing it as rigorously as we have done our own ratings system."

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Green X-Box confirmed for Europe
Posted by White_Pointer @ 7:29:51 AEST
You might remember we reported a few weeks ago that it was rumoured Microsoft were going to release a special limited edition green X-Box. Well, turns out they have actually followed through and produced it and it will be shipped on May 2nd. It will be packaged with 2 matching controllers for 230 euros.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Watch movies on your Gameboy Advance!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:47:30 AEST
Yes, it's true. You can now watch full length movies on your GBA and GBA SP. Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Pocket PC Films, the worldwide leader in multimedia distribution for handheld devices (Pocket PC, Palm OS, PDA’s and portable media devices), today announced that their Portable Media Devices unit has formed a joint venture with Pocketainment, to market and distribute the Pocket Pix Cartridge™, a plug and play adaptor that enables full-length feature films, video, and MP3’s to be played on Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Advance SP.

The new adaptor is designed to fit into the device’s plug-in card slot, and operates as easily as swapping out video games. The units advanced compression software enables it to fit up to 75 minutes of video and audio onto a standard 64MB SD card.

The cartridge comes equipped with an SD multimedia slot for storage, a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, stereo headphones, a free sample movie, code to download another free film and a USB port to transfer content. In addition, the Pocket Pix Cartridge™ comes equipped with its own player, the Pocket Pix Player™, which allows digital video and MP3 music to be played, and also comes equipped with its own codec to transcode other media formats.

“We are very excited to be working with Pocketainment,” remarked Darrell Griffin, President and CEO, Pocket PC Films. “It is a perfect union, which allows us to bridge our complimentary products, while maximizing exposure and market penetration. With an [Game Boy Advance] installed base in the tens of millions, we are in a good position to attract a significant number of users to expand the capabilities of their device for about the same money as a new game title.”

“The Pocket Pix Cartridge was developed to unite the explosive success of the Game Boy platform with all forms of digital content,” remarked Marcus Krieter, CTO, Pocketainment. “Pocket PC Films has lead the way in moving content to new, portable platforms; clearly they are the best partners we could have hoped for in this rapidly growing market space”

Monday, April 21, 2003

Nintendo's studios grow
Posted by White_Pointer @ 0:24:17 AEST
Nintendo recently announced that they have established a new facility and expanded their internal development studios to research and develop software across Nintendo's platforms. Nintendo hopes that this new facility will result in more unique games in Nintendo's current library. While it remains to be seen what this new facility and approach will produce, it's certainly a step in the right direction for Nintendo.

Nintendo haven't revealed any further details as yet.
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Sunday, April 20, 2003

Happy Easter from Blood-Sports.net!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:16:33 AEST
Everyone here at Blood-Sports.net would like to wish everyone a happy easter! Make sure you take full advantage of your long weekend...eat plenty of chocolate, play games and eat more chocolate!
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Saturday, April 19, 2003

Capcom loses out in 2002
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:05:42 AEST
2002 didn't turn out to be a good year for Capcom, reporting losses across all areas. According to Bloomberg Japan, Capcom has declared 19.5 billion yen (US $163 million) in losses for its 2002 fiscal year, whereas they only predicted a loss of 12.7 billion yen (US $106 million). Capcom blames this on the fact that most of their major titles sold below expectations. Resident Evil 0 for the Nintendo GameCube was expected to sell 1.42 million copies but sold only 1.12 million. Devil May Cry 2 for the Sony PlayStation 2 sold 1.4 million copies instead of the expected 1.66 million. Clock Tower 3, which was also released for the PlayStation 2, sold 250,000 copies instead of the expected 450,000. Capcom released Chaos Legion (PS2) and P.N. 03 (GC) in March as part of an effort to meet its sales goals for the year, but the sales of the additional games did not offset its losses.

However...Capcom also have themselves to blame for these losses. They cancelled 18 of projects during the year that they didn't think were going to sell too well, and with most of them the projects were canned far too late into development. It's the first time that Capcom have ever needed to cancel that many games (nearly 20% of the games they are currently working on), and the estimated development losses on these cancelled projects totaled 5 billion yen (US $41 million).

Capcom said that the reasons for the poor sales was that they didn't target the market well enough and will endeavor to do a better job at that with its upcoming projects. They believe that they are competitive enough to stay in the market and said they were not thinking at all about a merger, as long as they produce what the market wants.

