April 2004

Friday, April 30, 2004

Guilty Gear XX #Reload coming to the US
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:27:37 AEST
Guilty Gear XX #Reload is on it's way to the XBox in the US thanks to Majesco, who announced that they will be the ones to publish the North American release.

"Our ability to identify select properties, with an established audience, and [then] publish them at an attractive price point is an advantage we hope to exploit. And Guilty Gear X2 #Reload certainly meets those criteria," said Ken Gold, vice president of marketing for Majesco Sales. "With hardcore 2D fighting enhanced by compelling multiplayer support via Xbox Live, we are excited to add Guilty Gear X2 #Reload to our product portfolio."

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:40:41 AEST
Yes, you read that right. Despite the fact that the first two games were mediocre at best, Atari have announced a third title in the DBZ: Budokai series, creatively titled Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3. Nothing much has been announced about it yet, apart from the fact that it'll have improvements over the first two games (that shouldn't be too difficult).

"Right from the start, our main aim was to create a faithful Dragon Ball Z video game experience," said Martin Spiess, senior vice president of marketing, Atari Europe. "By working closely with Bandai throughout and hitting the high standards the franchise demands, we have seen the fan base grow beyond the hardcore Dragon Ball Z audience. With an incredibly strong 2004 product lineup on the way, it's a trend that looks set to continue."

"Atari's work to date has established Dragon Ball Z as a very significant franchise within the interactive entertainment industry. What most of our fans want are games that not only satisfy their devotion to the Dragon Ball Z universe but also offer a great gameplay experience in their own right," added Naoki Eguchi of Bandai Europe. "Atari's skills in these areas means it is uniquely placed as a company to bring these elements together, and, as a result, [it] continues to release fantastic DBZ games."

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

New MLG results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:40:10 AEST
Major League Gaming (MLG) have just finished up their most recent tournament, this one held in Dallas, TX. The only fighting game featured in the tournament was Soul Calibur II, and here are the top four placed players:

1st Place: RTD (Robert Combs, GA)
2nd Place: Mick (Marquette Yarbrough, TN)
3rd Place: The Yo-Man (Kerron Williams, GA)
4th Place: Blaze (Jason Wright, TX)

Congratulations to these players and RTD in particular for this result!
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:13:24 AEST
There's been quite a few new fighting games announced recently, even before most of the companies have announced their E3 lineups. So, not surprisingly, our new poll asks you which of these recently announced games you are most looking forward to. Dead or Alive Ultimate? Godzilla: Save the Earth? Guilty Gear Isuka? King of Fighters: Maximum Impact? Mortal Kombat: Deception? Rocky Legends? Samurai Spirits Zero Special? Tekken 5? Vote now!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:04:53 AEST
Time for a new poll...but here's the results of the previous one!

Who is the best fighting game babe?

15.6% - Mai Shiranui (KOF)
14.8% - Chun-Li (SF)
13.1% - Someone else
8.6% - Ivy (SC)
7.8% - Orchid (KI)
6.7% - Sonya Blade (MK)
6.1% - Cammy (SF)
5.3% - Kitana (MK)
5% - Seung Mina (SC)
3.9% - Morrigan (DS)
3% - Hitomi (DOA)
2.8% - Tina (DOA)
2.8% - Sophitia (SC)
2.5% - I-No (GG)
1.4% - Vanessa (KOF)

Well, Chun-Li was on the lead for a long time, but in the end Mai Shirunui pulled ahead as the most popular fighting game babe according to our visitors!
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Monday, April 26, 2004

New Music Added
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:19:41 AEST
We've added more fighting game music to our already very large archive! We've now added the original arrange soundtrack to Street Fighter III to our Street Fighter multimedia section, so make sure you check it out if you are a fan of the SF3 music!
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Sunday, April 25, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:20:31 AEST
LF has sent us another great piece of fan art! This one he titles "Talim Exhibition", and, not surprisingly, it's a picture of Talim from Soul Calibur II. Check it out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our fan art section! (The new art is in gallery 4). Are you a talented artist? Do you want to see your work published on Blood-Sports.net for the world to see? If you answer yes to these questions, follow that above link (or click the link under the "Features" menu heading) for the easy submission instructions!
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Saturday, April 24, 2004

KOF 2002/2003 coming in 2004
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:51:22 AEST
SNK NeoGeo have announced that a follow up to the KOF 2000/2001 double pack is on its way. After the big success of the 2000/2001 combo pack, The King of Fighters 2002/2003 double pack is coming to the PS2 very soon, although no exact release date has been set just set. The combo pack will also be coming to the XBox in October. We'll have more information on this as it becomes available.
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Friday, April 23, 2004

Godzilla: Save The Earth announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:33:50 AEST
Atari have officially announced the sequel to 2002's Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, titled Godzilla: Save The Earth. It's currently in development by Pipeworks, who are the guys that made the original. Unlike the original though, the game has only been announced for the PS2 and XBox with no word of a Gamecube version.

