September 2006

Friday, September 29, 2006

Naruto: Ninja Council 2 coming to GBA
Posted by White_Pointer at 20:08:46 CST
On the back of the news that Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 has been released for the Gamecube, Tomy and D3Publisher of America have announced that a sequel to the Gameboy Advance's version is also on the way. Titled Naruto: Ninja Council 2 it will be releasing in just a couple of weeks on October 10th.

So why the sudden surge of Naruto games?

"We are at the point where you can legitimately consider NARUTO a bona fide phenomenon," said Masaru Tomiyama, president, TOMY Corporation. "In 2007, as new platforms emerge, we look forward to releasing more NARUTO video games for Nintendo systems as we continue our partnership with D3PA."

"In only our second full year as a publisher in North America, D3PA has experienced incredible growth and one of the contributors to our success has been the overwhelming response to NARUTO games for the Nintendo systems," said Yoji Takenaka, executive vice president and chief operating officer, D3PA. "NARUTO: Clash of Ninja has consistently ranked in the top 5 games for the Nintendo GameCube at retail in North America, according to the NPD Group, since it shipped in March of 2006 and we look to continue this successful partnership with TOMY with new releases in 2007."

300 characters to feature in new Shonen Jump game
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:03:22 CST
The sequel to the cult success Jump Superstars, based on the popular Shonen Jump series, is in development for the Nintendo DS. This time around, developers Ganbarion Co. Ltd. are really outdoing themselves as they have announced that the new game, titled Jump! Ultimate Stars will feature 300 characters that come from 40 different Shonen Jump properties, including Dragonball Z, One Piece, Kochikame and Dr. Slump.

The game will release on November 23rd in Japan, and will come will all the usual bells and whistles for a DS game, including WiFi multiplayer.
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Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 arrives for GC
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:31:20 CST
D3Publisher of America has announced that Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, the sequel to the cult hit original, has been released exclusively for the Gamecube. With 23 characters to choose from and up to four players battling it out, as well as new single player features, you'll do well to grab yourself a copy if you were at all a fan of the original game.
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MK: Armageddon intro movie surfaces
Posted by White_Pointer at 01:18:34 CST
The intro movie to the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has been officially released by Midway and is quickly making it's way around the web. Two places you can view it for yourself are on IGN here and YouTube here. It runs for about four and a half minutes and does very well in setting the tone for the game as a whole. Almost every character is featured in there somewhere so if you are looking forward to the game you should definitely check it out.
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New KOF to get facelift
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:21:31 CST
Prior to the Tokyo Game Show, SNK made an announcement that they are in development of a new title in the KOF series, King of Fighters XII, that will be appearing on Taito's new Arcade board, the Type X2. During the 2006 Tokyo Game Show SNK have stepped forward and said that the 12th title in the KOF series will be featuring a complete visual overhaul.

"We're throwing out the [character] pixels that we have been using for the past 10 years, and we are going with new graphics. We are hoping to make the ultimate 2D game."

Rag Doll Kung Fu creator working on new PS3 title
Posted by White_Pointer at 20:47:13 CST
Mark Healey, the creator of Rag Doll Kung Fu has announced that he and his team over at new UK developer Media Molecule are working on a brand new Playstation 3 game working directly with Sony Europe. Nothing is known about the title yet however, aside that it will be "original and innovative".

"Working together on Rag Doll convinced us that a focussed and efficient team had the ability to deliver exciting and innovative content," said Mark Healey, the studio's Creative Director. "The ambition for Media Molecule is to take that a step further and prove that a small (20 plus) and passionate team can deliver a world class, triple A, next generation product. Sometimes the very unwieldiness of a massive team renders it much less efficient."

IGN posts MK: Unchained interview
Posted by White_Pointer at 01:36:59 CST
IGN have posted up yet another interview MK related, this time on the upcoming PSP port of MK: Deception, titled Mortal Kombat: Unchained. For once though, it's not Ed Boon being interviewed, but MK: Unchained producer Shaun Himmerick. The interview is rather short, but it does cover some interesting points, in particular the new endurance mode that is exclusive to the PSP. Unchained will also apparently feature more stuff to unlock in the Krypt, considering that we now know all 30 characters in the game will be playable from the start, instead of needing to unlock half of them like you did in Deception.