Another year of losses like this though, and one might wonder what the future holds.
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Acclaim announces Gladiator Sword of Vengeance
Posted by White_Pointer @ 9:41:24 AEST
Acclaim have recently announced their 2003 E3 lineup of games that will be on show for all to see, and one of them seems particularly interesting for the fighter fan. Gladiator Sword of Vengeance is a medievil adventure/fighter and looks quite promising. Acclaim's short description of the game looks like this:

"An epic adventure set in ancient Rome, where warriors' fates are decided by the cold steel of a sword. Gladiator Sword of Vengeance will feature an intuitive combat system that allows players to fight multiple opponents and unleash an array of deadly combo attacks and bloody finishing moves."

Friday, April 18, 2003

More details on the possible Namco/Sega Merger
Posted by White_Pointer @ 14:05:12 AEST
Namco have come forward and stated that are are still interested in a merger with Sega. The two companies allied in September 2001 in the arcade scene and were apparently talking about a merger back then but have since stopped on Sega's request. Namco have now given a proposal to Sega that they are carefully considering, given the fact that Sega is already in merger talks with Sammy.
Sega hopes to come to a preliminary decision on April 23rd.
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Thursday, April 17, 2003

Soul Calibur II to feature on US Gamecube demo disc
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:48:28 AEST
Nintendo have FINALLY made a Gamecube demo disc available outside of Japan, which will be packaged with new Gamecubes and will probably be sold as individual units as well in the US. The games that will be available on the demo disc will be Splinter Cell, Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Sonic Adventure DX and Soul Calibur II. This is great news for SC fans, it means you can play a demo of the GC version of SCII a lot earlier than the game's release, which isn't until August in the US.

Namco have also confirmed that they will also be showing off Soul Calibur II for all consoles at this year's E3, which is only about a month away.
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Namco to merge with Sega?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 7:29:30 AEST
We all know Namco as the creators of such games as Tekken and Soul Calibur, and as far as the fighting game scene goes, Sega is best known for it's Virtua Fighter series and being involved in some classic titles such as Golden Axe. And now, apparently these two companies are in discussion about a possible merger. A merger between Sega and Namco would result in the largest video game company in Japan, with sales totaling 350 billion yen (US $3 billion), topping Konami's sales figures, which are currently at 250 billion yen (US $2 billion). Namco said that the merger would be necessary in order for the company to remain competitive and that a merger would let Namco consolidate many of its current facilities as well as improve its business in international markets. In addition, Namco believes that combining the intellectual properties and development teams of the two companies would also be highly beneficial.

We'll have more on this as soon as news becomes available, but Sega is expected to make an announcement as early as the end of this month, so stay tuned.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee released for X-Box!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 8:18:53 AEST
You might remember a couple of months ago we reported that work was well underway to bring Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee to the X-Box, and now I'm happy to report that it has finally been released! The game is by and large a direct port from the Gamecube version, although there are some cool new features:

• New monster: Mechagodzilla™3 (from the latest Godzilla® film release in Japan) joins the cast.
  
• New arenas: Vortaak Home World. The alien's home world, features new challenges like volcanoes, spaceship launchers, installation-protection missiles, and plenty of alien buildings to throw. Boxing Ring, the largest boxing ring in the world constructed for monster battles complete with ropes, bells and blimps.
  
• New Computer AI: One gamer can now play against ANY combination of opponents in a melee or team game against the Xbox Artificial Intelligence.
  
• Single-player Destruction Mode: Players can rip up a city -- all by themselves.
  
• Soundtrack support: Rip tunes to the Xbox hard drive and play your own tracks while you're fighting as your favorite giant monsters.
  
• Xbox Advantage Controls: The extra buttons on the Xbox make it easier to grab monsters and buildings. In addition, the Xbox features improved responsiveness, combos and collision detection.
  
• Better visuals: The unmatched graphical prowess of the Xbox hardware allows for better visuals treats, like reflection maps on buildings, true bump mapping, improved animations, smokestacks that emit smoke, better impact effects, specular highlights, bright high-resolution skies, improved lighting model, improved terrain, high resolution city selection movies and high resolution textures.
  
• Improved Speed: Solid frame-rate and faster loading times.
  
• Multiple Saved Games: Up to four players can save their progress on the Xbox hard drive.
  

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

An upgrade to the PS2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:30:09 AEST
Sony announced yesterday that come mid May, they'll be releasing an upgraded Playstation 2 console in Japan. The "The SCPH-50000" doesn't add much to the gaming experience but it does improve on the unit's ability to work as a DVD player. Whereas the current machine accepts only DVD-Video discs, at least officially, the new console adds support for the DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW recordable and rewritable formats. It doesn't support DVD-RAM.