Godzilla: STE will feature many improvements over it's predecessor. It'll have 9 different gameplay modes, as well as several new minigames. Buildings will be more realistic in their destruction, the environments will be larger and more detailed, and the multiplayer feature will again be up to four players, only this time, you'll also be able to hop online and play with three others on both systems.

"Godzilla: Save the Earth combines the epic scope, [which] is the hallmark of the landmark movies, with an amazing single-player action mode to create the definitive adventure-fighting game on any system," said Peter Wyse, executive producer at Atari. "With more monsters, more cities, and more radioactive monster-bashing, Godzilla fans won't believe the authenticity--while fighting and adventure gamers will have a unique experience with one of the best-known film legends in the world!"

Thursday, April 22, 2004

New info on MK: Deception
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:55:34 AEST
Thanks to Game Informer magazine, we now have some new information on Mortal Kombat: Deception.

• The Dragon King has been confirmed to be the big boss in the game, and he's quite "deceptive".
  
• In addition to the previously announced characters, Smoke (at this point we don't know if he's in his human or cyborg form) and Tanya have also been confirmed to make a return. In a move that's bound to have a mixed opinion, Liu Kang is also confirmed to be returning as a ghost and a zombie.
  
• Two new characters have been announced, Kira (a female Black Dragon Member) and Ben (a martial arts champion).
  
• Arena weapons will be in difficult areas to get to. For example, they'll be placed near death traps or inside breakable arena objects.
  
• Each character will have "break-out moves" that allow them to break out of an opponent's combo.
  
• Each character will have two distinct fatalities. In addition, limbs can be severed and several fatalities take advantage of this feature.
  
• Stage fatalities will have a wide range, confirmed ones are a large ice worm eating the opponent, a rock crusher, steal presses, huge grinders, impaling spikes, spinning blades and lasers.
  

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

The last game for NeoGeo
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:42:05 AEST
SNK/Playmore's Samurai Spirits Zero Special will be the last game ever to be released on the aging NeoGeo arcade hardware, due to be released on April 22nd. Along with King of Fighters 2003, these will be the last games ever on the NeoGeo. All of SNK/Playmore's new games will be released on Sammy's Atomiswave arcade hardware. The home versions of both of these games are due out on May 14 (KOF 2003), and July 15 (SS Zero Special). My friends, we are seeing the end of an era of probably the most successful arcade platform ever.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Sammy's E3 lineup
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:53:05 AEST
As expected more companies are starting to follow suit and announce their lineup of games to be shown at this year's E3. Two of Sammy's five announced games are fighters, Guilty Gear Isuka (the official sequel to GGX2) and a new game titled Iron Phoenix. Not too much else is known about the latter game yet, apart from the fact that it will be a multiplayer brawler over XBox Live, and a playable version over a LAN will be available at E3 and there will even be a small tournament set up. Other games Sammy will be showing are Darkwatch, The Shield and Spy Fiction.

As more companies reveal their E3 lineups, we'll continue to report the notable fighting games here, so stay tuned!
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Monday, April 19, 2004

Microsoft Opens Japanese XBox Arcade site
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:22:12 AEST
Microsoft has recently opened a Japanese-language website called XBox Arcade, which is geared towards promoting the upcoming XBox ports of recent arcade titles. Not surprisingly there are a few fighting games to be covered by the site, although so far only Guilty Gear XX #Reload has promotional coverage. No doubt the other fighters coming for XBox that are ports of arcade originals will be featured on the site eventually.

If you can read Japanese, or if you just want to take a look at the site, you'll find it at http://www.xboxarcade.jp.
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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Ubisoft reveals E3 lineup
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:11:34 AEST
It's that time of year again when companies start revealing their lineup of games to be shown off at E3, and Ubisoft is one of the first to do so. Among their lineup is their recently announced Rocky Legends, the prequel to last year's successful game based on the Rocky movies. This is confirmation that the game will indeed be shown at this year's E3. This is the only fighter in their lineup, their other announced games include Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2, Brothers in Arms, Prince of Persia 2 (working title), Far Cry Instincts, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Black Arrow, Myst IV: Revelation, The Settlers V (working title), Pacific Fighters, Silent Hunter III, Playboy: The Mansion, and The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee.
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Saturday, April 17, 2004

Capcom wants to talk to you!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 16:09:39 AEST
If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, Capcom are extending an invitation out to you to take part in focus group to discuss fighting games. It will be held on the evening of Wednesday, April 28th in Sunnyvale, California. You need to be a male between the ages of 17 and 30 and obviously interested in fighting games. The discussion will last about 90 minutes and you'll actually be paid $75 for your time if you qualify.

