August 2006

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Guilty Gear XX Core is coming
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:46:41 CST
It's been a while since we've had some news about the Guilty Gear series. Yet another revision and refinement of GGXX is on the way...Guilty Gear XX: Core is currently in development for the arcade, according to the official website. This is, presumably, the next step in the GGXX series after GGXX Slash.

The website also tells us (if you can read Japanese) that the game underwent beta testing in the Club Sega arcade in Tokyo last weekend, with gamers submitting feedback via an online form. This would suggest that the game is nearing completion with only a couple of months work left on it at most.

It still remains to be seen whether we'll see this game outside of Japan.
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Capcom patches SFII: Hyper Fighting
Posted by White_Pointer at 16:39:02 CST
It seems Capcom have been hard at work in fixing the lag and timeout issues people have been complaining about during games of Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting on XBLA. They have just recently released a new patch that addresses the lag problem. The patch also addresses the problem of cheating on the leaderboard, as many players were disconnecting when it became apparent they were about to lose a game to avoid a loss registering on their account. The ladder has now been reset and the problem should now hopefully be sorted.

The patch is an auto-update when you log onto Xbox Live.
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No Khameleon in MK: Armageddon
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:31:02 CST
When the updated render of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's character roster was released by Midway recently, it was said to be the final roster, and indeed at first glance, now that Motaro, Meat and Chameleon have been added, it seems complete. Observant MK fans though would have noticed an ommision though...Khameleon (with a K), the female warrior featured exclusively in the N64 version of MK Trilogy that randomly morphed into the female ninjas (Chameleon (with a C) was the male ninja equivalent, featured exclusively in the PC/Playstation version of the game). Over on the Midway boards, moderator Cinder explains that this is because she will in fact not be in the game.

If you read the above link though, you'll notice that Cinder's original post read "Khameleon is not in MKA for PS2 and Xbox...", possibly alluding to the fact she could still be in the Wii version that is due out early next year. The post has now been edited however to simply read "Khameleon is not in MKA."

Is this simply a correction of a typo to avoid any ambiguity, or a backtrack of a statement? We'll wait and see, but in the meantime, we can confirm that yes, Khameleon will not be in the Xbox and PS2 versions of the game, at the very least.
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SNK reveals TGS lineup
Posted by White_Pointer at 21:17:38 CST
As the Tokyo Game Show draws closer (it's now less than a month away), publishers are now beginning to reveal their lineups for the show. SNK Playmore is one of them, and in a nice surprise to stalwart old school SNK fans, Fatal Fury Special (known as Garou Densetsu Special in Japan) is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade. In another tribute to old school fans, Fatal Fury Battle Archives 2 will also be on display for the PS2. Both will apparently be playable.

Their fighting game showing doesn't stop there however. The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match will be demo'd for the PS2 as well, though this will not be playable.

And in non-fighting game news, SNK will also be paying homage to their popular Metal Slug series by showing off the PSP version of Metal Slug Complete.

The Tokyo Game Show will run from September 22nd through to September 24th.
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Evo2k results
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:38:33 CST
Evolution, the world's biggest fighting game tournament was run over the weekend, with heaps of players showing up from all over the globe. For full details about the event you can visit Shoryuken and the official site. But if you are only interested in knowing the final results...well, here they are (from Shoryuken):

Dead or Alive 4

1st Perfect Legend
2nd DoaMaster
3rd thehighguy
4th King
5th Rikuto
5th Black Mamba
7th Justownin
7th Tom Brady

Tekken 5

1st Crow
2nd Bronson
3rd Jra64
4th Justin Wong
5th Jinmaster
5th Filthy
7th Arario
7th Jackie Tran

Street Fighter Anniversary Edition

1st Alex Wolfe (ST Dhalsim, CE Bison)
2nd Jason Nelson (ST Bison, CE Ryu)
3rd Tokido (CE Bison)
4th Alex Valle (CE Sagat, ST Ryu)
5th Graham Wolfe (ST Vega, ST Balrog)
5th Daigo (ST Ryu)
7th John Choi (HF Ryu)
7th AfroLegends (ST Balrog, ST Deejay)