"The current player can read some of those discs but it's not stable," said Yoshiko Furusawa, a spokesperson for the Tokyo-based company. "We never officially supported them but now we do."

X-Box price drops in the UK
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:26:03 AEST
Microsoft recently announced that they will be dropping the price yet again for the X-Box console in the UK, down to £129.99, to be more competitive now that Nintendo has dropped the price of the Gamecube (although unofficially announced, it can be seen that the Gamecube price has indeed dropped). Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Retail Sales and Marketing, Home and Entertainment Division, Microsoft, had this to say:

"We had a great Christmas and firmly established ourselves as the number-two console player in this region, We outsold some very long-established competition and enjoyed near sell-out status, gaining market share along the way. This price change shows we are not content to rest on our laurels – we will continue to be aggressive in building upon this momentum throughout the year.

This is also great news for gamers, Our success in Europe and increased market share means we can take action to remain competitive and allow even more gamers to experience Xbox - and this is a fantastic time to experience Xbox. Hotly anticipated games like Brute Force, Midtown Madness 3 and MotoGP 2 are on the way in the coming months. Also, Xbox Live (which launched 14th March in eight European countries) is bringing Xbox gamers the very best in always-on, fast-action Live gaming. We're looking forward to continuing our success in Europe through the year.

Xbox launched in Europe just over a year ago and our first Christmas in the region saw us clearly emerge as the number two player,"

Monday, April 14, 2003

The 2003 E3 Babe Contest
Posted by White_Pointer @ 16:48:09 AEST
It seems to be becoming tradition now at E3 that the developers have themselves a little competition to see who can sport the best looking booth babes at the Expo. And we've seen plenty of these come up over the years, and I'm sure you'll be able to name quite a few of them off the top of your head without even thinking. One company however has stood out above the rest, particularly because of the babe's seemless transition into their games, and that's none other than Tecmo with their Dead or Alive series of games.

E3 is less than two months away now, and Tecmo aren't looking to disappoint this year. A Tecmo representative announced "We've got something planned that's to be pretty insane." Leaves everything open to the imagination, although when the show comes around, I'm sure NOTHING will be left to the imagination.

We'll expect to see some pretty serious competition for Tecmo this year though, particularly from the fighting game scene as the girls from Namco's Tekken 4 and Soul Calibur II will definately be up there as potential candidates. Will Tecmo retain the title again this year?
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Sunday, April 13, 2003

The first ever "Intense Violence" rating
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:21:26 AEST
Again, Fighting Game news has been scarce today, but I have managed to dig up this interesting little bit of information that will no doubt relate to fighters in the future. Postal 2, an FPS, has been given as ESRB rating of M and the very first "Intense Violence" rating on a video game. This means, in short, that the developers Running with Scissors can keep everything in the game and not need to dumb it down to comply with ESRB rating standards. In Europe, Postal 2 has been given an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification and an 18+ Pan-European Game Indicator rating in all countries covered by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe.

We'll no doubt now see more games carry this new rating, and I'm sure future fighters will be part of this croud. This can be seen as a good thing, it means the developers don't need to leave anything out of the game if they or their publishers thought it was a little too extreme, which is what they've needed to do in the past.
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Saturday, April 12, 2003

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:46:46 AEST
Well, admittedly this isn't exactly fighting game news, but news has been pretty slow today so I though I'd mention this. The GBA version of Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo has recently been released, which if you don't know what it is, is a tetris-style game with a twist of Street Fighter thrown in for good measure. It seems to have held up pretty well being converted to the GBA from the PS2 and Saturn original, and you can read Gamespot's review here.
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Friday, April 11, 2003

Adding to the previous post by White_Pointer
Posted by Squash @ 19:29:13 AEST
It seems White_Pointer missed another important IGN article.
Not much really but you might find it interesting to know.

We revealed earlier in the week that Midway's GBA team is working on a sequel to last year's portable rendition of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The game at the time of the article had a tentative title, but Midway has now revealed the official name of the sequel: Mortal Kombat: Deadly Revenge.

Mortal Kombat Advance 2?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:20:09 AEST
A little tidbit here from IGN...this one seems to have slipped under our nose, but Midway's secret is revealed now! Midway have confirmed that are making an exclusive sequel to the GBA version of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance!