Capcom have hired an independent research company to conduct the discussion. If you're interested in applying, send an e-mail to fightgames1@nicholsresearch.com with all of your details (name, age and contact phone number) so the research company can contact you with further details.
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Friday, April 16, 2004

SFIII: Third Strike on its way to Japanese PS2's
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:08:54 AEST
You might remember a little while ago we reported that the new US-Exclusive Street Fighter Anniversary Collection will be featuring Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Well, as it turns out, Japanese gamers won't be missing out on this game either. Capcom have announced that SFIII: Third Strike is slated for a release as a standalone game for the PS2 in Japan right about the same time the Anniversary Collection is scheduled to hit US shores. US gamers won't be able to play the game on their PS2 as a standalone title, it will be remaining as part of the Anniversary Collection.

The game is scheduled for a Japanese release on July 22nd.
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Thursday, April 15, 2004

New MK: Deception screenshots
Posted by White_Pointer @ 18:59:18 AEST
Mortal Kombat online have nailed some exclusive new screenshots of Mortal Kombat: Deception, offering some of the first looks at the actual gameplay and showing a few characters in more detail, including Scorpion, Mileena and the new character Ashrah. You can check them out over at MK Online.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Midway to possibly be taken over
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:48:24 AEST
Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, who is currently Midway's biggest shareholder (hodling 48.35% of Midway's shares) has let on that he might be considering buying some more shares to become the majority shareholder with over 50% of the company, and thus become in control of the company. Oddly enough, this comes only hours after Midway announced that they are putting up more of the shares for sale. Could Midway soon have a new owner? Well, if it's going to happen, we probably won't need to wait long before we find out.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2004

New KOF: Maximum Impact screenshots
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:41:21 AEST
We've got some new brand new screenshots for the PS2 exclusive King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, the first 3D game in the KOF series. The game is looking awesome already, as you'll be able to see from the screens. Check them out here! No additional info has been revealed about it yet though, so we'll need to sit and wait for more announcements by SNK/Playmore or perhaps some leaked info. You'll see it here as soon as it becomes available.
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Monday, April 12, 2004

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:03:57 AEST
Alright, let's admit it, fighting games over the years have had more than their fair share of female characters. Most of the time, these female characters are made to look somewhat attractive for some reason. Everyone has their own opinion on who they think is the best fighting game babe, so now you can vote in our new poll to see who emerges on top as the most popular! There's quite a list there to choose from, and if your favourite female fighting game character isn't there, you can always vote for the 'Someone else' option. So, get voting!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:46:27 AEST
Well, it's time for a new poll again, but as always, here's the results from the previous poll:

Will you be getting Mortal Kombat: Deception?

56.6% - Hell yes!
14% - Only if it's released on the GC
11.6% - No way
9.6% - Probably
8% - I haven't decided yet

Well, it seems like the overwhelming majority will definitely be nabbing themselves a copy of MK: Deception when it's released later this year. Interestingly, the next most popular voting option was that people would only buy it if it came out on the Gamecube. For those of you who voted this option, you can help out by signing this petition.
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Sunday, April 11, 2004

Happy Easter!
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:12:19 AEST
We're just taking a quick time out from our regular news to wish all of our site visitors a happy and safe Easter! Don't eat too many Easter eggs, and stay safe if you are travelling for the long weekend. Have fun, and make sure you brush up on those fighting skills!

Saturday, April 10, 2004

Rocky Legends announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:50:18 AEST
Ubisoft has announced Rocky Legends, which is set to be a prequel of sorts to the Rocky movies (and consequently a prequel to the Rocky game released last year - in fact members of the development team worked on last year's Rocky game). It'll again be a boxing game and will follow the backstories of Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago and other characters from the films.

"Ubisoft is extremely excited to partner with Metro Goldwyn Mayer for the next round of Rocky success," said Florence Alibert, EMEA marketing director for Ubisoft. "With the huge success of the first Rocky video game, I'm confident Rocky 2 will be a knockout for gamers."

"The ongoing partnership and resulting Rocky Legends video game with Ubisoft is the direct result of commercial and critical success from the first Rocky game," added Neil Haldar, vice president of production and business development, MGM Interactive. "Rocky Legends will again showcase our diversified and successful approach in collaborating with strong partners for our video game business."