Guilty Gear XX Slash

1st Ruu/Mint/BAS
2nd Daigo/RF/Kindevu
3rd Team Florida
4th Cue/JuicyG/ElvenShadow

Capcom VS SNK 2

1st Kindevu
2nd Ricky
3rd Combofiend
4th Buktooth
5th Justin Wong
5th Daigo
7th Hail And Kill
7th ohayo1234

Marvel vs Capcom 2

1st Justin Wong
2nd Chunksta
3rd Reset
4th SooMighty
5th Yipes
5th Duc Do
7th Eder
7th JMar

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

1st Nitto (Yun)
2nd Issei (Yun)
3rd Ohnuki (Chun-Li)
4th Mester (Yun)
5th Tokido (Chun-Li, Urien)
5th Pyrolee (Yun)
7th Amir (Chun-Li)
7th Alex Valle (Ken)
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Lionhead founder talks next-gen combat
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:14:51 CST
Peter Molyneux, founder of Lionhead studios today gave a keynote presentation at the Game Convention Developer Conference in Leipzig, Germany. What he focused on in his presentation is particularly relevant to fighting games, but also extends across many game genres, and that is combat in video games.

Singling out Capcom's recently released Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting as an example, he wants to do away with mechanics such as hit points, blunt weapons and environments that are by and large meaningless. He wants to use swords that are sharp and are capable of one-hit kills, and he wants to bring skill back into it, putting more emphasis on timing. Oh, and you know those health bars, power-up indicators and match timers you see at the top of the screen in most fighting games? He wants them gone too.

To get the full run-down of his presentation, Gamespot and 1UP both have detailed reports. You can take a look at videos of his tech demos at GameVideos.
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DOA movie hitting theatres soon
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:21:52 CST
The latest video game to film adaption, DOA: Dead or Alive will be releasing into most theatres early next month. Already though there have been some advance screenings of the film and various reviews of it are starting to emerge across the internet, so if you are interested in finding out a bit more about the film before it releases, the information is out there. All in all though, it seems our early predictions are true, as even the trailer doesn't bode well. Still, come September 9th, we might get a surprise.
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MK: Armageddon site updates
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:55:17 CST
The official Mortal Kombat: Armageddon site has been updating recently through the hidden page you can find by clicking on the dragon's eye. What you can find in there are various renders that make very good wallpapers if you are that way inclined, or just some good viewing material if you aren't. Currently on the hidden page there is an updated version of the MK: Armageddon character roster, renders of several of the battle arenas, and new renders of several characters that aren't featured on the special edition boxes we reported on a couple of weeks ago, but are done in the same style. There are currently four empty spaces, so there are four more renders to be added to the page.

Check them all out here.
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Sega going retro
Posted by White_Pointer at 22:05:50 CST
It was probably only a matter of time until Sega, one of the powerhouses in the games industry throughout the 80's and 90's, brought out their own compilation of classic games. Later this year, they will be bringing out a collection of Genesis/Mega Drive games to the PS2 and PSP.

The pack will include 28 of their classic 16-bit console titles (plus more unlockable arcade games), and as far as fighting games are concerned, Virtua Fighter 2 is one of them. There's also a good selection of beat 'em ups in the list too including Altered Beast, Golden Axe (plus its two sequels) and Shinobi III.

The full list of games that will be available in the collection are as follows:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco II: The Tides of Time
Ecco Jr.
Kid Chameleon
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter 2
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New Poll
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:47:52 CST
Without a doubt one of the biggest stories in fighting game circles to have broken over the past week was Midway's confirmation that the Xbox version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will not be releasing in PAL countries, apparently a decision handed down from Midway Europe. Naturally, this has upset a lot of fans who were looking forward to the game, but has it upset you? Our new poll asks you exactly what your reaction is to this situation...do you think it was a good decision, a bad decision, or do you just not care one way or the other? Vote now!
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Poll Results
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:36:14 CST
It's that time again for a new poll, so here are the results of the last one:

Do you like the Dragon Ball Z fighting games?

