July 2004

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Virtua Fighter 2 coming to the PS2
Posted by White_Pointer @ 0:05:40 AEST
It seems like an odd time to do it but Sega are releasing Virtua Fighter 2 on the PS2 in Japan in October this year. According to Dorimaga magazine, Virtua Fighter 2 for the PS2 is being developed by Sega-AM2, which is the studio that created the original arcade version. Apparently it will give gamers a choice to play the original 1994 version or the updated version released in 1995. It will retail for 2,500 yen (about US $22). No word yet on a release outside of Japan.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Multimedia section back up
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:19:36 AEST
Yep, the Multimedia section is back up again. Sorry again to those people who wanted the multimedia during the past few days but it was necessary to actually stop the site going down completely for a few days.

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Midway continues to lose money...but better times ahead
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:49:31 AEST
Despite losing $25.7 million (US) in the first half on this year, Midway president David Zucker says that the big losses are now behind them. This is because this is a huge improvement over the $65.3 million (US) they lost during the same period last year. Zucker also says that better times are ahead for Midway, with several big release games scheduled to be released in the next 6 to 8 months including Area 51, Unreal Championship 2 and of course Mortal Kombat: Deception. We'll have more information on this as it becomes available.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Multimedia section temporarily offline
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:16:49 AEST
We are running dangerously close to exceeding our bandwidth for the month...if we do exceed it the site will be temporarily suspended. To prevent that happening and to keep the site up and running we've needed to temporarily take down our multimedia section. Don't worry, it'll be back up in a few days when the new month begins, so if you wanted some multimedia you'll need to wait until then. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Tekken 5 Evolution schedule
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:50:38 AEST
We reported a few days ago that Namco will be debuting Tekken 5 at this year's Evolution tournament. Tekken Zaibatsu have now been given the schedule that Namco will be using to show off the game at the tournament. From Tekken Zaibatsu:

Thursday 29th July
17:00 - 17:15 Short introduction by Namco
17:15 - 23:00 Free play

Friday 30th July
10:00 - 10:30 Namco presentation of the card system
10:30 - 16:00 Press/Media only (during Tekken RR pools)
16:00 - 24:00 Free play

Saturday 31st July
10:00 - 12:00 Free play

It is also noted that no photography or video cameras are allowed and you will be banned from participating in any tournaments you signed up for if you break this rule. Head over to Tekken Zaibatsu for a little more information.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

More MK: Deception Bios revealed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:01:38 AEST
The Official XBox Magazine's September issue has revealed more character bios for Midway's upcoming Mortal Kombat: Deception. These include two new characters, Shujinko and Darrius, as well as old favourites Scorpion, Sub-zero, Baraka, Raiden and Mileena. Due to copyright reasons we cannot post scans of the article pages but the magazine should be on the shelves of your local newsagent pretty soon if it isn't already, so go and pick yourself up a copy! Thanks to Rhys Barnes for that news.

Monday, July 26, 2004

Dead or Alive Ultimate videos
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:04:13 AEST
Over at Gamespy, they have a bunch of gameplay videos of Dead or Alive Ultimate in action. This was actually done during a "competition" session of the work in progress game between Gamespy, IGN and Team Ninja themselves. There's 8 gameplay videos to download, and you'll need to be at least a Fileplanet basic subscriber to download them. Check them out here.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Samurai Spirits Zero Special recalled
Posted by White_Pointer @ 23:01:41 AEST
SNK is recalling the NeoGeo home console version of Samurai Spirits Zero Special due to a number of bugs, mainly in practice mode (including abnormal damage rates and game crashes) that have been reported by customers. As well as this SNK will be putting the fatality moves back into the game that were present in the arcade version but removed in the home version.

"We deeply apologise that we could not meet up to our customers' expectations on our last game release for the NeoGeo," stated SNK in a press release. "We will continue to treasure the voices of our customers and do our best to satisfy our users. Thank you for your support."