To read the entire interview, click here.
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Capcom releases classics on GBA
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:02:28 CST
Yes, they are still making games for the Gameboy Advance, and Capcom's latest announcement informs us they have brought a small collection of their classic games to the GBA. The compilation's title is Capcom Classics Mini Mix and features three old school Capcom games, Strider, Bionic Commando and Mighty Final Fight, a version of Final Fight where all of the characters are super-deformed.

The pack is now available and retailing for US$19.99.
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Gamespot announces MK contest
Posted by White_Pointer at 01:46:51 CST
Several weeks ago Gamespot announced that they were launching a MK contest to prove who was the biggest MK fan out there. The contest has now launched, and it's titled the "Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Scream It Contest". On offer is the chance to fight against Ed Boon himself in a game of MK: Armageddon, which will be broadcast on Gamespot's Tournament TV. There are also three runners up prizes of a copy of the game.

So what do you need to do to enter the contest? Prove you are the world's biggest MK fan! You'll need to perfect your very own "MORTAL KOMBAT!" scream, and have that in a video with anything else that proves just how much of an MK fanatic you are.

For the full details and to enter the contest, visit Gamespot and follow the instructions!
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Wii date and launch for Europe and Australia
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:08:16 CST
Last week we reported on the Wii's release date, 19th of November for the US and 2nd of December for Japan. Turns out PAL territories don't need to wait much longer. Australia receives the console on the 7th of December and Europe the 8th of December, both less than a week after Japan and in time for the Christmas holidays. The package is the same as what the US is getting, with a Wii-mote, nunchuck attachment and a copy of Wii Sports included. More interestingly is that thanks to Sony's delay of the PS3 in PAL countries, the Wii will now likely become the dominant new console over the holiday period.
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SNK brings new games to new platform
Posted by White_Pointer at 16:32:43 CST
SNK have announced at the Amusement Machine Show in Japan this week that they are developing several new games for Taito's new arcade hardware, the Type X2 arcade board. For the first time in a long time, SNK will be developing 3D arcade iterations of their KOF and SS series.

King of Fighters Maximum Impact: Regulation A will be a new version of the popular home console Maximum Impact games. Samurai Spirits Sen will be an all-new title in the series, and the first time the series has been represented in 3D since 1997.

It's not all going to be 3D though presumably, as a version of the mainstream KOF games, King of Fighters XII is also on it's way to the Type X2.

No other details on any of the games have been revealed as yet.

[UPDATE]: View videos/trailers of the three new games here, here and here. Thanks to David King for the links!
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Wii date and price confirmed for Japan and US
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:39:43 CST
Not strictly fighting game news, but gaming news nonetheless.

Finally a price and date has been announced for the Nintendo Wii. The US it seems will be receiving the new console first, on November 19th, for about $250 USD, and that includes a copy of Wii Sports. Japan gets it a couple of weeks later on December 2nd for 25,000 Yen, or about $213 USD, however this package apparently doesn't include the game.

There's been no mention yet of a PAL launch date and price, but Nintendo did make a point a while back that they are planning an as close to simultaneous launch as possible. It seems to be a very good assumption at this point that PAL regions will almost definitely get the console before Christmas.
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A new beginning for MK on next gen
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:44:09 CST
As MK: Armageddon nears completion, Ed Boon has hinted that, with Armageddon being the last MK game on this generation of consoles, that the next MK game to appear on the next generation will have a lot of changes. According to a quick report on IGN, there will indeed be big changes, and some of them may not sit well with long time fans of the series. Not only is the general fighting system changing again, with new control schemes and new presentations, but characters are also going to be killed off, presumably not to return. Boon stressed that everything about the new MK games will be brand new, including the characters.

"In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, we wanted to end a number of things, actually. We wanted to end this chapter of the story. This is the last Mortal Kombat on this generation of consoles, and we also wanted to end this kind of fighting mechanic for Mortal Kombat.

On the next game, we're going to start new, with a bunch of brand new characters, a whole new fighting system, a new presentation with the new graphics for the new consoles, as well as a new control scheme to take advantage of some of the new technology available. We thought it was a good time to close this chapter and open a new one with every single aspect of Mortal Kombat -- It's going to be brand new."