Here's a quote from the IGN article:

Retailers lists have started to show Mortal Kombat Advance 2 as an upcoming Game Boy Advance game, but the game is definitely not a sequel to the horrible GBA port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 released in December 2001. The team responsible for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is working on this sequel which expands on the fighter released during the holiday.

Though development is still early, the company has stated that the game will feature both old and new characters, as well as a new four-player link mode. The as-yet-unnamed sequel (Mortal Kombat Advance 2 is the tentative title) will even link up to the original Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance for some multiplayer action as well as special data trading which will unlock hidden specials in the new game.

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Street Fighter Media Frenzy!!
Posted by Rampage @ 21:34:34 AEST
Hello all, Rampage here the new and improved Street Fighter and Capcom news gatherer and I have managed to find some vaguely juicy pieces of news.

First off, Image Comics who have previously published comics based on He-man and Thundercats are set too release a comic based on the characters and events of Street Fighter 2. Unfortunately this means Akuma won't be in it, but you can't please all the people all the time. Head over to their website at http://www.imagecomics.com for a further look. Its in the news section, and will be hitting a shop near you in September.

Also, April see's the release of Street Fighter Alpha 2 anime, the sequel to the excellent 2000 release. Head over to http://www.manga.com for further info on that. As if that wasn't enough, Street Fighter 2 V and US Street Fighter TV series on DVD will be released in the States later this month.

Until next time....

Rampage out.
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MKDA wins GamePro readers choice award.
Posted by Squash @ 17:54:22 AEST
Just got word that GamePro Magazine released the results of their 2002 Readers Choice Awards, and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance actually managed to win something! From the press release:

OAKLAND, CA April 8, 2003 IDG Games Media Group, the world's largest interactive entertainment information provider and publisher of GamePro magazine, the world's largest independent multiplatform gaming magazine, today announced its 13th Annual Readers' Choice Awards Winners.

Thousands of GamePro's readers participated in the 2002 Readers' Choice Awards that ran in GamePro magazine and on GamePro.com. Winning games are announced in GamePro's May 2003 issue, on sale now on newsstands nationwide.

GamePro readers are the ultimate early adopters of video gaming products and collectively account for $1.9 billion in purchasing power on the gaming sector alone!(1) GamePro's audience of over 3 million readers (2) are the leading opinion-makers and spenders on many consumer products, including video gaming, personal electronics, music, fashion and much more, and greatly influence their peers' purchasing habits. As multiplatform enthusiasts, over 80 percent of the publication's readers own more than one gaming console (3).

Following are the winners by category for GamePro's 2002 Readers' Choice Awards:
...
Best Fighting Game: Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (By Midway , PS2/GameCube/Xbox)

Wednesday, April 9, 2003

Dead or Alive movie in the works!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:23:01 AEST
While we don't generally cover game movies here, it's worth mentioning that Tecmo's Dead or Alive franchise is being made into a feature length movie, scheduled for a release in Autumn 2004, and has been described as "Charlie's Angels" meets "Enter the Dragon". The project is being handled by Impact pictures, the same guys behind the currently in-the-works titles Driver and Resident Evil 2. The $30 million movie will focus on four female fighters from Japanese video game publisher Tecmo's franchise and stay within the realm of reality, unlike Impact's "Mortal Kombat" movie, which was based on a violent video game heavily draped in mythology and fantasy.

"I think the story ... is one that people will want to see even if it wasn't based on a video game. It's a fun popcorn film with action and humor," said Paul W.S. Anderson, who founded Impact with Jeremy Bolt and also directed the first "Mortal Kombat" film.

"The four voluptuous girls in the movie are invited by Fame Douglas to partake in the 'Dead or Alive' world fighting tournament on an exotic island," Bolt said. "Like we did with 'Resident Evil,' we will remain faithful to the essence of the game franchise but create an original story that will play to a broader audience."

Gamecube sales fall
Posted by White_Pointer @ 10:48:31 AEST
Well, not more than a week after it was reported that Nintendo's sales were rising in the US, we get this piece of news.

Nintendo said full- year profit fell by about 38 percent and sales of its GameCube console lagged forecasts by about half, handing Microsoft Corp. the title of the world's No. 2 maker of video-game machines.

"GameCube sales were bad worldwide," Chief Financial Officer Yoshihiro Mori told reporters in Osaka.

Nintendo, until this year second only to Sony Corp. in console sales, said it sold about 5.6 million GameCubes in the fiscal year ended March 31, 44 percent short of its 10 million unit goal. Microsoft has sold more than 8 million Xboxes in the fiscal year started July 1.