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Guilty Gear Isuka to be shown at Comic Con
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:08:13 AEST
Sammy Studios announced today that a playable preview of their upcoming fighter Guilty Gear Isuka (as well as another upcoming game of theirs called Spy Hunter) will be on show at this year's Comic-Con International show from July 22-25 at the San Diego Convention Centre. Sammy will have multiple kiosks set up to give fans a good taste of what they can expect from the game. This will be the first time the game is shown outside of Japan so if you can make it to the San Diego Convention Centre between these dates, then make sure you get there and take a look at it! Sammy will be in booths #4203 and #4205.
EDIT: Sammy's other title on show is called Spy Fiction, not Spy Hunter. We apologise for that misinformation.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Gamespy previews Tekken 5
Posted by White_Pointer @ 13:22:49 AEST
Gamespy have recently had the chance to play the work in progress arcade version of Tekken 5 during a limited test period and have written up an informative 2 page preview on it. While it doesn't really bring up anything we didn't already know, it's a good read for those of you who have been out of the loop and haven't been keeping up with the Tekken 5 news to date. Give it a read here.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Tekken 5 character bios begin to emerge
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:18:36 AEST
Our resident Tekken expert, forum member king kazuya, is in the middle of giving us the character bios for each character in Tekken 5! As they become available he'll be posting them in this forum thread, so click that link if you want to read the bios available thus far and if you want to discuss it at all with the rest of our forum members!
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Monday, July 19, 2004

VH1 includes Mortal Kombat in TV show
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:18:29 AEST
VH1 is beginning a new series titled "I love the 90's", and at the end of their "1992" show, they have a segment about the original Mortal Kombat and interview celebrities about it, including sportsman and actors. It shows just how much impact this game had when it first hit the arcades way back in 1992. For more information and a few pictures on it, head over to MK Online if you are interested.
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Sunday, July 18, 2004

Tekken 5 to debut at Evolution 2004
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:28:08 AEST
It's been confirmed that Namco will be showing off the work in progress Tekken 5 for the first time outside of Japan at this year's Evolution fighting game tournament held later this month. Namco will be giving a short presentation of the new game features plus the new card system, and then allow gamers to spend some time with it and fill out surveys. If you're going to be at Evolution this year, make sure you check out Tekken 5's US debut!
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Saturday, July 17, 2004

Midway closer to takeover
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:16:05 AEST
Sumner Redstone, Viacom CEO and the guy who is purchasing more and more of Midway's shares has, yet again, purchased more shares. His stake has been raised so he now owns 80.9% of the publisher. In addition to making him ever closer to owning the company entirely, owning over 80% now pretty much allows him to do anything he wants apart from sell the company without consulting with the other minor shareholders. What will happen to Midway? The theory is once Redstone has enough stock in the company to send it private he'll do so then most likely sell it to Viacom. At this point though it doesn't look like it'll affect the games that are on the way, including Mortal Kombat: Deception. We'll bring you more information on this as it becomes available.
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Friday, July 16, 2004

New Guilty Gear Isuka PS2 characters revealed
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:41:11 AEST
Arc system works is currently in development of the PS2 version of Guilty Gear Isuka, and it has been revealed by publisher Sammy that the PS2 version will in fact have extra characters the arcade original did not. Three new characters have been revealed for the PS2 version: ABA, who is a humanoid female character with 2 different fighting styles, Robo-KY, who made an appearance in GGX2 #Reload but was left out of the arcade version of GGI, and Robo-KY II, who is a customisable version of Robo-KY, allowing players to choose what moves to give him.