37.9% - No opinion, never played them
20.2% - Some of them are okay
14.1% - Yes, I'm a big fan
13.4% - No, they are stupid
12.4% - They are good for some mindless fun
1.7% - They are good drinking games

Well that's pretty conclusive...most of our site visitors haven't even bothered playing the DBZ fighting games. Of those that have played them though, it seems like a pretty even split between the ones that hate them, ones that love them and those that think they are 50/50. An interesting result!
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IGN interviews VF5 Producer
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:06:49 CST
IGN have published a new interview with Justin Lambros, North American producer of Virtua Fighter 5 for Sega of America. In the interview they tackle what the new characters are like and how their fighting styles fit into the game, how the new gameplay elements such as side attacks work, and what the new battlegrounds will be like, including interacting with them. Of interesting note is what their intentions were in porting the arcade original to the PS3 and what the end result was like:

Justin: It's funny, because it used to be that home machines used to be trying to catch up to the arcades for years and years. Now, more time and R&D is being spent on the home consoles, so now it's not so much that arcades are trying to keep up with them, but it's really an even "arms race." We're talking about that perfect arcade translation, which is essentially what Virtua Fighter 5 is doing right here, where you can essentially drop in verbatim (as best as possible -- that's the team's goal) an exact match to the game's performance and visuals based on the core of the game. So it's not looking at the PS3 or the 360 or anything else that's out and saying, "This is what our goals are here." The team is working on getting the most out of their hardware and how that transfers to the PS3, which I think has been very successfully done.

Midway releases new MK: Unchained trailer
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:55:19 CST
Amongst all of the hoo-ha surrounding MK: Armageddon, another MK game has slipped under the radar: Mortal Kombat: Unchained on the PSP, the younger brother of MK: Deception. Midway has now released a new official trailer to the game on their company website, which shows off some of the gameplay, including the mini-games chess kombat and puzzle kombat and the konquest mode found in MK: Deception. It is also now apparent that this is more than just a straight port of MK: Deception however. The game offers a brand new endurance mode, as well as wireless multiplayer. It will also feature an expanded character roster and will not only include Goro and Shao Kahn (who featured on the Gamecube version of Deception) but also Blaze, Jax, Kitana and Frost.

The trailer is available on Midway's official site linked above, but why go there to get it when you can get it right here? Go to our MK movies page to grab it now!
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No PAL Xbox version of MK: Armageddon?
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:44:16 CST
Just when Midway are building the hype over the upcoming release of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, they drop a bombshell like this, and it's a pretty big bombshell.

A rumour was started that the game will not be coming to the Xbox for PAL regions. In response to this, the guys over at MK Online contacted Midway to get the official story. What they were told does not bode well for Xbox owners in PAL regions that have been patiently waiting for the game. Midway confirmed to them that there are currently no plans to release the Xbox version to PAL territories.

This isn't the first time Midway have decided to leave PAL gamers high and dry...if you remember when Mortal Kombat: Deception was released, Midway created a Gamecube version but decided to only release it in North America, much to the dismay of Gamecube owners in PAL countries. Now they have done the same thing to Xbox owners.

If you live in North America, you don't have anything to worry about...the game is still coming to you. If you live anywhere else, looks like the only way you'll be able to play it is if you own a PS2 (or if you are planning on buying a Wii and can wait until next year to play it).
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Capcom profits up but sales down
Posted by White_Pointer at 22:11:03 CST
Capcom's sales have dropped 7.5% during the last quarter, though that doesn't phase them too much, as their profits were still higher than expected and actually increased since the last quarter. Capcom themselves put the slump in sales down to the current market situation, as gamers are holding onto their money in anticipation for the release of the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. This is reflected in the fact that portable sales have also risen for them, it's the home console market that is suffering at the moment. The roaring success of Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting so far certainly isn't hurting them though.
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New Fan Art
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:58:12 CST
Aaron Jaggan has sent us some brilliant new additions to our fan art section! The new eye candy is all 3D computer modeled and looks fantatic. Aaron has sent us five new awesome pictures: a new and revamped Sektor, Jade, Mileena in two different costumes and a Dragon, to stick with the MK theme.

Check them all out in gallery 8 of our fan art section.

