January 2005

Monday, January 31, 2005

Confirmed finishers for Goro and Shao Kahn
Posted by White_Pointer at 21:28:21 CST
Those Gamecube owners who were worried that their MK: Deception exclusive characters Goro and Shao Kahn not having finishers need not worry anymore. The folks at IGN have asked Midway about this very subject, and this was their response:

"Goro and Shao Kahn will each have two different fatalities, and a unique hara kari move."

New screenshots of GC MK: Deception
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:12:29 CST
1up has a new preview of the upcoming Gamecube version of Mortal Kombat: Deception, along with what look to be the first official screenshots of the GC-exclusive characters Shao Kahn and Goro! In their brief preview they also shed some light on the new Konquest mode, which will be set up slightly differently to the XBox and PS2 versions of the game, and won't require so much unlocking because there's more characters readily available right from the start. Other than that the GC version is set to be identical to the other two, minus the online play, and is set to hit stores on March 7th, no word yet on a PAL release. Check out the new screenshots over at 1up.
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Namco x Capcom announced
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:17:52 CST
Don't get your hopes up at the title of this news post, it's not what you think it is.

Namco "cross" Capcom has been announced by the two companies, but this isn't a crossover fighting game, but a strategy RPG, and is in development at Monolith. What's known about it so far is that it will have 3D environments, 2D battles and have a heavy anime influence.

As expected, characters from the two company's fighting games are making appearances in the game. Mitsurugi and Jin Kazama from Namco's side and Demitri Maximoff, Morrigan Aensland, Ryu and Chun-Li from Capcom's side are the confirmed fighting game characters so far, plus there's other characters in there from the non-fighting games the two companies have produced over the years.

So far, the game is only slated for a Japanese release (published by Namco)...we haven't heard any news about whether it'll be released to the rest of the world yet.

While this isn't strictly fighting game news...fans now know that the two companies are willing to work together, making a "Namco vs Capcom" fighting game a real possibility for the future. One can only hope.
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Tekken 5 online in Japan?
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:29:55 CST
Up until now, it hasn't really been all that apparent as to why the PS2 version of Tekken 5 is planned for a release in the US and Europe before Japan. Lik-Sang, a popular online store specialising in video games and video games merchandise has the game avaialable for preorder, and the box shot reveals something very interesting...you can clearly see the "Sony Online" logo on the front of it, indicating that the game will actually support online play. This may be a ploy by Lik-Sang to get more preorders of the game...but it doesn't seem likely. To check it out for yourself and make your own decision, check out Lik Sang. Thanks to forum member king kazuya for the heads up on this.
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Interactive Achievment Awards finalists announced
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:25:17 CST
Now in it's 8th year, the Interactive Achievement Awards are probably the most credible games awards out there...being judged by members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and industry peers. This year's award ceremony for the 2004 games awards will be on February 1st.

As far as fighting games are concerned, they only appear in one category...the Console Fighting Game Of The Year. Three games made the finals: Def Jam: Fight for NY, Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 and Mortal Kombat: Deception. No fighting games were finalists for any other awards.

We'll give you the news on which game won the award after the event so stay tuned! If you're interested in seeing the complete list of finalists, click here.
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Soul Calibur 3 coming this year?
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:33:05 CST
Although this is only speculation at this point, French Gaming site Jeuxpo.com is reporting that Namco are planning a release of Soul Calibur 3 later this year for the PS2, Gamecube and XBox, as well as another version that's not specified. This final version could very well be a DS or PSP version of the game.

What gives this a little credibility is that Namco themselves last year stated that they will be planning on releasing a new game in the Soul Calibur series more regularly than every 4 years like it currently is. Although having said that, only 2 years between SCII and SCIII does seem a little unlikely.

Keep in mind this is nothing solid and might turn out to be false...but I guess we'll know Namco's intentions around E3 time.
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Sega America and Sega Europe come together
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:10:29 CST
In an effort to make their products more suitable for the Western market, Sega America and Sega Europe have united their managements. What this will hopefully mean is that Sega's future non-Japanese titles will be slated more towards the non-Japanese audience.

"Integrating the management of our US and European organizations will allow Sega ... to aggressively develop and pursue products that appeal to Western consumers," said Naoya Tsurumi, CEO of Sega of America.