Software sales for the GameCube totaled about 44.5 million copies, falling short of Nintendo's 55 million target.

Official UK game sales chart
Posted by White_Pointer @ 8:17:20 AEST
It's been a rather slow week as far as game news of any kind is concerned, and it seems to have showed in the UK game sales chart. Let's take a quick look at it:

1 / 1 / Championship Manager 4 / Eidos / PC
2 / 2 / Splinter Cell / Ubi Soft / PS2, PC, XB
3 / 7 / The Sims / EA / PS2, XB, PC
4 / 3 / Devil May Cry 2 / Capcom / PS2
5 / 8 / Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance / Konami / PS2, XB, PC
6 / 5 / The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Nintendo / GBA
7 / 11 / The Getaway / SCEE / PS2
8 / 12 / Grand Theft Auto: Vice City / Rockstar / PS2
9 / * / Driving Test Success 2002/2003 / Focus / PC
10/ 9 / Delta Force: Black Hawk Down / NovaLogic / PC
11 / 15 / FIFA 2003 / EA / PS2, XB, PS, GBA
12 / 10 / Rayman 3 / Ubi Soft / PS2, GBA, GC, PC
13/ 14 / The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers / EA / PS2, GBA, XB, GC
14 / 6 / Metroid Prime / Nintendo / GC
15 / 13 / Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb / LucasArts / XB, PC
16/ 18 / Command & Conquer: Generals / EA / PC
17 / 17 / TOCA Race Driver / Codemasters / PC, XB, PS2
18 / 16 / Sonic Advance 2 / Infogrames / GBA
19/ * / Dancing Stage: Party Edition / Konami / PS
20 / 20 / Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis / Vivendi / PS2, XB, PC

Well, unfortunately no fighting games have made it into the top 20 this time around. People must have been getting pretty desperate though...instead we see Dancing Stage: Party Edition in there... Shudders

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Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Soul Calibur II launch event hands on
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:15:45 AEST
GC Advanced have written up an extremely good article about the Soul Calibur II launch event in Japan last month. This was one of the most anticipated games of the year (and still is for those of us who live outside Japan) and it certainly didn't disappoint. If you were looking forward to the game before, now you'll be shivering with excitement after you read this!

Have a read of the article here!
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Emulators to make a return?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:31:42 AEST
This is really a site update question more than anything else. When I moved the site onto our new host, I removed the emulators section because I felt that it wasn't worth having, however I'm beginning to doubt the validity of that decision. So, I'm asking you guys whether you want the emulators section back. There won't be any roms hosted (no illegal activity), just the emulators. Make a reply in the comments section of this news post if you're interested in having the emulators back!
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Monday, April 7, 2003

New One Must Fall: Battlegrounds Preview
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:41:02 AEST
It was a very slow weekend as far as game news of any kind was concerned, so hopefully this little tidbit is a welcome post. Homeland Fed have written up an in-depth preview of One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, the new robot fighting game by Diversions that's not just planning on being a fighter, but completely revolutionising the genre by making it a multiplayer online Fighter! I'm not talking about 1 on 1's playing Capcom vs SNK 2 on the X-Box here, I'm talking about playing up to 16 players on the PC! If you want to read the well written preview, take a look.
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Saturday, April 5, 2003

Nintendo currently #1 in the US
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:42:46 AEST
Nintendo currently have the best selling console game (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker), with almost 600,000 copies preordered. But wait, it doesn't stop there. They also have the best selling portable games and games hardware. Poke`mon Ruby and Sapphire have dominated the market since they shipped on March 17th, and the Gameboy Advance SP has pulled in at least 800,000 sales in the US alone. Can Nintendo continue this trend and stay on top? Time will tell. It's a pity there's no fighting games in that list!

"While no one will know the champion of this season's college basketball tournament until next week, the winner of this spring's video game tournament is Nintendo," said Peter MacDougall, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America. "Game Boy Advance SP, Zelda, and Pokémon represent a three-point play that players and retailers dream about."