If you also have fan art you would like to contribute here for the world to see, visit our fan art section for the easy submission instructions!
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Ed Boon gets talking
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:57:46 CST
Ed Boon has been a busy boy lately, as he has participated in not one but two interviews recently on the topic of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

The first interview was with 1UP. This interview isn't the usual kind of "ask about the game" interview, as the 1UP editors were more interested in drilling Boon about his earlier comments that MK wouldn't work on the Wii and why they had decided to now go down that path. You can read the interview here.

The second interview is a relatively short one that was conducted by Game Informer. This one does ask some questions about the game, like whether the Wii version will actually use the Wii-mote, and whether the game will take advantage of Nintendo's new online services. You can read the interview here.

Thanks to forum member Sp1nal for this information!
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Midway reveals MK: Armageddon box art
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:09:29 CST
Last week we reported that there will be four different box art designs for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon when it ships in October. All designs have now been revealed by Midway through the forums on the official game site.

The first is the original design, which is the recognisable dragon logo. This is the same on both the PS2 and Xbox.

SFII: Hyper Fighting fastest selling game on XBLA
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:19:50 CST
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting was only released on Xbox Live Arcade last Wednesday, but already it's become the fastest selling game ever on Microsoft's online gaming service. In fact it broke the previous record within the first 24 hours! Capcom are claiming that "hundreds of matches are being played every hour" and "thousands of users continue to flock online to purchase the game". No exact numbers have been given yet though.

It goes without saying that SFII fans were more than willing to wait for the game despite its several lengthy delays, and they are now beating each other up quite happily. If you don't have it yet, it's certainly worth the 800 Marketplace points (US$10).
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VF5 Updated
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:41:45 CST
Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is reporting that Sega has released an update to the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 5. This update (called Revision 1) tweaks conditions for performing throws, balances the characters a little better, and ensures that holds are displayed correctly. The update also extends to the VF terminal system, which can now reissue player's character access cards should they lose the one they have. However the card will take several days to be sent out, meaning the player's rankings may drop and some data may still be lost.
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MK: Armageddon premium edition announced
Posted by White_Pointer at 17:14:18 CST
MK fans are going to get more bang for their buck when Mortal Kombat: Armageddon releases in October. Midway has announced that a premium edition will also be available for PS2 owners (there's no indication at the moment that it will also be available on Xbox or the recently announced Wii version). The premium edition comes in a metallic case with one of four different cover art designs (one featuring the Dragon Logo, one featuring Goro and Johnny Cage, another featuring Sonya and Kano and the last featuring Sindel and Shao Kahn), and will also include a complete port of the arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, as well as over an hour of bonus videos that includes a "history of fatalities" and an animation cell cover autographed by Ed Boon himself. Not bad for the US $49.95 price tag.

There's also no indication yet whether the premium edition will be made available outside of the US.
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MK: Armageddon coming to the Wii
Posted by White_Pointer at 18:53:55 CST
Well, this is certainly a surprise announcement. Midway has confirmed to IGN and Gamespot that Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is headed to the Nintendo Wii, and is due to be released early next year. There's been no announcement yet how the Wii version of the game will take advantage of the console's unique controller (if it will at all), but this is certainly exciting news to Nintendo MK fans that were disappointed at the announcement that MK: A wasn't making it to the Gamecube.

"We are extremely excited to be bringing the action of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon to the Nintendo Wii in early 2007," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Our Chicago studio, under the direction of Ed Boon, has been working extremely hard to make Armageddon stand out in a big way with the inclusion of the entire Mortal Kombat character lineup, the Motor Kombat mini-game, a new Konquest mode and several other innovative gameplay additions that help keep the franchise at the top of its genre. We're confident that Wii fans will truly appreciate the finished product when it's ready to hit store shelves."

SFII: Hyper Fighting finally here
Posted by White_Pointer at 16:15:35 CST
Xbox 360 owners that have been patiently waiting for Capcom's Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting to release on Xbox Live Arcade need wait no longer, because after several lengthy delays the anticipated fighter finally hits the Live marketplace tomorrow, the 2nd of August. The game will cost you $10 to download, and is fully online compatible.

This is your chance to re-live the nostalgia from fourteen years ago, and compete against people across the world while you are doing it. If you are at all interested in the Street Fighter games, this one is a no-brainer.
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