Friday, April 9, 2004

King of Fighters: Neowave begins beta testing
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:01:06 AEST
The first KOF game to be released on Sammy's Atomiswave hardware, King of Fighters: Neowave, will begin it's beta testing in Osaka today. For those of you who missed our report several weeks ago, SNK/Playmore are no longer developing for the NeoGeo arcade hardware because it was now 13 years old and had more than its fair share of limitations. The last game that SNK/Playmore will be releasing on the NeoGeo is Samurai Spirits Zero Special, which is scheduled for release later this month.

We'll have more info on KOF: Neowave as soon as it becomes available. If you live in Japan and are able to attend the beta testing, why not send us a report? We always give full credit to anyone who supplies us with news. Just click the "Submit News" link in the menu!
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Thursday, April 8, 2004

Death by Degrees announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:25:33 AEST
Not exactly fighting game news, but it's related all the same. Nina from the Tekken series is going to have her own spin-off game titled Death by Degress. It's going to be a third person action game and is a prequel of sorts to the first Tekken game, obviously following the story of Nina and the period of events that lead to the first Iron Fist tournament. Namco currently has plans to release the game late this year or early next year.

Since it's not a fighter we won't be covering it in much detail here, but it's worth noting its announcement.
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Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:25:33 AEST
You guys out there in the USA were probably wondering why the hell Capcom were taking their time bringing out Hyper Street Fighter II to the US. Well, there's a very good reason.

Capcom are actually releasing what they call the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, exclusively for the Playstation 2. This collection will feature not only Hyper Street Fighter II but will also include a PS2 port of the previously arcade-only Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. The pack will also include a gallery mode which provides access to character intros and backgrounds, soundtrack selections, and images from the SFII series. Not a bad deal eh?

Capcom have set a tentative release date of sometime in the "summer". We'll have more news on this as it becomes available.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Tekken 5 to be revealed at E3 2004
Posted by White_Pointer @ 19:43:09 AEST
It's expected that Namco will be revealing the next instalment in the Tekken series, Tekken 5, at this year's E3 in May. While a playable version won't be available, Namco will have a 4 minute long video presentation that shows off parts of the CG intro and some actual in-game footage. No other details are available yet, such as what characters are going to be making a return and whether the gameplay is being changed dramatically, but we'll report the news on these (and anything else about the game) as soon as it becomes available.
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Monday, April 5, 2004

New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:47:52 AEST
LF has sent us some great new fan art. The first is picture he titles "Coldest Heart" and is a drawing of Glacius from Killer Instinct fighting Frost from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The second is a drawing he titles "Capcom's greatest unseen battles" which is a drawing of Ryu fighting The Nemesis from the Capcom games. Check them out, along with all the rest of our fan art in our fan art section! (The newest fan art is in Gallery 4) Don't forget to follow that link if you also have artwork you'd like to submit so the world can see too!
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Sunday, April 4, 2004

Killer Instinct stays with Rare
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:01:54 AEST
Up until recently, it was uncertain whether Rare or Nintendo had retained the rights to Killer Instinct. Well a recent Rare Scribes has cleared the air and confirmed that it is indeed Rare that have retained the rights to KI. This doesn't really mean anything in the short term, but what it does mean is that if we are to ever see a KI3 in the future, it'll definitely be appearing on a Microsoft console.
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Saturday, April 3, 2004

Buy Psi-Ops, get MK: DA
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:23:19 AEST
Midway have begun taking preorders for their upcoming action game Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiricy, due this June. What does this have to do with fighting games, you ask? Well, if you preorder Psi-Ops, you'll receive a free copy of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance when your copy arrives. Not a bad deal eh? This is a great chance for those of you who haven't had the chance to get MK: DA to nab yourself a copy.
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Friday, April 2, 2004

Capcom establishes new studio
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:46:29 AEST
Yep, more news coming from Capcom HQ. Unlike the last news story, this one is good news for Capcom fans.

Capcom will be establishing a new studio called Clover Studio, headed up by Atsushi Inaba who was the producer of Viewtiful Joe and Steel Battalion.

Capcom says that by taking a part of its development division and forming a new company, it will be able to produce more original game titles, thus leading to better brand recognition and higher profits.
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Thursday, April 1, 2004

Capcom profits drop
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:26:12 AEST
Capcom predicted that they would have a profit of 4.2 billion yen (US$40 million) for the fiscal quarter that ended March 31, but in fact, their financial position is far from that. Capcom now estimates a loss of 9.4 billion yen (US$90 million). Furthermore, they expect their profit ratio to continue to drop for the rest of the year due to their operations in Europe.

Capcom haven't given any possible reasons for this huge drop. One wonders what impact this may have on the game development division of the company. We'll have more information as soon as it becomes available.
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