Friday, April 4, 2003

Capcom rethinks their relationship with Nintendo
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:46:58 AEST
We may have seen the last Gamecube exclusive titles from Capcom. Apparently they have made a decision that they will no longer be developing exclusive titles for Nintendo's machine, and will instead focus on multiple platform releases. While at the moment this news is really only related to the Resident Evil series, it's worth mentioning that it doesn't look like Gamecube owners will get any exclusive Street Fighter or Capcom vs... titles. This is partly attributed to lower than expected sales figures. But the move is still a little surprising considering the sales of their X-Box software to date have only totalled 1.5% of the company's earnings - however Capcom says that they would like to increase that figure.
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Special Edition Europe X-Box?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:30:01 AEST
There's a rumour floating around the net that Microsoft are planning on releasing a special edition X-Box to Europe. Instead of being primarily black with green logos, this one will be primarly green with black logos, packaged with 2 green S-controllers for 270 Euro. Nothing else, such as the size and shape, has apparently changed.
Remember though, this is a RUMOUR, so take it as a grain of salt until it's been confirmed.
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Thursday, April 3, 2003

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:10:39 AEST
With the closure of the previous poll, we get a new one. This one is a bit different to polls of the past however, this one is actually asking you, the site visitor, what games you would like to see Blood-Sports.net cover. There's quite a number of games that we don't cover here yet, so it's time to ask all you guys what games you'd like to see us have here as featured games. In the poll you are given a choice of 8 games, so pick which one you like the best and the games with the highest amount of votes will be our next featured games! You have a choice of: Bloody Roar series, Guilty Gear series, King of Fighters series, One Must Fall series, Powerstone series, Samurai Showdown series, Tenchu series or Virtua Fighter series.

I'm looking to do a huge update in the not-too-distant future, so it's not going to be just one game, it's going to be at least 3 or 4. So, time to have your say! Start voting!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:49:06 AEST
The current poll has run its course, so let's see what the results are:

Which version of Soul Calibur II are you going to buy?

47.2% - Gamecube
21.6% - Playstation 2
20% - X-Box
8.8% - I'm not planning on buying it
2.4% - I'm gonna buy them all!

Well, it seems most people are considering the Gamecube version, perhaps attracted to the appearance of Link or maybe because the majority of our visitors own Gamecubes? Who knows. The Playstation 2 just nudged ahead of the X-Box, but the results between those two were pretty close. 2.4% of you said you'll buy all three versions (rich bastards) and only 8.8% of you said you weren't planning on buying it at all. Seems almost everyone is really looking forward to the sequel to one of the best ever Fighters! It's already out in Japan of course...too bad the rest of the world needs to wait another 5 or more months!
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Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Some more SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos info
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:54:15 AEST
A little more information here on the new and eagerly anticipated fighter from Playmore, SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos. Playmore have stated that the game could be released as early as the US summer on all consoles, contrary to the reports that stated that it will only be appearing in arcades. The game will also have it's own unique control system that Playmore have called "SSI", or Simple, Speedy and Insight.
Other than this, information about the game has been kept fairly scarce, so we'll have more updates when they become available. Don't forget that if you have your own insight for any of the games we cover and reliable sources, don't hesitate to submit the news to us and we'll have it posted asap, giving you full credit.
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Site Update: New Soul Calibur II movies added!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:56:40 AEST
Yes indeed, I've added some more movies to our already very large collection of Soul Calibur videos, but these are all from Soul Calibur II! There's seven new videos in fact, including some videos showing off Link in the Gamecube version of the game. They are available to download right now, so head on over to the Soul Calibur Multimedia section and check them out!
Gee we're good to you guys, aren't we? :)
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Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Soul Calibur II Japanese Import Previews
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:12:23 AEST
Gamespot have written up a bunch of previews after they have had the pleasure of playing the Japanese version of Soul Calibur II, released in Japan last week. The game looks fantastic, although US gamers will need to wait until August to get their hands on it, and European and Aussie gamers will probably need to wait even longer. But, to give you an appetite for the game, you can check out the Gamecube version preview here, the X-Box version preview here, and the Playstation 2 version preview here.
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PS3 specifications?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 7:29:08 AEST
You've all probably heard by now that Sony are in the process of making the Playstation 3, and while they have kept most of the information on the new system a secret, there is some information that we do know, coming from some reliable sources around the net:

• The system will have 32 vector units (clumped into 4 processing entities or PEs) as opposed to the PS2's 2 vector units. This makes the system extremely fast, but also makes the system much, much more difficult to develop for. In comparison, developing for the PS2 is a walk in the park.
  
• The system is supposed to be capable of doing 1 Trillion floating point operations (FLOPS) per second. To give you some kind of idea what that means, the PS2 currently is capable of doing 6.4 billion FLOPS. If it ends up this way, the PS3 will be one serious number crunching machine.
  
• All evidence suggests that the system seems to be built for online gaming, paying particular attention to it's networking system.