The game is currently scheduled for a Japanese release on July 29th and a North American release later this year. We'll have more information as it becomes available.
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Thursday, July 15, 2004

New SVC Chaos XBox Live videos
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:41:50 AEST
Over at Gamespy, they have 7 new videos of the current work-in-progress XBox Live enabled version of SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos. They are all of actual gameplay and show a good variety of characters and battlegrounds. You'll need to be at least a fileplanet basic member to download them, so head on over and check them out.
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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

War World announced
Posted by White_Pointer @ 21:48:17 AEST
Third Wave games, a newly formed developer, has announced a new game is on its way, a PC online Mech fighter/shooter called War World. It will be ready to download for US $19.95 later this year. It's not clear yet how many players it will support online, and it will also have a good single player component to top off it's obvious drawcard of being multiplayer online.

"Third Wave Games' mission is to create high-quality downloadable video games that provide players a console game-like experience on their PC, at an affordable price," said Phillip Tavel, creative director at Third Wave Games. "The founders of Third Wave Games have launched some of the greatest franchises in the video games business, and we look forward to making a new mark in the online PC games arena."

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

SSBM on the big screen
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:19:17 AEST
Nintendo Australia are putting on an awesome event in the coming couple of months. Starting August 1st and going on for every Sunday until October 24th, Nintendo Australia are holding Superchallenge events on the big screen. They've entered into a partnership with Village Cinemas and gamers will be competing in a variety of Gamecube games, including Super Smash Bros Melee, F-Zero GX, 1080 Avalanche and Mario Kart: Double Dash on huge cinema screens in an official Nintendo Tournament!

The winner of the Superchallenge Final on October 24th will win a trip to the USA and a tour of Nintendo of America. The Runner-up will receive a Nintendo GameCube and a years supply of Nintendo GameCube software with the third place getter receiving a private Village Gold Class Cinema screening for 25 people. Nobody walks away empty handed with each finalist receiving a limited edition Rip Curl backpack.

The Nintendo Superchallenges will take place at Village Cinemas Crown Casino, Fountain Gate, Jam Factory, Knox, Southland and Sunshine in Melbourne, Australia. At every session competitors will have the chance to win a Game Boy Advance SP: Tribal Edition not available in Australia as well as many other prizes.

Tickets went on sale at each cinema and on-line at www.villagecinemas.com.au on July 1st for just $60 to participate in all six events. Each ticket holder will receive a showbag full of goodies including a $10 discount voucher for GameCube Software at Kmart, Target and Myer stores.

If you live in Australia and are interested in this you can check out Nintendo Australia's official website for more information.
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Monday, July 12, 2004

New confirmed MK: Deception characters
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:58:00 AEST
IGN has a few new screenshots of Mortal Kombat: Deception, and of particular note are the characters appearing within them. We now know that Kabal and Smoke in his human form are both confirmed to be in the game and are clearly shown in the screenshots. Another seemingly new addition is a green-clad female ninja, and although it's possible this could just be Tanya in her alternate outfit, there's a pretty good chance that it is the classic green outfit-wearing female ninja Jade. You can take a look at the screenshots and also discuss this in our forums right here! Thanks to forum member Shinomune for the tip off!
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Sunday, July 11, 2004

New information on Kenju
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:46:46 AEST
Sammy's upcoming fighter Kenju, which was announced a couple of days ago has just finished a beta testing period held from July 9th-11th and we have some information for you that has come out of it. We now know that Kenju is a 3D fighting game with a 2D fighting system, similar to the Street Fighter EX series and Mortal Kombat 4. Unlike these games however, the graphics engine is very unique. It actually combines traditional 3D battle arenas with cel-shaded characters.

The control system is nothing new, with four attack buttons (2 kicks and 2 punches). It combines many elements of modern 2D fighting games however, such as parrying, chain combos, guard canceling, super attacks and wake-up recovery. The game also has a pressure meter in addition to the usual fighting game meters that allows you to pop the opponent into the air and execute a damaging aerial combo. There doesn't appear to be any projectiles in the game though so by the looks of it, it'll be largely a close range fighting affair, much like traditional 3D fighting games.