Two new renders for GC version of MK: Deception
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:21:45 CST
MK Online have been sent a couple of brand new renders of the two exclusive characters to the Gamecube version of Mortal Kombat: Deception, Goro and Shao Kahn. You can see them up close and in high detail now over at MK Online by clicking the links below:
Goro
Shao Kahn
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PS2 exclusive characters for Tekken 5?
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:10:46 CST
The latest issue of the Australian Gamepro magazine apparently has an interview with some of the brains behind the PS2 version of Tekken 5. In the interview Namco reveals that they are planning on adding console-only characters that they couldn't get into the arcade version, and go on to say it will have the most extra content out of all the Tekken console games so far.

Note that this is unconfirmed and may turn out to be untrue, although the source seems to be reliable we don't know if these are facts just yet. Thanks to forum member king kazuya for the tip-off.
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DOA Ultimate PAL release date
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:35:29 CST
We've received word on good authority that the PAL version of Dead or Alive Ultimate should be hitting store shelves later this month...either the 27th or 28th. Like the US version, this will NOT feature any of the special deals that Japan was treated to.

Thanks to forum member crawdad for the heads up.
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PS2 Tekken 5 intro released
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:06:02 CST
Famitsu magazine have released what is probably the intro movie for the PS2 version of Tekken 5. This time around, rather than making something completely different as has been the case in the past console versions of the Tekken games, Namco have instead essentially created a longer, extended version of the arcade version's intro.

Make sure you grab it from our Tekken movies section!
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The Rumblefish 2 on the way
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:29:01 CST
Sammy have announced that a sequel to last year's The Rumblefish, which was only released on arcades in Japan, is in the works. They have kept this very quiet until now, as the first beta test was this weekend. Like the original, this will also be released on Sammy's Atomiswave arcade hardware - and also like the original, it probably won't see the world outside Japan.

Speaking of the original game, Sammy also announced that a PS2 port of this is due out on March 17 in Japan, complete with additional characters. Whether we'll see an NTSC or PAL release for this remains uncertain.
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Filefront interviews John Podlasek
Posted by White_Pointer at 05:09:19 CST
Gaming site Filefront have scored themselves an interview with Mortal Kombat: Deception's producer John Podlasek. He talks about his thoughts on the game now that it is released, what they have achieved and the possible future of the franchise. Read it here.
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Atari retains exclusive rights to DBZ
Posted by White_Pointer at 05:32:31 CST
Atari have revealed that they will be retaining the exclusive license to Dragon Ball Z and will be continuing to bring games out for the franchise on next generation consoles, including the PSP and DS.

“We have exciting plans in place to build on that momentum and usher in the next era of Dragon Ball, including products for the new wave of portable gaming devices and next-gen consoles.” said Jim Caparro, president and CEO of Atari.

Capcom officially announces Darkstalkers Chronicle
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:55:40 CST
In a press release issued today, Capcom officially announced Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP. Their classic Darkstalkers series is back! They also confirmed our earlier report that it will indeed be a PSP launch title when the system hits North America.

“Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower is the first handheld fighting game to actually exceed its arcade and home console predecessors,” said Todd Thorson, director of marketing Capcom Entertainment. “With all new game modes to the franchise and wireless battles, Darkstalkers Chronicles on the PSP is a must have.”

Even more new fan art
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:29:13 CST
It just keeps coming in!

Knuckles has sent us three pieces of artwork he's done...the first is of Terry and Andy Bogard, the second is of Clark Steel and the third is Ralf Jones. Check them out in gallery 5 in our fan art section! If you want to submit your own, well, you know where to go!
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Solid Tekken 5 US release date, possible bonus?
Posted by White_Pointer at 01:43:37 CST
Tekken 5 on PS2 has been given a solid release date for the US...February 22nd, although no word yet on when we might expect to see the PAL version. So the US is actually getting the game more than a month earlier than Japan (who will be getting it March 31st as we reported a couple of days ago).

There's also unconfirmed word from retailers that the game will include a nice piece of bonus material to commemorate the franchise's 10 year anniversary on home systems. Reports are saying that the original home version of the Tekken will be playable. Whether this is true or not is speculation at the moment but it would certainly be a nice surprise would it be true.

Stay tuned, we'll have more updates as soon as the information is available.
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New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:42:20 CST
What do you think is the best fighting game ever made? This is the big question we ask you in our new poll. We're talking about the absolute best...not necessarily the first game to do something in particular, or the most innovative one...the absolute best. It's certainly a difficult choice but we've given you quite a few to choose from:

Capcom vs SNK 2
Darkstalkers
Dead or Alive 3
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
Killer Instinct
King of Fighters '98
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Mortal Kombat II
Powerstone
Soul Calibur
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Tekken 3
Tekken Tag Tournament
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

And of course if none of those appeal to you, there's an "other" option there as well. So, get voting! Don't forget, this would be a perfect topic to discuss in our forums!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:25:42 CST
Time for a new poll...but let's look at the results of the previous poll first:

Do you study Martial Arts for real?