MK: Unchained site opens
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:30:17 CST
The official website for Mortal Kombat: Unchained, the PSP port of MK: Deception, has finally gone fully online, close behind the official MK: Armageddon site. On it you'll find videos, an arena list, a character list and various game features.

Check it out here.
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IGN interviews Ed Boon
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:28:47 CST
IGN has posted up a new interview with MK co-creator Ed Boon, specifically about the upcoming Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and how it is taking shape. It is a fairly short interview, and doesn't cover much ground that isn't already known, though a little interesting point was made about the possible future of classic MK games for Nintendo's Virtual Console download service:

IGN Wii: A major selling point of Nintendo's new Wii platform is its Virtual Console, which enables users to connect online and download -- for a price -- classic games from Nintendo and third parties. What are your thoughts about bringing over classic MK games to the Virtual Console?

Ed Boon: I would love to see that happen!

Full MKA site opening soon?
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:57:56 CST
A very interesting e-mail came through to us today from Midway, and this is what it contained:

Ex-THQ executive moves to Capcom
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:56:15 CST
It seems Capcom have decided that they need more bite in their licensing division. Germaine Gioia, former vice president of licensing at THQ has started work for Capcom as senior vice president of licensing, and will be pulling all of her experience from her 13 years at THQ to land Capcom the best game licensing deals. Come next-gen, we should be seeing a lot more licensed games coming out of Capcom.
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Guilty Gear Judgement releases on PSP
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:50:01 CST
Finally the PSP gets it's own version of Guilty Gear! First revealed at last year's E3, Guilty Gear Judgement wasn't a traditional GG game in the sense it was a sidescrolling beat 'em up. The game is still like this of course, but as part of the package PSP owners also get a copy of Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, so they get two games for the price of one. Not a bad deal.

"Guilty Gear Judgment offers gamers incredible value by combining two deep fighting games on one UMD," said Ken Gold, vice president of Marketing for Majesco. "Both games feature the character-driven game play and unique signature attacks that have defined the Guilty Gear series across multiple systems and made it a fan favorite."

Naruto getting cheaper
Posted by White_Pointer at 00:10:01 CST
The North American arm of Japanese publisher D3 announced late last week that two of their cult fighting game titles will now be sold at a discounted rate. Naruto: Clash of Ninja for the GameCube has recently been inducted into the Player's Choice selection, and both it and Naruto: Ninja Council for the GBA will now be retailing for US $20. The price drop isn't coincidental though, as both games are receiving sequels very soon. Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 is due out September 26 while Naruto: Ninja Council 2 is releasing October 10.
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MK: Armageddon site updates with final pieces of atwork
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:31:10 CST
The hidden screen on the official MK: Armageddon site has been updated with the final pieces of artwork that are being revealed. The first is an image that appears it may be from an upcoming TV commercial, the second is a render of Blaze, the third is a render of the Subway stage and the last is a screenshot of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's minigame, Motor Kombat.

To see all of the artwork that has been revealed by Midway on the site, click the Dragon's eye on the official site's main screen, or click here.
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DOA: XBV 2 coming before the end of the year
Posted by White_Pointer at 03:54:19 CST
Tecmo, like most companies around this time of year, have published their annual financial report, and overall their performance for the first half of this year has been very good, with sales growing by 17.2 percent.

Sift through the rest of the boring stuff in the report and you find something interesting though, because Tecmo have also stated their strategy for the remainder of the year. Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2 for the Xbox 360 is one of 13 games from the publisher that are scheduled to hit next-generation consoles by Christmas. No exact date was given, but it looks promising to those of you looking forward to this spin-off game.
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New Powerstone Collection details
Posted by White_Pointer at 02:37:04 CST
Some more details have emerged on the upcoming compilation for the PSP, Powerstone Collection, which is, as the name suggests, a pack with both Powerstone games included. It turns out that Capcom will be offering more than just ports of the original games. Wireless multiplayer is a given, of course, but other goodies are being thrown in. Both games are being cleaned up visually, and Powerstone 1 will feature extra characters. Both games will feature new unlockable content such as new items, and a new mini-game called "Bomber Battle" is being thrown in, which seems to be a variation on the classic Powerstone gameplay where you throw bombs at your opponents.

As soon as we learn more about this you'll see it here.
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