There will be 12 characters in total, although only eight were playable during the beta test: Nanoha, a female ninja, Eiji, who has spiky hair, deRake, a tall, long-haired man who spins around in most of his attacks, Hanuman, a huge beast warrior, Gale, a boxer who wears a coat and shades, Guarde, a wrestler with various throw and grapple moves, Shi-Foa, a scantily clad woman, and Rina & Mina, twins with different moves who can tag-team in the middle of the battle.

We'll have more information on Kenju as it becomes available. Sammy are yet to announce a release date for the game.
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Saturday, July 10, 2004

SNK Interviews
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:35:24 AEST
There's a couple of good interviews with SNK representatives available at Spong.com and Eurogamer. The first, located here, goes into detail about SNK's upcoming games, including King of Fighters Neowave, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact and Samurai Spirits Zero Special. It also touches on the issues of the state of the arcade scene and Sony's apparent dislike of 2D games on the PS2. The second interview, located here, focuses of SNK's recent revival and goes in depth into their recent partnership with Ignition Software who will distribute all of their games in PAL territories.

Thanks goes to forum member Gooberman for the info! Why not discuss this in our forums?
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Friday, July 9, 2004

New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:56:38 AEST
In the world of fighting games, there is a definite rift between those players that play competitively and those that don't. Each party believes they are correct and neither is willing to listen to the other. With Evolution 2004 fast approaching and the recent emergence of online play in fighting games, it seems the tournament scene is getting more coverage than it has had in recent times - because let's face it, the arcades aren't as popular as they used to be. Our new poll asks if you are a tournament player. If you are, how often do you participate? If you aren't, are you planning on getting into the tournament scene at all or are you happy being a "just for fun" gamer? Vote now!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:44:54 AEST
Time to pull down our poll and put up a new one, but first, here's the results of it:

What's your opinion on online play in fighting games?

52.8% - I think it's great!
22.4% - It has a place, but it's not for me
21.2% - It's a nice theory but technology isn't right yet
3.4% - It stinks

It seems the majority of site visitors actually like playing fighting games online, or at the very least like the idea of being able to play them online, despite the fact that fighting games are one of the hardest genres of games to play when you factor lag into the equation. An interesting result!
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Thursday, July 8, 2004

MK: Deception release dates
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:10:33 AEST
Through a recent press release, Midway have given us the worldwide release dates for Mortal Kombat: Deception. The NTSC version of the game is due to hit stores on October 4th. And, unlike MK: DA which PAL gamers needed to wait a good 4 months longer for, MK: Deception (or MK: Mystification if you live in France) will make it to PAL territories only one month later on November 5th. This is the official word from Midway, although PAL retail chains are yet to reflect this in their release schedules. Stay tuned for more information.

Thanks to D'Arque Bishop from MK Online for the heads up.
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Wednesday, July 7, 2004

New fighter coming from Sammy
Posted by White_Pointer @ 7:25:25 AEST
Following the recent release of The Rumblefish on their Atomiswave hardware, Sammy have announced that another new 2D fighter is on the way for the company's new arcade platform. The new game is titled Kenju, which when translated directly means "Fist of the Beasts". No details have been revealed about the game yet except for a piece of artwork on the game's official site. However, the game does appear to be very deep into the development cycle already with the first stage of beta testing starting as early as July 9th - 11th, which is later this week. We'll have more information as it becomes available.
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Tuesday, July 6, 2004

MK: Deception Special Edition?
Posted by White_Pointer @ 11:40:22 AEST
We've got some more news on Midway's upcoming Mortal Kombat: Deception. EB Games has a special edition of MK: Deception listed for preorder customers under their products list. The special edition will apparently have the following bonus features:

• Special Edition Packaging
  
• An “arcade perfect” version of Mortal Kombat 1
  
• Comprehensive “The History of Mortal Kombat” from inception through MK: Deception
  
• Additional 15 character video bios (25 total)
  