42.1% - Yes
37.3% - No
20.5% - Yes, but not seriously

This is certainly an interesting result...the majority of our site visitors actually do study martial arts for real in some form, as well as using those skills in games. Could this mean something?
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New KOF 94 Re-Bout video
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:47:54 CST
There's a new video out from SNK Playmore for the upcoming PS2 release King of Fighters 94 Re-Bout. For those of you who don't know yet, this is a remake of KOF 94 and will feature online play. While most of you won't be able to understand the video since it's in Japanese, it does give some pretty good images of what the game's going to be like, so if you're looking forward to this it's probably worth checking out. Stream the video from here.
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PS2 Tekken 5 coming end of March to Japan
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:26:57 CST
According to IGN, the Japanese PS2 version of Tekken 5 should be hitting store shelves by the end of March (meaning March 31st). Namco are however remaining tight-lipped about the PAL release date for the game. We'll make sure we report the news when it comes in though. Thanks to forum member king kazuya for the tip-off! Why not discuss this is our forums?
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More new fan art
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:29:12 CST
Yep, more new fan art has been submitted. Jord Grim has sent us an excellent computer generated piece of artwork of MK: Deception's Jade and how she might look if she was evil. Check it out as always in our fan art section (accessed via the menu). Don't forget you can also visit that area of the site for the easy submission instructions if you want to submit your own!
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Darkstalkers Chronicle to be PSP US launch title
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:44:54 CST
Capcom's resurrection of their popular early 90's fighting series Darkstalkers will be one of the launch titles for the PSP when it hits US shelves early this year. Darkstalkers Chronicle (also known as Vampire Chronicle) is already out in Japan, and takes full advantage of the PSP's WiFi multiplayer capabilities and features 18 characters to choose from. Currently the game's US release is slated at "mid March", likely putting it on par with the release of the PSP itself. We'll have more to report on this soon so stay tuned!
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New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:42:21 CST
We've had a STACK of new Fan Art that's come in over the Christmas/New Year break, so it's time to kick the year off and post it!

First off, Joe Ikey has sent us five computer-drawn pictures: Fei Long, Terry, Iori, Geese and Kyo.
Next up LF has sent us two hand-drawn sketches, one he calls "Nitara Victory" and the other he calls "Scorpion Avenged".
Finally, dA_LiN_kUeI_mAsTa has sent us a hand-drawn colour picture of Shinnok.

Check out all the new art in Gallery 5, or any of the older art in the other galleries in our fan art section! We can never have too much eye candy though, so if you've got some work of your own that you would like the world to see here on Blood-Sports.net, check out our fan art section for the easy submission instructions. And don't worry, you'll be given full credit just as these guys have!
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MK: Deception Gamecube boxart revealed
Posted by White_Pointer at 04:19:40 CST
The final box art of the Gamecube version of Mortal Kombat: Deception has been revealed. It's nothing special, pretty much exactly the same as the PS2/XBox boxart with the obvious difference of the Gamecube logo on it.

NeoGeo Joystick coming to the PS2
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:56:51 CST
As part of their current KOF 10th anniversary celebrations, SNK are bringing back another classic for the PS2 - The NeoGeo Joystick.

No "King of Fighters 2004"
Posted by White_Pointer at 01:57:16 CST
On with the news, the first of 2005!

SNK have confirmed over the Christmas break that their King of Fighters series for the first time since it started back in 1994 will be skipping a year...there will not be a game titled "King of Fighters 2004". With various ports of KOF 2003, KOF Neowave and KOF Maximum Impact that were released last year this really shouldn't be missed. SNK have however stated that they are indeed working on a new KOF game that is supposed to be different to all the KOF games we have seen in the past.

Does this mean we'll no longer be seeing KOF games named by the year they are released?
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Happy New Year!
Posted by White_Pointer at 21:44:02 CST
Well, it's now 2005, and yes we are back after exceeding our bandwidth. If you noticed the site was down for a few days, that's the reason.

Hope everyone had a great new year, and we look forward to bringing you the best fighting games news on the internet in 2005!
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