• Serialized limited edition trading card
  

Monday, July 5, 2004

MK: Deception renamed for France
Posted by White_Pointer @ 15:35:02 AEST
Last week we reported a rumour that Mortal Kombat: Deception will undergo a name change in PAL territories. It has now been confirmed through Mortal Kombat Online that this is at least partly true, the game will indeed be renamed, but only in France. The French version of the game will be called Mortal Kombat: Mystification. The reasoning for this is uncertain though. The name will remain as MK: Deception in all other PAL territories.
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Sunday, July 4, 2004

Mortal Kombat to plug into your TV
Posted by White_Pointer @ 20:57:37 AEST
The arcade version of the original Mortal Kombat is the latest game to be a plug-and-play TV games device. Of special note, the controller will be an exact replica of the controller on the original MK arcade machine.

For those of you who are unaware, each TV game is a standalone device that plugs directly into your TV to allow gamers to play their games immediately. The device simply plugs directly into the AV jacks on the TV, and it is battery powered so there is no need for an external power source, and you simply start playing.

No release date has been announced yet for the MK TV game but you can bet it won't be far away.
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Saturday, July 3, 2004

Dead or Alive Ultimate delayed until October
Posted by White_Pointer @ 17:28:29 AEST
Tecmo have pushed back the release date of Dead or Alive Ultimate, their totally reworked compilation of the original 2 DOA games complete with online play, until October. It was original scheduled for a release in 3rd quarter this year but it has now been announced through the game's official website that the game will not make that deadline. It may even be pushed back even further as this date nears, a Tecmo representative only saying "That's our plan for now" in regards to the new October release date.
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Friday, July 2, 2004

Namco, Sammy and Sega introduce arcade network system
Posted by White_Pointer @ 22:34:12 AEST
Three of the powerhouses in arcade machines, Namco, Sammy and Sega, have revealed plans to develop a high speed network arcade board called the "ALL.net" (Amusement Linkage Live Network). It will run on fibre optics and will be expandable and versatile enough to have many uses including the use for arcade games. This will benefit all three companies as they develop more sophisticated arcade machines and games. Included is the functionality to allow gamers to pay for their games electronically - instead of inserting money into the machines, they will be able to pay by card or by mobile phone. On the fighting game front, Sega plans to have Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution and Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned running on the hardware and Namco will have Tekken 5. Sammy are yet to announce their titles that will be taking advantage of the new technology.
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Tekken 5 hitting Japanese arcades this fall
Posted by White_Pointer @ 12:41:34 AEST
Namco has announcd that Tekken 5 will be in Japanese arcades this fall, although no word yet on when we will see it outside of Japan. Namco also revealed that Tekken 5 will be the first game to take advantage of their new online system called Tekken-Net. The new system will operate in a very similiar way to Sega's VF-Net system they used for their Virtua Fighter 4 series. Players will need to purchase an IC card to use Tekken-Net's services, and once they have a card players can accumulate prize money to purchase accessories for their characters. It has the added functionality of maintaining a rank system for battles with human players. The system can also have the computer analyze the player's fighting patterns to create a "ghost" character to fight against. Tekken 5 will also be Namco's first game to operate on their new arcade board they are dubbing the "System 256". Stay tuned, you'll see any future news right here!
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Thursday, July 1, 2004

Guilty Gear XX# Reload coming to PC
Posted by White_Pointer @ 23:20:33 AEST
Here's something we'd never thought we'd see in this day and age...a port of an arcade fighting game making its way to the PC. It's true, Guilty Gear XX# Reload is coming to the PC and will be available in Japan on July 23rd thanks to Japan-based Media Kite, and will be more or less identical to the PS2 version. No word yet on when or if we will see the PC version of the game entering the NTSC and PAL markets, although Media Kit are the same guys who ported Resident Evil 3 to the PC so the chances seem better than average. We'll keep you updated on any information as it becomes available.
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